Standardizing C-130 Configurations Across the Services
The U.S. Defense Department will begin the process of modernizing its fleet of 48 U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Reserve C-130T and KC-130T aircraft. The Boeing Company, Chicago, building on its experience with the U.S. Air Force C-130 avionics modernization, will standardize aircraft configurations within the Navy and the Marine Corps and provide significant configuration commonality with the U.S. Air Force C-130 fleet. The period of performance for the work runs through March 2005.
21st Century Training for Navy Recruits
Investing in the future, the U.S. Navy Recruit Training Command has awarded a $13.2 million contract for the design and construction of the Battle Stations 21 facility at its campus at Naval Station, Great Lakes, Illinois. The facility is envisioned to provide the culminating event of Navy basic training through combined immersive training in reality-based scenarios such as entering a foreign port, a small boat attack, fire fighting, mass casualties, flooding and man overboard. Chicago-based James McHugh Construction Company is expected to complete the construction by February 2007. The construction contract will be funded incrementally with the second increment being $69 million with options that could make the cumulative value $82 million. The $1.4 million contract for the conceptual design of the stress-inducing simulations was awarded to Integrity Arts and Technology Incorporated at Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida, in August 2002.
Evaluating Space-Based Radar AlternativesThe concept development phase of the U.S. Air Force Space Based Radar (SBR) program is underway with the award of two $220 million contracts. Teams led by Lockheed Martin, Denver, and Northrop Grumman, Redondo Beach, California, will conduct 24-month studies to continue the definition of SBR system requirements and evaluate alternative design concepts of the system architecture. Space-based radar is being developed for the U.S. Defense Department to provide global intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for the military and intelligence communities. A constellation of spacecraft will provide rapid-revisit coverage of the entire Earth’s surfaces, enabling persistent real-time intelligence gathering on adversary activities. Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin will compete to be the prime contractor and systems integrator for the program. Final selection of the prime contractor for the multibillion-dollar program will be made in 2006, with initial launch scheduled for 2012.
Improving University Research Capabilities
The Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) has awarded $43.5 million to academic institutions for the purchase of research instrumentation. The 213 awards to 92 universities range from $50,000 to $900,000 for the purchase of state-of-the-art equipment to conduct U.S. Defense Department-relevant research in areas such as information technology, remote sensing, propulsion, electronics and electro-optics, advanced materials, and ocean science and engineering. DURIP received 1,025 proposals requesting $273 million for research equipment purchases.
U.S. Military Telecommunications Infrastructure in Afghanistan
Extensive upgrades to the telecommunications and information technology support infrastructure used by U.S. military forces operating in Afghanistan will be made by Anteon International Corporation, Fairfax, Virginia. The $16 million contract for engineering and installation support services was awarded by the U.S. Central Command’s air forces.
Engineering and Integration Services
In support of future fleet operational readiness, Raytheon Technical Services Company LLC, Norfolk, Virginia, will be providing $237 million in engineering, technical and logistics services to the U.S. Navy’s Ship Defense and Expeditionary Warfare Department. The company will provide asset staging and installation support services for modernization, installation, repair and technical support. In addition, it will provide combat system and weapon system in-service engineering, documentation, technical services and system integration. The work will be performed at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme, California, at land-based test sites and on board U.S. Navy ships and ships sold to foreign countries by the United States.
Chemical and Biological Defense
The construction of a research, development, test and evaluation laboratory for chemical/biological defense at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Virginia, is moving forward with the award of a $7 million task order. The basic contract for the facility was awarded in 1999, and five contractors may compete for task orders under the existing contract. Whiting-Turner Contracting Company of Baltimore, Maryland, will construct the facility, which is expected to be completed by March 2005.
Surface Ship Radar Program Management
Technical, program, financial and administrative support for the U.S. Navy’s in-service and next-generation surface ship radar systems will be provided by BAE Systems, Rockville, Maryland. The $85 million contract, awarded by the Navy’s Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., covers all radar programs within the Integrated Warfare Systems Above Water Sensors Program Office. It encompasses all phases of the acquisition life cycle and defense acquisition management. The work will be performed at BAE Systems Technology Solutions offices in Washington and will be completed by February 2009.
Demilitarized Zone Satellite Coverage
U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) will be upgrading its satellite network services through access to a fleet of 43 satellites, a newly designed demand assigned multiple access network and customized terminals. Services will include Internet connectivity, videoconferencing and general telecommunications capabilities across secure and nonsecure networks. A team from Americom Government Services (AGS) Incorporated, Princeton, New Jersey, and Northrop Grumman, Los Angeles, designed the network. AGS will provide and maintain a customized teleport hub that will serve as a main commercial satellite communications center for USFK and will supply the necessary space segment to meet requirements.
Sensor Systems DevelopmentSix companies will be tackling the development of sensor systems and equipment for manned and unmanned platform avionics and sensors for the Naval Air Systems Command Avionics Department. Tasks include planning, coordination, technology development, systems definition, systems acquisition and product support. All of the companies will have the opportunity to bid on individual task orders during a five-year ordering period that expires in April 2009. The companies are Titan Corporation, Mount Laurel, New Jersey, with a $104 million ceiling; RBC Incorporated, Alexandria, Virginia, with an $89 million ceiling; Sabre Systems Incorporated, Warminster, Pennsylvania, $83 million; Navmar Applied Sciences Corporation, Warminster, Pennsylvania, $87 million; and BAE Systems Applied Technologies Incorporated, Rockville, Maryland, $82 million. The Naval Air Systems Command Aircraft Division is located in Patuxent River, Maryland.
From Steam to Electric
Steam-driven catapults to launch planes from aircraft carriers will be a thing of the past if all goes well with the system development and demonstration (SDD) phase of an electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS). A four-year, $80 million program definition and risk reduction phase was completed by two contractors, and the Naval Air Warfare Center at Lakehurst, New Jersey, has selected General Atomics, San Diego, to continue alone with the five-year, $145 million SDD phase. EMALS offers the prospect of replacing steam-driven catapults, providing a revolutionary advance in carrier launch operations that will reduce workload and stress on personnel. The first deployments of the new system will be on the next-generation carrier, the CVN-21.
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