EUROPE
23 Aug 05. Sterling submits bid for MoD’s £10bn Military Flying Training System. The Thales UK led Sterling team, which includes The Boeing Company as a key member, submitted its bid for the MoD’s Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS). The 25 year programme, which could be worth around £10bn, will provide aircrew training for forces personnel from entry into service until conversion to operational squadrons with the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and the Army. The Sterling team is based within Thales UK’s services business located in Crawley, West Sussex. The new flying training system will deliver qualified aircrew for the armed forces in 20 disciplines, including fast-jet pilots, Naval Observers, and Weapons Systems Operators (WSO), rotary wing pilots and rear crews, multi-engine pilots and rear crews. The successful consortium will be selected in 2006 to partner the MoD in acquiring, implementing and delivering the new system in accordance with the MoD’s incremental acquisition strategy. The training system partner will be fully integrated into the MoD to jointly manage and deliver a flying training service for 25 years. Thales UK and Boeing collectively train more UK military aircrew than any other company, with a large training footprint across the UK. Sterling therefore has a thorough understanding of customer requirements for UK military aviation training. Moreover, this training footprint is managed under the Private Finance Initiative, so Sterling has experience in delivery of training output and associated risk management.
USA
24 Aug 05. Northrop Grumman Corporation has named its team of partner companies for the U.S. Army’s Information Technology Enterprise Solutions 2 Services (ITES-2S) program. ITES-2S is a nine-year, $20bn, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity program that will provide the Army with a full range of information technology services and solutions to support enterprise infrastructure goals worldwide, including command, control, communications, computers, and information management. Northrop Grumman’s Information Technology (IT) sector is leading a team of large and small businesses including Titan Corp., San Diego, Calif., Multimax, Largo, Md., Siemens AG, Munich, Germany; Research Analysis and Maintenance (RAM), El Paso, Texas; Nortel Networks, Toronto, Canada; Phacil, Inc., Camden, N.J.; and T-Systems, Frankfurt, Germany. The team provides strong Army domain expertise and the depth and breadth required to handle simultaneous, enterprise-level projects globally. ITES-2S is a key element of the Army Enterprise Infostructure Transformation program, which was designed to reduce the cost of maintaining information systems while improving access to information and applications.
24 Aug 05. Northrop Grumman Corporation has completed In-Country Reprogramming Tool training for representatives of the Republic of South Korea Air Force and Boeing Company on the operation and programming of its improved
ALQ-135M electronic countermeasures system, which is a fully automatic, internally mounted electronic combat system that manages and defeats multiple threats simultaneously, prioritizing and neutralizing the most imminent dangers. The reprogramming tool was introduced during a recent training class held at the company’s Rolling Meadows, Ill., facility where the ALQ-135M is produced. The four-week class included discussion on overall operation of the ALQ-135M system, instructions on how to input data into the reprogramming tool to program system functions and hands-on programming exercises. The ALQ-135 “M” configuration improves on heritage ALQ-135 systems by replacing multiple processors with a new PowerPC(tm) –based system that offers significant speed and memory enhancements. The ALQ-135M also makes use of sophisticated microwave power-module transmitter technology to reduce weight and boost performance.
24 Aug 05. The Pentagon is accelerating its search to replace the Humvee af