Air Force awards contract to Boeing for B-1B Lancer bomber upgrades.SEAL BEACH Seal Beach, city (1990 pop. 25,098), Orange co., S Calif., on the Pacific coast; inc. 1915. It is a beach city with an active art colony. Transportation equipment and concrete are among the city's manufactures. U.S. naval stations are nearby. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 12, 1997--The Air Force has awarded Boeing (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :BA) a $179 million contract to upgrade offensive avionics computers and software, and install additional weapons delivery capability on B-1B Lancer bombers as part of the B-1B Conventional Mission Upgrade Program (CMUP CMUP Conventional Munitions Upgrade Program ). The effort is part of a B-1B/CMUP upgrade known as "Block E." The improvements will enhance the U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command bomber's lethality, survivability sur·viv·a·ble adj. 1. Capable of surviving: survivable organisms in a hostile environment. 2. That can be survived: a survivable, but very serious, illness. and supportability. Work on the upgrades is being done by Boeing facilities in Seal Beach, Palmdale and Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. , Calif.; Seattle; and Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (1990 pop. 444,719), state capital, and seat of Oklahoma co., central Okla., on the North Canadian River; inc. 1890. The state's largest city, it is an important livestock market, a wholesale, distribution, industrial, and financial center, and a farm , under the direction of the U.S. Air Force Aeronautical aer·o·nau·tic also aer·o·nau·ti·cal adj. Of or relating to aeronautics. aer  o·nau Systems Center, Dayton, Ohio. The award covers EMD EMD Electromechanical dissociation, see there , or the engineering/manufacturing development phase, of the Block E upgrade and calls for development and testing of new avionics computers and associated software and equipment, as well as correction of deficiencies in offensive radar software. Improvements to the B-1B's computer hardware and software will enhance the U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command bomber's capability to deliver more weapons on target with greater accuracy. Four new computers on each aircraft will replace six existing ones, and will provide a twenty-five-fold increase in throughput, memory and input/output margins required for conventional weapons capability, defensive systems upgrades, and future growth. Block E upgrades also include modifications to the bomber's 10-carry weapons module that will enable it to deploy wind-corrected cluster bombs and other smart weapons. The EMD phase is scheduled to conclude in the year 2001, after completion of flight tests of new Block E systems installed on two B-1Bs. Production and installation of the improvements for the 95-aircraft B-1B fleet is planned to begin in 2001. Block E upgrades are part of a larger Air Force effort to optimize the B-1B for conventional warfare. Major subcontractors to Boeing for Block E include Lockheed Martin Federal Systems Division, which will provide avionics computers; the Fairchild Defense Division of Orbital Science Corp., which will provide data transfer devices; and Northrop Grumman's Electronic Sensors and Systems Division, which will provide correction of software deficiencies for the offensive radar system. CONTACT: Boeing, Seal Beach Mike Mathews, 562/797-2996 http://www.boeing.com |
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