The Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) and similar intensive training grounds meant to prepare troops for Iraq and other combat zones have increasing vacancies in key jobs and the Army must better prepare to address such shortages, a recent Inspector General (IG) report says. "Training for ground forces could be negatively impacted by this restructuring if Observer/Controller positions are not staffed near full-strength in FY 2009," said the IG report, released Dec. 28
NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md. - The U.S. Navy expects to issue a request for proposals in March for a contract to convert its laser-guided and precision-guided munitions into dual-mode weapons. The program is called the Direct Attack Moving Target Capability (DAMTC), and it has grown out of an immediate need to destroy moving targets in all types of weather, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Amidst President Bush's Middle East trip to bolster allies against Iran and to tout stability efforts in the region, administration officials are again highlighting foreign military sales to Arab allies unveiled last summer.
The source-selection authority impaneled by the U.S. Air Force to help it choose the provider of the next fleet of aerial refueling tankers "must have a pretty good idea which team is going to prevail," according to well-connected defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute.
AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Mission Systems of Clearfield, Utah, is being awarded a contract option for $31,786,171. The action will provide Minuteman III Safety Enhanced Re-entry Vehicle Full Rate Production, option 3, FY08 120 each. At this time all funds have been obligated. 526 ICBMSW/PKE, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (F42610-98-C-0001).
JAPANESE AEGIS: Lockheed Martin's installation of its Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense weapon system aboard a second Japanese destroyer, the JS Chokai, is under way in Nagasaki, Japan, while the company has announced a $40.4 million contract modification to provide the sea-based anti-missile system to the JS Myoko. Myoko is the third of four Japanese destroyers that will sport the Aegis BMD weapon system. Kongo, which successfully intercepted a ballistic missile with its weapon system in a December 2007 test (DAILY, Dec.
The U.S. Air Force appears to be making headway in its attempt to ensure the KC-X refueler competition is more transparent and auditable than past procurements. Sue Payton, the service's acquisition czar, says the source selection has taken months longer than planned to ensure there is a clear trail of accountability in the event of a protest to the decision, which is expected in the next couple of months and could be worth up to $40 billion. Boeing's 767-based design and a Northrop Grumman/EADS North America A330-based option are vying for the deal.
Boeing Satellite Systems Inc. of El Segundo, Calif., is being awarded a $75,000,000 contract modification extension. The modification extends the Transformational Communication Satellite (TSAT) Space Segment Risk Reduction and System Definition (RR&SD) contract for six months from Jan. 7, 2008 to July 7, 2008. The contractor shall continue to perform all efforts in accordance with the existing statement of work.
Lockheed Martin has been developing its mine-hunting systems at a quick clip in response to the U.S. Navy's July 2007 release of its Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) master plan, which designated an entire class of USVs targeted at mine countermeasures missions (MCM).
The U.S. Navy's acquisition of the $1.5 billion Consolidated Afloat Networks Enterprise Services (CANES), a communication infrastructure and network, is slowly ramping up, Lockheed Martin officials said Jan. 14.
A Jan. 9 story on the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) contained a typo. The story should have said the "'disparate intelligence collections' are managed by NSA (National Security Agency) and NGA (National Geospatial-Imagery Agency), since the 'production' end of the business is not the NRO's."
C-5 RERP: The Pentagon has not yet issued its decision to Congress on whether to proceed with the C-5 Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining Program (RERP). The decision was due Jan. 14 to close the issue of a Nunn McCurdy cost breach to the program, whose projected costs have soared from $11 billion to $17.8 billion. A Pentagon spokeswoman says the correspondence to Congress is awaiting key signatures and should be sent shortly.
Congressional referees have rejected Recon Optical's (ROI) contracting bid protest over the U.S. Army's award for Common Remotely Operated Weapon Stations (CROWS) to rival Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
COLUMBIA, Md. - Planetary scientists at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory cheered Jan. 14 as the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (Messenger) orbiter flew within about 125 miles of the surface of Mercury, the first spacecraft to fly by the innermost planet in the solar system since Mariner 10's final visit on March 16, 1975.
Construction is scheduled to begin this month at Balad Air Base in Iraq on a facility to house the state-of-the-art battlefield command and control system that will integrate air traffic management over Iraqi skies, the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing says.
The "tanker war" between Boeing and the partnership of Airbus and Northrop Grumman will heat up some more Jan. 15 with the expected announcement by the Airbus/Northrop group that its proposed Alabama facility would do commercial aircraft work as well. Worth about $40 billion for an initial set of 179 tankers - and long-term maintenance work worth another $100 billion - the Air Force contract itself is quite a prize.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has painted too rosy a picture of its nuclear Initiatives for Proliferation Program (IPP), and the agency needs to take another look at it, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says. "GAO recommends DOE assess the continuing need for the IPP program with input from other federal agencies, including State and the intelligence community," says GAO's report, released Jan. 11.
U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody, frustrated with the slow pace of fielding valuable systems to the warfighter, is asking industry to help speed up the process. Cody spoke to a group at the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) Aviation Expo in Arlington, Va., Jan. 11. "We don't have the element of time," he said. "I'm still waiting for the ATIRCM [Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures]. I'm still waiting to get the ARH [Advanced Reconnaissance Helicopter] off and running...I'm still waiting for the common ground station."
LONDON - AgustaWestland is re-entering the fray for the U.K.'s future search and rescue helicopter (SAR-H) requirement as a partner in the U.K. Air Rescue team. The Anglo-Italian helicopter manufacturer had initially been bidding as a prime contractor on the U.K. Defense Ministry's SAR-H private finance initiative program. However it pulled out of acting as a prime for the competition last year, saying only that the decision had been made for "commercial reasons".
TWO SEATERS: Researchers in high-tech firms are betting on computers with fast processing and advanced algorithms to drive the military back to single-seat fighter aircraft designs. "No man is going to be able to engage in network warfare [from the cockpit]," says a top cyber warfare specialist. "He's not fast enough, he's in the wrong place and he doesn't have the proper know-how." The design of choice is an unmanned aircraft that can be run remotely and rigged for stealth to get nearer the target emitters for better payload support, futurists say.
