McDonnell Douglas, St. Louis, MO received a $19,919,140 non-competitive, firm fixed price, indefinite-delivery / indefinite-quantity order for spares line items used on the surfaces of the F/A-18 Hornet fighter. Work will be performed at St. Louis, MO and is expected to be completed by October 2008. The Naval Inventory Control Point is the contracting activity (N00383-01-D-020H-0020).
Bea Maurer, Inc. of Fairfield, VA was awarded a $5,942,559 firm fixed price delivery order under its GSA Federal Supply Schedule contract GS07-F-0173J for 7,203 space heater arctic systems, of which 6,441 will be for active forces and 762 for reserves. This order was competitively awarded via GSA advantage. Work will be performed at Fairfield, VA and is expected to be completed by February 2006. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, and The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, VA is the contracting activity (M67854-05-F-3015).
Boeing Co. is selling its Rocketdyne business to United Technologies Corp. of Hartford, Conn., for approximately $700 million in cash. Rocketdyne builds booster engines for the Space Shuttle and Delta rockets, as well as propulsion systems for missile defense systems. Boeing IDS President and CEO Jim Albaugh said that Boeing would continue to build some launch systems, but that the sale also reinforces Boeing IDS’ strategic business aim to be “horizontally – not vertically – integrated.” Boeing Co.: News Release.
As the demand for armored scout units in Iraq soars, the U.S. Marine Corps is reviewing its entire array of combat vehicle programs and is considering revising procurement plans. Commanders in Iraq have kept light armored forces busier than planned, which has led to requests for additional battalions. According to preliminary estimates, the Marine Corps would be looking to add 5 light-armored reconnaissance (LAR) companies. Each company would be assigned to a Marine light armored reconnaissance battalion. The Corps has not yet decided, however, how it will come up with additional light armored vehicles, or LAVs, for the new companies. Among the options being contemplated are to purchase new vehicles or to bring ashore existing LAVs that are stocked aboard sea-based floating warehouses and saved for emergencies. National Defense also reports that the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle procurement plans remain on track, as are LAV upgrades and additional variants. The MEFFV program is reportedly being “revisited,” however, and the Army’s Future Combat Vehicle program will not be a joint program with the USMC. National Defense: Marine Corps Ponder Options to Expand Armor Forces in Iraq
Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc., was awarded a $165,422,738 cost-plus-award-fee contract for the development of Integrated Avionics Suite (IAS) software upgrades in support of the H-1 helicopter upgrade program. In addition, this contract provides for incorporation of the software upgrades into existing AH-1W Cobra attack helicopters and UH-1N transport helicopters, to convert them to AH-1Zs and UH-1Ys, respectively. Work will be performed in Woodland Hills, Calif. (70 percent); Hurst, Texas (25 percent), and China Lake, Calif. (5 percent), and is expected to be completed in February 2010. [DoD]
The Army News Service reports that the tiny Raven drone’s aerial reconnaissance value has quickly earned the respect of battalion commanders in Iraq, filling a niche at the battalion level when larger UAVs are unavailable. Weighing in at 4.5 pounds, with a 3-foot body and a 5-foot wingspan, the Raven UAV is so small that it’s launched by hand.
The U.S. Defense Department’s fiscal year 2006 research and development (R&D) budget request cuts off funding for congressional earmarks, which totaled $1 billion in FY ’05. DOD is requesting more than $70 billion for R&D in FY ’06, with $5.5 billion going to basic and applied research, according to White House science advisor John Marburger. Rather than funding earmarks, the FY ’06 budget increases “programs of priority to military leaders,” Marburger said in his written testimony. “Earmarks are not consistent with using funds most efficiently to target military priorities or to support the best research for military purposes.” Aerospace Daily & Defense Report: Defense R&D Budget Cutting Off Funding For FY ’05 Earmarks
According to rumours printed in Space Daily Business News, a Lockheed Martin Corp. official claims the firm has won a $532 million contract to provide upgraded PAC-3 Patriot missile interceptors to the U.S. Army, the Netherlands, and Japan.
In an attempt to solve a problem that has plagued the Pentagon in the past couple of years, Northrop Grumman has its eyes set on a small patch of ground – the last 400 yards between a soldier and his target – as the place to pull transformation together. “I have tasked some of the best minds in my company to push forward our work in a wide spectrum of technologies – and associated tactics – that will take transformation to the street level,” said Northrop Grumman CEO Ron Sugar in his Feb. 15 speech at the National Press Club.
A request for off-loading equipment last summer by a member of the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force operating in Southwest Asia has resulted in new equipment in-theater. Working with packaging and materiel experts as well as CH-47 crew members to shape the requirements and design concepts, the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass. developed a field-expedient fix that met key criteria by using commercially-available conveyor rollers along with wooden ramp extensions, complementing existing off-load extensions. It was developed within 90 days, and 120 roller systems were sent to Southwest Asia after the evaluation. Another order of 60 is on the way. The system is an alternative to the Helicopter Internal Cargo Handling System (HICHS), which has some reported field drawbacks in certain situations and is also reported to have had availability issues.
