Washington ? The Air Force on Thursday banned Boeing Co. from future satellite-launching contracts to punish the company for stealing sensitive information from a competitor.

The Air Force also took away seven military satellite launches from Boeing and gave them to competitor Lockheed Martin Corp. — a shift that represented about $1 billion worth of business, said Air Force Undersecretary Peter Teets.

“Boeing is responsible and must be held accountable for the actions of its employees,” Teets said at a Pentagon news conference. “We cannot tolerate anything but complete honesty in our contracting process.”

The suspension will remain in place until the Air Force is satisfied that Boeing has changed its ways and atoned for its misdeeds, Teets said. He said he spoke with Boeing CEO Phil Condit and was optimistic the company could have the suspension lifted in as little as a few months.

Condit said Thursday all of the 78,000 workers in Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems unit would have a “stand-down” next week to discuss the problem and have more ethics training.

“We are extremely disappointed by the circumstances that prompted our customer’s action, but we understand the U.S. Air Force’s position that unethical behavior will not be tolerated,” Condit said in a statement. “We apologize for our actions. We will continue to work with the Air Force to address the issues that caused this suspension.”

Lockheed Martin spokesman Jeff Adams said: “The Air Force reached its decision using its own best judgment and we acknowledge that decision. We would, however, thank the Air Force for its thorough investigation, and for the fact that the investigation verifies that there was in fact a Procurement Integrity Act violation.”

Teets said an Air Force investigation concluded that Boeing committed “serious and substantial violations of federal law” by stealing extensive information from Lockheed Martin during competition for a $1.88 billion satellite launching contract in 1998. Worse, Boeing didn’t reveal the extent of the problem until years later and only gave the Air Force copies of all the Lockheed Martin documents this April, Teets said.

Teets announced the penalties after stock markets closed Thursday. Boeing stock closed down 49 cents Thursday at $32.20. Lockheed Martin shares were down $1.83 to $51.55.

Lockheed Martin is suing Boeing over the document theft.