Boeing beats Lockheed's Sikorsky, Sierra Nevada for Air Force contract

Shares of Boeing (BA) are in focus in morning trading after the company secured a deal with the Pentagon worth up to $2.4B to provide helicopters for protecting nuclear-missile bases. NEW CONTRACT: On Monday, Boeing and its partner Leonardo SpA were awarded a contract to replace the U.S. Air Force's UH-1N "Huey" choppers with a revamped version of the Italian company's AW139 commercial helicopter. The initial contract is worth $367M for four helicopters, but the full contract could be worth up to $2.38B if the Air Force orders the additional 80 aircraft it wants by 2031, Boeing said. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said Boeing and Leonardo beat out rival bids from Sierra Nevada and Lockheed Martin's (LMT) Sikorsky. WHAT'S NOTABLE: The contract comes just three weeks after Boeing won its first big Pentagon contract in seven years to update the courseware and software for the U.S. Navy's P-8A Poseidon training system. Under the four-year, $194M agreement, Boeing will upgrade devices at three locations for the U.S. Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force to reflect the latest configuration of the Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, it said earlier this month. Boeing is also competing to win a contract worth up to $16B to supply new T-X training jets for the Air Force, with a decision expected this week, according to reports. In June, the Air Force canceled plans to spend $24M to replace two refrigerators on President Trump's Air Force One jet. At the time, Wilson said the service and the White House decided that canceling the units makes "prudent fiscal sense." PRICE ACTION: In pre-market trading, shares of Boeing are up about 0.6%.