BAE SYSTEMS will provide technical, program and financial management and administrative support for the U.S. Navy's in-service radars and next-generation surface ship radars under an $85 million Navy contract, the company said. Under the one-year award, which has four option years, the company will provide support to the Integrated Warfare Systems Above Water Sensors program office. It will support all radar systems used in current surface ships and those planned for future ships, such as the next-generation destroyer DD(X).
EDO CORP. will provide electronic equipment for the U.S. Navy's EP-3E reconnaissance aircraft under an $8.4 million contract from Raytheon Technical Services Co. The 17-month contract is the second phase of a multi-phase electronic support upgrade program for the aircraft, EDO Corp. said. In this phase, the SP-160 processor will be modified to provide added functionality and allow for the replacement of some parts of the AN/ALR-81 countermeasures receiving system, the company said.
TESTING DONE: Aurora Flight Sciences Corp.'s GoldenEye-100 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) successfully completed its initial flight test program, the Manassas, Va.-based company said April 7. The UAV's flight testing program began in September (DAILY, Sept. 11, 2003) and validated the GoldenEye-100's vertical takeoff and landing capability, thrust vectoring, waypoint navigation and other performance goals, the company said.
The U.S. Coast Guard needs to pay more attention to contract management and oversight in its Integrated Deepwater Program, and Congress must provide a stable funding stream to maintain the recapitalization project's 20-year schedule, a General Accounting Office official said April 7.
The Bell-Boeing CV-22 tiltrotor has fallen six months behind schedule in flight testing, although the program is working on a plan to make up for the lost time and prevent the aircraft's debut from slipping, according to Program Manager Col. Craig Olson.
Lockheed Martin will provide three KC-130J Weapon Systems Trainers (WSTs) to the U.S. Marine Corps under a contract worth more than $73 million, the company said April 7. The simulators will support training for aircrews of the KC-130J, a medium-sized tanker/transport used for airlift and aerial refueling of tactical aircraft and helicopters.
Lockheed Martin reduced the amount it is offering to acquire Titan Corp. to $20 a share in the wake of recent investigations by the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission into alleged improper payments by Titan, the company said April 7.
ENGINEERED SUPPORT SYSTEMS will provide 350 gallon-per-minute fuel and water pumping assemblies to the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command under a $5.9 million contract. The work will be done by the company's Engineered Air Systems subsidiary.
General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems will continue to develop improvements for the U.S. Navy's AN/SQQ-89A(V)15 surface ship sonar system, the company said April 7. The work will be done under an $8.9 million contract modification that calls for systems and software engineering and integration and tests to field sonar technologies in U.S. and allied ships. The technologies include automated torpedo detection, sonar performance prediction, active sonar and active displays.
ORBITAL SCIENCES CORP. has announced the winners of its first supplier achievement awards. ATK Thiokol Propulsion of Brigham City and Magna, Utah, was named Systems Supplier of the Year; Druck Inc. Sensors Group of New Fairfield, Conn., was named Component Supplier of the Year; Astech Engineered Products of Santa Ana, Calif., was given the Technical Excellence Award; CMC Electronics of Cincinnati, Ohio, Marotta Scientific Controls of Montville, N.J., Arde Inc. of Norwood, N.J. and Micro Power Electronics Inc.
Almost two years since the Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) industry team won the contract for the Coast Guard's Deepwater program, it is making considerable advances, ICGS leaders said April 7 at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space Expo 2004. For example, this month ICGS plans to open a Maritime Domain Awareness Center in New Jersey to conduct development, testing, and integration of command, control, computers and communications and intelligence (C4I) suites, said ICGS president Gerry Moorman.
AEROSPACE PRODUCTS INTERNATIONAL, Memphis, Tenn. Paul Fanelli has been promoted to president and CEO, succeeding Gerald E. Schlesinger, who resigned to join NetJets Inc. ATHENA TECHNOLOGIES, Warrenton, Va. H. Jeffrey Leonard, president of Global Environment Fund, has been appointed chairman of the board of directors. BOEING, Washington, D.C. Robert J. "Bob" Vilhauer has been selected as vice president of public policy and analysis for Boeing Washington, D.C. Operations. He replaces Bob Bott, who retired April 1.
The American Shipbuilding Associa-tion (ASA) plans to survey several hundred suppliers for the next-generation destroyer DD(X) to see what effect a possible production gap would have on them, the group's president told The DAILY April 6. ASA President Cynthia Brown, whose organization represents shipbuilders and companies that design and manufacture ship systems and components, told lawmakers on Capitol Hill last week that the "anemic" rate of ship production over the last 13 years has taken a toll on the industrial base.
Lockheed Martin is evaluating a third variant of its Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) that would have a striking range of more than 1,000 nautical miles, according to company officials. Grant Begley, business development manager for Lockheed Martin, said April 6 that the armed services have "expressed interest" in a weapon with longer-range capabilities than currently available. Begley said the company could seek development funding for the JASSM extra-extended range (JASSM-XR) variant as early as fiscal 2007.
FIRE CONTROL: Boeing will design and develop the Integrated Fire Control Station for Raytheon's Surface Launched AMRAAM (SLAMRAAM) under an $18.9 million contract, the company said April 6. SLAMRAAM pairs up to six U.S. Air Force AIM 120 AMRAAMs with a turreted Humvee. The work will be done at Boeing's facility in Huntsville, Ala.
Lockheed Martin's proposed Joint Common Missile (JCM) rocket motor has completed a series of company-funded tests designed to ensure it won't detonate when subjected to fire or struck by debris. The company completed the tests April 3 at the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center (EMRTC) in Socorro, N.M., in conjunction with rocket motor supplier Aerojet and propellant supplier Roxell U.K.
Companies involved in the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system said April 6 that they are looking for new ways to improve the missile shield and apply its technology to other programs.
Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) showed that improvements have been made in joint operations, but it also showed that challenges remain in areas such as logistics, damage assessment and coalition communications, U.S. service officials said April 6 at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space Expo in Washington.
Boeing officials expressed confidence April 6 about their ability to contain the cost of the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor transport aircraft and win a contract to provide the U.S. Air Force with 100 KC-767A tankers.
The testing schedule for the U.S. Navy's MH-60R helicopter slipped about 10 months while engineers grappled with technical and training-related issues discovered during testing last summer, according to prime systems integrator Lockheed Martin.
Major Pentagon acquisition programs have increased in cost by $73 billion, or 5.8 percent, the U.S. Defense Department said April 6 in releasing the latest selected acquisition reports (SARs).
BAE Systems North America will buy the assets of STI Government Systems of Honolulu, Hawaii, for $27 million in cash, the company said April 5. STI Government Systems provides photonics, information technologies and systems integration services to U.S. government customers. "STI Government Systems scientists and engineers are well respected throughout government and industry for their innovative technology solutions," Galen Ho, president of BAE Systems North America's Information and Electronic Systems Integration Sector said in a statement.
The U.S. Army Research, Development and En-gineering Center (TARDEC) has has asked Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies of Irvin, Calif., to develop transportable hydrogen refuelers to support its fuel cell vehicles. The technology comes as the armed services have been seeking more portable and lightweight power sources for equipment for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The $1 million agreement is an expansion of a contract for light-duty off-road vehicles also currently under development.
