Gene Bouchard; Engineer Worked on Advanced Jets

Gene Bouchard, 49, an aerospace scientist who was co-developer of a software system that accelerated the design of sophisticated military aircraft, died of a heart attack Monday at his home in Pleasanton, Calif.

Bouchard was a specialist in advanced engineering who worked at Lockheed from 1980 to 1997. He helped develop a system that integrated the divergent software programs used to operate various parts of an aircraft, freeing engineers from the time-consuming task of reconfiguring each program.

He also worked on the SR-71 Blackbird and the F-22 Stealth fighter and played a key role in designing a propulsion system for the X33, the proposed successor to the space shuttle.

Bouchard, a native of Providence, R.I., earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from MIT and his master’s and doctoral degrees at Stanford.