E-737 Wedgetail
over New South Wales
(click to view full)

Successful C2 test, 5-year support contract for Thales. (Feb 2/10)

The island continent of Australia faces a number of unique security challenges that stem from its geography. The continent may be separated from its neighbors by large expanses of ocean, but it also resides within a potential arc of instability, and has a number of important offshore resource sites to protect. Full awareness of what is going on around them, and the ability to push that awareness well offshore, are critical security requirements.

“Project Wedgetail” had 3 finalists, and the winner was a new variant of Boeing’s 737-700, fitted with an MESA (multirole electronically scanned array) radar from Northrop Grumman. That radar exchanges the traditional AWACS rotating dome for the E-737’s stationary antenna and its “top hat” look. That design, and the project as a whole, have run into severe turbulence, creating problems for Boeing earnings, the ADF, and other export orders for the type. DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record. This one covers contracts, events, and key milestones within Australia’s E-737 program, from inception to the current day.

• Project Wedgetail: Program and Participants
• Contracts & Key Events, 1997 – Present [updated]
• Additional Readings [updated]
  
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US military construction money usually flows out from Washington, DC, to various parts of the country and the world. The amounts are often large and can have a major impact on a community’s economy.

However, there has been a growing trend for that same money to go into the communities surrounding the Washington, DC area. Just in the last month, the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Washington has awarded up to $1.25 billion in construction contracts for work in Washington and the Maryland and Virginia suburbs.

In early January 2010, NAVFAC awarded up to $750 million to 5 firms for DC area construction, and on Jan 27/10, 4 small business qualifiers received construction contracts from NAVFAC Washington worth up to $500 million…

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Statue of Cerberus
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In Greek and Roman mythology, the 3-headed dog Cerberus guards the gates of Hades. Cerberus permitted souls to enter the realm of dead, but allowed none of them to leave.

Only a few ever managed to sneak past the creature, among them Orpheus, who lulled Cerberus to sleep by playing his lyre, and Hercules, who brought Cerberus to the land of the living as the last of his 12 labors.

A different type of Cerberus guards the gates of US military Forward Operating Bases. Cerberus is a portable integrated tower developed to provide persistent ground surveillance for FOB perimeter defense. Argon recently won a $23 million contract to supply 28 Cerberus units and spares to the US Navy…

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CACI International received an $81 million task order from the US Army to support the consolidation of Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) resources to the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.

CACI will assist in consolidating C4ISR resources from Fort Monmouth, NJ; Fort Belvoir, VA; Eatontown, NJ; Huntsville, AL; and Fort Knox, KY, to Aberdeen as required by the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission.

The company’s support includes the planning/preparation, disassembly, transport, and synchronized reconstitution of components involving information technology, systems engineering, and network automation…

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AEDC at work: X-29
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The Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC), named for U.S. Air Force pioneer Gen. Henry “Hap” Arnold, bills itself as “The World’s Premier Flight Simulation Test Facility.” Nearly half of the AEDC’s 58 test facilities are unique in the U.S., and 14 are unique in the world.

These specialized test facilities have played a crucial role in the development and sustainment of virtually every high performance aircraft, air-to-air and air-to-ground weapon, missile, and space system in use by all four of the U.S. military services today. The Center has also been involved in the development of every NASA manned space system, many satellites, and numerous commercial aircraft and spacecraft systems.

In 2003, the Air Force consolidated the test operations contract and the base services contract into a single contract for operations, maintenance, information management, and base support, which was awarded to Aerospace Testing Alliance (ATA) in Tullahoma, TN. In the latest development, ATA received an $86.7 million contract modification to cover additional workload under the contract in FY 2010…

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Fire watcher on duty during
USS Carl Vinson overhaul
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British sailors on wooden warships used to sing a sea-shanty called the “Fire Down Below.” The song – sung while sailors were raising the anchor, pumping out the bilge, or hauling ropes – was about fighting a fire onboard a ship.

Ever since the era of wooden sailing ships, fires onboard ships have been a major concern for the world’s navies. In the era of steel ships, the fire danger might not be as ever-present. But it remains, especially when repair and overhaul work is being done.

That type of work requires the use of welders. And where welders work, there is a risk of fires starting. To monitor the welders’ work during ship overhauls, the US Navy uses fire watchers…

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Harris IT Services received a 5-year, $26 million contract to provide managed IT services to the US Air National Guard (ANG) Network and Regional Operations and Security Centers (ROSCs).

The Air National Guard is consolidating its IT infrastructure from 11 ROSCs across the United States into a centrally managed hub. Harris team members include TechTeam Government Solutions and NetApp.

The 1-year base-period contract with 4 one-year options includes Tier III technical support for enterprise IT systems such as applications, infrastructure, vulnerability assessment, directory services, boundary protection and messaging. Tier III technical support, also known as back-end or high-end support, involves handling advanced IT problems and using expert-level troubleshooting and analytic methods.

This award was issued under the US Air Force Network-Centric Solutions (NetCents) contract.

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Under Construction
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Two firms have received $35.6 million in construction contracts to build new US Armed Forces Reserve Centers (AFRC).

Neumann Brothers in Des Moines, IA, won a $24.9 million contract to design and build an AFRC in Middletown, IA. Neumann Brothers expects to complete construction by Jan 15/12.

In addition, Journeyman Construction in Austin, TX, won a $10.7 million contract to build an AFRC in Lufkin, TX. Journeyman expects to complete contruction by March 12/11…

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Michael Baker Jr., Inc., a Virginia Beach, VA-based engineering unit of Michael Baker Corp., won a $75 million maximum value, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for multimedia environmental compliance engineering support for the US Navy and other US Department of Defense installations in the Northeast, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic continental United States and some overseas locations. These locations are within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Atlantic’s areas of responsibility.

The maximum dollar value includes a base period and 4 option years.

Michael Baker Jr. will prepare studies, plans, specifications, design, reports, cost estimates and associated engineering services in support of the following environmental compliance programs:

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The US Defense Supply Center Philadelphia is exercising the 1st 18-month option on a firm-fixed-price prime vendor contract (SPM300-08-D-3242) for The Merchants Co. in Hattiesburg, MS to provide full line food distribution to US military facilities in Mississippi and Louisiana.

The option has a maximum value of $30.4 million. The original contract, along with another prime vendor contract (SPM300-08-D-3244), were awarded to The Merchants Co. on Jan 17/08 to supply food to 12 US military facilities in those states. The contracts have a 2-year base period, and 3 option periods. The combined value of the contracts, if all options are exercised, is $81 million…

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