
The Marine Corps on Thursday awarded Lockheed Martin [LMT] a $304 million low-rate initial production (LRIP) contract for two CH-53K helicopters, another milestone in the $27 billion program for the service’s new heavy lift aircraft.The Pentagon in April approved the Navy’s request to move into the production and deployment phase for the CH-53K King Stallion following a successful engineering and manufacturing development effort by Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky unit. The King Stallion will replace the CH-53E Super Stallion and will provide…