Mar 08, 2012 15:30 UTC
In February 2012 the Inspector General (IG) at the US Department of Defense released a report [PDF] finding that DOD had awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) program funds to potentially ineligible contractors. The IG also found $1.3B worth of additional contracts that were inaccurately coded in the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation (FPDS-NG) federal procurement database. This reflects two sets of issues that have plagued federal and defense contracting for years.
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Mar 08, 2012 07:15 UTC
- EADS announced they grew yearly revenue by 7.4% to 49.1 billion euros in 2011 (about $65B). Growth was driven by Airbus Commercial (their best year ever) and Eurocopter (whose revenue was 47% military). The Airbus Military business lost 6.7% from 2010 to 2.5 billion euros, with an order book of 217 aircraft down from 241 with only 5 new net orders. The A400M generated sales of 758M vs 1.04B in the previous year. Astrium (34% defense sales) and Cassidian (92% defense sales) saw smaller topline decreases.
EADS overall defense revenue dropped by 6% to 11.6B while the defense backlog dropped by 9% to 52.8B. The group has increased its Euro sales to lower its exposure to currency risk and about half its US revenue in dollars is hedged by local procurement in the same currency. EADS was sitting on about $15B worth of net cash at the end of 2011, lending credence to talks of forthcoming acquisitions.
- Northrop Grumman produced a report [PDF] for the US-China Economic and
Security Review Commission on Chinese cyber capabilities:
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Mar 08, 2012 07:00 UTC
Latest update: Critical Design Review, milestone schedule.
Looking a little dated
In March 2010 the Navy awarded an $83 million contract for e-CASS development, production and testing. The AN/USM-636(V) Consolidated Automated Support System (CASS) is the US Navy’s standard automatic test equipment family. It provides intermediate, depot and factory level support, both ashore and afloat, for testing all Navy electronics, from aircraft to ships and submarines.
CASS has been around since 1990, and it’s time for an upgrade. The Navy is planning to replace the existing 5 CASS mainframe systems with the next-generation electronic CASS (e-CASS) system. US Naval aviation currently uses 713 CASS stations for testing of aircraft electronics. CASS is also used at the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) and in 9 foreign countries. As of early 2012 events appear to proceed according to plan.
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