CONTRACT NEWS IN BRIEF
EUROPE
SEA
15 Apr 08. The U.S. Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) a one-year, $15.5m contract for continued program management and engineering services for the United Kingdom’s Trident II D5 Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) program. The Royal Navy’s Trident II D5 missiles, which are built by Lockheed Martin, are deployed aboard British-built Vanguard-class Trident ballistic missile submarines.
AIR
17 Apr 08. Astrium has been appointed by ESA to be the prime contractor to build Sentinel-2, the first optical satellite in the Sentinel series. The main industrial contract worth €195m was signed today, by Volker Liebig, ESA´s Director of Earth observation, Evert Dudok, CEO Astrium Satellites and Uwe Minne, Astrium´s Director of Earth Observation and Science in Friedrichshafen (Germany).
17 Apr 08. BMT Defence Services Ltd, a subsidiary of BMT Group Ltd, has supplied 15 innovative, hand-held map grid converters for use on the Royal Air Force’s new Merlin HC Mk3a helicopters. These units enable Merlin pilots to convert Ordnance Survey (OS) map grid co-ordinates into latitude and longitude (WGS84) co-ordinates for the onboard flight system. BMT’s grid conversion technology has proved itself over recent years. Previously, BMT supplied 70 grid converters for use on British Army Apache AH Mk1 helicopters during UK training exercises. Used to assist with navigation and enhance situational awareness, these enable pilots to convert between OS, WGS84, Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) and Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) formats. The existing Apache and new Merlin systems are based on a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution – standard Dell and HP Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) – loaded with BMT’s highly capable grid conversion software. Pilots can attach their PDA to their flight suit. In addition to supplying the PDAs and grid conversion software, BMT has provided the associated training for Merlin pilots at RAF Benson, Oxfordshire.
USA
LAND
14 Apr 08. DRS Technologies, Inc. received a $23m order from Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Space and Mission Systems business in Clearfield, Utah, to provide replacement environment control systems (ECS) for electronic equipment and personnel of the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) launch and missile alert facilities. The order is part of a current five-year $101m contract with the ECS Replacement Program team, comprised of the U.S. Air Force and Northrop Grumman. The government contracting agency is Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill Air Force Base in Utah. This is the third order DRS has received as part of the five-year contract initially awarded in 2006. Work is being executed by the company’s DRS Sustainment Systems units in St. Louis, Missouri, and Florence, Kentucky, with completion expected in September 2009.
11 Apr 08. DRS Sensors & Targeting Systems, Optronics Division, was awarded on April 10, 2008, a $23,300,110 firm-fixed price contract for 7,991 driver’s vision enhancer b-kits and associated spares for the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Program. Work will be performed in Melbourne, Fla., and is expected to be completed by Aug. 30, 2008. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Web bids were solicited on Nov. 21, 2003, and three bids were received. CECOM Acquisition Center, Fort Monmouth, N.J., is the contracting activity (W15P7T-04-C-J202).
16 Apr 08. DRS Technologies, Inc. was awarded contracts totalling $20.4m from the U.S. Army’s Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command Life Cycle Management Command (TACOM LCMC) in Rock Island, Illinois, to support programs at the Army’s office of Program Manager for Heavy Brigade Combat Team (PM HBCT) in Warren, Michigan. The awards are follow-on to previously awarded contracts from the previous fiscal year. According to the contracts, DRS will be responsible for system technical support, technical updates and program