El Segundo, Calif.-based Computer Sciences Corp. has won a four-year, $52 million contract to support Defense Department biometrics, the company said Nov. 9. CSC will provide the Biometrics Fusion Center (BFC) with technical support including educational outreach; program management; conformance testing and standards requirements; application research and biometric technology; and product evaluations, the company said.
Lockheed Martin has delivered the flight structure and key payload support equipment to Northrop Grumman for the assembly of the first spacecraft for the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) program. A team of engineers and technicians from Lockheed Martin Space Systems, the AHEF system prime contractor, and Northrop Grumman Space Technology, the payload provider, will continue installing components and preparing the first flight payload.
Northrop Grumman and Boeing have agreed to join forces to pursue NASA's Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) program as well as the other human and robotic space systems that will make up Project Constellation, the companies announced Nov. 9.
The San Diego-based Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center has awarded CACI International Inc. a three-year, $15.7 million contract to support the U.S. Navy's Command and Control Processor/Common Data Link Management System (C2P/CDLMS), the company said Nov. 9. A two-year option could increase the contract's value to $27 million. Most of the work will be done at CACI's San Diego offices, the company said.
The U.S. Army is modernizing and replacing its fleet while at the same time trying to reduce operations and maintenance costs, said Paul Bogosian, deputy program executive officer for Army aviation. The fleet took a beating in operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, said Bogosian, who spoke Nov. 9 at the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement Helicon conference in Washington. The Army fleet flew "five to six times the peacetime operational tempo," Bogosian said. "We're in the process of fixing the fleet. ..."
The U.S. Defense Department is launching a review of all contracts that disgraced former Air Force procurement official Darleen Druyun was involved in during her nine-year tenure, a probe that could cover hundreds of awards. The Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), which monitors defense programs to ensure they meet their cost, schedule and performance goals, will set up a special group to scrutinize contracts in which Druyun played a role, a Pentagon spokesman said Nov. 9.
A panel of analysts on Nov. 9 agreed that the presidential helicopter decision should be based on technical merit, although some expressed concern that the competition could be tainted by political sparring over which team's aircraft is more "American." "We've argued very strongly on the grounds that this should be a fair competition based on the merits," said Charles Pena, a senior defense analyst at the Cato Institute in Washington. "And I think it will be, but the question will be how politicized that decision becomes once a decision is made."
The Boeing Co. has awarded Ducommun AeroStructures (DAS) $60 million in follow-on contracts to produce AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter main and tail rotor blades, DAS said Nov. 8. The work, which will cover both original equipment and replacement blade requirements, will be done at the DAS facility in Monrovia, Calif., the company said. The contracts are in addition to current production and will extend deliveries into 2006.
Maryland-based BAE Systems North America finished its acquisition of Alphatech Inc. on Nov. 5, paying $88.4 million in cash, BAE Systems said. "Alphatech, a provider of advanced information technologies, complements BAE Systems North America's significant presence in the system and subsystem levels in the C4ISR market and enhances the company's position as a leading integrator of information-based systems, emphasizing horizontal integration and fusion," BAE Systems said.
GKN Aerospace of the United Kingdom has now been selected as the prime contractor for both metal and composite wing trailing edge subassemblies for the Airbus A400M military airlifter, the company said Nov. 7. The company was selected in March to provide composite main spar wing components, and under a new, $160 million contract, will provide the shroud box, ribs and panels and other equipment for the wing's trailing edge.
The U.S. Army will save an estimated $11 million by updating its current UH-60 Black Hawk Caution Advisory Panel (CAP) units, instead of continuing to maintain 25-year-old technology, Mike Gemmill, the CAP program manager for Battelle, told The DAILY. The CAP monitors 82 critical functions on the aircraft, such as those involving the engine, transmission and hydraulic system, allowing a pilot to have instantaneous knowledge of their status on the ground or in flight.
Formation Inc. of Moorestown, N.J., has produced its ToughDisk 7200 hard disks to provide data storage for a ship-based weapons system in development for the Norwegian navy, the company said Nov. 8. Formation Inc. delivered the disks to Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace in Kongsberg, Norway, which chose them for the weapons system. Terms were not disclosed.
French aircraft motor maker Snecma and French aircraft electronics equipment group Sagem have decided to move ahead with their merger after Snecma's board of directors approved the merger on Nov. 2, Snecma said Nov. 8. Sagem's supervisory board approved the merger on Oct. 28 (DAILY, Nov. 1). The operation will be occur in two stages - Sagem will make a public offer for Snecma and then will absorb the company, Snecma said.
NASA is planning follow-on tests of an experimental unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed to fly on Mars. Known as the Mars Advanced Technology Airplane for Deployment, Operations, and Recovery (MATADOR), the vehicle follows the Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey (ARES) project, which was a finalist in NASA's 2007 Mars Scout competition (DAILY, April 25, 2003).
A U.S. Air Force (USAF) official recently assigned to improve coordination between air and ground forces is seeking to have a voice in weapons purchases. Col. Michael Longoria, director of the Air Force's new Joint Air-Ground Operations (JAGO) office, said on Nov. 8 that he hopes to have influence in deciding the number of Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters that the Air Force buys in the short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) configuration.
The Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), a large bomb the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is pursuing to destroy hardened and deeply buried targets, will have to be highly agile for its size, posing a key challenge for the weapon's developers, according to a laboratory representative.
Helicopter builder and aerospace equipment maker Kaman Corp. reported losses for the third quarter of 2004 and the first nine months of the year, the company said Nov. 8. Kaman reported a net loss of $11.9 million for the third quarter of 2004, compared with net earnings of $1.2 million for the same period in 2003. For the first nine months of the year, the company reported a loss of $12.4 million, compared with net earnings of $18.4 million in 2003.
Engineers at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi are conducting tests to learn more about how ice and frost formation forms on the foam insulation that covers the space shuttle's external tank, NASA announced Nov. 6. The tests are part of the agency's effort to understand and minimize the processes that can result in dangerous debris such as that which doomed Columbia. Lessons learned from the tests will be used in making launch day decisions, according to NASA.
The U.S. Air Force has asked the office of acting Pentagon acquisition chief Michael Wynne to help enlist the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in taking over a review of protests by companies alleging bias by now-former Air Force official Darleen Druyun, a service spokesman said Nov. 8. Since Air Force rulings on the protests likely would spur the losing companies to appeal to the GAO, the Air Force believes it makes sense to shorten the process by having the GAO involved at the start (DAILY, Nov. 8).
BVR Systems of Rosh Ha'ayin, Israel, will supply an Infantry Multi-Weapon Firing Simulation System to Systex Corp. of Taiwan, the company said Nov. 8. The system is a computer-based tactics and infantry combat trainer that enables small arms training, BVR Systems said. The work is being done under a $2.6 million contract.
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. has awarded FLIR Systems Inc. of Portland, Ore., a contract to deliver three BRITE Star airborne thermal imaging laser designator systems for Fire Scout vertical takeoff unmanned air vehicles, FLIR Systems Inc. said Nov. 8 Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed. The systems' installation will be part of the system development and demonstration (SDD) phase for the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship, the company said.
DART SLIPS: NASA's Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) mission has once again been postponed from its most recently scheduled launch date of Nov. 9. Its first available backup launch date is Nov. 11, according to a NASA spokesman. DART will be boosted to orbit by a Pegasus rocket following release from the L-1011 Stargazer aircraft, which will take off from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif. Two launch attempts in October were postponed for technical reasons (DAILY, Oct. 29).
General Dynamics Land Systems has been awarded a $9 million contract by the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command to perform transmission conversions on 151 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, the company said Nov. 5 The work will improve the reliability of the transmissions, the company said. It will be performed during the remanufacturing process at the General Dynamics Land Systems' Muskegon, Mich., operations facility.
TRMM OBSERVATION: The El Nino Southern Oscillation is the main driver in changing rain patterns around the world, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission has confirmed. The TRMM satellite, launched in 1997, is a joint venture of NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
