■ Lockheed Martin has been awarded an almost $3 billion US Air Force contract to manufacture a further 24 F/A-22 fighters by late 2007 under the programme’s Lot five production phase. The company has also received a separate $160 million contract to support Lot five production activities until year-end.
■ The Royal New Zealand Air Force has finalised a NZ$81.8 million ($56.1 million) contract with Singapore Technologies and Boeing for the cargo conversion of its two 757-200s. The work, which will include the installation of a freight door, will conclude in the third quarter of 2007.
■ Qinetiq has received a £1.3 million ($2.3 million) contract from the UK Ministry of Defence to provide environmental qualification and airworthiness and safety testing for the UK’s WK450 unmanned air vehicle system. Flight tests of the Watchkeeper system platform are expected to start during 2008, the company says.
■ Raytheon has received an $8.6 million subcontract from Toshiba to produce hardware for seven APQ-2 radars to be integrated with the Japanese air force’s fleet of U-125A (Hawker 800) surveillance aircraft.
■ L-3 Communications has awarded EDO a subcontract worth more than $10 million to supply ALR-95 electronic support measures equipment for the South Korean navy’s future fleet of eight Lockheed P-3 maritime patrol aircraft. EDO will deliver the first systems in early 2007 under the deal.
■ The UK Ministry of Defence plans to award Permali Gloucester a contract worth up to £5 million ($8.7 million) to produce around 13 additional shipsets of modular armour for use by the Royal Air Force’s Boeing Chinook HC2 transport helicopters.
■ Sikorsky has won a $9.5 million contract to provide spare parts for the US Army’s UH-60 Black Hawks until late 2010.
■ The US Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin $98 million for support, engineering and technical services and software maintenance for its C-5 avionics modernisation programme until late 2010.
Source: Flight International
