At the end of August 2011, the U.S. Army Contracting Command in Warren, MI issued a maximum $475 million firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery / indefinite-quantity multiple-award-contract for the Army Targetry Systems program. Items bought include Stationary Infantry Targets, Stationary Armor Targets, Moving Infantry Targets, Moving Armor Targets, Sound Effect Simulators, plus associated computers and software to run the ranges used for soldier qualification. Work location will be determined with each task order, which will be open to competition among the winning firms. The contract will run until May 3/16, and all 5 bids received qualified. The winners were:
Lockheed Martin Corporation in Orlando, FL (W56HZV-11-D-0146)
Italian-built Lupo Class frigates currently form the high-end backbone of Peru’s navy, with 8 of the 3,000t Carvajal Class ships serving. Four were built under license from 1984-1987, and the 2nd batch of 4 ships was decommissioned by the Italian Navy and sold to Peru in 2004-2006. Within that 2nd group, BAP Bolognesi [FM-57] is currently undergoing upgrades, adding new electronics, radar, and decoy countermeasures, and reportedly replacing the Italian Otomat anti-ship missiles with French Exocet MM40 Block IIIs.
Now, a US DSCA request indicates that their anti-aircraft systems are also set for an upgrade.
The US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has a central role in addressing the threat of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Their Research and Development Enterprise [PDF] is especially wide-ranging, covering everything from protective gear, to predictive and decision-support algorithms, to ScanEagle UAV variants that can monitor WMD levels, to co-operative non-proliferation programs, to development of new weapons like the Massive Ordnance Penetrator. Some of this work has even led to commercial spinoffs, vid. Sanofi Pasteur’s acquisition of VaxDesign and its DARPA/DTRA-financed MIMC model: an in vitro tool capable of predicting human immune response to specific bio-threat agents.
Aug 30/11: The President and Fellows of Harvard College in Cambridge, MA receive a $6.7 million cost reimbursement contract for research to develop technologies and approaches to predict natural viral evolution. We’d all benefit from that, but we’re still likely to be surprised by what actually happens.
Work will be performed in Cambridge, MA (39%); Laurel, MD (37%); Baltimore, MD (9%); Ann Arbor, MI (9%); and Pittsburgh, PA (5%). Work is expected to be completed by Aug 31/12. The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) manages the contract (HR0011-11-C-0093).
AeroVironment unveils its lightweight man-portable Shrike VTOL UAV. Shrike is the result of a contract from DARPA to develop a persistent perch and stare (SP2S) UAV.
BAE Systems announces a successful testing of its Mk 38 MOD 2 Tactical Laser System (TLS) at Eglin Air Force base, Eglin FLA. The test system fired against air and surface maritime targets.
