The Pentagon’s amended request for proposals for the recompetition of the U.S. Air Force’s program to design and build new aerial refuelers is expected to be out as soon as Aug. 6, according to industry and defense officials. This should set into motion a new duel between Northrop Grumman/EADS North America and Boeing.
Iridium Satellite LLC has tapped Lockheed Martin and Thales Alenia Space for the final phase of the procurement process for the company’s replacement satellite constellation, Iridium NEXT. During this last nine-month phase, the two companies will vie for the Iridium NEXT prime contract, slated to be awarded by midyear 2009. The current generation of Iridium satellites are expected to begin reaching the end of their operational life around 2014.
NEW DELHI – Prospective vendors submitted their offsets packages Aug. 4 for India’s Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program to replace the Indian air force’s aging MiG-21s. The proposals were submitted in response to the MMRCA request for proposals (RFP), which asked competitors to provide an “industrial participation” (IP) plan as part of their offering.
Despite improvements in keeping track of private security contractors in Iraq, the Pentagon and U.S. State Department still need to fill some oversight holes, according to a recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). “Both DOD and the State Department have taken steps to strengthen oversight of private security contractors in Iraq since September 2007,” GAO acknowledged. “However, staffing and training challenges remain for DOD.”
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) officials are investigating why a third attempt to launch the low-cost Falcon 1 booster into orbit ended in failure on Aug. 2 following a malfunction in the separation system between the first and second stages.
AMRAAM AWARD: Raytheon said Aug. 4 that the U.S. Air Force has awarded it a $412 million contract for Lot 22 production and delivery of the AIM-120C7 for foreign military sales (FMS) and AIM-120D Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles for the service. The AIM-120C7, which completed operational testing in 2007, is the only AMRAAM version available for FMS. Company and Air Force officials have been secretive on specifics of the D version, Aviation Week & Space Technology reported in its Aug. 4 edition.
LONDON – The British Defense Ministry is being warned it needs to address personnel shortfalls in key areas of unmanned aerial vehicle use and the associated exploitation of imagery gathered by such platforms. The British Parliament’s Defense Committee is pointing to a shortage of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operators, particularly in the British army, as an issue that needs to be dealt with. Similarly, it is highlighting a shortfall in imagery analysts as a concern.
ARMY BAE Systems Ground Systems Division, York, Pa., was awarded on July 24, 2008, a $19,697,117 firm-fixed price contract for the procurement of M88A2 HERCULES recovery vehicles. The work will be performed primarily in York and is expected to be completed by April 30, 2012. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One bid was solicited on Aug. 2, 2007. U.S. Army TACOM, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (DAAE07-01-C-N030). AIR FORCE
OSPREY LIFT: U.S. Naval Air Systems Command has awarded the Bell-Boeing Joint Project Office in Amarillo, Texas, a $91.8 million contract modification for Phase II of the CV-22 aircraft Block 20 Upgrade. The effort entails follow-on efforts to Phase I, including design, development, integration and testing of the CV-22 Block 20 improvements and enhancements.
GREEN AVIATION FORUM • September 23, 2008 • Madrid, Spain Don’t miss the second annual AVIATION WEEK Management Forum dedicated to green initiatives in the airline industry, including: emissions treading; carbon offsets; and air traffic management improvement. Learn more at www.aviationweek.com/forums or call +1.212.904.3195.
AIR FORCE The Air Force is modifying a firm fixed price contract with Alliant Techsystems Inc., Integrated Systems Division, of Clearwater, Fla., for $5,627,085. This action will provide 149 Common Munitions Built-In Test Reprogramming Equipment Air-to-Air Auxilliary Data Units and 20 W-17 Cables. At this time all funds have been obligated. 647 AESS/PK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8626-06-C-2060 P00012). ARMY
Lockheed Martin will begin cutting its 2,445-strong work force on NASA’s space shuttle external tank project this fall, as the shuttle fleet moves toward a planned retirement in 2010. Employees at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans, where the tanks are built, as well as at company facilities at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., and Huntsville, Ala., will be affected.
The Defense Department needs to establish a more effective process to identify, prioritize and address the ballistic missile defense needs expressed by combatant commands, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found. In 2005, U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) and the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) created the Warfighter Involvement Process, designed to address combatant command capability needs. But in its July 2008 report, GAO said both STRATCOM and MDA have yet to overcome three limitations to the process’s effectiveness:
JSC CLOSES: NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston closed at 12 p.m. CDT Aug. 4 and is slated to remain closed through Aug. 6 because of the threat of tropical storm Edouard. Edouard is predicted to cross the Texas coast early Aug. 5. Flight control of the International Space Station will continue from Houston, and the Space Station Mission Control Center at Johnson will remain open.
NASA says that new data from the Phoenix Mars lander are making it look less conclusive that soil analyzed by the lander’s soil chemistry experiment is Earth-like and can support life. Aviation Week has reported that the new information involves the “potential for life” on Mars (Aerospace DAILY, Aug. 4). That potential can either be positive or negative, and the new data indicate the new soil tests are at best inconclusive, according to the information being released on the soil chemistry experiment.
BOMBER TALK QUIETED: In justifying the need for a new bomber and quickly, the U.S. Air Force’s sales pitch went too far, surviving service officials say. But despite decapitation of the service’s leadership, the program is alive and well. It’s just that public discussion of a new subsonic, stealthy bomber for the U.S. Air Force has quieted and is expected to remain so as participants in the program realized that some secrecy rules had already been broken in revealing the 2018 aircraft’s capabilities.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicated new calendar listing.) Aug. 7 - 9 — Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s 25th Annual Systems and Technology Symposium. Anaheim, California Marriott Hotel. For more information call 703-526-6629 or go to www.darpa.mil
BRITISH RIVET?: There’s been talk the U.S. might sell RC-135 Rivet Joint signals intelligence aircraft to the United Kingdom. But BAE Systems CEO Mike Turner thinks that’s unlikely. “I’d be very surprised if the U.K. would buy Rivet Joint,” he notes. Why? “I don’t think they have sufficient money,” Turner says. The U.K. government currently is undergoing a spending review owing to a lack of money to meet all of its modernization needs.
Too much may be being made about discussions on the quantities of Eurofighter aircraft that partner nations will buy under the Tranche 3 program now being negotiated. The focus for BAE Systems is to ensure continued upgrades of the fighter, departing BAE Systems CEO Mike Turner says.
