By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Boeing agreed on Wednesday to pay the government $6 million to settle a lawsuit over titanium.
The suit accused Boeing of using Russian-melted titanium in making military aircraft when the law requires titanium from the U.S.
The company says it did not do anything wrong, noting an exception in the law that let it use the foreign-melted material.
But Boeing will nonetheless pay the $6 million and also give the government $1.4 million in free aircraft parts.
The domestic titanium melting industry is considered essential to the nation's defense and is protected under federal law. Titanium is a relatively rare metal useful to the defense industry because of its strength and light weight. It is processed domestically by only a few manufacturers.