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| Lockheed Martin Wins Spy Plane Contract |
| 2004-08-03 |
| WASHINGTON (AP) - Lockheed Martin won a contract Monday to develop a spy plane for the Army and Navy, the military announced. The plane, called the Aerial Common Sensor, will replace two Army spy planes as well as one operated by the Navy, the Army's Communications-Electronics Command said in a press release. The command is based at Fort Monmouth, N.J. The airframe will be built by Brazil-based Embraer. The plane will have a radar and a system to intercept communications, the Army said. The contract, worth $879 million, specifies that Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed develop and test the plane. Future contracts will cover the purchase of the operational model of the aircraft. The military expects to spend $7 billion on the Aerial Common Sensor program over its lifetime, an Army spokesman said. Lockheed beat rival defense firm Northrop Grumman for the contract. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #5 Replacement for the old KingAir (Guardrails). We used to say that the guys who flew these special mission aircraft proved that there were still heroes. |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-08-03 11:11:30 PM |
| #4 Shot down by a Sea Dart..... what not to put on your aircrafts resume. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-08-03 8:13:13 PM |
| #3 "Leg Room is everything in a decent spyplane" Even in these com-air based stand-off types, there is always a chance of having to make a hasty exit, so that is a legitimate consideration. During the Falklands War of 1982, Argentine Learjets flew recce missions near and sometimes over the British forces. These aircraft were normally used for civil-oriented photo-mapping, a task for which various Learjet are widely used around the world. They did fairly well in the combat environment with several dozen successful sorties and a single loss (to a Sea Dart SAM toward the end of the conflict). |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-08-03 6:26:21 PM |
| #2 Leg Room is everything in a decent spyplane. |
| Posted by: Col Flagg 2004-08-03 3:48:25 PM |
| #1 Embraer has aggressively pursued military applications for its EMB-145 Regional Jet, and there are a number of distinct configurations for various surveillance missions, with more planned. EMB-145 recce |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-08-03 8:34:51 AM |