Lockheed Martin beefs up $16.4M deal with Northstar
by Erika Beauchesne
St. John’s, N.L.: Northstar Network Ltd. has more than doubled its contract with Lockheed Martin under a new Master Purchase Order (MPO) valued at US$16.4 million.
As per the five-year agreement, Northstar’s St. John’s facility is manufacturing finished parts and assemblies for Lockheed Martin’s P-3 Mid-Life Upgrade (MLU) Program.
The P-3 Orion is a maritime patrol aircraft used by the U.S. government for more than 45 years, from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the Cold War. Lockheed Martin’s P-3 MLU program replaces the aircraft’s outer wings, center wing lower surface, horizontal stabilizer and horizontal stabilizer leading edges, extending the aircraft’s life by 15,000 flying hours.
Northstar is supplying approximately 400 assemblies and parts, about one-fifth of all parts needed for the MLU program. The parts and assemblies mostly include machined parts and formed sheet metal assemblies of various levels of complexity in aluminum and alloy steel. They range from simple structural members to critical flight components.
Northstar President Howard Nash said the order, which is the largest the company has ever received, will create new jobs in quality control, purchasing, and integration assembly.
“Most of the production could take place in the early portion of the five years and we hope to have most deliveries made by 2012,” Nash said.
