Business news for Fri, 28 Dec 2007 & with words aircraft+billion. 2 news.

Boeing will buy more than $1 billion of titanium components from Russia's OAO VSMPO-Avisma as it seeks to make lighter aircraft. Boeing and VSMPO, the world's biggest titanium producer, signed an accord for supplies from 2011 through 2015, said Sergei Kravchenko, the head of Chicago-based Boeing's operations in Russia. It's part of the $27 billion Boeing plans to spend in Russia over the next 30 years, he said. "I'd be insincere if I said that troubled U.S.-Russia relations have not had an impact on our business, but I believe such huge investments are, in some way, bridging the political gap," Kravchenko said. The U.S. last year imposed sanctions on a Russian aircraft maker and arms exporter after alleging they breached non-proliferation legislation. Boeing has made titanium the single biggest material in its latest aircraft as rising oil prices encourage airlines to buy lighter plane models, which use less fuel. The U.S. manufacturer's latest, 20-ton 787 Dreamliner is almost 20 percent titanium and relies on VSMPO for 56 components, Kravchenko said. VSMPO relies on Boeing for 29 percent of its business.

The U.S. Air Force must provide a better explanation for why it gave Boeing Co. a $1.1 billion contract to maintain KC-135 tanker aircraft, the Government Accountability Office said, upholding part of a protest from rival bidder Pemco Aviation Group Inc.