While Muilenburg participated in research for a high-speed civil transport, most of his career was spent on military projects: the F-22, the 767 AWACS, the 747 Airborne Laser, the EX surveillance platform, the Advanced Tactical Fighter, and “a number of proprietary programs,” as his résumé put it. They were the kind of predictable programs (and predictable revenue) that Mr. Mac and his progeny, part of Boeing’s DNA since the merger, had always preferred. The outcome depended on lobbying, politics, and closed-door maneuvering as much as standout engineering.
