Lockheed to Provide GPS Retrofit for 5,100 Laser Guided Bombs
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Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control, Archbald, PA won a $65.5 million firm-fixed-price contract for qualification testing and retrofit of 5,100 Paveway II laser-guided bombs to add GPS/Inertial Navigation System guidance and required support equipment under the Dual Mode Laser Guided Bomb Program. The contract calls for a 2006 procurement worth $65 million and a five-year procurement with a potential value of $266 million.
The DMLGB is a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS)-based retrofit solution to the US Navy’s current Paveway II inventory…
(with Paveway bombs)
The program will upgrade the Navy’s inventory of Paveway II kits by replacing an existing Computer Control Group (CCG) system with an Inertial Navigation System/Global Positioning System (INS/GPS). The result is a dual-mode all-weather guidance system that works through clouds and other obstacles, providing “fire and forget” capabilities, while still preserving the option of improve accuracy further by homing in on laser designation from aircraft, UAVs, helicopters, or soldiers on the ground in its final phase.
Lockheed Martin has been one of the top qualified sources to produce the Paveway II kits for the Navy and the Air Force with its Laser Guided Bomb (LGB) and Laser Guided Training Round (LGTR) since 1991. Raytheon also produces Paveway and Enhanced Paveway GPS/INS kits, and has a comprehensive support agreement with the British Ministry of Defence.
The DMLGB will be manufactured at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control in Archbald, where the LGB kits, LGTR, specialized instrumentation and control systems, and specialized manufacturing services are produced for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. “Our partnership with the Navy began in 1991 with the joint development of the Paveway II Laser Guided Training Round… and we’re pleased to continue building on this partnership with the Paveway II Dual Mode Laser Guided Bomb” said Cynthia Sailar, vice president and general manager at Lockheed Martin in Archbald, PA. Read full corporate release.
As DID has noted in a previous article, Lockheed Martin’s Missiles and Fire Control 350,000-square-foot facility in Archbald was awarded the Shingo Prize for Manufacturing in March 2005. The Archbald facility was also nominated one of 25 finalists of North America’s Best Plant competition in the July 2005 issue of Industry Week magazine.
Work is expected to be completed in April 2007. This contract was competitively procured through an electronic request for proposals, and two offers were received by the Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD (N00019-06-D-0006).
SIDE NOTE: Lockheed Martin also delivered a new and upgraded GPS Block IIR satellite to Cape Canaveral, in preparation for a January 2006 launch, thus giving them key components at each end of this weapons system.
