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Leidos Wins $23M USSOCOM Deal to Modify Dash 8 Aircraft

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Leidos Holdings, Inc. (LDOS - Free Report) recently secured a $22.7-million contract to modify a De Havilland Canada Dash 8 aircraft to support U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) requirements. The company will utilize fiscal 2020 procurement along with defense-wide appropriations for completing the task.

The contract was awarded by the USSOCOM, Tampa, FL, and the work related to the deal will be executed in Bridgewater, VA.

A Brief Note on the Aircraft

The De Havilland Canada Dash 8 aircraft, also known as the Dash 8, is a twin turboprop regional transport passenger aircraft and also one of the most renowned turboprops in the global aerospace market. The Dash offers the same trip cost as competing 76-seat turboprops but can be configured to fit a maximum of 90 seats. It is the only turboprop that is fully compliant with FAA/EASA passenger weight at any extra capacity configuration.

The aircraft is originally manufactured by a Canadian Aerospace company, named the De Havilland Aircraft of Canada. Notably, in 1986, the Canadian government privatized De Havilland Canada’s selling production facilities to Boeing (BA - Free Report) .

What Favors Leidos?

At the beginning of March 2020, the USSOCOM reportedly revealed its plan on procuring a highly modified De Havilland Canada DHC-8 (Dash 8) aircraft for its mission support operations. According to the USSOCOM, Leidos was the best possible choice as it was the only company with the product and engineering technical data required to support the delivery of an airworthy modified DHC-8 without substantial duplication of cost and schedule.

Furthermore, Leidos had earlier supplied the Dash 8-based Airborne Reconnaissance Low-Enhanced (ARL-E) and Saturn Arch intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms to the U.S. military. Hence, going forward, any contracts related to the modification and upgrade of Dash 8 aircraft will substantially benefit Leidos.

Robust Budget Proposal to Boost Prospects

Furthermore, the fiscal 2021 defense budget proposal reflects a solid spending provision of $56.9 billion for military aircraft. If approved, such a stupendous budgetary amendment will reflect massive growth prospects for Leidos and other military aircraft players like Lockheed Martin (LMT - Free Report) .

Price Movement

Leidos Holdings’ stock has gained 38.7% in a year against the industry’s decline of 24.4%.



Zacks Rank & A Key Pick

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

A better-ranked stock in the same sector is AAR Corp. (AIR - Free Report) , which has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

In the last reported quarter, AAR Corp. delivered a positive earnings surprise of 1.52%. The company delivered a four-quarter earnings beat of 4.82%, on average.

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