CH-53E Helicopter Night Vision Turret Order Rises to 109
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Raytheon Co. Space and Airborne Systems in El Segundo, CA is being awarded a $38.8 million firm-fixed-price delivery order against a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-04-D-0070) for the procurement of 83 AN/AAQ-29A night vision system kits. These are turreted FLIR units (Forward Looking Infra-Red, feeds images to a display screen inside) and system electronics to be installed on and in CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters.
The AN/AAQ-29A is a lightweight, high performance FLIR that incorporates a 480 x 640 element, 3-5 micron wavelength indium antimonite detector and a three field of view telescope on a 12-inch diameter turret. Small and powerful, Raytheon’s Q-29A can support a variety of helicopter missions including low-level navigation, surveillance, and high altitude long-range targeting.
An H-53 long-range heavy-lift helicopter variant was used in Operation Eagle Claw, the 1980 attempt to free the American hostages in Tehran.
This delivery order brings the total number of CH-53 night vision B-kits kits ordered under this contract to 109, and the total outlays to around $53 million. Work will be performed in El Segundo, CA (77%); Midland, ON, Canada (11%); Goleta, CA (10%); and Albuquerque, NM (2%), and is expected to be complete in September 2009. The Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD issued the contract.
