ARMY Oshkosh Corp., Oshkosh, Wis., was awarded on April 18 a $71,837,142 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the procurement of 417 different Medium Tactical Vehicles. The work will be performed in Oshkosh, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2012. The bid was solicited through the Internet with three bids received. The U.S. Army TACOM LCMC, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-09-D-0159). AIR FORCE
HOUSTON — U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), the wife of shuttle Endeavour commander Mark Kelly, has been medically cleared to attend the April 29 launch of Kelly’s STS-134 mission from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., according to a television interview with the veteran astronaut.
Advanced cybertraining is being shaped by rapid advances in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) gathering, information fusion and the immediate availability of data. The result is that in addition to standard cyberoperators and defenders, the cyber-career field needs intelligence, acquisition and engineering professionals that are cyber-focused for the majority of their careers.
NEW DELHI — India is poised to shortlist a manufacturer to provide much-needed basic trainer aircraft. The contenders — Grob’s G-120 TP, Embraer’s EMB-312 Super Tucano, Korea Aerospace Industries’ KT-1, Finmeccanica’s M-311 and Pilatus’ PC-7 — emerged following a request for proposals issued in early 2010. The deal is estimated to cost $1 billion.
Orbital Sciences Corp. reported year-over-year revenue growth for the first quarter of 2011, although its operating income took a hit from the early March failure of the company’s Taurus XL rocket. The March 4 fairing separation glitch claimed NASA’s Glory climate satellite, and echoed the 2009 loss of NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory , which also was lost when its Taurus XL fairing failed to open (Aerospace DAILY, March 7).
Vice Adm. David Venlet, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program executive officer, says he hopes that negotiations with Lockheed Martin on low-rate initial production (LRIP) lot V will progress more smoothly than they did for the previous lot. Lockheed is putting the finishing touches on its LRIP V proposal, which will comprise 35 aircraft. This will be the second fixed-price production contract for the company on the program. Protracted and contentious negotiations on LRIP IV took more than a year with a contract being signed in November.
MILITARY RESEARCH: The Defense Department is issuing 27 fiscal 2011 awards, totaling $191 million over five years, to academic institutions to perform multidisciplinary basic research under the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program. MURI supports research that intersects “more than one traditional science and engineering discipline in order to accelerate research progress,” the Pentagon says. The awards will be made by the Army Research Office, the Office of Naval Research and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
One of the most intriguing recent comments by U.S. Navy brass is that the service has determined it would be cheaper in the long run to rebuild superstructures on its aging cruiser fleet using traditional metalwork instead of composites.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Apr. 25 — Greater Washington Aviation Open 23rd annual golf tournament, Lansdowne Golf Resort, Lansdowne, Va. For more information email [email protected], or go to www.gwao.org
SAN FRANCISCO AND LONDON — German researchers hope the upcoming flight test of an ambitious hypersonic demonstrator will pave the way for follow-on flights of a small sub-orbital reentry vehicle in 2020.
France should be applauded for orchestrating the military campaign to stop Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi from butchering his own citizens. And U.S. President Barack Obama should be commended for having his nation take a back seat in the conflict. Libya, a former Italian colony, sits in the European Union’s back yard.
HOUSTON — Russia’s trash-laden Progress M-09M/41P cargo capsule departed the International Space Station early on April 22, clearing the way for the April 27 launch of a new supply ship. The 41 Progress was released from the Pirs docking compartment of the station’s Russian segment at 7:38 a.m. EDT. The capsule, which arrived at the orbiting science laboratory on Jan. 30, has been instrumented to carry out a series of engineering tests before it makes a fiery decent into the Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean on April 26.
ARTILLERY ORDER: Raytheon has announced a $173 million award from the U.S. Army (in fiscal 2010 dollars) for more 155-mm precision-guided Excalibur artillery rounds. The contract is the beginning of full-rate production for the Excalibur Ia-2. The company notes that since 2007, more than 300 Excalibur rounds have been fired in theater by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, and that this latest order is specifically marked for in-theater use.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—Space Florida, a state-backed economic development agency focused on aerospace and spin-off technologies, plans to invest $1 million in a U.K.-based firm that has developed innovative ways to store hydrogen at ambient temperatures. The money is intended to help Cella Energy secure additional outside investment and expand its operations into Florida.
BEIJING—Indonesia will pay $10 million to cover 20% of the cost of concept definition of South Korea’s proposed KF-X fighter, and will send 30 researchers to work on the project. Korea Aerospace Industries and missile and electronics systems maker LIG Nex1 are the preferred South Korean candidates for the program, while Indonesian Aerospace will also participate, according to the South Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration.
LONDON — The Swiss defense ministry is requiring the military to look at options to assure the country will not suffer an air defense gap, including the possible modernization of F-5 Tigers, after having put off replacement of the type.
Predators are back in the skies over Libya for low-level, very detailed observations of government troops as they dig in close to civilian areas to avoid NATO air attacks. Manned aircraft will continue to bomb from medium altitudes, but the Predators were reintroduced to the fight strictly for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) gathering at low altitudes where the Libyan government’s advanced, Russian-made SA-24 man-portable anti-aircraft missiles create a zone of lethality.
ST. LOUIS—“A number of potential Joint Strike Fighter customers” have asked for information about the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, according to Boeing Military Aircraft President Chris Chadwick. “We see customers trying to recapitalize their tactical fighter forces and balancing that with huge budget pressures, and trying to make the best decisions going forward,” Chadwick says.
BLACK HAWK BUY: Turkey has opted for the Sikorsky Black Hawk over the AgustaWestland AW149 in the Turkish Utility Helicopter Program competition. The initial buy, valued at around $3.5 billion, is for 109 rotorcraft (with options for 12 more), although the inventory is expected to grow significantly over time. Turkey will receive the T-70, a Turkish version of the Sikorsky utility helicopter.
LONDON—The Dutch parliament has approved a defense ministry request to proceed with the purchase of a second F-35 Joint Strike Fighter test aircraft. The U.S. had extended the deadline for the Netherlands to decide until the end of April. The aircraft is being bought as part of the U.S. low-rate initial production lot 4 and due for delivery in March 2013 (the first of the Dutch aircraft is due for delivery in August 2012).
HOUSTON—The upcoming departure and launch of Russian Soyuz crews assigned to the International Space Station are shifting to minimize the time the nearly complete orbiting science laboratory is staffed by three rather than six crewmembers.
