The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress last week of two pending sales of F-16 and F-15 aircraft equipment, accessories, and services in the Middle East that could be worth a combined total of $750 million. The possible sales focus on Israel and Bahrain and are necessary for maintaining their U.S. aircraft, DSCA said. Israel wants to buy a fleet management program for the Pratt & Whitney F-100 model engines used by its fleet of F-16s and F-15s, in a potential sale valued at $600 million.
MORE MESHED: The U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research has awarded a Herley Industries Inc. subsidiary a $1 million contract to strengthen ONR's OpenMesh system from ad-hoc routing protocols and high-speed connectivity into "robust and reliable" systems made up of radio technology, routing algorithms, military mission system specifications and "swarm" capabilities. The award was made to Innovative Concepts Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Herley Industries, the company said July 22.
An undisclosed Middle Eastern client has placed an order worth $4 million for Environmental Tectonics Corp.'s Gyrolab GL-1500 trainer, which helps pilots of high-performance aircraft deal with spatial disorientation. Spatial disorientation occurs when a pilot mistakes an aircraft's position and motion with respect to the Earth. The GL-1500 Advanced Spatial Disorientation Trainer uses three axes of motion and simulator technology to reproduce the common causes of this situation, the Southampton, Pa.-based company said July 25.
BAE Systems has started conducting flight-tests of the electronic warfare (EW) system it is developing for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, company officials said July 25. The EW device flew on a T-39 Sabreliner business jet-type aircraft out of China Lake, Calif., on July 18, 20 and 21 and is scheduled for two more flight missions on that plane the week of July 25-29.
URGENT ACORNS: The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command on July 15 awarded General Dynamics Corp. an almost $7 million contract to provide 1,550 "Acorn" Systems and accessories by next January. "The Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division has a requirement to procure Acorn Systems, which will provide critical force protection measures to patrols within Afghanistan," the Navy announced late July 20. The contract - not competitively procured - was awarded under Unusual and Compelling Urgency authority.
The U.S. Marine Corps has ordered up to $50 million worth of nonlethal and anti-terrorism force protection capability sets that include riot gear and vehicle nets for its bases and facilities worldwide. The Navy announced late July 22 that the Marine Corps Systems Command decided on Aardvark Tactical Inc. of Azusa, Calif., after a competition for an undefined number of sets and related training. The contract runs until July 2010, for which Aardvark also will act as warranty administrator between the Marines and the manufacturers of the items in the sets.
HADITHAH, Iraq - Light counter mortar radar (LCMR) used by Marines in northern Iraq to pinpoint launch points is little match against the surging guerilla warfare being waged in the region, according to one noncommissioned officer.
SUCCESSFUL: A Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile was launched July 25 from a B-1 bomber and is believed to have flown as planned, the second apparently successful test of the U.S. Air Force's stealthy cruise missile in less than a week. During a July 20 test, the Lockheed Martin-built missile hit its target after being fired from an F-16 (DAILY, July 22). The House Appropriations Committee has proposed killing the JASSM program based on earlier tests that failed.
AIR FORCE Rockwell Collins Government Systems, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is being awarded a $9,103,600 firm fixed price contract modification to provide for 40 through 100 global air traffic management modifications for the KC-135. No funds have been obligated. This work will be complete by September 2010. Negotiations were completed July 2005. The Headquarters Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., is the contracting activity (F33657-98-C-0036, P00060). NAVY
FIRED: Northrop Grumman's RQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned air vehicle fired two 2.75-inch Mark 66 unguided rockets at Yuma Proving Ground July 22, marking the first successful live weapons fire from an autonomous unmanned helicopter, according to the company. The Army is developing the Fire Scout as the Class IV UAV in its Future Combat Systems program, and the Navy plans to field the UAV with its Littoral Combat Ship.
In what the U.S. Navy billed a "major step forward" in the development of unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) launch and recovery capabilities, the Boeing Co.'s AN/BLQ-11 Mine Reconnaissance System has been loaded aboard a submarine to test new technology before August. The Navy will launch one of the system's two UUVs from the USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul in an unidentified test ranger and recover it submerged through a series of tests, the service said late July 22.
Colombia and Thailand are seeking to buy UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress last week. Colombia's request was the larger of the two, with a price tag of up to $100 million for eight Black Hawks and related equipment such as tools, repair and spare parts and other support equipment, DSCA said. Sikorsky Aircraft and General Electric would be the principal contractors for the deal.
The U.S. Navy's proposed LHA Replacement ship would be assured of full funding under a Senate amendment added to the fiscal 2006 defense authorization bill, setting up a potential disagreement with the House, which has voted to cap the program. Mississippi Republican Sens. Thad Cochran, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and Trent Lott, former majority leader, proposed the amendment, which was adopted by unanimous consent as part of a package of amendments to the bill, S. 1042, which is being debated on the floor.
Boeing Co. said it has demonstrated how an F/A-18E/F Super Hornet can attack moving land targets. It apparently was one of a series of demonstrations in the Defense Department's Weapon Data Link Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (WDL ACTD), an effort to show that missiles and bombs can be linked in a network to increase the effectiveness of warfighters.
EARLY WARNING: Democrats are decrying the Senate GOP leadership's intent to cut off debate on the fiscal 2006 defense authorization bill now on the Senate floor. The annual bill, which was taken up July 20 after the Senate Armed Services Committee approved it May 12, historically is a target of numerous amendment attempts and already the Senate has 19 amendments set aside for further debate. However, Majority Leader Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has said he wants to end debate soon, and on July 22 Majority Whip Sen.
Pratt & Whitney has begun testing the engine it is developing for Northrop Grumman's X-47B unmanned aircraft. The first engine, J-001, which is for ground tests, has run for more than 50 hours since early July at company facilities in West Palm Beach, Fla., and is expected to accumulate 50 more hours of run time by about mid-August. Jim Reed, who manages Pratt & Whitney's work on the X-47B, said late July 21 that the propulsion system has been running "exceptionally well." F100 change
While still trying to sort out precisely what happened to its Cosmos-1 solar sail spacecraft, the Planetary Society hopes to be able to build and launch another solar sail by the end of next year, according to Director Louis Friedman. "We're going to make plans to try and do Cosmos-1 again and to have another attempt at flying the first solar sail mission," Friedman told The DAILY. "We have a lot of ground spares and we could probably build a spacecraft fairly quickly ... maybe in a year."
