Lockheed Martin [LMT] has received a direct commercial sale (DCS) contract through Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) to integrate the Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP) onto Japan’s F-2 aircraft, according to a Lockheed Martin statement.
Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Melissa Hilliard said Tuesday this initial contract is for one Sniper ATP, which will be delivered in the third quarter of 2016 to begin on-aircraft integration. She declined to provide contract value on customer and competition-sensitive grounds. Lockheed Martin will work with MHI, the prime aircraft manufacturer, to complete Sniper ATP integration.
The contract, awarded in 2014, includes a Sniper pod, spares and support equipment for integration. Follow-on contracts are expected to include additional pods, spares, logistics and support equipment for the F-2 fleet. The F-2, based on the F-16, was jointly developed, and is now being jointly produced, by MHI (Japan’s prime contractor), Lockheed Martin as principal United States subcontractor to MHI, and other Japanese and U.S. industries, according to Lockheed Martin.
Lockheed Martin is responsible for manufacturing the F-2’s aft fuselage, wing leading-edge-flap shipsets, stores management system, data entry electronics unit and portions of each set of avionics support equipment, eight of every 10 left-hand wing box, which is the major portion of the wing, and for other ground and onboard equipment.
MHI has overall design responsibility, including systems integration. They manufacture the forward fuselage, all right-hand wing boxes, two of every10 left-hand wing box, the digital flight controls, other airframe components and avionics systems, and certain support equipment. Key Japan subcontractors include Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI), Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI), IHI (was Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries), and Mitsubishi Electric Company (MELCO).