ARMY Northstar Aerospace, Bedford Park, Ill., was awarded on May 20, 2005, a $5,336,696 firm-fixed-price contract for spare parts for the CH-47 System. The work will be performed in Bedford Park, Ill., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2010. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on June 1, 2004. The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-05-G-0009).
MOSCOW - Russia's Federal Space Agency launched a Foton M space materials processing research laboratory on May 31 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The 14,400-pound spacecraft is based on the proven design of manned Vostok capsules and unmanned Zenit photoreconnaissance satellites. The spherical return capsule carries about 60 Russian and European Space Agency (ESA) experiments, including a fluid dynamics research package.
NASA did not adequately explore alternatives to the space shuttle for ferrying cargo to the International Space Station, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
NAVY United Defense L.P., Armament Systems Division, Minneapolis, is being awarded a $44,164,231 contract modification to a previously awarded contract for three 5"/62 MK 45 MOD 4 Gun Mounts. The work will be performed in Minneapolis (60 percent) and Louisville, Ky. (40 percent) and is expected to be completed by December 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington D.C., is the contracting activity. (N00024-99-C-5206) AIR FORCE
A shipbuilding benchmarking study is recommending that the United States establish a five-year, $148.2 million Shipbuilding Industrial Base Investment Fund that would help the two major U.S. defense shipbuilders better design and produce vessels, outsource services and supply and streamline the government's involvement in the shipbuilding process.
The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded United Defense LP's Armament Systems Division of Minneapolis a maximum $376 million contract to continue working on the Advanced Gun System (AGS) for the DD(X) destroyer program. Most of the work under the contract will be performed in Minneapolis with the rest in Orlando, Fla. It is expected to be finished by September 2010, the Defense Department announced late May 27.
Air-breathing hypersonic stages for future launch systems could offer significant benefits in safety and mission flexibility over today's rockets, according to hypersonics engineers at NASA.
Australia has asked to buy up to 175 Standard Missile-2 (SM-2) Block IIIA missiles and related equipment and services, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has notified Congress. The deal could be worth up to $315 million, DSCA said May 31. It could include up to 30 telemetry missiles, two SM-2 Block IIIA inert operational missiles, canisters, spare and repair parts, and other equipment and services. Raytheon Systems Co. of Tucson, Ariz., and General Dynamics of Scottsdale, Ariz., would be the primary contractors.
MOSCOW - On May 28, RSC Energia shareholders elected Nikolai Sevastianov president of the company, Russia's main contractor for manned space programs. Sevastianov got 53% of the votes from attendees of a shareholders' meeting and about 43% of the total vote. Although he was backed by the Federal Space Agency, which owns about 38% of the company, he was opposed by company management, who wanted to retain Yuri Semyonov in the post (DAILY, May 27). - Dmitry Pieson ([email protected])
SILICON CARBIDE: The Office of Naval Research has awarded Cree Inc. of Durham, N.C., a $12.1 million contract to develop prototype high-voltage switches and diodes using Silicon Carbide. The contracted work will be performed in Durham and is expected to be finished by November 2006.
Canada wants to purchase up to $34 million worth of U.S. Link 16 terminals and related equipment, according to the Pentagon. If Congress approves the deal, it apparently would be Canada's first buy of the Link 16 Multifunction Information Distribution System (MIDS)/Low Volume Terminals (LVT). They would be used in Canada's F-18 aircraft, and would allow Canadian forces to operate more closely with those of the United States.
U.S. Defense Department and Air Force agents were involved in the federal government's recent search of Orbital Sciences Corp. facilities, DOD and Air Force spokespersons said May 31. The agents were from the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) and the Air Force's Office of Special Investigations (OSI). DCIS is the criminal investigative arm of DOD's Inspector General. OSI is the Air Force's main investigative service and reports to the Air Force's Inspector General.
U.K. AWARD: Selex Sensors and Airborne Systems Ltd. of Basildon, United Kingdom, has been awarded a contract worth up to $32.3 million for Ground Counter Fire Sensor Systems with spares, technical support, depot maintenance and new equipment training for the U.S. Marine Corps. The work will be done in Basildon and is expected to be completed by May 2010. The contract, announced late May 27, was awarded after a limited-competition source selection by the Marine Corps Systems Command.
The National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) is kicking off a study of near-space requested by Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) during a meeting at Boeing facilities in Colorado Springs, Colo., on June 6. The study will assess the military potential of near-space, defined as altitudes between 65,000 and 350,000 feet. The study group will be divided into panels on mission utility, the comparative value of near-space missions, integrating near-space into operations and the challenges associated with fielding near-space systems.
MICROWAVE DEALS: Herley Industries will supply microwave technology for the U.S. Navy's "Coyote" Supersonic Sea-skimming Target Missile, an Air Force air-to-air missile and high-speed commercial communications systems under contracts totaling $3.6 million. The company said it expects order booking to continue "at a healthy pace" for the rest of its fiscal 2005.
BROWNOUTS: Col. William Gavora, commander of the Army's Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD), hopes that anti-brownout technology developed by AATD soon will start being installed on Army UH-60 Black Hawk and CH-47 Chinook helicopters. Brownouts - in which a hovering helicopter is enveloped in sand and dust kicked up by its rotor - and accidental collisions are the leading causes of aircraft losses in Afghanistan and Iraq.
For the most part, the final House defense authorization bill for fiscal 2006 reflects the work of the House Armed Services Committee and its subcommittees regarding weapons and acquisition programs. However, successful amendments added on the chamber floor May 25 included a reporting requirement by the Defense Department to Congress on its plan to sustain the U.S. Navy's MHC-51 class mine countermeasures ships and supporting dedicated mine countermeasures systems until the Littoral Combat Ship and next-generation mine countermeasures systems are deployed.
NEW PARTS: The U.S. Navy late May 26 said Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. of Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $7.7 million contract modification for the "nonrecurring effort" to replace the remanufactured UH-1N or HH-1N structural parts with new parts used to manufacture UH-1Y helicopters. The Defense Department's former acquisition chief, Michael Wynne, last month approved new construction of UH-1Y Huey light utility helos starting in 2006 rather than have them be remanufactured from UH-1Ns currently in use (DAILY, April 25).
