Orbit International Corp. said it has received orders worth more than $630,000 for the development of new software applications and enhancements to its Control Display Unit (CDU), which will be used on U.S. Army vehicles. The production award, from Honeywell International Defense and Space Electronic Systems, will give the Army's ground system vehicles additional battlefield information, the Hauppage, N.Y.-based company said May 19.
WCMD: Lockheed Martin will produce 1,655 Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD) tail kits and 100 WCMD-Extended Range wing kits for the U.S. Air Force, the company said May 19. The work will be done under a $52.9 million contract, which signals the start of production for the WCMD-ER system.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is fueling significant interest among foreign countries that do not take part in the current development program but might be declared eligible to buy the jet, according to the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).
The House Armed Services Committee has warned the Pentagon that it is concerned about the cost growth and acceleration of several major acquisition programs, such as the Navy's presidential helicopter program and the Army's Future Combat Systems.
Strict U.S. export regulations on sensitive aerospace technology are a serious obstacle to the development of the worldwide space tourism industry, according to Scaled Composites founder Burt Rutan.
COUGARS MULTIPLY: The U.S. Navy said May 18 that Force Protection Industries Inc. was awarded a $16.6 million delivery order for 17 Cougar Joint Explosive Ordnance Disposal Rapid Response Vehicles, associated manuals and spares for the Marine Corps. A maximum of 122 vehicles can be ordered under the base contract. The latest order follows an Army request for 120 Cougars recently after the service watched Marines try them out in Iraq (DAILY, May 17).
The U.S. Navy said it would christen the lead ship of the new T-AKE class of replenishment ships the USNS Lewis and Clark on May 21, during a launching at National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. in San Diego. The USNS Lewis and Clark is the lead ship in the new 11-ship T-AKE Class. T-AKE is a new combat logistics force vessel for transferring cargo such as ammunition, food, limited quantities of fuel, repair parts, ship store items and expendable supplies and material to ships and other naval warfare forces at sea.
The House Armed Services Committee has authorized $49.1 billion in supplemental funding in fiscal 2006 for military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and antiterrorism efforts elsewhere. The move, which came May 18 as the committee marked up the FY '06 defense authorization bill, followed the Senate Armed Services Committee, which May 13 authorized $50 billion. With U.S. involvement in Iraq facing its third anniversary next March, and no withdrawal formally planned yet, many lawmakers have said the costs of military operations are increasingly known.
Proponents of naval shipbuilding and increased fleet size are feeling bolstered by amendment victories this week in the House Armed Services Committee's fiscal 2006 defense authorization bill, and they are cautiously optimistic that their initiatives can survive all the way through conference with the Senate. Reps. Jo Ann Davis (R-Va.) and Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) spoke to reporters in Washington May 19 at an event sponsored by King Publishing Group. They maintained that Congress is starting to realize that it has been neglecting shipbuilding needs.
PRV RFP: The U.S. Air Force has released a draft request for proposals (RFP) for its Personnel Recovery Vehicle (PRV) program and says it remains on track to release a final RFP in July. Proposals will be due in September, and a contract award is slated for February 2006. The Bell-Boeing PRV-22 tiltrotor aircraft, the Lockheed Martin-AgustaWestland-Bell Helicopter Textron US101 helicopter and Sikorsky's H-92 helicopter are expected to compete, and Boeing is considering offering its CH-47 Chinook helicopter.
The equipment that U.S. military personnel are using in Iraq and Afghanistan is getting two to eight times its peacetime use in just one year, the Defense Department has reported to Congress. The report, "Ground Force Equipment Repair, Replacement and Recapitalization Requirements Resulting from Sustained Combat Operations," went to Capitol Hill last week.
A new national space policy that apparently features more robust language on space weapons is in draft form and should be issued soon by the White House, analysts said. The last policy, published in 1996 by the Clinton Administration, was not as strong as some would have liked on space control and the Bush Administration's update is expected to be more forward-leaning in that regard, said John Pike of Global Security.org in Alexandria, Va.
Axsys Technologies Inc. of Rocky Hill, Conn., has received the initial infrared lens production order release from BAE Systems for the U.S. Army's Thermal Weapon Sight II (TWS) program, the company said May 18. The order is worth $4.4 million, and the work could be worth up to $24 million over five years, depending on Army demand.
VALIDATION: NASA has awarded Titan Corp. of Reston, Va., and Northrop Grumman Information Technology of Falls Church, Va., contracts worth up to $200 million for Independent Verification and Validation of Software Services, NASA said. The work will be done at NASA's IV&V facility in Fairmont, W.Va., and other locations. The verification will determine whether software safety requirements are being fulfilled. The validation determines whether software designed for an intended use meets the agency or mission needs.
The battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan are "rife with examples" of net centric warfighting that have changed the way U.S. service members engage the enemy, a Raytheon Co. official says. Dean W. Cash, director for joint concepts and experimentation for Raytheon NetCentric Systems (NCS) and director of the Net Centric Enterprise Priority, made the comment at a Raytheon press briefing in Arlington, Va., on May 18.
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) has endorsed a recent restructuring of the Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser (ABL) program but has asked MDA for more insight into how ABL compares with another system being developed to destroy ballistic missiles in their boost phase of flight.
Ronald W. Davis will retire as president of business development effective June 1. Dan D. Jura will succeed Davis. Jura currently is executive vice president for business development.
DISPLAY SUPPORT: The Boeing Co. was awarded an $8.8 million contract modification to provide engineering, logistics and program management services supporting development and low-rate initial production activities for the Advanced Mission Computer and Displays system for the F/A-18 and AV-8B aircraft, the Defense Department said May 16. The work, awarded by the Naval Air Systems Command, is expected to be complete in June 2006.
