Boeing's Back in the Defense Business With a Big $131.2 Billion Order for New F-15 Fighters

Key Points Boeing's defense business has undergone a remarkable turnaround over the past two years. After losing money in 2024, BDS is profitable again today -- albeit barely so far. A huge new contract win to build and upgrade global F-15 fighter fleets could turbocharge BDS profits. 10 stocks we like better than Boeing › Civilian airplane builder Boeing 's (NYSE: BA) on-again, off-again defense business is on once again raking in big contracts -- and earning money on them. As recently as 2024, Boeing was in the dumps. Boeing reported $12 billion in losses that year, with both its civilian commercial airplanes division and its military-focused defense, space, and security (BDS) unit deeply in the red. The company burned through more than $14 billion in negative free cash flow. Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue » But what a difference a year makes -- and what a bigger difference two years can make! According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence , Boeing's losses in commercial airplanes were still above $7 billion last year -- but BDS was close to breakeven. So far in 2026, the plane maker is doing even better. Commercial losses continue to shrink, and BDS is finally back in the black with a $218 million operating profit. And there may be more where that came from. Image source: Getty Images. Boeing's winning contracts again Boeing pulled a rabbit out of its flight helmet last year when it beat Lockheed Martin for the right to build a new sixth-generation fighter jet for the U.S. Air Force. Dubbed the F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance fighter, the new airplane will mark a huge upgrade from the Air Force's current top-of-the-line air superiority fighter, the F-22. While details are scarce at this early date, reports indicate that when the F-47 arrives in 2028 (and enters service in the early 2030s), it will bring to the fight advanced stealth and electronic warfare capabilities, the ability to control autonomous drones in combat, and a range nearly twice that of the F-22 -- 1,000 miles. More importantly for Boeing, the F-47 will bring the company an estimated $20 billion to $50 billion in revenue to first develop the aircraft and then build 185 of them. This development revenue, which is already rolling in, is presumably already contributing to the turnaround at BDS. It may pale in significance to the company's latest defense win, however. This week, you see, Boeing was awarded an even bigger contract: $131.2 billion. Boeing's big F-15 win Announced on Monday, Aug. 24 in the Defense Department's daily digest of contract awards, the new "F-15 Eagle Crest" contract requires Boeing to perform "aircraft production, systems integration, modernization, upgrades, retrofits, sustainment, and the establishment of organic depot maintenance capabilities" across the Air Force's F-15 fleet -- and the air forces of Japan, Indonesia, Israel, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and South Korea. According to data from Flightglobal's 2026 World Air Forces report, the modernizations and upgrades alone could cover a global fleet of at least 897 F-15s -- or more than 1,000 if one counts airplanes ordered but not yet delivered. It's worth pointing out that not all of the $131.2 billion in the contract may be spent. This figure represents an upper limit on the potential size of the deal and covers work to be performed under an umbrella contract. The final size of the contract will depend on how many task orders to perform work (build and deliver new airplanes, modernize and upgrade, and supply existing aircraft) are placed by the Air Force and the allied nations. What it means for Boeing investors But yes, $131.2 billion is a possibility. Even stretching over a decade (all work is expected to be completed by August 2037), that's a lot of extra money Boeing could make off of F-15 Eagle Crest -- more than $13 billion per year, or enough to add 50% to the company's $27 billion-a-year BDS business. So this is big news. Is it big enough, though, to make Boeing stock a buy? That's hard to say for a company like Boeing, still working its way through a near-decade-long turnaround that began when the company started losing money in 2019 -- and continues to this day. Even though Boeing technically returned to profitability last year, its current $166.8 billion market capitalization values the stock at a nosebleed 76 times trailing earnings. Expect that valuation to drop dramatically, however, as earnings begin growing off their currently low base. And the sooner Boeing starts ramping up earnings at its now-profitable-again defense business, the cheaper Boeing stock is going to look . Should you buy stock in Boeing right now? Before you buy stock in Boeing, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Boeing wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $430,571 !* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,399,268 !* Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 986 % — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 214% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor , and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 29, 2026. Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Boeing and Lockheed Martin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .

Boeing's defense business has undergone a remarkable turnaround over the past two years.

After losing money in 2024, BDS is profitable again today -- albeit barely so far.

A huge new contract win to build and upgrade global F-15 fighter fleets could turbocharge BDS profits.

Civilian airplane builder Boeing 's (NYSE: BA) on-again, off-again defense business is on once again raking in big contracts -- and earning money on them.

As recently as 2024, Boeing was in the dumps. Boeing reported $12 billion in losses that year, with both its civilian commercial airplanes division and its military-focused defense, space, and security (BDS) unit deeply in the red. The company burned through more than $14 billion in negative free cash flow.

Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »

But what a difference a year makes -- and what a bigger difference two years can make!