NASA will release its draft request for proposals on a single Space Shuttle operations contract at the Marshall Space Flight Center on Nov. 8, and will brief potential bidders on the RFP at the same time. According to a notice in today's edition of Commerce Business Daily, copies of the draft RFP will be distributed at the industry briefing scheduled for 9 a.m CST in the Morris Auditorium of Building 4200 of the NASA center, which is located near Huntsville, Ala.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has urged other senators to take advantage of the House's rejection of the $243 billion fiscal 1996 defense appropriations conference report and strip out $4.1 billion in "pork barrel spending projects." In a "Dear Colleague" letter, McCain acknowledged that he sought to increase defense spending in the Senate and supported the congressional budget resolution which added $7 billion to President Clinton's 1996 defense budget and $35 billion over the next five years.
PRINCE SULTAN bin Abdul Aziz, Saudi Arabia's defense and aviation minister, is expected to sign the long-awaited $7.5 billion jetliner deal with Boeing and McDonnell Douglas this morning at a White House ceremony. The deal's particulars remain unchanged - 61 aircraft, with 33 for Douglas and 28 for Boeing. The first aircraft, a General Electric-powered Boeing 747, will probably be delivered in September, 1997, followed a month later by the first of 23 777-200s.
Rep. C.W. (Bill) Young (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Appropriations national security subcommittee, said yesterday that efforts to work out acceptable anti-abortion language for the fiscal 1996 defense appropriations bill are "coming together," and he hopes to be able to reconvene the conference on the bill early next week to approve the compromise language.
MARTIN MARIETTA Ocean, Radar&Sensor Systems unit, Syracuse, N.Y., a division of Lockheed Martin Corp., was awarded an additional $17.9 million under an earlier contract for fiscal year 1996 operation, maintenance, and logistic support of the sensor facilities at Pirinclik Air Station, Turkey. The contract was awarded Aug. 31 by the 21st Contracting Squadron, Peterson AFB, Colo.
Propelled by efficiency gains and a few key wins, Lockheed Martin posted 13% stronger net earnings on roughly flat sales for the third quarter and is generating cash more quickly than management predicted when the year began. The figures kept pace with the industry in general, which continued this week to turn in solid performances as Tracor, Orbital Sciences, Teledyne, Computer Sciences Corp., Olin and Textron all reported gains.
EER Systems' Conestoga space launch vehicle automatically self- destructed on its first launch attempt Monday, apparently after a loss of control at high speed began breaking up the solid-fueled rocket as it hurtled away from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on the Virginia shore.
Rep. Charles Wilson (D-Tex.), a senior member of the House Appropriations national security subcommittee, announced that he won't run for re-election next year. Wilson made the announcement at a news conference in Lufkin, Tex., in which he said he may consider resigning before the end of his term in January, 1997, to give his successor an edge in seniority over the incoming freshman class. Wilson, 61, an Annapolis graduate who served in the Navy, is now in his twelfth term in the House.
A House-Senate conference agreed yesterday to permit the delivery of $368 million in embargoed U.S. military equipment sold to Pakistan prior to the imposition of congressional sanctions against Pakistan's nuclear program. By voice vote the fiscal 1996 foreign operations appropriations conference accepted a Senate amendment which provided for delivery of military equipment Pakistan contracted for prior to Oct. 1, 1990, the effective date of the Pressler Amendment blocking such deliveries.
E-SYSTEMS INC., Dallas, received an additional $18.4 million Sept. 29 for refurbishment and modification of U.S. Army and Marine Corps Joint Service Imagery Processing System (JSIPS) engineering development models to the configuration used by the U.S. Air Force's Ninth Air Force. The contract was awarded by the USAF's Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom AFB, Mass.
Researchers using declassified gravity field data generated 10 years ago by the U.S. Navy's GEOSAT satellite and more recent data from the European Space Agency's Earth Resources Satellite (ERS-1) have produced the most detailed map yet of the oceans' floors.
U.S. Navy officers yesterday stressed the importance of information warfare during a commissioning ceremony here of the Fleet Information Warfare Center and one said that although not all workings of the FIWC have been established, its funding is likely to increase.
RAYTHEON CO., New Bedford, Mass., is in line for a sole source RFP from U.S. Army Missile Command to improve command, control and intelligence (C2I) aspects of the Enhanced Fiber Optic Guided Missile (EFOGM). U.S. Army Missile Command said in an Oct.
The Defense Dept. has tasked its joint test and evaluation community to determine how commanders can attack enemy ballistic and cruise missiles while they are still on the ground. The Joint Test Force (JTF) for Joint Theater Missile Defense Attack Operations was chartered last year to assess the capabilities a theater commander might have in 1998 to counter a then-existing cruise missile and ballistic missiles threat. Missiles would be engaged before they are launched.
JAST PROGRAM OFFICE wants companies to tell it by Nov. 3 whether they want to participate in the concept demonstration phase of the Joint Advanced Strike Technology program. The office said in an Oct. 25 Commerce Business Daily notice that it plans to award two contracts for the effort in fiscal year 1997.
Vienna, Va.-based systems integrator BTG Inc. bought Concept Automation Inc. for $13 million in cash and $500,000 in BTG stock, instantly broadening BTG's base of mostly defense and intelligence clientele into civilian government agencies. While BTG is almost exclusively a supplier of computer-based systems to classified users, its ambition has been to expand into state and local government work, as well as the commercial sector. The World Bank, Strong Mutual Funds and the Okaloosa County (Fla.) school district are among BTG's clients.
The U.S. Air Force has completed a series of tests of the Joint Advanced Strike Technology-funded 1,000-pound bomb to determine whether it can match the penetration and effectiveness of a 2,000-pound munition. The J-1000 was put through two tests at Eglin AFB, Fla., on Aug. 31 and Sept. 8, to obtain blast fragmentation data, and a pair of sled tests to gather data on penetration, on Sept. 15 and Sept. 18, according to Albert L. Weimorts, Jr., the J-1000 program manager.
EDO CORP., College Point, N.Y., said its Defense and Space Systems Div. is working under a $2 million contract to upgrade NATO Air Defense Ground Environment (NADGE) command centers. The award, issued on behalf of all NATO nations by the Royal Norwegian Air Force Material Command, covers the first in a series of upgrades for selected NATO countries to be exercised as options over the next several years. It calls for production of the Data Handling and Display Subsystem (DHDS) of NATO-wide Ship-Shore-Ship Buffer C3 system.
Rep. Elizabeth Furse (D-Ore.) has told Defense Secretary William J. Perry that at $190 million a copy, the full buy of 80 additional C-17 airlifters "will be difficult to achieve," given competing U.S. Air Force budget demands. In a letter to Perry, Furse disputed the $190 million flyaway cost that McDonnell Douglas has given the Air Force for the final 80 of the original program of 120 C-17s. The first 40 are already under contract.
U.S. AIR FORCE said Monday that it is deploying a squadron of F-16s to Bahrain to temporarily take up the slack created by a previous decision to remove one Navy carrier from the region (DAILY, Oct. 18, page 103). The aircraft will come from the 347th Wing, Moody AFB, Ga., and the 20th Fighter Wing, Shaw AFB, S.C. They are expected to arrive on Oct. 28, and leave by Dec. 31.
Northrop Grumman has received a $1.2 million contract from the electronic warfare division of the U.S. Air Force's Wright Laboratory to further develop its microwave power module technology. The research and development funds are intended to adapt the MPM "for future use in next-generation aircraft self-protection systems," Northrop Grumman said Monday. The Advanced Electronic Warfare Microwave Power Module program is aimed at improvements in operating frequency bandwidth, power output, and efficiency of power amplification.
The Dept. of Defense yesterday officially suspended its "rule of two" program for setting aside contracts for "small disadvantaged businesses" (SDBs) in cases where two or more SDBs qualified to bid on a project, but the action left unclear the potentially larger issue of what will happen to defense subcontracts.
October 19, 1995 Harris Corporation Harris Corporation, Melbourne, Florida, is being awarded a $11,205,960 face value increase to a firm fixed price contract for 84 small Tactical Terminals applicable to the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program. Contract is expected to be completed December 1996. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Space Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles, California is the contracting activity (F04701-94/C-0019, P00009).
October 19, 1995 IBM Corporation IBM Corporation, Bethesda, Maryland, is being awarded a $3,446,883 increment as part of a $22,481,883 firm fixed price contract for software maintenance/rental. Work will be performed at Fort Meade, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by August 30, 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on September 14, 1995. The contracting activity is the Defense Supply Service - Washington, Washington, D.C. (MDA904-96-0128)
