FARNBOROUGH – In a long-anticipated management shake-up, Boeing has shifted some of the key players who will lead the company’s charge to win the U.S. Air Force’s aerial refueling contract.

Dave Bowman, the company’s C-17 program manager, will now take over as vice president of the Boeing tanker enterprise. As an entirely new and separate business unit, the tanker program will report directly to Boeing Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) President Jim Albaugh and to John Lockard, chief operating officer for IDS.

This allows Bowman to bypass the typical leadership chain of command in IDS’s Global Mobility Systems divisions and deal directly with the defense sector’s leadership for the forthcoming tanker campaign. The tanker program office will be shifted to Puget Sound with some staff in Wichita, Kan., where the military modifications to the Boeing aircraft would be added.

Albaugh announced these changes in a July 11 message to Boeing employees.

Albaugh also directs a name change from Boeing Precision Engagement and Mobility Systems to Boeing Military Aircraft “to reflect its position as the largest manufacturer of military aircraft in the world.” The company’s future as a primary Defense Dept. airframer has been called into question after the loss of the massive Joint Strike Fighter to Lockheed Martin, the looming closure of the C-17 and expected end of the F/A-18 family of aircraft as nations shift to stealthy designs.

Chris Chadwick, who led Precision Engagement and Mobility Systems, will become the president of the new Boeing Military Aircraft unit. This sector includes global strike; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, rotorcraft and airborne anti-submarine work.

Bowman is well respected in the Air Force; he spearheaded efforts to keep the C-17 production line open with congressional support and with a small boost of international sales after the service discontinued funding for it. One of his tasks in the forthcoming tanker competition will be to congeal the relations between Boeing’s defense and commercial airplanes businesses. Boeing Commercial Airplanes was criticized by Air Force officials for not cooperating with the government’s desire to have full insight into the company’s pricing for the 767 platform.

The Pentagon plans to put out a revision to the request for proposals by August with hopes of naming a winner for the KC-135 replacement work by December.

The former tanker vice president, Mark McGraw, is being shifted to lead training systems and services. Jean Chamberlain will oversee the C-17 and Advanced Global Military Systems work.

Photo: Boeing