Former General Dynamics President Joins Northrop

Northrop Corp. has announced that former General Dynamics President Oliver Boileau will take the newly created job of president and general manager of its B-2 division, which is building the Stealth bomber. Boileau starts Dec. 11.

Edward P. Smith will remain program manager for the $68-billion Stealth bomber project, but will give up the title of general manager of the division to Boileau.

“It is a major announcement,” commented Lawrence Harris, aerospace analyst at Bateman Eichler, Hill Richards. “It could be a signal that there will be further changes occurring at the company. I consider it a positive development.”

The B-2 has thrust Northrop into the front ranks of the military aircraft industry from its former position as a producer of inexpensive and relatively unsophisticated weapons for export.

A key concern in recent years, expressed by analysts and in Congress, is whether Northrop has the experience to manage a major multibillion-dollar program like the B-2.

Northrop President Kent Kresa said Boileau “significantly expands the breadth of knowledge and manufacturing experience behind the B-2 bomber program as it moves toward full scale production.”

The appointment of Boileau marks the second time that Northrop has changed management of the B-2. John Paterno, who headed the B-2 division from its infancy, died after a long illness and was replaced by Smith, a former Rockwell International executive, only last year.

Boileau, 62, retired from General Dynamics in May, 1988, as vice chairman, a position he took after former General Dynamics Chairman David Lewis left the company during a difficult and controversial period. Until then, Boileau had been considered Lewis’ heir apparent. Boileau spent most of his career at Boeing and headed Boeing Aerospace when he left for General Dynamics in 1980.

Kresa said the timing of Boileau’s appointment “coincides with the planned expansion of the program as the B-2 Division moves toward full scale production.”