Rapid Fire: 2010-03-01

• “Taking Back the Infantry Half-Kilometer” – US infantry poorly equipped for rifle engagements in Afghanistan?

• EADS expects final deal on A400M military transport plane; Euro 3.5 billion funding deal in works.

• US Navy, House Armed Services Committee members, clash over FY 2011 shipbuilding budget.

• ThyssenKrupp’s Swedish subsidiary Kockums to build Sweden’s next-generation submarine.

• Israel’s Plasan secures $170 million subcontract from Oshkosh to supply 1,460 M-ATV protection kits; see Oshkosh’s recent win for 1,460 M-ATVs.

• US Army’s NETFIRES non line-of-sight launch system (NLOS-LS) fails recent tests at White Sands.

• US Marines go green.

• DARPA working on foliage-penetrating radar signal processing workstation to detect infantry moving in dense foliage.

$49.1M to NGC to Maintain MH-53E’s Minesweeping Gear

AQS-24 loading, MH-53E

Feb 25/10: Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. in Annapolis, MD received a $49.1 million cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for services and materials for depot level repair and maintenance of AMCM systems including the high-speed, high-resolution AN/AQS-14A side-scan sonar; AN/AQS-24 mine hunting system; AN/ALQ-141 acoustic minehunting/ minesweeping system; CP-2614/T common post mission analysis; and USM-668 intermediate level test equipment and swivel slip-ring assembly.

All of these systems are used by the US Navy’s MH-53E Sea Dragon mine hunting helicopters. With tensions rising around critical global shipping chokepoints, the USN’s new Osprey Class minehunters retired early and sold to other countries, its Littoral Combat Ship program late, and its associated MH-60S AMCM systems still a years away from full deployment, the MH-53Es and their gear are extremely important to the US Navy.

Work will be performed in Panama City, FL, and is expected to be complete by February 2015. Contract funds in the amount of $100,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/10. This contract was not competitively procured by The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division in Panama City, FL (N61331-10-D-0009).

Northrop Grumman to Support OSD under $70M MOBIS Order

Northrop Grumman Corp. received a 5-year, $70 million task order to provide business, technical and programmatic support to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD).

The task order was issued under the GSA’s Mission Oriented Business Integration Services (MOBIS) contract vehicle.

The MOBIS program offers a range of management and consulting services intended to improve an agency’s performance…