The Navy and industry partners Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Sikorsky are nearing an agreement on a contract to support the fleet of MH-60 Seahawk helicopters for the next six years, executives from the two firms said Monday.
Rod Skotty, the president of the Maritime Helicopter Support Company, a joint venture formed by Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky, said a contract could be awarded by the end of January.
“We are in the final throes of negotiating that,” Skotty said. “We expect to have a contract in place by the end of this month.”
Skotty would not specify the value of the potential contract that would cover work through 2020. But he expects it would be “significantly” higher than the current $1.4 billion contract because the fleet will grow to more than 500 helicopters, and there are additional parts associated with added capabilities for the MH-60 Seahawks.
“We’re going from 1,266 parts to 1,710 parts, and more aircraft,” he said. “By all logic it (contract value) should increase significantly.”
Lockheed Martin provides the avionics and systems on the MH-60 Romeo and Sierra variants, while Sikorsky, a division of United Technologies [UTX], builds the airframe. The two firms created the Maritime Helicopter Support Company in 2004 to manage the supplies, spare parts and repairs for the aircraft.
The venture is working on a performance-based model, which pays it for every hour the MH-60s are in the air, incentivizing the two companies to find efficient processes to keep the birds flying, Skotty said.
Since forming, the partnership has received about $2.6 billion in contracts, including for the sustainment of Australia’s fleet of MH-60s, Skotty said.