Rolls-Royce won a 12-year contract, worth about $74.8 million, from the U.K. Ministry of Defense to support the Spey 250/251 engine for the Royal Air Force's fleet of Nimrod maritime reconnaissance aircraft. "This is the first time we have taken on total support of an existing project through the end of its operational life," said Derek Wilding, VP U.K. MOD Support for the company. "It builds on the Rolls-Royce philosophy of providing customers with total support solutions for their products."
Deputy Secretary of Defense Rudy de Leon stressed the importance of maintaining the industrial base with the Joint Strike Fighter contract award, since it has the potential for $200 billion in production contracts.
Lockheed Martin has formed an alliance with networking giant Cisco Systems under which Lockheed Martin will integrate Cisco's commercial technology into proposals for government bids. "This alliance is a win-win for both companies and the U.S.
The U.S. Navy's Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) missile was cleared for full-rate production Friday. Dr. Lee Buchanan, Assistant Secretary of the Navy (research, development, and acquisition) signed the Acquisition Decision Memorandum following a May 22 declaration by the Defense Dept.'s Director Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) that the air-launched missile has been tested and is "operationally suitable and operationally effective."
India's Ministry of Defense and Russia's Aviaexport signed a contract May 26 for delivery of 40 Mi-17-1V helicopters to India within 13 months. The cargo helicopters are to be converted to a military transport version under another contract with the Russia Promexport Federal Enterprise. The two contracts are worth a total of $170 million. Vladimir Dulin, deputy director of Vertolet/Aviaexport, said the Mi-17-1V is a special variant of the standard Mi-17 with enhanced capabilities to operate from high-altitude airfields in hot weather.
A sea-based national missile defense component is a possibility but due to certain constraints, it is currently unlikely and the Defense Dept. remains focused on a land-based system, the Pentagon's chief spokesman said yesterday. "We have always realized that there is a possibility that there could be a sea-based supplement to, or element in, the national missile defense system," Ken Bacon said. "We haven't decided that there will be, but it's always been a possibility."
Ericsson Saab Avionics AB received an order for over $6 million from Saab AB in Linkoping, Sweden, for electronic units to update batch 1 and 2 JAS 39 Gripen fighters, about 140 planes. Ericsson Saab's General System Electronic Control Unit (GECU) controls and monitors the air, hydraulic and fuel systems and will replace three individual units currently used in batches 1 and 2. Deliveries are slated to begin in 2002. Ericsson Saab Avionics is owned jointly by Ericsson and Saab.
Raytheon Systems, Sensors and Electronics Division, Goleta, Calif., is being awarded a $10,931,317 firm-fixed-price-order for spares and repair support of the AN/ALR-67(V)3 radar warning receiver for F/A-18 aircraft. The nine spares being purchased include countermeasure receivers, quadrant receivers, and integrated antenna groups. Work will be performed in Goleta, Calif., and is expected to be completed by June 2002. Contract funds in the amount of $2,475,984 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured.
The Boeing Company, Canoga Park, Calif., is being awarded a $16,000,000 (maximum) cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide for the Laser Analysis and Testing for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Hybrid Applications program. This program comprises research, development, and demonstration through May 2004 of advanced laser and electro-optical technologies that are applicable to Air Force and Department of Defense programs.
The European Commission is launching a full-scale, month-long investigation of Boeing Co.'s proposed acquisition of Hughes Electronics, saying the deal would create or strengthen a dominant position in launch vehicle and satellite markets.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Sanders, a Lockheed Martin Co., Countermeasure Division, Nashua, N.H., is being awarded a firm-fixed-price, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract, with an estimated cumulative total of $28,076,727 if all options are exercised. An appropriation number and dollar value will be issued with each delivery order. The contractor will provide various spares for an estimated 6,366 AN/ALQ-144A(V) and AN/ALQ-144 Countermeasures Sets, over a five-year period. Work will be performed in Nashua, N.H., and is expected to be completed by May 25, 2005.
COLSA Corp., Huntsville, Ala., is being awarded $6,667,576 cost-plus-firm-fixed-fee contract for research and development support for (1) a real-time digital signal processor and associated software that will generate simulated ballistic missiles radar echoes for the AN/SPY-1 radar and (2) Theater Ballistic Missiles Defense (TBMD) Block 1 program risk reduction activities.
Boeing has begun preliminary wind tunnel testing of scale models of 717-100X and 717-100X "Lite" aircraft. The proposed new smaller 717 versions would be sized at 86- and 70/75-passengers, respectively.
Orbital Sciences Corp., Greenbelt, Md., is being awarded a $15,948,972 cost-plus-fixed-fee, term contract for prototype spacecraft research and development. The contract is for a wide range of prototype spacecraft system and subsystem research, analyses, prototype development, integration, test, operation, data processing/documentation, and the associated logistical, administrative, management and support activities. This contract includes options, which if exercised, would bring the total cumulative contract value not to exceed $83,165,540.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Tex., is being awarded a $7,441,648 modification to a cost-plus-incentive-fee contract to extend by fifteen months the engineering and manufacturing (EMD) phase of the Common Configuration Implementation Program (CCIP) supporting the F-16 aircraft. This effort also incorporated into the CCIP hardware designs associated with High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) Targeting System improvements and ensures Radio Frequency compatibility of the Link 16 datalink with F-16 on-board systems. Expected contract completion date is March 31, 2003.
NASA INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED CONCEPTS (NIAC) will meet June 6-7 at Goddard Space Flight Center, Md., to hear reports on 27 different studies. NIAC is a "virtual institute" that distributes advanced-concept funds (DAILY, Sept. 30, 1999).
Space Shuttle processing crews at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., will begin processing the Shuttle Atlantis for an early September return to the International Space Station, left in "pristine" condition after the mission that ended early Monday. Atlantis touched down on KSC's runway 15 at 2:20 a.m. EDT Monday, after almost 10 days in orbit. Five of those days were spent docked to the International Station in the first half of a mission that was split because it has taken Russia so long to get its critical Zvezda Service Module off the ground.
PRATT&WHITNEY was picked by the Republic of Korea Air Force to supply F100-PW-229 engines for 20 more F-16 fighter aircraft. The new deal extends Pratt&Whitney's long-standing partnership with the Korean Air Force, said Steve Finger, president of P&W's Military Engines. Samsung Techwin Co. will manufacture the engines under an existing license production agreement with Pratt&Whitney. In addition to assembly, Samsung will be responsible for 40% of the engine production and Pratt&Whitney will be responsible for 60%.
The Joint Vision 2020 document, released yesterday by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Henry H. Shelton, describes ways the U.S. military can leverage its technology and people "to achieve new levels of effectiveness in joint warfighting." The document, released over the Internet but not expected to be printed for several weeks, expands upon Joint Vision 2010 to forecast how the military must continue to be transformed in the new millennium.
BACAU, Romania -- Initial flight development of the upgraded Romanian air force MiG-29 "Sniper" demonstrator prototype, which first flew on May 5 (DAILY, May 11), was completed on May 26 after only 15 sorties.
Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $5,265,004 firm-fixed-price contract for 1,050 Generation-1 retrofit of TOW 2B missiles. Work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz., and is expected to be completed by Aug. 30, 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This is a sole source contract initiated on Oct. 25, 1999. The U.S. Army Aviation&Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (DAAH01-00-C-0075).
McDonnell Douglas Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company, St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded an $8,970,000 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-99-C-1226 for long lead funding for the FY '01 procurement of 42 F/A-18E/F aircraft. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Mo. (60%) and El Segundo, Calif. (40%), and is expected to be completed by September 2002. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
