Washington, D.C. – Northrop Grumman has beat out Boeing and Lockheed Martin to win a 1.16 billion dollar Navy contract to design and develop an unmanned aircraft for patrolling coastlines and the open ocean.
Although the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance -- or BAMS -- is for the initial development of the plane, the contract could ultimately be worth several billion as the Navy buys as many as 44 unmanned aircraft. The president's 2008 budget request includes 2.3 billion dollars for research, development, test and evaluation for the program plus another 780 million dollars for procurement.
And the Australian government, which has invested in the BAMS development program through a 15 million dollar agreement with the U.S. Navy, is also expected to become a major customer for the new planes.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)