DARPA CAMERA: IPIX Corp. will build the world's highest resolution video camera under a $2.4 million contract from The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the company announced. The high resolution camera will generate wide-area, improved acuity views from high altitudes, IPIX said in a statement. The camera will be used for aerial surveillance missions, including border patrol, battle surveillance and forensic intelligence.
T-38 WORK: Martin-Baker Aircraft Co. of England will provide an updated escape system for T-38C trainer aircraft under a contract from the U.S. Air Force worth up to $200 million. The initial contract calls for 19 sets of ejection seats and related equipment, but the company ultimately may be tapped to provide systems for 509 aircraft.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL: The U.S. Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center has tapped Scientific Research Corp. of Atlanta to provide air traffic control, ground electronics maintenance, and meteorology forecasting and observation support services for U.S. government aviation support facilities worldwide. The work will be done under a contract that could be worth up to $49.5 million if all options are exercised. Half the work will be performed at Spawar's Charleston, S.C., base, with the rest split between Christchurch, New Zealand, and Antarctica.
COST, AGE: The U.S. Air Force "must challenge our aerospace industry to shift its focus to recapitalization and produce more cost-effective and supportable aircraft," the next likely service chief says. Gen. T.
The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System program still is in talks with its overseeing agencies about the possibility of getting additional funding to avoid a launch slip.
DD(X) SUPPORT: Computer Sciences Corp. has been awarded a task order worth up to $71 million to provide program management and total ship systems engineering support for the U.S. Navy's DD(X) Destroyer Class Program Office, the company said July 1. CSC will provide acquisition and ship production analysis support; aviation, mission and human systems integration; and environmental, safety and health support, among other things. The task order was awarded by the Naval Sea Systems Command.
HELO REVIEW: The Pentagon plans to convene a Defense Acquisition Board July 7 to review the Army's Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) program, potentially paving the way for the selection of a prime contractor as early as July. The Bell 407 and Boeing's Armed Reconnaissance Little Bird are competing to replace the aging OH-58D Kiowa Warrior.
FINDING IEDs: Explosive ordnance detection teams in Iraq need robotic systems with three-dimensional camera views, increased range and greater dexterity, according to Capt. Bryan Sopko, commander of the EOD team with the 52nd Ordnance Group at Fort Gillem, Ga. EOD robots with better dexterity could defuse improvised explosive devices and leave them intact, Sopko says. "We can go day in and day out and blow up IEDs, and it doesn't help," he says. "We need to get the bomb maker.
The 2,000-pound version of the Joint Precision Airdrop System, which uses precision-guided parachutes to deliver equipment and supplies to forces in remote areas or behind enemy lines, should be delivered this month, according to U.S. Navy Adm. Edmund P. Giambastiani Jr.
LOGICAL: The Department of Defense's process for coming up with the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure list was "generally logical, reasoned and well documented," the Government Accountability Office says in a required report on the DOD's recommendation and selection process. However, the report says that there are "clear limitations" on DOD savings estimates for this BRAC round, which is larger than all previous rounds combined.
Defense electronics and propulsion company DRS Technologies Inc. has acquired WalkAbout Computers Inc. from Scorpion Holdings in a stock purchase deal, the company said earlier this week.
A U.S. senator is urging the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to follow through on a pledge to hold contractors more accountable for their work on the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system. Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) said that an independent review team found that contractors were not doing all they could to ensure the program's success. Quality control problems have been blamed as a key cause of recent test failures.
Japan's Astro-E2 observatory is set to launch July 6, carrying a NASA-developed X-ray detector and other X-ray imaging and detecting instruments. Astro-E2 will study phenomena that radiate predominantly in X-rays, including black holes, the ejecta of star explosions and the optically invisible gas between stars and galaxies. The spacecraft's main instrument is the X-ray spectrometer developed jointly by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Md.
FMTV ORDERS: Stewart & Stevenson Tactical Vehicle Systems will provide the U.S. Army with 1,706 Family of Medium Tactical Vehicle trucks and trailers under a $219.1 million contract modification, the company said June 29. The work will be done in Sealy, Texas, and is expected to be finished in 2008. Deliveries are set from June 2006 through September 2008. The company will increase its 2006 production capacity to meet the delivery schedule. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, Warren, Mich.
Switzerland's cabinet has approved the sale of 180 M113 tanks which will go to Iraq, sparking protests that the deal hurts the country's longstanding principle of neutrality, the Swiss Information Service said June 29. The tanks, worth 12 million Swiss francs ($9.4 million), will be sold to the United Arab Emirates, which will give them to Iraq, Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic Affairs said. The tanks are part of a Swiss army surplus and in good condition, it said.
JUDGMENT DAYS: The Bush Administration on June 30 sent Congress proposed legislation that would create two types of federal commissions, "sunset and results," to regularly review the performance of government agencies and programs and make recommendations for improvement. The Government Reorganization and Program Performance Improvement bill outlined seven-member commissions, which would be appointed by the president.
RECEIVER ASSEMBLIES: General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products has been awarded a $5.3 million contract to produce receiver assemblies for M2HB machine guns, the company said June 29. The receiver assemblies, which form the body of the weapon, will be used to refurbish machine guns at Anniston Army Depot, Ala. The assemblies will also be used as spare parts for fielded M2HBs. The work will be done at the company's Saco, Maine, facility. Program management will take place at the company's Burlington, Vt., facility.
LOS ANGELES - Project officials are anxious about unexpected outbursts from the comet 9P/Tempel 1 as the Deep Impact flyby and impactor spacecraft hurtle toward it for a July 4 EDT close approach and collision.
ASTM International plans to hold the next meeting of its unmanned aerial vehicle standards group in Dallas this November, according to ASTM Operations Manager Dan Schultz. Founded in 1898, ASTM specializes in the development of voluntary industry standards. The group kicked off an effort in 2003 to begin developing consensus technical standards for UAVs and related systems, with the goal of helping enable routine UAV flights in the national airspace (DAILY, Jan 21). Two so far
W. James McNerney Jr., Boeing Co.'s new chairman, president and CEO, gave some glimpses June 30 of how he will run the company. McNerney, 55, who was chairman and CEO of 3M, was named to replace Harry Stonecipher, who departed in March after an affair with a female executive. Stonecipher himself replaced Phil Condit, who left in December 2003 in the wake of a Pentagon contract scandal.
