Cobham CEO says U.S. contract awards on rise

LE BOURGET, France (Reuters) - British aerospace group Cobham is seeing U.S. defense contracts being awarded again after a recent lull and is in talks about further air tanker deals in the United States and Brazil, its head said.

The U.S. government had until recently suspended new contract awards and was funding the military at 2010 levels -- some $20 billion less than its defense department requested for 2011.

"Things are starting to move again after the continuing resolution in the U.S. was released," Cobham Chief Executive Andy Stevens told Reuters at the Paris Air Show on Thursday.

"It hasn't been like a tsunami with orders flowing in and us being swamped but they are coming through again now."

Cobham makes around two-thirds of its revenue in the United States and has been hit by a slowdown in U.S. defense spending in recent months.

Cobham has been selected by Boeing to equip its fleet of new U.S. Air Force tanker jets and expects the contract to be worth at least $1 billion.

"Today there's 600 tankers in the fleet and they have orders for 100 plus more and even with just a bit of aftermarket thrown in that equates to at least $1 billion over the life of the contract but there could be a lot more to come," said Stevens.

"We're looking at the rest of the portfolio we've got with Boeing and seeing what we can do."

Cobham, the world's largest maker of airborne-refueling equipment, is also in talks with Brazil aerospace group Embraer about possible work on a new Brazilian air tanker.

"Embraer are looking at launching a tanker, and that will need refueling and other equipment, and we see that as a very positive opportunity -- we're talking to Embraer here at the air show," he said

The CEO added that there was "definitely a market" for a tanker that sits between Airbus' and Boeing's own models.