Several upgrade efforts for the U.S. Air Force's A-10 Thunderbolt are nearing key milestones, industry officials said Jan. 24.

For the precision engagement (PE) program, which will give the A-10 a precision-weapons capability, Lockheed Martin expects to get the first production contract by March, company officials said. Several more production contracts are due to follow in an effort to equip all 356 Air Force A-10s with the upgrade by 2009.

Lockheed Martin is operating under a $74 million PE development contract awarded in 2001. That contract will modify 13 aircraft, including the test jet involved in PE flight-testing that began Jan. 20 at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. (DAILY, Jan. 24).

The PE program is adding new cockpit displays and the ability to use Northrop Grumman's Litening targeting pod or Lockheed Martin's Sniper XR targeting pod. It also is adding the ability to use two precision-guided weapons: Boeing's Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) and Lockheed Martin's Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD). Existing air-to-surface weapons are the 30mm GAU-8/A Gatling gun and the AGM-65 Maverick missile.

"The modifications significantly improve the medium-altitude performance of the aircraft," transforming the close-air-support jet into more of a multirole plane, said Scott Greene, acting general manager of aerospace solutions at Lockheed Martin Systems Integration in Owego, N.Y.

PE flight-tests are expected to continue through the end of calendar 2005, with weapons tests planned for the second half of the year.

Lockheed Martin will deliver the PE upgrade kits to the Air Force, which will install them on the A-10 at Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, Utah. Each kit will take about 45 days to install, and the first batch of upgraded jets could be fielded as early as the first half of CY '06. The modified planes will be designated A-10Cs.

Other upgrades

Two other major modernization efforts for the A-10 are expected to advance in the near future as well, said Roger Il Grande, Lockheed Martin's A-10 program manager.

In fiscal 2006, the Air Force likely will begin a development effort to improve the thrust of the jet's two General Electric TF34-100 engines. Production is slated to start in FY '09.

In addition, Lockheed Martin is studying options to equip the A-10 with a data-link to improve situational awareness in the cockpit. The company expects to finish that assessment for the Air Force by the end of CY '05.

"The data-link will allow information to be pumped into the cockpit directly from another asset or from the air combatant commander or from the ground," Greene said. "It'll make the A-10 much more flexible as far as chasing down and targeting time-critical targets."