With the U.S. locking its targets in Iraq and Syria, Lockheed Martin (LMT, Financial) announced it received a $40.3 million contract from the U.S. Air Force for follow-on production of Paveway II Plus Laser Guided Bomb (LGB) kits. Deliveries are set to begin by June 2015. Deliveries will begin in June 2015 and will include computer control groups and airfoil groups for GBU-10 and GBU-12 bombs, the company says in a news release. The Paveway II Plus LGB kits incorporate an upgraded laser guidance package, significantly improving overall system performance and precision, the firm added.
The company in the Paveway II Plus LGB kit functions on a MAU-209C/B computer control group containing the electronic guidance system and an airfoil group to provide lift and stability to the weapons in standard GBU-10 MK-84 (2,000 lb.), GBU-12 MK-82 (500 lb.) and GBU-16 MK-83 (1,000 lb.) series configurations, the company noted. The RCAF has also ordered more smart bomb kits as it prepares for a campaign in Iraq that could last six months or longer, military sources say. The order for 400 bomb-guidance kits from the U.S. would top off ammunition stocks that had been depleted by the air force’s 2011 bombing campaign in Libya. The kits, outfitted on smart bombs, improve targeting and allow the weapons to be used in poor weather.
Lockheed has also made a technological breakthrough in tapping and using the nuclear energy. The company developing a power source based on nuclear fusion, and the first reactors, small enough to fit on the back of a truck, could be ready for use in a decade. Tom McGuire, who heads the project, said he and a small team had been working on fusion energy at Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works for about four years, but were now going public to find potential partners in industry and government for their work. In a statement, the Company reported that it would build and test a compact fusion reactor in less than a year, and build a prototype in five years.
"We can make a big difference on the energy front," McGuire said, noting Lockheed's 60 years of research on nuclear fusion as a potential energy source that is safer and more efficient than current reactors based on nuclear fission.
Getting into the nuclear energy sector might prove to be successful and a lucrative move on the company’s part. With the world looking to turn toward non-polluting sources and an increasing number of U.S. submarines and aircraft carriers running on nuclear power, the company might find a lot of business. Lockheed sees the project as part of a comprehensive approach to solving global energy and climate change problems. Compact nuclear fusion would produce far less waste than coal-powered plants since it would use deuterium-tritium fuel, which can generate nearly 10 million times more energy than the same amount of fossil fuels, the company said.
To conclude
Lockheed said it had shown it could complete a design, build and test it in as little as a year, which should produce an operational reactor in 10 years, McGuire said. A small reactor could power a U.S. Navy warship, and eliminate the need for other fuel sources that pose logistical challenges. Lockheed shares fell 0.6 percent to $175.02 amid a broad market selloff. With a lot of business and orders under its belt, Lockheed sure seems to be the way to go for the investors.
