By
RICHARD R. BURGESS
Litton Industries
has entered into agreement with Avondale Industries to purchase Avondale
in a transaction valued at $529 million, an acquisition that will put both
major Gulf Coast shipyards--Avondale in New Orleans, La., and Ingalls in
Pascagoula, Miss.--under Litton. Litton outbid Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS)
for acquisition of Avondale, but Litton's own bid for acquisition of NNS
remained in doubt after officials in the Department of Defense expressed
opposition to the proposed merger.
Litton's
simultaneous but separate bids for both Avondale--which builds amphibious
warfare and auxiliary ships--and Newport News Shipbuilding--which builds
nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines--came on the heels of the
NNS bid for Avondale, as well as a General Dynamics bid for NNS that
failed in the face of government opposition. Litton's acquisition of
Avondale will broaden Litton's ship product line to include medium-size
amphibious warfare ships and auxiliary ships.
"Litton's
combination with Avondale creates a world-class shipbuilding
operation," said Michael R. Brown, chairman and CEO of Litton
Industries. "We believe the synergies and management strength created
by this combination will benefit the U.S. Navy and our other customers
through long-term savings and innovative, cost-effective solutions to
21st-century shipbuilding needs."
Albert L. Bossier
Jr., Avondale's chairman and CEO, is expected to continue to manage
Avondale shipbuilding operations, Litton officials said.
DOD objections to
Litton's proposed acquisition of NNS reportedly centered on concerns that
the merger would concentrate military shipbuilding to an unacceptable
degree. Litton's acquisition of Avondale leaves only three major
corporations in control of the six major U.S. shipbuilding companies that
have survived the post-Cold War downsizing: NNS; General Dynamics (Bath
Iron Works, Electric Boat, and National Steel and Shipbuilding Company);
and Litton (Ingalls and Avondale).
Raytheon to
Develop Next-Generation Radar
Raytheon Systems
Company has been awarded a $140 million Navy contract for engineering and
manufacturing development (EMD) of the next-generation shipborne radar for
U.S. Navy ships. The Multifunction Radar (MFR) will be an X-band
solid-state multifunction system that will be installed on future aircraft
carriers and destroyers.
Raytheon will
develop the MFR prototype through the operational test phase under a
five-year contract. More than 45 MFR units are expected to be built for
installation on CVN 77, DD 21 land-attack destroyers, and other
21st-century warships. The MFR will be manufactured at Raytheon facilities
in Andover, Mass., and Dallas, Texas.
"MFR is the
cornerstone of the U.S. Navy's program to develop an advanced solid-state
radar suite for carriers and destroyers of the next century--CVN 77 and DD
21," said Jack Cronin, director for advanced naval programs at
Raytheon.
Raytheon Wins
Additional T-6A Texan II Orders
Raytheon Aircraft
Company has been awarded a $64.5 million contract option to produce 22
T-6A Texan II primary training aircraft for the Air Force and Navy. The
contract order brings the total of T-6As on order to 68 production
aircraft and one built for manufacturing development purposes. The
contract also brings the total value of the T-6A program to $459 million.
Raytheon
officials said the company expects to sell more than 700 T-6As to the Air
Force and Navy by 2014, and "a similar number" to other nations.
The company has received orders for 24 T-6A-1 aircraft from Bombardier
Services for the NATO Flying Training Canada program, and expects to build
45 aircraft for the Hellenic Air Force (Greece).
Lockheed
Martin Wins Further P-3C AIP Orders
Lockheed Martin
Tactical Defense Systems (LMTDS) has been awarded a follow-on contract to
modernize up to 100 Navy P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft with the
Antisurface Warfare Improvement Program (AIP) kit.
The AIP upgrade
includes installation of an improved radar, and infrared sensor, optical
sensors, communications systems, tactical displays, and countermeasures
systems, as well as the addition of the AGM-65 Maverick antisurface
missile and AGM-84E SLAM (standoff land-attack missile).
The $56 million
contract calls for the engineering development and production of 11 AIP
kits, with options for many more. The contract and its options have a
potential value of $350 million, company officials said. The new contract
follows the initial AIP contract, awarded in September 1994 for the
upgrade of 29 P-3Cs.
Lockheed Martin's
Aircraft and Logistics Center in Greenville, S.C., will perform the kit
installations.
The AIP version
of the Orion entered service in 1998 and has been used for reconnaissance
missions in the Balkans. The AIP P-3C launched AGM-84E SLAM missiles
against targets in Yugoslavia earlier this year.
In a related
development, LMTDS has delivered the first two of four P-3Cs being
upgraded by the company for the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF). The
contract with the RNoAF calls for Lockheed Martin to provide systems
integration, fabrication, installation, and delivery of upgrade kits that
incorporate advanced sensors, computers, operator stations, and
communications systems into Norway's fleet of P-3C surveillance and patrol
aircraft. The program was authorized under a Foreign Military Sales
agreement administered by the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command.
Defense
Industry Notes
General
Dynamics will be back in the business of building aircraft with its
pending addition of Gulfstream Aerospace to its portfolio.
Gulfstream, based in Savannah, Ga., manufactures C-20 Gulfstream III/IV
executive jet transports for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and
Coast Guard, as well as the C-37 Gulfstream V for the Air Force. General
Dynamics Chairman and CEO Nicholas D. Chabraja said that Gulfstream
"is a superbly run company and ... produces the best business jets in
the world."
Raytheon
Systems Company has been awarded a $38 million Navy contract to
deliver 35 AAS-44(V) high-performance thermal imaging and laser
detecting/ranging/tracking sensor sets. The systems will be installed
on SH-60B Seahawk shipboard helicopters as part of a program to arm the
helicopters with Hellfire missiles.
Computer
Sciences Corporation (CSC) has won a Naval Surface Warfare Center
contract valued at $127.3 million--if all options are exercised--to provide
engineering and technical support for the development and maintenance of
Aegis tactical computer programs at Dahlgren, Va. The company also has
been awarded a five-year $28 million contract to provide engineering
support at Dahlgren for the Mk41 VLS (vertical launching system).
In a related development, Marconi Systems Technologies also has
been awarded a contract--valued at $23 million--to provide computer
support for the Mk41 VLS program.
Logicon
has been awarded a five-year $43 million Naval Undersea Warfare Center
contract to integrate a "synthetic" battle space with
"real-world" at-sea environments at the Navy's various undersea
ranges and test facilities.
Analysis &
Technology (A&T) has been awarded a $49.6 million Naval Undersea
Warfare Center contract to provide engineering support for the Navy's Undersea
Weapon System (UWS) Program. The contract calls for A&T to develop
new technologies and maintain current data-collection and display systems
for the Navy's USW test ranges.
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