NEW YORK, N.Y., 9 May 2005. L-3 Communications announced today that its Integrated Systems (L-3 IS) subsidiary was selected for an 18-month contract to conduct Stage 2 architecture studies for the U.K. Ministry of Defence's Project Helix. The contract is valued at approximately $9 million.
Project Helix is a multi-stage acquisition of an upgraded mission suite for the Nimrod R1 electronic reconnaissance system. The Nimrod R1 is the Royal Air Force's electronic reconnaissance aircraft, which is used to examine routine radio and radar signals and provide electronic combat support to military commanders.
"The L-3 IS team is dedicated to providing the Ministry of Defence with a low-risk, high-performance Helix capability that embodies the best of UK and U.S. technology and systems engineering practices, in an affordable and sustainable system," said Bob Drewes, president of L-3 Integrated Systems.
L-3 IS was one of three companies selected for the first of three assessment phases for Project Helix last year, which focused on requirements understanding, and ensuring that good project management procedures were in place. The Helix Project Team continually assessed the contractors during the first stage, which culminated in a comprehensive six-week evaluation process to make the final choice.
The second stage, which commences in April 2005, will build on the first, with greater focus on the process of system definition. Following this definition stage, there will be another selection for a 'preferred bidder' for the next stage.
The final stage of the assessment phase is a risk reduction exercise, with main gate submission due in late 2007. The demonstration and manufacture phase will commence following main gate approval with a first increment contract of $370 million.
Over a 13-year period, Project Helix has a projected acquisition value of more than $700 million. The project is managed from the Defence Logistics Organization (DLO), within the NIMROD Integrated Project Team (IPT) at RAF Wyton, Cambridgeshire, U.K., and is one of the very few large procurement programs to be managed outside of the U.K.'s Defence Procurement Agency (DPA) headquarters in Abbey Wood, Bristol, U.K.
L-3 Integrated Systems is an SEI CMM Level 5 developer and integrator of complex electronic systems for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. For more than 40 years, the company has performed airframe and mission systems modifications on special mission aircraft for the U.S. Air Force and allied international customers. It is also integrating the UK's first Airborne Stand-Off Radar (ASTOR) aircraft at L-3's Greenville, Texas headquarters. L-3/IS also operates from major sites in Waco and Austin, Texas; Lexington, Ky.; Tulsa, Okla.; Madison, Miss.; and Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Headquartered in New York City, L-3 Communications is a leading provider of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) systems and products, secure communications systems, aircraft modernization, training and government services, and is a merchant supplier of a broad array of high technology products. Its customers include the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, selected U.S. government intelligence agencies and aerospace prime contractors. For more information, see www.L-3Com.com.
