Dyncorp Technical Services, Ft. Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $24,197,880 increment as part of a $46,966,272 modification to firm-fixed-price with cost reimbursable line items contract DAAH23-00-C-0226, for C-12 and UC-35 aircraft life cycle support. Work will be performed in Ft. Worth, Texas, and at various locations inside and outside of the continental United States, and is expected to be completed by Jan. 31, 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were six bids solicited on March 8, 2000, and two bids were received.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., is being awarded a $211,864,735 modification as part of firm-fixed-price contract DAAJ09-97-C-0005, to exercise the option for 24 UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters for Israel. Work will be performed in Stratford, Conn., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2003. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on Jan. 24, 2001. The U.S. Army Aviation&Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity.
The Pentagon announced the selection of 14 new Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) projects for fiscal 2001, several of which involve computer networking capabilities. The ACTD program is designed to decrease the acquisition cycle time and rapidly field advanced technology systems. Representatives of the services and unified commanders reviewed a list of 60 proposals and provided their priorities to the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC), in an effort to marry new operational concepts with new technologies as ACTD projects.
BAE SYSTEMS has delivered the first production Directional Infra Red Countermeasures (DIRCM) anti-missile protection turret, the company announced yesterday. The system is being fitted to transport aircraft and helicopters in service with American and British armed forces and will protect the aircraft from infra red heat-seeking missiles by jamming the seeker. DIRCM is a collaborative program involving BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman.
NASA scientists have demonstrated the ability to land a jumbo jet without touching the stick, controlling a 757 passenger jet simulation with human muscle-nerve signals linked to a computer with technology that may someday help spacesuited astronauts control complex machinery.
BUDGET PRESSURES: Defense spending will have to increase by $10 billion in fiscal 2002 just to maintain current programs, according to a briefing paper by the House Armed Services Committee, which cites the Clinton Office of Management and Budget as the source for the figure. "This increase is the amount necessary to counter the effects of inflation and pay and benefit changes on the defense program," the paper says. The fiscal 2001 defense authorization act allows $309.9 billion in spending.
Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have joined the Senate Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee, the full committee announced last week. The senators fill vacancies created by the retirement of Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and the addition of one Democratic seat. The subcommittee now has nine Democrats and nine Republicans, reflecting the Senate's 50-50 split. Feinstein's appointment gives her home state's major aerospace presence a voice on a key spending panel.
MONEY IS KEY: Vice Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, AF Gen. Richard B. Myers, agrees with former AF Secretary Peters comments on space funding challenges. Myers says when it comes to space militarization, "The key to everything is the amount of resources we need to do the job." Myers believes the new Administration is going to address the resource issues, something left out of the recent Space Commission report. But does Myers, former commander in chief of U.S. Space Command and NORAD, favor a separate Space Force?
STRONG SEAPOWER: Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the newly installed chairman of the Senate Armed Services seapower subcommittee, says his priorities will include military modernization and increased spending on research and development. "Of all the issues facing Congress and President Bush, I can think of nothing more pressing than the need to transform and equip our military forces for the missions they will face in the 21st century," Sessions says, adding that the U.S.
MILSTAR LAUNCH: Air Force space managers are targeting Feb. 13 as the launch date for the next Milstar military communications satellite, but technicians haven't completely cleared the Titan IVB rocket that will carry the satellite or launch. A spokesperson for the 45th Space Wing says the date could slip again if ongoing troubleshooting reveals that a ground-testing failure on an inertial navigation system like the one on the big Titan resulted from factors that affect the flight hardware as well (DAILY, Jan. 31).
Mars Global Surveyor, the orbiting partner to Mars Pathfinder and its Sojourner rover, has gotten a new lease on life with the extension of its mission through April 2002.
Lockheed Martin Canada, a unit of Lockheed Martin Corp., today signed a memorandum of understanding with Northstar Network Ltd. of St. John's, Newfoundland, to pursue the Canadian government's $2.8 billion maritime helicopter program.
U.S. Air Force investigators are blaming "operator error" for the crash of a $3.7 million RQ-1L Predator unmanned aerial vehicle near Indian Springs Auxiliary Field, Nev., on Sept. 14, but point out the errors reflect the UAV's "immaturity," along with "lack of complete documentation and poor human factors design."
HEARING MANIA: Defense spending and missile defense will get a close look from the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee over the next few months. Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, is scheduled to testify before the subcommittee in mid-March on missile defense programs. The panel plans to hold four hearings in April and May on the overall Defense Dept. budget for fiscal 2002 and the individual service budgets. In addition, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is to appear before the subcommittee in mid-May.
SCALED TECHNOLOGY WORKS of Montrose, Colo., has changed its name to STW Composites, Inc., to reflect its focus on composite structures for general aviation, commercial and military aircraft and spacecraft. The company is a subsidiary of Precision Castparts Corp.
EXAMINING THREATS: The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence will hold a rare open hearing Wednesday on worldwide threats to U.S. national security. The same day, the Senate Banking Committee will hear testimony on legislation to overhaul export controls for dual-use goods and technology, which have both military and civilian uses.
A $98 million infusion of cash this year has put the U.S. Air Force's Airborne Laser (ABL) program back on track for a shootdown test against a Scud-type missile in 2003, despite a design problem that pushed back the program's first laser ground test by about four months.
BAE Systems has agreed to sell its roughly 54% majority investment in BAE Systems Canada to ONCAP, a Toronto-based investment fund. Total value of the 12,271,600 shares involved in the deal will be $CDN 594/$US 398.1 million at the agreed price of $CDN 25.5, or $16.91 U.S.
Retired Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald R. Fogleman said he agrees with a recently released Space Commission report that the U.S. is going to see conflicts in space, and predicted directed energy weapons that could be used in such conflicts "will be the centerpiece of the U.S. arsenal by 2020." "Eventually, we're going to see conflicts in space," Fogleman said at a breakfast on Capitol Hill last week sponsored by DFI International. "Anyone who thinks we aren't has got their head in the sand."
LEAN BUDGET: The Bush Administration seems to be setting the stage for a limited increase in defense spending in fiscal 2002. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer says that President Bush's first-year budget submission to Congress will be a "lean budget" because the Pentagon hasn't had time to complete a force structure review.
CLOSE CALL: NASA still plans to launch its Mars Odyssey planetary orbiter on April 7, despite a scare last month in the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility at Kennedy Space Center when a loose connection on a fitting in the plumbing that provides cooling in the high bay dumped water on the floor of the facility. The spacecraft wasn't harmed, as it turned out, and workers readying the probe for its Delta II launch were able to continue on schedule, according to a KSC spokesperson.
SHOW ME THE MONEY: Before he left office, AF Secretary F. Whitten Peters said one of the main problems with funding new projects for space is that "we are basically fixing every one of our space systems." The space budget today is $7-$8 billion out of the Air Force's $71 billion budget. Peters would rather resources go into such things as satellite programs instead of a separate Space Force.
ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO: F-22 Raptor No. 4004 initiated radar cross section testing last week after it arrived at Edwards AFB, Calif., from maker Lockheed Martin's Marietta, Ga. facility. That leaves first flight of aircraft No. 4006 as the one remaining criteria before the Pentagon will put together a Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) to decide whether the program is ready to move into low rate initial production (LRIP). No concrete date for the maiden voyage is set yet, although hopes are high for today. "We'll fly it when it's ready to fly," says a program spokesman.
Technologies Ltd. of Herzeliya, Israel, announced it has received a $3.5 million follow-on order from European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company EADS Airbus SA for the company's eMPower e-manufacturing software. EADS Airbus SA will use eMPower in its A380 program, the company announced Wednesday.
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, the prime contractor for the Army's $3.8 billion Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, has chosen its production facility in Pike County (Troy), Ala., to be the final assembly and test site for the program's missile.
