Rapid Fire: 2010-03-17

• GAO blocks $1 billion contract award to Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater, to train Afghan police, upholding DynCorp protest. Washington Post | Business Week | GovExec | DynCorp release

• European shipbuilder consortium (Fincantieri, Damen, Meyer Werft, STX, Thyssen Krupp) and EU sign grant agreement for 3.5 year BESST (Breakthrough in European Ship and Shipbuilding Technologies) project.

• Defense Threat Reduction Agency is looking for industry input for a robotic underground munition that would be an air-dropped mobile platform capable of drilling underground to deliver munitions. FedBizOpps notice | Ubergizmo.com | Tech Journal

• USJFCOM tests Lockheed Martin’s Valiant Angel system to sort through full-motion video from UAVs and sensors.

• New T-11 parachute doubles the number of paratroopers that can be deployed, according to US Army testing.

• L-3 gets $20.9 million order to build 4 F-16 flight simulators for the USAF.

• Canada awards C$14.9 million contract to M. Sullivan & Son to build a new 6,139 square meter health center at Canadian Forces Base Kingston.

The 2006 Saudi Shopping Spree: Pimp My (F-15S) Ride

On Nov 14/06, a US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notice hinted that Saudi Arabia was about to become the first F-15 operator to switch its Pratt & Whitney F100 jet engines for General Electric’s F110, as part of a wider-ranging upgrade program for Saudi Arabia’s multi-role air superiority and strike fighters.

There’s often a long delay between the DSCA announcement and a contract, let alone delivery. Saudi Arabia’s F-15S variant did become the first fleet to perform a re-engining switch, however, and other upgrades are also underway.

• The Saudi F-15S, and its Upgrades
  
• Contracts & Key Events
  
• Additional Readings
  

Up to $50M to MTN for DISA Broadband Satellite Services

MTN shipboard VSAT

The US Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) awarded a contract worth up to $50 million to MTN Government Services (MTNGS), a subsidiary of Miramar, FL-based MTN Satellite Communications (MTN), to provide global broadband satellite services.

Under the firm, fixed-price, 5-year contract, MTNGS will supply global C- and Ku-band satellite bandwidth to the agency.

The initial 6-month award is for $6.5 million. The contract includes 5 options, which if exercised, will bring the total contract value to $50 million…

Flash, Bang!: Rheinmettall Gets $28.8M Contract for Stun Grenade

MK13 flash-bang grenade

American Rheinmetall Munitions (ARM), a Stafford, VA-based subsidiary of Germany’s Rheinmetall Defence, received a $28.8 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract from the US Navy for an improved flash-bang grenade.

ARM currently supplies the MK13 Mod 0 BTV-EL flash-bang grenade to US special ops forces and other US military customers. The MK13 is a stun grenade that produces a blinding flash and deafening noise levels sufficient to daze and disorient the target, without causing permanent injury, the company explains.

The MK13 uses a delay fuze that detonates the grenade 1.5 seconds after the fly-off lever is released.