China to Buy 38 IL-76 Heavy Transports, IL-78 Tankers

IL-76 vs. C-130H

Media sources agree that China’s military will sign a contract with Russia for the purchase of 38 Ilyushin IL-76MD “Candid” military transport aircraft and derivative IL-78KM “Midas” air-air refueling tankers – but they do not agree on the price. Estimates range from $850 million to $1.5 billion.

The contract is to be signed on Thursday in Russia’s Black Sea coastal city of Sochi.

US Air Force Issues Billion Dollar Space Operations Center RFP

Washington Technology reports that the US Air Force issued a request for proposals for its Air and Space Operations Center Weapon System Integrator procurement on Sept. 9, 2005. Proposals for the 10-year contract, which consists of a three-year base period and seven one-year options, are due on Oct. 11, 2005. The Air Force has not specified an award date, but Reston, VA-based market research firm Input estimates the award will be made in November 2005.

Under the contract, the Air Force will hire a lead systems integrator to manage IT in its air and space operations centers worldwide. The systems integrator will integrate mission and infrastructure systems built by multiple contractors onto a common, service-based IT platform that supports the Air and Space Operations Center’s mission. Valuations for this contract by industry analysts range from $600 million to over a billion dollars. The RFP is available online.

Dyncorp Wins Up to $290M to Train Afghan Police Forces

DynCorp International in Irving, TX received a contract from The US Department of State to train, equip, and build the capacity of Afghanistan’s police forces. The potential value of the award is $117.2 million for the first year and $85.3 million and $87.5 million respectively, for two option years. This is a follow-on award for DynCorp International, which has been training police in Afghanistan since 2003.

DAGR GPS Receiver Program Hits $120M

DAGR GPS

Rockwell Collins Government Systems, Cedar Rapids, IA received a $5.2 million firm fixed price contract modification. This contract modification exercises production options for the purchase of an additional 2,148 Defense Advanced Global Positioning Satellite Receivers (DAGRs) and accessories.

To date, the US and its allies have spent approximately $120 million for DAGR systems, and received nearly 48,000 systems excluding initial test deliveries (see all related contracts).

$22.1 Million more to Upgrade Prophet SIGINT/EW Vehicles

Prophet

L3 Communications Titan Corp. in San Diego, CA received a $22.1 million modification to a fixed-price-incentive-fee contract to add Block III Spiral I Electronic Support AN/MLQ-40(V)4 Capability to AN/MLQ-40(V)3 Prophet Block I Vehicles. This DID article describes the Prophet land-based signals intercept/ electronic warfare program in detail. L3 Communications Titan Corp. is the prime contractor for the program.

Work on this contract will be performed in San Diego, CA (98%) and Melbourne, FL (2%), and is expected to be complete by May 7, 2006. This was a sole source contract initiated on Aug. 1, 2005 by the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command at Fort Monmouth, NJ is the contracting activity (DAAB07-01-C-L539). See all DID coverage of the Prophet system.

$7.8M for E-8C J-STARS Electronics Upgrades

E-8C JSTARS Connectivity

Northrop Grumman Corp. in Melbourne, FL received a $7.8 million fixed price incentive firm contract modification. This contract definitizes a change order involving the electronics and radar antennas of the E-8C J-STARS aircraft.

JSTARS provides a picture of the ground situation equivalent to that of the air situation provided by AWACS. JSTARS is capable of determining the direction, speed and patterns of military activity of ground vehicles and helicopters. It then sends this information via secure data links with air force command posts, army mobile ground stations and centres of military analysis around the world.

$6.9M for Kuwaiti F-18 Electronics

Kuwaiti F/A-18C

Boeing subsidiary McDonnell Douglas Corp. in St. Louis, MO received a $6.9 million firm-fixed-priced order against a previously awarded Basic Ordering Agreement (N00019-03-G-0009) for the procurement of 43 Combined Interrogator Transponders and 43 KIV-6 Cryptographic Computers for the Kuwaiti Air Force for F/A-18 aircraft under the Foreign Military Sales Program.

Work will be performed in Greenlawn, NY (95%) and St. Louis, MO (5%), and is expected to be complete in April 2008. The Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD issued the contract.

Modulant Wins a Pair of IT Contracts

Small business qualifier Product Data Integration Technologies Inc., DBA Modulant in Charleston, SC, received a $60 million subcontract in an Accenture SAP implementation for the Defense Logistics Agency.

It also won a $10.4 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed fee, performance-based contract to support many current and future projects as required by Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in Charleston, SC. That contract also includes four one-year options, which if exercised, would bring the total cumulative value of the contract to $47.6 million, and the total value of both wins to over $100 million. Activities under the second contract would include: