Information technology firm CACI International Inc. of Arlington, Va., will provide logistics analysis and training support for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps under a $16 million contract, the company said Dec. 20. With options, the contract could be worth up to $85 million. It was awarded by the Fleet and Industrial Supply Center Norfolk, Detachment Philadelphia.
NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense are conducting a pilot program that integrates radio frequency identification (RFID) with sensor technology to manage hazardous materials. The first phase of the pilot, which started about three months ago and is nearing completion, is taking place at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. It integrates DOD's existing Web-based Hazardous Materials Management System (HMMS), sensor-based services from Oracle Corp. and RFID tags and readers from EnvironMax Inc.
Arianespace launched the Helios IIA military reconnaissance satellite along with six microsatellites from the company's launch site in Kourou, French Guiana on Dec. 18. The flight marks the largest number of spacecraft deployed by the Ariane 5 launch vehicle during a single flight. The Ariane 5 injected Helios IIA into a sun-synchronous polar orbit roughly one hour after launch.
ECHOSTAR XI: Space Systems/Loral will build EchoStar XI, a new direct broadcast satellite, to serve as a backup for the company's Dish network fleet. The contract is subject to bankruptcy court approval, said Loral, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2003. The satellite is scheduled to be delivered in 2007.
AIR FORCE Textron Systems Corp., Wilmington Mass., is being awarded a $115,788,749 firm fixed price contract to provide for 341 Sensor Fuzed Weapons Full-Rate Production (FRP 10) Option Exercise. This effort supports the United States, and foreign military sales to Oman. Total funds have been obligated. This work will be complete by March 2007. The Headquarters Air Armament Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity (FA8677-05-C-0072). ARMY
The X-45A team successfully transferred control of its aircraft from California to Seattle and back again during a 46-minute flight Dec. 9, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced Dec. 20.
CHANGES: Honeywell's board of directors is submitting proposed changes to shareholders that would revamp the company's board structure. The company's current board is divided into three classes, so about a third of the board is up for election to a new three-year term each year. The change would have the entire board stand for election each year, beginning in 2006. The board also is proposing eliminating a "supermajority" provision, which requires 80% of stockholders to approve some corporate changes, in favor of simple majority voting.
DELTA IV HEAVY: The first flight of Boeing's Delta IV Heavy rocket has been re-scheduled for Dec. 21, according to a spokesman. Several earlier launch attempts were postponed due to weather and technical issues (DAILY, Dec. 14). If the Dec. 21 window is missed, the team can try to launch again the following day. Capable of lifting up to 28,950 pounds (13,130 kilograms) to geosynchronous transfer orbit, the Delta IV Heavy is the most powerful rocket developed since the Saturn V, according to Boeing.
SIGNED: President Bush signed legislation to revamp the nation's intelligence community on Dec. 17, calling it "the most dramatic reform of our nation's intelligence capabilities" since 1947. The law creates a director of national intelligence, to be appointed by the president.
PROPOSALS DUE: Proposals from five information technology systems integrators for the Marine Corps' logistics modernization program are due Jan. 10, says a Marine Corps official. The invitation for bids went out Dec. 8. The systems integration work is for the Global Combat Support System (GCSS), the modernization's key technology enabler. The Marine Corps plans to pare down its 240-plus logistics systems to fewer than 100 systems (DAILY, Dec. 1).
ENGINEERS WANTED: Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Syracuse, N.Y., facility will hire up to 500 new engineers in 2005, the company says, to support work on the Medium Extended Air Defense System and Advanced Hawkeye radar program, among others. The new jobs are in addition to 750 positions the company previously announced it would need to fill in Owego, N.Y., if its US101 helicopter is tapped for the presidential helicopter fleet over rival Sikorsky's VH-92. A decision on the program is expected in January (DAILY, Nov. 18).
Hungary has agreed to purchase 40 Raytheon-built AIM-120C-5 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs) and related equipment from the United States under a $25.3 million contract, the Magyar Nemzet news service reported Dec. 16. The missiles will arm the Hungarian air force's new JAS-39 EBS-HU Gripen aircraft. The weapons are set to be shipped between 2006 and 2007.
The first F-110 engine for the F-15K Strike Eagle that Boeing is building for South Korea has been delivered, Boeing said Dec. 17. The Samsung Techwin Co.-built engine was delivered to the Republic of Korea air force at a ceremony in Changwon, South Korea. It will be sent to Boeing's F-15K assembly facility in St. Louis, a company spokesman told The DAILY.
Metal Storm CEO Charles Vehlow has resigned following recent major surgery, the electronic ballistics company said Dec. 17. Ian Gillespie, the company's general manager, has been appointed CEO pending the outcome of a selection process to appoint a new CEO, the company said.
DEFENSE PRODUCTION: A committee studying possible changes in India's defense purchasing procedures and ways to encourage greater private sector participation in defense production will submit a report to the government by the end of December, the Indian Ministry of Defence says. The committee also is examining ways to increase India's defense exports, defense minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee says.
Wyle Laboratories, the portfolio company of private investment firm Littlejohn & Co., will acquire General Dynamics' aeronautics services business. The combined company will have projected revenues of about $450 million and will provide technical testing and support services for the aeronautics and defense industry, as well as NASA and the Defense Department, the companies said Dec. 17.
DOD CONCEPTS: The U.S. Defense Department is developing a series of "concepts" to guide its military transformation efforts, according to the Government Accountability Office. Documents are being drafted to address those concepts, which include seven "integrating" concepts: joint command and control, joint logistics, joint forcible-entry operations, integrating air and missile defense, global strike, sea-basing and undersea superiority. At least some of the documents could be finished in time to influence the 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review.
Jan. 10 - 12, 2005 -- GOVCON: 4th Annual Government Convention on Emerging Technologies, "Enabling the National Security Community," Anaheim, Calif. For more information call 1-888-603-8899 or go to www.federalevents.com. Jan. 24 - 26 -- The ION National Technical Meeting, The Catamaran Resort Hotel, San Diego, Calif. For more information go to www.ion.org. Jan. 25 - 26 -- JPEO-CBD Advanced Planning Briefing for Industry, The DC Convention Center, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.ndia.org.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is trying to cut the weight of the High Altitude Airship's (HAA) power and propulsion systems, as well as the fabric that will form the airship's exterior, MDA officials said Dec. 17. The agency also is pursuing unspecified steps to better understand the high-altitude, thin-atmosphere environment in which the gas-filled airship will operate, the officials said.
The U.S. Air Force planned to use a small Boeing unmanned aerial vehicle in a convoy route reconnaissance demonstration in the Nevada desert that apparently was set for Dec. 18.
ICBM WORK: Northrop Grumman Mission Systems of Clearfield, Utah, will do engineering and refurbishment work on 96 Minuteman III stages, as well as test fire missiles, the U.S. Department of Defense said Dec. 16. The work will be done under a $248.8 million contract awarded by the Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah. The work is to be finished by April 2007.
Textron Systems Corp. of Wilmington, Mass., has been awarded a $115.7 million contract by the Headquarters Air Armament Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., to provide 341 Sensor Fuzed Weapons to the United States and Oman, the Defense Department said Dec. 16. The work will be finished by March 2007.
