The US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has awarded Leidos a $22.7 million contract for the delivery of a modified De Havilland Canada Dash 8 aircraft.
The contract award comes after USSOCOM issued a presolicitation notice on the federal contracting website for DHC-8 fixed wing mission support aircraft in February this year.
Dash 8 special mission aircraft is one of several platforms used by the US military for airborne reconnaissance.
The contract also comes after one Dash-8 was destroyed in an attack of the Somali Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab at Manda Bay Airfield, Kenya, in January this year. At the time, Al Shabaab said their fighters damaged a C-146A Wolfhound aircraft used by US Special Operations Command and a De Havilland Canada DHC-8-202 aircraft used by Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC).
