KC-X Advertisement Makes DoD Unhappy
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, Department of Defense, EADS, Federal Budget Process, GAO, Military Aviation, Northrop Grumman Corp., Proposal, Protest, U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, logistics, production program
Northrop Grumman took out an ad this week in the Washington Post supporting its proposal for the KC-X mission. The Wall Street Journal reports that the content of the advertisement made folks over at DoD most unhappy. That is because it quotes an unidentified official as saying the A-330 was $3 Billion cheaper then the B-767 overall. Read more
ARH’s first try is cancelled
Filed under: Bell, Congress, Department of Defense, Federal Budget Process, Military Aviation, Restructuring, U.S. Army, commercial aviation, development program, production program
After the close of the stock market this evening the Department of Defense announced that they are canceling the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) contract with Bell. The ARH-70 was to be a replacement for the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior aircraft that has been in service for over twenty years. ARH was one of the programs created out of the end of the RAH-66 Comanche program. Bell had run into cost and schedule growth issues with the program, much of it probably due to an overly optimistic US Army estimate on the program. The program had suffered a Nunn-McCurdy cost breach and that required DoD to either certify to Congress on the necessity of the program, or cancel it. Now the Army will start over.
See The Wall Street Journal for more.
Navy buys WMD defenses
Filed under: Contract Awards, Gryphon Technologies, SETA, U.S. Army, logistics
The US Navy awarded Gryphon Technologies a contract to develop systems to protect against Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). The contract is worth over $35 M and is to provide engineering services and support of defensive equipment for WMD attacks. While the US Navy has designed chemical and nuclear protection into their ships, such as washdown systems designed to remove radioactive fallout and chemical systems, these defensive systems are probably more in support of personnel.
See the press release at Wall Street Journal MarketWatch.com.
US Army continues CROWS production
Filed under: Contract Awards, Konsberg, Norway, U.S. Army, production program
Kongsberg received further work under the general CROWS contract. The Crew Remotely Operated Weapon System provides a way for soldiers to work sensors and weapons while staying under armor. Kongsberg makes parts of the overall system and this is a continuation of earlier contracts. The overall CROWS contract is worth over $1 B, and this contract has a value of over $200 M.
See The Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch.com for more.
Marines buy more MRAP vehicles
Filed under: Contract Awards, Mississippi, Navistar, U.S. Marine Corps, production program
The USMC awarded Navistar a contract to purchase more of their new, lighter vehicles. The contract is worth about $750 M and will buy 800 or so vehicles. The trend in recent MRAP buys has been to get smaller and less bulky vehicles for service in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Marines especially have cut back on MRAP buys and moved away from the original vehicles.
Navistar makes the MRAP in Mississippi and the press release can be found at The Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch.com site here.
Arrests in Afghanistan contracting scandal
Filed under: Contract Awards, Justice Department, U.S. Air Force, crime, logistics
Two Air Force personnel and three Afghan nationals were arrested over charges that bribes were paid to win contracts for military construction in Afghanistan. Two of the Afghans also resided in the United States. Supposedly a bribe of $30,000 was paid to the US Air Force officials to win a $1 M construction contract in 2004. Another bribe was paid later to win a road contract. Several US military and civilian personnel have been arrested and charged with contract related corruption in Kuwait, Iraq and the United States. With the amount of money going to the efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq there is always a chance for such crime.
There is more at The Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch.com site.
Army to buy more CH-47 aircraft
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, Military Aviation, U.S. Army, production program
The Army awarded Boeing a 5 year contract for CH-47F cargo helicopters. The number procured is 181 with 10 options. There will also likely be some FMS sales from this contract. The CH-47F is the latest variant of the helicopter with sophisticated avionics and improved capabilities. 48 have been built to date. The CH-47F is one of the programs that was birthed from the Comanche termination. The others being the UH-60M, UH-72A and the JCA fixed wing aircraft. The CH-47F is especially effective in Afghanistan due to its high altitude and temperature capabilities.
To see the press release go to the Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch here.
Story on earmarks illustrates issue
Filed under: Congress, Contract Awards, Digital Fusion, Federal Budget Process, SMDC, crime
The Wall Street Journal and The Huntsville Times both have stories today on Congressional Earmarks, the Defense budget and corruption. See the stories here and here. The Journal highlights how a Huntsville company, Digital Fusion, received an earmarked contract from a Texas Democrat at around the same time they gave him a large campaign contribution. The Times is following up on a recent case where Federal workers at the Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) were taking bribes from contractors for giving contracts to them. In that case the contractors have yet to be named. The Federal investigators as part of their follow-up are looking at companies that received earmarked contracts through SMDC. The first case is not a crime unless you can tie the contribution directly to the contract award which is almost impossible without some kind of documentation. That is what befell Congressman Cunningham from California as they had written evidence linking the two events. SMDC spreads a lot of RDT&E money around each year, much of it earmarked by local Senators and Congressman. All received campaign contributions from contractors and deny any linkage. You be the judge.
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