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The Pentagon will pay about 4 percent less for each new Lockheed Martin Corp F-35A fighter jet when it signs a deal worth $ 3.8 billion with the No. 1 U.S. defense contractor on Friday, according to sources familiar with the deal. The cost of each conventional takeoff and landing jet in the fifth production contract will be around $ 107 million, excluding the engine, said the sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly. That compares to a price of $ 111.6 million in the fourth contract with Lockheed. The Pentagon is negotiating a separate agreement with Pratt & [...]

NEW YORK American Airlines pilots on Friday voted to ratify a new union contract, ending a years-long labor dispute and stabilizing American’s parent, AMR Corp, as it tries to emerge from bankruptcy. The contract, approved by nearly three-quarters of the pilots who voted, gives the Allied Pilots’ Association a 13.5 percent equity stake in AMR and offers what the union sees as a path to “industry-standard” pay, union spokesman Dennis Tajer told Reuters. AMR filed for bankruptcy in November 2011, primarily due to high labor costs. It said it needed to cut those costs by $ 1 billion a year. [...]

NEW YORK Lockheed Martin Corp President Marillyn Hewson said on Thursday the company’s talks with the Pentagon about a fifth batch of F-35 fighter jets were progressing well and an agreement was likely before the end of the year. “Those negotiations are progressing well,” Hewson told an investor conference hosted by Credit Suisse in her first major presentation to Wall Street investors. “I do feel confident that we’re going to get to closure this year.” Hewson said Lockheed was also making progress in discussions with the Defense Department to secure additional funding for work on the sixth batch of F-35 [...]

NEW YORK Lockheed Martin Corp and the Defense Department are nearing agreement on a long-delayed contract for a fifth batch of F-35 fighter jets, the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer told Reuters on Wednesday. “I think we’re getting close,” Defense Undersecretary Frank Kendall told Reuters after a speech to an investor conference hosted by Credit Suisse. Kendall said he had “a very positive meeting” on Tuesday with Lockheed President Marillyn Hewson about a range of issues, including the $ 396 billion F-35 program, the Pentagon’s largest weapons program. Lockheed, the Pentagon’s largest contractor, and its suppliers are already building the fifth [...]

Boeing Co. has won a contract valued at $ 4 billion for fighter jet fleet upgrades for the Saudi Arabian Air Force, the Pentagon said on Friday. The procurement order covers conversion of 68 F-15s to Saudi Air Force specifications, and four base stand-up kits. The Pentagon said the work, expected to be completed by December 31, 2019, would be done at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. (Reporting By Ros [...]

Boeing Co has secured a contract valued at $ 4 billion to modernize the Royal Saudi Arabian Air Force’s fighter jet fleet, the Pentagon said on Friday. The procurement order covers conversion of 68 existing F15S jets to the new F15S-A configuration. The Pentagon said the work, expected to be completed by December 31, 2019, would be done at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. The contract also provides for four base stand-up kits, which include spares and support equipment needed to achieve operating capability for the fighter jets. Altogether, about 150 new or converted F-15SA aircraft will be supported [...]

NEW YORK Raytheon Co has won a new contract to supply the U.S. army with thermal weapon sights in a deal potentially worth $ 131 million, the company said in a statement on Sunday. This contract is a modification of an existing agreement. Under the new contract, Raytheon could potentially supply more than 24,000 sights. The thermal weapon sights will be built in McKinney, Texas, the headquarters of Raytheon’s network centric systems (NCS) business, the statement said. The thermal sights allow a soldier to spot targets at long distances through haze, dust, and fog. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

Boeing Co’s engineers and technical workers rejected a pay offer late Monday in a widely expected show of force, setting the stage for talks to resume on Tuesday for labor agreements covering 23,000 workers. The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace said 95.5 percent of engineers and 97.1 percent of technicians voted against the contract offer, sending their bargaining teams back to the negotiating table. The union and Boeing had agreed before the mail-in ballots were counted that if the contract offer was voted down they would meet on Tuesday to continue discussions on a deal to replace two [...]

Boeing Co’s engineers and technical workers rejected a contract offer late Monday, setting the stage for talks to resume Tuesday for labor agreements covering 23,000 workers. The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace said 95.5 percent of engineers and 97.1 percent of technicians voted against the contract, sending their bargaining teams back to the negotiating table. (Reporting by Alwyn Scott; Editing by Mark Potter)

Dear Tax Talk, I believe the interest portion of an immediate annuity distribution is taxed as ordinary income and the principal portion is tax-free. The entire distribution (after age 59 1/2) from a traditional individual retirement account is taxed as ordinary income. May I use the balance of a savings incentive match plan for employees, or SIMPLE, IRA (for example, $ 200,000) to acquire an immediate single premium annuity by rolling the IRA into the annuity and thus avoid ordinary income tax treatment on the IRA distribution and pay only ordinary income tax on the interest portion of the annuity [...]