ARMY Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, Kongsberg, Norway, was awarded an $85,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the modification of an existing contract to procure spare parts and services in support of the common remotely operated weapon station. The work will be performed in Johnstown, Pa., with an estimated completion date of May 31, 2013. The bid was solicited through the Internet, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Picatinny Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W15QKN-07-D-0018).
ARMY Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn., was awarded a $2,827,576,695 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the procurement, as well as support services and technical data, of up to 916 UH/MH-60 Helicopters for the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and Foreign Military Sales. The work will be performed in Stratford, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2016. The bid was solicited through the Internet, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-12-C-0008).
Improvements being made to U.S. Navy vessels in Mayport, Fla., will help pave the way for basing a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier there, says Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations (CNO). A carrier move to Mayport has been a political hot potato for some time. Virginia lawmakers, for example, have battled against moving a carrier’s home port from their state. The Navy blunted some of the criticism in this year’s fiscal 2013 budget request by delaying funding for the move.
LONDON — The European Space Agency is emulating the emphasis on collaboration with the private sector adopted by the U.K. Space Agency that was stood up last year. Britain has long been a second-tier player to ESA relative to its economic strength in Europe. U.K. contributions to ESA programs lag far behind those of France, Germany and Italy. For a time it looked like Britain might fall behind Spain in funding European space.
FARNBOROUGH — Republican Gov. Sam Brownback of Kansas, who leads a state long known for its aerospace presence, is hoping for a rebound after Boeing’s recent departure from the state.
FINMEC FOOTPRINT: Finmeccanica will restructure and streamline its U.S. defense activities by early 2013, according to Bill Lynn, chairman and CEO of DRS Technologies. In the new structure, DRS Technologies, Finmeccanica’s biggest U.S. acquisition, and the U.S. operations of AgustaWestland, Alenia and Selex will become units of a new organization, covered by a single, special security agreement and supervised by the same proxy board. Lynn says that the previous structure was too complex and required multiple support organizations.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) JULY 16 — 24th Annual Greater Washington Aviation Open, "the regions largest Aviation Golf Charity," Lansdown Golf Resort near Leesburg, Va. For more information contact [email protected] or go to www.gwao.org JULY 26 - 28 — NewSpace 2012, "The Space Frontier Foundation's Annual Conference," Moffett Field, Calif. For more information go to spacefrontier.org/ns12registration/
France carried out its first full test firing of the MdCN (missile de croisiere naval) equipped with an infrared seeker at the Biscarrosse test range in southwestern France July 9, simulating full-up engagement of the MBDA-built naval cruise missile in a frigate configuration.
Deal would leave the defense business — which in recent years has been Hawker Beechcraft’s most lucrative — as either a standalone operation or to be sold separately.
The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are expected to out-spend each of their sister services roughly two-to-one on Electronic Warfare (EW) programs during the next decade. In a 10-year period starting in fiscal 2008 and ending fiscal 2017 the Navy and Marines have spent or are slated to spend a cumulative total of about $21.9 billion, based on a database provided by Avascent’s 050, an online market analysis toolkit for global defense programs.
Not only are Brazil and other countries interested in F-18s, but foreign militaries also are eyeing some of the console improvements being featured on the latest proposed Super Hornets.
FARNBOROUGH — With politicians not even close to a deal that would avert an automatic $1 trillion reduction in government spending at the start of next year — about half of that targeted at the Pentagon — state and local officials are aggressively courting the commercial aircraft and supply chain business, where the outlook is much brighter.
A U.S. Navy team tested communication software for the Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) program aboard the aircraft carrier CVN-75 USS Harry S. Truman this month during its sea trials. The UCAS-D program, based at Naval Air Systems Command (Navair) at NAS Patuxent River, Md., is designed to demonstrate the ability of the unmanned, autonomous X-47B UAV to launch from and land safely on an aircraft carrier.
Excalibur Almaz, a human-spaceflight startup based on the Isle of Man that has purchased surplus Soviet-era hardware, plans to position one of its two Almaz 20-ton space stations at the Earth-Moon L2 lagrangian point for commercial operations. In a July 12 announcement, the company said it will refurbish the Almaz with up-to-date life support and other internal hardware, and use Hall thrusters to position it in a halo orbit at L2. The estimated 90-day trip could come as early as 2015, according to Art Dula, the company’s founder.
GRIPEN PARTNERSHIP: Collaboration between Sweden and Switzerland on the new JAS 39E/F version of the Saab Gripen fighter is expected to firm up in August with the signature of a framework agreement between Swiss defense procurement agency Armasuisse and Sweden’s defense export organization. That follows the signature of a ministerial-level letter of intent in Switzerland on June 29. On the same day, Saab hosted a business-to-business meeting to start the process of placing offset work in Switzerland, in advance of a formal development contract that is expected in 2014.
The crewed version of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft has completed primary and secondary safety and operational design review requirements outlined under the company’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Round 2 agreement with NASA, the space agency and Hawthorne, Calif.-based commercial space transportation company announced July 12. The milestone completes nine of 10 requirements spelled out in NASA’s $75 million April 2011 agreement with SpaceX to focus development on an integrated launch abort system.
FARNBOROUGH — Alenia Aermacchi and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) are planning to begin testing the first MC-27J multimission C-27J airlifter — outfitted with a 30mm cannon for the gunship role — this fall. The test campaign comes as the manufacturer works to carve out more market share for the tactical airlifter in the wake of a U.S. Air Force decision earlier this year to walk away from it and shelve brand new hardware owing to budget pressure.
