The Department of Defense issued 14 new contracts on Tuesday worth a combined $727.6 million. Of these, the largest contract was a $225 million contract to supply airplane wheels and brakes, awarded to London's Meggitt Aircraft Braking Systems, a subsidiary of Meggitt PLC (MGGT), which is not listed in the U.S. There were, however, a few more familiar names on Tuesday's list of contract recipients:
- Lockheed Martin (LMT 1.23%), for example, a frequent recipient of Pentagon contracts, was awarded a $48.8 million option exercise requiring it to provide technical engineering and configuration management services on the Aegis air defense system for the U.S. Navy. This work should be completed by June 2014.
- United Technologies (RTX 0.68%) won an $18.4 million contract modification to supply 5,434 low-pressure turbine blades for F119 PW-100 engines, which power Lockheed's F-22 Raptor fighter jet. This work should be done before the end of next year. UTC's cumulative awards under this contract now exceed $1.8 billion.
- Northrop Grumman (NOC 2.84%) was awarded a $6.6 million contract modification to maintain "line replacement units" for the large aircraft infra-red counter measures (LAIRCM) system that it developed for the Air Force. This contract modification runs through September 2014. LAIRCM is an on-board system used to protect large transport helicopters and airplanes from hostile missile fire.
- And finally, Omnicom Group (OMC 0.76%) subsidiary GSD&M won a $41 million contract modification exercising the sixth of nine option years for its services running a national marketing campaign for the U.S. Air Force. GSD&M will continue its advertising work for USAF through Sept. 30, 2014 -- and potentially longer, if other options are ultimately exercised.
