In DID’s January 2006 “Cobham Catches $A 1B Australian Coastwatch Contract,” we described Australia’s innovative approach to maritime border patrol, explained the program’s assets and structure, and noted that Cobham had been named the preferred bidder (vs. Raytheon Australia) for the next phase of the twelve-year, A$ 1 billion CMS04 program. That status was finalized in a contract as of March 3, 2006.
This announcement has in turn triggered a pair of contracts from Cobham subsidiaries for additional aircraft and accompanying modifications. As noted in DID’s earlier Coastwatch post, the current Surveillance Australia fixed-wing aircraft roster currently includes:
The Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base, CA has issued a pair of contracts to Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. in Littleton, CO, related to the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. The EELV program was designed to reduce the cost of government space launches through greater vehicle modularity, component standardization, and contractor competition, with system requirements that emphasized simplicity, commonality, standardization, new applications of existing technology, streamlined manufacturing capabilities, and more efficient launch-site processing.
Crosslink Magazine’s Winter 2004 article “EELV: The Next Stage of Space Launch” offers an excellent briefing that covers EELV’s program innovations and results, while a detailed National Taxpayer’s Union letter to Congress takes a much less positive view. The two contracts include:
Hentzen Coatings in Milwaukee, WI received a delivery order amount of $9.2 million as part of a $14.1 million firm-fixed-price contract for chemical agent resistant coatings for vehicles. Work will be performed in Milwaukee, WI, and is expected to be complete by April 12, 2007. There were two bids solicited on Nov. 30, 2004, and three bids were received by the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command in Texarkana, TX (W911RQ-05-D-0013).
