WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US defense contractor Lockheed Martin won a sole-source contract worth nearly half a billion dollars to supply the US Air Force with precision weapons targeting pods, according to a statement issued by the US Department of Defense (DoD).
“Lockheed Martin … has been awarded a $485,000,000 firm fixed price with minimal cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. Contractor [Lockheed] will provide multiple Sniper advanced targeting pods,” the statement, released on Friday, said.
The Sniper is an electro-optical and infrared imaging targeting system that comes encased in a lightweight pod compatible with the latest precision-guided weapons, according to Lockheed Martin. The pod is affixed to the bottom of aircraft for detecting moving and fixed targets during air-to-air and air-to-ground engagements.
Lockheed also won an $8.9 million contract to provide ten Sniper targeting pods to the Royal Jordanian Air Force by the end of 2016, according to the DoD.
On Friday, the US Attorney’s Office announced that Lockheed will pay $2 million in fines for overbilling the US government for fuel while the aerospace giant was manufacturing C-130 aircraft between 2006 and 2013.
The Lockheed Martin Corporation, headquartered in the US state of Maryland, receives about 75 percent of its revenue from military sales, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
