CONTRACT NEWS IN BRIEF
15 Jul 08. Complex Weapons: Procurement Plan. In Parliament and at Farnborough International (15 Jul 08), Ministers announced that the MoD had concluded a teaming agreement with the group known as Team CW for the Assessment Phase (AP) of six complex weapons programmes. Team CW is led by MBDA (UK) and includes Thales UK, QinetiQ and Roxel (UK Rocket Motors). The MoD is also a member of Team CW. The cost of the initial stage of the AP is some £74m, while the value of the AP as a whole is some £250m. MBDA is leading on five programmes and Thales on the sixth:-
* Indirect Fire Precision Attack Loitering Munition (IFPALM – MBDA).
* Future Air to Surface Guided Weapon (FASGW). Two programmes with MBDA leading on the 100kg weapon and Thales on the light weapon.
* Storm Shadow Capability Enhancement Programme (SSCEP – MBDA).
* Selected Precision Effects at Range (SPEAR – MBDA).
* Future Local Area Air Defence Systems (FLAADS – MBDA).
Comment: While Ministers gave the value of the first phase of the AP as £74m, the ‘Defence Contracts Bulletin’ (16 Jul 08) published that the Concept and Assessment Phase for Complex Weapons was worth £54.6m to MBDA UK and £4.4m to Thales Air Defence. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 0829, 21 Jul 08)
15 Jul 08. CAE announced more than C$128m of military and civil aviation contracts. The civil aviation contracts are for the sale of four full-flight simulators and training devices to Etihad Airways, British Airways, Bombardier and Embraer; and the military contract, valued at more than C$78m, is for training support services to the Commonwealth of Australia.
17 Jul 08. Cobham’s Aviation Services Division (CAvS) has been selected by AgustaWestland as an Approved Supplier and Strategic Partner on the UK MoD’s programme known as the ‘Joint Modification Service’ (JMS). This announcement is in line with the Government’s Defence Industrial Strategy to ensure that the UK supply chain benefits from strategic partnering agreements with UK prime contractors such as AgustaWestland. This is significant development for CAvS building on extensive experience modifying rotorcraft for the Defence Helicopter Flying School at its Bournemouth International Airport facility. CAvS has been selected to perform the embodiment and development packages of work under the guidance of AgustaWestland who remains the prime contractor for JMS.
14 Jul 08. MB Faber Ltd, one of the main subsidiaries of MB Aerospace Holdings Ltd, announced details of a contract worth in excess of £1m which will see it support the development of Europe’s latest military transport aircraft. The company has been appointed by Airbus UK to design and build operational tooling for building wings for the new A400M military transport aircraft at Airbus UK’s Filton plant in Bristol.
17 Jul 08. Raytheon Co., Fullerton, Calif., is being awarded a cost-plus-incentive-fee contract with award fee provisions for a total estimated value of $232,767,343 for the System Development and Demonstration of the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS), including the delivery of eight fully functional Ship System Engineering Development Models and four Aircraft System Test Avionics Sets. Work will be performed in Fullerton, Calif., (45 percent); Cedar Rapids, Iowa, (38 percent); Indianapolis, Ind., (7 percent); Long Beach, Calif., (5 percent); Richardson, Texas, (3 percent); Woodland Hills, Calif., (1.8 percent); and Virginia Beach, Va. (0.2 percent), and work is expected to be completed in Sept. 2014. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposals, with two offers received. The Naval Air Systems Command is the contracting activity (N00019-08-C-0034).
17 Jul 08. SI International, Inc. been awarded a contract to support the Headquarters Air Force Space Command Directorate of Requirements, Space Situational Awareness