SUBMARINE C4ISR: L-3 Communications' Titan Corp., Science Application International Corp.'s Technology Services Co. and Serco Inc. all won potentially three-year, multimillion-dollar awards to bid for task orders to support the U.S. Navy's Submarine Communication Information and Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I) Systems Division, with technical support services for submarine and satellite communication, information technology and other C4I efforts. According to a Nov.
ROOSEVELT OVERHAUL: The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command has given the go-ahead to Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Newport News, Va., shipbuilding unit to begin planning for the refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) of the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) and its reactor plants. The work could eventually be worth $558 million, according to the company, although Navsea's initial cost-plus-fixed fee, level-of-effort contract for fiscal 2007 advance planning was worth $65.3 million.
International partners in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program are preparing to put several billion dollars into the effort to help finance production tooling and future upgrades of the aircraft. The spending is part of the sign-up costs as the countries become partners in the Production Sustainment and Follow-On Development phase. The outlays represent a large financial commitment, although the actual spending rate is relatively low since it is stretched over 40 years.
Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky have filed protests with the U.S. Government Accountability Office against the Air Force award of its combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter program to Boeing Co., an acquisition deal worth between $10 billion and $15 billion. Sikorsky filed its appeal Nov. 17. A company release said, "Sikorsky seeks to ensure the selection process accurately evaluated the characteristics and performance of its HH-92 helicopter."
The recent successful on-orbit checkout of the first Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) High highly elliptical orbit (HEO) payload bodes well for the ongoing development of the future geosynchronous (GEO) sensor, according to U.S. Air Force space officials.
MH-60R HELOS: The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command has awarded United Technologies Co.'s Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. a $138.5 million contract modification for 12 MH-60R full-rate production Lot IV helicopters. Almost all the work will be performed in Stratford, Conn., but some will be carried out in Troy, Ala., and is expected to be finished in December 2007.
The U.S. comptroller general, the head of the congressional Government Accountability Office, has provided a list of suggested oversight topics to Congress for lawmakers to consider when the Democratic-controlled legislature convenes in January. Among numerous recommendations, David Walker suggests the 110th Congress require agencies with significant acquisition budgets, namely the Defense Department and NASA, to better align requirements, budget and acquisition processes to reconcile the differences between wants, needs, affordability and sustainability.
BYE-BUY AMERICAN: As the Iraq war continues and the 2008 presidential campaign looms, Aerospace Industries Association President and CEO John Douglass doesn't expect much change in defense spending under a Democratic Congress. "I do not believe either party will come out with a 'slash defense' strategy," he says, but one likely change is an end to what he calls the "draconian" Buy America legislation that has come out of the House of Representatives every year.
Northrop Grumman Corp. has received a $24.6 million contract for planning and design for CVN 79, the second aircraft carrier of the CVN 78 class, the company said Nov. 15. The company's Newport News, Va., business unit will perform the work, which includes planning, feasibility studies, system development, engineering services and other design efforts. Construction on CVN 79 is slated to begin in 2012, with delivery to the U.S. Navy in 2019.
Demands on the European Defense Agency (EDA) are starting to increase, with member states calling on the organization to start tackling critical issues affecting long-term spending plans next year. The work program agreed to by the EDA steering board last week is the latest step in trying to expand the power and influence of the European Union agency. The Council of the European Union has put long-term planning for EDA at the top of its agenda.
A new Lockheed Martin/U.S. Air Force modernized Global Positioning System navigation satellite is en route to its assigned slot in the GPS constellation following launch from Cape Canaveral on Nov. 17 onboard a Boeing Delta II. The launch followed a one-day delay because of bad weather.
ACS OVERSIGHT: Particular congressional scrutiny is expected of the once and future Aerial Common Sensor program with Congress under Democratic control, according to William Farmer, co-president of Jefferies Quarterdeck and a defense and aerospace analyst there. Farmer tells reporters that ACS and data mining, among other defense information technology efforts, likely will receive extra attention as Democrats plan to raise the temperature of congressional oversight. Stephen Cambone, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, has told the Navy to fund ACS to 2011.
GROWING CERTAINTY: The fiscal 2007 defense procurement budget likely will increase by at least 8 percent, including supplemental appropriations, while the core FY' 08 procurement budget should rise by around 17 percent, says analyst George Shapiro of Citigroup Investment Research. The strength of FY '08 supplementals later on is more uncertain, but weakening is unlikely as Democrats will be reluctant to quickly renege on the strong defense promises during recent campaigning.
Half of the companies that have listed their spacecraft buses on NASA's rapid-development satellite "catalog" are based in Europe, despite longstanding presidential policies giving preference to U.S. space hardware. Earlier this month NASA added Alcatel Alenia Space of Toulouse, France, to a list of potential suppliers that already includes trans-European EADS Astrium and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. of the U.K. U.S. companies participating are Ball Aerospace, Orbital Sciences Corp. and SpectumAstro.
DEFENSE RESEARCH: A coalition of technology companies, trade groups, academic institutes and current and former policymakers is urging President Bush to include funding for basic research performed by the Defense Department in his American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI), as requested next February for fiscal 2008. The group on Nov.
Nov. 27 - 30 -- Defense Manufacturing Conference, Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, Nashville, Tenn. For information call (937) 426-2808, fax (937) 426-8755 or go to www.dmc.utcdayton.com Nov. 28 -- ISCe Satellite Investment Symposium, Jones Day 222 East 41st Street, New York, New York. For more information call (310) 410-9191, www.isis-nyc.com Dec. 1 -- International Aviation Issues Seminar, Hotel Monaco, Washington, For more information call 202-293-3037, or email [email protected].
DELAYED SPENDING: A three-month delay in regular fiscal 2006 appropriations, as well as supplemental spending finalized in mid-summer, could mean delayed 2006 revenue for defense and aerospace companies, according to William Farmer, co-president of Jefferies Quarterdeck and a defense and aerospace analyst there. Farmer said current and future earnings teleconference calls with Wall Street analysts should elicit executive excuses blaming Congress, which didn't appropriate regular FY '06 funds and authority until almost Christmas.
BIPARTSIAN SUPPORT: Few issues in Washington strike as much bipartisan support as keeping open an ongoing Defense Department program like the C/KC-130J. Fourteen Democratic and Republican senators wrote outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Nov. 15 to push for future acquisitions under the fiscal 2008 defense budget request, which Pentagon and White House officials are finalizing. "The C/KC-130J is the crown jewel in today's tactical air mobility fleet," said Sens.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) has released $60 million in fiscal 2006 and 2007 funds to the Joint Common Missile (JCM) program. The Army received $51 million and the Navy $9 million, according to an OSD spokeswoman. An industry source told The DAILY that Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England had been scheduled to meet with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to discuss the program and make a formal decision on JCM. OSD said it is too early to comment on the missile's long-term future.
SOARING COST ESTIMATE: When the Homeland Security Department announced the solicitation earlier this year for SBInet, a network of sensors, cameras and communications equipment to create a "virtual fence" along the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada, industry groups estimated the program could run as high as $2 billion. But when the agency picked a team headed by Boeing in September, the three-year contract with three one-year options was for a surprisingly low $67 million - mostly to establish operational control over a 28-mile stretch of the border in Arizona.
All objectives apparently were met as ATK and NASA ran a 123-second static test of a space shuttle reusable solid rocket motor (RSRM) on Nov. 16 that produced results for three different space-agency efforts.
The federal budget for defense-related information technology will rise at a compound annual growth rate of 4.3 percent through fiscal 2011, according to federal IT consultancy Input. The firm, in its annual forecast conference Nov. 9 outside Washington, D.C., said the FY '08 budget for contracted defense IT spending should rise to $24.9 billion from $23.4 billion this fiscal year. Yet that will still pale in comparison to civil spending, albeit mostly for homeland security IT, of $28 billion next fiscal year.
