Raytheon wins Navy aircraft repair contact

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., March 1 (UPI) -- Raytheon Co. has won a $9.5 million contract to repair U.S. Navy aircraft.

Raytheon will repair eight weapon replacement assemblies for the Navy's CH-53 helicopters, manufactured by Sikorsky, and the V-22 Osprey, made by Boeing. The U.S. Defense Department said in a news release that 84 percent of the work will be done in Jacksonville, Fla.

The CH-53 is a heavy-lift transport helicopter, while the V22 Osprey is a tilt-rotor aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter.

The remaining 16 percent of the renovation work will be performed in McKinney, Texas, the Jacksonville Business Journal reported Wednesday, with the work expected to be completed by September.

Philadelphia's Naval Supply Weapon Systems Support awarded the contract and it did not seek competing bids, the Defense Department said.

Jacksonville has received other U.S. military contracts, as in December 2011 when Raytheon was also awarded a $49.9 million contract to repair and upgrade infrared sensor systems for F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets, with 25 percent of the work to be performed in Jacksonville.