The Boeing Co. will host an official rollout of the first KC-767 advanced aerial refueling tanker for the Italian Air Force on Feb. 24, the company said. It will take place at the Boeing-Wichita Development and Modification Center in Wichita, Kan. The rollout marks the completion of essential structural modification in preparation for flight-testing and certification, the company said.
GOGGLES: The Italian Ministry of Defense has awarded Cincinnati-based Sensor Technology Systems Inc. a $15.3 million contract to provide 900 advanced AN/PVS-21 Low Profile Night Vision Goggles (LPNVG), the company said Feb. 22. The contract follows an $8.9 million order in 2004 for about 500 LPNVGs. Italian Special Forces will use the LPNVGs in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as for other counterterrorism and paramilitary operations. The goggles will be delivered from now through 2006, the company said.
NAVY IT: BAE Systems, Science Applications International Corp., Computer Sciences Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp. and Anteon International Corp. each won contract awards to perform information technology engineering, scientific, technical, and analytical services for the U.S. Navy's Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC) in Monterey, Calif. The multiple-award contract, awarded by the General Services Administration, is valued at $100 million over a five-year period, BAE Systems said Feb. 22.
LAUNCHERS: The Lockheed Martin Corp. has been awarded an $8.7 million contract modification to provide the U.S. Army with 13 launchers for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, the Defense Department said Feb. 22. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala. Fifteen percent of the work will be done in Grand Prairie, Texas, and 85% in East Camden, Ark. It is expected to be finished by Feb. 28, 2007.
COUNTERMEASURES: BAE Systems received a $7.2 million contract from the U.S. Army to provide more AN/ALQ-144A countermeasures sets to protect Army and Navy helicopters from infrared-guided missile threats, the company said Feb. 22. The order came under two $90 million contracts to produce countermeasures systems for the services' helicopters.
MTC Technologies of Dayton, Ohio, posted records for revenue, net income and earnings per share for the fourth quarter and full year of 2004, the company said Feb. 22. The company provides the Defense Department with system engineering, intelligence, information technology, and program management products.
The initial operational version of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (Aegis BMD) system will undergo its first flight-test as early as Feb. 24, according to U.S. Missile Defense Agency officials. During the test, the USS Lake Erie, an Aegis cruiser stationed off the coast of the island of Kauai, Hawaii, will fire a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) to try to shoot down a short-range ballistic missile target launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility.
Jennifer Pollino has been named senior vice president, human resources. Brian Brandewie has been appointed president of the Aircraft Wheels & Brakes division.
The Indian navy's purchase of MiG29K naval fighters from Moscow's Russian Aircraft Corp. is moving ahead, RAC MiG director Gen. Alexey I. Fedorov said. India's navy ordered 12 single-seat MiG-29Ks and four 29KUB two-seat combat trainers, with an option for 30 more, a year ago as part of a $1.5 billion package in which the aircraft carrier Vikramaditya is being retrofitted in Russia. The Vikramaditya is the former Admiral Gorshkov, which India bought from Russia. MiG29K deliveries are set to begin in 2007.
MAINTENANCE CONTRACT: The U.S. Navy has awarded Marine Hydraulics Inc. of Norfolk, Va., a $43 million, multiship/multioption (MS/MO) contract for nondocking maintenance availabilities on Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in Norfolk and Mayport, Fla. It is the second MS/MO contract awarded for maintenance on East Coast-based Navy ships. Marine Hydraulics will team with Jacksonville, Fla.-based Atlantic Marine Inc. to complete work in Mayport.
First-quarter 2005 net revenues for military electronics provider Engineered Support Systems Inc. of St. Louis surged 20+ACU- higher than a year ago, while net earnings climbed 31+ACU-, the company said Feb. 22. First-quarter earnings per share were also up 28+ACU- over 2004. Net revenues for the quarter ending Jan. 31, 2005, grew to +ACQ-233.5 million, compared to +ACQ-195.1 million for the first quarter of last year. Net earnings were +ACQ-20.6 million compared to +ACQ-15.7 million for the first quarter of 2004, the company said.
U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND Northrop Grumman Corp. of 600 Hick Road, Rolling Meadows, Ill., is being awarded a $105,000,000 maximum value, indefinite delivery contract for infrared countermeasures for the CV-22 aircraft. The first delivery order is valued at $31,804,097. The work will be performed in Rolling Meadows, Ill., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2006. This contract was awarded as a sole source; no other offers were received. The U.S. Special Operations Command is the contracting activity. NAVY
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Military officials are developing a communications plan to make it clear to terrorists that they would have to penetrate a formidable, multilayered system of defenses to carry out another 9/11-style attack, Adm. Timothy J. Keating says.
ROCKETDYNE SALE: The Boeing Co. has agreed to sell its Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power business to Pratt & Whitney for about $700 million in cash, the company said Feb. 22. Rocketdyne is primarily a rocket engine developer and builder. Boeing Integrated Defense Systems CEO and President Jim Albaugh said Boeing will continue to build launch systems.
EIGHTH CLIPPER: Boeing Co. has delivered the eighth C-40A Clipper to the U.S. Naval Reserve, the company said Feb. 22. The Clippers are modified 737-700s aircraft. They are replace aging C-9B Skytrain aircraft and will improve the Navy's airlift capability, the company said. The first Boeing C-40A was delivered to the Naval Reserve in April 2001. The seventh was delivered in November 2004, and the ninth will be delivered in 2006.
F/A-22 AWARD: Lockheed Martin Corp. has been awarded a $414.3 million contract to provide the U.S. Air Force with 24 F/A-22 Raptor fighter aircraft and associated equipment, the company said Feb. 18. The contract was awarded by the Headquarters Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Thirty-three percent of the work will be done at Lockheed Martin facilities in Marietta, Ga., and 35% at Lockheed Martin facilities in Fort Worth, Texas. Work will also be performed at Boeing Co. facilities in Seattle, Wash.
The U.S. Air Force is buying 24 Huey II upgrade helicopters from Fort Worth-based Bell Helicopter to train pilots at Fort Rucker, Ala., the company said Feb. 21. Financial terms were not disclosed. The helicopters will be delivered over the next four years. The Air Force had been using UH-1H airframes for training, the company said. But since the Army stopped using the UH-1H, the Air Force decided to upgrade it. The UH-1H aircraft had been moved to the Air Force's inventory from the Army's.
ORLANDO, Fla.- The U.S. military services are considering forming a "center of excellence" to better integrate their command and control (C2) capabilities, according to Air Force officials. The center would bring together all C2 developers "under one roof so that when requirements and concepts emerge, they emerge immediately in a joint context and are developed in a joint context, and people from all the services would know immediately how they fit themselves in," said Gen. John Jumper, Air Force chief of staff.
The U.S. Army is "absolutely enthusiastic about what the Stryker has done in its performance" in Iraq and is considering whether to go to a seventh Stryker Brigade, top Army officials said recently. "It also has demonstrated the highest operational readiness [OR] of any system that we have had over there," Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey told the House Armed Services Committee on Feb. 9. "It is routinely above 95 percent in OR rate, always above 90 to the best of my knowledge, and it is one of the most survivable vehicles we have."
