GD-C4S Wins $375M TDN-DDS Communications Contract

General Dynamics C4 Systems in Taunton, MA won a ceiling $375 million firm-fixed-priced, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the Tactical Data Network Data Distribution System – Modular (TDN DDS-M). Delivery of the production quantities of TDN DDS-M is expected to begin in Sep. 2008. Work will be performed in Taunton, MA and is expected to be complete March 2013. Contract funds in the amount of $692,327 will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This contract was competitively awarded under a full and open, best value competition, with 4 offers provided. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, VA issued the contract (M67854-08-D-7036).

Based on commercial-off-the-shelf equipment, the TDN DDS-M comprises routers, switches, computers, power supply and other equipment needed for deployed Marine maneuver elements to use the Defense Information System Network (DISN), Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet) and Non-secure Internet Protocol Router Network (NIPRNet), as well as coalition and joint-forces networks. components include the LAN Services Module (LSM), Application Service Module (ASM), Communication Security Module (CSM), LAN Extension Module (LEM), Power Module (PM), WAN Service Module Version 1 (WSMV1), WAN Service Module Version 2 (WSMV2), Data Storage Module (DSM), Multimedia Distribution Module (MDM), Multimedia Control Module (MCM), Enterprise Switch Module (ESM), Information Assurance Module (IAM), and controller laptop PCs with a hard carrying case. The TDN-DDS-M system is an upgraded version of the Tactical Data Network (TDN)-Data Distribution System-Replacement (DDS-R), which was first awarded to General Dynamics in November 2006. Initial deliveries of TDN-DDS-M systems are scheduled for the third quarter of 2008. GD-C4S release | November 2006 pre-solicitation notice.

Force Protection: Blast-Resistant Manufacturer Headed for Implosion?

Nowhere to run?

Force Protection’s CFO Michaek Durski resigned recently, after management “discovered significant accounting errors during its year end review.” The firm has also seen American MRAP vehicle orders for its Force Dynamics joint venture tail off, even as competitors like BAE Systems and Navistar continue to receive large orders. A March 15/08 Bloomberg report claims that the firm has has enough orders to last 8 more months in production, plus ongoing maintenance and support business. Which explains why their new manufacturing facility in Roxboro, NC designed to enhance manufacturing capacity, may shut down before it ever ramps up.

With at least 4 shareholder lawsuits underway, the latest news raises questions concerning the company’s survival, as talk of buyouts and even collapse floats in the air. Force Protection’s management says the firm has the resources to continue. A look at the firm’s difficulties and its resources, however, show a challenging set of business problems ahead…

“Digital Thunder” Camo for Slovakia’s MiG-29s

Slovakian MiG-29
in Digital Thunder

In January 2006, “Hyperstealth’s Fractal Camo Patterns Successfully Tested For Aircraft” discussed digital/ fractal camouflage patterns, which have become a global trend. The Canadian forces’ CADPAT was soon followed by digital patterns on US Marine Corps clothing (MARPAT, Disruptive Overwhite), and derivative patterns for the US Army, Navy, and Air Force. Jordan’s armed forces have switched to a new pattern called KA2, and applied it to land vehicles and F-16s as well as military uniforms.

Now the Slovakian Ministry of Defence has announced that all of its MiG-29 fighter jets will be converted to digital camouflage, using a pattern developed in 2006 by the camouflage design team of Dr. Timothy R. O’Neill and HyperStealth Biotechnology Corp. President/CEO Guy Cramer. As Hyperstealth’s release notes:

“Once the mechanism to apply the camouflage was in place O’Neill and Cramer set out to combine the Symmytry Axis Disruption of current Russian aircraft camouflage with the American aircraft camouflage Blending technique and merge these with a proprietary digital fractal camouflage to enhance the concealment under combat conditions. Optimal pattern, colors, scale were determined and the result was the HyperStealth Digital Thunder Camouflage.”

For the Farnborough 2008 air show, a Slovakian MiG-29 demonstrated the team’s follow-on “Cloud Cam” design. Hyperstealth release.

$98M for USAF Depot Maintenance Help at OO-ALC, AMARG

Slovakian MiG-29
(now AMARG)

Ogden Air Logistics Center in Utah and Arizona’s Aircraft Maintenance and Regeneration Group in Tucson AZ have received authorization to issue up to $98 million in delivery orders under the Depot Onsite Contract Augmentee Team program. The winning teams will support USAF personnel performing maintenance and related tasks at those locations, and the multiple-award structure will put each delivery order up for bid among the winning contractors. This is money well spent – AMRAG in particular is one of the few units of the US federal government that actually makes money. Winning contractors included:

• Affordable Engineering Services, LLC of Totowa, NJ (FA8224-08-D-0003-0001)
  
• MI Support Services, LP of Denton, Texas (FA8224-08-D-0003-0010)
  
• Defense Support Services, LLC of Mount Laurel, NJ (FA8224-08-D-0005-0001)
  
• J.K. Hill and Associates, Inc. of Virginia Beach, VA (FA8224-08-D-0006-0001)
  
• L-3 Communication Vertex Aerospace of Madison, MS (FA8224-08-D-0009-0001)
  
• MacAulay-Brown, Inc. of Dayton, Ohio (FA8224-08-D-0011-0001).