On Nov 17/09, Eurofighter GmbH signed a 5-year contract with NETMA (NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency) to provide operational support for the Italian Air Force’s Eurofighter Typhoon fleet. This Integrated Supply Chain Management Service (ISCMS) contract is worth over EUR 600 million. Thus far, Italy has ordered a total of 96 Eurofighters (28 Tranche-1, 47 Tranche-2, and 21 Tranche-3A) to serve as its primary air superiority fighter, with secondary strike capabilities on some newer models.
Eurofighter GmbH CEO Enzo Casolini described the Aeronautica Militare’s ISCMS service as similar to Britan’s Typhoon Availability Service model, which revolves around performance based on availability rates, rather than hours worked or parts consumed. ISCMS will include equipment availability, repair of general systems equipment, provision of spares, and the maintenance of aircraft ground equipment. A separate performance-based contract with BAE covers the Italian Typhoon fleet’s CAPTOR radars and DASS defensive systems.
The ISCMS contract will support the Italian Air Force at the air bases of Grosseto, Gioia del Colle; and at the main logistic base of 1st RMV, Reparto Manutenzione Velivoli of Cameri. Work will be led by Eurofighter consortium partner Finmeccanica, who will undertake the job on behalf of Eurofighter GmbH using its subsidiaries Alenia Aeronautica, SELEX Galileo, SELEX Communications; and the firm ELETTRONICA SpA Finmeccanica release [PDF].
BAE’s growing expertise with “contracting for availability” performance-based support are netting it important international contracts, as well as British ones.
Britain is already implementing the Typhoon Availability Service (TAS) for its Eurofighter fleet. With 4 of 72 Typhoons delivered to the Royal Saudi Air Force, and flying operations commencing, on Oct 12/09, BAE systems announced a detailed 3-year contract for “The Salam Support Solution.” This is a full availability-based service contract, which also includes Saudi pilot training in the UK and training for RSAF maintenance technicians. The deal’s value was not disclosed, but Saudi support contracts tend to be very large due to the range of contractor services they need.
BAE Systems followed that up by announcing a 5.5 year performance-based contract worth more than GBP 400 million (currently about $654 million), to support the ECR-90 radars and defensive aids sub systems (DASS) on the core partner nations’ Eurofighter fleets. Now, SELEX Galileo is announcing a large sub-contract…
Live fire exercise at Udari Range, Kuwait (click to view larger)
L-3 Communications’ MPRI division received a $162.7 million cost-plus-fixed-fee follow-on contract to support the US Army Central Command’s Kuwait Observer-Controller Team program.
Under this award, MPRI will provide training for US and Coalition forces at the Udari Range in Kuwait as a subcontractor to Raytheon. The initial contract period is for 7 months and includes 2 option years that would extend it to April 2012.
Ascend Intelligence in Arlington, VA received a $14 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract from the US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) to supply the tactical ground reporting (TIGR) system for US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
First tested in Iraq in 2007, TIGR is a multimedia reporting system for US troops at the patrol level, allowing users to collect and share information to improve situational awareness and to facilitate collaboration and information analysis among junior officers. TIGR complements existing reporting systems that focus on the needs of users at battalion or brigade level and above.
TIGR has a map-based user interface and supports multimedia and GPS input, as well as distributed search and caching capability. It uses software that runs on a laptop and taps into multiple databases containing intelligence about a particular area…
Rome Research Corp., a Rome, NY-based subsidiary of PAR Technology Corp., received a 5-year contract worth up to $43.1 million to provide operator level personnel to the 21st Signal Brigade for its work operating and maintaining US Army Global Information Grid (GIG) facilities within the continental United States.
The US Department of Defense’s GIG represents a globally interconnected, end-to-end set of information capabilities and processes for collecting, processing, and managing information for US troops, policymakers, and support personnel. Each US military service operates a segment of the GIG…
