ATK Gets $16.4 Million Order For Missile Warning System
The Navy gave Alliant Techsystems Inc. [ATK] $16.4 million of orders for the AAR-47 A(V)2 warning system that protects aircraft against incoming enemy surface-to-air missiles.
The system protects both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
Some surface-to-air missiles, in the hands of terrorists, are becoming increasing threats, such as the man-portable shoulder-mounted, or MANPADS, air defense weapons that have been used to take down military and civilian aircraft.
ATK also noted that it is developing a new generation of the missile warning system, the AAR-47 B(V)2.
It is in final testing and will provide aircrews with enhanced threat detection in urban and industrial areas by providing them with background clutter level indications. Existing installed AAR-47 systems will be upgradeable to the B(V)2 variant without any change to the aircraft’s A-kit.
Orbital Gains $15 Million Missile Defense Agency Contract For Medium-Range Target Missiles For Japan
The Missile Defense Agency gave Orbital Sciences Corp., of Chandler, Ariz., a contract worth up to $15 million for medium-range target missiles.
That firm fixed price, sole source contract calls for Orbital to manufacture one medium range target missile, with an option for a second one.
This is a foreign military sales contract for Japan. The principal place of performance is Chandler, Ariz.
Work on the basic contract and option is expected to be complete by January 2010.
Foreign Military Sales funds will be used.
BAE, MBDA, To Maintain Air Defense Missiles On Royal Navy Ships
The U.K. Ministry of Defence gave BAE Systems a GBP141million (US$280.9 million) contract to maintain the Seawolf air defense missile system on board Royal Navy Type 22 and Type 23 frigates.
MoD officials also awarded a complementary contract to the missile systems company MBDA.
The firms will sustain the Seawolf system and ensure its readiness and availability until the end of 2017.
Seawolf is a fully automatic, all weather, day and night, naval point defense missile system designed to protect surface ships from airborne attack.
Guy Griffiths, managing director of BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies, said the deal will yield cost savings of over GBP40million (US$79.3 million) to the Royal Navy over the life-time of the contract.
BAE Systems has been providing in-service support for Seawolf radars and command and control systems since 1979.
With MBDA, BAE Systems will ensure Seawolf system performance, as measured by successful in-service firings, is maintained through duration of the contract.
The deal also will provide support to the Seawolf Mid Life Update (SWMLU) variant. Equipment for HMS Sutherland, the Type 23 SWMLU First of Class ship, has been converted and installed onto the ship.
Raytheon Gains $21.2 Million Navy Seasparrow Launch System Parts Deal
The Navy awarded Raytheon Co. [RTN] a $21.2 million contract change for NATO Seasparrow Mk48 Guided Missile Vertical Launch System (GMVLS) components, the company announced.
The MK48 launches Seasparrow and Evolved Seasparrow missiles to defend against high-speed, highly maneuverable anti-ship missiles.
Under this modification to an existing contract, Raytheon will deliver 68 MK20 MOD 1 canisters and 156 spare frangible covers, components of the MK48 GMVLS.
Canisters will support systems currently used by the Canadian navy, while the frangible covers will be delivered to Canada, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
Air Force To Set Acquisition Strategy For GPS Ground Control This Year
By Marina Malenic
The Air Force will create a complete strategy to acquire the three increments of its Next-Generation Global Positioning System Ground Control Segment (GPS-OCX) in coming months, the program manager said last week.
Lt. Col. Janet Grondin, the OCX program manager, said the strategy — including whether the Block I contractor will be carried over into future increments — is to be determined shortly.
“We’ll determine that by the end of the calendar year,” Grondin told Defense Daily, sister publication of Space & Missile Defense Report, during a telephone interview.
The undersecretary of the Air Force altered the initial acquisition strategy in 2005. Under the revised strategy, the next generation space and ground control segments were competed separately. Last month, Maj. Gen. William McCasland, director of space acquisition in the office of the under secretary of the Air Force, said service officials believe they “can manage the program as a whole better if we separate the replenishment of the space component with the management of the ground segment.”
GPS is a dual-use, military and civil system whose primary mission is to provide Position, Navigation and Time (PNT) services. The Nuclear Detonation (NUDET) Detection System (NDS) is carried as a secondary payload.
Grondin said specialized contractors for each of the components made more sense than a single contractor that might not have the same level of expertise across mission areas.
“We wanted to have a best-of-breed ground system contractors, as well as best-of-breed space system contractors,” she explained. “Sometimes when you lump the two together, you’ll get best-of-breed in one area but not the other.”
GPS OCX will deliver new mission planning, constellation management, ground antenna, monitoring station and satellite command and control capabilities.
Under their current 18-month contract, Raytheon Co. [RTN] and Northrop Grumman Corp. [NOC] are providing systems engineering and integration; architecture design; communications and network engineering; information assurance and security; modeling and simulation; network management; software development; support, maintenance and implementation; and test and evaluation for their respective OCX offerings.
The contractors will each deliver prototypes, and the Air Force is expected to award the Block I production contract to one of the companies in May 2009, according to Grondin. She said fielding for that increment is scheduled to begin two years later. OCX will be acquired in three blocs and deliver capabilities incrementally over the course of the next 30 years.
According to the Air Force, key capabilities for the next-generation GPS system include higher accuracy in a jammed environment, increased time transfer accuracy, increased position accuracy, higher system integrity, greater survivability, greater signal commonality with the European Union Galileo system, and interoperability with the Global Information Grid.