The U.S. Department of Defense started the week slow Monday, awarding only five new contracts to its defense contractors, and those five worth less than $120 million in aggregate. Of these, the two largest awards went to publicly traded companies, specifically:
- BAE Systems' (BAES.Y 1.32%) San Diego Ship Repair subsidiary, which won a $38.6 million modification to a previously awarded contract to perform upgrades on the guided missile destroyer USS Benfold (DDG-65). BAE is expected to complete this work by August 2014.
- General Dynamics' (GD -3.97%) soon-to-be merged-out-of-existence Armament and Technical Products unit, which was awarded a $32.7 million firm fixed-price multi-year procurement contract for the production of MK82 Mod 0 Aegis gun and guided-missile directors and MK 200 Mod 0 Aegis director controllers to be incorporated into six Aegis Weapon System ship sets.
The Aegis Weapon System, described by its maker, Lockheed Martin (LMT -0.20%), as "the world's premier naval air defense system," consists of an integrated SPY-1 multi-function phased array radar system, integrated into a missile battery, and can be used for shipboard defense against everything from aircraft to conventional missiles to ballistic missiles.
General Dynamics' role in this contract should be complete by August 2018.
