Lockheed Martin Wins Search And Rescue Upgrade Contract

Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems-Syracuse (NE&SS-Syracuse) will assist the U.S. Coast Guard with a significantly large upgrade to its Search and Rescue (SAR) capabilities under an eight-month design and demonstration contract awarded to the company.

The contract, valued at $2.8 million and one of three awarded to the industry, is the first phase of the National Distress and Response System (NDRS) Modernization Program. The contract includes a $5.7 million option for an additional seven-month follow-on contract to complete the design and provide an extensive prototype demonstration. The NDRS Modernization Program will eventually provide the Coast Guard with a comprehensive upgrade of its existing SAR system and will encompass all coastal and inland waterways throughout the lower 48 states, Hawaii, the southern coast of Alaska, and all U.S. territories and possessions such as Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A phase two installation contract, valued at more than $250 million, will be awarded to a single contractor. It will require supplying command and control equipment for the 46 existing Coast Guard Group Communication Centers; communication and Radio Direction Finding equipment at several hundred remote antenna sites; and communication equipment for the Coast Guard's Search and Rescue vessels and helicopters.