Raytheon Systems Co., Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded an $11,249,015 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-99-C-5375 for production engineering and technical services to support the STANDARD Missile Program, including design, systems support, shipboard integration, and test equipment support. Work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz., and is expected to be completed by September 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity.
The U.K.'s British Telecom has won a five-year, $10.8 million contract from the U.S. Dept. of Defense for management and maintenance of satellite gateway services. The contract includes terrestrial leased circuits for U.S. Navy ships operating on satellites in the Indian Ocean.
Despite an impending budget cut in the U.S. Air Force's Airborne Laser (ABL) program, officials of the service said they will continue work on the program until told otherwise. The ABL team on Saturday flew the first aircraft set to carry the anti-missile laser, a modified 747-400, from Boeing facilities in Seattle to the company's plant in Wichita for 18 months of work to convert the commercial freighter into a weapons platform.
AeroThrust Corp., Celsius Aviation Services, Miami, Fla., is being awarded a $8,019,970 modification to previously awarded contract N68520-95-D-0002 for an additional six months of effort for engine depot maintenance of JT8D series engines for Navy/Air Force C-9 aircraft. Work will be performed in Miami, Fla., and is expected to be completed by July 2000. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
ViaSat Inc., Carlsbad, Calif., is being awarded a $11,723,311 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity letter sole-source contract for long lead materials and non-recurring engineering effort to support first article qualification and production of 27 multifunctional information distribution system (MIDS) low volume terminals (LVT). The MIDS-LVT provides secure, high capacity, jam resistant, digital data and voice communications capability for ship and air platforms.
DUCOMMUN INC., Los Angeles, said its AHF-Ducommun and Aerochem subsidiaries have signed follow-on contracts with Lockheed Martin to continue producing external and internal components and exterior skins for the Space Shuttle's external fuel tank.
Raytheon Systems Co., Naval and Maritime Integrated Systems, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $14,000,000 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-97-C-5466 to provide engineering support for the integration of the advanced combat direction system Block 1 with cooperative engagement capability baseline 2.0. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif., and is expected to be completed by September 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity.
Veridian Engineering Inc., Buffalo, N.Y., is being awarded an $11,157,000 (maximum) indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide for the Aperture and Receiver Development Laboratory program. This effort will develop, test, simulate, and analyze antenna, receiver and signal processing technology. This will include definition of signal sets and requirements to meet performance goals. Funds will be obligated as individual delivery orders are issued.
Lockheed Martin Tactical Defense Systems, Eagan, Minn., is being awarded a $25,821,274 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-99-C-1275 to exercise an option for the procurement of five P-3C anti-surface warfare improvement program (AIP) kits and the installation of five AIP kits purchased under the basic contract. Work will be performed in Greenville, S.C. (80%); and Eagan, Minn. (20%); and is expected to be completed by August 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Lockheed Martin Government Electronics Systems, Moorestown, N.J., is being awarded a $25,726,293 cost-reimbursable contract modification to previously awarded contract N00024-99-C-5122 for additional engineering and technical services to support and maintain operations at AEGIS shore sites and centers in Moorestown, N.J. This contract has a potential value of $183,942,766. This modification combines services for the U.S. Navy (80%), and the governments of Spain (15%) and Japan (5%) under the Foreign Military Sales Program.
The Defense Dept. is wasting close to $1 billion a year because of a backlog of security clearance requests, according to a lawmaker investigating the issue. Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), chair of the House Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs and International Relations, said yesterday he is holding an oversight hearing on Jan. 26 to examine the management challenges confronting the Pentagon's Defense Security Service (DSS).
FASTER, BETTER, WHAT?: NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin, credited on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue with boosting agency productivity with his "better-faster-cheaper" philosophy, has added a footnote in the wake of last year's loss of the two Mars '98 spacecraft -- both considered exemplars of the approach. He tells the space agency's senior staff they must place performance before cost in making program decisions.
Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems and Aerostructures sector said its Ryan Aeronautical Center has leased a facility in Rancho San Bernardo, Calif., to house its unmanned aerial vehicle business's management, engineering and system integration headquarters.
Jeff Sewell has joined the company as director of Management Information Systems (MIS). SIROCCO AEROSPACE INTERNATIONAL S.A.E., London Thomas J. Smith, former president of both Fairchild Aircraft and Mooney Aircraft, has been elected president and chief executive officer.
Donald Dombrowski has joined the company as manager, Airframe Programs. Kimberly C. Miller has joined the company as director, Regional Sales and Support.
Sherwood (Woody) Brown has joined the company as director, Information Systems. He will direct and be responsible for FlightSafety's Information Systems strategy, planning and management.
Engineers from International Launch Services (ILS) have accepted the findings of a Russian failure review panel convened to investigate the cause of last year's Proton launch failures, clearing the way for resumption of commercial space launches on the big Russian vehicle pending the outcome of a ground test of the hardware that failed.
The U.S. Air Force has signed a teaming agreement with Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems and Rockwell Collins Government Systems to upgrade more than 500 C-130 transport aircraft with new cockpit avionics, Lockheed Martin announced. Rockwell Collins currently has several modernization programs, including the KC-135, that use technology directly applicable to Lockheed Martin's C-130X. This latest agreement will provide commonality between the KC-135 global air traffic management (GATM) program and the C-130X, Lockheed Martin said.
Reinhard Schnabel has been appointed vice president/Europe of Hughes Space and Communications International Services Co., Stuttgart, Germany. He succeeds William Schnicke as the principal representative in Europe. Schnicke, who had been located in Brussels, is returning to HSC offices in El Segundo, Calif. to support new business campaigns.
NO SLOWING DOWN: Last week's failure of an exoatmospheric kill vehicle to hit a dummy warhead in a national missile defense test isn't slowing the program. The day after the test, EKV prime contractor Raytheon shipped another kill vehicle from its Tucson, Ariz., plant to Lockheed Martin's Sunnyvale, Calif., facility for integration into a payload launch vehicle for the next try in April or May. The Jan. 18 miss was attributed to failure of the EKV's infrared sensors.
Jeffrey M. Shapiro, senior financial executive, has been named president and general manager of Edwards&Associates, a Bell subsidiary in Bristol, Tenn.
