MANAGEMENT ON THE MOVE
LOCATIONS
LAND
15 Aug 09. ‘Colombia-US base accord reached’. Colombia says it has completed talks with Washington on allowing US troops to use seven of its military bases. Under the deal, the US military will be able to operate on Colombian soil to tackle drug-trafficking and terrorism. A number of South American countries have condemned the plan and Argentina has said the bases are “not helpful”. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has expressed fears the move would amount to preparation for an invasion of his country by US forces. Colombia’s foreign ministry said that Bogota had agreed the text of the deal with the US. “This agreement reaffirms the commitment of both parties in the fight against drug-trafficking and terrorism,” the ministry said in a statement. (Source: BBC)
17 Aug 09. The U.S. Army Medical Command awarded Lockheed Martin Technical Services a $193m contract to assist the military in consolidating its military medical facilities at Fort Sam Houston. Lockheed Martin will provide logistics support for the relocation of basic and specialty enlisted training operations from the Air Force 882nd Training Group, the Naval Schools of Health Sciences and the Naval Hospital Corps School to Fort Sam Houston. These units are being consolidated with the current Army Medical Department Center and School at the post as part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure decision.In addition, Wilford Hall Medical Center and Brooke Army Medical Center also are being combined into the new San Antonio Military Medical Center. The goal of this merger is to raise the level of medical care for service members wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Source: Google)
13 Aug 09. Northrop Grumman Corporation announced that its Electronic Systems sector campuses in Baltimore and Norwalk, Conn., have been appraised at Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI(r)) Maturity Level 5 — the highest rating possible — for a broad range of systems, software and hardware engineering processes with aspects of manufacturing, program management, organizational management, logistics and supply chain management.
MARITIME
17 Aug 09. General Dynamics NASSCO yesterday launched the U.S. Navy’s newest supply ship, USNS Matthew Perry (T-AKE 9), during a christening ceremony at the shipyard. The ship is named in honor of Commodore Matthew C. Perry, the U.S. Navy officer who established American trade with Japan in the mid-19(th) Century. Vice Adm. Richard Hunt, the commander of the U.S. Navy’s 3(rd) Fleet, was the ceremony’s principal speaker. Ms. Hester Evans, the great-great-great granddaughter of Commodore Perry and the ship’s sponsor, christened the ship by breaking the traditional bottle of champagne against the bow before the 689-foot-long ship slid into San Diego Bay. Approximately 2,000 people attended the ceremony.
PLANT CLOSURES, JOB LOSSES AND STRIKES
19 Aug 09. Taiwan’s defence minister has tendered his resignation amid criticism that the army was mobilised too slowly after Typhoon Morakot caused widespread flooding and mudslides in Taiwan, state-owned Central News Agency reported on Wednesday. Chen Chao-min and Hsieh Hsiang-chuan, cabinet secretary general, have both offered to resign, but their resignations were awaiting approval by the premier, according to the report. (Source: FT.com)
17 Aug 09. Lockheed Martin Corp. will cut 800 jobs in its Space Systems division, or about 4.5 percent of that division’s work force. The Bethesda, Md.-based defense contractor says the majority of the cuts will be at space operations in Denver and Sunnyvale. Lockheed will offer a voluntary retirement plan to minimize the number of layoffss. Lockheed says the job cuts are in addition to ongoing staff reductions at NASA’s Michoud assembly facility in New Orleans, where cuts are being made as the space agency winds down the Space Shuttle program.
19 Aug 09. Ministry of Defence plans to save £40m by cutting staff at