Buried deep beneath Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has monitored the skies above North America for more than 50 years. During the height of the Cold War, NORAD was the US and Canada’s early warning system for a Soviet 1st nuclear strike.
Following 9/11, NORAD moved to improve its ability to detect and monitor aircraft originating from within the US and Canada. One of those efforts, funded by the US Air Force, is development of the Battle Control System-Fixed (BCS-F). BCS-F integrates data from civil air traffic sensors, as well as airborne, ground and naval sensors, into an integrated air picture that allows commanders to better monitor the North American airspace.
BCS-F prime contractor ThalesRaytheonSystems in Fullerton, CA recently received an $8 million contract (FA8722-10-C-0001) to provide interim support for the program…
Blimpgate? Former USAF official alleges USA was deprived of counter-IED monitoring when a former Space Command General illegally countermanded a direct order by former USAF chief of staff Gen. Jumper.
The era of the huge military satellite programs that cost tens of billions of dollars appears to be over. At least as far as the US Congress is concerned. Last year, lawmakers shut down the $20 billion plus Transformational Communications Satellite (TSAT) System program after huge costs overruns and skepticism about the system’s unproven technology.
At the same time, the US Air Force is moving ahead with development of small satellites that can be developed quickly in response to tactical needs and launched within days. These small satellites would be constructed using preexisting modules to meet the communications and ISR needs of commanders in the field. They are called plug-and-play (PNP) satellites and are being developed by the US Air Force Research Lab (AFRL).
AFRL recently awarded a contract worth up to $200 million for work on the PNP satellite architecture…
Dynamics Research Corp. (DRC) in Andover, MA received a task order valued at $13.9 million under the DoD’s Logistics, Maintenance and Supply Support (LMSS) contract to support the F-16 System Program Office in the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
Under the terms of the task order, DRC will provide program management and technical services assisting with the modernization and maintenance of the F-16 weapon system. The work also includes supporting the USAF and various foreign military sales F-16 programs.
DRC is 1 of 6 prime contractors awarded the LMSS contract in March 2008 to provide lifecycle management services across DoD. The contract ceiling is $300 million. The other prime contractors are…
Raytheon Co. in Tucson, AZ received a $202.7 million modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract for procurement of 196 FY 2010 Tomahawk Block IV all-up-round (AUR) missiles.
The Tomahawk AUR missile includes the missile that flies the mission, the booster that starts its flight, and the container (canister for ships and capsule for submarines) that protects it during transportation, storage and stowage, and acts as a launch tube.
The Tomahawk Block IV missile is capable of launch from surface ships equipped with the vertical launch system (VLS) and submarines equipped with the capsule launch system (CLS) and the torpedo tube launch system (TTL)…
US military construction money usually flows out from Washington, DC, to various parts of the country and the world. The amounts are often large and can have a major impact on a community’s economy.
However, there has been a growing trend for that same money to go into the communities surrounding the Washington, DC area. Just in the last month, the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Washington has awarded up to $1.25 billion in construction contracts for work in Washington and the Maryland and Virginia suburbs.
In early January 2010, NAVFAC awarded up to $750 million to 5 firms for DC area construction, and on Jan 27/10, 4 small business qualifiers received construction contracts from NAVFAC Washington worth up to $500 million…
When US Navy carrier battle groups are rapidly deployed to hot spots, they need supply ships fast enough to keep up with them. That is the purpose of the US Military Sealift Command’s T-AOE-6-class fast combat support ship.
The T-AOE-6-class, which is the MSC’s largest combat logistics ship, can carry more than 177,000 barrels of oil; 2,150 tons of ammunition; 500 tons of dry stores; and 250 tons of refrigerated stores. There are currently 4 in service.
L-3 Systems in Camden, NJ recently won a contract worth up to $44.7 million to design and produce the ships’ machinery control systems…
Traveling wave tube (TWT) amplifiers are used to amplify radio signals to high power. They are commonly used by the US military in satellite transponders, radar, and electronic warfare systems.
The US Navy uses the TWT ampliers for electronic countermeasure (ECM) systems on aircraft. One application is to increase the radar reflectivity of a decoy deployed by an aircraft. The enhanced decoy fools an enemy surface-to-air or air-to-air missile into thinking that the decoy is the aircraft.
The Navy recently awarded a $13.2 million contract to small business qualifier dB Control to supply TWT ampliers for aircraft ECM systems…
Reuters reports that draft FY 2011 budget documents show the Pentagon targeting at least 7 programs for cancellation. Nothing is final yet, and the Pentagon will not comment, but here’s the rundown.
Two of those programs are familiar. One is the F-35’s alternate-engine F-136 sub-program. The other is the C-17. The USAF has been trying to cancel production of this heavy transport plane for years, but lack of faith in the Pentagon’s mobility requirements studies, and frequent testimony that airlift into theater is a bottleneck, have led Congress to add funds to the final military budget year after year. Those efforts have had an export spinoff as well, as open production lines have allowed new orders from Australia (4), Britain (3 more), Canada (4), NATO (3), Qatar (2), and The UAE (6), with India expressing interest of its own (10) in late 2009. FY 2011 seems set to give the Department of Defense another attempt to end the program, which is currently set to go out of production at the end of FY 2012.
Other programs Reuters marks for the chopping block include:
Blimpgate?
