Israel has launched an ambitious program to digitize its Command, Control, Communications, Computer, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) architecture to increase the operational speed and agility of its ground forces. Built around a wireless backbone supported by software programmable radios, this Digital Army Program (DAP, known as Tsva Yabasha Digitali in Hebrew, or “Tsayad”) will build a system of systems including a software-based data radio called Green Elad; a layer called TIGER (Tactical Intranet Geographic dissEmination) that will tie DAP into legacy systems; the TORC2H system which seems similar to the U.S. “Blue Force Tracker“; a lightweight tactical operations center; plus a number of other command and communications applications, some of which were put on hold while DAP was fleshed out.
The price tag to develop software waveforms for the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) jumped $339 million in the last quarter of 2004, according to a U.S. Defense Department report released last month.
DOD launched the JTRS program in the late 1990s to develop a family of tactical radios based on software-programmable architecture that have networking capabilities and can work on a wide range of frequencies at varying data rates. It has sometimes been described as a computer with a radio interface. DID has covered issues with the JTRS Cluster 1 program in some detail, including both the potential benefits if the system works and the April 26 “show cause” letter to Boeing that could result in contract cancellation.
DefenseTech.org notes that amidst the recommendation of the BRAC Commission 2005, there are some seemingly-small changes that have the potential to make an outsized impact on the future of the American military. Several of the Pentagon’s most important centers of science and technology development – including DARPA, the Office of Naval Research, the Army Research Office, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research – are all going to leave their old offices behind for the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD.
Lockheed Martin Logistics Management in Greenville, SC received a $9.4 million firm-fixed-price contract modification to provide production engineering, aircraft modification and data for that modification, and over and above work for EC-130J Super J aircraft number 2. Modification time is 16 months at Lockheed Martin in Greenville, SC.
This will allow the Air Force Special Operations Command’s 193rd Special Operations Wing at Harrisburg International Airport, PA to have a seventh EC-130J Commando Solo III aircraft assigned and modified to conduct Psychological Operations, Combat Delivery or Command and Control missions.
Thales SA said sales rose to EUR 2.009 billion in Q1 2005 from EUR 1.941 billion posted in the same period last year. Its 5.4% organic growth is due mainly to a sharp jump in revenues from its Naval division. The full release may be found here, and AFX News excerpts can be found here.
Established in France more than a century ago, Thales is a global electronics company serving Aerospace, Defence, and Security & Services markets worldwide. With operations in more than 30 countries and 60,000 employees, the Thales Group generated 10.3 billion euros in revenues in 2004.
Composite Engineering in Sacramento, CA received a $19.8 million firm-fixed-price contract modification to provide for Air Force Subscale Aerial Target, Exercise of Low Rate Initial Production Option for Lot 2 (quantity of 36 AFSATs) and the procurement of Exhibit B-Data. Work will be complete by March 2007. The Headquarters Air Armament Center, Eglin Air Force Base, FL issued the contract(F08635-02-C-0005, P00019).
Joint venture San Juan Construction Inc./John Laing International Ltd. in Montrose, CO is being awarded an $18.2 million firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a solid waste management facility and dental clinic replacement at Diego Garcia. Work will be performed in Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territories, and is expected to be complete by May 2007. This contract was issued as a sole source contract pursuant to 10 U.S.C. Section 2304(c )(1), Services Available from Only One Responsible Source. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii issued the contract (N62742-05-C-1303). See also: U.S. Naval Support Facility, Diego Garcia
Raytheon Co. in Tucson, AZ is being awarded an $11.2 million firm-fixed-price contract to provide Full Service Support (FSS) for the Standard Missile-1 (SM-1) program of U.S. Allied Nations. The SM-1 was phased out of the U.S. Navy in 2003; it is an earlier version of the Standard Missile-2 currently used on AEGIS-equipped ships for anti-air defense. An even newer variant, the SM-3 Standard, is currently being tested as part of the USA’s ballistic missile defense plans.
In preparation for the U.S. Navy’s withdrawal of its SM-1 compatible ships, support has transitioned to Raytheon who leads a team of companies that provides users with continued access to spares and repair services.
