Armor Holdings Inc. said Aug. 8 that it has received a contract modification from U.S. Marine Corps System Command for more ceramic body armor plates. The extension is a new $14.4 million delivery order on a previously signed $66 million contract, the company said. The plates are to be delivered through 2006.
The U.S. Army's RQ-5A unmanned aerial vehicle system, called the Endurance Hunter (E-Hunter), has received the backing of a well-known senator. Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), the previous Senate majority leader, is calling for $5 million of the Army's procurement funds to go specifically to buying and installing E-Hunter kits. E-Hunter combines the fuselage of the Hunter UAV with a new tail assembly and a longer center wing to create a UAV that can fly missions up to 30 hours and higher than 20,000 feet.
Although the U.S. Missile Defense Agency recently announced plans to buy up to five more satellites for the missile-watching Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS), the agency ultimately may acquire a larger number of spacecraft, according to MDA officials. To meet "evolving threat capabilities," MDA could eventually conclude that the five additional satellites are not enough, an MDA official told The DAILY in a recent written response to questions.
Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah) is proposing that the Defense Department look into a space launch system derived from space shuttle system components. Bennett wants the defense secretary to study the "feasibility and advisability of utilizing a space launch system derived from the space shuttle to meet current and future space launch requirements for medium and heavy payloads for national security purposes as a complement to current space launch vehicles."
ERMP WIN: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has beaten Northrop Grumman to win the $214.4 million contract for the Army's Extended Range Multi-purpose unmanned aerial vehicle. General Atomics' "Warrior" UAV draws on technologies developed for the company's Predator UAV. Work on the research, development test and evaluation contract will extend through August 2009. Northrop Grumman had proposed the Hunter II UAV, based on the Israeli Heron.
THREAT REDUCTION: Raytheon Technical Services will help the former Soviet Union reduce its weapons of mass destruction under a six-year contract worth up to $82.1 million, the company said Aug. 8. Under the contract, awarded by the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Raytheon will provide logistics integration support, equipment support and services, program support services, infrastructure services, an enterprise information management system and program management. The work is part of the U.S. government's Cooperative Threat Reduction Program.
EDO Corp. will design and develop the sonobuoy launching system for the U.S. Navy's P-8A Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft, the company said Aug. 4. P-8A prime contractor Boeing awarded EDO the contract, which could be worth as much as $100 million, EDO said. The initial contract, which includes system design and development and acceptance/qualification testing, documentation and training courses, is worth $12.7 million. Sonobuoys are sensors dropped into the ocean to detect submerged submarines.
Engineered Support Systems will provide power-assisted cupolas to General Dynamics Land Systems for use on reconnaissance and fire support variants of the Stryker vehicle, the company said Aug. 5. The company's Systems & Electronics subsidiary will produce 55 cupolas under the $2.4 million contract. The St. Louis-based company has produced more than 335 cupolas for Stryker vehicles.
WHILE YOU WERE OUT: In addition to asking the White House to make a recess appointment of Gordon England as deputy secretary of defense (DAILY, Aug. 3), Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) says Eric Edelman should get one, too. Edelman has been nominated to be deputy secretary of defense for policy. The Senate Armed Services Committee, which Warner chairs, approved his nomination, but the full Senate has yet to approve it and is now away on its August recess.
General Services Administration contracting officials and Defense Department management officials did not comply with the U.S. Constitution, appropriations law and the Federal Acquisition Regulation when making dozens of defense purchases through GSA last year, the DOD inspector general has concluded. Of 75 purchases reviewed, valued around $406 million in total, "74 were either hastily planned or improperly funded," the IG office said. Moreover, on 38 purchases, or 51%, either GSA or the requesting DOD entity "improperly" used government funds.
SLOWER SPENDING: Defense spending has grown more slowly this year than in the past three years, rising by about 7% through July compared with an average of 14% during the buildup of military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq in fiscal years 2002 through 2004, the Congressional Budget Office reports. Outlays for military personnel have been one of the fastest-growing elements of the defense budget this fiscal year, up about 8.8% after adjusting for payment shifts.
USTRANSCOM LEADER: Air Force Lt. Gen. Norton Schwartz, who is being promoted to general, is scheduled to formally replace retiring Air Force Gen. John Handy as commander of U.S. Transportation Command Sept. 7.
The U.S. Army has begun exploring a smaller, shorter-range version of the Low Cost Interceptor (LCI) missile it is developing for cruise missile defense. The Multi-service Extended Range Low-cost Interceptor (MERLIN) would have a range of 19 to 25 miles, compared to LCI's 93-mile reach, said David Tilson, the Army's LCI project manager. MERLIN would weigh about 350 pounds, half as much as LCI, and would have a 7-inch diameter and 9-foot length, compared with LCI's 10-inch diameter and 15-foot length.
The U.S. Special Operations Command has awarded Northrop Grumman Corp. $22 million to demonstrate its Viper Strike munition as a standoff precision-guided weapon on the AC-130 gunship, the Defense Department said Aug. 4.
FATS Inc., a subsidiary of Firearms Training Systems, will provide its small arms and indirect fire trainers and close air support simulation to Lockheed Martin for two Virtual Combat Convoy Training systems bound for the U.S. Marine Corps. The contract is worth $800,000, bringing FATS' total for the VCCT program to $7 million, the company said Aug. 5.
The U.S. Navy's two unmanned underwater vehicles specialized for submersible search and rescue were sent Aug. 5 to help the Russian navy try to rescue one of its seven-manned AS-28 mini-subs believed caught up by a fishing net. The tethered U.S. submersibles, known as Super Scorpios, are capable of diving 5,000 feet and cutting one-inch-thick steel cable. They are part of the Navy's Deep Submergence Unit based in San Diego.
BEI RESULTS: BEI Technologies Inc. said Aug. 5 that its revenue for the third quarter of 2005 was up 21.5% over last year, totaling $83.6 million. Net income was up 57%, to $5.3 million. The company had higher expenses, partly due to its planned buyout by France's Schneider Electric, but said higher sales helped offset them.
Aug. 8 - 9 -- Next Generation Tactical Data Links, "Opportunities and Requirements," Holiday Inn, Rosslyn at Key Bridge, Arlington, Va. For more information go to www.technologytraining.com. Aug. 11 - 12 -- Information Assurance Engineering, "The Latest Requirements, Tools and Techniques," Holiday Inn Rosslyn at Key Bridge, Arlington, Va. For more information go to www.technologytraining.com.
DRS DIVIDEND: DRS Technologies' board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of three cents per share on the company's common stock. The dividend is payable Sept. 30 to shareholders of record on Sept. 15.
The Global Command and Control System-Korea contract, recently highlighted in a court plea where two former defense industry executives admitted to improperly talking with an Army officer about a job, is scheduled to terminate at the end of this year and likely will soon be recompeted, the company involved has told The DAILY.
