Computer Science Corp. in Falls Church, VA received a $11.3 million order under a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (M67854-02-A-9004) for C4ISR support to the Marine Corps Systems Command’s Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity (MCTSSA). The order has pre-priced options of $1.2 million, which if exercised, would bring the total order value to $12.6 million.

MCTSSA is the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I) Systems Engineering Interoperability, Architecture, and Technology (SIAT) center for the US Marine Corps…

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Taming the TIGER
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Stanley in Arlington, VA received a 5-year, firm-fixed-price contract valued at $12.4 million, if all 4 option years are exercised, from the US Marine Corps to support and maintain the Total Information Gateway for Enterprise Resources (TIGER) web portal.

The TIGER portal joins USMC information sources to provide an integrated family of web-based applications…

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F125 Concept
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There is general acknowledgment in global naval circles that many future operations are going to involve shallow littoral chokepoints for maritime trade, operations in and around failed states like Somalia, and expeditionary stabilization operations. That realization has driven a number of approaches to naval construction.

In the Netherlands, Royal Schelde’s Sigma Ships are designed in block modules, which can be added or subtracted to build anything from an offshore patrol vessel to a large frigate. Denmark is already building its Flyverfisken Class and Absalon Class ships, which pioneered the mission module concept and can be used in roles ranging ranging from mine or sub hunting, to anti-ship warfare/ land attack, to carrying troops. Sweden’s Visby Class stealth corvettes are attracting renewed American attention, and helped to inspire the American concept of the Littoral Combat Ship – which has been criticized for its cost, and for packing less punch and having less high-end armament flexibility than any competitor.

Germany’s response has been the F125 frigate, which might best be described as an “expeditionary frigate” design. It doesn’t use the Danish or American mission module concept. Instead, it includes a number of features aimed at making it a strong contributor to long international deployments in littoral environments, and to naval support for stabilization operations.

The latest addition involves a key merger, and a satellite terminal contract…

• The F125: Key Features
• F125: Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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EA-6B Prowler
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With the retirement of the US Air Force’s long-range EF-111 Raven “Spark ‘Vark,” the aging 4-seat EA-6B Prowlers are now the USA’s sole remaining tactical aircraft type for radar jamming, communications jamming and information operations like signals interception [1]. They’ve been predictably busy as a result. In Iraq, they’ve been used for everything from escorting strike aircraft against heavily defended targets during the opening days of the war, to disrupting enemy IED attacks by jamming all radio signals in an area.

EA-18G at Pax
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All airframes have lifespan limits, however, and the EA-6B is no exception. The USA’s new electronic warfare aircraft is based on Boeing’s 2-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet multi-role fighter and has 90% commonality with its counterpart. That will give it decent self-defense capabilities as well as electronic attack potential. At present, however, the EA-18G is slated to be the only dedicated electronic warfare aircraft in the USA’s future force – and since the USA is the only western country with such aircraft, it would become the sole source of tactical jamming support for NATO air forces as a whole.

DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record. This article describes the aircraft and key systems, outlining the program, and keeping track of ongoing developments, contracts, et. al. that affect the program. New items will be highlighted via green type. The latest news involves the FY 2010 budget, and a parts contract…

• EA-18G: The Platform
• EA-18G: Industrial Program
• EA-18G: Numbers & Budgets [NEW]
• EA-18G: Contracts & Other Key Developments [updated]
• Appendix A: The EA-18G and the Future Force Mix
• Appendix B: Additional Readings and Sources
  
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Right now, in many American ships beyond the top-tier AEGIS destroyers and cruisers, the detect-to-engage sequence against anti-ship missiles requires a lot of manual steps, involving different ship systems that use different displays. When a Mach 3 missile gives you 45 seconds from appearance on ship’s radar to impact, however, seconds of delay can be fatal. Seconds of unnecessary delay are unacceptable.

Hence Raytheon’s Ship Self Defense System (SSDS), which uses software and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) electronics to turn incoming data from several systems (radar, radar warning receivers, combat identification, electro-optics) into a single picture of prioritized threats. SSDS will then recommend an engagement sequence for the ship’s crew, or (in automatic mode) fire some combination of jamming transmissions, chaff or decoys, and/or weapons against the oncoming threat. The entire ship’s combat system concept, including the sensors and weapons, is known as Quick Reaction Combat Capability (QRCC) – and SSDS is the key element that ties it all together.

Recent developments involve ongoing PEA contracts…

• SSDS: Current Versions
• Contracts & Key Events, 2008 – Present [updated]
  
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Keep on Moving
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Everybody hates to move. And no one moves more than the US military. With approximately 500,000 household goods shipments every year, the military is the largest moving population in the United States.

To help ease the process, the United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) has contracted with SRA International to automate the process using information technology under the Defense Personal Property System (DPS).

The web-based DPS enables US military personnel, family members, government managers and moving companies to plan, schedule, contract for, move and receive shipments of household belongings from assignment to assignment.

SRA began work on DPS in 2004…

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B-1B: “Power” by Dru Blair
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Boeing received an $84 million order from the US Air Force for upgrades to the B-1B heavy bomber fleet’s avionics software that will enhance the aircraft’s color cockpit displays, data link, radar and navigation systems.

The award (F33657-01-D-2050, SD-21) continues a software-sustainment program that has updated the B-1B’s operational capabilities since the aircraft entered service in 1989. This new contract authorizes Boeing to start work on Sustainment Block 16.

Boeing will update the following B-1B avionics systems:

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Those Were the Days
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The US military has a vast store of supplies and equipment around the world. Keeping track of all that stuff has always been a challenge. In World War II, the US Army kept track using IBM punch cards and electric accounting machines (EAMs).

Well today, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags have replaced punch cards and RFID readers and computers have replaced the EAMs. The RFID tags work like “wireless bar codes” that record, track, and manage the supplies and equipment of a modern networked military.

Military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have focused attention on the performance of the US Department of Defense’s (DoD) supply chain management in support of deployed US troops. The availability of spare parts and other critical supply items affects the readiness and operational capabilities of the forces, and the supply chain can be a critical link in determining outcomes on the battlefield.

So, not only does RFID technology help keep track of supplies and equipment, it also helps get critical supplies to the battlefield at the right time and place. DoD’s latest effort to ensure RFID technology gets where it needs to go is a $6.6 million order to Lockheed Martin’s Savi for RFID supply chain tracking technologies…

• Key Technologies
• Applications
• Benefits
• Problems
• RF-ITV System
• Other Uses
• Contracts and Key Events
• Additional Readings
  
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ManTech International received a $76 million contract to provide IT operations and mission support for the National Media Exploitation Center (NMEC).

ManTech will provide NMEC with data center operations, network operations, software engineering, systems engineering, information assurance, requirements management, configuration management, and project/program management support.

NMEC was set up in the aftermath of 9/11…

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USS Toledo (SSN-769)
Sonar System
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Small business qualifier Innovative Defense Technologies (IDT) in Arlington, VA received a $49.1 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for software development and engineering services in support of the automatic test and re-test (ATRT) product, which will test software on naval weapons systems.

ATRT [pdf] is a Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) effort whose objective is to leverage commercial automated testing best practices to reduce overall system development testing costs, maintain or improve software product quality, and shorten the software certification timeline.

The contract will fund development of the ATRT product – which IDT estimates will cut software testing costs by 25% – for automated testing of submarine combat systems for all classes of submarines currently in the fleet and under development…

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