The U.S. Air Force is unlikely to try to reverse an automatic stop-work order that kicked in following Boeing’s protest of Northrop Grumman/EADS North America’s win last month of the $35 billion KC-135 replacement, according to a service official.
L-3 DEAL: L-3 Communications has signed a deal to purchase Northrop Grumman’s Electro-Optical Systems business for $175 million in cash, the biggest acquisition by the defense contractor since Michael Strianese was named chief executive officer. The electro-optical business produces night vision and applied optics products. The purchase, which is subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close by June 30.
U.S. Navy Adm. William Fallon, chief of Central Command, has resigned, citing unwanted attention that publicly portrayed minor disagreements with the White House as fundamental differences, although at least one senior U.S. Air Force general contends Fallon made some basic errors while telling a fundamental truth.
Alabama Aircraft Industries – formerly Pemco Aviation Group – said March 12 it filed a second protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) over the Air Force’s decision to go ahead with a KC-135 maintenance contract award to Boeing despite an earlier GAO decision partially affirming Pemco’s first protest of the deal.
A confluence of events are lining up to make 2008 a decisive year for long-term U.S. missile defense planning, with upcoming elections for control of Washington clashing with end-of-Bush administration efforts to secure ground-based ballistic interceptors in Eastern Europe, as well as annual appropriations and even potential foreign missile developments.
Boeing supporters in Congress are considering all options to overturn the Air Force’s selection of Northrop Grumman/EADS to supply the replacement aerial refueling tanker, Boeing’s main Senate advocate says. “I think all of our options are on the table,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said March 12 when asked if she would seek to block funding for the KC-45A.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER – Two minor problems that cropped up as space shuttle Endeavour roared into a cloud bank over Launch Complex 39A here early March 11 are covered by backup systems and shouldn’t be a problem on the 16-day STS-123/1J/A International Space Station assembly mission. “This was the smoothest countdown since return to flight,” said Launch Director Mike Leinbach.
Pro-Boeing lawmakers pressed top Defense Department and Air Force officials March 11 over the service’s recent aerial refueling tanker award to a Northrop Grumman/EADS North America team, especially over high-level policy implications like Buy American concerns. But Pentagon-based officials asserted that they followed acquisition law as it stands now, and they offered no indication that they were backing off the relatively surprise choice of Northrop/EADS over Boeing. Decision challenged
The U.S. Coast Guard will move ahead with its Deepwater-related acquisition plans much as it has been, an acquisition official said March 11, despite recommendations from a recent alternatives analysis that suggest restructuring the program to avoid potential funding and schedule shortfalls.
European Space Agency officials say an oxydizer/fuel pressure mismatch in one of four propulsion chains on the Automated Transfer Vehicle has been resolved during an overnight recovery operation. The differential was detected shortly after launch of the first ATV, the Jules Verne, early on March 9 by the onboard computers, which shut down the affected chain and switched to one of three backup chains. Full failure tolerance
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NO MORE RAPTERS: The Pentagon’s top acquisition official says the Defense Department would prefer to upgrade existing F-22 Raptors rather than acquire new ones. “Upgrading F-22s that the Department of Defense has already purchased should be considered ahead of any other F-22s,” Defense Under Secretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics John Young told two House Armed Services subcommittees March 11. He said the planned cap of 183 Raptors “is the best trade-off between cost and capability” until the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is available.
Boeing’s protest of the U.S. Air Force’s selection of a Northrop Grumman/EADS North America design for its $35 billion KC-135 replacement was filed March 11 with congressional referees at the Government Accountability Office. The protest procedure requires the Air Force to issue an immediate stop-work order and discontinue communications with the Northrop/EADS team pending either the issuance of an Air Force waiver deeming the work essential to national security or a ruling from the GAO.
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With fuel prices soaring, it’s no surprise that the Pentagon – one of the world’s biggest guzzlers – would find its wallet a little lighter to meet the expense. The Defense Department reported about $11.1 billion in contracts and contract modifications for liquid propellants and fuel in 2007, ranking it second only behind the $18.4 billion the Pentagon dished out for fixed-wing operations, according to an Aerospace DAILY analysis of more than 1 million data records provided by the National Institute For Computer-Assisted Reporting (See related chart, p. 7).
HOUSTON – NASA Administrator Michael Griffin gave as good as he got on NASA Mars robotic funding cuts aired before a largely hostile audience of 300 international space researchers March 10 at the 39th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC). The agency in its fiscal 2009 budget reduced Mars funding to increase money for a “flagship” outer planets mission.
U.S. Air Force and program officials developing the Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) are being increasingly encouraged to consider mounting the high-powered, active electronically scanned array radar on the E-8C Joint Stars or even the new Northrop-EADS tanker, according to recent congressional testimony from top service officials.
The proverbial wagons are circling tighter and the trenches are getting deeper as supporters of opposing aerial refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force hone their arguments and start to unleash their post-award efforts. More is at stake than just one of the Pentagon’s biggest and most important contracts. What Congress, the Air Force, the Pentagon and defense companies do from this point on could set precedent on how the Defense Department or even other government agencies bid and award contracts later.
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The Government Accountability Office (GAO) warned March 10 that the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) program is facing serious shortfalls and raised questions about the program’s future viability.
Boeing is protesting the U.S. Air Force’s selection of a Northrop Grumman/EADS North America design for its $35 billion program to build new refueling tankers. Boeing’s team found “serious flaws” in the selection process, says Boeing President Jim McNerney. The protest automatically triggers a stop-work order, halting any further flow of money from the Air Force to Northrop Grumman for the tanker work. Starting earlier on March 10, Boeing began to publicly lay out its protest points.
