Raytheon [RTN] has joined Boeing‘s [BA] EP-X industry team to develop a manned airborne intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting aircraft that will replace the Navy’s EP-3 signals intelligence (SIGINT) platform, Boeing said last week.
Raytheon, also a member of Boeing’s P-8A Poseidon industry team, will be responsible for EP-X sensor integration and multi-intelligence integration and play a significant role in core mission systems. Raytheon joins Argon ST, a leading designer and developer of SIGINT sensors and information operations systems, on the Boeing EP-X team, the company said.
The Navy awarded Boeing a $1.25 million EP-X concept refinement contract in February. Since then, Boeing and Argon ST have been defining program requirements and developing initial system concepts. As prime contractor for P-8A, Boeing plans to draw on that program’s logistics, maintenance, support, training and other relevant data for EP- X.
Along with Boeing, the Navy also awarded Lockheed Martin [LMT] and the Northrop Grumman [NOC]-L-3 [LLL] team each $1.25 million contracts to develop the program requirements and potential system concepts EP-X (Defense Daily, Feb. 8).
The Navy will solicit proposals for the technology development phase of the program in the coming months and select contractors for that phase in 2009, Boeing said.