ARLINGTON, Va., 24 March 2009. SELEX Galileo won a $9.2 million contract from TKC Aerospace Inc. to upgrade the Customs and Border Protection C-550 Citation Tracker Aircraft with its Vixen 500E intercept radar and associated mission management system. The contract is for the first two radars and mission management systems, with options for additional systems to upgrade the remainder of the fleet.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operates interceptor aircraft to detect, deter, and mitigate threats to the United States homeland, including terrorists, acts of terrorism, drug smuggling, and the unlawful movement of people, money, and goods across U.S. borders.

According to Patrick Geraghty, executive vice president of Radar Systems for SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems U.S. Inc., "This upgrade program will not only improve the operational efficiency and effectiveness of the C-550 Citation fleet, but it will lower life cycle support costs, primarily due to the order-of-magnitude improvement in system reliability compared with equivalent conventional radars. This contract confirms E-scan technology as a mission critical asset in highly demanding, long endurance, surveillance and intercept missions."