$89M to CACI for Intelligence Support

CACI International Inc. of Arlington, VA announced that it received approximately $89 million in contracts to support national security and intelligence activities for clients in the federal government. The awards call for CACI to provide systems engineering, knowledge management, and intelligence support, among other solutions.

These contracts include efforts in which CACI will support national counter- terrorism programs, such as providing communications and staffing services for a 24/7 counter-terrorism watch center. On other projects, CACI will provide technical and engineering expertise to help test automated intelligence systems, including support for a military facility that will develop, prototype, and evaluate surveillance collection systems and processing technologies. Additional work will focus on enhancing the financial management infrastructure at a key intelligence agency. Approximately 50% of the work is new for CACI.

$27M for LITENING Targeting & Recon Pods

LITENING AT

Northrop Grumman Corp. in Rolling Meadows, IL received a $27 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract modification to provide for LITENING advanced airborne targeting and navigation pods for U.S. Navy, Army, and Marine Corps use. Designed to improve both day and night attack capabilities, LITENING pods provide pilots with advanced image processing for target identification and coordinate generation, a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensor, charge-coupled device television (CCD-TV) sensors, a laser spot tracker/ range finder, and infrared laser marker/ designators. It is fully operational 24 hours a day and in adverse weather conditions.

Solicitation began July 2003, and the Headquarters Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH issued the contract (FA8607-04-D-2751). DID estimates based on past orders that this procurement probably covers around 8 pods plus support.

So, why has the LITENING become the default targeting and surveillance pod for so many air forces around the world?

DOD Systems Architecture Still Under Fire from GAO

The US Department of Defense (DoD) needs to fully disclose to Congress the plans for and the progress made on their new business enterprise IT architecture, according to the July 22/05 GAO report #GAO-05-72, “DOD Business Systems Modernization: Longstanding Weaknesses in Enterprise Architecture Development Need to be Addressed.” The new report is the third that GAO has issued this year pertaining to DOD’s Business Management Modernization Program (BMMP). GAO also wants DoD to provide for effective workforce planning for the business enterprise architecture by its September due date, and recommends that DoD implement four previous GAO recommendations.

Pentagon officials recently established the Defense Business Systems Management Committee to oversee the department’s BMMP business systems update, a multibillion-dollar initiative that aims to streamline over 4,000 financial, logistics, personnel and travel systems. FCW.com has further details, or DID has a link to the full GAO report [PDF format].

$6.8M for FN M249 SAWs

FN’s M249 “Minimi”

FN Manufacturing Inc. in Columbia, SC received a $6.8 million modification to a firm-fixed-price contract for M249 Squad Automatic Weapon 5.56mm light machine guns. At a unit replacement cost estimated at just over $4,000 by GlobalSecurity.org, this order would amount to about 1,650-1,700 weapons. Work will be performed in Columbia, SC and is expected to be complete by January 31, 2007. This was a sole source contract initiated on March 1, 2004 by the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command in Rock Island, IL (W52H09-04-C-0090).

UH-60L Blackhawks to Colombia

UH-60 Blackhawk

In July 2005, the US DSCA announced requests from Colombia and Thailand for Sikorsky’s UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters as well as associated equipment and services. The total value of these contracts, if all options are exercised, was $146 million – but that number has grown with subsequent requests.

U.S. Extends SDD Phase of Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle

AAAV/ EFV, swim mode

General Dynamics Amphibious Systems in Woodbridge, VA received a $42.9 million cost-reimbursable addition to a previously awarded contract (N67854-01-C-0001) to extend the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle’s systems development and demonstration (SDD) phase. Full-up system live fire testing will be included. General Dynamics will provide all required materials, services, personnel and facilities to complete the design and development of the EFV, perform studies and analyses, manufacture and test all SDD prototypes, prepare for production, initiate logistics support of the EFV, and successfully complete the SDD phase.

The USMC intends to replace their AAV Amtracs with the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. As noted in a previous DID article, the EFV is the top land acquisition priority of the U.S. Marine Corps, with a number of new capabilities…

$113.6M Dutch Marines C4I Contract for General Dynamics BOWMAN System

BOWMAN

General Dynamics UK Ltd. has signed a EUR 94 million (USD $113.6 million) contract with the Royal Netherlands Navy to supply the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps with the New Integrated Marines Communications and Information System (NIMCIS). General Dynamics UK Limited is the prime systems integrator for NIMCIS, working with a team that includes ITT Defence Limited and Harris Systems Limited.

NIMCIS is a two-year program to replace legacy communications equipment in the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps with the BOWMAN C4I system, which is also being rolled out to the UK Armed Forces in a GBP 1.7 billion contract by General Dynamics UK Limited. NIMCIS will provide the them with a secure voice and data communications infrastructure capable of supporting a range of network-enabled command, control, communications, computing and intelligence systems. In addition to a standalone system capability for the Marines, a key feature of NIMCIS will be the interoperability it provides between the Netherlands, UK forces, and other allied forces. http://www.army.mod.uk/bowman/index.htm

Interview with SOCOM Commander Gen. Bryan D. Brown

General Bryan “Doug” Brown is the commander, United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM), MacDill Air Force Base, FL. As commander, he is responsible for all special operations forces of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps; active duty and reserve. In a recent interview with SOTECH Editor Jeff McKaughan, Gen. Brown discussed some of the changes in SOCOM’s procurement responsibilities and involvements, International SOF Week, key procurement programs, and the road ahead for SOCOM. India Defence has more.

$50M for USMC Riot Gear, Protection Items, and Non-Lethal Weapons

US Marines in Riot Gear
(click to expand)

Aaardvark Tactical, Inc. in Azusa, CA won a not-to-exceed $50 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for force protection capability sets. These sets provide non-lethal and anti-terrorism items to bases, installations, and expeditionary forces around the world.

There are three sets:

$20M for 6 More F/A-18 Reconnaissance Pods Et. Al.

ATFLIR Targeting Pod

Raytheon Technical Services Co., Indianapolis, Ind., is being awarded a not-to-exceed $20 million modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-05-C-0009) for the procurement of six shared reconnaissance pods, six common data link suites, and four data storage cartridges for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft. These kinds of systems can be extremely valuable; DID has covered Raytheon’s ATFLIR pods before, and the way they’ve changed F/A-18 operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Work will be performed in Indianapolis, IN (53.6%); Yeovil, United Kingdom (16.9%); Camden, NJ (10.6%); Logan, UT (4.4%); Danbury, CT (2.7%); Dallas, TX (2.6%); Clearwater, FL (2.5%); Albuquerque, NM (1.7%); Marion, VA (1.7%); Brea, CA (1.2%); Anaheim, CA (1%); Grand Rapids, MI (0.6%); and Majave, CA (0.5%), and is expected to be complete in March 2007. The Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD issued the contract.