Talley Inc, owned now by the Norwegian company Nammo, won a contract from the USMC to develop a launcher for 83mm rockets. The current system has been in use since 1984. The ammunition, currently produced by Talley, will remain the same, but a new system for firing the rockets from a Marine’s shoulder [...]

The USMC awarded Agility Defense & Government Services a contract to provide storage and transhipment of material. The one year plus six option years contract has a value of about $140 M if fully executed and will cover both US and overseas bases. The company will be responsible for not just heavy equipment [...]

The USMC exercised a contract with TeleCommunications Systems to buy their Wireless Point-to-Point Link (WPPL) system to support deployed forces. The initial contract is worth about $3 M, but the company hopes to grow this through options to a total of $70 M by 2011. The WPPL System provides network and communication wireless [...]

The USMC purchased 773 MRAP from General Dynamics. See a press release here. The contract is worth over $500 M. These are RG-31 MRAP designed in South Africa and will be sent to Afghanistan. The RG-31 was selected as it is smaller and lighter then other MRAP in the inventory and [...]

The USMC awarded a contract to Hawker Beechcraft for 6 new transport aircraft. See a story here. These will replace older UC-12 aircraft also made by Hawker Beechcraft that have been in service for a few decades. These will most likely be used for personnel transport in more benign environments. The [...]

The US Navy, along with the USMC, and acting for FMS customers awarded a contract to Sabre Defence to manufacture M16 rifles. See a press release here. Sabre becomes only the third company to manufacture military specification M16 rifles since its introduction in the early Sixties. The order seems small at under [...]

The USMC awarded Lockheed Martin a contract to build advanced, new sights for the AH-1 Cobra helicopter. See a story here. The $50 M contract will begin producing the sights in 2010. The AN/AAQ-30 Target Sight System is a multi-sensor system that will also provide targeting data and guidance for the Hellfire [...]

Force Protection was awarded a contract by the USMC to support MRAP vehicles. See the press release here. The contract is worth over $40 M and will last over a year. Force Protection had recently had some issues winning MRAP contracts, and this win will be welcome. For more see this [...]

According to this article Navistar International was awarded a contract by the US Navy to provide maintenance support for USMC MRAP vehicles. This contract is to provide parts and most likely Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) for the many vehicles that are being used in Iraq and Afghanistan. The contract value is over $700 [...]

As we have previously mentioned here and here Michigan has set up various entities to promote the state’s companies for defense contracts. According to this article though the head of the state organization is upset with one of the regional ones for not doing enough. The state hired a retired USMC general to [...]

According to this article the US Navy awarded five separate contracts to Navistar International. These contracts will be used to buy MRAP vehicles for the USMC. The MRAP market has increased dramatically in the last three years with BAE, Navistar and Force Protection being the main suppliers. The US military invested heavily in [...]

The US Navy awarded a contract to Harris Electronics to purchase tactical radios for the USMC. See an article here. The AN/PRC-117 radio order is worth about $118 M. Earlier the company had been awarded a $350 M contract for the radio. Harris has been eyed as an acquisition for a [...]

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, [...]

It is not news that the Colt M4 carbine has received a lot of criticism for its performance in Iraq and Afghanistan. This article summarizes a great deal of it. It turns out that the M4, originally a shortened M16 for use by armor and air crew, does not do well in dusty [...]

The Navy awarded the Shaw Group Inc a contract for up to 5 years that could be worth $150 M. See the press release here. This is the fourth award for this type of work to the company. They will do environmental remediation at various Navy and USMC bases on the East [...]

As part of the recent procurement of 167 V-22 Osprey’s by the USAF and USMC the Boeing led team will buy parts from Eaton. The expected revenue for this company from the contract could be over $300 M. See a story here. Eaton makes parts for the tilt rotor aircraft. This [...]

The USMC awarded BAE a contract worth $715 M to build two versions of MRAPs for the Corps. See the press release here. BAE is moving to seize a large part of the MRAP business from the various US services. For the struggles of Force Protection lately see this past post. The [...]