The Government of Canada has requested a possible sale of 94 Link 16 Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS)/Low Volume Terminals (LVT), 1,000 MIDS batteries, plus testing, integration and other related elements of program and logistics support. The estimated cost is $34 million. The prime contractor will be the BAE/Rockwell Collins joint venture Data Link Solutions of Wayne, NJ.
Jam-resistant Link 16 radios automatically exchange battlefield information – particularly locations of friendly and enemy aircraft, ships and ground forces – among themselves in a long-range, line-of-sight network The operational advantages provided by at-a-glance portrayal of targets, threats and friendly forces, on an easy-to-understand, relative position display, are obvious. The MIDS LVT 1 was developed by a multinational consortium to provide Link 16 capability at a lower weight, volume and cost than the Joint Tactical Information Data System (JTIDS).
The Raytheon Co. in Waltham, MA received an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract to provide logistics support services to operate and maintain up to four forward based X-Band transportable radars to support the Ballistic Missile Defense System. The maximum potential value of the contract is $260.9 million. Most work will take place at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems in Woburn, MA from 26 May 2005 through 25 May 2010. The Missile Defense Agency issued the contract (HQ0006-05-C-0016).
Meanwhile, the final touches are being put on the 280-foot (85-metre) tall sea-based X-band radar system that’s expected to ship out on a 20,000-mile (32,000-km) trip from Ingleside/Corpus Christi, TX to Adak, AK in the Aleutian Islands. The $815 million Raytheon radar, a distant relative of the X-band radar used by police to detect speeding drivers, is designed to detect incoming missiles instead.
Responding to an urgent request from warfighters, Lockheed Martin expanded the capabilities of its Predator anti-tank weapon and delivered 400 rounds to the U.S. Marine Corps in less than six months, prompting praise from, SRAW project officer Michael Woodson at the Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, VA.
The U.S. Marine Corps recently asked Lockheed Martin to modify the shoulder-fired, short-range Predator anti-tank weapon into a direct-attack urban assault weapon for use in Iraq. Renamed the Short-Range Assault Weapon-Multiple Purpose Variant (SRAW-MPV), the new urban assault missile has a multiple-purpose blast warhead instead of a top-attack anti-armor warhead, enabling it to defeat a variety of targets such as buildings and bunkers as well as light-armored vehicles, “technicals,” et. al.
Aviation Week is currently running a profile on General Atomics CEO Tom Cassidy and his unusual approach to military production, and DefenseTech.org has some coverage. DID has run a number of articles covering the Predator UAV’s production and use, and under current plans the U.S. Predator fleet will expand considerably. While the General Atomics approach is an extremely risky strategy in more stable military fields, it offers food for thought as a possible business model for hot and quickly evolving areas:
“Tom Cassidy isn’t waiting for the paperwork to go through. Cassidy, the president and CEO of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, is expanding the Predator production line, even building eight additional Predator Bs — a more capable version of the aircraft — without orders. “They’ll procrastinate for three years,” he says of his military customers. “Then when they want to buy, they think it’s like going down to the Ford dealership and picking one off the lot.”
In order to support recent U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) policies “for the Unique Identification (UID) of Tangible Items” The Uniform Code Council, Inc. announced today that it has published the Guidelines for Application of EAN.UCC Unique Identification (UID) Markings to Items in the Supply Chain. The Uniform Code Council is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the development and implementation of standards-based global supply chain solutions, including the Universal Product Code (UPC) bar-coding system.
Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control in Orlando FL received a $52.9 million firm-fixed-price contract for 1,655 Production Phase Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD) Tail Kits: 1,618 for the U.S. Air Force (with warranty), 15 USAF tail kits (no warranty), 22 Foreign Military Sales tail kits to Oman, and 100 Production Phase Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser – Extended Range (WCMD-ER) kits for the USAF.
The Wind Compensated Munitions Dispenser [WCMD “Wick-Mid”] is an inexpensive tail kit that uses inertial guidance to steer cluster bombs from a known release point to precise target coordinates while compensating for launch transients, winds aloft, surface winds and adverse weather. The WCMD kit thus turns “dumb” cluster bombs into accurate “smart” weapons. Currently, the dispenser is achieving an accuracy of within 30 feet. Aircraft employ WCMD from a wide range of altitudes, in adverse weather, using various tactics such as level, dive, and toss bombing, and bombing on coordinates.
Imagine if the first soldiers to enter an enemy city could map it street by street, recording every window and doorway of the urban battlefield in an accurate 3D model that could instantly be relayed to their comrades at base – and updated in near-real time. Thanks to funding from the U.S. military and cooperation from the Virginia engineering firm SET Associates (Science, Engineering, Technology), engineers at the University of California, Berkeley have found a way to do just that. Of course, this same technology can also make maps for use by emergency services, urban planners and even tourists.
Right now, a detailed urban model can take many months to create, but the new “virtualised reality” technologies can shrink that to hours. Here’s how it works:
Lockheed Martin received a $37.8 million contract to provide the U.S. Air Force with Precision Engagement production kits to modify A/OA-10 “Warthog” close air support aircraft 72 each A/AO-10 Precision Engagement Spiral 1 Modification Kits and Associated Test Equipment. At this time, $28.3 million of the funds have been obligated. Solicitation began July 2004 by the Headquarters Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill Air Force Base, UT (FA8202-05-C-0004). Lockheed Martin release.
The production kits, a result of work by Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and Southwest Research Institute, are one component of the Precision Engagement program, the largest single upgrade effort ever undertaken for the USA’s A-10 fleet. It will give the A/OA-10 precision strike capability sooner than planned, and combines multiple upgrade requirements into one program rather than executing them as standalone projects. The entire fleet will be modified over 5 years, at an estimated total contract value of $168 million. While O/A-10 aircraft continue to outperform technology-packed rivals on the battlefield, this set of upgrades is expected to help keep the aircraft current until the current fleet’s planned phase-out in 2028.
Lockheed Martin received a $37.8 million contract to provide the U.S. Air Force with Precision Engagement production kits to modify A/OA-10 “Warthog” close air support aircraft 72 each A/AO-10 Precision Engagement Spiral 1 Modification Kits and Associated Test Equipment. At this time, $28.3 million of the funds have been obligated. Solicitation began July 2004 by the Headquarters Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill Air Force Base, UT (FA8202-05-C-0004). Lockheed Martin release.
The production kits, a result of work by Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and Southwest Research Institute, are one component of the Precision Engagement program, the largest single upgrade effort ever undertaken for the USA’s A-10 fleet. It will give the A/OA-10 precision strike capability sooner than planned, and combines multiple upgrade requirements into one program rather than executing them as standalone projects. The entire fleet will be modified over 5 years, at an estimated total contract value of $168 million. While O/A-10 aircraft continue to outperform technology-packed rivals on the battlefield, this set of upgrades is expected to help keep the aircraft current until the current fleet’s planned phase-out in 2028.
