Boeing executive Ted Colbert is out as head of the troubled firm’s defense sector, effective immediately, the company announced Friday.

Kelly Ortberg, Boeing’s chief executive, said in a memo to employees that Steve Parker will temporarily lead Boeing Defense, Space and Security until a permanent replacement for Colbert is named. Parker is the chief operating officer for Boeing’s $32.7 billion defense sector.

In the memo, Ortberg thanked Colbert for 15 years of service to Boeing. But he also spoke about the need for Boeing — which has had a series of prominent failures over the last year — to do better.

“At this critical juncture, our priority is to restore the trust of our customers and meet the high standards they expect of us to enable their critical missions around the world,” Ortberg said. “Working together we can and will improve our performance and ensure we deliver on our commitments.”

Colbert took over Boeing’s defense sector in March 2022 after running Boeing Global Services. Later that year, he reorganized it amid steep revenue losses and quality concerns.

Colbert also stuck firm to the company’s commitment to no longer agree to fixed-price contracts with the Pentagon. Such contracts have led to billions of dollars in losses for Boeing, leading the company to swear them off, even if it meant passing on some major programs like the Survivable Airborne Operations Center, or SAOC.

At the Farnborough Air Show in England in July, Colbert told reporters that the Air Force’s plan for SAOC would have required Boeing to agree to fixed-price elements and other components it felt were unacceptable. He said if the Air Force were to require fixed-price deals for its new collaborative combat aircraft autonomous drones, Boeing would similarly steer clear of that program.

“If it’s a fixed-price development program that requires a ton of maturity … that is a recipe for failure,” Colbert said.

But losses at Boeing Defense continued during Colbert’s tenure. The sector lost $1.8 billion in 2023 and is down $762 million so far in the first half of 2024.

Colbert’s removal marks Ortberg’s first major management change since taking the reins of Boeing last month.

And it comes nearly two weeks after Boeing’s Starliner space capsule returned to Earth from the International Space Station without its crew amid safety concerns.

During Starliner’s June 5 flight to the space station, engineers observed several helium leaks and problems with its thrusters, according to NASA. NASA and Boeing engineers spent nearly three months testing thrusters and reviewing data to try to figure out how to fix the problems. But on Aug. 24, NASA determined it was too risky to fly the two astronauts home on Starliner and opted to instead bring them home on a planned SpaceX mission next February.

Ortberg is trying to put Boeing back on course after years of quality and safety troubles with aircraft such as the Max airliners, the KC-46 Pegasus refueling tanker and the new Air Force One presidential transport planes, which upended the company’s once-strong reputation as an aerospace giant.

Boeing is also reeling from a massive strike declared Sept. 13 by tens of thousands of its machinists, which is also impacting the firm’s defense programs like the KC-46. Ortberg has been speaking directly with workers to try to find a way to resolve the disagreement over issues such as pay and end the strike, the company said. A lengthy strike would harm its production, deliveries and operations.

In July, Boeing pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States over charges stemming from the crashes of two 737 Max aircraft. In January, the door plug of another 737 Max blew out midflight, with videos of the frightening scene aboard going viral. The incidents prompted congressional hearings into Boeing’s safety problems.

The CEO of a prominent AI company called for the faster adoption of powerful software, particularly by the military, to address growing global threats.

Speaking Tuesday at an Axios event in National Harbor, Maryland, on AI’s emerging defense capabilities, Sean Moriarty, CEO of artificial intelligence and data analysis firm PrimerAI, urged the Defense Department to accelerate its efforts to adapt to the rapidly changing threat landscape by taking advantage of existing technology.

The commercial world is far ahead of the government in the world of artificial intelligence, Moriarty said at the event, which was just a short walk away from the Air and Space Force Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference.

“The gap is enormous,” he said.

The significant divide is between what’s available and what’s being used, he explained.

PrimerAI creates AI products that help users, including the U.S. government and commercial companies, parse through and analyze information.

Notably, the company’s technology proved adept at identifying misleading or false information that spread rapidly online in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

The events of Oct. 7 underscored the complexity and dangers of the world, Moriarty said at Tuesday’s event. While the world has always been perilous, he argued, challenges were compounded by the nonstop flow of information, misinformation and disinformation.

AI was a useful tool in helping the US government mitigate this constant stream, Moriarty said, with the ability to uncover the truth and then use it to drive action.

He expressed hope AI could help the Defense Department prevent the spread of distorted facts, but acknowledged that, if prevention isn’t possible, containing misinformation and disinformation was a viable outcome.

If there’s hesitation about relying on technology to make important decisions, Moriarty argued, people should consider the trust they’ve already placed in machines such as calculators, autopilot systems and software.

Regardless, Moriarity noted adopting AI technology will require a collective Defense Department approach — a challenging task to implement. He wondered what could realistically bring about the change he believes the department urgently needs.

“If you look at the nation’s finest hours, it’s typically been on the receiving end of some profoundly negative externality which gave us no choice but to respond to the threat,” Moriarty said. “I think the big challenge upon us now is we recognize the world is increasingly dangerous. Can we actually get ahead, or is the necessary forcing function a terrible event which allows us to just rip out these barriers to innovation and response?”

The right conversations are happening, according to Moriarty, but the country needs to move faster.

“People are singing from the same song sheet and it is the right song,” he said.