22 Mar 05. Lord Bach, Minister for Defence Procurement, announced that the contract has been signed with the ATLAS Consortium for the MOD’s Defence Information Infrastructure (Future) (DII(F)) project. The ATLAS Consortium, which was named as preferred bidder for DII (F) earlier this month, comprises EDS as lead contractor, tier 1 partner Fujitsu Services, and key sub-contractors General Dynamics, EADS Defence and Security Systems and LogicaCMG. The contract award announced today is for Increment 1 of the DII (F) project, which has a total budget in the region of £2.3 billion over 10 years. Further increments of work are expected to follow in due course, following MoD evaluation of Increment 1. The DII (F) project will replace numerous individual information systems throughout the MOD with a single, more efficient information infrastructure. It is intended to enable better communication between 340,000 military personnel and civil service staff and will connect and support 150,000 desktop PCs, laptops and other devices. DII (F) will also enable many of the defence efficiency measures under the Defence Change Programme to be achieved. These include Network Enabled Capability – the ability to transform the capability of the armed forces through a single network of information – announced in the Defence White Paper. DII (F) will achieve this by extending into the operational arena, interfacing with battlespace systems and improving shared information between headquarters, battlefield support and the front line. DII (F) will also enable greater interoperability between the MOD and its allies, allowing significantly more effective operational support than currently available. Lord Bach said: “I am delighted we have now signed a contract and am confident we will soon see the DII Future programme delivering real benefits for the MOD. “This is also good news for industry, as I am pleased to say that this contract will sustain over 2,000 jobs in the UK’s IT sector.” Bill Thomas, President of EDS EMEA, said: “EDS and our partners in the ATLAS Consortium are looking forward to a productive and successful long-term relationship with the MOD to deliver DII (F) and to realise the significant benefits for the Department. “We have an enormously experienced team that will work alongside colleagues in the MOD to bring about real and tangible improvements and savings.” Roger Gilbert, Managing Director, Central Government, Fujitsu Services, said: “DII (F) will provide a platform to harmonise ways of working across the armed services and central operations. Fujitsu Services is looking forward to working with the MOD and the other members of the Atlas Consortium to meet these requirements.”

22 Mar 05. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Electronic Systems, Defensive Systems
Division, Rolling Meadows, Ill., is being awarded a $27,943,096 undefinitized
contract modification to provide for fiscal 2005 modification and installation of 12 C-130H aircraft to accept the Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) system. The contractor also will provide aircraft hardware, provide associated LAIRCM system support including spares, support equipment, technical data, training, interim contractor support as well as over and above aircraft repairs during aircraft modification and installation. At this time, $13,971,548 of the funds has been obligated. This work will be complete June 2006. The Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F33657-01-C-2093/P00072).

24 Mar 05. BAE Systems has been awarded an $834m dollar contract for full-rate production of the M777A1 howitzer. The M777A1 is a lightweight 155mm howitzer and a critical fire support component of U.S. Marine Air Ground Task Forces and U.S. Army Stryker Brigade Combat Teams. Under the production contract, issued by the Joint Program Office, Picatinny, New Jersey, BAE Systems will manufacture 495 howitzers over the next four years.