$7 billion AWACS contract for Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Gru

$7 billion AWACS contract for Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman

13 June 2001

US Air Force officials at Hanscom AFB have signed a $7 billion contract with three aircraft contracting giants recently that continues Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft modernisation, sustainment and support for the next 18 years.

The AWACS Programme Office signed the AWACS Modernisation and Sustainment Support agreement, or AMASS, with Boeing and its subcontractors Northrop-Grumman and Lockheed Martin. The agreement provides a complete, start-to-finish system perspective for AWACS, said Lt. Col. Sidney Kimhan, AMASS programme manager who is now retired.

"AWACS is... unique in that it's been in service for almost 25 years and will likely be around for at least another 25," Kimhan said. "The system has had tremendous success, but we realised that to maintain and expand on that success, we needed to look at a somewhat different management approach."

AMASS offers a "top-down" focus and places greater responsibility on the contractor to integrate the contractor teams' support to the customer and to identify ways to maximise weapon system performance, said Col. Chuck Turbe, AWACS systems division chief here.

The contract length provides a long term planning foundation for the contractors and encourages them to invest in innovative research and development specifically focused on airborne early warning and control systems.

The programme office designed the contract to be incentive-laden, offsetting concerns about how to ensure affordable, best-value solutions during the entire length of this contract. For instance, the contract contains a special award pool that rewards the contractor team for, among other things, developing enterprise integration initiatives and using cost-avoidance and cost-reduction practices.

"Collaboration with all our partners showed that everyone agreed we'd benefit from this approach," Turbe said. "It's clear to everyone that, every time we touch this plane, we've got to get the most out of it, and this will help us do that."

by Chuck Paone Electronic Systems Centre Public Affairs


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