IT SERVICES: SRA International Inc. of Fairfax, Va., has won a one-year, $18.1 million contract to provide information technology services to the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC), the company said Dec. 9. The contract was awarded by the General Services Administration's Federal Systems Integration and Management Center (FEDSIM). SRA will provide project management; administration and management of the afloat network operations center; afloat operations support; hardware and software upgrades and integration; and user training.
USAF CONTRACTS: HJ Ford, a subsidiary of Andover, Mass.-based Dynamics Research Corp., has won $29.2 million in contracts to provide services for the Aeronautical Systems Center and Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, the company said Dec. 8. The Aeronautical Systems Center work includes $27.8 million for the Long Range Strike, Reconnaissance, Mobility and ACS System Wings, the Training Aircraft System Group and the F/A-22 System Program Office.
New members of the board of directors are Jean Caron, EADS DCS, France (treasurer); Andrew Chadwick, QinetiQ, United Kingdom; Dina Hyde, Boeing Co.; Bjorn Kullberg, Saab Aerosystems, Sweden; Nick Miller, Thales UK, United Kingdom; Peter van Blyenburgh, Blyenburgh & Co., France (president); Bernhard Freiherr von Bothmer, UAV DACH, Germany.
President Bush signed a $388 billion spending bill for FY 2005 on Dec. 8 that includes nearly $16.2 billion in funding for NASA. The bill covers the spending of all federal agencies except the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon. Congress passed the measure on Nov. 20, but it was not sent to Bush until lawmakers overturned language that would have made it easier for some Congress members and their aides to see income tax returns in Internal Revenue Service offices. FY 2005 began Oct. 1.
Congressional negotiators were able to come up with a compromise that overcame the objection of a powerful House committee chairman, allowing the approval of legislation recommended by the 9/11 Commission to reform the U.S. intelligence organization. The legislation would create a national intelligence director (NID) to oversee a new national counterterrorism center that would coordinate intelligence gathering and analyses.
UPGRADES: Canada has awarded Raytheon Co. a $32 million contract to repair, overhaul and upgrade services to an additional 16 Phalanx radar and gun systems for the Canadian navy. Raytheon will provide total life-cycle support for Canada's Phalanx Close-In Weapon Systems (CIWS), including fleet repair work, field service support, overhauls and upgrades.
Scott Carson has been appointed vice president, sales for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Laurette Koellner will replace Carson as president of Connexion by Boeing. Rick Stephens will replace Koellner as executive vice president, Internal Services. Mary Armstrong replaces Stephens as president, Shared Services Group.
Acting Pentagon acquisition chief Michael Wynne said Dec. 8 that he expects to continue his duties when President Bush's second term begins in January. While Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has also indicated that he will stay in his job, several other high-level officials, including Air Force Secretary James Roche and Air Force acquisition chief Marvin Sambur, have announced their departures (DAILY, Nov. 18, Nov. 19). "I have been asked by Secretary Rumsfeld to stay the course," Wynne said. "I intend to."
Dain M. Hancock, executive vice president and president of the aeronautics company, is retiring. Ralph D. Heath, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and general manager of the F/A-22 Raptor program, will succeed Hancock. Larry Lawson, vice president and F/A-22 deputy, will succeed Heath.
The National Academies panel tasked with assessing options for extending the life of the Hubble Space Telescope is recommending that NASA send the space shuttle to service the telescope as soon as possible, having concluded that the agency's planned robotic servicing mission is riskier and might not launch in time.
Northrop Grumman Corp. is in line to receive a contract from the U.S. Special Operations Command to demonstrate use of the Viper Strike precision munition from an AC-130 gunship.
Richard A. Falkenrath, a former adviser to President George W. Bush, has joined Civitas Group to focus to focus on homeland security and national security.
Communication upgrades that were installed on legacy Coast Guard cutters as part of the Deepwater modernization program played a big role in recent drug enforcement operations, the Coast Guard said Dec. 7. The C4ISR equipment on the ships allowed their crews to maintain a common operational picture and access real-time intelligence information, including from a Department of Defense satellite. The crews on the cutters Gallatin, Rush and Thetis seized more than 33,000 pounds of cocaine during the operations, the Coast Guard said.
ANALYSIS: Beta Analytics Inc. will provide intelligence analysis support, threat analysis and other services for deployed U.S. troops fighting terrorism under a five-year, $4 million contract, the company said Dec. 8. The U.S. Army Field Support Command/U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command at Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., awarded the contract to Beta, a subsidiary of Analex Corp. of Alexandria, Va. The AFSC integrates Army logistics support to military exercises and operations worldwide. The JMC operates U.S. ammunition plants and storage depots.
The European Union eventually will lift its arms embargo with China, and such action could occur as early as 2005, a Dutch official said Dec. 8. "I think it's fair to say the embargo will be lifted," said Boudewijn J. van Eenennaam, the Netherlands' ambassador to the United States. "The question's not if but when."
