The US Army has cancelled the Lockheed Martin-led Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) project due to budget issues and problems in using the Embraer ERJ-145 platform.
A warning shot was fired last September after the US Army suspended the programme's $879 million initial development funding. Official termination of the programme was given yesterday, following an extension to the US Department of Defense's 60-day review period.
"After carefully evaluating Lockheed's proposals, we decided that the prudent course of action at this time was to terminate the contract," Claude Bolton, the US Army's chief weapons buyer, said in a statement.
A decision on ACS's future, valued at around $8 billion, was delayed last month, three months after the army issued an ultimatum to Lockheed to restructure development plans (Flight International, 20 December 2005-2 January 2006). Lockheed admitted making errors in its initial specification for the payload and has spent several months trying to recalculate its proposal. Today's expected decision means Lockheed was unable to convince the US Army of the programme’s viability.
ACS stumbled after it emerged that Lockheed’s proposed platform, the 50-seater ERJ-145 regional jet, was not large enough to meet the sensor payload’s power, cooling and weight requirements. The termination will come as a blow to Embraer, which had heralded the selection as the first step in its bid to win US defence contracts. It is unclear whether Lockheed will be permitted to re-tender using another platform, or whether the programme will be killed entirely.
The ACS was initially intended to serve both US Army and US Navy, but the two forces' requirements could not be reconciled within the budget.
JUSTIN WASTNAGE / LONDON
Source: Flight International