SNC to deliver BLOS to USMC Harvest HAWK gunships

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has been contracted to upgrade the US Marine Corps' (USMC) Harvest Hercules Airborne Weapons Kit (HAWK) mission package with a beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) capability.

An airman poses next to the operational ‘kill' markings stencilled onto the fuselage of a Harvest HAWK in Afganistan during the war fighting stage of the conflict, giving an indication of the type's work rate in the close air support role. The USMC has now contracted SNC to enhance the aircraft's capability with a BLOS capability. (US Marine Corps)

The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) said on 9 June that it had awarded SNC a single-source indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract valued at USD608,534 for a test upgrade to a USMC Lockheed Martin KC-130J tanker-transport aircraft. The award covers the design, manufacture, test, integration, and installation of a new Harvest HAWK Plus (HH+) BLOS standard.

“This IDIQ contract modification will be incorporated into the last ordering period in fiscal year (FY) 2021, [and] will provide for the procurement of supplies and services to integrate and install HH+ Class 1 Engineering Change Proposal (ECP) for BLOS on the KC-130J aircraft. This Class 1 ECP will provide the Mission Operator Pallet (MOP) with full-motion video and enhanced communications capability,” NAVAIR said in its contract notification posted on the sam.gov US government procurement website. As noted by NAVAIR, SNC beat off competition from two other vendors – GMRE Inc, and RV Global Inc – as it is the manufacturer of the Burma software for the Harvest HAWK that will need to be upgraded.