21 Feb 07. Defence Fixed Telecommunications System (DFTS): Shared Services Agreement BT, Firebuy and the MoD announced (21 Feb 07) a shared services agreement for access to the DFTS by the Fire & Rescue Authorities (FRA). Firebuy anticipates that, by partnering with the MoD’s DFTS agreement, the English and Welsh FRA could benefit from substantial savings and greater interoperability.
Comment: Firebuy Ltd, established in April 2006 by the Department for Communities and Local Government, is the national procurement organisation for the FRA. A 10-year DFTS Private Finance Initiative contract was awarded to the BT-led INCA consortium on 24 Jul 97. The DFTS partnership with the Defence Communication Services Agency has been extended for a further five years until July 2012, bringing the total contract value to “over £3,000m”.(Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 0709, 26 Feb 07)
26 Feb 07. Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing, a leading designer and manufacturer of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) VME, VPX, and CompactPCI products, announced that it has teamed with Green Hills Software to offer developers complete embedded hardware/software solutions based on Green Hills’ INTEGRITY® RTOS and the MULTI® development tool suite for high performance modular computing and integrated subsystem applications in the defense and aerospace markets. Delivering on its commitment to provide system designers with advanced and reliable embedded software, Curtiss-Wright will develop, market and support board support packages (BSPs) and core drivers for the latest versions of the INTEGRITY real-time operating system using MULTI development tools provided by Green Hills under the partnership agreement. Support for INTEGRITY will be available for selected Curtiss-Wright VME and VPX/VPX-REDI single board computers, including the popular SVME/DMV-183, and digital signal processor (DSP) engines.
27 Feb 07. Department Of Defense And Denmark Sign Joint Strike Fighter Agreement Denmark has signed the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) production, sustainment, and follow-on development (PSFD) memorandum of understanding (MOU) that will govern the cooperative program arrangements for the next phase of the Joint Strike Fighter program. The signing ceremony took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, Feb. 27. In a ceremony at the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, Danish Minister of Defence Soren Gade added his signature to the agreement already signed by the United States, The Netherlands, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Norway, and Italy. The United States was represented by U.S. Ambassador James Cain. This MOU provides a framework for future Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program efforts in production and beyond, and extends cooperation beyond the current system development and demonstration agreement between the United States and the other eight JSF partner nations. Denmark’s signing today marks the completion of three years of intensive multilateral negotiations, followed by national reviews and approvals by each partner nation, culminating in a PSFD MOU signed by all nine Joint Strike Fighter partners. The Joint Strike Fighter is the largest DoD acquisition program to date. The F-35 Lightning II is a supersonic, multi-role, stealth fighter designed to replace a wide range of existing aircraft. Three versions of the aircraft will be built: a conventional-takeoff-and-landing variant, an aircraft-carrier version, and a short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing version. In addition to preparing for future production and sustainment activities, F-35 Lightning II development efforts are ongoing.The first JSF system development and demonstration test aircraft has already successfully flown several test flights.
23 Feb 07. DoD and NASA Partner on National Strategy for Aeronautical Testing. The Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration recently signed an agreement focusing efforts to develop an integrated national strategy for ma