THINK NOT: The congressional Government Accountability Office (GAO) won't reconsider its ruling that the Army erred in awarding a $4.65-billion linguist services contract to DynCorp, according to a decision released July 6. In March, GAO upheld L-3 Communications' protest of the award, opening the door for a re-competition. The Army fought back, filing a Request for Reconsideration with the government watchdog agency, the first time in more than a decade the service has made such a challenge (DAILY, April 16).
NAVAL SCALP: Snecma's Solid Propellant Division and SNPE-MBDA joint venture Roxel have been selected to develop and produce the boost and transition propulsion system for MBDA's Naval Scalp cruise missile. Development of the system, which is to equip frigate and submarine-launched weapons for the French navy, is expected to take four years. The 1,000 kilometer-plus class Naval Scalp, derived from the airborne Scalp/Storm Shadow cruise missile, began full-scale development at the end of last year.
ADVANCED HAWKEYES: U.S. Naval Air Systems Command has awarded Northrop Grumman a $408 million contract modification for three more E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Pilot Production aircraft. The latest award, announced July 9 by the Pentagon, runs through August 2010. The redesigned E-2D will feature a hybrid radar that's mechanically scanned for 360-degree coverage and also electronically scanned for long-range and cruise missile/small-target detection.
RAPTOR RESERVATIONS: Japan faces an array of legal and budgetary concerns about enhancing its military, raising questions about whether Tokyo could follow through on a potential F-22 sale, a June 29 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report says (DAILY, July 6). Under a self-imposed ban on exporting arms, Japan cannot in principle participate in joint development that requires it to export weapons parts and research data to other countries. This ban has been loosened to allow Japan to work on missile defense with the U.S., but the issue remains contentious.
ARMY General Dynamics Land Systems Inc., Sterling Heights, Mich., was awarded on June 27, 2007, a $71,907,000 modification to a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for system technical support for the Abrams Tank program. Work will be performed in Sterling Heights, Mich., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on June 8, 2006. The U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-07-C-0046).
NO NUKES: The U.S. Air Force has removed Ramstein Air Base, Germany, from a list of installations that receive periodic nuclear weapons inspections, indicating that nuclear weapons previously stored there may have been permanently removed and withdrawn to the United States, the Federation of American Scientists announced July 9. With Büchel Air Base now possibly the only remaining nuclear weapons base in Germany, U.S. nukes would then be stored at seven bases in six NATO countries: Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
SPECIAL AIR TRAINING: The U.S. Air Force has turned to Lockheed Martin Simulation, Training and Support for a $1.07 billion deal for airborne special operations forces and combat search and rescue schoolhouse training. The award covers the Aircrew Training and Rehearsal Support (ATARS) II program, which sustains and supports mission qualification training and rehearsal system hardware, software and courseware, including instructors. The work runs through June 2017.
KOREAN MISSILE: Richard Lawless, who retired June 30 after almost five years as deputy assistant secretary for Asian and Pacific affairs, told Pentagon reporters that U.S. officials are "deeply concerned" that North Korea is close to fielding a new short-range missile that could ultimately end up on the international arms market, as well as providing a greater threat to South Korea and the significant U.S. military presence there. "The North Koreans don't build anything they're not willing to sell to somebody else for the right price," he said.
As Japan continues its quest to buy the F-22, the country could face an internal hurdle that could divert its attention to other candidate aircraft - the Raptor's offensive capabilities could make it illegal there. "Under the current interpretation of the Japanese constitution, (the Japanese military) is only allowed to possess defensive capability," says a June 29 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. "Military aircraft are almost inherently flexible weapon systems and can be difficult to classify as 'offensive' or 'defensive.'
For the third time in a week NASA has delayed launch of the Dawn asteroid orbiter, this time until early September. NASA managers, including Administrator Michael Griffin, decided on a further delay to September after additional evaluation of a July 15 launch target set less than 24 hours earlier. Dawn will have from roughly Sept. 7 to mid-October to launch on its way to visit its asteroid targets Vesta and Ceres.
U.S. Army records show that H-47 Chinooks and AH-1 Cobras are the two leading helicopters for downwash-related incidents, based on a Aerospace Daily analysis of the service's mishap database dating from the early 1970s through the first years of the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency's (MDA) embattled Airborne Laser (ABL) boost-phase missile defense program is expected to play a prominent role this week and next among the weapons and systems debated by the Senate under the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill.
Aircraft, especially newer rotorcraft, could serve as reasonable alternatives to an expensive shipbuilding plan with so-far questionable results to achieve the U.S. military's nebulous goal of creating a seabasing capability, according to various scenarios outlined in a new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report.
France appears to have reconsidered plans to boycott a $500 million - $1 billion radar/optical reconnaissance network intended for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on the grounds that the technology needed to meet the very high spatial resolution requirement is too sensitive for export. Thales Alenia Space officials say they are bidding a dual-sensor system for which its Italian arm will supply the radar segment and its French unit the optical component, using a pair of spacecraft based on its Italian Prima and French Proteus satellite bus designs.
MARINE RAID: Raytheon said July 9 it received a $22 million U.S. Army contract option for 41 Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment (RAID) tower systems with remote ground stations for the Marine Corps Persistent Surveillance System initiative in Iraq. Deliveries will begin in September. The persistent-surveillance systems were designed for the Army in Iraq and Afghanistan combat operations in particular, and the latest award marks RAID expansion into the Corps (DAILY, June 26).
FLIGHT PATH: The VH-71 presidential helicopter program is on track to fly three more test vehicles by early 2008, AgustaWestland North America President Steven Moss says. Test Vehicle #2 (TV-2), built under contract to the U.S. Navy for the Marine Corps, flew for the first time July 5. It is the first test aircraft built specifically for the VH-71 Presidential Helicopters program, although the Lockheed Martin-led industry team has flown other aircraft in connection with the effort.
DAWN DELAY: Launch of NASA's Dawn asteroid mission will be delayed until no earlier than July 9. On July 6, managers still were determining whether they would make additional attempts in July, or move the launch to September following the liftoff of the Phoenix Mars lander on another Delta II that would take precedence over Dawn's less stringent launch window.
