Litton Systems Inc., Northridge, Calif. is being awarded a $19,000,000 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract, to provide for twenty APX-109(v)3 Advanced Identification Friend or Foe systems applicable to the F-16 aircraft. The work is expected to be completed by March 2004. This effort supports foreign military sales to Korea. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio is the contracting activity (F33657-00/C-2187).
Now that the Mir space station era is over, the Russian space community is looking for a new long-term program to provide comparable research and political opportunities. Some members of the space community consider the International Space Station to be insufficient to employ the country's space industry and maintain Russia's image as a space-pioneering nation.
LaBarge, Inc., of St. Louis, announced it was awarded a $1.5 million contract from the Raytheon Co.'s Missile Systems business unit of Tucson, Ariz., to provide Raytheon with cable assemblies for the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) Guided Missile Weapon System. Follow-on orders are expected, the company announced April 16. RAM is a lightweight, quick-reaction, ship self-defense missile developed and produced cooperatively by the United States and Germany. The LaBarge cables will be used in the RAM launch system.
Harris Corp.'s RF Communications Division, of Rochester, N.Y., has been awarded an $11 million contract from the U.S. Air Force's Electronics System Center, at Hanscom AFB, Mass., to equip its Tactical Air Control Party squadrons with Falcon II AN/PRC-117F multiband/multimission manpack radios. The TACPs will use the radios to request air support using satellite communications and to direct aircraft using the very high frequency and ultra high frequency mode.
U.S. aerospace giant Boeing - looking to extend its reach in Russia through space development, aircraft construction and air traffic management - is teaming with the Russian Aerospace Agency as its strategic partner on a number of projects. "We want to be the partner of choice in Russia," said Marta Newhart, a Boeing spokeswoman in Seal Beach, Calif. "We recognize that when you collaborate with others, it enhances what you've got."
The U.S. space intelligence system of the future will have to anticipate the demands of its users rather than respond only to requests as it does today, and offer continuous global coverage instead of periodic views of specific areas, according to an official of the National Reconnaissance Office. Carol Staubach, director of advanced systems and technology for the NRO, also said the new system will have to be controlled by the users, be easy to operate, and offer information from a variety of sources.
Raytheon Systems Co., Goleta, Calif., is being awarded $7,265,214 as part of a $10,909,566 (base year total) firm-fixed-price contract with an estimated cumulative total of $29,810,894 if all options are exercised. The basic contract award is for 243 Standard Advanced Dewar Assemblies, Type II (SADA II) in support of the Horizontal Technology Integration (HTI) Second Generation Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) Night Vision-80 B-Kit Production Program. Work will be performed in Goleta, Calif., and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2002.
ECC International Corp. of Orlando, Fla., announced it has been awarded a $4.5 million contract to produce crew station components for Lockheed Martin Information Systems' Close Combat Tactical Trainer. The contract calls for deliveries to begin in July 2001, and is the third annual CCTT production contract that ECC has received from Lockheed Martin, the company announced April 16. The production effort includes various components and major subassemblies, including new input/output and display systems.
Northrop Grumman Corp., Field Support Services, Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., is being awarded a $6,347,620 firm-fixed-price delivery order against a previously awarded basic ordering agreement (N00019-00-G-0120) to manufacture 63 Drag Tee Kits and install the following systems into the F-14/B&D aircraft: 55 drag tees, 61 nacelle elements, 13 flap slats, 11 flight control backup modules, one wing leading edge, 104 ALE-47s, six airframe changes 710 which includes a fuselage structure and aft deck installation, 10 soft mild detonation cord (SMDC) replacements, and one upgrad
Raytheon Company, Electromagnetic Systems Division, Goleta, Calif., is being awarded a $12,350,310 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-99-C-1051) to support the AN/ALE-50 Countermeasure Decoy Dispenser Set Program and Integrated Defensive Electronics Countermeasures Program. Support will include the production of Integrated Multi-Platform Launch Controllers, associated supplies, services and technical data for the Navy F/A-18E/F and the Air Force B-1B and F-15 aircraft.
L-3 Communications announced its Display Systems division has been awarded a contract from Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control to provide the display system for its Line-of-Sight Anti-Tank program (LOSAT). The contract is valued at about $2 million, plus production options for a total potential of over $6 million, L-3 announced on April 16.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and two other members of the Mississippi congressional delegation have written to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urging him to overturn the Navy's plans to cut production of the T-45 trainer aircraft.
Insistence that all new satellite technology be compatible with old systems is keeping the U.S. intelligence community from moving to new systems as quickly as it would like, according to Air Force Space Command's director of operations. Maj. Gen. Howard Mitchell said, "... we are constraining ourselves ... because we insist that all of the new systems be backward compatible with a bunch of the old systems, legacy systems."
Imagine a non-visual orientation system that uses the sense of touch to remind a pilot which way is up. The Tactile Situational Awareness System (TSAS), currently under development at the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory (NAMRL) does exactly that. Developers hope that TSAS could one day greatly reduce the number of air accidents caused by spatial disorientation - a common experience among pilots that costs the Department of Defense an estimated $300 million in lost aircraft each year.
SFA, Inc., Largo, Md., is being awarded Task Order 0004 for $6,102,536 to previously awarded contract (N00014-97-D-2008) for 106,900 hours of effort in support of research, development, and application-oriented systems for sensing systems, integrated optics and communications systems supporting the Optical Techniques Development and Measurement Project. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C., and is expected to be completed by July 2002. Contract funds in the amount of $720,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
The four members of the Defense Departments's V-22 review panel will go before a key congressional panel in two weeks to discuss their still-unreleased findings. The Senate Armed Services Committee announced April 16 that the panel's chairman, Marine Corps Ret. Gen. John Dailey, will testify May 1, as will the three other panel members - former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine, Air Force Ret. Gen. James Davis and scholar Eugene Covert.
The Boeing Co. and the U.S. Air Force have finalized contract terms for 10 F-15E aircraft, which will sustain production of the fighter into 2004, Boeing announced April 13. Boeing began building the planes last year with initial funding from the Air Force's fiscal year 2000 budget. The aircraft will have several upgrades that make them the most capable F-15Es delivered to date, according to Boeing.
The U.S. Air Force, which already is funding a new fleet of single-use rockets, plans to push for new technology to build reusable launchers in order to safeguard its assets in orbit, according to the Air Force's top space commander. "We have to continue to pursue reusable launch vehicles not just to replace the space shuttle but for military applications," Gen. Ralph "Ed" Eberhart told aerospace industry executives April 12 at the 17th National Space Symposium, Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com reported.
HASC POSTS: The House Armed Services Committee will have the following vice chairmen for the next two years: full committee, Rep. Floyd Spence (R-S.C.); procurement subcommittee, Rep. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.); research and development subcommittee, Rep. Van Hilleary (R-Tenn.); installations and facilities subcommittee, Rep. Robin Hayes (R-N.C.); readiness subcommittee, Rep. Bob Riley (R-Ala.); personnel subcommittee, Rep. Jim Ryun (R-Kan.); and terrorism panel, Rep. John Hostettler (R-Ind.).
Managing big initiatives through integrated product teams (IPTs) hasn't worked as well for the U.S. defense community as it has for private industry, congressional auditors concluded, because most military IPTs lack either the expertise or the authority to do what IPTs do best - quickly recognizing problems and making speedy cross-cutting decisions.
Reports of fuel leaks caused by improper harness bracket installations during CFM56-5C engine overhauls triggered an urgent manufacturer's bulletin calling for inspections of the parts by April 20 to verify that brackets are installed correctly.
Flight controllers for the 2001 Mars Odyssey decided its favorable launch trajectory means they can postpone the first maneuver to fine-tune the spacecraft's flight path. All systems on the spacecraft are in excellent health, NASA announced April 12.
Raytheon Aircraft says it is making progress in resolving two problems with the T-6A Texas II trainer aircraft that the U.S. Air Force wants addressed. Responding to complaints that the T-6A's air conditioner isn't powerful enough, Raytheon is testing a different system that has proven itself on another plane, Raytheon spokesman Tim Travis said April 11.
Rockwell International Corp. filed a plan with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the company's previously announced tax-free spin-off to shareholders of Rockwell Collins, the company's avionics and communications business. Under the terms of the spin-off, shareholders of Rockwell will receive shares in the new company on a one-for-one basis. The company will also apply to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
LAND VS. DITCH:While ditching a plane loaded with classified data and equipment into the ocean is an option for a pilot whose aircraft is in trouble, there is no DOD policy nor U.S. Navy policy to do so, according to the Pentagon. "It is the pilot's judgment call," one source tells The DAILY. That protocol may differ during war time, though, he says. In the case of the Navy EP-3E that made an emergency landing on Hainan Island, China, "It is not a hostile country. It is an international country," says the source.
