Boeing to take $250M charge on Early Warning plane delays

Boeing said today that it will take a $250 million pretax charge for previously acknowledged delays on its Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) program.

The aerospace company said the second-quarter charge of approximately 22 cents a share will not affect its guidance for the full year.

Boeing blamed the AEW&C program's delays on "subsystem development issues on the electronic warfare and ground support systems as well as additional time required for integration testing."

The company said it expects to deliver the first two of Australia's six aircraft with interim capability in July 2009, four months later than previously scheduled.

These two aircraft and the remaining four aircraft are expected to be delivered in 2010 with full capability, Boeing said.

The delays will not affect deliveries to any of its other AEW&C customers, the company said.

Boeing will report its second-quarter results July 23.

Its shares were up 53 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $66.12 at midday in New York.