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Northrop (NOC) Wins Contract to Aid E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Jet

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Northrop Grumman Corp.’s (NOC - Free Report) business unit, Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., recently secured a contract involving the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft. The award has been offered by the Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, MD. 

Details of the Deal

Valued at $14 million the contract is expected to be completed by November 2025. Per the terms of the deal, Northrop will offer non-recurring engineering support for the replacement of obsolete parts within the position tracking system for the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye.

A major portion of the work related to this deal will be carried out in El Segundo, CA.

Importance of E-2D Advanced Hawkeye

Northrop’s E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft boasts battle management, theater air, missile defense and multiple sensor fusion capabilities in an airborne system. These offer the warfighter expanded battlespace awareness, especially in the area of information operations.

Through its effective radar sensor and robust network-enabled capability, Advanced Hawkeye provides critical, actionable data to joint forces and first responders. Such features of the aircraft make it attractive for the military, thus resulting in NOC winning multiple orders for the same, like the latest one. The new orders are likely to boost the revenue-generation prospects of Northrop from the military aircraft business arena.

Growth Prospects

Countries globally have been reinforcing their military resources due to intense geopolitical tensions and amplified terrorist threats. To this end, a military aircraft that forms an integral part of any air defense system is likely to witness pent-up demand.

Per a report from the Mordor Intelligence report, the global military aviation market is projected to witness a CAGR of 7.4% over the 2023-2028 period. Such growth prospects should benefit Northrop as its military aviation system offers a wide range of manned and unmanned aircraft that already enjoys an established position in the military aircraft market.

The abounding growth prospects should benefit defense majors that have forayed into the military aircraft market. These include Lockheed Martin (LMT - Free Report) , Boeing (BA - Free Report) and Textron (TXT - Free Report) .

Lockheed’s Aeronautics segment is engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration, sustainment, support and upgrade of advanced military aircraft, including combat and air mobility aircraft, unmanned air vehicles and related technologies. Its major programs include the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter jet, the C-130 Hercules airlifter, the F-16 Fighting Falcon jet and the F-22 Raptor jet.

LMT has a long-term earnings growth rate of 6.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LMT’s 2023 sales indicates growth of 0.8% from the prior-year reported figure.

Boeing’s Defense, Space & Security segment’s primary products include fixed-wing military aircraft, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, F-15 programs, P-8 programs, KC-46A Tanker and T-7A Red Hawk. The segment also produces rotorcraft and rotary-wing programs, such as CH-47 Chinook, AH-64 Apache and V-22 Osprey.

BA has a long-term earnings growth rate of 4%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BA’s 2023 sales implies growth of 19.3% from the prior-year reported figure.

Textron’s business unit, Textron Aviation Defense designs, builds and supports versatile and globally-known military aircraft preferred for training and attack missions. Some of Textron’s renowned products include the Beechcraft T-6C trainer and the AT-6 Wolverine.

TXT boasts a long-term earnings growth rate of 11.7%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TXT’s 2023 sales indicates an improvement of 7.7% from the prior-year reported figure.

Price Movement

In the past year, shares of Northrop have lost 12% compared with the industry’s decline of 6.4%.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Zacks Rank

Northrop currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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