Army buys a lot of Hellfires
Filed under: Contract Awards, Lockheed Martin, Military Aviation, U.S. Army, production program
The US Army awarded Lockheed Martin a contract to produce Hellfire missiles. These are normally fired from AH-64 and OH-58D helicopters and some Air Force aircraft. The missile is used by the US and its Allies. In Iraq and Afghanistan the Army has been using these with great effect to strike a variety of targets. The contract is valued at over $350 M and will purchase 1400 missiles. It is estimated that over 6000 have been used to date in the Global War on Terror.
For more see the Orlando Sentinal.
Textron unit wins contract for test equipment
Filed under: AAI Corporation, Contract Awards, IT, Military Aviation, Textron, U.S. Air Force, production program
AAI Corporation, an unit of Textron, won a contract form the USAF to build Joint Service Electronic Combat Systems Tester (JSECST) systems. See an article here. These will be used to test the electronic warfare equipment and avionics on various US aircraft. Since they are joint they will be used by USAF, Navy, USMC and Army aircraft. Even helicopters are starting to carry more sophisticated electronic and infra-red countermeasures as the threat has got more complicated. The contract is worth up to $67 M if all options are exercised. Sophisticated electronic systems require expensive test equipment to support their operations. The JSECST has been in production for several years and is used by the US and some allies.
CH-47 said vandalized
Filed under: Boeing, Military Aviation, U.S. Army, crime, production program
Bump - Boeing employee arrested for vandalizing aircraft. Story is here.
In a way this is good news. If it had been a quality issue then it might delay restarting the production line as they worked out new procedures and where they had gone wrong. The other good thing is they discovered the damage before they were fielded. The CH-47 is being used a great deal in Afghanistan and Iraq, as are all Army aviation assets, but in Afghanistan it is key due to the high altitude which limit smaller helicopters.
Two rivals team together for missile contract
Filed under: Boeing, Department of Defense, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman Corp., Raytheon, development program
Two of America’s largest defense contractors will join together to pursue the next generation air launched missile. Raytheon and Boeing announced that they signed a teaming agreement to prepare for the Joint Air to Ground Munition (JAGM) development program. See the press release here. The JAGM will replace Hellfire and Maverick missiles for launch from both fixed wing aircraft and helicopters. JAGM is at the early stages of its life and was started after the failure of the Joint Common Missile (JCM) program. See this for more on that. There is certainly no denying that the aging Hellfire and Maverick need replacing, although the Hellfire especially has seen a lot of use from OH-58D, AH-64 and Predator UAV in Afghanistan and Iraq. If Boeing and Raytheon team that leaves Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics as the only other US companies that might bid on such a program.
Army awards Chemring largest contract ever
Filed under: Chemring, Contract Awards, Military Aviation, U.S. Army, production program
The US Army gave Chemring, a British company, the largest contract in their history. See a story here. The $383 M contact will be for flares to protect helicopters from surface-to-air-missiles.
Czech Republic to renogiate deal for APC
Filed under: Contract Awards, Czech Republic, Restructuring, Seyr Daimler Puch, production program
According to this article in ceskenoviny.cz the Czech government will renegotiate the terms of the APC contract that they canceled recently. See this related post. They are retesting the vehicles made by Steyr in Austria, and then will announce a decision. It also sounds like they are reducing the quantity. The Czech-Slovak split probably left both new countries with a motley collection of Soviet and Czech made equipment. I know recently the Czech government sent some Mi-24 and Mi-17 helicopters to Afghanistan for that country’s use.
Australian government cancels the SH-2 contract
Filed under: Australia, Kaman Corp, Military Aviation, Restructuring, production program
In 1997 Australia decided to buy 11 upgraded SH-2 aircraft from Kaman to outfit their Navy. Unfortunately the work required to integrate the helicopters with the newer generation of equipment that the Navy possessed was harder and more complicated then originally thought. Imagine that? Anyway ten years and millions of dollars later the program is still not complete. According to this article the new liberal government has decided to axe the contract. There will obviously be some termination costs involved, and now they are back to square one on the aircraft. Perhaps they will look at the US Navy’s MH-60?
Air Force protests the protests
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, EADS, Northrop Grumman Corp., Protest, U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, production program
The commender of the Air Force Material Command, the head of the organization that buys and sustains things, bemoans to GovernmentExecutive.com, that all of the recent major contract awards by the USAF have been protested. He states that he knows the loser of the upcoming KC-X contract will protest - be it Boeing or Northrop Grumman/EADS. Read more
Connecticut politicians lobby for Sikorsky for VH-71 contract
Filed under: Contract Awards, Federal Budget Process, Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky, U.S. Navy, commercial aviation, development program
A group of 11 Congressman, mainly from Connecticut, wrote a letter to DoD asking for the Lockheed contract be canceled and put out for re-bid. See Hartford Courant for more. The hope is that Sikorsky will win the recompete. Read more
Issues with Using Commercial Products in Defense Procurement
The author in Government Computer News is talking about software, but it applies to DOD buying any type of commercial product. Of course, since this is Defense procurement there are three categories: Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS), Commercial Item, and Non-Developmental Item. The key sentence in the article is that the government is buying trust from the provider, trust that their product will work and meet their requirements. The key concept of commercial acquisition is that the product already meets your needs, so there is no need to develop anything. For an example of a program where this is how it was supposed to be, and did not end up see the RH-70. The article is here. Read about the RH-70 here.
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