The Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin [LMT] an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP) Post Production Support (PPS) contract, according to a company statement.
The potential value of the contract over a seven-year period is $841 million.
The contract, to be awarded incrementally over five years with two single-option years, is for a variety of upgrades to the legacy Sniper ATP fleet, including hardware and software upgrades and platform integration, which may include transition of legacy pods into the cutting-edge Advanced Targeting Pod-Sensor Enhancement configuration (ATP-SE). Additionally, the PPS contract may include spares, technical data and studies and the support of organic depot requirements for Sniper pod sustainment, the statement said.
Ashlie Payne, Sniper program manager in Lockheed Martin’s missiles and fire control business, told Defense Daily in a telephone interview Tuesday the transition of legacy pods into the ATP-SE configuration is contingent on a formal contract from the Air Force.
“Until we get a contract that says we’re going to upgrade the pods, we can’t say that is going to happen,” she said. “So, basically, this is a vehicle to allow them to put a delivery order for us to do any of these efforts under this contract.”
Payne added the PPS contract is for any upgrade performed after actual production is completed.
Jon Sutter, Lockheed Martin’s fixed wing business development manager, also told Defense Daily in a telephone interview Tuesday that all of the pods produced so far have been ATPs and following production of those legacy ATPs, the company will start producing the ATP-SE configuration.
“This part of the contract is not only the sustainment and the upgrades and things like that, but going back, modernizing and retrofitting the pods that have already been fielded as well,” Sutter said.
Sutter said the company expects the Sniper ATPs to be used on F-15, F-16, A-10, F-1 and B-52 aircraft.
The Air Force selected Lockheed Martin as the winner of the 60 percent share of the $2.3 billion ATP-SE competition in October 2010. Northrop Grumman [NOC] was awarded the 40 percent share. Under the terms of the Lockheed Martin contract, the government has options to buy up to 670 pods through 2017 (Defense Daily, Oct. 22, 2010).