NAVY Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Greenville, S.C., is being awarded a $17,951,018 firm-fixed-price order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-05-G-0030) for the procurement and installation of 15 defensive electronics countermeasures (DECM) kits for C/KC-130 aircraft. The work will be performed in Greenville, S.C., and is expected to be completed in September 2010. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
SNIPER SYSTEMS: Lockheed Martin said it received a nine-month, $2 million Phase 1 contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a sniper system that will profile and compensate for downrange cross wind to help snipers hit targets over long ranges under challenging conditions (DAILY, Nov. 20, 2006).
AAI ACQUISITION: United Industrial Corp. (UIC), the parent company of AAI Corporation, announced Oct. 8 that it has signed an agreement to be acquired by Textron Inc. Textron will acquire all of the outstanding shares of UIC common stock for $81 per share in cash through a tender offer targeted for mid-October. As UIC's primary operating subsidiary, AAI produces aerospace and defense systems, including the U.S. Army's Shadow unmanned aerial vehicle.
PATRIOT PURE FLEET: Raytheon said it received a $150 million U.S. Army contract to begin the Patriot "Pure Fleet" modernization program, bringing all Army Patriot equipment to Patriot Configuration 3 status. Pure Fleet stems from the Army's February 2006 decision to upgrade additional tactical Patriot fire units. The initial contract provides for the upgrade of one battalion consisting of four fire units of Patriot hardware.
HARRIS RADIOS: Harris said it has received a $104 million order from the U.S. Army for high-frequency radio systems. Under the agreement, Harris will provide the Army with Falcon II AN/PRC-150(C) radios and related accessories, as well as installation services and training. It is the first and only Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS)-approved radio to be certified as fully compliant with version 2.2 of the JTRS software communications architecture. Separately, Harris claimed it has successfully demonstrated the new programmable software for U.S. and U.K.
The U.S. Army could operate fine through the end of the year under the current continuing resolution for appropriations, but after that the service needs new fiscal 2008 supplemental funds, according to the service's deputy chief of staff for programs. Lt. Gen. Stephen Speakes told an Association of the United States Army audience Oct. 8 that the Army can last 60-90 days before a "drawdown" would occur in buying long-lead parts for equipment. "At this point, we're not at risk," the three-star general said on a panel of numerous other generals.
The Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) program expects to finally award the long-delayed Airborne Maritime Fixed (AMF) portion of the program before the end of this year. JTRS is developing a family of interoperable, software-defined radios based on open architectures and capable of mobile ad hoc networking on the battlefield. The AMF portion will produce a radio for wide-body aircraft, a maritime version for ships and a version for fixed shore sites.
The U.S. Navy's CG(X) Cruiser program is likely to come under a congressional microscope, according to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). "The CG(X) raises several potential oversight issues for Congress," CRS says in its Sept. 20 report. These include the balance in the CG(X) design between affordability and capability, the accuracy of the Navy's cost estimate, technical risk, and whether some or all CG(X) ships should be nuclear-powered. Other issues
Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition Delores Etter has indicated she wants to leave her post in mid-November to take a teaching position at the Naval Academy, a Navy source confirmed Oct. 8. Etter would then have served about two years on the job. She was nominated Sept. 6, 2005, and sworn in on Nov. 7 that year.
SUPREME STATE: Supreme Industries said its Texas subsidiary has been awarded a potential $100 million contract to manufacture armored vehicles for the U.S. State Department. The initial order is for $500,000 - and future purchase orders are not guaranteed, the company noted. But if fully contracted, the deal could lead to sales of up to 800 armored vehicles. The vehicles' appearance, resembling that of the original equipment manufacturer's design, and heavy armor provide more discreet and secure transportation of diplomats to and from U.S. embassies, the company said.
Russia's offer to link early warning systems with the U.S. as a defense against rogue state missile attacks "provides an important strategic opening" for further discussions, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's senior Republican said Oct. 8.
WGS DELAYED: Launch of the first Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Fla., atop an Atlas 5 rocket has been delayed a day to Oct. 10, during a launch window that opens at 8:21 p.m. EDT. The postponement is to give engineers time to analyze whether a flight data anomaly found in a previous Delta IV mission has any implications for the WGS launch.
LAKOTAS RISING: EADS North America said its UH-72A Light Utility Helicopter program supplied a pair of its rotary-wing aircraft to the U.S. Army in September - the first time two Lakotas have been delivered during the same month. They are the 11th and 12th UH-72As received by the Army since deliveries of the Light Utility Helicopter began in December 2006 at the rate of one per month. They also are the second and third "made-in-America" Lakotas, which are certified under U.S. production authority recently issued by FAA for American Eurocopter's UH-72A/EC145 helicopters.
DOD S&T: The Pentagon's top acquisition official, John Young, has suggested boosting Defense Department science and technology (S&T) spending as much as 20 percent and concentrating the additional funds on needed developments to fight the so-called global war on terror. Young told the Senate Armed Services Committee at his confirmation hearing last week that his suggestion came in response to a request from Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] Oct. 8 - 11 -- Aeronautical Radio Inc.: 13th Annual Flight Simulator Engineering & Maintenance Conference, Montreal, PQ, Canada. For more information call Samuel Buckwalter, ARINC, at (410) 266-2915. Oct. 9 - 10 -- The Aerospace Corp's Manufacturing Problem Prevention Program Meeting on Advanced Space Materials, Corporate Headquarters, El Segundo, Calif. For more information call (310) 336-5000 or go to www.aero.org/conferences.
The U.S. Air Force's air armament center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. is officially in the hunt for high-power microwave (HPM) weapons to put in its munitions, cruise missiles and UAVs. The center has issued a request for information, with responses due Nov. 1, for "HPM source technology capabilities." It is interested in counter-electronics payloads that won't damage buildings or harm humans.
HYPER FUNDING: The Senate in its fiscal 2008 defense spending bill has added $10 million above the Defense Department's request for research and development of a hypersonic cruise missile engine. The earmark - secured by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who cited Maine manufacturer Williams International - will go to design, make and test advanced component technologies for sustained supersonic engines. On a similar note, the Senate in its related authorization bill approved an additional $3.5 million for scramjet research.
A seven-year Congressional Research Service (CRS) review of worldwide arms transfers shows a declining but still strong market, with the value of all arms transfer agreements with developing nations in 2006 almost reaching $28.8 billion. "This was a decrease from $31.8 billion in 2005," the Sept. 26 report says. "In 2006, the value of all arms deliveries to developing nations was $19.9 billion, the lowest total in these deliveries values for the entire 1999-2006 period (in constant 2006 dollars)." (See charts pp. 6-7.)
