Allied Signal Inc., Tempe, Ariz., is being awarded a $62,100,000 firm-fixed-price contract, F41608-99-D-0544, to provide for FY2000-2004 repair services for the Airframe Mounted Accessory Drive applicable to the F-15 aircraft. There were five firms solicited and two proposals received. Solicitation issue date was March 26, 1999. Negotiation completion date was Sept. 3, 1999. San Antonio Air Logistics Center, Kelly AFB, Texas, is the contracting activity.
NASA'S Perseus B remotely piloted long-duration research aircraft crashed onto Interstate 40 near Barstow, Calif., "moderately" damaging the propeller-driven instrument platform built by Aurora Flight Sciences Inc. of Manassas, Va. No payloads were aboard at the time of the accident on Friday, NASA said. The crash into the highway's westbound lane came after the craft had been aloft for about two hours and 15 minutes, under "guidance" mission controllers from Aurora. There was no damage or injury on the ground.
General Electric Co., Lynn, Mass., is being awarded a $6,544,227 firm-fixed-price delivery order contract for eleven 701C engine installs for Apache program managers. Work will be performed in Lynn, Mass., 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 June 20, 1997. The U.S. Army Aviation&Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (DAAJ09-97-D-0196).
Northrop Grumman Corp., El Segundo, Calif., is being awarded a $5,239,776 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, F33615-99-C-3613, to provide for the Software Enabled Control for the Autonomous Multivehicle Control System program. This effort will develop and demonstrate the software required to implement a cooperative heterogeneous swarm of manned and autonomous unmanned combat vehicles. This was a Broad Agency Announcement, there were 34 proposals received. Expected contract completion date is Feb. 4, 2004. Solicitation issue date was Nov. 4, 1998.
GE American Communications Inc. has reached an agreement in principle to buy Columbia Communications Corp., which would give GE Americom a global reach, the GE Capital subsidiary announced yesterday. The acquisition, which must be approved by the FCC, would allow GE Americom to link its satellites serving North America, Europe and the Middle East with other markets. Columbia has three satellites that carry television programming, data, Internet service and telephony among Africa, Asia, Europe and North and South America.
The Pentagon, in the first intercept test for its national missile defense (NMD) program, demonstrated on Saturday the ability of hit-to-kill technology to work at the speeds and ranges of attacking intercontinental missiles. The $100 million test was a major milestone in the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's quest to confirm the promise of hit-to-kill in the exoatmosphere, and was representative of the techniques needed to defeat missiles launched at the U.S. from such rogue countries as Iran and North Korea.
Marconi Aerospace Systems Inc., Wayne, N.J., is being awarded a firm-fixed-price contract (appropriation number and dollar value will be issued with each delivery order), with a cumulative total of $39,836,558, for the upgrade and purchase of spare parts for the 1285 Doppler Navigation Radar System. Work will be performed in Wayne, N.J., and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2004. This is a sole source contract initiated on Nov. 24, 1998. The U.S. Army Communications&Electronics Command, Ft. Monmouth, N.J., is the contracting activity (DAAB07-99-D-B012).
CLARIFICATION: An article in The DAILY of Oct. 1 on VentureStar launch site selection stated VentureStar analysts have calculated half of the reusable rocket's market will come from geostationary payloads, with the remainder from payloads bound for the International Space Station or polar orbit. The remainder actually will come from a "fan" of launch azimuths from 40 to 98 degrees. Also, the launch-site request for proposals to be released when the X-33 rolls out will be a draft, and not a final RFP as stated in the story.
Northrop Grumman Corp., Electronic Sensors&System Sector, Rolling Meadows, Ill., is being awarded $17,717,532, as part of a not-to-exceed $17,988,594 firm-fixed-price and time-and-materials contract for the electronic upgrade and production of the AN/TPQ-36(V)6, for the countries of Turkey and Portugal. This system is a weapons locating radar that tracks mortar, artillery and rockets. It discriminates against non-weapons to provide a low false location rate in a cluttered battle environment. Work will be performed in Rolling Meadows, Ill. (55%), and Fleetville, Pa.
Honeywell Inc., Albuquerque, N.M., is being awarded a $7,533,194 firm-fixed-price contract, F42600-98-G-0002-sd06, to provide for 32 Vertical Display Units applicable to the B-1 aircraft. The unit displays flight data such as altitude, heading, and terrain information on a cathode ray tube. There was one firm solicited and one proposal received. Expected contract completion date is May 30, 2002. Solicitation issue date was May 24, 1999. Negotiation completion date was Sept. 16, 1999. Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Tinker AFB, Okla., is the contracting activity.
The Aug. 29 rupture of a 300-gallon tank of hydrogen peroxide at the TRW Airborne Laser (ABL) facility in San Celemente, Calif., will have no effect on the design, schedule or budget of the overall U.S. Air Force program, said Program Director Col. Michael W. Booen.
Raytheon Systems Co., Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $14,692,010 fixed-price contract for the fabrication of evolved SEASPARROW missile tooling and test equipment Phase #2. This contract combines support for the U.S. Navy (15.7%), the Royal Australian Navy (70%) and the Royal Danish Navy (14.3%) under the Foreign Military Sales Program. Work will be performed in Rocket Center, W.V (12.87%); Tucson, Ariz. (10.16%); Minneapolis, Minn.
Raytheon Systems Co., Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence Data Systems, St. Petersburg, Fla., are being awarded a not-to-exceed $25,560,797 letter contract on a fixed-price-incentive basis for cooperative engagement capability (CEC) low rate initial production effort consisting of seven shipboard cooperative engagement processing system (USG-2) units, spares, installation and checkout spares, data and one stand alone cooperative engagement processing set.
BOEING delivered 142 commercial aircraft in the 1999 third quarter, bringing its total for the year to 455. The 737 Next Generation airliner led the way with 68 deliveries in the quarter, followed by 16 777s, 15 757s and 12 747s. Boeing also delivered nine 737 Classics and nine MD-80s, with six of the MD-80s delivered under operating leases. The company delivered eight 767s, plus one under an operating lease, three MD-11s and two 717s, both under an operating lease. Boeing also delivered six F-15s, six F/A-18C/Ds and three C-17s.
The U.S. Air Force is expected to decide in the next few weeks whether to spend up to $1 billion for a new Milstar satellite to replace one that was launched into the wrong orbit. A Lockheed Martin/TRW/Hughes team has given the service several proposals for providing a replacement, ranging from $500 million to $1 billion. The Office of the Secretary of Defense is reviewing the options in preparation for the FY 2001 budget decisions, industry officials reported.
AlliedSignal Inc. and Honeywell Inc. will sell parts of their respective avionics businesses in order for the U.S. Dept. of Justice (DOJ) to allow their merger, the companies reported yesterday.
The U.S. Air Force has not developed a datalink that will transmit information from a new radar slated for the Joint STARS aircraft to the Army's Common Ground Station (CGS), and the issue is expected to be a major topic when the Defense Acquisition Board meets at the Pentagon later this month to review the CGS, according to Army Col. James Young, CGS program manager.
While efforts to develop new international airliner noise standards through ICAO are "progressing along the right track...an enormous amount of work remains to be done," the European Commission said last week. The EC is looking to the U.S. to exhibit the "sincerity" of its commitment to stricter standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization, according to an EC spokeswoman.
Lockheed Martin Tactical Defense Systems, Akron, Ohio, is being awarded a $13,483,568 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, F44650-99-D0009, to provide for upgrade of the Fixed Site Mooring System supporting the Tethered Aerostat Radar System. Further funds will be obligated as individual delivery orders are issued. Expected contract completion date is Sept. 30, 2005. Solicitation issue date was April 16, 1999. Negotiation completion date was Sept. 21, 1999. Air Combat Command Contracting Squadron, Langley AFB, Va., is the contracting activity.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory managers struggling to make ends meet in a "faster-better-cheaper" environment have not been proactive enough in their oversight of Lockheed Martin Astronautics and other spacecraft contractors to prevent costly mistakes, including the recent loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter, NASA's inspector general's office reported.
GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS: Information technology will be a big advantage in future wars, but it also could be feeding the idea that future conflicts should involve near-zero casualty rates, says Michael Kush, chair of the defense team for the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association. "This has a potentially profound impact on the way we fight wars," he says. Another issue is the possibility that the U.S. could lag behind less developed countries in the use of IT.
Boeing confirmed that Delta Airlines has placed a firm order for 18 more 737-800s as part of its plan to accelerate replacement of its 727 fleet, the last of which are to leave in 2005. Boeing said the announcement is a result of orders placed by Delta during the past three months.
DON'T STOP WORK: Boeing will be able to work on the National Reconnaissance Office's next generation of imaging spy satellites while the General Accounting Office reviews Lockheed Martin's protest of the contract. The NRO cited an "urgent and compelling need" for the Future Imagery Architecture (FIA) contract it awarded Boeing (DAILY, Sept. 8, 9) to block a stop-work order stemming from the protest. Filed Sept. 22, the protest is a last-ditch effort by Lockheed Martin to retain a role supplying the nation's imaging reconnaissance satellites.
BUY MOSTLY AMERICAN: The U.S. Army spends $350 million a year on night vision goggles, which it has always bought from U.S. suppliers, but this year it used foreign comparative testing to qualify Sofradir of France as a supplier of FLIR systems, according to Maj. Gen. David Gust, program executive officer for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors. The Army split its 1999 order, with 40% going to DRS, 40% to Raytheon and 20% to Sofradir.
