CBRNE CONSOLIDATION: The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command Contracting Center issued requests for proposals in late June for a $485 million effort to streamline the chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, explosive (CBRNE) defense development cycle. The total effort comprises two contract vehicles: the first is an unrestricted, so-called full-and-open competition, and the second a 100 percent small business set-aside, according to Center officials.
JCTD AWARDS: By July 27, all nominations are due for the Pentagon’s 2009 Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrations and Joint Capability Technology Demonstrations (AC/JCTD) annual awards. The U.S. awards will recognize managers and teams who “most demonstrate superior leadership and effectiveness.” In addition to the usual categories — Technical Manager, Operational Manager, Transition Manager and AC/JCTD Team — this year the assistant deputy undersecretary of defense has added one more award, for oversight executive.
DEFENDING FRANCE: The French Senate’s foreign affairs, defense and armed forces committee has adopted France’s 186 billion euro ($257 billion) five-year defense spending bill without changes. The bill, which includes 108 billion euros for new hardware procurement, had previously been cleared by the National Assembly. Entry into force now awaits only final approval by the full Senate on July 15.
A senior U.S. Air Force official says the service is “trying to level” the field of contractors competing for funding for various intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) contracts through a new approach to forming requirements and resourcing decisions.
Aerojet has completed assembly of a 5,500-pound-thrust liquid oxygen/liquid methane rocket engine, a propulsion technology under consideration as the way off the moon for future human explorers, and will begin testing it soon. The Sacramento, Calif.-based company said the engine will “provide valuable data that will validate the key design features necessary to extend the technology development of next-generation propulsion systems being developed by NASA.”
AIR FORCE McDonnell Douglas Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Boeing Company, Long Beach, Calif., is being awarded a $46,070,000 contract modification for the C-17 Globemaster III Sustainment Partnership contract to increase funding for FY07 Material Improvement Projects for the USAF. At this time, the entire amount has been obligated. MSW/516 AESG/PK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8614-04-C-2004). NAVY
RAPIDEYE PARTNERSHIP: MDA Federal, the U.S. subsidiary of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) of Canada, has been named a strategic partner for Germany’s wide-swath optical imaging RapidEye satellites. MDA Federal (formerly Earth Satellite Corp.) will have distribution rights for products and services in some U.S. government markets. MDA was prime contractor for the five-satellite RapidEye constellation, which was launched in August 2008 and became operational in February.
ARMED AERIAL SCOUT: The U.S. Army expects to be able to move forward in July with the Analysis of Alternatives (AOA) for what the service is now calling the Armed Aerial Scout. The so-called AAS is the new version of the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter, which the Pentagon canceled in October 2008 due to cost overruns and schedule delays. The Armed Scout requirements are making their way through a maze of joint and service oversight councils and will be informed by the AOA once it’s completed, which the Army has said could take up to two years.
The U.S. and Russia reached agreement July 6 on cuts to their nuclear arsenals and American military flights over Russian territory to Afghanistan, but still remain far apart on U.S. plans to base a ballistic missile shield in Eastern Europe. On the first day of a three-day summit in Moscow, U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed agreements calling for mutual cooperation on Afghanistan and nuclear nonproliferation.
Japan is considering adding the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system as a third layer to its ballistic-missile defenses, according to an official leak evidently prompted by North Korea’s July 4 tests of R-17 and Rodong rockets. Three or four installations of the Lockheed Martin THAAD system could cover all of Japan, says the Mainichi newspaper in an unattributed report presumed to be based on government-leaked information.
The U.S. Air Force is conducting a sweeping review of requirements for ground surveillance that could lead to major funding decisions in the next few budget cycles, according to senior service officials. At issue is how best to collect, process and disseminate ground moving target indications (GMTI), a specialized type of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) designed to track, and if necessary, target moving objects on the ground or at sea.
AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Corp., Liverpool, N.Y., is being award a $76,226,449 firm-fixed contract for a quantity of 17 AN/FPS 117 radar modification kits, site assessments and related training. At this time, $19,474,319 has been obligated. Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., is the contracting activity (FA8706-09-C-0001).
SAC CELEBRATION: The 12-nation Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) program will celebrate the activation of its operational unit, the Heavy Airlift Wing, and the arrival of the unit’s first Boeing C-17 Globemaster III aircraft at Pápa Air Base, Hungary, on July 27. The Wing’s role will be to fly forces and equipment and provide humanitarian relief in Europe and the surrounding region, including Afghanistan — which might be the first mission, according to a Pentagon representative.
Ad Astra Rocket Company has powered the first stage of its experimental Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (Vasimir) to spaceflight levels using a superconducting magnet to contain its superhot plasma.
LONDON The British Defense Ministry is beginning to map out the main elements of its requirement for mission training through distributed simulation (MTDS) capability for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The overall program value would be in excess of $1 billion.
The allure of counterinsurgency (COIN) weapons development is coloring long-term military procurement strategy and could be leading officials to make short-term mistakes, according to military analyst Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) July 16 — AVIATION WEEK Management Forums, Demonstrating & Quantifying the Value of Business Aviation. For more information go to http://www.aviationweek.com/events Aug. 5 - 6 — AVIATION WEEK Management Forums, RNP & NextGen, Sheraton Grand Hotel, DFW Airport. For more information go to http://www.aviationweek.com/events
DARPA BOSS: Regina Dugan has been appointed director of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a job that has been vacant since February when the Obama administration told previous incumbent Tony Tether to leave after almost eight years on the job. Most recently CEO of RedXDefense, a company developing defenses against explosive threats, Dugan was a DARPA program manager from 1996 and 2000 and has worked on the Defense Science Board, National Research Council, National Science Foundation and Defense Threat Reduction Agency advisory panels.
The Pentagon has focused too often on the symptoms of acquisition ills and needs to look at changing the way it buys its goods at a more basic level, a recent Defense Science Board (DSB) report says. Fixing the Defense Department acquisition problems has been a Pentagon mantra for years. “Why have previous efforts so often failed? In part, it’s because they fail to address the root causes of the problem, focusing instead on re-engineering the mechanics of the acquisition process,” according to the DSB report, released this past spring.
Globalstar will be the first of the new-generation low-earth orbit mobile satellite service constellations to reach the market, following finalization of its financing plans. The Milpitas, Calif.-based operator announced on July 1 that it had finished a $738 million financing package intended to complete the manufacture, delivery and launch of the company’s second-generation satellite system and network and ground facilities, plus long-lead items for spare spacecraft.
North Korea’s test launch of four-short range missiles July 2 raised speculation that Pyongyang might attempt another long-range ballistic missile test on or about July 4. News organizations reported, and the Pentagon confirmed, that North Korea test-fired four missiles into the Sea of Japan July 2. North Korea and its behavior “continues to be unpredictable,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said, though he added that the missile launch “was not unexpected.”
As the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) prepares for a flight-test of the Aegis and SM-3 ballistic missile defense system in July, officials are also planning for testing and production of the new Block IB variant of the interceptor. They also are planning to explore how to better integrate the interceptor into MDA’s growing cadre of target detection and tracking radars.
