Boeing has received a $132 million contract to procure and upgrade weapon replaceable assemblies on infrared search and tracking systems on U.S. Navy fighter jets.
The award, announced Thursday by the Department of Defense, calls for Boeing to provide weapon replaceable assemblies that will optimize the Block I low-rate initial production for F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets.
The work will also include technical risk reduction to support engineering change proposal
development and F/A-18 integration and tactics development to the aircraft.
The IRST can locate aircraft engine exhaust heat or any heat generated by friction from the aircraft moving through the atmosphere.
This contract comes after Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis called for 80 percent of the Navy's fleet of F/A-18 Hornets and Super Hornets to be mission capable by end of fiscal 2019.
The Super Hornet fighter can operate in both land and carrier-based operations.
The contract expands a previously issued basic ordering agreement on aircraft for the Navy and Marines Corps.
Work will be performed in Florida and Missouri, with $43 million obligated to Boeing at the time of the award. Those funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year.
Work is expected to be completed in April 2022.
