Army Awards DCGS Support Contract
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Contract Awards, Events, IT, Raytheon, Services, States, Texas, Textron, U.S. Army, development program, logistics, production program
Overwatch an operating unit of Textron Inc. (TXT) was awarded a contract by the U.S. Army to support the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS)-Army system. DCGS is a product of Raytheon (RTN) that allows the distribution of a variety of intelligence material. The DCGS-Army as it sounds is the system in use by the Army at their ground facilities to support their operations.
Overwatch received a contract that will be worth over $48 million if all options are exercised to provide software development and training. The software is used to develop and support applications on the DCGS. Overwatch has been doing this kind of work for U.S. and other countries military since the early 1990. It was acquired by Textron in 2006.
Textron Sells Armored Vehicles To Columbia
Filed under: Business Line, Colombia, Companies, Contract Awards, Countries, Events, Textron, production program
The South American nation of Columbia has been involved in fighting drug lords and Communist rebels for several years. The United States Government has provided aid and assistance for several years. This includes advanced military hardware such as UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. Yesterday it was announced that under Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Columbia will be buying thirty-nine armored vehicles from Textron Marine and Land Systems.
The contract for the vehicles to carry personnel and weapons will be worth about $45 million. These vehicles have been used by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan and should provide a useful capability to the Colombian military.
Textron’s Earnings Reflect The Market
Filed under: Bell, Business Line, Companies, Earnings, Events, Military Aviation, Textron, commercial aviation, logistics, production program
Textron reported their third quarter earnings yesterday. They did beat expectations by not having a loss but had a profit of about 1 cent a share. This was a decline of ninety-eight percent from the year before. Despite all this the company is confident they will make a profit for a year and earnings would be as predicted.
Textron decline is caused by financial products and their civil air division. Sales of Cessna aircraft a luxury item right now were down a lot. The company has been reducing their participation in the financial sector due to the general downturn there. Despite Bell Helicopter’s struggles with the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) the military part of the company saw some growth.
There have been previous reports that Textron might sell Bell or other parts as it reorganizes to face the current economic downturn but so far that has not happened. As with everyone the company will have to wait and see how the economy recovers and what growth occurs.
Textron unit wins contract for test equipment
Filed under: AAI Corporation, Contract Awards, IT, Military Aviation, Textron, U.S. Air Force, production program
AAI Corporation, an unit of Textron, won a contract form the USAF to build Joint Service Electronic Combat Systems Tester (JSECST) systems. See an article here. These will be used to test the electronic warfare equipment and avionics on various US aircraft. Since they are joint they will be used by USAF, Navy, USMC and Army aircraft. Even helicopters are starting to carry more sophisticated electronic and infra-red countermeasures as the threat has got more complicated. The contract is worth up to $67 M if all options are exercised. Sophisticated electronic systems require expensive test equipment to support their operations. The JSECST has been in production for several years and is used by the US and some allies.



