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Bigger Competitor. Lockheed's rival in the competition is Boeing Co., which has not won a major military plane or missile award since 1958. Boeing is betting on a swing-wing model whose wings tuck back at high speed and open out for landings. Called the Boeing SST 733, it could achieve the same speed and stratospheric altitude as Lockheed's 2000. Boeing is building a mockup, plans to display it around September. The plane has just undergone major modifications, making it heavier (300 tons v. Lockheed's 250 tons), longer...
...mounted engines would buffet and overheat the tail. Designers moved the engines to the underside of an enlarged tail. That, in turn, enabled them to increase the area of the pivoting wing so that the plane could take off and land more slowly and silently. With that, said Boeing SST Engineering Director H. W. Withington last week, "Lockheed no longer has us beaten, as it thought it did last year." Replied Lockheed President Daniel J. Haughton: "The race will be close...
Three-Year Handicap. Lockheed could still increase the size of its SST entry to match Boeing's, but it would have to hurry. Both companies must submit their final designs to the Government by Sept. 6, as must General Electric and the Pratt & Whitney division of United Aircraft Corp., which are battling for the $6 billion worth of jet-engine business. The airlines and the Federal Aviation Agency hope to pick two winners by January, award a contract to build a prototype followed by production models that will fly commercially...
...wants to capture the majority of the 800-plane world market for supersonic transports. The Anglo-French Concorde is moving on schedule toward a target of commercial service by 1971, and Russia's TU-144 may beat the Concorde by several months. The later-starting American SST will offer several advantages over the European models. It will be one-third larger, carry nearly twice as many passengers and, thanks to its heat-resistant titanium skin, fly faster. The Concorde is limited to 1,450 m.p.h. by its aluminum body, but it will be cheaper: only $15 million...
Payoff. Washington so far has picked up 75%, or $175 million, of SST development costs, and the bill may well soar to $4 billion. The Government intends not only to recoup its money but also to repay the losing firms' investment through still unspecified production royalties. Boeing has poured in $30 million of its own, has 2,400 Seattle technicians at work on the project. Lockheed has invested nearly $31 million in ten years of research and facilities for 1,900 engineers and other experts. In the engine competition, G.E. has spent $20 million, United Aircraft about $15 million...