AM General L.L.C. in South Bend, IN received a $595.8 million modification to a firm-fixed-price contract (DAAE07-01-C-S001) for M1151A1s with B1Kit, and to establish ceiling prices for armor kits. DID has covered the new M1151Hummers before, including their field-installable up-armoring kit.
Work will be performed in South Bend, IN, and is expected to be complete by Dec. 31, 2007. This was a sole source contract initiated on July 17, 2000 by the Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command, Warren, MI is the contracting activity.
During Desert Storm in 1991, MLRS rocket launchers earned the nickname “steel rain” for their M26 DPICM warhead’s ability to cover a 200m wide area with small grenades. The same system developed to break Soviet-bloc armies worked exceedingly well against Iraq’s troops and Republican Guard. Fast forward now to a different kind of war, where “steel rain” isn’t a useful solution for fighting in crowded neighborhoods. On the other hand, a highly accurate rocket that can be fired by ground forces 35 miles away and arrive on target, in under a minute, under any conditions, with a 200 pound warhead that will take out a fortified house… is extremely useful. Enter the M30 GMRLS.
Col. H. R. McMaster, Commander of 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and Operation Restoring Rights’ senior U.S. officer, discusses the weapon’s usefulness in the successful campaign around Tal Afar, Iraq:
Orbital Technologies Corp. (Orbitec) in Madison, WI received a $24.9 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity with cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to help develop and commercialize Orbitec’s unique vortex rocket engine technology. It’s all part of the US Air Force integrated high payoff rocket propulsion technology program, and the space-based infrared system III (SBIRS III) program will attempt to integrate vortex engine propulsion technology with state-of-the art tank and feed system technology to demonstrate a cohesive universal small launch vehicle capability.
When most of us think of vortex technology, we think of vacuum cleaners. So why are vortex rocket engines so great, and what progress has been made so far?
Engineering Research and Consulting Inc. in Huntsville, AL received a $72.4 million cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursement, firm-fixed-price contract for research in propulsion sciences. This involves on-site theoretical and experimental scientific and engineering research and development in rocket propulsion at the Air Force research laboratory located at Edwards Air Force Base, CA. Solicitation began March 2006, and work will be complete in September 2011. The Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, CA issued the contract (FA9300-06-C-0023). The contractor shall function in government/contractor teams.
A strong effort in basic research is required, but elements of the broader research and development scope and technology transition are also included. Research will focus on discovery, synthesis, characterization, and development of energetic and non-energetic materials, research, development, and modeling of novel propulsion methods and devices, and combustion modeling and aero physics interactions. Typical work performed includes propellant research, analytical chemistry, the study of fracture mechanics, investigating aero physics interactions, et. al.
