Katrina 2005
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Odebrecht Construction Inc. in New Orleans, LA received a $41.8 million firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a hurricane protection levee in New Orleans, Loisiana. Work is expected to be complete by Oct. 30, 2008. Bids were solicited via the World Wide Web on Sept 5/07, and 5 bids were received by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans, LA (W912P8-08-C-0007).

Sprung structure
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Aptly-named mall business qualifier Sprung Inc. in West Jordan, UT won an $8.6 million firm-fixed-price contract for sprung structures to be used in support of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle Program. You might think this means vehicle springs, or something like that. No – these are a form of relocatable, semi-rigid “instant buildings”. The firm has come a long way since 1887, when it made chuck wagon covers & tepees… OK, maybe it hasn’t. Still, a product that has been used as a Utah church can surely help a program whose vehicles may be one of the few places one finds more fervent prayer.

Work will be performed in Iraq, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 25, 2007. Bids were solicited via the World Wide Web on Oct. 13, 2007, and 8 bids were received by the Joint Contracting Command-Iraq/Afghanistan jn Baghdad, Iraq (W91GDW-08-M-0003).

by Tim Oren

I’ll start this with a big tip of the hat to DARPA and its director, Dr. Tony Tether, who has one of the world’s best jobs. Not only do they push the bleeding edge and come up with clever ways to engage the research community in their endeavors, but they run well-managed events with a flair for showmanship that belies their status as a government and military agency. As an example of the latter, they had arranged for the Urban Challenge webcast and on-site video to be co-hosted by Jamie Hyneman and Grant Imahara of Myth Busters, the techie crowd’s favorite TV show.

They also have the guts to invite in the world press and the general public while trying something new to the world: Turning multiple autonomous vehicles loose on city streets at the same time, interspersed with human drivers. As Tether said at the start of the program, “If anyone tells you he knows what’s going to happen, he’s lying.”

Since that test could likely take every bit of a short November day, the teams, staff and press assembled for their briefings at a chilly and dark 0600 hours. The day featured robot traffic jams, the world’s first ‘bot vs. ‘bot collision, and the Terramax robot truck’s attempt to take out the old air base PX.

DID has the report – and the pictures…

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Embattled.
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“Cost Growth Puts the Brakes on the USA’s Littoral Combat Ship Program” described major program changes and accompanying issues for a ship set that was originally intended to be the numerical backbone of the USA’s future navy.

Since then, the headlines tell the story. “Cost Growth Leads to Stop-Work on Team Lockheed LCS-3 Construction.” “Littoral combat ship could slip behind schedule as price tag nears $500 million.” And more. The Navy was negotiating with the General Dynamics/ Austal team to turn the LCS 4 contract into a fixed-price contract where the contractor would assume all risk for price inflation above a set figure. That’s not a problem in principle, as long as (1) the price target is seen as achievable, based on the specifications; and (2) the Navy has a finished design that it will not interfere with once the contract is signed. If either stipulation fails, the fixed-price contract become either dangerous to the contractor, or meaningless as compensated changes drive costs higher.

The current news is not good news for the contractor – or for the Navy…

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Hellfire II

On Oct 29/07, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced [PDF] Israel’s formal request for a wide variety of missiles and ammunition. Previous orders have outfitted its air force for air-air and air-ground combat. While many of this order’s missiles are likely to find themselves aboard Israeli helicopters, this is not exclusively true, and the overall picture is one of rebuilding ammunition stocks for the ground forces and their supporting arms.

The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $1.329 billion. Specific items requested include:

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TOW-2A cutaway
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On Oct 29/07 the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced [PDF] Egypt’s formal request for 2,000 TOW 2A anti-armor guided missiles. The TOW 2A is an improved version of the original Tube-launched Optically-tracked Wire-guided missile that’s designed for “bunker busting” attacks on fortifications, bunkers and urban structures. It can also defeat reactive armor if used against tanks et. al., and has a range of 3,750m. The order also includes 28 buy-to-fly missiles, which are test-fired to assure the recipient that the rest work fine. But since you fire ‘em, you just bought ‘em. Containers, test sets and support equipment, spare and repair parts, publications and technical data, maintenance, personnel training and training equipment, U.S. Government (USG) and contractor engineering, technical and logistics support services, and other related elements of logistics support round out the request. The estimated cost is $99 million.

Egypt will use these TOW 2A missiles and launchers to augment its current TOW missile inventory and provide mechanized infantry and field artillery units with an anti-armor capability. The 2 U.S. Government representatives already in country, who currently manage the existing TOW 2A programs, will also manage this program. Raytheon Company in Tucson, AZ will be the prime contractor.

E-2C Hawkeye
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On Oct 19/07, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced [PDF] Egypt’s formal request for 2 used E-2C Airborne Early Warning (AEW) Command & Control aircraft, 2 excess spare T56-A-425 engines, modifications, support equipment, spare and repair parts, publications and technical data, maintenance, personnel training and training equipment, U.S. Government and contractor engineering and logistics technical support services, and other related elements of logistics support. The estimated cost is $75 million.

The prime contractor will be Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation in Bethpage, NY. There are no offset agreements associated with this potential sale and no additional U. S. Government or contractor personnel will be needed in country. DSCA adds:

“This sale is consistent with these U.S. objectives and with the 1950 Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security. The Government of Egypt requires additional E-2C aircraft to strengthen AEW surveillance and enhanced command, control, and communications capabilities within its defense network. These aircraft will ensure enhanced fleet communications and interoperability.”

Dragon Runner
“Throwbot”

Goodrich Corp. subsidiary Sensors Unlimited Inc. in Princeton, NJ received a $1.25 million increment of a $5.7 million cost plus fixed fee contract to develop extremely small, lightweight, shortwave infrared imaging sensors on a chip. They’ll be used in helmet-mounted and micro air/ground vehicles.

The primary goal of this program is to establish the micro-systems technology for extremely light weight, low power cameras with the performance necessary for medium to short range applications. Micro-air and micro-ground platforms and helmet mounted applications require some special features: sensor operation at room temperature or with extremely low power cooling and temperature stabilization, micro-packages with operational lifetimes consistent with military operations, and optics and electronics consistent with the platform. DARPA specifically excluded research targeted at evolutionary improvements; innovations in optical and detecting materials, sensor design and fabrication, signal processing, and micro-packaging will be necessary to achieve their extremely light weight goals.

The first phase of the program will demonstrate the feasibility of integrating an imaging array into a micro-package of the size and weight necessary, with measured data supported by models and calculations predicting performance. Options may be exercised to continue the program after this initial demonstration; if they’re exercised, the second phase will feature a feasibility demonstration of an integrated system. Work will be performed in Princeton, NJ (93%), White Plains, MD (3%), and Woodland Hills, CA (4%) and is expected to be complete February 2009. Funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. DARPA posted Broad Agency Announcement BAA06-46 “Micro-Sensors for Imaging (MISI)” on the Federal Business Opportunities website on Oct 3/06, and 10 proposals were received (HR0011-08-C-0011).

Our readers aren’t the only ones with electricity bills to pay. Governments of all levels get them, including the military. In addition, the military’s purchasing power often makes it easier and cheaper for federal civilian government agencies to include themselves in these contracts than to negotiate and manage their own. Individual locations like the Fermi National Accelerator Lab can rack up truly impressive annual bills – and see these March 2006 New Jersey & Maryland contracts as another recent example.

DID ran a Spotlight article covering October 2006 electricity contracts, and we thought we’d do the same thing this year. Did we end up over, under, or about the same?

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HBCT on rails
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BAE Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems have signed a memorandum of agreement to work collaboratively in support of the U. S. Army’s Heavy Brigade Combat Team modernization plan aimed at achieving modernization and commonality among the US Army’s heavy brigades. BAE already has partnership agreements with the Army concerning its M2/M3 Bradley infantry/ cavalry fighting vehicles, and its M109 tracked self-propelled howitzers. General Dynamics makes the USA’s M1 Abrams tanks, which are undergoing upgrades (M1A2 SEP & M1 TUSK) and RESET programs of their own.

The agreement was developed with the Army’s encouragement under the leadership of Kevin Fahey, the Army’s Program Executive Officer, Ground Combat System (PEO-GCS). It defines how both companies will work with the Army’s Heavy Brigade Combat Team Project Manager, and the Abrams & Bradley vehicle Product Managers, to turn front-line requirements into common solutions for relevant vehicles in the HBCT. The agreement also establishes the basic process for collaborative specification and product development, and provisions for the common procurement of material to support system evolution on both companies’ combat vehicles. common solutions would reduce logistics burdens, lower development costs, and make Soldier training easier; the HBCT’s combat vehicles have already demonstrated successful common requirements management in programs like HTI for thermal imaging.

BAE Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems are also One Team partners for the Future Combat Systems program, with primary responsibility for the program’s family of tracked vehicles. FCS Spinout 1 is already transferring communications systems and networking hardware to HBCT vehicles, and this partnership makes it easier to leverage other emerging technologies into common upgrades as well. BAE Systems release | GD release.