Lockheed, Boeing vie for $1.5 billion Air Force pact

Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co., the top two U.S. defense contractors, are competing for an Air Force program valued at $1.5 billion to replace cracking wings on aging A-10 anti-tank aircraft.

The contract, which calls for new wing sets on about 200 planes, would be awarded over 10 years. The Air Force plans to select a winner around March, Boeing spokeswoman Madonna Walsh said. Boeing and Lockheed submitted their bids on Jan. 17, Walsh and Lockheed spokesman Greg Caires both said Monday.

Both companies are looking to upgrades and modernization of aging military aircraft to keep defense revenue growing as the Pentagon tightens spending on new, more expensive airplanes. The A-10, known as the Warthog, is a low-flying ground-attack aircraft capable of maneuvering at slow speeds. It has been used in Iraq to support troops and attack armored vehicles.

Lockheed, based in Bethesda, Md., already leads a program valued at more than $2 billion that it won in 1997 to upgrade A-10 aircraft and install new cockpit electronics, Caires said. Lockheed is bidding for the wing work with Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp., the third-largest U.S. defense company.

Boeing, based in Chicago, plans to do the A-10 work at facilities in Georgia, Missouri and Utah if it wins the contract.

Boeing said in a prepared statement that, if it wins the bid, it would have an estimated $136 million impact on the Utah economy, as at least 60 additional jobs and a local supplier base would be needed to execute the program.

"The Boeing A-10 program office would move from St. Louis to Layton, Utah, during the basic production phase of the program in 2010 if Boeing wins the A-10 contract," said Curt Nothstine, director for Aircraft Sustainment and Modernization for Boeing's Maintenance, Modification and Upgrades business, in the statement.

He said Boeing would partner with the 309th Maintenance Wing at the Ogden Air Logistics Center on Hill Air Force Base for the A-10 program.

"Using advanced lean manufacturing technologies, we will be able to provide a solution and assembly kit that will allow the A-10s to fly at least 20 more years," Nothstine said.

The plane, originally made by Fairchild Republic, was first delivered in 1976. The Air Force received the last A-10 in 1984.