SAN FRANCISCO, April 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. aerospace giant Boeing on Thursday was awarded a five-year contract worth 427 million U.S. dollars for depot maintenance of the U.S. Navy's F/A-18 jets.

Under the "sole-source" contract, Boeing said it will provide consumable materials used for structural repair and modification of legacy F/A-18 Hornets at five U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps depots.

Boeing unveils two programs to repair the Navy's aging F/A-18 Hornets, including the extension of the Hornets' life from 6,000 hours to 10,000 hours.

Rick Robinson, director of Boeing Global Supply Chain Services, said the contract will improve material availability and reduce cycle times on aircraft maintenance of the Navy's fighter jets.

The U.S. Navy wants to refresh its fleet of more than 560 F/A-18 jets to keep them flying well into the next decades.

Boeing grabbed its latest defense contract only one day after it announced on Wednesday strong 2018 first-quarter profits of 23.4 billion dollars that beat Wall Street expectations.

Boeing delivered 184 commercial airplanes during the first quarter and earned 13.7 billion dollars. It sold a record 763 aircraft last year.