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Boeing is paying $51 million to settle a U.S. administrative charge over unauthorized exports to countries including China of technical data related to a range of U.S. military weapons, including fighter planes and missile systems.
The deal with the US aerospace manufacturer will resolve nearly 200 violations of the Arms Export Control Act and laws regulating international traffic in arms, the US State Department said on Thursday. The company and the government reached the agreement after an “extensive compliance review” spurred by revelations from Boeing between 2017 and 2022 that some of its international employees and contractors had violated the law.
The U.S. government found that exports to China between 2013 and 2017 “caused harm to the national security of the United States,” according to the State Department’s proposed letter of accusation. Exports to Russia over the past decade, while subject to restrictive defense export measures, “have created the potential for harm to U.S. national security.”
Most of the breaches occurred before President Joe Biden introduced export controls intended to thwart Chinese attempts to access U.S. technology. Most also came before Boeing changed its trade controls compliance program in 2020.
“We are committed to our trade controls obligations and look forward to working with the Department of State under the agreement announced today,” Boeing said.
The agreement between the company and the State Department covers a number of incidents, including unauthorized exports and retransfers of technical data to foreign employees and contractors, unauthorized exports of defense articles, and violations of license terms.
According to the proposed letter of charge, Boeing employees in China downloaded technical data from the company’s library 25 times over a four-year period. The downloads included data on F-18, F-15 and F-22 fighter aircraft; the AH-64 Apache helicopter; and the AGM-84E Standoff land attack missile and the AGM-131 II short-range attack missile.
Separately, “an undetermined number” of international employees and contractors at Boeing sites in 18 countries, including Russia, downloaded technical data 80 times over five years, according to the proposed charging document.
The three-year agreement between Boeing and the government includes oversight by a special compliance officer for two years. The government said it will suspend $24 million of the civil penalty if Boeing uses the funds to strengthen its compliance program.