Boeing has reached a $51 million settlement with the US State Department to resolve almost 200 export violations, including its unauthorized export of technical data to China, the State Department said Thursday.

The US aerospace company's export violations date back years, and were all voluntarily disclosed, the State Department said in a statement.

Among the violations it cited was Boeing's unauthorized export of defense items as well as technical information exported to foreign employees and contractors.

This included "unauthorized exports of technical data" to China.

Under the terms of settlement, "Boeing will pay a civil penalty of $51 million," the State Department said, adding that $24 million of the penalty would be suspended to allow Boeing to strengthen its compliance program.

Boeing will also have to engage an "external special compliance officer" for at least two years, and agree to at least two external audits of its compliance program.

"We are committed to our trade controls obligations, and we look forward to working with the State Department under the agreement announced today," a Boeing spokesperson told AFP.

The spokesperson added that most of the 199 violations "predate the significant improvements we have made to our trade controls compliance program since 2020."

"We are committed to continuous improvement of that program, and the compliance undertakings reflected in this agreement will help us advance that objective."