DID recently ran an article offering various lessons learned and analyses from Israel’s recent Round 1 conflict with Hezbollah. These included dismay at the state of Israel’s reserve forces and corruption within its procurement and maintenance efforts. Now Stella Korin-Lieber reports that elected Israeli representatives and government officials are demanding that any cash injection or increase in the Israeli defense budget (the FY 2007 request is reportedly for an additional 19.2 billion shekels, or $4.38 billion above the regular NIS 45 billion/ $10.26 billion) should be made conditional on the adoption of improved accountability measures.
According to her report, these measures reportedly include items such as:
The Anti-Personnel Obstacle Breaching System (APOBS) is used to clear areas and create footpaths for troops moving in an area with mines or wire obstacles. It replaces the Bangalore Torpedo, which was heavier, took longer to set up, and required four times the number of people to carry.
Now small business qualifier Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense Co. in Simsbury, CT has received a $12.6 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for production, testing, and delivery of APOBS. Video of APOBS in action can be found on the company’s web site [QuickTime, Low-Res 182 kb | Hi-Res 1.2 MB]. This contract also has the potential to increase in value very significantly…
In our August 24, 2006 article, ITL Optronics CEO Eli Venezia set out his vision re: the future of infantry equipment – which tended toward a far more decentralized and incremental model than the all-in-one “future force” initiatives under way in several Western militaries. He may yet get an opportunity to put that vision into practice – but if so, it may ironically be via a centralized “big-budget package” program.
Petah Tikva-based ITL Optronics Ltd. and its Mikal Ltd. “subsidiary”[1] recently won an initial $1 million grant from the US Marine Corps to develop “future battledress,” as part of a competition against General Dynamics Corp. for a $50 million tender. General Dynamics is currently the lead integrator for the US Army’s “Land Warrior” future force program
Archer Western Contractors in Atlanta, GA received a $62.4 million firm-fixed-price contract for design and construction of Infantry Brigade Combat Team Barracks Phase I at Fort Knox, KY. Work is expected to be complete by Sept. 1, 2008. Bids were solicited via the World Wide Web on July 21, 2006, and 3 bids were received by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Louisville, KY (W912QR-06-C-0048).
That flash memory stuff isn’t just good for your PDA, and the constant desire for more in order to do useful things isn’t just your personal hang-up. A September 6, 2006 announcement noted that Boeing subsidiary McDonnell Douglas Corp. in St. Louis, MO received a $5.2 million delivery order against a previously issued Basic Ordering Agreement (N00019-05-G-0026) for the procurement of Flash removable memory modules (RMMs) for F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Lot 26-28 Retrofit Aircraft and F/A-18E/F and EA-18G Growler Lot 29-30 Production Aircraft.
This order is in support of Engineering Change Proposal 06296 (ECP-06296), “Solid State RMM Redesign.” Work will be performed in St. Louis, MO and is expected to be complete in March 2007. The Naval Air Systems Command, at Patuxent River, MD issued the contract.
