2011-06: ITT Gets $569M SINCGARS Radio Order

Mounted RT-1523 SINCGARS

SINCGARS (Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System) is the U.S. Army’s current core tactical radio technology, ordered since 1983 and deployed in over 130 military platforms, such as Humvees (HMMWV), Bradley fighting vehicles, and transport trucks. SINCGARS uses 25 kHz channels in the VHF FM band, from 30 – 87.975 MHz, using single-frequency and frequency hopping (111 hops/sec) modes.

June 1/11: ITT Communications Systems, Fort Wayne, IN receives a $569 million firm-fixed-price contract modification of an existing contract to deliver SINCGARS radios, ancillary equipment, spare parts, and repair and engineering services. Work will be performed in Fort Wayne, IN, with an estimated completion date of Nov 29/11. One bid was solicited, with one bid received by U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD (W15P7T-05-D-J101).

Rapid Fire Evening 2011-06-02: Blast Mitigation

• The UK’s Chief of the General Staff warns that the British Army faces “serious decline” if the government does not fulfill its pledge to increase defense spending after the 2015 general election. Speaking at at the Royal United Services Institute’s Land Warfare Conference General Sir Peter Wall said spending on the army would “require a real-terms growth in the latter part of the decade” in order to avoid such a decline.

• The Deputy Director of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation says Russia and the United States will set up a maintenance center for Afghanistan’s Mil Mi-17 helicopters.

• Israel deploys an Iron Dome rocket interceptor outside a town 4km from the Gaza Strip.

• Skydex Technologies signs multiple contracts with the US Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to provide its blast mitigating Convoy Deck product for about 1,000 M-ATV vehicles. 

• DARPA’s crowd-sourced design crusade comes to the aircraft industry in the shape of a fly-off competition. UAVForge has been launched to demonstrate crowd-sourced design of small, persistent perch-and-stare unmanned aircraft. 

• As the Pentagon tries to save manpower, USAF proposes building an ‘intelligent robopallet’ to load cargo onto aircraft.

Rapid Fire Morning 2011-06-02: Heavy Fuel Engines for UAVs

• The latest ASDReports study predicts that a total of 154 submarines are to be procured between 2011 and 2021, costing $186.3 billion. While North America is expected to constitute 47% of sales, regional hostility among Asian states will drive the submarine market over the forecast period.

• A Department of Defense report to Congress indicates that the Lockheed Martin F-35 has emerged as a candidate to replace Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornets as a carrier-based air dominance fighter for the US Navy after 2025.

• The U.S. Navy asks businesses to develop innovative approaches to make sea air safe for lasers.