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Chicago Tribune
May 8, 2004

Boeing, Lockheed In Chase For Sub Hunters

By Susan Chandler, Tribune staff reporter

ST. LOUIS--As a Navy pilot, Tim Norgart spent more than 4,500 hours flying Lockheed P-3 Orions, a trusty propeller plane designed to hunt enemy submarines in the ocean's deep blue water.

Through engine trouble and onboard fires, the P-3 always got him safely home.

Now, Norgart works for Boeing Corp., Lockheed Martin Corp.'s chief rival, and he's doing everything possible to knock P-3s from the skies.

In about a month, the Navy will choose between the companies in awarding a $3 billion contract to develop a new-generation anti-submarine aircraft.

Lockheed's entry is an updated version of the venerable plane that Norgart flew: a four-engine propeller craft with the same dimensions as its predecessor. The twin-jet-engine Boeing entry is nothing like the P-3.

Although the initial Navy contract will cover the development of only a few prototypes, it puts the winner in position to land a $20 billion deal if the Navy proceeds with its plans to procure a new anti-submarine fleet of more than 100 aircraft.

Competition for the contract for the sub hunter, known as the MMA, or multimission maritime aircraft, is bare-knuckled.

Boeing says Lockheed is trying to palm off a 1950s-era plane on a high-tech Navy. "We're not warming stuff over," scoffed Norgart.

Lockheed says its aircraft is more affordable and better suited to search for subs because it can fly low and stay longer, conserving fuel by turning off engines.

The bigger question is whether the Navy will pony up the big money for the anti-submarine fleet a few years down the road.

There are lots of doubters.

"The Navy is much more interested in aircraft carriers, destroyers and the FA-18 Super Hornet," said Loren Thompson, military analyst with the Lexington Institute, a defense think tank in Arlington, Va. "This could become a bill payer for other, higher priority initiatives."

History tends to support the skeptics.

In the late 1980s, the Navy had another competition to find a successor for the P-3. Lockheed proposed the P-7; Boeing offered a derivative of its 757 commercial jetliner. Lockheed won, but the Navy canceled the program.

Norgart is doing his best to ensure Boeing carries the day this time, and several analysts say the odds appear to favor Boeing.

The Chicago-based aerospace manufacturer is offering the Navy a new aircraft based on the Boeing 737, the most popular commercial jet ever made.

The new aircraft wouldn't have windows, but it would have weapons on its wings and a bay from which to drop torpedoes or bombs. Sonar buoys would be deployed from holes in the aircraft's belly.

Inside, crew members would sit in front of sophisticated computers analyzing data from the aircraft's sensors. Because it is a jet, the 737 derivative would be able to get to the scene faster, narrowing the search area, Boeing says.

"It's a real Cadillac system," said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with Teal Group. "No one in recent years has converted a jetliner into an anti-sub weapon."

Boeing also believes its vast inventory of replacement parts and numerous stations around the world where 737s are serviced add to its entry's appeal.

"Today, the Department of Defense has to pay for a support system for 220 P-3s. We don't think they should have to do that," said Norgart, who works at Boeing's defense headquarters here. "We can save the Navy $300 million in initial spare parts and over $60 million annually by letting us carry the inventory."

Boeing also is touting the reliability of the workhorse 737, the only aircraft flown by Southwest Airlines, which relies on quick aircraft turnarounds to keep its fares low.

But turning a 737 into an anti-submarine aircraft is another matter, military analysts say, because Boeing would have to cut a bay into a pressurized airframe, no simple undertaking.

Lockheed isn't about to give up the fight.

The Bethesda, Md.-based military contractor calls its contender the Orion 21. From the outside, it looks like an old P3, but everything inside, from the avionics to the propulsion system, is new, says Lockheed.

"We have offered a technically superior solution that provides the U.S. Navy with a low-risk, affordable solution," said Jack Crisler, Lockheed's director of business development for the MMA project.

Lockheed says it has a global support system, too, with 16 nations operating P-3s. And Crisler derides the idea the Navy is interested in replacement parts that might have been destined for commercial carriers.

"The Navy wants a closed inventory loop," he said.

Lockheed and Boeing's bids are strong, Aboulafia said, but if the Navy doesn't fund the program, Lockheed wins because it will continue to upgrade the existing P-3 fleet.

No matter who carries the day, the Navy's anti-submarine fleet will be getting smaller.

The collapse of the Soviet Union removed the biggest submarine threat, military experts say. And the Pentagon is reordering its military priorities to better fit the guerrilla-type wars the U.S. is fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, where submarines aren't an issue.

But the Navy says it isn't ready to write off potential submarine threats from such other countries as China and Iran, which operate diesel submarines that can be hard to detect near coastlines.

"From the Navy's perspective, one of the most important things we look at is the [submarine] threat," said Commander Mike Hewitt, the Navy's P-3/MMA requirements officer.

Hunting subs is a "capability you want to keep intact," agreed Aboulafia. "It's almost a black art, an arcane science."

Still, much anti-submarine reconnaissance in the future will be carried out by unmanned aerial vehicles, known as UAVs for short. The Navy is in the process of developing UAVs, and the new anti-submarine aircraft would have to work with them, Hewitt said.

Even with UAVs, the Navy says it will need more than 100 anti-submarine aircraft.

"They cannot afford for the MMA program to slide," Norgart said. "The P-3s are being retired faster than anyone ever anticipated. There are so few of them left, they can't do the mission they were doing before."

A win for Boeing's defense business would benefit the company's commercial side as well.

Its 737 production line is running at a little more than half capacity, and an order for 100 aircraft, spread out over decades, would provide a giant, long-term boost.

But in the short-term, it wouldn't mean much. The prototypes are scheduled for 2006, and the first group of production craft wouldn't be ready until 2013.

In the greater scheme of Boeing's business, the contract isn't all that important, analysts say. Its defense business is booming, even with a $23.5 billion deal for Air Force refueling tankers stalled.

"The big Boeing story for the next five years will be the recovery of the commercial aircraft cycle," said Thompson of the Lexington Institute.

"That will make the MMA and tankers look a lot less important than they did a year ago."
 

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Lockheed Martin's Multi-Mission Maritime Aircraft Offers Latest Mission System Technologies for the U.S. Navy
Monday April 5, 4:58 pm ET

WASHINGTON, April 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT - News) today unveiled its offering for the Navy's Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) program at the Navy League of the United States trade show. Designated Orion21, the company's design brings together the latest network centric mission system technologies while offering the Navy a low risk, proven military capability.

The U.S. Navy has designated MMA as its long-term maritime patrol and reconnaissance system solution for the 21st century. MMA missions include antisubmarine warfare (ASW), antisurface warfare (ASuW), and maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR).

Lockheed Martin's offering reflects six decades of Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance experience that comes from having hundreds of P-3 Orion aircraft in operation with 14 countries. Orion21 is backed by a Logistics Partnership that leverages strengths from both the Navy and industry.

"We are dedicated to providing a platform that will be fully weaponized, missionized and supported at initial operational capability," said Jack Crisler, director of MMA Business Development for Lockheed Martin. "We have taken the world's most proficient and proven sub-hunter and transformed it into a weapon system with unmatched capability, performance and availability."

Lockheed Martin's MMA provides a true multi-mission capability to meet both current and future weapon and sensor requirements, Crisler said, adding that Orion21 provides unprecedented performance in all primary mission areas, with significant growth capability at reduced operational and support costs.

Lockheed Martin is offering a rugged, all new-production weapon system based on the proven P-3 airframe. The entire weapon system meets or exceeds all U.S. Navy requirements and includes an advanced commercial-derivative propulsion system, open system avionics architecture, and a logistics program focused on real-time fleet health assessments and global supply chain management. Orion21 will provide over 50% increase in mission range and endurance over legacy systems. All established features of the P-3 that have enabled crews to successfully operate it in the harsh, corrosive marine environment are carried forward and further improved with Orion21. These features will enable austere basing and provide high availability rates, particularly in a wartime environment.

Orion21 features a fully digitized all-glass cockpit and a propulsion system that includes the Pratt & Whitney PW150 engine and Hamilton Sundstrand NP2000 propeller. The PW150 is part of the highly successful PW100 engine family. Pratt & Whitney's PW100 family is a global leader in the regional airline turboprop market that produces 99.96 percent dispatch reliability with more than 80 million operating hours on more than 1,900 aircraft. The Hamilton Sundstrand NP2000 propeller is currently in production for the Navy's E-2C Hawkeye and C-2 aircraft retrofit programs. The NP2000 includes eight all-composite blades with individual blade replacement capability for a reduced logistics footprint. It operates more quietly than the current P-3C propeller.

Lockheed Martin made a deliberate design decision to select a turboprop engine based configuration because it optimizes ASW mission profile performance. The turboprop engines will give the aircraft 25 percent more power, 60 percent more thrust and burn 27 percent less fuel than a turbofan, while providing 50 percent faster thrust response under key ASW low altitude loiter conditions. These characteristics are important when flying at heavy weights, slow speeds and very low altitudes, which is how the Navy will operate this aircraft. The selection of this advanced engine and propeller combination allows the Lockheed Martin MMA solution to exceed all performance- based requirements with an unprecedented level of persistence and availability. This propulsion system brings a balanced capability to all required missions. MMA will have to be flown high, low, fast and slow and remain on-station for very long periods of time while carrying a variety of weapon and sensor packages.

Lockheed Martin's MMA open avionics architecture is designed to the principles established by the DoD Open-System Joint Task Force. Modular hardware and software components permit interchangeability while providing information protection. Module interfaces based on open standards provide technical refreshes more affordably which adds to system robustness. The increased availability of computer processing power, when applied in combination with the MMA sensors and workstations, provides unprecedented warfighter capability and growth.

Lockheed Martin's Orion21 assures U.S. Navy blue water and littoral dominance and unparalleled force protection for the next 40 years.

Lockheed Martin was awarded MMA Component Advanced Development Phase I and II contracts by the U.S. Navy in September 2002 and February 2003, respectively. The contract for the next phase, System Development and Demonstration (SDD), is scheduled for contract award in June 2004. MMA is expected to enter service no later than 2013 and the Navy forecasts a need for up to 150 aircraft.

Lockheed Martin has built 759 P-3s, of which 251 are operated by the U.S. Navy.
 

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December 10, 2003
Converted 737 impresses Navy pilots, says Boeing
Steve Wilhelm
A Boeing 737 business jet seems to have gained approval from Navy pilots during a recent demonstration tour designed to increase Boeing's chances of supplying the Navy with up to 150 of the aircraft.

The demonstration tour of five Navy bases included vigorous maneuvers such steep climbs, dives and turns never experienced by passengers of commercial 737s, often while running on only one engine.

"The Navy folks were very impressed. This is a real competitive advantage we have," said Boeing Integrated Defense Systems spokesman Randy Harrison, about the 737's capabilities.

Boeing is competing against Lockheed Martin Corp. for the contract for the "multi-mission maritime aircraft," known in the industry as the MMA. A win could be a significant boost for the Puget Sound economy, rivaling the impact of the 100-aircraft Boeing 767 tanker contract, now suspended following ethical violations by top Boeing officials.

The flying tour was one step in Boeing's campaign to win the MMA contract, which is to be announced next June. The proposals are due Dec. 29, and both Boeing and Lockheed Martin are now doing the second-phase work under development contracts from the U.S. Navy. Boeing's contract, awarded in February, was for $20.5 million.

The MMA contract would include supplying up to 150 airframes, and then converting them to into high-technology submarine and surface ship monitoring aircraft. The converted Boeing 737s also would pack considerable firepower, including bombs carried in an internal bomb bay, and missiles carried on their wings.

Lockheed Martin's proposal is based on an upgraded P-3 surveillance aircraft, which is in turn based on the former Lockheed Electra passenger aircraft, which first flew in 1957. That production line would have to be revived to build the four-engine prop-driven aircraft.

A Boeing win could bring 800 engineering and development jobs to Kent, which is a designated "capability center" for the company's expertise in airborne surveillance technology. If the conversions were done here instead of in Wichita, Kan., the contract would bring even more jobs than the construction of the basic airframes
 

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Back To Sub Hunting

P-3s will spend less time tracking land-based targets

By David Brown and Glenn W. Goodman Jr.

Looks like it's back to the water for the U.S. Navy's P-3 Orion fleet. After spending the past few years flying combat missions over Afghanistan and Iraq - conducting surveillance for troops on the ground and in some cases firing missiles - the P-3 mission is being "re-centered" back to maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare, said Vice Adm. John Nathman, head of warfare requirements and assessments for the Navy.

Supporting ground forces "is clearly not the role, or why we bought that particular airplane," Nathman told members of the House Armed Services Committee during a March 11 hearing. "We are trying to bring back the current force to a more maritime focus."

Nathman said the planes flew over land at the request of U.S. Central Command, which needed surveillance on the ground for operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

"We put them as far forward as we could because in that fight, our commanders wanted that platform," said Lt. Gen. Edward Hanlon, head of Marine Corps Combat Development Command. "It might very well be that because of the terrain that we had in Afghanistan and Iraq, it really optimized that particular platform."

The 10 P-3s of Patrol Squadron 9's "Golden Eagles," for example, flew 100 combat missions and logged 3,000 hours over Afghanistan from October to December 2001. Since the war on terrorism began, P-3s have flown night and day reconnaissance missions, pinpointed targets for attack aircraft, performed battle-damage assessments, down-linked surveillance information to Marines and fired Standoff Land-Attack Missiles at Taliban and Iraqi forces.

Land surveillance is a nontraditional role for the P-3, which does not have the maneuverability of a fighter jet, Nathman said. "This is interesting to me as an individual who has spent a great amount of his time in air warfare - that we would put a very large, poorly maneuvering plane, without a whole lot of electronic protection, over certain battle spaces," he said. "We would not have done that a long time ago, but that is because our commanders knew an awful lot about the battle space they were flying in."

But the P-3s are being overused, Nathman said, so the Navy needs to cut out this extra mission to keep the aircraft flying until its successors arrive several years from now.

Cmdr. Mike Hewitt, P-3/Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft requirements officer, said the Navy is asking Central Command to ease up on the P-3 requirements.

"We don't tell them how to utilize their maritime patrol aircraft," he said in a recent interview. "What we're telling them is that we need to protect the core competency, which is [anti-submarine warfare], because if we continue to fly them the way we do today in all of these other mission areas, we won't be able to sustain a viable force until [the replacement] gets here."

Last spring, after officials assessed the wear and tear on the aircraft, which entered the fleet in 1969, the Navy cut the number of P-3s from 227 to 148 and began a sustainment program for its remaining aircraft. The P-3 will be replaced by a combination of a Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) and a Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) unmanned aerial vehicle. The MMA will either be a modernized P-3 variant offered by Lockheed Martin or a modified Boeing 737 jet, and is expected to enter the fleet in 2012.

Competition for BAMS

In the meantime, the Navy's acquisition chief said contractors from several companies will be allowed to compete to build the BAMS UAV. The decision, announced March 16, means the Navy is sidestepping an Air Force plea to buy into one of its existing UAV programs to save money.

In February, top Air Force officials sent letters to the Navy secretary and chief of naval operations urging them to buy Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk UAV as their answer to BAMS. The Air Force plans to buy 51 of the large UAVs.

John Young, assistant Navy secretary for research, development and acquisition, said in a written statement released March 16 that the program will be competed instead.

"The Navy will get the best value solution through a competitive process," Young wrote. "This decision was reviewed carefully by the acquisition team working in collaboration with the requirements sponsor. Our competitive acquisition strategy will leverage prior [Defense Department] investments and continue our pursuit of joint procurement opportunities."

Besides the Global Hawk, other possible contenders for the BAMS UAV are General Atomics and Lockheed Martin, which are working together to build a larger version of the Predator UAV, called Mariner, and General Dynamics' Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., which is working on an unmanned version of its G550 business jet.

The Navy will send requests for proposals in early summer, and expects to award a system development and demonstration contract in the second quarter of fiscal 2005. The Navy estimates the cost to develop and buy low-rate initial production systems will be roughly $1.3 billion.

The aircraft are expected to begin reaching the fleet in 2010.
 
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