Posted: Thu, Jul 17, 2003, 11:11 AM ET (1511 GMT)
Boeing is in negotiations with the US Air Force on a possible settlement of charges that the company used sensitive Lockheed Martin documents in its bid for Delta 4 launch contracts, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The Journal said that Boeing is in "high-level" negotiations with the Air Force on a settlement that could include the transfer of some existing launch contracts to Lockheed Martin. Boeing could also be required to pay the difference between its launch price and Lockheed's somewhat higher launch price. The Air Force is looking into whether Boeing improperly used proprietary Lockheed Martin documents, provided by a Boeing employee who formerly worked for Lockheed, when preparing its bid for the first batch of launch contracts for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. Boeing won the majority of that first batch of contracts. Lockheed Martin has also filed a lawsuit in federal court on the issue.

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