Lockheed Martin Corp., Syracuse, N.Y., is being awarded a $46,835,023 (estimated) firm-fixed-requirements type contract to provide for two trial installation kits and 33 production kits to upgrade the AN/FPS-117 radar facilities supporting the Atmospheric Early Warning System. Funds will be obligated as individual delivery orders are issued. This work is to be completed from August 2002 through August 2006. Solicitation began September 2000; negotiations were completed April 2001. This work will be performed by Lockheed Martin Corp., Syracuse, N.Y.
USA INFORMATION SYSTEMS, INC., has been awarded a competitive multi-year contract by NASA to provide "one-stop" electronic access to technical standards products and related document sets for use by NASA employees and supporting contractors at NASA locations including Headquarters, nine field centers, three facilities, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. USA systems, of Virginia Beach, Va., will provide the services for the NASA Agency-Wide Full-Text Technical Standards System, one of the three major systems in the NASA Integrated Standards Initiative.
SURREY SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY LTD. has three small satellite platforms listed in NASA's Rapid Spacecraft Catalogue, used by NASA centers and other government agencies for the rapid procurement of spacecraft. The company, of Surrey, England, is the only non-U.S. company listed in the catalogue, according to SSTL. Companies with technology listed in the catalogue can compete for mission contracts by adapting their catalogue platforms, helping NASA cut the acquisition time from about 12 months to 30-90 days.
Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), whose state is home to Dover Air Force Base, the main C-5 Galaxy base on the East Coast, plans to seek increased funding to alleviate a spare parts shortage for the cargo plane. In a May 9 speech on the Senate floor, Biden said the C-5 is vital to warfighting and humanitarian missions and that a lack of spare parts is hurting readiness and morale.
DRS Technologies Inc., a leading supplier of rugged computers and combat display systems, announced May 14 it was seeking acquisitions as a means to obtaining additional contracts with the U.S. Air Force. Mark Newman, company chairman, president and chief executive officer, said during the Aerospace Finance Conference in New York that contracts with the Air Force currently account for only 2 percent of DRS's business.
Aerojet General Corp., Rancho Cordova, Calif., is being awarded a $10,098,435 (estimated) cost-plus-fixed fee contract to provide for research and development of an advanced reusable rocket engine for space maneuver vehicles. At this time, $6,000,000 of the funds have been obligated. This solicitation was posted on the Electronic Post System; four firms submitted proposals. The work is expected to be completed by November 2002. Solicitation began in August 2000; negotiations were completed April 2001.
McDonnell Douglas Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $30,361,887 modification to previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N00019-00-C-0307) for the development, manufacture and delivery of ten 8"x10" display heads and 43 8"x10" display processor kits for the F/A-18F aircraft. Work will be performed in Albuquerque, N.M. (41%); St. Louis, Mo. (36%); and Minneapolis, Minn. (23%), and is expected to be completed by December 2005. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
The Bush Administration's request for $338 million to begin implementing the Coast Guard's aircraft and ship modernization program cleared its first legislative hurdle May 10, receiving approval from the House Transportation Committee's Coast Guard panel as part of a $5.4 billion fiscal 2002 Coast Guard authorization bill. The full committee plans to consider the bill May 16. The Senate version of the authorization bill and the House and Senate transportation appropriations bills have yet to be considered.
McDonnell Douglas, St. Louis, Mo., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Boeing Co., is being awarded an estimated $251,920,440 two-year performance-based logistics contract to provide full logistics support of approximately 850 components unique to F/A-18 E/F aircraft. Some examples of components being procured and supported include servocylinders, valve assemblies and circuit card assemblies. The contract contains options which, if exercised, will bring the cumulative value of this contract to a potential value of $770,000,000. Work will be performed in St.
President Bush announced May 14 that he intends to nominate Peter W. Rodman to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. Rodman, currently Director of National Security Programs at the Nixon Center. He has been a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and at the Johns Hopkins Foreign Policy Institute. From 1987 to 1990 he served Presidents Reagan and Bush as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and NSC Counselor.
Goldman Sachs has lowered its rating on Northrop Grumman from "outperform" to "market perform." The downgrading was a result of "potential dilution and distraction over a bid for Newport News Shipbuilding, Inc., analyst Howard Ruben said in a report. A Northrop Grumman deal with Newport News "may not produce the benefits for Northrop or the U.S. Navy that a General Dynamics Corp.-Newport News deal would."
The U.S. Army is sorting through responses to a request for information on radar and communications intelligence systems that could be used on an Airborne Reconnaissance Low (ARL) aircraft slated to replace one that was lost two years ago on a classified mission in Colombia. The responses originally were due March 31 (DAILY, March 5), but the deadline was extended to April 15 because of some last-minute industry inquiries, said Richard Wittstruck, deputy product manager for the Aerial Common Sensor program at Ft. Monmouth, N.J.
NAVCOM TECHNOLOGY INC., a subsidiary of Deere&Co. of Moline, Ill., is working with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory of Pasadena, Calif., on a new global positioning technology that could help farmers be more productive. Tractors will be equipped with receivers providing instant location information. The technology will allow farmers to navigate fields at night and when visibility is poor, and will also let them calculate and map precisely where their fields may need more water, fertilizer and weed control, saving time and money.
Information and computer network warfare techniques will play increasing roles in warfighting tactics as the Air Force moves forward with effects-based operations, according to a service official. Gaining effective control over a system rather than destroying it is the premise of effects-based operations (EBO). The concept moves the focus to alternative means to achieve desired results and away from complete annihilation of a system to render it useless.
TRW INC. AND FUJITSU MICROELECTRONICS INC. have completed flight production of extremely high density, digital integrated circuits for the TRW-built Astrolink communications payload. Astrolink International LLC is a global broadband communications system. Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems is the prime contractor for the Astrolink space segment. The Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), the key technology for Astrolink's on-board processing, were designed by TRW and fabricated by Fujitsu in 19 months.
General Electric Aircraft Engines, General Electric Co., Lynn, Mass., is being awarded a $399,936,740 modification to previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-99-C-1175) to fully fund the fiscal year 2001 full rate production of 78 F414-GE-400 install engines and device kits, eight spare engines, eight fan modules, 10 high pressure compressors, six combustor modules, eight high pressure turbine modules, eight low pressure turbine modules, and eight afterburner modules for the F/A-18E/F aircraft.
AVTEC SYSTEMS INC. of Fairfax, Va., has announced that its Programmable Telemetry Processor (PTP-EX) system has been selected by the Swedish Space Corp. (SSC) and Universal Space Network for the Coriolis mission ground station operations. SSC, of Solna, Sweden, has joined forces with USN, of Horsham, Pa., to create PrioraNet, a worldwide network of ground stations that provides Earth-orbiting satellites with communications and ground support.
Rep. Edward Schrock (R-Va.), whose congressional district is home to Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, plans to seek $30 million in the fiscal 2002 VA-HUD appropriations bill, which funds NASA, to pay for military aircraft noise reduction research at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. Schrock plans to submit his funding request to the House Appropriations VA-HUD subcommittee as early as May 15, an aide said.
Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), the new ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services procurement subcommittee, plans to make increasing the military's shipbuilding rate his top priority, an aide told The DAILY May 14. "My boss is a fan of shipbuilding," said Stephen Peranich, legislative director to Taylor, whose congressional district is home to Northrop Grumman Litton Ingalls Shipbuilding.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $12,857,675 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for fleet upgrade for 22 F-16 aircraft. This upgrade includes incorporation of interface software for the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile and the Advanced Identity Friend and Foe system. This effort supports foreign military sales to Bahrain. The work is expected to be completed by January 2003. Solicitation began January 2001; negotiations were completed April 2001.
The Joint Strike Fighter program, with Boeing and Lockheed Martin in competition for a winner-take-all contract, is relying on global partnerships to shore up international support for the JSF as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld continues his strategy reviews.
Raytheon Aerospace Co., Madison, Miss., is being awarded a $6,999,962 modification to previously awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-00-D-0272) for the procurement of 18 flight safety upgrade kits for the C-12 aircraft to include trafficalert and collision avoidance system, enhanced ground proximity warning system, weather radar and radar altimeter system kits. In addition, 78 commercial and 78 Navy-unique C-12 maintenance manuals will be procured. Work will be performed in Wichita, Kan. (75%), and Madison, Miss.
Congress has completed work on a fiscal 2002 budget outline that increases defense spending by $14.5 billion over the previous year to $324.8 billion, the same as the Bush Administration requested. The resolution, which was the product of a House-Senate conference committee, received Senate approval by a 53-47 vote May 10 and passed the House by a 221-207 vote May 9.
PENDULUM SWING: While the Pentagon's new director of acquisition, logistics and technology acknowledges "There are some things we absolutely must protect," he says it's time to take a fresh look at export control regulations when it comes to commercial satellites. "I think we have swung the pendulum too far to the point we aren't going to do this at all," says Edward C. "Pete" Aldridge. But, the process warrants closer scrutiny, and Aldridge would like to separate things by "here's what we want to protect, everything else can go."
ITT Industries' Aerospace/Communications Division is helping to broaden the company's interests in space, according to an executive of the unit. Bruce A. Stach, director of business development for space systems, said that while ITT has been known for expertise in relatively narrow areas such as payloads - the company is a leader in the design and production of equipment for navigation and remote sensing satellites - the goal now is to be responsible "for everything from the photon to the information and product processing on the ground."
