Posts Tagged ‘ americas – usa ’

Are trans-Atlantic defense partnerships viable? Wall Street Journal weighs in . India’s air force to pay Euro 560 million for 12 AW101 helicopters made by AgustaWestland. US and South Korea exercises prelude to that country taking over wartime operational control of its forces in 2012. Defense against WMD a focus. DoD article | CCTV.com report | AFP | Korea Herald | JoongAng Daily Navistar expects orders for US military trucks to raise profits in 2010 . L-3’s STRATIS division wins $230.9 million contract recompete to provide intelligence support services to US and multinational forces in Iraq ; division also snags $24.8 million US Special Ops imagery contract. Lockheed Martin gets $36.8 million contract to support night vision systems and components for AH-64 Apache helicopter at the US Army’s Arizona Support Center.

Read the original post: Rapid Fire: 2010-03-12

GBU-39: Gotcha. (click to see results) March 10/09: Boeing subsidiary McDonnell Douglas Corp. in St. Louis, MO won an $8.8 million contract for 100 “focused lethality munition” variants of the GPS-guided Small Diameter Bomb Phase I. At this time, the entire amount has been committed by the 681th ARSS at Eglin Air Force Base, FL (FA8672-10-C-0013, P00002). The GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb is a specially shaped 250-pound bomb. Its thin and pointed shape gives it extra punch against buildings and hardened targets, its pop-out wings give it very good glide range, and its JDAM-like GPS/INS guidance kit gives it precision. GBU-39 Phase II bombs will add the ability to strike moving targets. While there have been true stories of “ cement bombs ” designed to lower collateral damage, “ Focused Lethality Munitions ” take a higher-tech tack. This Small Diamater Bomb variant changes the bomb’s casing and internal fill, in order to produce more devastating effects within a smaller area. A carbon-fiber bomb body disintegrates instead of fragmenting, which adds explosive force nearby but largely removes sharpnel issues beyond. Inside, metal particles turn the explosive material into short-range projectiles. The result is especially useful in urban areas, in situations where friendly elements are close to the impact zone, and in campaigns fought using contemporary American counter-insurgency doctrine.

Read more from the original source: Boeing Wins Initial Contract for “Focused Lethality Munitions”

BAMS Operation Concept (click to view full) FY 2009-2011 budgets, $25 million to Curtiss-Wright. (March 2/10) The world’s P-3 Orion fleets have served for a long time , and many are reaching the end of their lifespans . In the USA, and possibly beyond, the new P-8 Poseidon Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft will take up the P-3’s role. While the P-8’s base 737-based airframe offers strong service & maintenance arguments in its favor, the airframe is expensive enough that the P-3s cannot be replaced on a 1:1 basis. In order to extend the P-8 fleet’s reach, and provide additional capabilities, the Poseidon is expected to work with at least one companion platform under the BAMS (Broad Area Maritime Surveillance) and/or PUMAS (Persistent Unmanned Aerial Surveillance) programs. DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record. This DID FOCUS Article explains the winning BAMS concept, the program’s key requirements, and its international angle. We’ll also cover ongoing contracts and key events related to the program, which chose Northrop Grumman’s navalized RQ-4N Gloal Hawk. Next-Gen Maritime Patrol Systems: Issues and Options BAMS: Requirements and Missions BAMS: The RQ-4N Maritime Hawk BAMS: The International Angle BAMS: The Program [updated] BAMS: Contracts & Key Events [updated] Additional Readings & Sources (more…)

Excerpt from: Kicking it Up a Notch: Poseidon’s Unmanned BAMS Companion

The May 2008 IEEE spectrum magazine, in “ The Hunt for the Kill Switch ”: “Feeding those dreams is the Pentagon’s realization that it no longer controls who manufactures the components that go into its increasingly complex systems. A single plane like the DOD’s next generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, can contain an “insane number” of chips, says one semiconductor expert familiar with that aircraft’s design. Estimates from other sources put the total at several hundred to more than a thousand. And tracing a part back to its source is not always straightforward. The dwindling of domestic chip and electronics manufacturing in the United States, combined with the phenomenal growth of suppliers in countries like China, has only deepened the U.S. military’s concern.” (more…)

Read more here: Secure Semiconductors: Sensible, or Sisiphyean?

USNS Sacagawea (click to view full) $824.6 million for construction of T-AKE 13 and T-AKE 14. (Feb 26/10) The entire T-AKE dry cargo/ ammunition ship program could have a total value of as much as $6.2 billion, and a size of 14 ships, as the US looks to modernize its supply fleet. The House Armed Services Committee put together an FY 2008 budget that added $456 million for another T-AKE ship – though this figure would not cover all of the internal systems etc. that must be added to make it operational. The FY 2009 budget added 2 more. In total, the US Navy has contracted for 14 T-AKE ships. How do T-AKE ships fit into US naval operations? What ships do they replace? What’s the tie-in to US civilian industrial capacity? How were environmental standards built into their design? And what contracts have been issued for T-AKE ships to date? DID has answers in this FOCUS Article… T-AKE Ships: Mission & Capabilities T-AKE Ships: The Civilian Industry Angle T-AKE Ships & the Environment T-AKE Ships: Contracts & Key Events [updated] Additional Readings & Sources (more…)

View post: US Navy on the T-AKE As It Beefs Up Supply Ship Capacity

Cray to supply 3 DoD supercomputers. (Feb 24/10) The US Department of Defense (DoD) High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) was set up in 1992 to modernize DoD’s supercomputing capabilities. The HPCMP was assembled out of a collection of small high performance computing departments run by the services, each with supercomputing capabilities independent of the others. The HPCMP brings these capabilities together. The program provides supercomputer services, high-speed network communications, and computational science expertise that enables the DoD labs to develop new weapons systems, prepare US aircraft for overseas deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq, and assist long-term weather predictions to plan humanitarian and military operations throughout the world… (more…)

Continued here: DoD Supercomputers: Speeding Along the Digital Highway

Taiwan air force is not ready to withstand an attack from China, US DIA report warns. AP | Reuters France to buy 260 Javelin missiles and 76 launchers from US for $70 million. SAIC gets $351 million task order to provide technical and engineering services to US Naval Surface Warfare Center. Lockheed Martin-Northrop Grumman venture Longbow secures $86 million contract to support fire control radar on UK Apache AH Mk-1 attack helicopter. United Technologies’ Sikorsky Aircraft selected for DARPA mission-adaptive rotor (MAR) technology development . British defense firm VT Group rejects revised GBP 1.3 billion takeover offer from Babcock . Israel’s Elbit Systems gets $20 million follow-on contract from defense ministry for “Snunit” aircraft trainer .

Read the rest here: Rapid Fire: 2010-02-23

Science Applications International Corp. in McLean, VA received a task order from the US Naval Sea Systems Command’s Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane Division in Crane, IN to provide technical and engineering support for its Joint Special Operations Response Department (JSORD). The department provides specialized training and support in sensors, communications, mobility, maneuverability, and special munitions and weapons. The follow-on task order has a 2-year base period of performance, 3 one-year options, and a total value of more than $351 million, if all options are exercised. The task order was awarded under the Navy’s $5.3 billion SeaPort-Enhanced (Seaport-e) umbrella contract . SAIC’s Seaport-e contract number is N00178-04-D-4119. This task order follows others awarded to SAIC to support NSWC Crane’s JSORD… (more…)

Follow this link: SAIC Continues Technical Support for NSWC Crane Division

AH Mk.1 at air show (click to view full) 4-year, $86 million radar support sub-contract. (Feb 22/10) “ Afghan Field Report: British WAH-64Ds ” and “ WAH-64 Combat-Certifies New Armament: Royal Marines ” covered Britain’s use of its WAH-64D/ AH Mk.1 Apache Longbow helicopter gunships on the front lines in Afghanistan. British Apaches have put their more powerful Rolls Royce/ Turbomeca RTM322 engines to good use in Afghanistan’s unfavorable “hot and high” flying conditions, allowing them to use equipment that other countries have stripped out to save weight. In October 2009, AgustaWestland signed the Apache Integrated Operational Support (IOS) through-life contract with the UK Ministry of Defence. The contract fits within their March 2005 Partnering and Business Transformation Agreement, and will result in a shift of British military personnel toward the front lines… The Apache IOS Contracts & Key Events [updated] Additional Readings (more…)

See more here: Supporting Britain’s Apaches: AW’s IOS Contract

A 2004 study by the Satellite Industry Association found that 80% of all US military satellite communication during the 2003 US invasion of Iraq was carried on commercial satellites. Then-US assistant secretary of defense for networks and information integration, John P. Stenbit, estimated that the US military purchased between $200 million and $300 million worth of commercial satellite services during the first year of the war. Commercial satellite providers remain a mainstay of the US Department of Defense’s satellite communications capability. To streamline the process for the US military and US federal government agencies to lease communications satellite capacity from commercial providers, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and the General Services Administration (GSA) undertook an effort in 2009 to combine the commercial satellite communications (COMSATCOM) service contracts for the US military and US civilan government agencies into a 10-year, $5 billion contract vehicle… (more…)

More here: Come Together: DISA, GSA Streamline $5B Commercial SATCOM Procurement