Lockheed Martin Corp., Santa Maria, Calif., was awarded on May 29, 1998, a $30,127,000 face value increase to a cost-plus-fixed-fee-contract to provide for various quantities of non-developmental items, including multiplexers, switch hubs, interface equipment, racks, and test equipment, in support of the Range Standardization and Automation program for the Eastern and Western Ranges. Expected contract completion date is May, 1999. Negotiation completion date was May 25, 1998.
Veda Inc., Alexandria, Va., is being awarded a $7,000,000 indefinite- delivery/indefinite-quantity with cost-plus-fixed-fee-contract to provide for the Sensor Technologies Integration Laboratory Environments program. This effort will design, develop, test, evaluate, and demonstrate Automatic Target Recognition and Sensor Fusion technology. Expected contract completion date is May, 2003. Solicitation issue date was October 24, 1997. Negotiation completion date was May 18, 1998.
Rockwell International Corp., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is being awarded an $8,500,000 face value increase to a firm-fixed-price-contract to provide for engineering services and data to incorporate Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring and Flight Management System enhancements into the Pacer CRAG (Communication, Radar and Global Positioning System) modification program for the KC-135 aircraft. Oklahoma City air Logistics Center, Tinker AFB, Okla., is the contracting activity (F34601-96-C-0001- P00049).
Applied Data Technology, Inc., San Diego, Calif., was awarded on May 29, 1998, a $6,310,242 firm-fixed-price-contract to provide for upgrade of 82 P4B Airborne Integration System (AIS) pods, 7 ASM-694 AIS Test Sets, and ground system components for the Yukon Measurement and Debriefing Range, Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, and the Alaska Range, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.
Smiths Industries, Clearwater, Fla., is being awarded a $14,413,202 ceiling-priced contract under a basic ordering agreement for 310 stores management system spares to upgrade F/A-18 Navy reserve aircraft from the A/B to C/D configuration. The spares being procured include wingtips, fuselages and pylons. Work will be performed in Clearwater, Fla., and is expected to be completed in July 1999. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured.
Stellex Industries Inc., New York, completed its acquisition of Monitor Aerospace Corp. for $95 million, according Stellex, which provides engineered subsystems and components for the aerospace, defense and space industries. Monitor, based in Amityville, N.Y., makes and assembles precision- machined structural aircraft component and assemblies. It has annual sales of $86.3 million and will continue to be operated by its current management.
JAYCOR, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $12,602,285 face value increase to a cost-plus-award-fee-contract to provide for operation and maintenance from June 1998 through February 2000 of the logistics support facility for the Commander-in-Chief Mobile Alternate Headquarters Program. There was one firm solicited and one proposal received. Solicitation issue date was April 30, 1998. Negotiations were completed May 15, 1998. Sacramento Air Logistics Center, McClellan AFB, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04735-95-C-0036-P0040)
Falon Inc., San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $6,095,722 indefinite- delivery, cost-plus-fixed-fee pricing contract for research and development engineering services and hardware development for navigation warfare surveillance systems. This contract contains options which, if exercised, will bring the total cumulative value of the contract to $10,753,920. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif., and is expected to be completed in June 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Taiwan has officially retired its last squadron of F-104 Starfighters. The Lockheed jet, which served with the U.S. Air Force for about 20 years beginning in 1958, first saw service in Taiwan shortly thereafter. It was the mainstay of the Republic of China Air Force. In addition to being the last country to maintain the F-104 on active duty, Taiwan also claimed the title to operating the largest number of models of the F-104 family, including the A, B, D, G, J and DJ types.
The market for large commercial jet transports is expected to exceed $481 billion over the next 10 years, according to Forecast International/DMS. The Newtown, Conn., company predicted that 6,430 jets will be delivered between 1998 and 2007. It said that Airbus and Boeing will manufacture 6,078 of these, an average of 608 units a year, and that more than 350 will be built in Russia and Ukraine.
2K PROBLEM: With much of the Pentagon focused on the Y2K computer problem, the AF has its own 2K issue. The loss of pilots to commercial airline jobs could drive the shortage to 2,000 in the near future, Hawley says. The AF already has a "serious attrition problem," that will lead to 800 vacancies by the end of the year. The percentage of those who take the stay-aboard bonus in the AF is about 26%, compared to more than 50% needed to retain the force.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Science subcommittee that authorizes spending on advanced space transportation research, urged that some of that spending go to create competitors for the VentureStar reusable launch vehicle that NASA hopes will grow out of the X- 33 research testbed.
Heico Corp., Miami, will acquire Teleflex-Lionel-Dupont (TLD), a Paris-based maker of niche aeronautical products and ground support equipment, Heico announced. It will be the largest acquisition in Heico's history. The stock exchange agreement - reached with certain shareholders of TLD and certain shareholders of Compagnie de Gestion Industrielle et Financiere (GIFI), which owns about 42% of TLD's outstanding shares - is subject to U.S. and French regulatory approvals and other closing conditions that must be satisfied by July 31.
A rogue state might be able to secretly acquire a long-range ballistic missile to attack the U.S. before Washington can deploy a National Missile Defense system, but developing a such a missile without being detected is unlikely, according to Gen. Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
INDEMNIFICATION: Development hurdles notwithstanding, Rising and Bob Lindberg, program manager on the X-34 testbed being built by Orbital Sciences Corp., both say their birds won't fly until Congress passes legislation protecting them against third-party liability in the event of accident during testing. Unlike earlier X-vehicles, X-33 and X-34 are being built under cooperative agreements between NASA and the companies, and so will not belong to the government.
APACHE FIELDING: The U.S. Army will introduce its first AH-64D Apache Longbow into the combat force on June 12. It will be inducted into the Army inventory at Fort Hood, Tex., site of the service's first AH-64D unit.
JOINT STARS PROBLEMS: The U.S. Air Force is considering ditching the requirement to "zero-time" airframes of old Boeing 707s before they get the Joint STARS radar and work station suite, says Gen. Richard Hawley, commander of Air Combat Command. This has driven up the cost of remanufacturing and is "perhaps unnecessary." Hawley said the AF is considering a robust depot overhaul that technically won't get the airframes to a "zero baseline."
Procurement by the militaries of Latin America will approach $80 billion over the next 10 years, according to a new study, "Resurging Latin American Defense Markets." Overall defense spending in the region should be more than $262 billion. The study, prepared by Forecast International/DMS, said the growing defense market results from the application of free-market economic policies; the need to replace aging, obsolete equipment and expanded drug interdiction; natural resource protection and peacekeeping roles in the military.
NEXT THAAD TEST: With the House and the Senate headed for conferences on the fiscal 1999 defense authorization and appropriations bills to settle the issue of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) program, the timing of the next test as well as the result could go a long way toward settling the two conference decisions. Told that the present schedule of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) calls for the next intercept test at the end of July or beginning of August, ranking House Appropriations national security Democrat John P.
NO BIG SURPRISES: BMDO officials are still reviewing Lockheed Martin's response to a "cure notice" on the THAAD program, but Pentagon sources who have seen the response say there are no show-stoppers. In fact, one official says he expected Lockheed Martin to offer more than it did, given the severity of the situation. While there is an offer to accept portions of the cost for future failures, some sources say it doesn't go far enough. Several expect BMDO leaders to approach other possible contractor teams.
Alcatel, British Aerospace Defense Systems Ltd., DASA and Thomson-CSF Communications will combine to bid for the TACOMS Post-2000, a program aimed at establishing new NATO Standardization Agreements (STANAGs) for tactical communications systems entering into service beginning in 2005, the companies announced. The program is a continuation of the work undertaken in recent years by the NATO PG/6 Working Group, which recommends architectures for future communications systems for land forces.
The Senate Intelligence Committee does not yet have a full understanding of the nature of the satellite technology that Space Systems/Loral and Hughes Electronics Corp. are accused of transferring to China, Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said Friday. "We have some understanding" of the nature of the technology transferred, Shelby told reporters after a closed committee session, "but we're not there yet."
The U.S. Air Force is launching a development program that would allow aircraft not dedicated to the Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) mission to carry out that role by networking their electronic support measures equipment.
Members of the U.S. Congress and Israel's parliament, the Knesset, met on Capitol Hill Thursday to announce a bilateral initiative to foster better understanding and cooperation on national security and specifically the need for defense against ballistic missile attack.
