Military contracts are low risk for the contractor because the government absorbs all the overruns, but relatively low profit as well since the contracts specify the amount of profit the company is allowed to earn.
Boeing's huge military contract business is good, steady money, but the commercial aviation business is where they take the lion's share of their profits.
That being said, it seems like both Airbus (EADS) and Boeing are profoundly dysfunctional organizations that are really incapable of doing anything without consuming enormous resources. I wonder if both of them have the "military contractor" mindset built into their corporate culture, and that's why their commercial projects are a serial set of disasters.
I think A&B are lucky to have each other as competitors. If a lean, hungry company ever entered the market it'd wipe the floor with both of them.