Navy ready to award BAMS contract

According to this article the Navy had a successful DAB for the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) program. The system was approved to go into System Design and Development (SDD) phase and a prime contractor will be chosen to perform that work. Once that phase is completed then Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) can start. The BAMS is for a unmanned surveillance aircraft to replace the P-3 Orion in some of its missions. The Navy is also pursuing the P-8 aircraft based on the Boeing 737 to replace the P-3 in its Anti-Submarine Warfare role. Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin are bidders.