DARPA Contracts For New Internet “Standard” With Lockheed
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Contract Awards, DARPA, Department of Defense, Events, Federal Budget Process, IT, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, S&T, Services, development program
The Defense Advanced Research Products Agency (DARPA) awarded a contract to a team led by Lockheed Martin to “develop” a new internet standard for use by the military only. The contract is worth about $31 million. Joining Lockheed will be companies like Microsoft, Juniper Networks, LGS Innovations and Stanford.
The idea is to build for DoD a more secure protocol. Although ARPA, DARPA’s predecessor, paid for the invention of what has become the Internet using primarily TCP/IP protocol this new set up will be optimized for military use and requirements. In some ways this makes a great deal of sense as the current internet faces a host of issues with protection and perhaps starting from scratch it will be easier to add security functions at the lowest level.
Navy Looking At Biofuels
Filed under: Business Line, Contract Awards, DARPA, Department of Defense, Events, Services, Solazyme, Sustainable Oils, U.S. Navy, development program, logistics
The U.S. military uses a lot of fuel. The Navy powers its aircraft and ships with petroleum based products. It certainly behooves the Defense Department and the Services to invest in other sources of fuel. One area that is starting to receive more interest is biofuels.
Two companies, Solazyme and Sustainable Oils, were awarded contracts to explore making fuel from algae and oilseed plants. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has also invested in algae based fuel. The two contracts are worth about $11 million.
Both seem to be viable sources of fuel and the Navy wants to make sure that the result of their different refining processes will be capable of safely powering an airplane. Obviously once the fuel is tested as being viable the next focus of the research will be to move to a cost effective production and refining process. Ultimately the fuel has to cost near what it does for a gallon of oil based products. The other goal would be an ability to mass produce the product so as to support military needs. The awarding of the contracts indicate that the Defense Department is very interested in this product and process.
Cobham Awarded US$15m Contract for Advanced Next Generation Radio
Filed under: Business Line, Cobham Defense Electronic Systems, Companies, Contract Awards, DARPA, Events, IT, Press Releases, S&T, Services, development program
Cobham Awarded US$15m Contract for Advanced Next Generation Radio
LOWELL, Massachusetts – Cobham has been awarded US$14.8 million by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the Wireless Network after Next (WNaN) program.
Under this cost plus fixed fee contract, Cobham Sensor Systems in Lowell, Massachusetts, will design, develop and demonstrate low-cost wireless network nodes which support adaptation by means of distributed network processing. A key element of the design is affordability, to allow wide deployment throughout the Armed Services.
The radios will be demonstrated during follow-on field trials by the Department of Defense in 2010. The U.S. Air Force Research Lab (AFRL/RIKD) is the contracting activity.
About Cobham:
Cobham’s products and services have been at the heart of sophisticated military and civil systems for more than 70 years, keeping people safe, improving communications and enhancing the capability of land, sea, air and space platforms. The Company has four divisions employing more than 12,000 people on five continents, with customers and partners in over 100 countries and annual revenue of more than £1.4 billion / US$ 2.1 billion.
Cobham Sensor Systems designs and manufactures all classes of active and passive microwave components, assemblies and subsystems, composites and radomes for the aerospace and defense industries, and is the leading supplier of many microwave products.
Contacts:
Greg Caires
Julian Wais
Media Relations
Investor Relations
+1 703 414 5319
+44 (0) 1202 857998
greg.caires@cobham.com
julian.wais@cobham.com
DARPA Money Flows to Large Contractors
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Contract Awards, DARPA, Events, IT, Northrop Grumman Corp., SAIC, Services, development program
One would expect an organization like the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to be funding small companies that possess breakthrough ideas and technologies. Often it does as it looks to provide seed money to jump start ideas that can then go on to be fully developed and produced. The Agency just announced major contract awards to two of the largest defense contractors in the U.S. Northrop Grumman and SAIC each will work on developing tetrahertz frequency amplifiers. Northrop actually received two contracts. Total value of these awards are $57 million.
There are some things that the large contractors have already done a lot of work in or possess the necessary facilities. These contracts are for an incremental development in a known technology — microchip integration. Moving forward to the higher frequencies that are required for advanced transmitters and receivers will require this kind of development.
The Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program provides funding to a variety of companies each year to look at developing advanced concepts or technologies that DoD requires. This fund is generated through a portion of all R&D funding and will continue despite DARPA’s efforts to fund other efforts.
DARPA researches robot drug sniffing dogs
Filed under: Contract Awards, DARPA, Evolved Machines, S&T, development program, logistics
DARBA awarded Evolved Machines a contract to work on developing an artificial olfactory system. The $5 M plus contract will advance research by combining that done at various sites into one. The goal is to develop an advanced robotic system to detect various smells and odors. Applications may include drug or explosive sniffing as done by dogs currently. It could also be used to monitor cargo and high value targets such as water supplies.
See the press release at MarketWatch.com.
Wearable power competition proceeds
Filed under: DARPA, Department of Defense, development program, logistics
The US Department of Defense said that 20 teams have qualified for the Wearable Power competition that will be carried out over the next four days. The $1 M prize will be awarded to the team that best meets the requirements of providing 20 watts of power per hour for 96 hours and weighs less then 4 kilograms. The twenty teams were chosen after a review of their concepts for safety and to see if they could be attached to a standard vest. DoD is trying to develop an alternative to all the AA batteries soldiers are forced to carry to work their advanced electronics.
See the press release at DefenseLink.mil.
SECURE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS AWARDED BBN TECHNOLOGIES SUBCONTRACT FOR SPEECH-TO-SPEECH TRANSLATION SYSTEM HARDWARE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT – PRESS RELEASE
Filed under: Contract Awards, DARPA, IT, S&T, Secure Communication System, development program
SANTA ANA, CA — August 25, 2008 — Secure Communication Systems, an innovator in rugged handheld and deployable computer systems, announced today it has been awarded a subcontract by BBN Technologies to provide research and development (R&D) services in support of advancing Spoken Language Communication and Translation System for Tactical Use (TRANSTAC) performance on ruggedized portable and mobile systems. The BBN subcontract is part of a broader initiative of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) TRANSTAC Speech-to-Speech (S2S) Translation program, to create bidirectional, free-form, speaker independent, S2S translation systems. Read more
DARPA awards net security contract
Filed under: BBN Technologies, Contract Awards, DARPA, IT, S&T, development program
BBN Technologies won a contract from the DARPA to develop network monitoring software. See a press release here. Under the contract as part of the Scalable Network Monitoring program, BBN Technologies will work to build software that will adjust to the size of the network to monitor for attacks and inspect use. The contract is worth over $4 M.
DARPA invest in biotechnology
DARPA awarded CombiMatrix a contract to conduct basic research into their core technologies. See a press release here. The contract is worth up to $250 K. CombiMatrix works with molecules to develop detection systems for things like bio and chemical weapons. The technology also has commercial applications. DoD has put a lot of funding into a variety of technology to detect chemical and biological weapons beyond the current systems of swipe tests and sampling. This contract is just one small part of this effort and also illustrates how diverse the DoD Science and Technology (S&T) investment is.
Future Combat Systems (FCS) technology acceleration good to Arizona
Filed under: Arizona, Boeing, DARPA, Department of Defense, Restructuring, SBIR, SMDC, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, development program
This article describes the economic effect of the Army decision to begin pushing components of the multi-system Future Combat System (FCS) out-the-door faster. Due to this decision several hundred million dollars are flowing to Arizona companies earlier then originally planned by the Army. The two systems with the most effect are the non-line of sight missile system that uses a box launcher with integrated fire control and several unmanned systems. The Army benefits two ways by this type of decision; first, they get needed technology upgrades into the field earlier; and secondly they get testing under real world conditions.
DARPA to make better binoculars
Filed under: DARPA, Northrop Grumman Corp., development program
DARPA invested with Northrop-Grumman to develop smart binoculars. See this short note here. The advanced ones will increase the Field of View (FOV), allowing soldiers and sailors to see more of the area. This should provide quicker detection of possible threats. One would think with the fact that these types of optical systems being in use for centuries there would have been earlier attempts to fix this.
DARPA invests in fuel cell technology
Filed under: Contract Awards, DARPA, IT, U.S. Army, UltraCell, development program, logistics
The DARPA and US Army awarded a follow-on contract to UltraCell for continued work on hydrogen fuel cell systems to power military hardware. See an article here. The UltraCell process utilizes methanol and converts it into hydrogen to provide electricity. The current system is used to provide power for laptops, but UltraCell is working on scaling it for use with larger fixed installations. The advantage this offers is that for comparable power the fuel cell is smaller and lighter then existing batteries. There is also no requirement for a separate electrical system to charge the batteries as is currently done.
DARPA awards contract for development of advanced detection equipment
In a contract award not directly related to the SAIC one below, DAPRA awarded Bioident a contract to develop printed circuit board sensors. See an article here. The goal is to utilize Biodent’s process for making sheets with semiconductor material on them to reduce the size of sensors by incorporating the read out device on the board. Currently larger optical systems are used. No contract value was given, but it continues to demonstrate the amount of R&D the US is doing in such areas.
DARPA awards contract to continue development of micro UAV
Filed under: AeroVironment, Contract Awards, DARPA, development program
AeroVironment won follow-on work from DARPA to continue development of a micro UAV. See the story here. The goal is to make an aircraft that mimics flying insects. The contract is for a Nano Air Vehicle. AeroVironment had won the Phase I of the project and this will continue into Phase II. The contract has the option for going for several months if progress is made. The idea of a UAV that looks like insects, or small animals, has been mooted for some time as it seems pretty stealthy way of getting intelligence. Of course the trick is making the package small enough but with some capability.
Boeing wins one
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, DARPA, England, Military Aviation, QinetiQ, development program
Boeing was awarded a $3.8 M contract by DARPA to begin development of a ultra-high endurance unmanned aircraft. Boeing teamed with a British company, QinetiQ Ltd., for the program. The Vulture will be an aircraft that can loiter for years and carry a payload. It would then be activated when necessary. QinetiQ had been working on solar powered aircraft under other contracts that might have applications to this mission.
Sun breaks new ground in computers
Filed under: Contract Awards, DARPA, IT, Sun Microsystems, development program
Sun Microsystems was awarded a contract from DARPA to look at increasing the speed of processing by hooking chips up with light rather then printed circuit boards. The press release is here. The contract is worth $44 M and is supposed to look at increasing speed and reliability while reducing cost. DARPA, along with all the Services, funds advanced research into all different kinds of ideas. Many pay off, many don’t; but it might surprise the average American how much of this kind of research comes from the Department of Defense.
DARPA awards contract for new spacecraft development
Filed under: DARPA, Orbital Systems, Satellites, development program, space
Orbital Systems won a contract from DARPA for research with the F6 satellite program. See the press release here. DARPA is trying to develop, through this program, a more flexible way of linking modules of space craft to allow greater flexibility in their configuration.
Video surveillance company gets DARPA contract
Filed under: Contract Awards, DARPA, ObectVideo, commercial aviation
ObjectVideo, a Reston, Virginia based company that specializes in video surveillance, won a $1.6 M contract from DARPA to support their aircraft-based systems development. See The Washington Business Journal, here, for more information. The contract will last three years and will provide the intelligence analyst automated tools to support their breakdown of the video collected by the systems. One of the issues that has always confronted military intelligence is that it is possible to collect large amounts of information, but analyzing and identifying the key parts of that information is difficult.
Night vision equipment contract awarded to Goodrich Corp
Goodrich Corp won a contract from DARPA to develop night vision applications for helmet and UAVs. Further details were not available, announcement is here.
DoD announces the venue for the wearable power competition
The US Department of Defense on Wednesday announced the dates and the venue for the wearable power competition. This contest was first discussed last July. The DoD is trying to develop a system that generates 20 watts average power for 96 hours and is lightweight. Over 160 teams have signed up for the competition. The winner will receive $1 Million as the prize. The press release is here. The contest will be held in September, 2008 at Twentynine Palms, CA. This is similar to the Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARPA) contest for unmanned ground vehicles, where it is hoped the promise of a large prize will cause individuals to develop on their own dime new technologies. If you are familiar with the current war US troops go through batteries like crazy each day and night. The development of Land Warrior will require even more power to be carried by a soldier. According to the press release “The goal is to reduce the weight of power systems that warfighters carry to operate their radios, navigation, weapons, and other gear.”
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