ARMY Litton Systems Inc., Garland, Texas, was awarded on July 24, 2007, a delivery order amount of $6,670,758 as part of a $38,307,642 firm-fixed-price contract for sniper night sights. Work will be performed in Garland, Texas, and is expected to be completed by July 23, 2012. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on Aug. 7, 2006. The U.S. Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., is the contracting activity (W91CRB-07-D-0020).
NORTHROP-EADS TANKER: Northrop Grumman and EADS' A310 demonstrator aircraft is now ready for its next phase of Aerial Refueling Boom System (ARBS) flight tests, which will involve in-flight contacts and airborne fuel transfers with a variety of receiver aircraft, Northrop said Aug. 20. The company said its proposed KC-30 tanker's fly-by-wire boom has completed more than 130 hours of evaluations during 50 flights. The tanker is designed with a centerline-mounted ARBS and hose and drogue unit, along with two underwing hose and drogue refueling pods.
NAVY C4I: The U.S. Navy is awarding Science Applications International Corp. a potentially five-year, $473 million contract for Navy C4I programs, the company said Aug. 16. Specifically, the award funds In-Service Engineering Agent (ISEA) and Networks Integration Engineering Facility (NIEF) support.
SOLAR ARRAYS: Over the next several months, Boeing will work with business partner Hughes to complete on-orbit testing and deployment of the Spaceway 3 satellite's 132-foot solar arrays, as well as satellite check-out and system acceptance. Hughes will then place the satellite into commercial operation. Spaceway 3 achieved orbit after a successful launch from Kourou, French Guiana on an Ariane 5 Aug 15.
MERGING MISSILES: The U.S. ballistic missile defense (BMD) system will be renamed the ballistic and cruise missile defense system within one year, predicts Dave Kier, Lockheed Martin missile defense vice president. Some lawmakers are pushing the Pentagon to centralize efforts, currently spread among the services and Defense Dept. organizations, to counter cruise missiles. To date, the Pentagon has rejected a merger with BMD, citing a need for the Missile Defense Agency to focus solely on the need to refine antiballistic missile technologies.
NASA engineers have turned their attention to the latest foam "liberation" problem and its impact on future space shuttle launches, now that they have cleared Endeavour to land without repairs to the foam-induced gouge in its thermal protection system. Loss of external-tank insulating foam from a steel oxygen-feedline bracket has been declared an "in flight anomaly," meaning engineers must find a way to fix it or develop a sound rationale that it is safe to fly without a fix before another shuttle can be launched.
NEW STAND: A groundbreaking ceremony will be held Aug. 23 for the first large rocket test stand to be built at NASA's Stennis Space Center since the 1960s. The 300-foot-tall, open steel frame A-3 Test Stand will allow for simulated altitude testing on the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne J-2X engine, which is an upgrade of the Saturn V upper stage engines, over burn times as long as 550 seconds. The J-2X will power the upper stage of the Ares I crew launch vehicle and the Earth departure stage of the Ares V cargo launch vehicle.
CSAR-X RESCUE: Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) sent a letter Aug. 16 to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) offering his "full support" for GAO's ongoing review of the U.S. Air Force Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter program. The letter comes on the heels of a recently revealed e-mail in which Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne (see page 3) expressed a desire to remain with the original CSAR-X selection: Boeing's HH-47 Chinook.
The U.S. Air Force is expecting the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to weigh in by the end of August on the second round of protests against the service's decision to award a contract to Boeing to build more than 140 combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopters for between $10 billion and $15 billion, industry sources say.
NOT TO WORRY: U.S. Army Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Ed Anderson, a principal at the Booz Allen Hamilton consulting firm, says space-based missile defense is "a trend for the future" despite political concerns over potentially starting a space weapons race. Such systems would be useful for space control and anti-satellite capabilities, Anderson argues. Russia has asked the United States to agree not to engage in space-based weapons efforts as a precondition to negotiations seeking Moscow's support for U.S.
HEL TD: The U.S. Army on Aug. 17 awarded Northrop Grumman $8 million to develop the High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator (HEL TD) - a truck-mounted laser weapon for countering rockets, artillery shells and mortar rounds. Under the contract, the company will develop and complete a preliminary design of a rugged beam control system on a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT). The effort could reach $50 million if all contract options are exercised.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] July 30 - Aug. 2 -- 2007 Naval S&T Partnership Conference, "The Navy After Next... Powered by Naval Research II -- Power & Energy for the Fleet and Force," Marriott Wardman Park, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.ndia.org/meetings/7200. Aug. 6 - 9 -- AUVSI's Unmmaned Systems North America 2007, Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.auvsi.org.
SMALL FUROR: The House Small Business Committee says the Bush administration continues to fall short of a 23 percent government-wide small business prime contracting goal by 4 percent. The charge, which the Democratic-run panel calculated itself but based on Small Business Administration figures, comes as large contractors and government officials increasingly feel pressured after years of small business contracting angst.
EA-6B ICAP III: Northrop Grumman will upgrade at least three additional EA-6B Prowler aircraft with the latest electronic attack system under a U.S. Navy contract potentially worth $9 million. The EA-6Bs will get Northrop's Improved Capability (ICAP) III kits, which include the ALQ-218 receiver, a new crew-workstation display system and other hardware and software. First delivery is April 2008. Installation, with a fourth aircraft as a $2 million option, will occur at the company's St. Augustine, Fla., manufacturing center.
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded Rolls-Royce and General Electric separate contracts to develop technology for the Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology (ADVENT) program, the service's next-generation propulsion system. The goal is to achieve high-thrust capability and a separate loiter operation with reduced fuel consumption.
PREDATOR COMPLEX: Stewart-Matl Ltd. of Austin, Texas, will build a Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) aircraft operations complex in Houston under a $5.7 million contract from the Texas National Guard Bureau. The Texas ANG is one of the organizations that will remotely fly reconnaissance missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere from sites in the U.S. As the UAV mission expands, the ANG and Air Force Reserve will be called on to perform these combat missions regularly from their home bases.
Although the Super Hornet's up for sale on the foreign market - and there's been interest - the aircraft hasn't rung up the sales and that could impact the domestic program, according to a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. "The Boeing Co., with assistance from the Navy, is aggressively marketing the Super Hornet for export," CRS says. "Despite these efforts, international orders for the F/A-18E/F have not yet emerged. Some believe that a lack of international business is hindering Boeing's efforts to reduce the aircraft's price."
ALTERNATIVE AATE: House defense appropriators are concerned that the Army's current Advanced Affordable Turbine Engine (AATE) development approach may lead to selecting a single engine supplier prematurely, according to their report accompanying that chamber's fiscal 2008 defense spending bill. "It is imperative for the Army to pursue and alternate engine design and test demonstration from a second manufacturer," they say. In turn, the panel "directs" that, from existing funds, $5 million "may" be used to pursue an alternative AATE engine.
CAD & MEMS: Under a $1.25 million contract from the Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA), the Georgia Institute of Technology will participate in a multi-university research center developing a computer-aided design (CAD) environment for use with micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and nano-electromechanical systems (NEMS). The new research center will be led by the University of Illinois and will include teams from Purdue and Lehigh Universities as well as Georgia Tech.
CUBESAT TESTING: Boeing's CubeSat TestBed 1 (CSTB1), launched April 17 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, will enter a test phase to support additional experiments such as taking more photographs using CubeSat's ultra-low power imager and evaluating non-traditional attitude control algorithms. Boeing will correlate the data it has collected from more than 500,000 sensor data points during 1,650 orbits with simulations and ground testing, applying it to development tools for future nano-satellites.
ICE2 & EFV: The U.S. Air Force is awarding General Dynamics Network Systems a firm-fixed-price and cost reimbursement contract modification for $2.25 billion. The Intelligence Information, Command and Control, Equipment and Enhancements (ICE2) contract provides worldwide information technology sustainment and technical support.
CAE USA has won a $66 million contract from the U.S. Navy to design and manufacture three MH-60S operational flight trainers (OFTs) and two MH-60S weapons tactics trainers (WTTs). The Navy already has exercised its first option to begin the design and development of the OFTs, which is valued at more than $15 million. CAE USA is currently under contract to build seven MH-60S OFTs and six MH-60S WTTs. The OFTs will be full-motion simulators of the Sikorsky aircraft, which is an amalgam of the UH-60L Black Hawk and its Navy variant, the SH-60B Seahawk.
