The NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Programme Management Agency (NAPMA) will give the green light to a mid-term upgrade of NATO's fleet of Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft by early July, if a cost discrepancy can be resolved in time.
German sources close to the programme say that the price hurdle has to be cleared first. NAPMA has put an $800 million cap on the value of the contract now being negotiated, and the offer from prime contractor Boeing is "still too expensive".
The programme would include the installation of a new Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa)-developed main computer, with new software for multi-sensor integration and identification, additional workstations and a new digital-communications system, say sources at the German company. The upgrade will also include a new satellite navigation and identification-friend-or-foe system.
Dasa is already carrying out upgrades of the Geilenkirchen-based AWACS fleet of 17 aircraft. The German company has signed a memorandum of agreement with Boeing for installation and checking of the mid-term upgrade, potentially worth DM100 million ($57.8 million).
The German company is now completing its contract for an upgrade involving the installation of a passive target acquisition and tracking system, colour screens for workstations, new UHF radios and a Link 16 datalink. This is being followed by a fleet-wide radar-systems improvement programme.
The mid-term upgrade is to be carried out in 2000-4.
Source: Flight International
