Lockheed Awarded $385.6M Arrowhead Contract

The US Army Aviation and Missile Command has awarded Lockheed Martin a follow-on production contract valued at $385.6 million for Arrowhead, the Army's modernized target acquisition and designation sight/pilot night vision sensor (TADS/PNVS) for AH-64 Apache attack helicopters.

The $385.6 million agreement authorizes production of 219 Arrowhead kits plus spares for the US Army and foreign military sales. Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control will produce the systems in Orlando and Ocala, Fla. Final deliveries for the US Army’s AH-64 Apache helicopters and for international customers will be made in December 2010, the company said.

Lockheed Martin signed the original TADS/PNVS production contract in 1982, and the first TADS/PNVS system was fielded in 1983. The first Arrowhead production contract was awarded in 2003. Lockheed Martin completed the first Arrowhead system, known as the "eyes of the Apache," for the US Army in 2005 and installed it on the first Apache helicopters that year.

"This award will allow Lockheed Martin to continue to partner with US Army Aviation," said Bob Gunning, Apache Fire Control program director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "Apache aviators will benefit from unprecedented capabilities in target ascquisition/designation and night pilotage."

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