Lockheed Martin, ORLANDO, FL: Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract valued at approximately $75 million for the purchase of 13 Arrowhead Modernized Target Acquisition and Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor (M-TADS/PNVS) systems that will serve as the day/night vision system for the Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter.
Under the contract, Lockheed Martin will build 13 M-TADS/PNVS systems incorporating its newly designed advanced Arrowhead Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) and its new TADS electronic display and control (TEDAC) unit for the Army. The contract also covers installation and integration support for the systems as well as high rate production tooling and test equipment.
“This contract represents a new milestone for the Arrowhead team because this is the first time we will build and deliver complete systems to the U.S. Army,” said Jack McClafferty, Arrowhead program director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “Arrowhead technology will provide the U.S. Army with an advanced targeting and navigation capability to help warfighters triumph in the defining moments of battle.”
The U.S. Army Aviation & Missile Command, based at the Army's Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, AL, is the contracting agency. Work will take place at the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control facility in Orlando, FL. Deliveries will begin in early 2007 and should be completed by early 2008.
Since November 2003, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control has been under contract to build Arrowhead kits for the U.S. Army. The Arrowhead kit contains new line replaceable modules plus modified components. When these modules are integrated with the legacy TADS/PNVS(TM) hardware at the flightline, it will become the M-TADS/PNVS system.
Lockheed Martin assembled the first M-TADS/PNVS unit for the Boeing AH-64 Apache Longbow helicopter and presented it to the U.S. Army in May 2005 during the annual Army Aviation Association of America Convention held in Orlando, FL. U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Edward Sinclair, Commanding General of Ft. Rucker, AL, and the Aviation Branch Chief, was the keynote speaker at the roll-out ceremony. He said during his speech that “M-TADS/PNVS is transforming aviation and meeting warfighter needs.”
