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), Boeing Co (BA.N) and Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N) 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)