EJECTION CHARGE: Teledyne Technologies Inc. announced June 23 that the Naval Inventory Control Point, Mechanicsburg, Pa., awarded it a 13-month, $2.1 million contract to supply 412 Advanced Concept Ejection Seat II Recovery Sequencers for U.S. Air Force F/A-22, F-15, F-16, F-117, A-10, B-1B and B-2 aircraft. The electronic device stays dormant until an ejection when the seat catapult and rocket motor are fired and hot gas pressure from the rocket motor activates the sequencer's internal thermal batteries to provide electrical power to the ejection system's electronics.
AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $9,742,995 firm fixed price contract modification to provide for Lot-3 Infrared Red Counter Measures Shroud. The location of performance is Lockheed Martin Corp., Marietta, Ga. At this time, $4,871,497 of the funds has been obligated. This work will be complete by April 2006. The Headquarters Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-01-C-2095).
The U.S. Air Force's plans for the second phase of the Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) program could become clearer in the next two months or so. In late August or early September, the Air Force expects to finalize its "acquisition strategy" for SDB Increment II, including the timing for releasing a request for proposals, a service spokesman said June 27.
NEW LONDON: The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and the head of a subcommittee that oversees naval forces have thrown their weight behind trying to keep open the Naval Submarine Base New London, Conn., which could be shuttered under the ongoing Base Realignment and Closure process. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), HASC chair, and Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.), chair of the HASC projection forces subcommittee, hope to influence the BRAC Commission because they do not have parochial interests in that congressional district.
MARITIME ISR: NavMar Applied Sciences Corp. of Chester, Pa., has received a $14.6 million Phase III Small Business Innovative Research program contract from the U.S. Navy for a laser radar identification demonstration and air-deployable expendable multi-parameter environmental probe. The contract calls for an integrated system approach, including modifying maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and enhanced communications packages. The work will be performed in Chester and is to be finished in June 2007.
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency wants out-of-the-box ideas on how to help analysts automatically filter the vast quantities of information gathered daily by satellites and other systems to quickly retrieve only the data they need. A new broad agency announcement from NGA solicits offers that would lead to contracts for "innovative, high-risk, non-traditional geospatial intelligence concepts, technologies and products with a potential for high-payoff," according to a June 24 FedBizOpps notice from the agency.
ARMY Raytheon Co., Bedford, Mass., was awarded on June 21, 2005, a $79,544,455 modification to a cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor Systems with Surveillance Radar. Work will be performed in Bedford, Mass., and is expected to be completed by July 31, 2010. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on Dec. 29, 2004. The Defense Space and Missile Command, Huntsville, Ala., is the contracting activity (DASG60-98-C-0001).
The Defense Department Office of Force Transformation has identified composite materials, propulsion systems, weapons and sensors as technology sectors ripe for exploitation, according to Terry J. Pudas, the office's acting director. The goal, and challenge, for the DOD and its suppliers would be to shrink the time and cost involved in these sectors' cycles, which can run decades from initial research to final implementation.
The V-22 Osprey has finished flight-tests for its operational evaluation (OPEVAL), keeping the tiltrotor aircraft effort on track to release initial results of that key phase within the next few weeks, a spokesman for the U.S. multiservice program said June 27. The flight-testing wrapped up June 18 aboard the USS Bataan in the Atlantic Ocean, the last of several OPEVAL test sites, and "now they're tabulating the results," program spokesman Ward Carroll told The DAILY. V-22s flew more than 500 hours for OPEVAL, which began in late March (DAILY, March 29).
PRAGUE - National governments still are too interested in protecting domestic suppliers when awarding defense contracts, a public hearing held at the European Parliament to discuss the creation of an EU market for defense equipment has heard. The June 23 hearing, organized by several European Parliament committees, brought together defense experts and politicians as part of the parliament's response to a European Commission Green Paper on defense procurement.
The Government Accountability Office has denied a protest from General Dynamics-Ordnance & Tactical Systems Inc., which said it had been treated unfairly in a contest to produce MK 244 ammunition for the U.S. Navy. Among other things, the company said that Alliant Techsystems (ATK), which won the contract, should not have been given a "favorable" rating for past work because the company had never produced the MK 244 ammunition, only similar weapons, but Ordnance & Tactical Systems had.
BAE Systems will rebuild and upgrade more than 500 Bradley Combat System vehicles under several delivery orders and contract modifications worth $1.1 billion, the company said June 27. Under four delivery orders, BAE Systems will rebuild and upgrade: * 450 older Bradleys to Bradley A3 vehicles. The order includes 55 vehicles and $71.5 million awarded in March. * 50 vehicles to Bradley A2 Operation Desert Storm vehicles. Kits will also be provided to convert 100 additional vehicles to the A2 ODS configuration.
Potential damage from ice striking the space shuttle's heat resistant tiles is the most significant remaining debris risk to the orbiter, according to shuttle managers, although they feel it is an acceptable flight risk at this point.
Egypt has requested engines for CH-47D Chinook helicopters worth up to $73 million, and Avenger fire units worth up to $126 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress on June 27. Egypt is seeking 50 T55-GA-714A turbine engines for its Chinook helicopters, along with related equipment and services, DSCA said. The prime contractor would be Honeywell of Phoenix, and there are no known offsets proposed for the deal, the agency said.
General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products will build 2.75-inch Hydra-70 rockets and warheads under a $17.8 million delivery order from the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, the company said June 23. The order was awarded under a five-year contract signed in May, which has a total potential value of $900 million. Orders so far total $154 million, the company said. Hydra-70 is a family of unguided rockets that can be fitted with several warhead configurations, the company said.
The U.S. Navy intends to seek a Milestone B decision for its Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) program in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007, with system development and demonstration (SDD) starting in FY '08 and initial operating capability by 2013.
QUESTIONING COMMITMENT: A new report written by former NASA Johnson Space Center Director George Abbey and former White House Science Advisor Neal Lane questions the Bush Administration's commitment to its plan to return astronauts to the moon and land people on Mars. "To achieve George W. Bush's proposed mission ... the United States will need to bolster the competitiveness of its commercial space industry, expand international cooperation and refocus on basic science both in the space program and in the broader economy," the report says.
RADAR CONTRACT: Now that Raytheon Co. has been awarded a $752 million "letter contract" to supply Taiwan's air force with a land-based radar system to monitor hostile aircraft, missiles and ships (DAILY, June 24), the two parties plan to negotiate a more detailed, "definitized" contract within the next 180 days, according to Dan Martin, vice president of surveillance and sensor systems at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. Meanwhile, Raytheon is defining the group of companies that will work with it on the program, Martin tells The DAILY.
LE BOURGET, France - Heads turned skyward recently at the Paris Air Show as the French air force Mirage IV took off from the runway here for its final public display ñ something it had done 46 years before when it performed its first fly-past at the same event. Its Sepecat Jaguar close air support cousin joined the Mirage IV on static display and also will retire this year.
HIGHLY ATTRACTIVE: "Highly attractive and complementary" homeland security companies, along with an increase in federal information technology and aerospace and defense wartime spending, is making for "significant" merger and acquisition activity, the consulting firm Input says. Input points to L-3 Communications' planned acquisition of Titan, BAE Systems North America's pending $4.2 billion takeover of United Defense Industries and SRA International's bid to buy Galaxy Scientific Corp. "The shift of federal dollars to support the war on terror and multiple U.S.
EGNOS QUALIFIED: The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), which will augment the U.S. Global Positioning System and Russia's Glonass satellite navigation programs, has completed its technical qualification, Alcatel Space says. EGNOS completed its operational readiness review, says Alcatel, which led a consortium of more than 40 companies to develop the system.
