Defense transformation and the move toward network-centric warfare (NCW) is on the agenda of countries as diverse as the USA, Britain, Israel, Singapore, South Korea, et. al. On October 6, 2005, Lt. Gen. David Hurley officially released the Australian Defence Forces’ own updated Network Centric Warfare Roadmap, outlining the steps to achieve the goal of a combined joint seamless Future Joint Operations Concept force by 2020. Operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, he said, continue to demonstrate the operational benefits of enhanced information flows and agility: “The NCW Roadmap is a dynamic document that provides an overview of the milestones that we view as critical to the realisation of our vision for NCW”. It achieves this by outlining:
The ADF’s future NCW capability requirements,
The ADF’s current NCW capabilities, and
How the ADF’s future NCW capability requirements are to be realized
How the plan itself may change as the effort progresses
General Dynamics Canada, along with its Australian partners ADI Limited and Tenix Defence, has been selected as the Preferred Prime System Integrator for the first phase of Australia’s Battlespace Communications System (Land) project, referred to as JP 2072. Phase I is valued at AUS $97 million (USD $74 million), and the project as a whole has a potential value of AUS $800 million (USD $608 million) if all options are exercised.
Five bidding teams had emerged in this competition:
Boeing has received a $153 million Mission Planning Enterprise Contract (MPEC) delivery order for a common bomber joint mission planning system for the US Air Force’s B-1 Lancer, B-2 Spirit and B-52 Stratofortress bomber aircraft. Boeing will be the lead systems integrator, teaming with BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, and the U.S. Air Force’s Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center. Boeing is one of five contractors selected in November 2004 by the U.S. Air Force for MPEC, an indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity program with a $2 billion total value over five years.
Rockwell Collins Government Systems in Cedar Rapids, IA received a $49,999,999 firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract to provide Rockwell Collins Security Devices for Global Positioning System receivers. These devices include Auxiliary Output Chips Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Modules, and Precise Positioning Services Modules. GPS anti-spoofing technology can be found in GPS/INS guided weapons, and also in some GPS-related hand-held devices made for military use. Work will be performed by Rockwell Collins in Coralville, IA, and will be complete by September 2010. The Headquarters Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base, CA issued the contract (FA8807-05-D-0004).
DYNCORP International LLC in Irving, TX received a $9.8 million estimated value modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, cost-reimbursable contract (N00019-01-C-0019) that exercises an option for aircraft maintenance and logistical life cycle support for ten Navy and Marine Corps UC-35 aircraft. The UC-35 fleet consists of Cessna Citation 560 Ultra V UC-35C and Citation Encore UC-35D executive jets, which are used as a VIP transports and for priority cargo duties.
Small business qualifier BSE/Parson Joint Venture in Anchorage, AK received a maximum $15 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for environmental services at Marine Corps installations under NAVFAC Atlantic. The exact location of specific projects will be designated under each task order, and may include work locations outside the continental U.S. as required by the government.
This contract was 100% set-aside for an Alaska Native corporation under the Small Business Administration 8(a) Program, and will be complete in September 2006. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Atlantic in Norfolk, VA issued the contract (N62470-05-D-0004).
