08 Jul 03. The U.S. Navy is expected to award $10m design contracts to up to three companies late next week to continue design work on a new fleet of shore-hugging combat ships, defense officials said on Tuesday. While the contracts will be small, they could be a stepping stone to a multibillion-dollar deal next year, when the Navy is due to decide which one or possibly two companies will build the new littoral combat ship, or LCS.
09 Jul 03. Northrop Grumman Corp.’s Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock unit won a $107.6m add-on contract for design work on future aircraft carriers.
Work under the Navy contract will be performed 58 percent in Newport News, Virginia, and 42 percent in Groton, Connecticut, the department said. The job is expected to be wrapped up by April, it said. The work is part of pre-system development and design efforts for CVN 21, the Navy’s next-generation aircraft carrier, scheduled to begin construction in 2007 and be delivered in 2014.
07 Jul 03. In March of this year, the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation awarded Thales Communications B.V. in Huizen, the Netherlands, a contract for the delivery of SOTAS M2 vehicle intercom systems. The order has an overall value of €6.5m. The Norwegian Army will install these multimedia intercom systems in command-post and combat vehicles within 1 year. The first delivery has already taken place in April 2003.
07 Jul 03. BAE Systems C4ISR has been awarded a contract by the U.K. MoD to provide technical support to the Ptarmigan tactical area communication system, including the Mobile Access to Ptarmigan Packet Switch (MAPPS) installations also supplied by the company. This programme will maintain Ptarmigan’s full operational capability for world-wide deployment and enable technology insertion where appropriate. The contract covers support activities for the next five years as the system reaches its out-of-service date of 2011.
09 Jul 03. Stewart & Stevenson Services Distributed Energy Solutions Division in Houston has successfully completed production and testing on four high voltage emergency generator sets for the U.S. Navy’s next nuclear aircraft carrier. Delivery of the first pair was made in May of 2003 and the second pair is more than a year ahead of schedule.
08 Jul 03. SRA International, Inc. been awarded a competitive task order to provide information technology (IT) services to modernize and field a series of systems that support Army soldiers at installations worldwide. SRA will convert the Army’s existing installation support modules (ISMs) — standardized software applications that perform day-to-day sustaining base functions at Army installations — to Web-enabled systems that will improve user access and capabilities and help reduce costs. The task order, awarded under General Services Administration Federal Supply Schedule, has an estimated value of $25m over five years if all options are exercised.
07 Jul 03. The Danish Army Material Command on June 27, 2003, awarded General Dynamics’ MOWAG a $30m contract for 22 Piranha IIIC eight-wheeled armored vehicles. The contract calls for 11 ambulance and 11 armored personnel carrier versions of the Piranha. The first deliveries of the ambulance versions will begin within 18 months. The vehicles are to be used in peace support operations by the Danish Army. This is MOWAG’s second contract with the Danish Army Material Command. It follows an earlier order for 22 Piranha
10 Jul 03. L-3 Communications’ Interstate Electronics Corporation (IEC) division has been awarded a $10.4m contract by the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base. This program’s research and development announcement (PRDA) contract is designed to reduce risk and advance technology required for the future development of Modernized Military Global Positioning System User Equipment (MUE). Work on this contract is expected to be complete by February 2005.
07 Jul 03. BAE SYSTEMS has