ATK, Lockheed, Northrop Join To Pursue Multi-Role Weapons Contracts

Alliant Techsystems Inc. [ATK], Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT] and Northrop Grumman Corp. [NOC] announced they signed a teaming agreement to jointly pursue the emerging market for advanced capability multi-role missiles able to provide both air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities.

Those companies aim to pool their expertise on sensors, automatic target recognition, guidance navigation and control, air vehicles, propulsion, lethality, survivability, mission planning, platform integration, system engineering, and program management.

As the F-22 Raptor supersonic-superstealth fighter, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that is called the Lightning II in the United States, unmanned aerial systems, and future aircraft platforms are fielded over the next decade, the companies believe an advanced multi-role weapon requirement will emerge that covers both the air-to-air and air-to-ground missions.

Raytheon Gains $38.5 Million Patriot Missiles Upgrade Contract

Raytheon Co. [RTN] received a $38.5 million contract from COMLOG to upgrade Patriot missiles for South Korea.

COMLOG is a joint venture between Raytheon and German missile company LFK, a member of the multi-national MBDA group.

The contract follows the sale of Patriot systems from the German Ministry of Defense to the South Korean Air Force.

Raytheon will upgrade the Patriots at its Integrated Air Defense Center in Andover, Mass.

"The contract enables the upgrade of 64 Korean Patriot Advanced Capability-2 missiles to Guidance Enhanced Missile-Tactical, or GEM-T, configuration, providing enhanced capability against ballistic and cruise missiles, aircraft and remotely piloted vehicles," said Sanjay Kapoor, vice president of Patriot programs for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems.

This contract complements awards to Raytheon for command and control, communications, maintenance support, and engineering support for the South Korean Patriot program earlier this year.

Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems is the prime contractor for the Patriot system and the integration of all variants of the system.

Raytheon Moves To Bid For Indian GPS System

Raytheon Co. [RTN] is moving to bid on an Indian global positioning system, the company announced.

Leading a team of contractors, Raytheon proposes a system for the Indian Space Research Organization and Airports Authority of India global navigation satellite systems.

This will complete the final phase of the Global Positioning Satellite-Aided Geosynchronous Augmented Navigation System, or GAGAN.

It will provide satellite-based navigation for civil aviation across South and East Asia, which will provide India with accurate, flexible and efficient air navigation capabilities.

The Raytheon team will leverage the experience it gained during the past several years in deploying the technology demonstration system phase of GAGAN.

That GAGAN design is based on the experience gained delivering what Raytheon described as the only certified space-based augmentation systems.

For instance, the Wide Area Augmentation System was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration in July 2003, and the MTSAT Satellite Augmentation System was certified by the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau in September 2007.

Companies on the Raytheon team are Accord Software and Systems, Pvt. Ltd. of Bangalore, India, for GPS-based user receiver prototype development optimized for the equatorial region; Elcome Technologies, Pvt. Ltd. of Gurgaon, India, for logistical and on-site support; and Naverus, Inc., of Kent, Washington, for performance- based navigation route design, procedure flight validation and other related services.

Lockheed Gains $119.2 Million For Advanced AEHF Materials

The Air Force gave Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT] a $119.2 million contract change to cover costs of advance materials for an Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Corp. will handle advance procurement of long-lead parts of the AEHF Satellite Vehicle 4 in the current fiscal year 2008 that ends Sept. 30.

AEHF is to provide secure, survivable communications to the U.S. war-fighters during all levels of conflict and is the protected backbone of the Department of Defense Military Satellite Communications architecture.

Advance procurement ensures that parts with significant lead times will be in place to begin SV4 full production on schedule.