ST. CHARLES — The Boeing Co. has landed a nearly $7.5 billion contract from the Air Force to produce materials to transform bombs into GPS-guided weapons at its factory here.
The U.S. Department of Defense announced the award last week for the production of the joint direct attack munitions, or JDAMs, including tail kits and spares to be used in combat.
Defense News reports that the guidance tail kits will be fitted to bombs ranging from 500 pounds to 2,000 pounds. The bombs can then be steered from an aircraft toward a target on the ground.
The release said the contract is expected to be completed by February 2030.
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It was not immediately clear whether the Arlington, Virginia-based defense company would need to hire additional employees to assist production.
Much of Boeing’s defense business is located in the St. Louis area. The company makes fighter jets, a trainer plane and a refueling drone in St. Louis County and St. Clair County, Illinois. The St. Charles site makes munitions.
The company recently secured a $1.3 billion contract from the U.S. Navy for 17 new F/A-18s. Rather than winding down next year, the order extended the life of the St. Louis County manufacturing line into 2027.
In addition, Boeing is beginning a $1.8 billion expansion of its facilities surrounding St. Louis Lambert International Airport as competition between it and rival Lockheed Martin heats up to build the U.S. military’s next generation fighter.
The company has more than 15,000 workers in the region.
Students at Washington University and other college campuses in the St. Louis area have called on their schools to cut ties with the company for its role in civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip.
Over the years, the St. Charles facility has been an occasional site for demonstrations. In November, for example, pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in front of the facility, preventing workers from entering the site for a few hours as they called for a cease-fire in the conflict between Israel and Hamas and criticized the company for supplying weapons to Israel.
In 2018, activists blocked the gates to protest the sales of arms used in Yemen, according to reports from multiple local news outlets. In 2003, the Post-Dispatch reported that several anti-war demonstrations were held outside its gates in the lead-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
A pro-Palestinian group is met by a Boeing employee while they protest at a Boeing facility in Saint Charles. Video by Christian Gooden, Post-Dispatch