US Navy seen picking patrol plane winner this week

WASHINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) - Pentagon acquisition chief John Young has approved the development phase of the Navy's new $3 billion unmanned surveillance aircraft, paving the way for a contract announcement later this week, defense and Navy officials said on Monday.

Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Boeing Co (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) are competing for the Navy's Broad Area Maritime Surveillance program. The unmanned patrol planes for the program will replace the Navy's aging P-3 Orion aircraft and will have a mission radius of 2,000 nautical miles to collect battle damage assessments and other information.

Young signed a memorandum on Friday approving the next phase of the Navy program, a Defense Department spokeswoman said.

Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. John Schofield said a contract announcement is now expected this week, possibly as early as Tuesday.

The Navy plans to award a contract to one prime contractor for system design and development, including an option for some low-rate initial production aircraft. The Pentagon budget foresees spending $2.3 billion for research, development and testing of planes over the next five years, plus $780 million for initial procurement. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)