BAE SYSTEMS TO PROVIDE MISSION COMPUTERS FOR U.S. AIR FORCE

BAE SYSTEMS has been awarded two contracts worth about $20 million from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company to provide subsystems for the U.S. Air Force's C-130J Hercules and C-5 Galaxy aircraft. The contracts were awarded between April and June.

BAE SYSTEMS Information & Electronic Warfare Systems (IEWS) business unit, in Nashua, New Hampshire, will provide Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company with 154 mission computer systems. IEWS will also provide Lockheed Martin with 28 mission computer system to support C-27J aircraft for the Italian Air Force. These systems automate cockpit and aircraft systems and diagnostics, enabling a two-pilot crew and a loadmaster to operate the entire aircraft.

"Since 2000, the mission computer program has been modernized, and the BAE SYSTEMS team has done an outstanding job in exceeding the customer's expectations," said BAE SYSTEMS' Program Manager Mitch Burte. The mission computer has four major subassemblies, two produced by IEWS and two others by key subcontractors Aeroflex Inc., and BC Systems, Inc.

BAE SYSTEMS has delivered nearly 300 mission computers to date under previous contracts. Delivery of the current 182 systems will begin in June 2004, with completion by June 2006.

BAE SYSTEMS and Lockheed Martin's Marietta, Ga., facility have also joined forces to upgrade C-5 Galaxy computers. BAE SYSTEMS leveraged its current technology in the C-130J mission computer to win a competitive bid for 27 Backup Integrating Processors (BIPs) on the C-5 aircraft.

Deliveries will begin later this year and are expected to conclude in May 2004.