$475M for US Army Targetry Systems: 2011-2016

Sniper event gear

At the end of August 2011, the U.S. Army Contracting Command in Warren, MI issued a maximum $475 million firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery / indefinite-quantity multiple-award-contract for the Army Targetry Systems program. Items bought include Stationary Infantry Targets, Stationary Armor Targets, Moving Infantry Targets, Moving Armor Targets, Sound Effect Simulators, plus associated computers and software to run the ranges used for soldier qualification. Work location will be determined with each task order, which will be open to competition among the winning firms. The contract will run until May 3/16, and all 5 bids received qualified. The winners were:

• Lockheed Martin Corporation in Orlando, FL (W56HZV-11-D-0146)
  
• Action Target Inc. in Provo, UT (W56HZV-11-D-0147)
  
• Meggitt Training Systems in Suwanee, GA (W56HZV-11-D-0148)
  
• Strategic Systems Inc. in Decatur, AL (W56HZV-11-D-0149)
  
• Saab Training USA LLC in Orlando, FL (W56HZV-11-D-0150)

This is not the first such contract issued by the US Army, just the latest in a long series. Many of the winners remain the same.

Peru Upgrades Its Lupo Class Frigates

BAP Carvajal

Italian-built Lupo Class frigates currently form the high-end backbone of Peru’s navy, with 8 of the 3,000t Carvajal Class ships serving. Four were built under license from 1984-1987, and the 2nd batch of 4 ships was decommissioned by the Italian Navy and sold to Peru in 2004-2006. Within that 2nd group, BAP Bolognesi [FM-57] is currently undergoing upgrades, adding new electronics, radar, and decoy countermeasures, and reportedly replacing the Italian Otomat anti-ship missiles with French Exocet MM40 Block IIIs.

Now, a US DSCA request indicates that their anti-aircraft systems are also set for an upgrade.

DTRA’s Counter-WMD R&DE: $220M to ARA

The US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has a central role in addressing the threat of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Their Research and Development Enterprise [PDF] is especially wide-ranging, covering everything from protective gear, to predictive and decision-support algorithms, to ScanEagle UAV variants that can monitor WMD levels, to co-operative non-proliferation programs, to development of new weapons like the Massive Ordnance Penetrator. Some of this work has even led to commercial spinoffs, vid. Sanofi Pasteur’s acquisition of VaxDesign and its DARPA/DTRA-financed MIMC model: an in vitro tool capable of predicting human immune response to specific bio-threat agents.

Harvard Gets $6.7M to Model Virus Evolution

Aug 30/11: The President and Fellows of Harvard College in Cambridge, MA receive a $6.7 million cost reimbursement contract for research to develop technologies and approaches to predict natural viral evolution. We’d all benefit from that, but we’re still likely to be surprised by what actually happens.

Work will be performed in Cambridge, MA (39%); Laurel, MD (37%); Baltimore, MD (9%); Ann Arbor, MI (9%); and Pittsburgh, PA (5%). Work is expected to be completed by Aug 31/12. The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) manages the contract (HR0011-11-C-0093).

Rapid Fire 2011-08-31: MDA’s Objective Simulation Framework

• The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) awards Teledyne Brown Engineering an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract worth up to $595 million for the development, deployment and sustainment of an Objective Simulation Framework (OSF).

• AeroVironment unveils its lightweight man-portable Shrike VTOL UAV. Shrike is the result of a contract from DARPA to develop a persistent perch and stare (SP2S) UAV.

• BAE Systems announces a successful testing of its Mk 38 MOD 2 Tactical Laser System (TLS) at Eglin Air Force base, Eglin FLA. The test system fired against air and surface maritime targets.

DynCorp Still Training Afghan Ministry of Interior

In late August 2011, Dyncorp International, LLC in Falls Church, VA received a $146.6 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to help train Afghanistan’s Ministry of the Interior personnel, on behalf of the Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan. This has been an ongoing effort in Afghanistan, and DynCorp has been heavily involved throughout. They have been criticized for questionable results in this area, and have obstructed efforts by American commanders to change the focus of past contracts, as events on the ground changed.

Work on this contract will be performed in Afghanistan, with an estimated completion date of Aug 31/14. The bid was solicited through the Internet, with 8 bids received by the U.S. Army Contracting Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD (W91CRB-11-C-0053).

$200M for Environmental Services at NAVFAC Atlantic

In late August 2011, the AECOM/EnSafe joint venture, Resolution Consultants in Virginia Beach, VA won a maximum $200 million cost-plus award-fee, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity architect-engineering contract for comprehensive long-term environmental services at NAVFAC Atlantic’s installations.

Both firms have extensive experience in this area, and have worked with the Navy on similar efforts; indeed, Resolution consultants is just one of AECOM’s joint ventures in this area…

Rapid Fire 2011-08-30: Top Aerospace Companies

• Two members of the Commission on Wartime Contracting say that $30 billion-worth of expenditure on contracts and grants in Afghanistan and Iraq have been wasted through poor planning, shifting requirements and negligence. As a result, federal agencies and contractors must do better.

• Flight Global/PricewaterhouseCooper’s (PwC) Top 100 Special Report: 2010 a year of rebound says that while the aerospace sector enjoyed a 2% growth in revenue, defense spending remains flat. The list of the 20 largest aerospace companies by revenues [PDF] remains relatively unchanged, with Boeing and EADS maintaining their top positions.

• China continues to refute the findings of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) annual report on its military and security policies. The deputy secretary of the China Society of Military Science labels the report as ‘groundless’ and a product of Cold War thinking.

• BAE Australia has delivered the 1st Hobart Class Destroyer ship block to project lead, ASC, but only after some very high profile problems at their shipyard.

• Dragon, Britain’s 4th Type 45 Air Defense Destroyer, is sailing to Portsmouth for acceptance by the Royal Navy.

• Indian media say that the freed ship MV Nafis-1 contained evidence that Pakistan is supporting some Somali pirates.

• Chile is set to receive its final batch of F-16 fighters from the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF).

• A French Mirage fighter and Lithuanian L-39 Albatross trainer collide midair during exercises.

• The first photographs emerge of Chinese aircraft on display at the Changchun First Aviation Open Day. The pictures come days after photographs suggesting that the People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s (PLAAF) J-11B heavy fighter is operational.

• Opinions vary as to the make and role of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that crashed over southwest Pakistan last week.

CHS-4: Up to $3.7b more Electronics and IT from General Dynamics

In late August 2011, General Dynamics C4 Systems Inc. received the Command Hardware Systems-4 contract, as a follow-on to its CHS-3 and CHS-2 work from 1995-2011. Items covered under this maximum 5-year, $3.7 billion contract include rugged local area networks (LAN), server platforms, communication gateways, routers, laptops, faxes and various ancillary equipment including vehicle mounts, cables, and operational transit cases. The military can also order system integration, product-testing services, end user support and program management.

CHS-4 is a firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, level-of-effort, indefinite-delivery / indefinite-quantity contract, so it may not spend all $3.7 billion between now and Aug 26/16. The 10-year CHS-3 contract, issued in 2003, is actually still in force; this will allow for parallel orders, as was also the case for CHS-2 and CHS-3.

Rapid Fire 2011-08-29: Indian-Russian Cooperation

• Debate regarding the shape of operations after Libya shifts from a NATO-centric perspective to budget concerns, as the case is made for cutting back on the Army and continued emphasis upon combined Special Operations-Air Power Teams.

• A senior official from India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation says the country will be able to deploy an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system in 2014. Meanwhile, an Indian perspective emerges on the reasons behind the fifth-generation T-50 fighter’s aborted take off at MAKS 2011 air show and prospects for further Indian-Russian cooperation.

• A dispute between Rafael and Israeli Military Industries (IMI) regarding Defense Ministry proposals to merge their respective Trophy and Iron Fist missile defense systems has resulted in the deployment of new Namer (Tiger) armored personnel carriers without either system.

• The Chief of Staff of the US Air Force, General Norton Schwartz, says there are no plans to follow-up on proposals made by a set of retired generals and merge the Air National Guard and Reserve.

• South Korean media speculates that North Korea’s Air Force Commander accompanied Kim Jong-il on his recent visit to Russia and China to seek help to modernize the country’s armed forces in general, and air force in particular.

• The M-90 Eurotorp lightweight torpedo buy remains on Australia’s Projects of Concern list, but recent media reports were misleading.

• Some interesting comparative data emerges on the operational cost per flight hour (CPFH) of several US military aircraft, including Lockheed Martin’s F-22, Bell Boeing CV-22 and WC-135 Constant Phoenix.

• Iran has reportedly inaugurated its first carbon fiber production line at the Defense Ministry’s aerospace department.