FLIR to Supply Surveillance Systems to Middle East/North African Customers

FLIR Star SAFIRE III
thermal system image
(click to view larger)

FLIR Systems received a $6.7 million contract to supply infrared multi-sensor surveillance systems to unidentified customers in the Middle East and North Africa.

The surveillance systems are based on a commercially-developed/military-qualified (CDMQ) model that provides EO/IR products deployable on airborne, maritime, and land platforms.

FLIR is supplying its Star SAFIRE III and Ultra Series surveillance systems:

Up to $124.9M to LM for US Naval Air Terminal Ground Handling Services in Italy

P-3Cs on the flightline
at Naval Air Station Sigonella

Lockheed Martin in Bethesda, MD won a $14.6 million firm-fixed-price contract to provide air terminal ground handling services at US Naval Support Activity Naples and US Naval Air Station Sigonella in Italy.

The contract contains a 7-month base period and 5 one-year options, which, if exercised, bring the total value of the contract to $124.9 million.

Naval Support Activity Naples and the Naval Air Station Sigonella both support the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet.

VSD to Provide Patrol Boat Training Systems to Iraqi Navy

Swiftships’ 35-meter
coastal patrol boat
(click to view larger)

VSD, a Virginia Beach, VA-based subsidiary of QED Systems, received a $23 million contract from prime contractor Swiftships Shipbuilders to provide the Iraqi Navy with training and training systems.

Up to $18.7M in Military Sealift Command Ship Overhaul Work

The mission of the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) is to support US forces by delivering supplies and conducting specialized missions across the world’s oceans.

The command operates approximately 110 noncombatant, civilian-crewed ships that replenish Navy ships, conduct specialized missions, preposition combat cargo at sea around the world, and move military cargo and supplies used by deployed US forces and coalition partners.

To keep those ships sailing, the MSC awards contracts for ship overhaul and maintenance on a regular basis. The command recently awarded 2 contracts, worth up to a combined $18.7 million, to overhaul hospital ship USNS Mercy and oil supply ship USNS Guadalupe…

$168M to Sikorsky for H-60 Black Hawk Supplies and Support

UH-60 fires flares in Iraq

Sikorsky Aircraft, a Stratford, CT-based unit of United Technologies, received a $168.7 million firm-fixed-price contract for H-60 supplies and technical, engineering and logistical support services for a period of 12 months.

The contract is in support of overhaul, repair, and recapitalization of H-60 Black Hawk helicopters at Corpus Christi Army Depot.

First deployed in 1978, the Black Hawk is the Army’s front-line utility helicopter used for air assault, air cavalry, and aeromedical evacuation units.

Sperry Marine to Supply Radar for Virginia-class Block III Subs

Virginia Block III bow mods

Sperry Marine, a Charlottesville, VA-based unit of Northrop Grumman, received a $20.9 million firm-fixed-price contract (N00024-09-C-5304) to supply AN/BPS-16(v)5 navigation radar systems for 8 US Navy Virginia-class Block III nuclear attack submarines.

The AN/BPS-16(v)5 is an X-band submarine navigation radar and electronic navigation system that provides navigation surface surveillance. The radar includes a naval electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS-N) which runs on Sperry Marine’s voyage management system (VMS) software.

The Virginia-class Block III submarines are being built by General Dynamics Electric Boat and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding.

US Army Armor School Move to Fort Benning Generates More Construction Work

As part of the transfer of the US Army Armor School from Fort Knox in Kentucky to Fort Benning in Georgia, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) awarded another contract to build vehicle maintenance instruction facilities.

USACE awarded a $15.8 million firm-fixed-price task order to Whiting-Turner Contracting in Baltimore, MD for the design and construction of a vehicle maintenance instruction facility (VMIF) at Fort Benning. The order was issued under a $500 million multiple award task order contract (W912HN-07-D-0055) awarded [pdf] to Whiting-Turning for military construction work in Georgia.

In August 2009, Carothers Construction in Oxford, MS received a $32.5 million contract to build a VMIF at the fort.

$243M to Draper Laboratory for Trident II D5 Guidance System Support

Trident II D5 Test Launch

The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, MA received 2 contract modifications worth a combined $243 million to provide engineering support and repair services for the Trident II D5 guidance system.

The Trident II D-5, the sixth generation member of the US Navy’s fleet ballistic missile program, is a 3-stage, solid propellant ballistic missile with a range of more than 4,000 nautical miles.

Deployed aboard Ohio Class SSBNs and British Vanguard Class SSBNs, the Trident II uses the Mk6 LE inertial guidance system for navigation.

Flipper Can Find It: US Navy Uses Dolphins to ‘Sniff’ for Mines

Dolphin with mine marker
(click to view larger)

Just as the dog’s keen sense of smell makes it well suited to detect land mines, so the US Navy has found that the biological sonar of dolphins, called echolocation, makes them effective at locating and marking sea mines.

To take advantage of these skills, the Navy Marine Mammal Program studies, trains, and deploys dolphins, as well as sea lions, to carry out various underwater tasks for the Navy.

As part of the program, the Fleet’s Marine Mammal Systems (MMS) use dolphins and sea lions to find and mark the location of underwater objects…

Lockheed Martin Gets Order to Retrofit up to 52 USMC LAV-C2 Vehicles

Marines showin’ some LAV

Lockheed Martin Systems Integration in Owego, NY received a firm-fixed-price contract, worth up to $32.3 million, to retrofit 52 Marine Corps Light Armored Vehicle Command and Control (LAV-C2) vehicles with improved C2 capabilities.

The contract includes an initial order for the retrofit of 30 vehicles for $19.8 million, with the option of retrofitting 22 additional vehicles for $12.4 million.

This is a follow-on to a 2006 contract awarded to Lockheed Martin for LAV-C2 prototypes…