Greenlawn plant will get piece of $60M missile sensor contract
An FA/18-F jet carrying an anti-ship missile whose sensors and targeting technology were provided by BAE Systems. Credit: BAE Systems
BAE Systems' Long Island unit has snared a share of a $60 million contract to make sensors for anti-ship missiles, the company announced.
The two-year contract for long-range sensors and targeting technology will be divided among BAE's facilities in Greenlawn, Wayne, New Jersey. and Nashua, New Hampshire.
The long-range anti-ship missiles initially were fielded by the U.S. Air Force on B-1B bombers in December 2018 and by the U.S. Navy on F/A-18 jets in November 2019.
The Greenlawn facility has about 650 employees and its website listed 13 openings as of Tuesday, Dec. 22, including jobs for engineers, managers and assemblers.
Officials said an unspecified number of workers already have been hired at Greenlawn in connection with the contract. BAE has invested $100 million to upgrade its electronic warfare production facilities, a spokeswoman said.
"Our war fighters need resilient, long-range precision strike capabilities to compete with modern adversaries," Bruce Konigsberg, BAE's director of radio frequency sensor products, said in a statement.
The long range anti-ship missile, known by the acronym LRASM, is designed to employ semi-autonomous guidance as it seeks to destroy targets within groups of ships without relying on GPS navigation, network connections and reconnaissance systems.
BAE will supply "seekers" that provide long-range sensing and targeting technology that help the missile find seaborne targets in what the company describes as "challenging electromagnetic environments."
BAE Systems plc is a multinational defense contractor based in Farnborough, England. Its U.S. subsidiary, BAE Systems Inc., has its headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
In the half-year ended July 30, the multinational posted sales of $13.2 billion.
BAE was formed in 1999 when aircraft and defense contractor British Aerospace acquired Marconi Electronic Systems, a subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc.
Ken Schachter covers corporate news, including technology and aerospace, and other business topics for Newsday. He has also worked at The Miami Herald and The Jerusalem Post.
Updated now Newsday travel writer Scott Vogel took the ferry over to Block Island for a weekend of fun.
Updated now Newsday travel writer Scott Vogel took the ferry over to Block Island for a weekend of fun.
