BLOOMFIELD, Conn., April 6 (UPI) -- Kaman Corp. of Connecticut has been awarded a $19.8 million contract modification from the U.S. Air Force for procurement of Joint Programmable Fuses.
The award from the Air Force to the company's aerospace segment is a follow-on order under Option 8 of an earlier contract.
"This award raises orders under Option 8 to $43.8 million and total JPF orders since March 2010 to $170 million," Kaman Aerospace Group President Greg Steiner said. "Additionally, it secures our JPF backlog of $159 million further into 2013.
"The JPF is an important program to the United States and allied militaries around the world due to the high reliability and operational flexibility that it provides."
Kaman is the sole provider of the JPF, an electro-mechanical bomb safing and arming device, to the U.S. Air Force and 18 other countries. The JPF allows the settings of a weapon to be programmed in flight and is the current bomb fuse of choice of the Air Force.
The JPF is used with a number of weapons, including general purpose bombs, and guided bombs that use JDAM or Paveway kits, on U.S. aircraft such as F-15, F-16, F-22, A-10, B-1, B-2, B-52 and the MQ-9 UAV. International aircraft using the JPF include the Mirage 3 and Gripen.
Kaman said the regular production schedule is more than 2,000 JPFs per month from facilities in Florida and Connecticut. Delivery of the fuses is expected to occur in 2013.
