ITAS PRODUCTION: The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command has awarded Raytheon Co. a $161.78 million contract modification for system production for the Improved Target Acquisition System (ITAS). The work will be performed in McKinney, Texas, and is expected to be completed by Oct. 31, 2012. This was a sole-source contract initiated on Dec. 22, 2005 - the command on Sept. 11 awarded Raytheon the $285.4 million firm-fixed-price contract for ITAS production (DAILY, Sept. 18).
NATO will launch a Special Operations Forces Initiative that will strengthen the ability of special operations personnel from NATO nations to work together, President Bush says. Bush, in Riga, Latvia, for the NATO summit, said the alliance also will announce an expected new Strategic Airlift Initiative that will ensure that participating NATO members have a dedicated fleet of C-17 aircraft.
Pressing operational requirements in the field are causing future Army information technology (IT) initiatives to be cut and delayed, which could jeopardize the service's future integrated IT vision, according to a top Army IT official.
The U.S. Air Force is scrutinizing different communication networks to help make the F-22 Raptor a better aircraft for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), as well as command and control. While service leaders have been touting the Raptor's ability to shine in these types of missions, F-22 pilots acknowledge the aircraft has shortcoming in those roles.
TB-34 AWARD: The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems and Sensors $9 million for TB-34 next-generation, fat-line towed bodies, interface hardware and associated services in support of the TB-34 towed array system. The contract was competitively procured with two proposals received. The TB-34 was developed to provide improved antisubmarine warfare and contact avoidance capability in cluttered littoral environments, as well as to maintain the submarine fleet's ready for issue fat-line towed array inventory.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Maritime Systems & Sensors (MS2) Littoral Ships and Systems, Baltimore, Md., is being awarded $26,545,787 to exercise an option under previously awarded contract (N00104-01-D-ZD52) for the manufacture of spare and repair parts used in the MK-41 Vertical Launching System. The pending award will be an undefinitized contractual action for the MK-41 Vertical Launching System Performance Based Logistics (PBL) supply support contract. The work will be performed in Ventura, Calif. (85 percent) and Baltimore, Md.
JSF APPROVAL: Australia has decided to give first-pass approval to the Joint Strike Fighter, which under the "two-pass" approval process equates to a government agreement to consider the aircraft in further detail, with a final acquisition decision made at second pass. The final decision to buy the JSF, i.e., second-pass approval, will be made in 2008, subject to ongoing detailed analysis and assurance that the program's capability, schedule and affordability goals will be met, Australian Defense Minister Brendan Nelson said in a Nov. 27 newsletter.
ULYSSES RETURNS: Europe's Ulysses spacecraft is once again passing over the sun's south polar area as it continues tracking sunspots and other cyclical solar activity. Previous solar probes have remained near the plane of the sun's equator, according to the European Space Agency. From its highly inclined orbit, Ulysses has twice before orbited over the sun's polar areas, first during a lull in sunspot activity and then again during the period when sunspots were frequent.
STRATEGIC PLANNING: The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded General Dynamics Corp.'s Electric Boat Corp. a $20.3 million contract modification for consolidated planning yard, engineering and technical support for nuclear submarine operational ships and shore facilities. Most of the work will be performed in Groton, Conn., although 10 percent will occur in Kings Bay, Ga., with the rest in Bangor, Wash., and Quonset, R.I. The award runs through November 2009.
DAGRS AWARD: The U.S. Air Force's Global Positioning Systems Wing has extended Rockwell Collins Inc. an $82.7 million contract modification for 37,787 defense advanced GPS receivers (DAGRs) and accessories.
Newly elected Democrats from key defense industry states, Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Jim Webb of Virginia, will be joining the Senate Armed Services Committee in January when Democrats take control of Congress. They are among 10 newly-elected senators - eight Democrats, one Republican and one independent - who will be sworn in next year as members of the 110th Congress.
CONCERNED: Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), the House Armed Services Committee chairman until January, says he's concerned about Democrats' longstanding skepticism of the ground-based mid-course missile defense program. "I would hope that they would look at the North Korean launches a few months ago and understand that we live in an age of missiles, and missile defense is now an imperative for the U.S.," Hunter tells the Daily. He also hopes Rep.
Lockheed Martin delivered the 100th Aegis Weapon System Nov. 27 to the U.S. Navy during a ceremony in which Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Mullen announced that the destroyer receiving the system will be named Wayne E. Meyer, after the retired rear admiral who is widely regarded as the "Father of Aegis."
ENGINEERING SUPPORT: The U.S. Navy's Strategic Systems Program has awarded the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory of Cambridge, Mass., a potentially $201.89 million contract to provide tactical engineering support for the United States and United Kingdom Mk 6 guidance system. The award, which was not competitively procured, runs through September 2007, according to a Nov.22 announcement by the Defense Department.
ARMY, NAVY CONTRACTS: BAE Systems said Nov. 27 that it has received two contracts from the U.S. Navy totaling more than $25 million for missile launching canisters, as well as a $27.3 million contract modification from the U.S. Army for systems technical support and logistics services for Bradley Combat Systems. The first Navy contract, for $16.3 million, includes manufacturing 155 new Mk 13 canisters - the first purchase of new Mk 13 canisters in seven years - and refurbishing 75 legacy canisters.
INTERCOMMUNICATION SYSTEM: The U.S. Coast Guard has awarded Griffon Corp.'s Telephonics Corp. a potentially five-year, $6 million contract for the TruLink Wireless Intercommunication System. The Coast Guard plans to install a Wireless Crew Communication System (W-CCS) on its fleet of 47-foot Motor Life Boats. Current noise conditions onboard the boats prevents normal conversational voice - crewmembers must alter normal routine, move close to each other and shout or yell in each other's ears to communicate.
Marine Corps aircraft have been flying more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions to support ground forces in Iraq, Marine Col. Robert Walsh, deputy assistant commandant for aviation, said in a Pentagon Channel interview last week. While such transformation is important, the Marine commandant has given clear guidance that the entire force stay versed in conventional capabilities, Walsh stressed.
COMMANDANT CONCERNS: Individual Marines are stressed by ongoing operations, and institutionally the Marine Corps is beginning to show signs of strain, the new Marine Corps commandant said Nov. 22. At a roundtable discussion with the Pentagon press corps, Gen. James Conway said that if current operations tempo continues with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Corps may need to grow. The Marine Corps currently has 180,000 troops. Conway would not say how much the service would or should expand.
The Air Force apparently has 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 DAILY also has learned that while the initial contract was worth $30 million, the full cost of the network could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. The new information comes after The DAILY reported last month that the BCS-F was over cost and behind its original schedule (DAILY, Oct. 25).
