Boeing awarded contract for AH-64D Apache Longbows

Boeing in St. Louis and the U.S. Army signed a $1.15 billion contract for the remanufacture of 96 AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters for the Army and 30 AH-64Ds for the United Arab Emirates. “The firm, fixed-price contract for 126 aircraft brings considerable work to the Mesa, Ariz., Apache production facility as well as to team Apache suppliers around the world,” says David Almond, Boeing Apache Block II program manager. “It also ensures a ‘warm’ assembly line for the U.S. Army and our international customers as we move forward with current and future Apache production commitments in the next decade.” Boeing will deliver the first remanufactured Apache Longbow produced under the new contract to the Army this fall. Work began in March 2006 following the award of a long-lead agreement. The contract brings the total number of remanufactured AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters to 597. Army officials have ordered an additional 27 new-build Apaches as war-replacement aircraft. The Apache Longbow aircraft, to be built in the Block II configuration, are in addition to the 501 remanufactured AH-64D Apache Longbows built between 1997 and 2006 under two five-year, multiyear contracts. Under a foreign military sales agreement, the United Arab Emirates is upgrading its fleet of AH-64A Apache helicopters to the next-generation configuration. The Apache Longbow helicopters feature fully integrated avionics and weapons and can rapidly detect, classify, prioritize, and engage stationary and moving opposition targets at standoff ranges in nearly all weather environments.

Lockheed Martin wins contract for Inmarsat satellite network

Inmarsat awarded Lockheed Martin a $36.5 million contract to develop technology that will enable Inmarsat to expand its market reach into the commercial handheld mobile satellite service market. Under the two-year contract, Lockheed Martin will deliver and install three Network Control Center/Gateways that provide connectivity to public terrestrial networks. Inmarsat’s modernized, global network to be implemented in 2008 will operate via satellite and will provide their customers with cellular service in extreme locations. The network will rely on the existing Inmarsat I-4 Satellites and dual-mode Global System for Mobile Communications/Satellite handheld terminals. “Lockheed Martin has tremendous domain experience, having partnered successfully with ASIA Cellular Satellite Network (ACeS) on the GEO-Mobile Radio (GMR-2) air interface from which we intend to evolve a next generation suite of products and solutions focused on voice services,” says Rupert Pearce, group general counsel of Inmarsat, who is leading Inmarsat’s voice service project. In the late 1990s, Lockheed Martin was instrumental in developing the ACeS network, on which the current system operates. The existing handheld satellite phone network will continue on the ASIA Cellular satellite network until the global system being developed under this contract is completed in 2008.