Boeing

Boeing, its suppliers and the U.S. Air Force today celebrated the rollout of the first Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missiles, or CALCMs, to be converted at the company's Weapons Programs facility in St. Charles, Mo.

Boeing is on contract with the Air Force to convert 322 nuclear Air-Launched Cruise Missiles to non-nuclear CALCMs. Previous conversions were completed at company facilities in Kent, Wash., and Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Although the CALCM milestone was celebrated today, the first six missiles to roll out of the St. Charles factory were shipped last month to a supplier, Aerojet, for warhead installation and refueling prior to delivery to the Air Force later this month. The last of the 322 missiles will be delivered in mid-2001.

"Today's ceremony is the result of outstanding teamwork between Boeing, its suppliers and the U.S. Air Force," said Chris Sales, Boeing CALCM program manager. "We restructured what was supposed to be a 17-month program into seven months, and today we're on the threshold of putting that first valuable round back into the warfighters' inventory."

CALCM is an affordable, long-range standoff weapon that has been employed effectively in combat in Operation Desert Storm, Desert Strike, Desert Fox and most recently Operation Allied Force.

CALCM conversions are being completed in St. Charles alongside production of the Navy's Harpoon and SLAM ER missiles and the multi-service JDAM precision weapon. Boeing personnel in Seattle, where the ALCMs and early CALCMs were produced, are providing engineering and logistics support work.

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