Raytheon Gains $45 Million Navy Aegis Work

The Navy gave Raytheon Co. [RTN] a five-year, $45 million contract for performance-based logistics for the Aegis weapons system.

Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems will perform repairs and provide spares for the AN/SPY-1 radar and MK 99 Fire Control System, both key components of the Aegis system.

Raytheon IDS is responsible for supporting Aegis systems used by the Navy, as well as managing system repairs for foreign military sales. The AN/SPY-1 radar transmitters and MK 99 Fire Control Systems have been in continuous production for 28 years as part of the Aegis program.

The AN/SPY-1 and the MK99 are currently aboard Navy cruisers and destroyers, as well as Japanese Kongo-class destroyers and Spanish F-100-class frigates.

Raytheon IDS whole-life services and support are central to maintaining and upgrading Aegis equipment on board Ticonderoga Class cruisers and Arleigh Burke Class destroyers. Work will be performed at the Raytheon IDS Surveillance and Sensors Center in Sudbury, Mass., and Raytheon Technical Services Company LLC facilities in Norfolk, Va., and Chula Vista, Calif.

Raytheon Delivers 3,000th Joint Standoff Weapon To Navy

Raytheon Co. [RTN] delivered its 3,000th Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) to the Navy, the company announced.

JSOW is a family of affordable, precision-guided, air-to-ground glide weapons capable of striking targets in sensitive and well-defended areas. More than 400 JSOWs have been used in combat operations, including Operation Iraqi Freedom.

JSOW contains next-generation technology that allows stealth engagement of high-value targets in heavily defended areas. Like its predecessors, the 3,000th JSOW has a modular design, allowing the weapon to deliver a variety of payloads.

“This milestone demonstrates that JSOW’s design modularity gives the warfighter flexibility and versatility,” said John O’Brien, Raytheon program director for JSOW.

NASA Gives NetJets $25 Million Air Travel Services Contract

NASA gave NetJets Inc., of Woodbridge, N.J., a contract worth up to $25 million for commercial aviation transportation services for the Space Operations Mission Directorate.

NetJets will provide commercial air transportation services to replace NASA aircraft currently being used.?Air transportation services also will be available to NASA for space mission contingencies, such as in-space and natural disasters.

In addition, NetJets will provide air transportation for astronaut crews and mission support personnel to Russia.?NetJets gets an indefinite delivery-indefinite quantity contract with fixed price rates, with a maximum value of $25 million over the five-year period of performance.

L-3 To Provide $65 Million Worth Of Avionics For Ares I Rocket

L-3 Communications [LLL] received an order from Alliant Techsystems [ATK] to provide about $65 million worth of avionics gear for the Ares I first stage booster, L-3 announced.

The L-3 subsidiary, Cincinnati Electronics, will perform the work by June 2014, providing the avionics subsystem and components for the Ares I launch vehicle.

ATK is the prime contractor for the first stage of the Ares 1 crew launch vehicle. L-3 will provide design, development, qualification, certification, acceptance and delivery of the Ares I First Stage Avionics Subsystem Line Replaceable Units (LRU).

The First Stage LRUs L-3 is responsible for include the booster control unit, power distribution unit, data acquisition/recorder unit, data recovery unit, hydraulic power unit controller, ignition separation controller and the recovery control unit.

NASA is developing hardware and systems for the Ares family of launch vehicles, which will send future astronauts into orbit. Built on proven launch technologies, Ares launch vehicles are the essential core of a safe, reliable, cost-effective space transportation system to carry crewed missions to the moon, Mars and out into the solar system, according to L-3.

Ares I is an in-line, two-stage rocket configuration topped by the Orion crew exploration vehicle and its launch abort system. In addition to its primary mission — carrying crews of four astronauts to rendezvous with the Ares V Earth departure stage in Earth orbit for missions to the moon — Ares I also may use its 25-ton payload capacity to deliver resources and supplies to the International Space Station, or to “park” payloads in orbit for retrieval by other spacecraft bound for the moon or other destinations.