Both of those reports have now come true. The Australian government has officially designated ASC Pty Ltd. subsidiary ASC Shipbuilder as the preferred shipbuilder for the SEA 4000 program. Australian Defence Minister Robert Hill announced that the 3 destroyers will be built at ASC’s shipyards in Adelaide, South Australia, shifting the Australian shipbuilding industry away from its current center in Melbourne, Victoria. Several important details remain to be finalized, however.
The Defense Commissary Agency’s Resale Contracting Division in Fort Lee, VA has awarded $77.5 million in requirements type contracts for “beef products” for various commissaries located in the western U.S. The contract completion date is June 30, 2006. Thirty-three firms were solicited and seven offers were received.
Cree Inc. in Durham, NC, is being awarded a $12 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to develop prototype high voltage switches and diodes using Silicon Carbide.
Work will be performed in Orlando, FL (78%) and Oswego, NY (22%), and is expected to be complete by April 30, 2008. This was a sole source contract initiated on May 26, 2004 by the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command in Redstone Arsenal, AL (DAAH23-03-G-0009).
Rolls Royce Corp. in Indianapolis, IN is being awarded a $5.4 million firm-fixed-price contract for AE2100D3 Engines used on the KC-130J refueller aircraft. The KC-130J is based on Lockheed’s privately-developed C-130J Hercules aircraft, which recently had a narrow escape from full funding cuts. $1 billion has been requested for KC-130J purchases during FY 2006, and current FY 2006 defense budget proposals may impact how many of these aircraft are placed under the control of the US Marines vs. the US Air Force.
The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division in St. Inigoes, MD has exercised a $16.9 million ceiling-priced option with BAE Systems Applied Technologies Inc. in Rockville, MD. The estimated level of effort for this option period is 349,440 man-hours.
This modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00421-02-C-3235) is for engineering, technical, and logistics services for the production, lifetime support engineering, and in-service engineering of radio communications system/command, control, communications, computer and intelligence systems. Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, MD (96%); Mayport, FL (2%) and Chesapeake, VA (2%), and this contract option will end by May 2006.
L3 Communications Link Simulation and Training in Arlington, TX received a $10.9 million modification to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-fee contract (N61339-00-C-0002) to conduct an engineering change proposal for the Longbow Lot 8 Core Upgrade for all suites of the Aviation Combined Arms Tactical Trainer (AVCATT) for the U.S. Army.
Staveley Instruments in Kennewick, WA is being awarded a $10.4 million firm-fixed-price contract to provide for Eddy Current Flaw Detector Units to perform Non-Destructive Inspection on various aircraft. Solicitation began August 2002. The Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Robins Air Force Base, GA issued the contract (FA8518-05-D-0010).
Recording knowledge learned through battle-tested situations is more important than ever. To improve Marines combat effectiveness the Marine Corps Center for Lessons Learned (MCCLL) has created an online Lessons Management System to ensure this information will be readily available. This web-based system contains documented experiences from before Operation Desert Storm, including some from Vietnam.
“One of the things we are finding new with the current MCCLL is we are relearning lessons again and again,” said Maj. Kevin Mooney, liaison officer, II Marine Expeditionary Force (FWD) and reservist from Hercules, CA “If we go back to World War II and look at an after action report, you can see the repetition over the years. We’re doing the same things wrong now that we were doing back then. We are also doing the same things right that we were doing back then, but the lessons learned usually come hard.”
