CARRIER WORK: The U.S. Navy's Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center has chosen Earl Industries LLC for a five-year, multiship, multioption contract worth $165.3 million for nuclear and conventional aircraft carriers. The contract covers planned incremental availabilities, docking planned incremental availabilities, and continuous maintenance repairs, the Defense Department announced Dec. 21. Ships involved are USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, USS Theodore Roosevelt, USS George Washington and USS Harry S. Truman.
U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Kuwait are testing about 500 water-filled cooling vests that they wear in Humvees, the Army says. Each vest has a hose that is attached to a Humvee's air conditioning system, which pumps water through the vest. The vests are worn under soldiers' body armor.
PURCHASE: Arlington, Va.-based CACI International Inc., which produces information technology and network products, said Dec. 22 that it has agreed to purchase Information Systems Support Inc. of Gaithersburg, Md. Financial terms were not disclosed. ISS produces information technology, communications, and logistics products. The company's estimated revenue is more than $200 million for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31. It has more than 1,100 workers in 10 states. ISS' customers include the U.S.
International Launch Services has rescheduled the launch of SES Americom's AMC-23 communications satellite on a Russian Proton rocket for Dec. 28. The launch will take place from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, at 8:28 a.m. Dec. 29 local time. The original Dec. 6 launch date was postponed to fix a problem with the flight control unit on the Proton's Breeze M upper stage.
The Senate on Dec. 21 ratified the conference agreement on NASA's authorization for fiscal 2007 and 2008, clearing the way for President Bush to sign the measure into law. It is the first NASA authorization passed by Congress since 2000. The House ratified the agreement Dec. 17. The legislation (S.1281) authorizes NASA to receive $17.9 billion in FY '07 and $18.7 billion in FY '08.
In observance of the Christmas and New Year's holidays, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not publish from Dec. 28 through Jan. 3. The next issue will be dated Dec. 27, and the next issue after that will be dated Jan. 4.
MORE FUNDING: Harris Corp. said Dec. 21 that the U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command boosted the ceiling value of a five-year contract announced in March 2005 from $75 million to $586 million. Harris is supplying the Marines with high-frequency AN/PRC-150(C) Falcon(R) II radio systems for tactical, secure, and joint communications applications (DAILY, March 14). It is the only such secure radio that has been certified for transmission of U.S. classified information.
SUPER HORNET SUPPORT: Boeing will provide performance-based logistics support for its F/A-18E/F fighter under a nearly $1 billion, five-year Navy contract, the Department of Defense said Dec. 22. The work includes options that could boost the total to $2.9 billion.
Aerospace and defense equipment provider HEICO Corp. said its net sales increased 25 percent for the fiscal year ended Oct. 31, going from $216 million the previous year to $270 million. Net income for the fiscal year increased 11 percent to $22.8 million, or 87 cents per diluted share, from $20.6 million, or 80 cents per diluted share in the previous fiscal year.
The House on Dec. 22 agreed to a stripped-down version of the congressional compromise over the fiscal 2006 defense appropriations measure, freeing the long-delayed $453 billion legislation for President Bush to review. Meanwhile, the Senate late Dec. 21 also ratified the congressional agreement over the FY '06 defense authorization measure. The Senate voted by voice vote. The House ratified the $441.5 billion policy compromise in a predawn vote Dec. 19 (DAILY, Dec. 20).
The Department of Homeland Security can do more to improve its management controls to guard against conflicts of interest for its Intergovernmental Personnel Act portfolio managers, the Government Accountability Office says. DHS said it already is planning new controls, which GAO said would meet some of its recommendations.
NASA plans to release the latest announcement of opportunity for its Discovery program on Jan. 3, which will raise the budget cap on Discovery missions from its previous limit of $360 million up to $425 million. The Discovery program competitively selects low-cost space science mission proposals for funding. Ten Discovery missions have been selected to date, based on responses to previous AOs. NASA released an AO in 2004, but did not select a major mission from among the responses.
Raytheon will provide depot support for NATO's SeaSparrow missile under a $7.1 million contract, the company said Dec. 22. The contract calls for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems to provide performance-based logistics repairs, manufacturing, test and delivery of NATO SeaSparrow replacement parts for the Naval Inventory Control Point (NAVICP) in Mechanicsburg, Pa. There are two option years on the contract, valued at $7.7 million and $8.3 million, respectively.
Lockheed Martin said Dec. 22 that its Space Systems Co. has achieved Maturity Level 3 with the Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) rating. CMMI is the standard for benchmarking industry's maturity in engineering and management processes.
Raytheon and WorldSpace Satellite Radio plan to test-launch the global Disaster Warning, Response and Recovery (DWRR) broadcast system on Jan. 9, Raytheon said Dec. 22. The new system will combine commercial satellites and continuous network operations to use in response to disasters such as tsunamis and hurricanes. "DWRR reaches into remote areas, and to mobile users such as emergency response vehicles," Raytheon said. "It also serves to fill communication gaps when power is out, or when infrastructure is destroyed or overloaded."
The USS Ohio (SSGN 726) has successfully completed its initial sea trials after conversion, the Naval Sea Systems Command said Dec. 21. Ohio is the first of four fleet ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) to be converted into cruise missile-laden, special forces-friendly SSGNs. The other three subs undergoing conversion - the USS Michigan, USS Florida and USS Georgia - are slated to rejoin the fleet by 2007.
The U.S. Navy is seeking information from industrial sources capable of developing and producing a directed infrared countermeasures system (DIRCM) for Navy and Marine Corps helicopters. The Naval Air Systems Command on Dec. 19 released the request for information, calling the overall effort the Assault DIRCM Program.
NASA is gearing up for the Jan. 15 re-entry into Earth's atmosphere of a 101-pound canister containing cometary and interstellar dust samples gathered by the agency's Stardust spacecraft. The completion of the mission will mark the first time comet samples have been brought back for study, according to NASA, as well as the longest journey ever taken by a spacecraft that has returned to Earth - 2.88 billion miles round-trip since its launch in 1999.
