• Octoberfast: Germany joins in European defense budget belt tightening.

• You say yes, I say no: Russia warms to idea of NATO missile defense shield, while South Korea says “no” to joint missile defense with US.

• Countering Counter-cyclical: Forbes article questions view that defense demand is counter-cyclical to the commercial business cycle.

• Lockheed Martin board approves $3 billion share buyback program.

• Honeywell wins 3 contracts worth up to $233 million to supply logistics support services to the US Army Field Support Brigades; other winners are Sentel, up to $98 million; ManTech, up to $62 million; and Stanley Associates, up to $7 million.

• Up to $23 million to SAIC to provide biometrics support to the US DoD’s Biometrics Identity Management Agency.

• Sherpa Ascent: A C-23 Sherpa light military transport aircraft, used by the US Army at the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific, is getting a major overhaul.

• Goodrich gets GPB 7 million UK MoD contract to supply logistics for a range of RAF jets and helicopters.

• UK MoD reportedly agrees to a budget cut of around GBP 3 billion.

• NATO expected to approve US-led effort to build a missile defense shield over Europe at next month’s Lisbon summit.

• Honeywell ramps up its political donations dramatically.

• Form Fitting: Northrop Grumman files SEC form to prepare for the spin-off of its shipbuilding business; Cleveland Ship lobbies to buy business.

• Vietnam offers repair services for Indian warships.

• Frost and Sullivan: Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have fueled growth in US military helicopter market; US budget to field and sustain additional helicopters is expected to increase $500 million this year.

• Sometimes it’s the small things that matter – like improved rear sights for the Mk19 grenade machine gun.

• Up to $440 million to L-3 to provide life-cycle contractor support for the US Army’s turboprop C-12 and UC-35 passenger/cargo aircraft and the RC-12 ISR aircraft.

• Israeli F-35As will fly with Pratt & Whitney’ F135 engines.

• Research and Markets: Due to budget cuts, Italy expects delays in its Frecia armored vehicle, FREMM frigate, and Eurofighter programs.

• This, not tech, is what wins fights.

Keep ‘em runing…

At the beginning of FY 2002, Honeywell won a support contract for the USAF’s Satellite Control Network (AFSCN). The SCN contract consolidated development, systems engineering, integration and support functions into one contract that has the potential to reach $1.22 billion, and run to FY 2017.

Under this contract, Honeywell will replace existing communications technologies that make up the AFSCN’s ground network and tracking systems with improved components and antenna systems. Honeywell’s team includes TRW, L-3 Communications, Booz-Allen and Hamilton, SPARTA Corporation, Integral Systems, Inc., and IITC…

• The AFSCN
• Contracts & Key Events
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

DARPA’s VIRAT

Updates re: Kitware’s win. (Sept 1/10)

The proliferation of UAVs and fighters equipped with stabilized, high-magnification video pods and imaging radars has a number of corollary consequences. Bandwidth has become a key battlefield constraint. Specialized reconnaissance fighter aircraft are a dead concept. And some poor analyst has to sift through the video tsunami at the other end, in order to find items of interest.

The USA is using a number of approaches to help deal with the flood, and one unconventional approach involves a DARPA project called VIRAT (Video Image Retrieval and Analysis Tool). It doesn’t recognize faces, perform before/after analysis, or rely on rewinds. Instead, it aims to distinguish certain types of behaviors, so it can provide alerts to intelligence operatives or ground forces during live operations.

• The VIRAT Concept
• Contracts & Key Events
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

• US Missile Defense Agency is reportedly eying potential competitive bids worth as much as $37 billion over the next 5 years, as it moves away from sole-source contracts. The GMD system is an early harbinger.

• Brookings think tank staffer P.W. Singer discusses the think tank world in Washington.

• Honeywell has now delivered 28 engines, as part of Britain’s CH-47 Chinook upgrade to handle Afghan conditions.

• ViaSat deploys mobile broadband terminals on-board the USAF’s twin-turboprop MC-12W Liberty surveillance aircraft.

• China’s none too happy about what the Pentagon is saying in its new report. Xinhua | Christian Science Monitor | Bloomberg

• Over 70% of JFCOM’s budget goes for contractors, making it an easy target for Pentagon cuts, but Virginia’s governor and mayors want to save it.

• Rockwell Collins gets $140 million USAF contract to develop the Common Range Integrated Instrumentation System (CRIIS) that will provide time, space, and position information for military test ranges

• Colombia’s high court strikes down a deal that would have given US troops greater access to Colombian military bases.

• Critics question the timing of the NY Times story on Afghanistan’s potential $1 trillion in mineral wealth – and the course of the war – but not the story’s facts. The Times’ James Risen defends his story, and says he’s been on it for some time now thanks to contacts in the geological survey teams.

• CSC gets SeaPort-E order worth up to $135 million to support Navy’s PEO Aircraft Carriers, which is responsible for managing the design, development, construction, modernization, and lifecycle of US Navy aircraft carriers.

• BAE signs a deal to use Iveco’s SUPERAV 8×8 amphibious wheeled APC as the basis for the US Marines’ upcoming MPC competition. That doesn’t look like good news for BAE’s own SEP; Patria Oyj & Lockheed announced an AMV MPC entry in 2007...

• India’s Samay Live reports tough conditions attached to use of Pakistan’s new F-16s...

• LOGIR guided 70mm rocket test goes well, moving the USN/ROK effort closer to joining a crowding field of offerings.

• SAIC snags follow-on contract worth up to $49 million to support video processing capability of USAF DCGS, a globally networked ISR system.

• Russia moves to keep up, with new President-S helicopter active protection system to defeat portable anti-aircraft missiles. Irony alert: most of the missiles likely to threaten Russian helicopters these days are Russian designs.

• Environmental Tectonics wins $38 million contract to supply 4 USAF research altitude chambers to study pilots’ reactions to high-altitude flight.

• Up to $16.6 million to IntelliScience to supply digital imagery analysis systems to Defense Threat Reduction Agency for WMD detection.

• Honeywell gets $4.6 million US Army contract to develop micro-grid technology to provide power in remote locations and improve efficiency of existing generators.

• NATO chief urges missile defense system against rogue states, calls on Russia to join. Reuters | Bloomberg | Haaretz

• UK MoD gives go ahead for full production of the 5th Astute Class nuclear-powered fast attack submarines, early material & equipment buys for #6.

• Two if by sea: Honeywell lights LAMPS for US Navy.

• DynCorp to maintain Royal Saudi helicopter fleet under US Army contract worth up to $43.1 million.

• SAIC snags $26 million order to provide IT to Walter Reed Army hospital.

• The Heritage Foundation calls on Congress for 1 day to walk to work, skip lunch, turn off Blackberries, and debate by candlelight, all to simulate an EMP attack. Like that’s going to happen (without another snowstorm).

• Pentagon revamps Afghan deployment strategy so US troops can develop regional expertise; Canada confirms Afghan troop withdrawal in 2011.

• USMC contract to Israel Military Industries for their Foot-Mobile Assault Bridge. For a better understanding of why that matters in Afghanistan, and the challenges faced by the USMC in theater, see below:

• EADS CEO says the company is looking to buy a medium-sized defense company in the US; last US acquisition was PlantCML.

• The use of metrology assisted machining, manufacturing, and assembly is growing in the aerospace sector.

• Strategy Analytics: Annual market for SATCOM-related electronics to grow from $796 million in 2009 to nearly $2.58 billion in 2020.

• Der Spiegel Online attempts to cover the growing use of UAVs, includes interview with Brookings’ Peter Singer (vid. “In the Loop? Armed Robots and the Future of War”)

• US Navy i-ENCON program saves 354,000 barrels of fuel during Q1 2010; 4.9% better than Q4 2009.

• WIRED Danger Room looks at ongoing issues with removable storage in US military, and the flip-side of its cyber-security efforts for operations.

• Boeing completes design of US Navy free electron laser weapon system to take out high-speed cruise missiles.

• Honeywell gets US Army order to maintain Cold War era Washington-Moscow hotline.

• CACI secures $219 million contract to provide C4ISR and IT to SPAWAR Systems Center Atlantic.

AC First, a joint venture between AECOM and CACI, received a maintenance and supply services task order under the US Army’s Field and Installation Readiness Support Team (FIRST) contract vehicle.

Under the task order, AC First will provide maintenance and management support for the Army Prepositioned Stock (APS-5) program in Afghanistan. The task order has a 12-month base year and 4 one-year options. The total value if all options are exercised is $378 million.