Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $5,069,914 modification to previously awarded cost plus incentive fee basic ordering agreement N00019-98-G-0104 for the integration of the Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) into the Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) System. This effort will bring new production JSOWs delivered after 1 April 2003 in compliance with current Global Positioning System (GPS) security requirements for weapon-based GPS. Work will be performed in Tucson, Ariz., and is expected to be completed by May 2001.
International Space Station managers have set a July 12 launch date for Russia's long-awaited Zvezda Service Module, a critical element that has balked Station assembly for years and threatens to trigger another long delay if it doesn't reach the two modules already in orbit.
Pentagon acquisition chief Jacques Gansler said last week that the decision to stick with the winner-take-all approach for the Joint Strike Fighter was not driven by concerns about the U.S. defense industrial base, but some congressional and military leaders have insisted all along that this is, in fact, the issue. Gansler himself even made the point earlier this year.
AVIALL INC. was named as a global distributor for Honeywell Aircraft Lighting and Displays Products, designed and manufactured by Grimes Aerospace Co., a unit of Honeywell. Under the agreement, Aviall will stock and distribute Honeywell's entire Grimes aircraft lighting and displays product lines, including products used in general aviation, business aviation, helicopter, and airline markets. Aviall has worldwide distribution rights, with the exception of direct sales to Japan, Indonesia, Israel and Italy.
Lockheed Martin and Compaq Computer Corp. are joining forces to go after information technology sales in the commercial and government markets. The two companies have established a strategic alliance that will enable them to work together to identify and pursue new business.
Raytheon Co. won a $31.4 million contract - with an additional $9.9 million in options - from the U.S. Navy to integrate, test, modify and support the Joint Signals Intelligence Avionics Family Modernization (JMOD 1) on the EP-3E aircraft. "With JMOD 1 technology, we are laying the foundation for integrating future joint modernization initiatives that will provide improved collection and reporting capabilities for fleet commanders," said Phil LePore, VP of Raytheon Co. and chairman and CEO of Raytheon Technical Services Co.
Polymer Light Emitting Diode Consortium, c/o Planar Systems Inc., Beaverton, Ore., was awarded on June 22, 2000, a $6,072,858 other transaction for polymer light emitting diode color displays on flexible substrates. Work will be performed in Beaverton, Ore. (Planar Systems Inc., 29%), Waltham, Mass. (3M Co., 14%), Princeton, N.J. (Princeton University, 5%), Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Rockwell Collins, Rockwell International Corp., 13%), and Thousand Oaks, Calif. (Rockwell Science Center, 38%). Work is expected to be completed by December 31, 2001.
Lockheed Martin said its second X-35 Joint Strike Fighter concept demonstrator completed structural loads testing at the company's facility in Palmdale, Calif. The aircraft tested was the X-35C, the carrier variant designed for the U.S. Navy, and Lockheed Martin's second demonstrator. Ninety hydraulic actuators applied stress to different parts of the aircraft to simulate aerodynamic loads in flight.
The Royal Norwegian Navy signed a $1.5 billion contract with Spanish shipbuilder Bazan for five advanced frigates, and Bazan signed a subcontract for about a third of that amount with Lockheed Martin for the ships' integrated weapon system (IWS). Bazan will deliver the first ship in 2005. Norwegian industry will provide key elements of the IWS and will participate in the shipbuilding effort. The IWS is a derivative of the U.S. Navy's Aegis combat system.
Although "there is a very strong, if not unanimous" view in the U.S. that some sort of national missile defense system is required, NATO alliance leaders still have questions concerning the threat, according to NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson. While leaders have discussed the American threat assessment and "diagnosis," they are "counting on that the views of the allies will be a crucial ingredient in any decision" that President Clinton makes later this year on deployment.
Rockwell Collins Government Systems, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is being awarded a $14,812,816 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-00-C-0115 to exercise an option for 332 AN/ARC-210(V) Electronic Protection Radio Systems (96 RT-1556B/ARC, 6 RT-1803, 50 RT-1824C/ARC, and 180 RT-1794(C)/ARC radios and various ancillary equipment) for the U.S. Army (1 RT-1794(C)/ARC), the U.S. Air Force (2 RT-1556B/ARC and 178 RT-1794(C)/ARC), and the U.S. Navy (94 RT-1556B/ARC, 1 RT-1794(C)/ARC, 6 RT-1803, and 50 RT-1824C/ARC).
Booz Allen&Hamilton Inc., McLean, Va., is being awarded a $157,052 increment as part of an $11,131,439 cost-plus-award-fee contract to provide contract support services for daily operations in the areas of: Requirements Management, Systems Management, and Plans and Administration for the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, Central Imagery Tasking Office. Work will be performed at various locations in the continental United States, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
A Massachusetts company said it has received a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Products Agency (DARPA) to develop additional military and commercial uses of the company's 360-degree immersive imaging technology.
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) have assembled a group of former defense and foreign policy officials to provide advice on national security.
Northrop Grumman Corp., Rolling Meadows, Ill., is being awarded a $42,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for 25 Low Altitude Infrared Targeting and Navigating (LITENING) II pods applicable to the F-16D aircraft. This effort supports foreign military sales to Israel. Expected contract completion date is Feb. 28, 2003. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-00-C-0006).
Northrop Grumman chose Mercury Computer Systems to supply multiprocessor technology for the F-16 fighter radar. Mercury, of Chelmsford, Mass., said the deal is worth $6.8 million.
Comsat General inked a deal with the U.S. Navy to provide satellite data communications to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station located at the center of Antarctica. "Our service will be used in concert with other satellites to supplement the critical communications links to the South Pole and will provide scientists with worldwide access to scientific data, the Internet, as well as operational and technical communications with NSF facilities in the U.S.," said John Klingelhoeffer, VP and general manager of Comsat General, a subsidiary of Comsat Corp.
DIFFERENT RULES: Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael E. Ryan explains why U.S. planes continue to strike Iraqi air defenses on almost a daily basis, although he declines to say whether Baghdad is replacing what is being damaged or destroyed because it's a combat operation. Responding to a reporter's question, he contrasts current rules governing flights of U.S. and U.K. jets enforcing no-fly zones over Iraq with UN rules of engagement several years ago during Operation Deny Flight in Bosnia.
Boeing and Lockheed Martin supported the Pentagon's announcement Thursday that it would stick with the winner-take-all approach in the Joint Strike Fighter program, but retain the option of competing in the production phase.
News of the official blessing of Airbus Industrie's A3XX came as no surprise to Boeing Friday, and officials there continue to believe a super jumbo project is not in the best interests of their shareholders. "It is not true that Boeing sees absolutely no market for an aircraft larger than the 747 category," said a spokesman for Boeing. "We just see it as a small, limited market that doesn't justify the enormous - $12 to 15 billion - cost."
GOING THROUGH CHANGES: Mars experts at Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego have a new mission in life - watching the imagery coming back from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) to see if there is liquid water flowing around on the surface right now. Dramatic pictures released last week show gullies and other landforms indicative of running water overlaying such youthful features as sand dunes, but it remains an open question if the water is still running.
Pacific Aerospace&Electronics Inc., based in Wenatchee, Wash., signed a $1.5 million contract with UPS Aviation Technologies, a subsidiary of United Parcel Service (UPS), to provide optically enhanced liquid crystal displays. "With our technology, UPS Aviation has a direct sunlight readable LCD display solution with unmatched visual performance," said Werner Hafelfinger, COO of Pacific Aerospace&Electronics. "We believe that sunlight readable optical technology is becoming a fundamental building block of future display systems."
