SYPRIS DATA SYSTEMS, San Dimas, Calif. Col. Tom Newberry (USA-Ret.), chief operating officer for 3D Research Corp., Capt. Rasler Smith (USMC-Ret.), senior scientist for the New Mexico State University Physical Science Laboratory in the Information Operations Laboratory and Maj. Gen. Chuck Thomas (USA-Ret.), a vice president with BAE Systems, Analytical Solutions, have been named to the company's new board of advisers.
JSF ASSEMBLY: Production of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is starting to snowball. Assembly of the forward fuselage for the first flight-test jet is scheduled to get under way July 12 at Lockheed Martin facilities in Fort Worth, Texas, less than two months after Northrop Grumman announced it had begun building the center fuselage in Palmdale, Calif. (DAILY, May 20). In just a few weeks, Lockheed Martin expects to kick off wing production in Fort Worth. Within a few months, BAE Systems plans to start assembling the aft fuselage and tails in Samlesbury, England.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A new push to begin work toward establishment of a separate military "space corps" may be getting under way, according to industry officials. Such a corps was advocated in the Space Commission Report of January 2001, but little has been said publicly about it since then. Sources now say a new effort may be coalescing to take advantage of what probably will be a new tier of civilian leaders at the Pentagon next year, no matter who wins the presidential election in November.
JACOBS SVERDRUP will be awarded a contract worth more than $48 million by NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., to provide support services for facilities maintenance and operations and aerospace testing. The contract covers ARC's wind tunnels, thermophysics testing complex, and other aerospace testing complexes. Jacobs Sverdrup, an advanced technology company based in Tullahoma, Tenn., will provide testing services for NASA programs such as space science initiatives, the Crew Exploration Vehicle, the X-37, and the space shuttle return to flight effort.
ARMY Tower Industries Inc., Ontario, Calif., was awarded on July 13, 2004, a $22,310,000 firm-fixed-price contract for 28,750 BDU-50C/B 500 pound practice bombs. Work will be performed in Ontario, Calif., and is expected to be completed by Oct. 31, 2005. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 73 bids solicited on Oct. 10, 2003, and four bids were received. The U.S. Army Field Support Command, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity (W52P1J-04-C-0077).
DIGITALGLOBE has announced that the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (DMR) will include its QuickBird satellite imagery in its geographic information system data to help manage and protect the state's coastal marine resources. DMR's Comprehensive Resource Management Plan covers six Mississippi counties and was created to handle increased demands on marine resources in the wake of the Mississippi Gulf Coast's growing casino industry.
NO REPORT: The lack of reliable data on the impact of offsets on the U.S. economy has been a concern for many years, prompting Congress to enact legislation requiring federal agencies to collect data on their impact. However, a final report and recommendations from the National Commission on the Use of Offsets in Defense Trade still are pending, says Katherine Schinasi, the managing director of acquisition and sourcing management for the General Accounting Office.
NASA has awarded three $20 million contracts to BAE Systems, Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp. and ITT Industries for the formulation phase work on the Hyperspectral Environmental Suite of instruments for the next generation of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES). GOES is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A single contract eventually will be awarded that will provide infrared and visible environmental data observation capabilities for the GOES-R Series of geosynchronous satellites.
FCS SENSORS: Raytheon, the Ground Sensor Integrator (GSI) for the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, is in negotiations to finalize the terms of $375 million in subcontracts recently awarded to Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control of Orlando, Fla., and Raytheon Network Centric Systems of McKinney, Texas, for work on FCS ground sensors. Lockheed Martin will develop automatic target recognition, medium-range electro-optical/infrared and Reconnaissance and Surveillance Vehicle Mast sensors.
