The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Republican Security. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) chairs House Republicans’ new National Security Solutions Group. The panel, according to the office of House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), “will take the lead in advocating and developing better solutions to the national security challenges we face and hold the Obama administration accountable when it pursues misguided policies that make the American people less safe.” It is one of several House GOP “solutions groups” established over the past year. King, the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, says the group “will work to develop solutions to the current and future threats we face from around the globe and even here at home.” Other members include GOP Reps. Howard “Buck” McKeon (Calif.), Jerry Lewis (Calif.), Peter Hoekstra (Mich.), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.), Lamar Smith (Texas), Michael Conaway (Texas), Charles Dent (Pa.), Trent Franks (Ariz.), Duncan Hunter (Calif.), Candice Miller (Mich.), Jeff Miller (Fla.), Sue Myrick (N.C.), Hal Rogers (Ky.), Mike Rogers (Mich.), Edward Royce (Calif.), Mac Thornberry (Texas), and Frank Wolf (Va.).
Defense On Table. Former president Bill Clinton says he is glad President Barack Obama charged his new bipartisan fiscal commission with putting “everything on the table” when considering scaled-back government spending, including defense funding. Clinton says “older societies” are “obsessed with security,” thus making U.S. military cuts difficult for politicians. Clinton’s comments come April 28 during a fiscal summit in Washington, as he talks about Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. The new commission is chaired by former Wyoming GOP senator Alan Simpson and former Clinton administration White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles.
Regional Impact. Boeing last week announced that Ohio will benefit from approximately 690 jobs and an estimated $33 million in annual “economic impact” if the company’s 767- based tanker is selected for the Air Force’s KC-135 fleet replacement contract. Boeing is already working with 500 suppliers in Ohio, resulting in an estimated $4.7 billion in annual economic activity and supporting an estimated 190,000 direct and indirect jobs in the state, according to the company. One of Boeing’s key Ohio suppliers is Ravenna-based Allen Aircraft Products, a leader in the production of aircraft fluid systems components and metal finishing processing for both commercial and military aircraft. Some of the other Ohio manufacturers ready to produce critical components on the aircraft include Achilles Aerospace Products of Twinsburg and Voss Industries of Cleveland. Nationwide, the program is expected to support approximately 50,000 U.S. jobs in more than 40 states, according to a Boeing press statement released last week. The government is expected to award a contract later this year.
F/A-18 Radar Upgrade. Raytheon has received an $89.5 million contract from the Navy for the continued production of its ALR-67(V)3 digital radar warning receiver. The contract includes systems and spares for the Naval Air Systems Command as well as international customers. The ALR-67(V)3 is the U.S. Navy standard for digital radar warning receiver technology, installed on all its frontline, carrier-based F/A-18E/F tactical aircraft. It is an integral part of modernization programs for U.S. and international F/A-18 customers. This contract represents the 12th full-rate production lot awarded to Raytheon as part of an original contract that began in the late 1980s with the initial development of the radar warning receiver. Deliveries for this lot will begin in January 2012 and are to be completed by December 2012. A total of 681 ALR-67(V)3 systems plus spares have now been ordered. The international procurements are foreign military sales with potential additional contracts for software, engineering, and performance-based logistics support.
USGS UAS Roadmap. The Interior Department’s United States Geological Survey (USGS) is seeking help from small businesses in creating a roadmap for the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to support a range of civil applications. These applications include emergency response, environmental monitoring, addressing land management issues, and assessing the impact of climate change, the agency says in a recent notice in FedBizOpps.Gov. USGS is interested in compiling a list of current and potential applications of UAS technology by the agency and Interior Department partners, understanding current and potential UAS capabilities with an emphasis on Defense Department programs of record, knowing the availability of sensor capabilities for use on UAS, how the data collected by the aircraft can be exploited, and more.
New Director. Dwight Dustin is elected to the L’Garde Inc. Board of Directors. Dustin was active in the Missile Defense Agency predecessor Ballistic Missile Defense Organization in the 1990s, serving as the deputy director for technology, where his responsibilities included the lunar Clementine Project. Dustin currently has other executive roles in a variety of high-technology companies, and has served on numerous government-sponsored advisory committees. L’Garde was founded in 1971 in Orange County, Calif., and for the past 39 years it has led the world in producing inflatable or inflatable-hybrid space structures.
Agreement Renewed. Australia and the United States renew the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement April 27. The treaty level arrangement is the principal vehicle through which cooperative military logistics support is conducted between the United States and Australia. Since its inception, the Agreement has ensured supply support and services to Australian and U.S. forces deployed to all parts of the world wherever Australian and U.S. forces are operating together. The Agreement facilitates mutual support during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Agreement also plays a significant role in major exercises between Australia and the United States. The ACSA will come into effect when Parliament and Congress approve its renewal.
More Protection. Oshkosh Defense receives two awards valued at more than $79 million from the TACOM Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) to supply more than 1,750 add-on rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) protection kits and more than 1,000 kits to support remote weapon systems for the MRAP All-Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV). The work for both orders is expected to be completed in September. The award for RPG protection kits is valued at more than $68 million and installation will be completed in-theater. The award for remote weapon system kits is valued at more than $11 million. Oshkosh will install these kits on the production lines and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command will install the kits on previously delivered vehicles.
…More Support. Also, Oshkosh Defense receives two awards for more than $19 million from TACOM Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) to provide in-theater support for MRAP All- Terrain Vehicles (M-ATV) in Afghanistan. These awards add an additional 60 Oshkosh field service representatives that will provide support in Afghanistan through May 2011. “At Oshkosh, our work isn’t finished when our trucks leave the factory,” says Kenneth Juergens, Oshkosh Corp. vice president and general manager, Joint Programs, Defense.