Army may get 737 spy planes

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, August 11, 2005

That’s what these stories from the Associated Press and Bloomberg News say, anyway.

This was something well off my radar screen, but it appears that Lockheed Martin has a contract to provide up to 57 planes under joint Army-Navy “aerial common sensor” program. Lockheed originally proposed installing its electronics into Embraer 145s, but the planes wouldn’t work for the mission. So, Lockheed is looking at new platforms, including 737s.

The program is separate from the Navy’s Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft, which also will be based on a 737.

Here are the links:

http://www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8BUI9S80.html

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_2934603

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/business/article/0,1299,DRMN_4_3996507,00.html

The AP story is the better one, but KGW-TV in Portland will probably make you register to view it.