BAE Systems Investor Brief - March 2006
03 Apr 06
In This Month’s Brief:
- First F-35 JSF moves from Production to Flight Operations
- Typhoon Export - Austria
- Second Hawk takes flight
- ATTAC proposal submitted
- Type 45
- CVF
MAJOR CONTRACT AWARDS THIS MONTH
- Contract extension for Seahawk Maintenance
- SSCC SALTS
- Naval missiles for Chile
- M88A2 Spare Engines
- OMC receives second order from UAE
GENERAL NEWS
E&IS opens Omaha facility
A newly leased 24,000 square foot facility, to house 50 Omaha, Nebraska-area Electronics & Integrated Solutions (E&IS) employees, opened on 27 February. The facility will accommodate recent and potential growth of BAE Systems in the region.
MBDA completes integration of LFK
Following official clearance by the European Commission and the German Ministry of Economics and Technology, MBDA completed the full integration of LFK GmbH, the German missile manufacturer, into the group on 1 March. There will be no change to the current MBDA shareholder agreement and what will now be known as MBDA Deutschland becomes a full part of MBDA’s group structure.
MAJOR PROGRAMMES UPDATE
First F-35 JSF moves from Production to Flight Operations
The first F-35 JSF aircraft (AA-1) recently completed assembly and left the production line keeping the programme on track for first flight in Autumn 2006. The aircraft will now undergo a series of ground-test activities in preparation for first flight.
Typhoon Export - Austria
The first Austrian Typhoon front fuse and fin have been delivered from BAE Systems Samlesbury to Final Assembly in Manching, Germany. Austria has a firm order for 18 aircraft.
Second Hawk takes flight
The second of the Ministry of Defences’ new Hawk Mk128 took its first flight on Monday 6 March at BAE Systems site at Warton, UK. Taking flight at 17:50 hours, the flight lasted 14 minutes.
RT002 will now start its flight testing programme including development of its autopilot system.
ATTAC proposal submitted
The final proposal for ATTAC (Availability Transformation: Tornado Aircraft Contract) was submitted on schedule at the end of February.
ATTAC is a whole aircraft availability contract that will see CS&S MASS take prime responsibility as the provider of on-aircraft maintenance of the GR4 fleet, spares support, technical support and training to the front line, and upgrade the aircraft to meet future operational requirements. The contract will support the aircraft through to its out of service date of 2025.
Following main gate approval, contract award would be in September 2006 with initial service delivery in January 2007, followed by full service delivery in September.
Type 45
Following Daring’s successful launch and docking, a considerable amount of data has now been gathered that will assist in minimising any risk to future launches and dockings.
The Ship is progressing through its first Dry Docking and all of the superstructure will be fitted during this period.
CVF
Further £300m of funding for the Demonstration Phase of the CVF Programme was announced on 14 December 2005. A Statement of Work document was subsequently drafted by the Alliance team to elaborate the Roles & Responsibilities for CVF Alliance Partners covering the period 1 February 2006 until 30 January 2007.
BAE Systems will now seek to agree the programme required for successful Main Gate submission and the detailed works contracts with funding to execute the agreed scope of work.
MAJOR CONTRACT AWARDS THIS MONTH
Contract extension for Seahawk Maintenance
CS&S Australia has received a 2 year contract extension to provide Seahawk deeper maintenance at Naval Air Station Nowra, NSW. The contract valued at AUD$26m, will see BAE Systems supporting Australian Navy Aviation until April 2008, achieving an overall contract period of 15 years.
SSCC SALTS
Customer Solutions, in Charleston, South Carolina, has recently been awarded six new delivery orders worth a total value of $15.6m under a 5-year, $314m Indefinite Delivery / Indefinite Quantity contract to provide SPAWAR Systems Center Charleston (SSCC) Security, Automation and Law Enforcement Technology Support (SALTS). The largest of these orders is for $11.6m to procure support items for Marine Corps forces in Iraq.
Naval missiles for Chile
MBDA signed an export contract in February to supply Seawolf (in both Conventional Launch and Vertical Launch variants) and Exocet missiles to the Chilean Navy. The contract also covers training and handling equipment. This represents the first export order for Seawolf Block 2.
M88A2 Spare Engines
BAE Systems has been awarded a $9.5m contract by U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) to provide 24 M88A2 HERCULES spare engines to the US Marine Corps.
Work on this contract will begin immediately at the company’s York, Pa., facility with deliveries scheduled to begin in April 2007 and continue through December 2007.
OMC receives second order from UAE
Land Systems OMC has received an additional order from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Armed Forces for 48 RG-31 mine-protected armored personnel carriers, bringing the total UAE orders to 76 RG-31 vehicles valued at US$30 million.
The order includes driver and technician training as well as Land Systems OMC’s life-cycle support package, which offers a warranty and service globally by a 24-hour technical response team. This additional RG-31 order for the UAE will receive customization of features including protection against armor-piercing ammunition, a more powerful engine, upgraded air-conditioning and additional side doors.
