Lockheed Martin Corp.’s troubled attempt to build a next-generation military spy plane appears to have been grounded.
The U.S. Army plans to cut the program’s budget by almost 60 percent through 2011 and use some of those funds to upgrade the spy planes that the project was to replace, according to Bloomberg News.
Lockheed’s surveillance and reconnaissance systems division in Jefferson County has been leading the development of the project, called Aerial Common Sensor.
“At the very least, these budget changes reflect a major delay in Aerial Common Sensor, and more likely they indicate an outright cancellation,” said Loren Thompson, an aerospace analyst with Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va.
Lockheed spokeswoman Suzanne Smith said the company expects to get an update on the status of the program Thursday.
The Army temporarily shelved the project in September after it determined that the aircraft Lockheed planned to use couldn’t carry all of the required equipment.
The spy plane would primarily be used to intercept enemy radio and radar transmissions. About 250 workers at Lockheed’s Deer Creek plant in Jefferson County have been developing the computer systems for the plane.
If the program gets canceled, the majority of those workers would be placed on other Lockheed projects, Smith said.
Bloomberg reported Tuesday that a Dec. 20 budget memo signed by Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England showed that the Army planned to cut by $2 billion its request for the program from fiscal 2007 through 2011 – from $3.4 billion to $1.4 billion. England said $208 million of the savings would be used to upgrade two existing Army reconnaissance planes built by Northrop Grumman Corp.
“If Aerial Common Sensor was going to continue, you wouldn’t see the company dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the aircraft it was going to replace,” Thompson said.
The Army awarded Lockheed an $879 million contract in August 2004 to develop the first phase of the Aerial Common Sensor project.
The project was to produce up to 38 planes for the Army and up to 19 planes for the Navy. It is potentially worth $6 billion to $8 billion over 20 years.
Staff writer Andy Vuong can be reached at 303-820-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com.
