Hughes Wins Airline Navigation Contract

The Fullerton-based company won a federal contract worth $483.5 million to develop a system for improving the accuracy of navigation for commercial airlines. The Federal Aviation Administration said Hughes Information Technology Systems was named prime contractor for the project to develop the so-called Wide Area Augmentation System for navigating with the global positioning satellite system. Hughes has been working on the project since May under a short-term deal to keep the effort going. In April, the FAA canceled its original contract for the work with Wilcox Electric Inc. of Kansas City, Mo., saying it was dissatisfied with a contractor’s performance. Officials hope the system will begin testing by late 1997 or ’98.