AGM-129A loaded on a B-52 at Minot Air Force Base, ND
In 2007, a B-52 carried 6 unsecured nuclear-tipped AGM-129 ACM cruise missiles from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. The nuclear warheads were supposed to have been removed before the aircraft took off, but they remained on the aircraft unsecured at both Minot and Barksdale for 36 hours.
As a result of the incident, 4 USAF commanders were relieved of their commands; it also contributed to the resignation of top USAF officials. A Blue Ribbon Panel chaired by former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger recommended that the USAF and the US Department of Defense (DoD) overhaul its handling of nuclear weapons security. In response, the USAF set up an Air Force Global Strike Command to oversee all bomber- and missile-based nuclear weapons.
The incident also prompted the US Navy to beef up its nuclear weapons security, which is overseen by the Strategic Systems Program…
CBRN Training at Fort Leonard Wood (click to expand)
KCI Construction Co. in St. Louis, MO won a $20.7 million firm-fixed-price design-build contract to renovate 3 existing 3-story barracks, a dining hall and a battalion headquarters building at the US Army’s Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri.
Fort Leonard Wood is the home of the US Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence, the US Army Engineering School, Military Police School, and Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) School, the Third Basic Combat Training Brigade, and Joint Training Detachments from the US Marine Corps, US Navy and US Air Force.
Under the contract, KCI will provide all analyses, design, procurement, installation, plant, labor, equipment, materials, and transportation and perform all required work…
Hyperbaric Medicine Chamber at Brooks City-Base, TX
The US Air Force Research Laboratory awarded 6 contracts worth a combined $558 million for administrative and functional support, medical and biomedical research assistance, clinical and clinical hyperbaric medicine services, environmental bio-terrorism support, technology evaluation and research studies support services at Brooks City-Base, TX and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH.
Brooks City-Base is home to the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine (USAFSAM), [pdf] which is a center for aerospace medical learning, consultation, aerospace medical investigations and aircrew health assessments. The school operates a hyperbaric medicine chamber, which exposes patients to large amounts of oxygen to enrich blood and increase the body’s ability to heal.
The winners of the medical research support contracts are:
Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems in Ellicott City, MD won a $318 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity time-and-material task order to provide operational support services for the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) analytical support teams deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
The task order is part of a broader contract (W91CRB-08-D-0024) issued April 25/08 by the US Army Research Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) to provide operations support services to JIEDDO. Other companies that received JIEDDO support contracts were BAE Systems (W91CRB-08-D-0025), ITT (W91CRB-08-D-0026), and CACI (W91CRB-08-D-0027). Each contract has a maximum value of $453 million.
JIEDDO is responsible for developing and coordinating US Department of Defense efforts to defeat improvised explosive devices (IEDs)…
The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) in China Lake, CA awarded indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity multiple award contracts to 4 small business qualifiers for advanced technology products in support of NAWCWD’s Weapons Prototype Division. The aggregate maximum for these multiple award contracts is $8.2 million.
Products and support to be provided include electronic components and systems, mechanical components and systems, energetic materials and systems, chemical materials and components, fabrication, assembly, plating/ painting/ finish, and packing and shipping.
MWH Americas in Broomfield, CO and ARGO/LRS JV in Glen Burnie, MD have joined 42 other companies in being eligible to compete for $3 billion in US Air Force environmental work.
The two companies received contracts from the US Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment at Brooks City-Base, TX to compete for task orders to provide environmental requirements that include completion of conceptual design, construction, implementation, demolition, repair and operation and maintenance of installed systems prior to delivery to the government.
The work includes environmental remediation construction at US military facilities…
The US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) awarded 3 five-year indefinite delivery/ indefinite quantity contracts worth up to $85 million to provide advisory and assistance services to AFSOC headquarters.
The winners will compete for task orders under the Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance (SETA) IV contracts. The task orders will be for management and professional support services; studies, analyses, and evaluations; and engineering and technical services.
Not to be outdone by the US Air Force’s recent environmental contracts announcement, the US Army is paying out up $945 million in environmental remediation contracts to a number of the same firms.
The US Army Corps of Engineers awarded [pdf] shared-capacity indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts for worldwide environmental remediation services to 4 contractors.
The US Army awarded a total of $8.6 million in performance-based task orders for environmental remediation services at Army facilities in the United States and Puerto Rico.
The Army has two environment remediation programs for active/operating Army installations – the Installation Restoration Program (IRP) and the Military Munitions Response Program (MMRP). The IRP is a program to identify, investigate and clean up hazardous substances, pollutants, and contaminants resulting from past US Department of Defense (DoD) operations and activities. The MMRP addresses the safety, health, and environmental issues caused by past DoD munitions-related activities. Congress established the MMRP to address unexploded ordnance, discarded military munitions and munitions constituents located at sites on other than operational ranges.
The recent Army task orders are for both types of remediation programs…
Clark Construction Group in Bethesda, MD won a $230.7 million firm-fixed-price contract to construct a 526,255-gross-square-foot replacement facility for the US Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense (USAMRICD) in the Edgewood area of Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.
Supporting structures include medical gas utilities (O2, CO2, LN2, N2), conventional utilities (water, sewer, gas, central district chilled water, steam), electrical services (including emergency power generation), paving, walks, parking, fencing, storm drainage, communication and information systems, fire protection and alarm systems, and site improvements that include landscaping and new access drives.
USAMRICD is the US Department of Defense’s lead laboratory for the development of medical countermeasures against chemical weapons…
