Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $665.6 million contract to upgrade the Taiwan Navy's P-3C maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft. Upgrades will include new mission system avionics and service life extension kits to extend the aircrafts' service life for an additional 15,000 flight hours.

The Taiwan Navy obtained 12 P-3C aircraft under the U.S. government's Foreign Military Sales program in 2007. Planned mission system upgrades include installation of electronic support measures, acoustics, communications, electro-optic and infrared systems, and new data management software and hardware, controls, displays and mission computers. The service life extension kits include new outer wings, center wing lower surfaces, horizontal stabilizers, horizontal stabilizer leading edges and nacelle components.

"The Lockheed Martin team is committed to providing the Taiwan Navy with state-of-the-art maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft," said Rick Udicious, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin's Tactical Systems line of business. "These upgraded aircraft will allow for continued mission system enhancements over many years of extended operational life."

Work will be performed at Lockheed Martin facilities in Eagan, Minn.; Manassas, Va.; Marietta, Ga.; and Greenville, S.C. The first modernized Taiwan Navy P-3C aircraft will be delivered in 2012.

The P-3 is the primary maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft operated by the U.S. Navy and 18 international allies. Its roles include anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, surveillance and reconnaissance, search and rescue, drug interdiction, economic zone patrol, airborne early warning and electronic warfare.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 146,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2008 sales of $42.7 billion.

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin