Sep 02, 2011 15:57 UTC
Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) has recently released the following Requests for Proposals (RFP), modifications and other notifications:
- The US Navy adds an additional clause and extends the closing date to 9th September for its RFP for a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract for the acquisition of engineering and technical support services for the Virginia Class (SSN 774) submarine and the Ohio Replacement Program (ORP).
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Apr 10, 2011 12:46 UTC
COBRA DANE
March 29/11: Raytheon Technical Services Co. in Dulles, VA receives an $11.9 million firm-fixed-price radar operations and maintenance contract modification. The firm will ensure the availability of the COBRA DANE radar facility, to a performance standard that can “collect 100% of the tasked data collection opportunities that pass through its field of view.” Work will be performed in Indianapolis, IN. The AFISRA/A7KRB at Patrick AFB, FL manages the contract (FA7022-11-C-0010).
Raytheon’s April 25/11 release placed the contract total at up to $65 million, but discussions with Raytheon confirmed that their figure included the 4 option years, as well as the initial base year announced by the Pentagon.
The AN/FPS-108 Cobra Dane radar sits on Shemya island in the Alaskan Aleutians. It has a face nearly 100 feet in diameter, and plays a number of key roles within the USA’s advanced long range radar network. One of its most important “tasked data collection opportunities” is its constant monitoring of Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula and Kura ballistic missile test range, hence that 100% requirement. Other key missions include monitoring the growing space hazard of orbital debris, and missile defense monitoring for NORAD and the US Missile Defense Agency.
Jun 30, 2010 12:44 UTC
Bruce Willis missed…
Kirkland AFB, NM recently entered into a cooperative effort with the University of Hawaii of Honolulu, Hawaii under the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (PanSTARRS) multi-year program.
PanSTARRS will address numerous science applications ranging from the structure of the Solar System to the properties of the Universe of the largest scales. It will also be able to detect and catalog large numbers of earth-orbit crossing asteroids, or near earth objects (NEO) that present a potential threat to mankind. That last component to the mission is especially intriguing, as there is a long history of partial efforts in this direction within the US and elsewhere. So, where does this award fit in?
- PanSTARRS and its Predecessors [updated]
- Contracts & Key Events [updated]
- Additional Readings [updated]
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Apr 27, 2010 17:45 UTC
System F6 concept
Satellites are currently big, expensive to build and launch, vulnerable, impossible in practice to upgrade on-orbit, difficult to replace – and critical to military effectiveness. That’s a really bad combination. Now add program risk and cost inflation driven by those issues, as the military tries to launch the most advanced technologies it can, in a uniquely ‘no fail’ environment.
DARPA’s System F6 program aims at nothing less than a revolution in satellite technology, aimed at removing those constraints. If successful, it will develop and demonstrate the basic building blocks of a totally new space architecture, in which traditional integrated satellites are replaced by clusters of smaller, cheaper, wirelessly-interconnected space modules that form a “virtual” satellite.
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Mar 25, 2010 14:01 UTC
JMAPS Concept
The US Navy is undertaking a bright star survey called the Joint Milliarcsecond Pathfinder Survey (JMAPS) mission. The survey will be carried out by a microsatellite containing a telescope set for launch in 2012. The JMAPS mission is intended to improve space situational awareness, in particular tracking space objects.
To build the telescope’s bus, the Navy is contracting with AeroAstro in Ashburn, VA. On March 25/10, the company received a $37.9 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to supply its low-jitter JMAPS spacecraft bus.
The bus will contain solar panels and will house the power, avionics, communications, thermal control, and inertial measurement units. The instrument/payload deck, which sits on top of the bus, will contain the optical telescope and electronics.
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Mar 16, 2010 12:45 UTC
MTN shipboard VSAT
The US Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) awarded a contract worth up to $50 million to MTN Government Services (MTNGS), a subsidiary of Miramar, FL-based MTN Satellite Communications (MTN), to provide global broadband satellite services.
Under the firm, fixed-price, 5-year contract, MTNGS will supply global C- and Ku-band satellite bandwidth to the agency.
The initial 6-month award is for $6.5 million. The contract includes 5 options, which if exercised, will bring the total contract value to $50 million…
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