The Naval Air Systems Command awarded Lockheed Martin's Rotary and Mission Systems division a $54,103,975 order (N0001926F1033) on May 21, 2026, to develop, integrate, test, and deploy System Configuration 28 across the full MH-60 Seahawk fleet, covering both U.S. Navy variants and foreign military sales customers, with FY26 research, development, test, and evaluation funds and $19.5 million in FMS customer funds obligated at award, and a completion date of October 2028.
What System Configuration 28 Delivers
The MH-60 fleet operates on a system configuration baseline model, where major software and avionics updates are packaged, tested, and released as a numbered configuration rather than pushed to individual aircraft piecemeal. This approach keeps the fleet on a common technical standard, which simplifies logistics, training, and interoperability across ship detachments and between allied operators who fly the same platform under different national flags.
System Configuration 28 addresses hardware and software obsolescence that has accumulated since the previous baseline. Components that were commercially available when earlier configurations were designed no longer have active production lines, which creates sustainment risk as spares dry up and manufacturers discontinue support. Integrating replacement hardware — processors, displays, communication modules — requires software requalification and compatibility testing against the Seahawk's existing mission system architecture. That requalification work cannot be done cheaply or quickly on the aircraft itself, which is why non-recurring engineering efforts like this contract exist as a distinct phase before the configuration goes fleet-wide.
The work performed by Lockheed Martin's Rotary and Mission Systems facility in Owego, New York, encompasses non-recurring engineering for SC28 development, system integration, regression testing against existing Seahawk mission systems, and preparation of the technical data packages that fleet support activities and allied maintenance organizations will use once the configuration is released for installation. The Owego site has been the hub of Seahawk avionics development for decades and maintains the system integration labs and engineering staff necessary to manage the complexity of qualifying changes across the MH-60R and MH-60S variants in parallel.
Beyond obsolescence, configuration updates of this type typically integrate capability improvements that have been deferred from earlier baselines — sensor processing enhancements, datalink updates, or changes to the human-machine interface that improve crew effectiveness during anti-submarine warfare or combat support missions. The SC28 scope has not been detailed publicly, but the combination of obsolescence resolution and capability updates is standard for major Seahawk configuration releases.
FMS Cost Sharing and Allied Seahawk Fleets
The $19.5 million in foreign military sales funds obligated at award reflects the MH-60's broad international operator base. Allied nations that have purchased MH-60 variants through FMS channels benefit from configuration updates developed under these contracts because their aircraft run the same avionics baseline as U.S. Navy aircraft. Contributing funds to SC28 development gives those nations access to the updated configuration at a fraction of what it would cost to develop independently, while preserving the interoperability that makes combined naval operations practical.
The MH-60R and MH-60S are operated by allied navies across the Asia-Pacific and Europe, including Australia, Denmark, Greece, India, and Saudi Arabia, among others who have procured the platform through FMS. The configuration baseline approach means that when Lockheed Martin releases SC28, those operators receive the same obsolescence fixes and applicable capability updates, which preserves interoperability during combined operations — a priority NAVAIR manages carefully given how frequently allied Seahawks operate alongside U.S. Navy carrier strike groups and expeditionary units.
FMS cost sharing on development contracts like this one is administratively straightforward when managed through existing Lockheed Martin contract vehicles because the Defense Security Cooperation Agency and the Navy's FMS case structure allow customer funds to be applied to specific line items within a broader development effort. The $19.5 million FMS contribution reduces the total burden on the Navy's own RDT&E accounts while giving allied customers a direct stake in the configuration's scope and schedule. Nations that contribute funding to development have more standing to raise concerns about scope changes that would affect their variant-specific requirements.
What It Means for Contractors
The $54 million order flows to Lockheed Martin RMS as the prime, but SC28's scope creates meaningful subcontract opportunities at and around the Owego facility. Avionics integration work of this complexity draws on suppliers for processor hardware, display systems, mission computer software, radar processing, acoustic signal processing for the sonar system, and communication system modifications. Firms already on Lockheed Martin's approved supplier list for MH-60 work are the most likely recipients of engineering task orders as SC28 scope is broken into discrete integration packages assigned to specialist teams.
The dual-variant scope — covering both MH-60R and MH-60S — means integration testing must verify that changes work correctly across two distinct mission system architectures. The MH-60R is configured for anti-submarine and surface warfare missions, while the MH-60S is optimized for combat support and mine countermeasures. Subcontractors providing hardware or software components must qualify their deliverables against both variants, which increases the testing burden but also increases the total volume of engineering support work available to firms in the Seahawk supply chain.
The October 2028 completion date provides a roughly 29-month execution window from this award. Firms seeking to participate as suppliers should engage with Lockheed Martin RMS supplier development teams in Owego early, because SC28 integration planning will drive procurement decisions well before the technical work peaks in the middle years of the program. FMS variant differences may also generate separate subcontract vehicles for documentation packages, training material updates, and technical data tailored to allied operator configurations and national maintenance procedures.
The Seahawk configuration release process also generates opportunities for firms that specialize in airworthiness documentation and technical manual production. When SC28 is released, every affected maintenance procedure, operator manual, and troubleshooting guide must be updated to reflect the new hardware and software configuration. For a fleet operated by the U.S. Navy and multiple allied nations, that documentation work spans multiple national variants and maintenance standards — a volume of technical writing and publication work that Lockheed Martin typically fulfills through a mix of internal staff and contracted technical writing firms with defense aviation documentation experience.
Firms without existing Seahawk supply chain relationships but with adjacent capabilities — data link integration, radar signal processing, electronic warfare system support — should also monitor the SC28 solicitation environment through the Electronic Business suite on NAVAIR's contracting portal. When Lockheed Martin breaks SC28 integration work into competitive subcontract packages, those packages will appear as procurement notices accessible to any firm meeting the security and technical qualification requirements.
