30 Oct 03. AMS has been awarded a contract for the supply of the NAUTIS-3M command system by the NEC Corporation of Japan for the Japanese Sugashima Class Minesweeper (Coastal). This follows on from the updated Licence and Technical Assistance Agreement placed in 2002. The placement of an order for a shore based reference system and software generation facility is expected in the near future. The first NAUTIS-M command systems were supplied to Japan, for the Minesweeper fleet, in 1996. NAUTIS-3M is based on modern COTS technology and, for the Japanese Minesweeper, has been configured to fit within the existing NAUTIS-M console manufactured by NEC. This configuration will allow the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force an easier upgrade of their current NAUTIS-M to NAUTIS-3M, the latest and most powerful addition to the NAUTIS family.

02 Oct 03. McDonnell Douglas Helicopter, a Boeing Co. unit, has won a $212.8m Army contract for 16 AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters.Work is to be performed in Mesa, Arizona, and is expected to be wrapped up by March 31, 2007, the department said. The contract was a modification of a deal initiated on Dec. 23, 2002.

29 Sep 03. The U.S. Navy has awarded a nine-year, $281 million contract to Northrop Grumman Corporation to develop a fully integrated personnel and pay capability for all military branches of the Department of Defense (DoD). The Defense Integrated Military Human Resource System (DIMHRS) will support more than three million military personnel deployed globally and is one of the largest, most complex enterprise resource planning (ERP) initiatives ever launched. It will be the single authoritative source of personnel information on individuals and units across the DoD regardless of military service affiliation.

29 Sep 03. ViaSat*, Carlsbad, Calif., is being awarded a $43,823,793 firm-fixed-price delivery order under a previously awarded contract (N00039-00-D-2101) for Multifunctional Information Distribution System-Low Volume Terminals (MIDS-LVTs). The MIDS-LVT provides secure, high capacity, jam resistant digital data and voice communications capability for U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army platforms. Work will be performed in Carlsbad, Calif. (43%); Melbourne, Fla. (29%); and Munich, Germany (28%), and is expected to be completed by September 2005. Contract funds in the amount of $4,764,727 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This delivery order was competitively procured with two proposals solicited and two offers received via the SPAWAR e-commerce Web site. The synopsis was released via the Federal Business Opportunities Web site. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, San Diego, Calif., is the contracting activity (N00039-00-D-2101).

29 Sep 03. McDonnell Douglas Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $38,947,689 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-03-C-0020) to exercise an option for the third low rate initial production of advanced mission computers and displays for F/A-18 E/F Lot 27 aircraft, including 107 advanced mission computers, 107 5 x 5 forward display heads and 78 aft display heads. Work will be performed in Minneapolis, Minn. (65%); Albuquerque, N.M. (20%); and St. Louis, Mo. (15%), and will be completed in March 2005. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.