Viera—In Center of High Tech Growth

September 19, 2018 — Melbourne-based Harris Corp. was awarded a $500 million contract by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency to perform services on a program called HELIOS, the High Energy Laser and Integrated Optical-dazzler with Surveillance system. HELIOS brings together laser weapon, long-range intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and counter-Unmanned Aerial System capabilities to increase situational awareness and layered defense options to combat forces.

The program is expected to be completed in September 2028. The 10-year contract has a base period of five years with potential of five additional years. Such contract wins are likely to enhance Harris revenues, which have witnessed a compound annual growth rate of 16.7% from fiscal 2015 to fiscal 2018. Over the past three months, shares of Harris have gained 14.5% compared with 12.3% growth for the industry. HELIOS includes space situational awareness, Internet of Things, data exfiltration, foreign counter space threats, and rapid prototyping. Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. are also part of the work agreement.

Lockheed Martin also won a contract with the U.S. Navy valued at $88 million, which involves low-rate initial production of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft. The F-35 is a multirole aircraft designed for air-to-air, air-to-ground, electronic attack and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Harris has been working with F-35 industry partners from the program’s inception through the aircraft’s first deployment in 2015, providing the F-35 with cockpit communications, data processing, sophisticated avionics and electronic warfare technology. Harris avionics infrastructure and electronics provide more efficient, affordable and higher-performance capabilities in keeping with the F-35’s status as the next generation standard bearer of U.S. global air power.

In April 2018, Harris delivered more than 1 million avionics components to Lockheed Martin for the F-35 Lightning II. For Lockheed, nearly half of the work for this F-35 deal will take place in Orlando where Lockheed Martin has more than 7,000 employees. So far, Lockheed Martin has built and delivered more than 300 F-35s since 2011 and plans to build nearly 100 more this year.

Sources: Orlando Business News September 17, 2018
and Zacks Equity Research September 18, 2018