SHARE BUYBACK: SES Global has completed a share buyback program, allowing shareholders to cancel 25 million shares. Shareholders have also authorized a new buyback program for up to 10 percent of issued share capital, and voted to change the name of the company to SES. The new repurchase plan, to run through June 2008, will be priced at 9.75-19.75 euros. The previous program, authorized in December 2005 following the completion of another buyback that had led to the cancellation of 50 million shares, brought in 233 million euros ($305.6 million), or 9.32 euros a share.
NOT OUR FAULT: Making sure they got it on the record before they really do control the purse strings, Democratic congressional appropriations and budget staff issued a six-page statement about the results of almost 12 straight years of Republican-dominated budget making.
More than three years after its creation, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) still needs comprehensive acquisition guidance and oversight, according to the department's inspector general. More certified program managers, comprehensive department-wide procurement management standards, greater independent analysis and review, and better defined technical requirements to avoid wasting time and money are among the needed measures, DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner said in a report released Dec. 21.
GREEK FALCONS: The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin Corp. a $931.3 million contract modification for new F-16 C/D aircraft for Greece under the F-16 Block 52 aircraft lot, according to a Dec. 21 announcement. The procurement of 20 operational, single-place F-16C Block 52 aircraft and 10 operational two-place F-16D Block 52 aircraft will take place under the firm-fixed price portion of the contract. The basic undefinitized contract action was awarded for the long lead requirements only, the Defense Department said.
AFFORDABLE ENGINES: The U.S. Navy has awarded General Electric Co. a $40 million contract for research and development in support of the Naval Air Systems Command's Propulsion and Power Department's Versatile Affordable Advanced Turbine Engines Program. The program hopes to develop, demonstrate and transition "advanced multiuse, turbine engine technologies that provide a revolutionary improvement in affordability to a broad range of legacy, pipeline and future military propulsion and power needs," according to a Defense Department announcement Dec. 20.
U.K. MERGER: With the U.K. Defense Procurement Agency and the Defense Logistics Organization merging next spring, some on Wall Street believe the move will make it more difficult for newcomers to enter the market, thereby protecting companies like BAE Systems, Thales, VT Group and Selex (Finmeccanica) and QinetiQ. Merrill Lynch analysts tell investor clients that the merger could result in a move toward long-term service contracts, usually with the U.K.-based builder being the prime contractor for the support contract as well.
The creation of a U.S. African command is a good first step to controlling the spread of terrorism from the region, an anti-terrorism expert says. But to make a real difference, the U.S. will have to treat the region as it did Europe after World War II, he said. "To check the communist and Islamist expansionism, the West will need nothing short of a modern Marshall Plan," said H. John Poole, a former Marine who has become a counterinsurgency expert.
ALLIES SLACKING: His tone might have been constructively critical and his intent not to complain, but the former NATO and U.S. European commander's message is nonetheless clear: many allies have not grasped the new age of warfare and the need for proactive global antiterrorism operations. Marine Corps Gen. James Jones - adamant that he'll retire in February - says in C-SPAN'S Newsmakers interview to be broadcast Dec.
EPAS AWARD: The U.S. Navy is turning to BAE Systems Spectral Solutions LLC of Honolulu, Hawaii, for design and construction of "the next generation of demonstration turret" under the Electro-Optic Passive Anti-Submarine Warfare (EPAS) Demonstration Project. EPAS is described as an integrated, nonacoustic sensor suite that will further the concept that use of combined passive spectral imaging techniques is required for effective search, localization and prosecution of submarines and other targets of interest, the defense Department said Dec. 20.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded rival Lockheed Martin and Boeing teams roughly $50 million each to support an upcoming system design review (SDR) for the Global Positioning System (GPS) III satellite program. The SDR is coming up in March 2007, with the first launch of a GPS III spacecraft targeted for 2013, although the Air Force plans to offer incentives to the contractors to advance the first launch date by as much as two years. Both teams recently completed system requirements reviews.
Despite acknowledging that it rushed its Battle Control System-Fixed (BCS-F) - the national airspace security system meant to prevent aviation terrorism - by bypassing usual Pentagon acquisition deadlines and deploying the network before it was ready, the Air Force this month announced its intention to award another contract for system work worth up to about $50 million.
The STS-116 astronaut crew is ready to land Space Shuttle Discovery late Dec. 22. The question is where. The weather at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., and Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., primary landing sites will be marginal, but weather at the Northrup strip at White Sands Space Harbor, N.M., will be ideal.
President Bush has signed off on the first-ever U.S. aeronautics research and development (R&D) policy, and has tasked the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) with developing a research road map and infrastructure plan to support it by the end of 2007. "The overarching goal of the policy is to advance U.S. technological leadership in aeronautics by fostering a vibrant and dynamic aeronautics research and development community that includes government, industry and academia," the White House said.
DALLAS - Raytheon Inc. on Dec. 21 agreed to sell its general aviation division, Raytheon Aircraft Co., to GS Capital Partners and Onex for $3.3 billion. The acquisition is scheduled to close by mid 2007. According to Raytheon officials, the company signed a definitive agreement selling the Wichita, Kan.-based subsidiary to Hawker Beechcraft Corp. - a new organization formed by GS Capital Partners, which is an affiliate of Goldman Sachs and Onex Partners.
SOCOM DIRCM: The Defense Department said Dec. 20 that Northrop Grumman Corp. is being awarded a potentially $120 million, seven-year contract for depot repair services for the Directional Infrared Countermeasure systems for the U.S. Special Operations Command. Already more than $23 million was awarded, the DOD said. The work will be performed at Hurlburt Field, Fla., all of next year. The countermeasures protect SOCOM aircraft from advanced man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS), such as shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles.
The first of five SARLupe imaging spacecraft to be deployed by Germany was successfully lofted into orbit on Dec. 19 from Plesetsk, Russia, atop a Cosmo 3M booster. The small 720 kg 250 W units, built by a team of 13 companies headed by Bremen, Germany-based OHB System, will be the first in Europe capable of transmitting all-weather intelligence data when it goes into operation in January-February of next year.
The federal agencies that enforce the export of defense and dual-use technology need to coordinate better - especially in the exchange of information, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Agencies within the departments of Commerce, State, Homeland Security and Justice all have varying responsibilities in preventing the illegal export of controlled defense and dual-use items, said the GAO report, released Dec. 20.
SERVICES TEAM: CACI International Inc. and Evolutionary Technologies International Inc. announced Dec. 21 that they are formally teaming to pitch federal customers faster and easier products for integrating data, especially on large systems integration projects. CACI, a medium-sized Defense Department services contractor, will serve as a reseller of ETI's systems integration suite, and both companies will begin pursuing joint sales and marketing opportunities.
