Lockheed Martin, which had faced a much larger lawsuit involving 3,000 Burbank, Calif., residents, said Monday that approval of the agreement under which the company will pay $5 million to 300 of the residents shows "the justice system works."
Raytheon Co., El Segundo, Calif., is being awarded an $11,169,729 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide for development and integration of technologies in support of demonstration of an Affordable Moving Surface Target Engagement system. The work is expected to be completed December 2001. Solicitation issue date was July 2000; negotiations were completed November 2000. There were four proposals received. Air Force Research Laboratory, Rome, N.Y., is the contracting activity (F30602-01/C-0017).
Boeing Co., Seattle, Wash., is being awarded a $95,000,000 indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract to provide for research of new technologies that will provide affordable, revolutionary capabilities to the warfighter. The developments will provide for cost effective, survivable aerospace platforms capable of accurate delivery of weapons and cargo worldwide. This contractor will the second of three participating in the Air Vehicles Technology Integration Program (AVTIP). Funds will be obligated as individual delivery orders are issued.
Science Applications International Corp., San Diego, Calif. is being awarded a $22,000,000 indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract to provide for engineering and technical services for Pacific Air Forces Command, Control, Communications, Computer, Intelligence and Wargaming Systems. Funds will be obligated as individual delivery orders are issued. Solicitation issue date was May 2000; negotiations were completed October 2000. There were two proposals received. Pacific Air Forces Command, Hickam AFB, Hawaii, is the contracting activity (F64605-01/D-0001).
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space Co., King of Prussia, Pa., is being awarded a $17,000,000 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for seven Interim Retrofit Crosslink Transponder Data Units for the NAVSTAR Global Positioning System Block IIR satellite (vehicles 01 and 04 through 09). This retrofit will minimize false detection of signal due to ultra-high frequency (UHF) interference. The work will be performed at Lockheed Martin, King of Prussia, Pa. (63%), and ITT Aerospace/Communication Div., Clifton, N.J. (37%).
The latest version of Boeing's MyBoeingFleet.com has hit the Web. With the updated version - the second within six weeks - users can access fleet reliability statistics, product standards, a loadable software information site, and more maintenance documents features. MyBoeingFleet.com contains 79,000 maintenance documents, flight manuals, 5.6 million engineering and tooling drawings and access to the Boeing Web-based spare parts ordering system, the PART Page.
Despite U.S. efforts to institute laws to safeguard online privacy, the efforts have only made a messy legislative environment messier. Furthermore, "the maze of new rules" will only up the costs for businesses - without making consumers feeling more protected, according to a new study by Forrester Research Inc. Privacy law, the study says, will become more "entangled" as lawyers try to keep a handle on the "myriad exceptions" to the privacy rules.
Sabre and Skyfish.com are building on a strategic alliance announced earlier this summer, focused on developing the aerospace e-marketplace. According to the latest announcement, Sabre also plans to take a minority stake in Skyfish.com. The agreement features a "broad revenue sharing arrangement" between the two companies. The exchange will provide direct and indirect procurement, decision and support technology, information services, supply chain management and ASP-hosted software. Skyfish.com e-marketplace is currently beta testing with a few select customers.
CAPTAIN CRUNCH: The attrition rate for U.S. Army captains stands at 13% -- the highest ever and well above the normal 9-11% range. Gen. John W. Hendrix, Commanding General, US Army Forces Command, pointed out that the rate has goneup and down over time and said even at the present level it is "tolerable." While the Army doesn't want to lose one soldier, Hendrix said, he takes heart from the fact that 87 percent opt to stay despite the lure of a "burgeoning economy." Still, he wants send Army captains a message: "We are proud of you. We need you."
SAFE FOR SEA: Reacting to comments from U.S. Navy pilots who fault the single-engine JSF because "you cannot dead-stick on a carrier" (DAILY, Oct. 30), the Navy test pilot for Boeing's JSF says the new JSF engines will be safer and more robust than engines previously used by carrier aircraft. Cdr.
Herley Wireless Technologies, a subsidiary of Herley Industries Inc., said it has completed its acquisition of Terrasat Inc., a designer and manufacturer of transcievers. John M. Kelley, senior vice president of Herley said, "The Terrasat acquisition is accretive as well as being an excellent strategic fit for Herley. Terrasat has a strong product line and an established and growing base of domestic and international customers. Terrasat's backlog is approximately $9 million."
Engine failure caused the Aug. 31 crash of an F-16 Fighting Falcon, according to an official accident investigation report released Friday by the U.S. Air Force's Air Combat Command. The engine failure occurred after a turbine blade separated and caused damage to the oil system and other parts of the engine, the investigators found. The incident began when the pilot, from the 177th Fighter Wing, New Jersey Air National Guard, felt the fighter vibrating and suddenly slowing. The engine compressor stalled and the oil pressure went to zero.
Alliant Techsystems won a $34 million contract from Boeing to produce the solid propulsion systems and warhead for the U.K.'s Brimstone anti-armor missile system. "ATK Missile Products Company has more than 50 years of experience in the design, development and production systems, warheads and metals parts for tactical missile systems," said Alex Priskos, president of the unit. "We are pleased to carry on this tradition with the Brimstone system, which is destined to become a mainstay in the United Kingdom's tactical missile arsenal."
SMDC HOLD: Sen. Bob Smith (R-N.H.) plans to block the nomination of Major Gen. Joseph Cosumano to be commander of the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command until he's satisfied that SMDC has the right team in place to manage the kinetic energy anti-satellite program (KE-ASAT), a spokeswoman says. Smith doesn't have a "comfort level" with the program's current personnel, the spokeswoman adds.
Thales, which until yesterday was named Thompson-CSF Racal, has announced it will be part of a team that will bid on the United Kingdom's $2.4 billion Bowman battlespace communications program.
L-3 COMMUNICATIONS received a $6 million grant for Phase III development of the ARGUS Explosive Detection System (EDS) from the Federal Aviation Administration. Phase III is slated to be completed by November 2001.
Aerojet said its data fusion and ground processing business will play a role in the U.S. Air Force/Lockheed Martin Integrated Space Command and Control (ISC2) program. The program, potentially valued at about $1.5 billion to the Lockheed Martin team, is intended to modernize the Air Force's air, missile and space IT infrastructure, integrating about 40 systems into a "virtual command center" that will provide real-time data to commanders and warfighters.
Lockheed Martin's X-35C carrier variant (CV) of the Joint Strike Fighter is expected to make its first flight late this week. The X-35C, which has been developed to meet U.S. Navy specifications, is in final preparations for first flight and will likely begin taxi runs today or tomorrow. Company test pilot Joe Sweeney, a former U.S. Navy test pilot, is slated to be at the controls of the aircraft for its first flight from Palmdale, Calif.
Bath Iron Works Corp., a unit of General Dynamics, and Ingalls Shipbuilding, part of Litton Industries, received substantial boosts to their baseline DDG 51 Class multi-year contracts from Naval Sea Systems Command. Bath received a $660.8 million contract modification, which provides money for fiscal 2001 multiyear ships, the DDG 99 and DDG 101. The deal covers the construction of DDG 51 Class Aegis destroyers. Work, slated to be completed in August 2006, will be carried out at the company's shipyard in Bath, Maine.
WELDON BOOSTERS: Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) has amassed more than 100 letters of endorsement for his bid to become chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, according to his congressional office. Among those endorsing him is former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, former Central Intelligence Agency head James Woolsey, former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. James Watkins (USN-ret.) and former Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre. Weldon is waging a vigorous campaign for the chairmanship in hopes of upsetting his more senior opponent, Rep. Bob Stump (R-Ariz.).
TETRA TECH INC., Pasadena, Calif., announced that it was awarded $37.5 million in two new contracts to support environmental management efforts at Dept. of Defense sites. The contracts cover Wright-Patterson AFB and all Army Materiel Command bases, the company said yesterday. Both contracts are five-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity agreements that will begin immediately.
SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT CORP., Stratford, Conn., won a $14.6 million fixed-price U.S. Navy contract for services supporting the Special Progressive Aircraft Rework associated with the VH-3D and VH-60 Presidential helicopters, the Pentagon said Friday. It said work will be carried out at the company's Stratford, Conn., facilities, and is expected to be completed by September 2001. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract was awarded by Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md.
A National Reconnaissance Office data relay spacecraft is enroute to geosynchronous orbit following a Dec. 5 launch from Cape Canaveral on an International Launch Services (ILS) Atlas IIAS. The Atlas-Centaur with four solid rocket strap-on boosters lifted off from Launch Complex 36A at 9:47 p.m. EST. It placed the Boeing spacecraft into an initial 20,241 x 146 n.m. transfer orbit inclined 26.5 degrees. The satellite is using its own propulsion system to climb to geosynchronous orbit.
The first Russian RD-180 engine destined to power Lockheed Martin's new Atlas V booster on its inaugural flight has been delivered to the company's Denver facility and will be installed in January.
Rep. Julian Dixon (D-Calif.), ranking Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and a member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, died Friday of an apparent heart attack in Los Angeles. He was 66. House colleagues praised Dixon, an Army veteran, as a quiet but hard-working and effective lawmaker who was dedicated to national security issues and looked out for his congressional district's defense and aerospace industrial base.
