Raytheon Co., Raytheon Electronic Systems, Andover, Mass., is being awarded an $11,967,610 firm-fixed-price contract for PATRIOT Missile System radar repair parts. Work will be performed in Andover, Mass., and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on Oct. 11, 2000. The U.S. Army Aviation&Missile Command, Letterkenny Army Depot, Chambersburg, Pa., is the contracting activity (DAAH17-01-C-0003).
ELBIT SYSTEMS LTD. announced it has signed an agreement with Lockheed Martin Aircraft Argentina S.A. (LMAASA) for the avionics upgrade of the AT-63 Pampa aircraft for the Argentinian Air Force. Elbit Systems will act as a subcontractor to LMAASA and will be responsible for the supply and integration of the new avionics system under LMAASA's prime contract with the Government of Argentina.
Acquisitions and mergers in the defense industry, a loss of skilled defense workers and the challenges of doing business in the international marketplace are the vital issues that have to be addressed for U.S. firms to continue to succeed, according to Northrop Grumman vice president William Forster. While spending may increase for missile defense, the U.S. defense budget will remain essentially flat in the immediate future, barring a major crisis, he said.
BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman will explore new mission system concepts for Britain's emerging Future Organic Airborne Early-Warning (FOAEW) program under an April 2 Ministry of Defence study contract. The companies will assess the merits of several different platform types and surveillance radars in the nine-month Concept Phase contract, together with the issues and integration risks involved.
McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Co., d.b.a. McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Services, Mesa, Ariz., was awarded $7,000,000 on March 28, 2001, as part of firm-fixed-price/delivery order contract DAAH23-98-G-0049, for recapitalization support services for the AH-64A Apache helicopter. Work will be performed in Mesa, Ariz., and is expected to be completed by March 31, 2002. This is a sole source contract initiated on Feb. 7, 2001. The U.S. Army Aviation&Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity.
Scientists have completed the first three years of a global observation of the Earth's "biological engine" - the plants that cover its land and oceans, according to NASA. The observations, which are the first continuous global look at plants, are expected to continue for another decade or longer. "This is a period of exploration for us," said Michael Behrenfield, an oceanographer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "We've never been able to see the Earth this way before."
The Chinese commandeering the U.S. Navy's EP-3E advanced electronic reconnaissance aircraft following its emergency landing on Hainan Island at the southern tip of China, "would be like finding fire," one source familiar with the situation told The Daily. In terms of the technological capabilities of the aircraft, the Chinese "are just not there yet," the source said. "That doesn't mean they can't have asymmetrical capabilities, but they are just not that sophisticated," said the source.
Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $7,413,380 modification to previously awarded cost-plus-incentive fee contract (N00024-98-C-5427) for production of six modification (ORDALT) kits and associated hardware for MK 49 Guided Missile Launching Systems of the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) Program.
House Armed Services Committee ranking Democrat Ike Skelton (Mo.) says he became even more convinced of the need for an immediate supplemental defense spending bill after a recent visit to several naval installations on the West Coast. "Family housing roofs are leaking, aircraft are being cannibalized, and training is being curtailed or canceled" due to money shortages, Skelton said in a House floor speech last week.
Rep. David Vitter (R-La.) introduced three bills last week aimed at removing restrictions on missile defense development and deploying a system that provides broad protection.
THE ROCKWELL SCIENCE CENTER (RSC) announced it has received a contract from Ball Aerospace&Technologies Corp. to provide infrared image sensors for a NASA discovery mission that will study the interior of a comet. The sensors, which can detect light in the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, are commonly used as the "eyes" of astronomical telescopes. The comet mission, called Deep Impact, will be performed by a flyby spacecraft and impactor built by Ball Aerospace.
UNIVERSAL SPACE NETWORK, INC. of Horsham, Pa., has been selected by Lockheed Martin to supply NASA with indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity services (IDIQ) as part of Lockheed Martin's Consolidated Space Operations Contract (CSOC).
EXPORT REFORM: A revised export-control system could become law by year's end thanks to recent endorsements of a Senate bill by President George W. Bush and the Senate Banking Committee, according to Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), a chief sponsor of the legislation. The bill would update export controls for dual-use goods and technology, which can be used for both military and civilian purposes.
MISSILE SHIELD PUSH: Senate Armed Services Committee member James Inhofe (R-Okla.) is urging President George W. Bush to "move quickly" to forge a national commitment to deploy a "robust" missile defense system that can defend all 50 states, U.S. allies and American troops overseas. "We should exploit all options and technologies," Inhofe says in a recent Senate floor speech.
POLITICAL BLOW: The death of House Armed Services procurement subcommittee ranking Democrat Norm Sisisky (Va.), whose district includes Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, is yet another political blow to Norfolk-area military interests. Rep. Herb Bateman (R-Va.), who represented Langley Air Force Base and chaired the Armed Services readiness subcommittee, died in September (DAILY, Sept. 12). Rep.
The Counsellor-Defence Acquisition&Logistics, embassy of Australia, in Washington, D.C., has awarded a $3 million contract to General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, for production of MXU 4 A/A jet engine starter cartridges for the Royal Australian Air Force RF-111 jet aircraft. The MXU 4 A/A cartridges drive turbo/mechanical starters to start engines for aircraft such as the F-111, B-52, KC-135 and others. Work on the contract is expected to be completed in March 2003.
The X-31 experimental test plane has come out of retirement at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., as part of a program to demonstrate innovative new takeoff and landing techniques that could significantly reduce stress on future aircraft. The Vectoring Extremely Short Take-Off and Landing Control Tailless Operation Research (VECTOR) program is a joint U.S./German test program which uses thrust vectoring - controlling the direction of engine exhaust - to develop extremely short takeoff and landing (ESTOL) capabilities.
NOT SO FAST:While the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee approved Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's request to reprogram $674.5 million to keep the Lockheed Martin F-22 program intact (DAILY, Mar. 30), it won't be doled out in one lump sum. The Pentagon plans to release the funds incrementally over three-month periods, instead of all at once. Current funds expired on March 31, and the first lump sum is $288.8 million for April-June, for 10 Lot 1 aircraft.
NATO chief George Robertson is cautioning the three newest members of the Western alliance - Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic - against letting modernization of their forces to NATO standards fall by the wayside under budget pressures.
Harris Corp., of Melbourne, Fla., has been awarded a contract by Agusta, of Cascina Costa, Italy, to provide the Digital Map System for the Italian Navy's fleet of EH-101 anti-submarine helicopters, the company announced last week. The DMS provides the EH-101 with real-time, advanced terrain visualization via cockpit displays, assisting the aircraft's flight crew with critical navigation and situational awareness capabilities tailored for the helicopter's unique mission.
NO FREE LUNCH: The aircraft recapitalization needs of the USMC will only continue to get worse as they remain unfunded over time, says Commandant Gen. James L. Jones. In the past few years, Congress has asked the services to submit their unfunded priority requirements list, and if they had all been funded, the state of affairs with aging aircraft would not continue its downward spiral, he explains. Last year, all the USMC's unfunded priorities added up to $1.2 billion.
LOCKHEED MARTIN and TRW have been chosen by NASA to perform its spacecraft accommodation study for the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) Observatory. This space science experiment, scheduled for launch in 2006 into a low-Earth orbit, will bridge the fields of astronomy and physics in the study of black hole particle jets and other high-energy phenomena, according to NASA.
WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS: Last week was a good week for the Air Force, which is steaming ahead with production of three of its weapons. The Pentagon gave final approval for the AF (and Navy) to buy Lot 5 of the Boeing Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) tail kits for 2,000-lb Mk-84 and BLU-109s (DAILY, Mar. 20, 27). The decision also paves the way for the Pentagon to buy 66,640 remaining kits for just over $1.46 billion through fiscal year 2008.
In an industry where too many rockets are chasing too few satellites, the key to making a profit is not by cutting launch costs but rather having a reliable rocket that minimizes the risk for the customer, the world's leading rocket companies agree. "The number one priority in this business is reliability," said Will Trafton, president and general manager of Sea Launch, which uses Russian-made Zenit rockets from a floating launch pad in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
Defense electronics contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. of Los Angeles announced Friday it has received regulatory clearance from the Federal Trade Commission for its proposed acquisition of defense electronics and shipbuilder Litton Industries Inc. This means all U.S. and international governmental and regulatory reviews have been received for the deal, the company said.
