Boeing Awarded $133 Million Contract for French AWACS Radar Upgrade.Business Editors NOTE TO MEDIA: Photo is available in a Smart News Release(TM) on Business Wire's Home Page at www.businesswire.com and at www.newstream.com SEAL BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 8, 2002 The Boeing Co.'s (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :BA) $133 million contract to upgrade the radar system of France's fleet of four E-3 AWACS AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) Mobile, long-range radar surveillance-and-control centre for air defense. Used by the U.S. Air Force since 1977, AWACS is mounted in a specially modified Boeing 707 aircraft, with its main radar antenna affixed to a rotating dome. aircraft will be the most significant upgrade to the fleet since its delivery in the early 1990s. It also will bring the French surveillance radar capability up to the same standards as their NATO NATO: see North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO in full North Atlantic Treaty Organization International military alliance created to defend western Europe against a possible Soviet invasion. allies Mike Brewer, Boeing French AWACS program manager, said, "The Radar System Improvement Program (RSIP) improves the AWACS radar by increasing its sensitivity, boosting the electronic counter-countermeasures capability and improving its reliability." Brewer added, "The French Air Force continues to appreciate the increasing value of AWACS and this RSIP modification is the latest in a series to its fleet including upgrades to the mission navigation system and installation of Electronic Support Measures." Boeing, as prime contractor and systems integrator, will ship the modification kits to Air France Industries beginning in the spring of 2004. AFI, under a subcontract with Boeing, will perform the installation and checkout at its facility in Le Bourget, France. Installation is scheduled to be completed in 2006. Boeing will flight-test the upgraded aircraft at the French AWACS Main Operating Base Main Operating Base (MOB) is a term used by the United States military defined as "an overseas, permanently manned, well protected base, used to support permanently deployed forces, and with robust sea and/or air access. in Avord, France. The RSIP kits, built principally by Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems, Baltimore, Md., under subcontract with Boeing, consist of a new radar computer, radar control maintenance panel and software upgrades to the radar and mission system programs. RSIP modifications already have been performed on the United States, United Kingdom and NATO AWACS fleets. The award is a Foreign Military Sales That portion of United States security assistance authorized by the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended, and the Arms Export Control Act of 1976, as amended. This assistance differs from the Military Assistance Program and the International Military Education and Training Program contract from the Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom Air Force Base Hanscom Air Force Base, initially and briefly designated Bedford Army Air Base, is a U.S. Air Force facility in Bedford, Massachusetts. It is the headquarters of the Electronic Systems Center (ESC), one of the product centers of the Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC). , Mass. Boeing Space and Communications (S&C), with headquarters in Seal Beach, is the world's largest space and communications company. A unit of The Boeing Co., S&C provides integrated solutions in launch services, human space flight and exploration, missile defense, and information and communications. It is NASA's largest contractor, a leading provider of space-based communications, the primary systems integrator for U.S. missile defense, and a leading provider of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance may refer to:
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