Hughes Aircraft Can Bid to Supply Air Force

An Orange County unit of Hughes Aircraft Co. has been selected to compete for nearly $1 billion in computer sales to the U.S. Air Force over the next five years.

Hughes Data Systems, in Irvine, said Wednesday that it received a $100,000 first-stage contract to begin marketing its computer products under the Air Force’s Desktop V program.

Hughes will compete with Virginia-based Zenith Data Systems for sales of an estimated 360,000 computers, along with peripherals and software, worth up to $924.4 million.

The two companies will be the only authorized computer sellers under the Desktop V program, and will bid competitively for sales as various Air Force units require equipment, a Hughes spokesman said. The value of the contract to each company will be determined by the number of computers each sells.

The program is not expected to create new employment at Hughes Data in Irvine. Company officials said that unit now employs “fewer than 100 people” in Orange County. The data unit will, however, open a small systems integration facility near Dallas with about 50 employees, including 40 still to be hired, the spokesman said.