The U.S. Marine Corps is looking for a new "headborne system" that incorporates a helmet, eyewear, lower face protection, hearing protection and communications gear, among other capabilities. The Corps also is looking for potential bidders able to act as a systems integrator for the project, according to a request for information from the Marine Corps Systems Command.
Alenia Aeronautica and Aermacchi, two Finmeccanica companies, will establish industrial and commercial partnerships with two Russian aviation companies, Finmeccanica said. Alenia and Aermacchi will team with Irkut and its subsidiary, Yakovlev, for work on aircraft design, training aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicle technology, the Italian defense giant said recently. The deals were worked out at the recent Moscow air show late last month.
The Boeing Co. has triumphed over Dassault Aviation in Singapore's competition to supply up to 20 new fighter jets, Dassault said Sept. 6. France-based Dassault released a statement saying that the American dollar's weakness relative to other currencies seems to have given U.S.-based Boeing an economic advantage. The French firm also said that Boeing appears to have benefited from Singapore's desire to maintain close military ties with the United States, the world's lone superpower, whose Air Force flies the F-15.
ARMY Monarch Construction Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, was awarded on Aug. 31, 2005, a $25,423,000 firm-fixed-price contract for the design and construction of a NASIC Intelligence Production Complex. Work will be performed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and is expected to be completed by July 15, 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 257 bids solicited on Dec. 3, 2004, and five bids were received. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville, Ky., is the contracting activity (W912QR-05-C-0026
RECON PODS: The U.S. Navy awarded a subsidiary of Raytheon Co. a $19.9 million contract to produce six Shared Reconnaissance Pod systems at its Indianapolis facility for delivery next year, the company said Sept. 6. Raytheon Technical Services Company LLC had bought subsystems and components for the six systems under an earlier Navy award, Raytheon said. The system - first designed to provide advanced day and night imaging and real-time data linking to the F/A-18F Super Hornet - was developed by a government and industry team including the Boeing Co., Recon/Optical Inc.
More U.S. military equipment and personnel are continuing to pour into the Gulf Coast region in response to Hurricane Katrina, the Defense Department said Sept. 5 and 6. Twenty-one Navy ships are in the area, including the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, the amphibious vessel USS Iwo Jima and the USS Bataan. The Bataan has been serving as a platform for search-and-recovery missions and is ready to accept hospital patients. The Iwo Jima also is providing hospital beds.
The Class 1 unmanned aerial vehicle being developed for the Army's Future Combat Systems program will participate in a demonstration at Fort Dix, N.J., on Sept. 21-22, according to Brig. Gen. Charles Cartwright, program manager for the FCS Unit of Action. Honeywell is developing the ducted-fan Class 1 UAV, also known as the Micro Air Vehicle, for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as an advanced concept technology demonstration (DAILY, March 24).
ACQUISITION: Goodrich Corp. said Sept. 6 that it will buy Sensors Unlimited Inc. of Princeton, N.J., for $60 million in cash. Sensors Unlimited builds short-wave infrared systems for covert surveillance, missile tracking and other uses, and Goodrich said the buy will strengthen it in the surveillance, reconnaissance and homeland security markets.
RESCUE DOLPHINS: At least two of the U.S. Coast Guard's re-engined HH-65Cs Dolphins have been pressed into service to pluck stranded Hurricane Katrina survivors in the Gulf Coast region, although the Coast Guard has relied more on HH-60 Jayhawk medium-range helicopters for this mission in part due to greater range ability, according to an industry participant. Jayhawks also can fit more people in the back at one time, and the older, non-upgraded HH-65Bs are limited in their engine power - a concern in the 90-degree-plus Louisiana heat.
Three industry teams are expected to compete for a NATO contract to integrate alliance members' defenses against short- and medium-range ballistic missiles. Boeing announced Sept. 6 that it has formed an "Alliance Shield" team that includes Lockheed Martin and Teledyne Brown Engineering of the United States, BAE Systems of the United Kingdom, Finmeccanica of Italy, Havelsan of Turkey, Prezemyslowy Instytut Telekomunikacji (PIT) of Poland and MBDA of France, Italy and the United Kingdom.
LAUNCH DEAL: Coming off the successful launch of Thaicom 4 for Thailand's Shin Satellite, Arianespace has signed a contract to launch Thaicom 5, the company said Sept. 6. Arianespace is to launch Thaicom 5 on its Ariane 5 booster in 2006. France's Alcatel Space will build the communications satellite (DAILY, July 8).
ACS FATE: U.S. Army officials are expected to hold meetings the week of Sept. 5-9 to try to resolve the fate of the Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) program. ACS was thrown into turmoil when prime contractor Lockheed Martin said in June that the Embraer ERJ-145 regional jet that it had chosen for the intelligence-gathering program would actually be too small (DAILY, June 30). One option under consideration is to hold a new competition for ACS prime contractor, while another is to have Lockheed Martin remain the prime contractor but use a larger airframe.
POUNDING PAVEMENT: In separate pilot programs at different domestic depots and centers, the Army and Navy are testing competing autonomous, robotic unmanned vehicle systems eyed to be the high-tech night watchman of the future. The Navy bought one of iRobot Corp.'s Robotic Gators for $250,000 in July and is testing it at Naval Air Station North Island's Naval Weapons Magazine, Calif. (DAILY, Aug. 11). Meanwhile, the Army is testing General Dynamics' Mobile Detection Assessment and Response System at the Hawthorne Army Depot, Nev. (DAILY, Aug. 15).
UUV MAPPING: Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Maritime Systems & Sensors unit will integrate the Littoral Precision Underwater Mapping Array sensor into the Advanced Development Unmanned Undersea Vehicle under a contract modification from the Naval Sea Systems Command. The award is worth $10.6 million, according to a Sept. 1 Pentagon announcement.
Northrop Grumman Corp. in December will test a high-speed, wide-bandwidth, two-way data link using U.S. Marine Corps equipment from an F/A-18 fighter to a Humvee. If successful, the demonstration will show how front-line Marines could download data on demand directly from in-theater intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms such as unmanned aerial vehicles.
The Defense Department will get $500 million under a $10.5 billion emergency appropriations measure that Congress passed late last week in response to Hurricane Katrina. Senators and House members - a few of whom appeared on Capitol Hill to address the issue - approved the legislation by voice vote. Many said they wanted to get the measure to President Bush immediately so the money could start flowing.
F/A-22 TESTS: A total of 16 1,000-pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) and 5 AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missiles (AMRAAMs) will be used as part of the F/A-22 Raptor's follow-on operational test and evaluation (FOT&E), according to the U.S. Air Force. FOT&E, which began Aug. 29 and is scheduled to run through late fall, is designed to help the Lockheed Martin-built F/A-22 achieve an initial operational capability in December (DAILY, Aug. 30).
Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy completed the first flight of the BQM-74F subsonic aerial target on Aug. 29, the company said Sept. 1. The flight was conducted at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division sea range at Point Mugu, Calif. The target flew nearly an hour, met all its test objectives, and was successfully recovered, the company said. The BQM-74F, unveiled last month (DAILY, Aug. 23), can fly 70% farther than the E model, is 15% faster and has 75% more endurance, Northrop Grumman said.
Sept. 5 - 8 -- 9th World Summit for Satellite Financing, Hotel Intercontinental, Paris, France. For more information email euroconsult, [email protected] or go to www.euroconsult-ec.com. Sept. 8 - 9 -- Next Generation Tactical Data Links, "Opportunities and Requirements," Holiday Inn Tysons Corner, McLean, Va. For more information go to www.technologytraining.com.
Winning the war on terrorism, using better business practices and improving training and education for sailors and Marines are three top priorities for the U.S. Navy as it moves forward, according to Dionel M. Aviles, undersecretary of the Navy.
