When the fiscal 2001 defense appropriations and authorization bills head to their respective House-Senate conference committees later this year, one of the many issues lawmakers will have to resolve is funding for the Navy's E-2C Hawkeye.
The House and Senate defense committees are taking different approaches on the Discoverer II spaced-based radar demonstration project in their fiscal 2001 authorization and appropriations bills. While the House and Senate Armed Services Committees and the Senate Appropriations Committee have approved President Clinton's $130 million request, the House Appropriations Committee reduced the Discoverer II budget to zero.
Turkey once again disappointed defense contractors by delaying its long-expected attack helicopter decision. On Friday, Turkey's Defense Industry Executive Committee, after meeting for two hours, said the $4 billion decision to produce 145 helicopters has been delayed for another month. Turkey's prime minister, top general and defense minister also noted that technical criteria for the contestants were found unsatisfactory.
McDonnell Douglas Corp., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $98,758,455 option to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for 25 kits to upgrade the APG-63(V)1 radar system applicable to the F-15 aircraft. Expected contract completion date is Dec. 31, 2002. Solicitation issue date was May 14, 1998. Negotiation completion date was June 24, 1999. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-98-C-0012-P00004).
BFGoodrich Aerostructures Group of Chula Vista, Calif., won a long-term contract, estimated at $300 million, from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Corp. to serve as the pylon systems supplier for the C-5 Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining Program (RERP).
NASA's Compton Gamma Ray Observatory ended its nine-year career early Sunday when as much as 12,000 pounds of the 33,000-pound spacecraft splashed into the Pacific after a controlled reentry monitored by a U.S. Air Force Cobra Ball missile-tracking aircraft.
The three major fiscal year 2001 defense bills that Congress may debate this week, along with a fourth bill passed by the House in May, contain many differences that will have to be resolved in conference committees. They also contain many similarities. The House, which passed its defense authorization bill last month, is scheduled to take up its defense appropriations bill as early as Wednesday.
Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics and Surveillance Systems, St. Paul, Minn., is being awarded a $6,975,556 firm-fixed price contract for the procurement of 17 AN/AYK-23 data processing sets for the S-3B aircraft. Work will be performed in Eagan, Minn., and is expected to be completed by November 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity (N00019-00-C-0119).
ARMED SERVICES CHAIRMEN from the House and Senate named 11 individuals to the U.S. National Security Space Management and Organization Commission: Donald Rumsfeld, former defense secretary, chair; Duane P. Andrews, SAIC; Robert V. Davis, R.V. Davis and Associates; Gen. Howell T. Estes III, USAF (Ret.); Gen. Ronald R. Fogleman, USAF, (Ret.); Lt. Gen. Jay M. Garner, USAF (Ret.), SY Technology, Inc.; William R. Graham, former White House science adviser; Gen. Charles A. Horner, USAF, (Ret.); Gen. Thomas S.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., is being awarded a $30,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for CH-60S Helicopter Airborne Mine Counter Measures development and test support. Work will be performed in Stratford, Conn., and is expected to be completed in May 2005. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured.
From a virtual standing start in the early 1990s, GE Aircraft Engines' fast-growing nontraditional engine aftermarket business -- efforts ranging from fleet management to on-wing support -- now contributes nearly a third of the $5.5 billion GE Engine Services (GEES) generates for parent GEAE. It's growing 20% a year, says VP Lorraine Bolsinger, who heads GEES' Products Management unit, "and it's going to stay that way." Bolsinger briefed reporters visiting GE facilities here yesterday.
Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $53,987,784 firm-fixed-price contract for 153 TOW 2B missiles, 1,123 TOW 2A missiles, and 704 TOW 2A practice missiles, for the countries of Korea, Japan, Jordan, Argentina, and Bahrain. Work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz., and is expected to be completed by Nov. 30, 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract. The U.S. Army Aviation&Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (DAAH01-00-C-0047).
Lockheed Martin Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif., is being awarded a $98,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to create a teaming arrangement consisting of Lockheed Martin; TRW Inc., Redondo Beach, Calif.; and Hughes Space and Communications Co., El Segundo, Calif. This action enables the contract team to perform the system definition phase of the advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite communication system.
Fenn Manufacturing Co., a Division of United Dominion Industries, Newington, Conn., is being awarded a $5,746,884 definitization as part of a $19,142,884 firm-fixed-price contract, adding new work for AH-64 Apache helicopters. Work will be performed in Newington, Conn., and is expected to be completed by July 10, 2005. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on Jan. 7, 2000. The U.S. Army Aviation&Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (DAAH23-00-C-0090).
The U.S. Army's Shadow 200 Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TUAV) is set to begin flight testing this week at the service's Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. AAI Corp., a subsidiary of United Industrial Corp. and maker of the Shadow 200, signed a memorandum of understanding with Aberdeen officials allowing for Shadow 200 UAV flight-testing at the center. This will involve the service in the safety testing of the UAV during its development.
Boeing Co. won an $8.2 million foreign military sale (FMS) contract from the U.S. Air Force to integrate the Joint Direct Attack Munition on Israel's F-16 Peace Marble II and III jets, marking the first international JDAM sale. Boeing will deliver and integrate JDAM test kits for Mk. 84 2,000-pound warheads on the F-16 and expects a production contract for JDAM kits later this year. The JDAM program is currently in low-rate initial production, with orders for around 16,000 kits from the U.S. government so far.
BEYOND VIEQUES: The U.S. military continues to face "encroachment" problems at many training bases and ranges, challenging its ability to conduct exercises and ultimately affecting readiness, a defense official says. "It is a critical issue," says the official, who requested anonymity. Urban development, tightening of air corridors, highway construction, environmental issues and noise abatement procedures continue to affect such bases as California's Camp Pendleton and Nevada's Nellis AFB and NAS Fallon.
GORED OX: Art Stephenson, director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, isn't going to take a congressional cut to the agency's advanced space transportation research funds lying down. After the House Appropriations VA, HUD and independent agencies cuts $290 million from second-generation reusable launch vehicle work managed at MSFC (DAILY, May 24), Stephenson takes the unusual step of issuing a statement expressing his "great disappointment" at the subcommittee's action.
PUTTING TEETH INTO ESDI: The European Union is trying to bolster the European Security Defense Initiative and transform the fragmented European defense industry. But will it work? Market demand is down, exports are down, and the defense workforce has shrunk. An EC representative says the key to reform is real cross-border cooperation that eliminates national organizations and identities. He warns that the European defense base won't survive unless there is more consolidation.
The Airborne Laser (ABL) theater ballistic missile defense program took delivery of two prototype fast-steering mirrors at Lockheed Martin Space Systems facility in Sunnyvale, Calif. ABL, a modified Boeing 747-400 freighter carrying a high energy chemical oxygen iodine laser that is designed to destroy missiles in their boost phase, is facing budget problems since the Air Force cut the fiscal year 2001 request by more than $92 million (DAILY, Feb. 23).
The Pentagon addressed President Clinton's remarks last week on sharing national missile defense technology with allies, acknowledging only that discussions with European allies are underway. Pentagon Spokesman Ken Bacon said the U.S. is in a "security dialogue" that involves missile defense with allies, but in terms of specifics, it has primarily concerned theater missile defense. "What we have discussed with them in very specific terms," he continued, "is theater missile defense." Bacon told reporters the U.S.
SPACE CORPS? One option to be assessed by the newly formed Commission to Assess U.S. National Security Space Management and Organization -- also known as the "Space Commission" -- will be formation of a separate space force, or a space corps within the U.S. Air Force. The group, whose formation was prompted by Sen. Bob Smith (R-N.H.) to consider the future of U.S. military space, will be chaired by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. It was formally launched late last month.
CONGRESS RETURNS: Congress returns this week from its Memorial Day recess, and that could mean lots of action on defense legislation. The House defense appropriations bill for fiscal 2001 is scheduled to go to the House floor this week, though a busy legislative agenda could delay the full chamber's consideration of the spending measure, sources said. The House Rules Committee plans to meet Tuesday to consider the rules for debate. The House Appropriations Committee approved the $288.5-billion measure last month (DAILY May 26).
