http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000102&sid=a4Cy8zxyxwD0&refer=uk, Rolls-Royce Group Plc said it has been selected to provide engines for the first five spy planes being developed for the U.S. Army by a team led by Lockheed Martin Corp.
The modified versions of the AE 3007 engine used in business and regional jets will be fitted onto the Aerial Common Sensor aircraft, Rolls-Royce said in a statement. The AE 3007 also is used to power Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft.
Lockheed earlier this month won a contract worth as much as $879 million for the development and production of five of the spy planes, designed to gather battlefield intelligence and do surveillance. The potential value of the program is more than $7 billion over 20 years, London-based Rolls-Royce said.
The planes will be based on the ERJ 145 model of Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA, or Embraer. A total of 57 of the aircraft will be built, with 38 going to the Army and 19 to the U.S. Navy. Delivery of the first Army aircraft will be in 2010 and the Navy version in 2012.
Shares of Rolls-Royce rose 1.75 pence to 229.75 pence in London. They had risen 52 percent in the past year.
