$550M in F-18 Related Contracts

F/A-18E Super Hornet

Boeing subsidiary McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis, MO has been awarded almost $550 million in non-competitive contracts related to its F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Electronic Warfare Aircraft. The EA-18G is still on the drawing board, and is slated to replace the USA’s aging EA-6B Prowler. Work on both contracts will be performed in St. Louis, MO. The contracts cover training and weapons systems.

ROK Scandal for Thwarting Defense Procurement Offsets

The Korea Times reports that state auditors caught the Defense Procurement Agency using certificates from civilian brokers that falsely claimed to have made millions of dollars worth of exports, allowing the DPA to go ahead with corresponding imports of goods such as small helicopters. South Korea (aka. the Republic of Korea) generally requires foreign countries or firms buy some of Korea’s own defense goods as part of procurement deals. Korea mandates that these offsets exceed 30% of any procurement purchase or include technology transfers.

Donga reports that the imports included helicopters and naval weapons purchased between 2000 and 2003 for roughly $43 million. A former DPA official and another civilian produced certificates for $13 million of goods sold to foreign arms maker that Korea’s Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) alleges never changed hands. In return, the two brokers are alleged to have pocketed $190,000 from foreign companies.

K-Bar to Pick Up After Ivan at NAS Officer’s Club

Pensacola NAS OC
(pre-Ivan)

Hurricane Ivan was no gentlemen, yet it managed to both enter and exit the Pensacola Naval Facilities’ Officer’s Club. That’s why Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root was signed on last week for a $5.7 million task order to put the Officer’s Club to rights, along with two buildings assigned to Serial Task 18-1 at the Naval Air Station (N62467-05-D-0062).

Work won’t be completely finished until February 2006, making the officers’ dry spell last about a year and a half by the time the reopening rolls around. 28 bids came in for the general Ivan clean-up contract that was awarded back in January for an amount not to exceed $350 million. Four bids came in for this particular task order, managed by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southern Division in North Charleston, SC.