The U.S. Army has awarded a Bell Helicopter/Boeing team a $3.45 million 18-month contract to perform conceptual design and analysis of its Quad Tiltrotor aircraft for the Joint Heavy Lift program. The Army's Cargo Helicopters project management office is overseeing JHL with participation from the other services. Several more study contracts are expected, with a development and demonstration program to follow in fiscal 2007 (DAILY, July 26).
BOMB KITS: Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $50 million contract to manufacture GBU-12 laser-guided bomb kits for the U.S. Air Force in 2006, the company said Sept. 19. The contract will fulfill more than half of the Air Force's requirements for the current fiscal year. GBU-12 kits are used on 2,000- and 500-pound bombs and have been used in Iraq and the war against terrorism.
SHIPBUILDING AGAIN: Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Ship Systems subsidiary has resumed shipbuilding production on a limited basis. The company restarted operations at its Gulfport, Miss., and Tallulah, La., facilities on Sept. 19. The shipyards at Pascagoula, Miss., and New Orleans began shipbuilding production last week for the first time since Hurricane Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast region (DAILY, Sept. 12). Most of Ship Systems' major shipbuilding equipment in the region weathered the hurricane, but buildings were damaged (DAILY, Sept. 6).
AIRCRAFT DELIVERED: Sikorsky Aircraft said Sept. 19 that it delivered the 26th refurbished Black Hawk UH-60A helicopter to the Army two weeks ahead of schedule. A ceremony was held at the Corpus Christi Army Depot, Texas. The work was done under the Recap or A to A program, a recapitalization of the UH-60A aircraft to a like new A model condition.
Kimberly Johnson, Airports editor for our sister publication Aviation Daily, has embedded in Iraq with the 2nd Marine Division for three months. She is reporting for The DAILY from there, covering the performance of specific weapon systems, the realities of warfare in Iraq and other topics important to our readers. She also writes and takes photographs for "Mother of All Blogs," a Web journal about her experiences. It is located at http://www.moab-iraq.blogspot.com.
As part of the $8.7 billion, fiscal 2006 Coast Guard authorization bill that it passed without dissent last week, the House has again required the homeland security service to provide lawmakers with a detailed report on its aging legacy aircraft and ships.
OSPREY DELIVERED: Boeing/Bell Helicopter has delivered the first production CV-22 Osprey to the U.S. Air Force at the Bell Helicopter production facility in Amarillo, Texas, the Boeing Co. said Sept. 19. Produced jointly by Bell Helicopter and Boeing Co., the CV-22 is the Air Force Special Operations variant of the V-22. It will be used for long-range special operations missions, contingency operations, and evacuations and maritime operations.
Raytheon Technical Services Co. said Sept. 19 that it has agreed to team with San Antonio-based M7 Aerospace to perform global maintenance operations for the U.S. Army's Future Cargo Aircraft program. M7 Aerospace will staff field sites and provide field teams to service aircraft away from their home bases and at some overseas locations. M7 also will perform major inspections, maintenance and modifications and be responsible for maintaining a high operational readiness rate for the fleet.
CUTTER COMM: The Thales Group's communications subsidiary announced Sept. 19 that it won a potentially 10-year, $32 million contract to complete the upgrade of the Coast Guard's medium-endurance cutters with newer high-frequency equipment. Under the award, Thales would outfit five cutters with its Series HF transceivers, power amplifiers, couplers, modems and associated spares. Thales previously fitted the systems to the eight other 270-foot cutters.
The U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research has chosen Oceaneering International Inc. to design, build and prove the High Capacity Alongside Sea Base Sustainment Large Vessel Interface Lift On/Off (HiCass LVI Lo/Lo) concept, which would support the Navy's proposed Maritime Pre-positioning Force (Future) MPF(F) ships.
DEPLOYABLE ANTENNAS: Melborne, Fla.-based Harris Corp. said Sept. 19 that it has been awarded a four-year contact worth up to $100 million to produce Large Aperture Multiband Deployable Antennas (LAMDAs) for the U.S. Air Force and Marine Corps. Up to 200 antennas may be delivered. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, Fort Monmouth, N.J. The LAMDA is an enhanced version of the Harris Lightweight High Gain X-band Antenna (LHGXA) and operates with DSCS, WGS, NATO, Skynet, XTAR, and Intelsat satellite constellations.
The U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command has chosen Northrop Grumman Corp. for the Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar's Increment I system development and demonstration. The contract, announced Sept. 16, is worth almost $8 million and runs through September 2009. Northrop Grumman beat out at least four other offers for the medium-range air surveillance competition, according to the Pentagon's announcement.
The Government Accountability Office has warned that it has not been able to assess the process the U.S. Department of Defense used to verify, validate and accredit the models used in the upcoming Mobility Capabilities Study, which will underpin decisions on future airlift, air tanker and sealift equipment buys.
The international market for light tracked vehicles still is "robust," according to a new study from Forecast International's Weapons Group. More than 14,800 light tracked vehicles, worth nearly $19.7 billion, will be produced over the next 10 years, the study said. Technically, the market has evolved into two market segments: Armored personnel carriers and mechanized infantry combat vehicles, Forecast said.
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY General Electric Co., Lynn, Mass., is being awarded a maximum $500,000,000 firm fixed price contract for parts and services for F404 engine for Navy. This is a sole source, five-year performance based logistics contract. There was one proposal solicited and one responded. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Performance completion date is September 15, 2008. The contracting activity is the Defense Supply Center Richmond (DSCR), Richmond, Va. (SP040005D9416).
FOUR AWARDED: The U.S. Navy has decided on four companies from which it will draw support services for its Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego. Science Applications International Corp. and Northrop Grumman could receive up to $29.9 million and $28.5 million, respectively, in their awards announced Sept. 15. In July, under a previous phase of the competition, Anteon Corp. and Titan Corp. were awarded potential $26.5 million and $26.3 million contracts, respectively.
The U.S. Army hopes to define the future path of the troubled Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) program in about three months, or by mid-December, according to a service official. Edward Bair, the Army program executive officer for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors, who announced Sept. 14 that prime contractor Lockheed Martin will have 60 days to develop a proposal to fix the program (DAILY, Sept. 16), told reporters Sept. 16 that the Army intends to respond to the company's plan 30 days after it is submitted.
On Sept. 19 NASA will formally unveil its plans to return astronauts to the moon as early as the summer of 2018 using hardware that to some extent mirrors that of Project Apollo. The Crew Exploration Vehicle would resemble the Apollo Command Module, and would be boosted to Earth orbit atop a Crew Launch Vehicle consisting of a modified space shuttle solid rocket booster. The CEV then would dock with a Lunar Surface Access Module and an upper stage for transit to the moon.
SpaceDev made a secured $1.2 million loan to Starsys Research Corp. of Boulder, Colo., which provides mechanical systems to the aerospace industry, in exchange for exclusive merger talks, the company said Sept. 15. In connection with the loan, Poway, Calif.-based SpaceDev entered into an agreement with Starsys "which provides that Starsys will not discuss a material sale of its assets, a material sale of its stock, a merger, or similar transaction with any other party" until Oct. 31, satellite and spacecraft builder SpaceDev said.
GMD LEADER: The U.S. Missile Defense Agency plans to hold a Sept. 23 ceremony in Huntsville, Ala., to mark the assignment of Army Brig. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly as program director of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system. O'Reilly has been the Army program executive officer for combat support/combat service support in Warren, Mich.
COM SYSTEMS: DRS Technologies Inc. said Sept. 16 that it has been awarded $12 million in new contracts to provide tactical data, information link and high-frequency data communications systems for U.S. and allied military applications. The systems will be installed on ships, submarines, aircraft and land-based platforms to allow information exchange for integrated battle space operations.
Boeing is expected to lose its multi-billion-dollar contract to develop secret imaging satellites owing to ballooning costs and schedule slips, and U.S. National Intelligence Director John Negroponte will likely hand the work to rival Lockheed Martin. The government's decision to switch contractors could be finalized as soon as Sept. 16, sources close to the program told Aviation Week & Space Technology.
The Army on Sept. 15 announced its intention to purchase up to 360,000 night-vision goggles from Northrop Grumman and ITT Industries under the service's Omnibus VII procurement over the next five years. The Army will place Omnibus VII orders between now and September 2009, with each company's share depending on how well their systems perform in the field.
