Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded an $8,893,875 cost-plus-fixed-fee, delivery order against a basic ordering agreement for the development, procurement, and demonstration of a flight-worthy multifunctional information distribution compatible transponder for the F/A-18E/F aircraft. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Mo., and is expected to be completed by December 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured.
From Commerce Business Daily: Posted in CBDNet on August 5, 1999; Printed Issue Date: August 9, 1999 ... PART: U.S. GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENTS SUBPART: SUPPLIES, EQUIPMENT AND MATERIAL CLASSCOD: 58-Communication, Detection, and Coherent Radiation Equipment-Potential Sources Sought OFFADD: U.S. Army CECOM, CECOM Acquisition Center, Fort Monmouth, NJ 07703-5008 ... SOL DAAB07-99-R-A758; DUE 082099; POC Suzanne Anderson, Contracting Officer, 732-532-5486
The U.S. Air Force has chosen four companies to compete for a $400 million integration contract for the service's Distributed Mission Training initiative meant to connect flight simulators from AF bases worldwide and allow pilots to train together via virtual missions. CACI, CSC, SAIC and TRW made the cut and were awarded contracts to integrate geographically separated simulators into a real time common synthetic battlefield.
Lockheed Martin Tactical Defense Systems, Archbald, Pa., is being awarded a $21,998,250 firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of 8,593 Laser Guided Training Rounds, a low cost round that simulates the guidance and flight characteristics of the Paveway II and III laser guided bomb. Work will be performed in Archbald, Pa., and is expected to be completed by August 2000. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured by electronic request for proposal with 11 proposals solicited and one offer received.
Boeing North American, Inc., Anaheim, Calif., is being awarded a $5,054,245 modification to a cost-plus-award-fee contract, F04704-93-C-0020-P00098, to provide for the Period II (October 1998 - May 1999) award fee for performance of the low rate initial production effort in support of the Guidance Replacement Program for the Minuteman III missile. Expected contract completion date is Aug. 31, 2001. Negotiation completion date was July 28, 1999. Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity.
AAI Engineering Support, Inc., Hunt Valley, Md., is being awarded an $18,622,634 modification to a cost-plus-award-fee contract, F33657-97-C-2009-P00023, to provide for trainer enhancements, concurrency modifications, and system engineering and program management for the maintenance training system supporting the C-17 aircraft. Expected contract completion date is Sept. 20, 2002. Negotiation completion date was July 28, 1999. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity.
L-1011 FIX: Engineers have developed a fix for Orbital's L-1011 that they believe will prevent the buffeting that curtailed the first X-34 captive carry test. Winds off the low-wing mockup bolted beneath the carrier aircraft's fuselage set up vibrations in some belly panels just aft of the mockup that was severe enough to rip out some fasteners. To fix it the panel attachments will be beefed up, and two long strakes will be added over them to break up the turbulence from the X-34 wings that was believed to have caused the problem.
Engineers at Pratt&Whitney believe they have found a way to inspect and strengthen combustion chambers on the company's venerable RL-10 rocket engines that could clear at least some of the engines for flight before the end of the month.
IN WITH THE OLD: The U.S. Navy's fleet of aircraft will look much the same for the next 50 years, according to Rear Adm. Jim Robb, who heads aviation plans and requirements for the service. He says a trademark of the Navy aviation master plan is open architectures that allow "rotating of systems through well maintained airframes."
ELVIE LAWRENCE SMITH, former chairman and chief executive officer of Pratt&Whitney Canada, died of cancer on Aug. 4. He was 74. Smith joined Pratt&Whtney Canada in 1957 and was a key member of the initial team assembled by the company to begin gas turbine design and development. He was named president and chief executive officer of Pratt&Whitney Canada in 1980 and chairman and CEO in 1984. He retired in 1987 but remained chairman until 1984.
NASA CUTS: The House will consider the fiscal year 2000 NASA authorization bill when Congress returns from its month-long recess after Labor Day. That will give NASA and its supporters more time to convince lawmakers to restore the nearly $1 billion in cuts they made to the White House request. The House intended to wrap up work on the bill before the start of the recess last week, but ran out of time.
'PEACE OFFERING': The latest European consolidation rumors focus on a possible combined British Aerospace/DASA offer for Italy's Alenia, and if such a deal were to take place, it could signal a "peace offering" between BAe and DASA, according to Jon Kutler, head of Quarterdeck Investment Partners. "Ever since the BAe/GEC deal, which did not make many friends in Germany, a battle for defense contractor leadership in Europe has been waged," he says.
Six major U.S. airlines and the Defense Dept. signed an agreement under which the airlines will check the safety practices of foreign code-share partners who help them fly Pentagon personnel. While most of the U.S. majors already conduct routine maintenance audits of their foreign code-share partners, airline officials said the memorandum of understanding signed last Thursday will create a uniform standard to "ensure the safety" of foreign airlines that do not fly to the U.S.
CURTISS-WRIGHT CORP. announced a settlement of $7.2 million in litigation against an insurance carrier to recover environmental remediation costs. The litigation relating to environmental costs has been pending for a number of years. Claims against one insurance carrier were resolved in late 1998, and this settlement was reached with another carrier. While the litigation will continue against other insurers, Curtiss-Wright considers that the greater part of its claims has been resolved.
INTERNET PAYOFF: For aerospace companies, the payoff for the Internet will come in integrating large supply chains, says Oracle's Mark Atherton, director of marketing and business development for aviation, aerospace and defense.
The U.S. Navy and Textron Bell Helicopter have completed about 98% of the design work for the AH-1Z Super Cobra and UH-1Y Huey upgrades, and cost estimates indicate that the program will stay within its $3 billion budget, according to Navy Capt. Tom Curtis, the program manager. The U.S. Marine Corps and Bell were unable to reuse as much of the older H-1 airframes as they had predicted. Only two small side doors and the rear engine cover will remain with the UH-1 and AH-1 models when they become AH-1Z and UH-1Y aircraft.
LARRY IRVING, assistant secretary of Commerce for telecommunications and information and the head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), will leave the Dept. of Commerce at the end of the summer. He will be replaced by Gregory Rohde who worked on telecommunications issues as legislative aid to Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.). Rohde was chief policy advisor to Dorgan on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which addresses technology and telecommunications issues.
Air Force, Navy and Army technicians and managers modernizing the computer system that generates the overall U.S. strategic warfighting plan expect to save $7 million to $15 million by moving the system off a mainframe into a client-server network.
Boeing plans a 36,000-square-foot addition to its Delta rocket integration facility in Pueblo, Colo., to accommodate work on the new Delta IV vehicle. Working with $1.5 million in incentives from the city of Pueblo, the company plans to start work next month on the new building and related site improvements, with completion set for March 2000. In exchange for the city money, the company has agreed to employ an additional 150 full-time workers for five years beginning in August 2000, up from its current level of about 380.
X-34 UPGRADE: NASA and Orbital Sciences Corp. are discussing modifications to the X-34 mockup being used for captive-carry tests of the reusable launch vehicle technology testbed so it could handle drop tests as well. Orbital is building three X-34s - the A-1 mockup now attached to the bottom of its L-1011 carrier aircraft, and powered A2 and A3 vehicles.
DSP LAUNCH: The U.S. Air Force's newest Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite, declared a loss after a Boeing-built Inertial Upper Stage left it in the wrong orbit following a Titan IVB launch in April, is out of reach for a Shuttle rescue. The IUS failure left the DSP in a "highly elliptical orbit" that couldn't be corrected with on-board resources (DAILY, April 13, 27). But NASA may get the nod to launch a replacement.
