Terex’s MAC-50 Crane
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Terex Corp. in Fredericksburg, VA received a $7 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract from the US Marine Corps (USMC) to provide maintenance logistics support for the company’s 50-ton military all-terrain cranes (MAC-50) in Afghanistan and Iraq. This contract contains an option, which if exercised, will bring the total contract value to $8.9 million.

Terex will provide maintenance and supply support for the cranes and technical assistance to units operating the crane outside the continental United States. The company will provide personnel, material, services and support documentation; field service representatives; maintenance and parts.

The USMC ordered up to 130 MAC-50 cranes from Terex in 2005.

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Afghan 7000 series
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In May 2008, the U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command awarded Navistar Defense a follow-on contract to provide medium tactical trucks and spare parts to the Afghanistan National Police, Afghan National Army and the Iraqi Ministry of Defense.

These trucks are based on Navistar’s severe service International 7000 Series truck, and include General Troop Transporter, POL (petroleum, oil and lubricant), water tankers, wreckers and hazardous material truck variants. In addition, Navistar was contracted to supply all required spare parts necessary to support several years of scheduled maintenance.

A recent award extends that $1+ billion contract, with a particular focus on Afghanistan – and the Pentagon has just clarified with full type breakdowns…

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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 and to secure supplies en route. In the latest news, SRA International won a $4.4 million contract under the USMC Passive Radio Frequency Identification (pRFID) Infrastructure Support and Sustainment program…

• Key Technologies
• Applications
• Benefits
• Problems
• RF-ITV System
• Other Uses
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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[by John MacNeill]
Goo goo g’joob!

In April 2005, “USN, DARPA See Blimps & HULAs Rising”, looked at a range of projects on the drawing board, including the Walrus heavy-transport blimp (that’s “heavy” as in “1-2 million pounds”) which offered the potential for a faster and more versatile sealift substitute.

In this article DID explains the Walrus concept, details the contractors and contracts involved in this initial award (including a few updates), and lays out the program’s structure… or at least, what used to be its structure. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funded phase 1 contracts, but things seemed to end in 2006. Yet the imperatives driving the need for Walrus, or even for a much smaller version of it, remain. Is the Walrus dead? What about Paul? And could it, or a HULA like like it, rise again?

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Private Vehicle Storage
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American Auto Logistics (AAL) in Park Ridge, NJ received a $207.4 million firm-fixed-price modification to a previously awarded contract [pdf] for transportation and storage of US military’s privately owned vehicles (POVs).

AAL operates 40 vehicle process centers and 8 long-term storage facilities in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia…

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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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The Naval Sea Systems Command’s (NAVSEA) Naval Surface Warfare Center awarded 6 contracts worth up to $475 million to support the center’s Alterations Installation Team (AIT) in their work upgrading hull, mechanical, electrical, and electronic (HME&E) systems on ships and submarines.

The HME&E systems include a broad range of shipboard equipment, everything from transformers and heating/cooling/ventilation systems to C4ISR, radar, and navigation systems…

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Napoleon on Horseback
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The great French military strategist and political leader Napoleon once said that “an army marches on its stomach.” This is as true today as it was when Napoleon’s troops were marching toward Moscow.

To ensure that the US Army and the other US services are well fed, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) regularly awards contracts, some small and some large, to contractors to supply food.

DLA recently awarded up to $70.6 million to 3 contractors to supply food to the US Army, US Navy, and US Air Force…

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CH-47D Chinooks
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VT Group US, a unit of UK-based VT Group, received a contract to provide logistics analyses and support for the Army’s fleet of CH-47D/F Chinook cargo helicopters. The contract has a potential value of $29.1 million over a 5 year period.

Under the terms of the contract, VT Group’s Technical Services Division will provide CH-47D/F logistics fleet management, sustainment, CH-47F product manager, foreign military sales, and sustainment support related to all CH-47 cargo helicopters in the Army’s fleet. This includes logistic support to be performed for the CH-47D/F programs, subsystems, product improvements, and the Army’s modernization plan for the CH-47s.

“Boeing in Flight on Production of (Re)New H-47 Chinooks” examines the CH-47F upgrade program…

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Bagram Air Base

AECOM Government Services in Fort Worth, TX received a $78.8 million, 6-month extension to the US Army’s global maintenance support and service (GMASS) contract for AECOM’s work in Afghanistan.

Under the GMASS contract, AECOM provides general support maintenance, as well as construction and operation of maintenance facilities, living quarters, and offices at 2 US military bases, forward operating bases, and satelite locations in Afghanistan.

One of the facilities AECOM serves under the GMASS contract is Bagram Air Base...

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