Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC
Hughes Aircraft has won the competition, worth nearly $1 billion, to provide a next-generation navigation-attack pod, the advanced-targeting forward-looking infra-red system (ATFLIR), for the Boeing F/A-18C/D/E/F Hornet family.
The Hughes Aircraft Terminator II third-generation FLIR sensor and laser-designator pod will replace a navigation pod made by the company, and the AAS-38B Nite Hawk targeting FLIR system from Lockheed Martin. As the F/A-18 prime contractor, Boeing selected the ATFLIR contractor.
Hughes Aircraft can expect to earn nearly $1 billion by producing 574 units for installation in F/A-18s. Production could also grow, if the US Marine Corps buys the ATFLIR system for the Boeing AV-8B Harrier II Plus.
Boeing expects to award Hughes Aircraft an engineering- and manufacturing-development contract in February. As part of the contract, Hughes will deliver ten engineering-development models to Boeing, beginning in mid-1999, for qualification and flight testing. The contract will include options for the first two years of low-rate initial production, totalling 57 units. Initial fielding is planned for mid-2002.
Hughes faced competition from Lockheed Martin, which offered its Sniper FLIR system. Northrop Grumman and Israel's Rafael made a bid with an upgraded Litening pod. It is believed that Thomson-CSF and a team composed of GEC-Marconi and Raytheon TI Systems also submitted bids.
Source: Flight International
