After taking Thursday off, the Department of Defense awarded 15 defense contracts Friday, worth a total of $594.1 million. Defense contractor Lockheed Martin (LMT 1.23%) won three of them:

  • $30.8 million: a sole-source, firm-fixed-price contract to supply the U.S. Navy with unspecified receiver transmitters. This four-year contract will run through Feb. 28, 2018.
  • $16.6 million: a firm-fixed-price contract to supply the U.S. Navy with unspecified turret assemblies. This 31-month contract will run through Sept. 30, 2016.
  • $16.4 million: a contract modification funding software maintenance work for the U.S. Air Force's Global Broadcast Service, or GBS, Defense Enterprise Computing Center Software Sustainment and GBS Operations Center Operations, or GBSOC. The Air Force describes GBS as "a communication broadcast service" that relays "large-volume data" such as photos and video taken by reconnaissance drones, disseminating this intelligence to warfighters in the field who need access to what the drones are seeing. Lockheed will be expected to provide personnel to staff the GBSOC "24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year" for the duration of the contract, which is expected to run at least through Dec. 31, 2015.