Thursday, July 5, 2012

DTN News: U.S. Department of Defense Contracts Dated July 5, 2012

Defense News: DTN News: U.S. Department of Defense Contracts Dated July 5, 2012
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - July 5, 2012: U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) Contracts issued  July 5, 2012   are undermentioned;


CONTRACTS
AIR FORCE
            Teradyne, Inc., North Reading, Mass., is being awarded a $16,848,088 firm-fixed-price contract to procurement components for the organic assembly of 25 Versatile Depot Automatic Test Systems.  The location of the performance is North Reading, Mass.  Work is to be completed by Sept. 30, 2013.  WR-ALC/PKOA, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., is the contracting activity (FA8571-12-F-0002).

            Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, McKinney, Texas, is being awarded an $8,500,000 cost-reimbursement contract for system imaging from standard definition-infrared to high definition-infrared for the Multi-Spectral Targeting System.  The location of the performance is McKinney, Texas.  Work is to be completed by July 9, 2013.  ASC/WIIK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8620-11-G-4050-0008).

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
            Revision Military, Ltd.*, Essex Junction, Vt., was issued a modification exercising the first option year on contract SPM2DE-11-D-7552/P00002.  The award is a fixed-price with economic price adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, sole-source contract with a maximum $12,785,652 for selection of prescription lens distributor.  There are no other locations of performance.  Using services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies.  There was one response to the Defense Logistics Agency Internet Bid Board System solicitation.  Type of appropriation is fiscal 2011 Defense Working Capital Funds.  The date of performance completion is July 7, 2013.  The Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity.

NAVY
            Gibbs & Cox, Inc., New York, N.Y., is being awarded a $10,799,969 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for design and integration of manned and unmanned craft systems for the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock, Combatant Craft Division.  The contract is for engineering and technical management support on all programs and projects related to the design and integration of systems for manned and unmanned craft.  Work will primarily be performed in the Virginia Beach, Va., and is expected to be completed by July 2015.  Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity (N65540-12-D-0007).

            QinetiQ North America, Inc., Huntsville, Ala., is being awarded a $9,902,317 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for design and integration of manned and unmanned craft systems for the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock, Combatant Craft Division.  The contract is for engineering and technical management support on all programs and projects related to the design and integration of systems for manned and unmanned craft.  Work will primarily be performed in the Virginia Beach, Va., and is expected to be completed by July 2015.  Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity (N65540-12-D-0006).

            Sealift, Inc., Oyster Bay, N.Y., is being awarded a $9,386,624 firm-fixed-price, reimbursable elements contract for the time charter of U.S.-flagged, self-sustaining ship, MV Maj. Bernard F. Fisher, to preposition ammunition and related supplies in support of the Air Force’s at-sea prepositioning program.  Work will be performed at sea, and the ship must be worldwide deployable.  This contract includes four, 12-month option periods, which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $41,321,873.  The anticipated primary places of performance are Diego Garcia and Korea.  The contract is expected to be completed Sept. 30, 2013; if all options are exercised, work will continue through September 2017.  Contract funds are subject to availability of fiscal 2013 funding.  This contract was competitively procured with more than 50 companies solicited via a solicitation posted to the Military Sealift Command, Navy Electronic Commerce Online and Federal Business Opportunities websites, with two offers received.  The U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00033-12-C-3303).

DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY
            Honeywell, Minneapolis, Minn., is being awarded a $9,343,572 modification to a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (HR0011-08-C-0019, Phase 4 option exercise).  The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is funding Honeywell to design, develop, and deliver a demonstration of a gyroscope with a goal capability of absolute reference navigation in a compact, four-diameter optically integrated gyro-head.  Work will be performed in Minneapolis, Minn. (53 percent); Glendale, Ariz. (35.5 percent); Pasadena, Calif. (8 percent); King of Prussia, Pa. (2.5 percent); and Somerset, N.J. (1 percent).  Work is expected to be completed by Aug. 5, 2013.  The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is the contracting activity.
*Small business


*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources U.S. DoD issued No.  563-12 July 5, 2012
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DTN News: Aerospace/Defense Headlines - News Dated July 5, 2012

Defense News: DTN News: Aerospace/Defense Headlines - News Dated July 5, 2012
 Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources including latest updatesDefense News, Aerospace/Defense Headlines - News & Yahoo
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - July 5, 2012: Comprehensive daily news related to Aerospace/Defense for the world of TODAY.
*Comprehensive daily news related on Aerospace/Defense for the world of TODAY
Thursday July 5, 2012
Wednesday July 4, 2012
Tuesday July 3, 2012
*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources including latest updatesDefense News, Aerospace/Defense Headlines - News & Yahoo
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DTN News - RUSSIA DEFENSE NEWS: Russian Air Force To Take Part In USAF Red Flag Training Exercises

Defense News: DTN News - RUSSIA DEFENSE NEWS: Russian Air Force To Take Part In USAF Red Flag Training Exercises
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources The Voice of Russia
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - July 5, 2012: Despite a cooling off in relations between Russia and NATO countries, neither party has refused taking part in joint military programs.

One such program is the regular aerial combat training exercise of the US Air Force and its allies, called “Red Flag”. The next exercise is scheduled for October 2012.

US Military command came up with the idea of conducting Red Flag exercises during the Vietnam War, when the USAF and naval aviation primarily used heavy multi-functional bombers such as the F-4 Phantom-II and F-105 Thunderchief. These bombers demonstrated their inability to engage in close combat with Vietnam’s light MIG aircraft. The reason for such failings was the strong reliance placed on powerful radars and medium-range missiles on the new American fighters. However, in practice the engagements very often did not go the way the pre-war theoretical schemes designed them to and the ratio of losses did not benefit the American side.

The situation had to be corrected – especially since at the same time in the other part of Asia above the sands of Levant, pilots of the Israeli Air Force on French and American aircraft showed wonderful results in aerial combat missions against Arabs who had far more powerful aircraft compared to Vietnam and who had gone through the same Soviet school.

The US Air Force then ordered a study known as Project Red Baron II, which showed that a pilot's chances of survival in combat dramatically increased after he had completed 10 combat missions. As a result, Red Flag, since starting in 1976, had the goal of offering every pilot and weapon systems officer (WSO) the opportunity to fly 10 realistically simulated combat missions in a safe training environment to give them more experience in real combat situations.

Today the Red Flag exercise is an advanced aerial combat exercise conducted in several cycles during the year. Besides Red Flag and Red Flag-Alaska, which mainly focus on fighter aerial combat, there are other cycles as well. For instance, the Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment (JEFX) – a large scale exercise for the headquarters of the US Air Force and its allies.

There is also Jaded Thunder, which is a series of combat training exercises in the course of which pilots from the US Air Force, Naval, and Marine aviation learn to detect and identify ground targets, including those camouflaged as civilians or civilian objects in a congested urban area.

Finally, there is MAFEX – Mobility Air Forces Exercises. These involve training transport aviation, where pilots learn how to interact using various communications and target detection devices as well as in the situation of a radio-electronic war.

In spring of 2012 it became known that the Russian Air Force is to participate in the Red Flag training exercise in the fall of 2012 together with Americans. From 8 until 19 of October, Red Flag Air Combat Exercise 13-1 will be held at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada (the exercises are numbered in accordance with the fiscal years, and exercise in the fall will be number one in the 2013 fiscal year). Like India, who participated in the Red Flag several years earlier using its Russian-made SU-30 MKI, Russia will get a chance this year to test its aircraft in realistic combat maneuvers with USAF aircraft. This chance is very important, since up until now the only Russian aircraft of the fourth generation which fought in a real combat situation against western aircraft has been the MIG -29, but the possibility of deploying it in the conditions of very specific wars of 1991 and 1999 was limited. Under such circumstances, the chance to test modernized Russian aircraft such as the SU -27 SM, SU-30M2, MIG -29SM and other strike aircraft – despite simulations, they are still against real western aircraft and pilots – is too attractive to be miss out on.

There is a political question, however: “Who are we friends against?” The answer is very simple: against nobody. Russia and the United States have been successfully talking the same language in the military sphere for a long time. Here, more problems unite the two countries than separate them. At the same time, the existing contradictions can be solved over a short period of time. However, as one could tell, that does not prevent us from continuing to study each other.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources The Voice of Russia
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Wednesday, July 4, 2012

DTN News - IRAN DEFENSE NEWS: Iran Will Strongly Counter Intrusive Powers In Region: Lawmaker

Defense News: DTN News - IRAN DEFENSE NEWS: Iran Will Strongly Counter Intrusive Powers In Region: Lawmaker
*Iran drill conveys message of sovereignty to world: Foreign Ministry Spokesman
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Press TV
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - July 4, 2012:  A senior Iranian lawmaker says Iran has a policy to maintain security in the Persian Gulf and strongly counter any military intrusion in the region.

“The policy of the Islamic Republic is based on maintaining security in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz for all ships and oil tankers,” Chairman of the Majlis Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy Alaeddin Boroujerdi told reporters on Tuesday. 

He added that Iran has the power to counter all elements behind regional insecurity. 

The senior legislator pointed to the ongoing missile drill by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in central Iran and stated that the military maneuvers display the country’s missile capability. 

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has entered a new phase of military might,” Boroujerdi pointed out, adding that such measures are not tantamount to any threats to the region and only denote that the Islamic Republic has the required capabilities to counter aggressions.

The three-day IRGC missile drill, entitled the Great Prophet 7, started in the central Iranian province of Semnan on Monday. 

The indigenous missiles, including Shahab (Meteor) 1, 2, 3, Khalij Fars (Persian Gulf), Tondar (Lightning), Fateh (Victor) and Zelzal (Quake) as well as Qiam (Uprising) were fired at mock targets during the drill. 

In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in the defense sector and gained self-sufficiency in essential military hardware and defense systems. 

Iran has repeatedly assured other nations, especially regional neighbors, that its military might poses no threat to other countries, insisting that its defense doctrine is merely based on deterrence.

*Iran drill conveys message of sovereignty to world: Foreign Ministry Spokesman

Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says the ongoing Great Prophet 7 missile drill in the central sector of the country is intended to convey a message of sovereignty and full preparedness to establish security in the Persian Gulf as well as the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking at a weekly press conference in Tehran on Tuesday, Mehmanparast said the drill aims to display Iran's might and attentiveness to establish safety in the Persian Gulf and secure the passage of oil cargos through Hormuz Strait. 

The senior Iranian official added that the Islamic Republic attaches great significance to the security of the Persian Gulf, stressing that Iran has both the capability and power to ensure the security and safe movement of energy supplies in the region. 

Deputy Commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Hossein Salami said earlier on Tuesday that the Great Prophet 7 missile drill serves as a “firm response” to the threats of a military option against the Islamic Republic. 

“The main aim of this drill is to demonstrate the Iranian nation’s political resolve to defend [its] vital values and national interests,” he stated. 

The three-day IRGC missile war games, entitled the Great Prophet 7, started in the central Iranian province of Semnan on Monday. 

The indigenous missiles, including Shahab (Meteor) 1, 2, 3, Khalij Fars (Persian Gulf), Tondar (Lightning), Fateh (Victor) and Zelzal (Quake) as well as Qiam (Uprising) were fired at the mock targets during the drill. 

In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in the defense sector and gained self-sufficiency in essential military hardware and defense systems. 

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Press TV
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DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Pakistan Opens NATO Supply Line As Clinton Says 'Sorry'

Defense News: DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Pakistan Opens NATO Supply Line As Clinton Says 'Sorry'
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Eric Schmitt - NY Times
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - July 3, 2012:  Pakistan told the United States it was reopening NATO’s supply routes into neighboring Afghanistan after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she was sorry for the deaths of Pakistani soldiers in American airstrikes in November, the State Department said Tuesday.

The agreement ends a bitter seven-month stalemate between the two countries that has threatened to jeopardize counterterrorism cooperation and complicated the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In a telephone call to Pakistan’s foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, Mrs. Clinton said the two officials agreed that mistakes were made on both sides that led to the fatal airstrike.

“We are sorry for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military,” Mrs. Clinton said in a statement issued by the State Department. “We are committed to working closely with Pakistan and Afghanistan to prevent this from ever happening again.”

The November airstrikes, which killed 24 soldiers in Pakistani territory after reports of militant activity in the area, led Pakistan to immediately close the supply lines and plunged relations between the countries to a low point.

The agreement on Tuesday followed a flurry of recent contacts between top American and Pakistani officials. Gen. John R. Allen, the American commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, met last week in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, with Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the Pakistani army chief of staff, to discuss counterterrorism strategy and the supply routes.

Over the weekend, Mrs. Clinton telephoned her congratulations to Pakistan’s new prime minister, Raja Pervez Ashraf, and brought up the issue. And on Monday, Thomas R. Nides, a deputy secretary of state, visited Islamabad to discuss the routes.

But the major stumbling block has been Pakistan’s demand for a formal American apology for the fatal airstrike in November. The Pentagon and the White House have adamantly opposed any additional apology beyond the several expressions of regret and condolences offered by many American officials — a carefully calibrated response during a hard-fought presidential campaign in the United States.

In her statement on Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton again expressed “deepest regrets for the tragic incident” last November and offered the administration’s “sincere condolences to the families of the Pakistani soldiers.”  But the clincher for Pakistan seemed to be Mrs. Clinton’s using the word “sorry.”

In exchange, Pakistan dropped its insistence on a higher transit fee for each truck carrying NATO nonlethal supplies from Pakistan into Afghanistan, Mrs. Clinton said.

It was not immediately clear why Pakistan dropped the demand, which had been a hotly contested issue for months.

Pakistan, stung by the suspension of American military assistance last year, at first demanded a fee of $5,000 for each truck that crossed its territory from the port in Karachi to Afghanistan. Before the November attack, NATO had paid $250. Pakistan later reduced that demand to about $3,000 a truck; the United States had offered $1,000 per vehicle.

In the end, however, American officials said Pakistan agreed to keep the fee at $250 a truck. In return, the United States is expected to reimburse Pakistani up to $1 billion for costs incurred by some 150,000 Pakistani troops carrying out counterinsurgency operations along the border with Afghanistan, the officials said.  

“This is a tangible demonstration of Pakistan’s support for a secure, peaceful, and prosperous Afghanistan and our shared objectives in the region,” Mrs. Clinton said in her statement, noting that waiving any transit fees will allow the United States and NATO to conduct “the planned drawdown at a much lower cost.”

The Pentagon has offset the closed route by using a much longer, more expensive northern supply line that runs into Afghanistan through Central Asia. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta has said the route was costing an extra $100 million a month.

Mr. Panetta on Tuesday applauded Pakistan’s decision, saying: "We remain committed to improving our partnership with Pakistan and to working closely together as our two nations confront common security challenges in the region."


A top-level meeting of Pakistani civil and military leadership held in Islamabad on Tuesday evening gave the clearest indication of the Pakistani willingness to reopen the NATO supply routes.

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, who headed the meeting, said in a televised address that the supply line closures “not only impinge on our relationship with the United States but also on our relations with the 49 other member states of NATO/ISAF.”

Salman Masood contributed reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan.


*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Eric Schmitt - NY Times
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Wednesday, June 20, 2012

DTN News - CANADIAN HISTORY: War of 1812 ~ Violence, Glory And A New Canadian-Ness

Defense News: DTN News - CANADIAN HISTORY: War of 1812 ~ Violence, Glory And A New Canadian-Ness
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources BBC News
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - June 20, 2012: Canada today is seen as a harmonious nation of hockey, mounties and maple leaves, in peaceful contrast to its often fractious and noisy neighbour to the south. But Canadian-ness itself was born amid the blood, gunpowder and glory of the War of 1812, writes Grant Stoddard.


As a British-born newcomer to Canada, I've noticed Canadians see their Canadian-ness as the sum total of their shared values, interests and beliefs.

By contrast, in other places national identity is more typically linked to battles, popular uprisings and improbable triumphs in the face of adversity: the Boston Tea Party, the storming of the Bastille, the October Revolution.
This led me to assume that while Canada is a wonderful place to live, it lacked a rousing origin story.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the story of the birth of Canadian-ness - which began 200 years ago this week - is as rollicking, bloody, stirring and inspiring as they come.
Canadians famously cannot bring themselves to brag, so I am taking it upon myself to recount the series of events that paved the long road to Canadian nationhood. Hold on to your toque!
Challenges and disunity
Lt Col Charles De SalaberryDe Salaberry led a combined forced of 1,350 that drove off 4,000 US troops.
In the years after the American Revolution, Britain set about creating a mirror-state to the north of the 13 rebellious former colonies.
Hoping in part to entice the US back into the empire, Britain aimed to demonstrate that life in North America could be happier and more stable under her administration.
There were challenges: the territory in what is now Canada was rugged, under-developed and thinly populated.
Furthermore, the main groups of people living there did not like each another very much.
First Nations tribes resented the unrelenting European expansion into the heart of the continent. Disaffected French Catholics had settled along the St Lawrence River in the early 1600s and remained after Britain finally wrested control of Canada from France in 1763. British inhabitants of Nova Scotia, known as the "14th Colony", had not joined their sister colonies in revolt.
And tens of thousands relocated north after the American War of Independence: refugee crown loyalists and former black slaves rewarded with their freedom for fighting alongside the British.
The new arrivals were so numerous that Britain carved a new colony - New Brunswick - out of Nova Scotia to accommodate them. Yet even after the influx, the US still had about 20 times the population of what was now called British North America.
The British government encouraged even more immigration from the US by offering free land and low taxes. These opportunist migrants, who had little loyalty to the British crown, were euphemistically called the Late Loyalists.
At the dawn of the 19th Century, what is now Canada was no melting pot or even patchwork quilt but rather a hodgepodge of disparate groups who held wildly varying opinions on British rule and American republicanism and a deep distrust of one another.
By 1812, with the British embroiled in war with France, US hawks moved to take advantage of their northern neighbour's disunity, finish the job of the revolution and kick the British off the North American continent once and for all.
Proponents of war were confident that the fractious Canadians would greet US forces as liberators, with former President Thomas Jefferson quipping that annexing the vast territory would be "a mere matter of marching" and could be completed within a few months.
An 1833 lithograph of the Battle of the ThamesNative leader Tecumseh was killed by a US soldier at the Battle of the Thames in Ontario, shown in a detail from an 1833 lithograph
One of the leaders of the invasion force was US General William Hull, a 58-year-old veteran of the revolution who had been reluctant to take part.
He promised the Canadians liberty and prosperity, while also threatening "instant destruction" and a "war of extermination" at the first whiff of collusion between the Canadians and the natives.
Though some Canadians took heed, others, regardless of their allegiances, were uninterested in receiving liberty and prosperity at the point of an American sword. So they took up arms.
Bravery and patriotism
In battles on both sides of the border, vastly outnumbered Canadian militiamen, British regular troops and First Nations warriors inspired by Shawnee warrior Tecumseh overcame the Americans.
Stephen Harper and Prince CharlesCanada never rejected the British Crown as America did, and remains a loyal part of the Commonwealth
A force led by British Maj Gen Isaac Brock and Tecumseh captured Detroit from Gen Hull, taking almost 2,500 American regulars and militiamen captive with only 300 hundred British regulars, 400 Canadian militiamen and 600 natives.
At the Battle of the Chateauguay near Montreal, French Canadians repelled a US attack. Under the leadership of Charles de Salaberry, 50 regulars, 400 volunteers, 900 militiamen and 180 Mohawks drove off 4,000-strong US force.
Despite their difficult history with British rule, Les Canadiens had proved their bravery and patriotism beyond a doubt.
Their victory inspired yet another improbable defence of Canada just over two weeks later at the Battle of Crysler's Farm, in which 900 British regulars and Canadian militiamen repulsed 8,000 US troops.
By the war's end, both York (now Toronto) and Washington DC had been put to the torch by invaders; the British bombardment of Ft McHenry in Baltimore had inspired a new national anthem; and Gen Andrew Jackson had routed the British Army at the Battle of New Orleans.
But the map of North America had hardly changed.
Three native men who fought with the British, photographed in 1882Canada's First Nations tribes' hopes for an independent state died after the War of 1812; above, three men who fought with the British, photographed in 1882
The US withdrew to well within the boundaries of the 13 colonies. Inexperienced British diplomats gave away her territorial gains at the negotiating table, while bullish and skilled US negotiators rejected the British-backed idea of an independent "buffer state" for the indigenous tribes between the US and British North America.
This betrayal of the natives hastened the demise of native autonomy in North America, as the US turned its attention from annexing lands in the north to pushing west toward the Pacific Ocean.
The War of 1812 was declared in Washington 200 years ago yesterday.
The British and Americans drew and the natives lost, leaving the fledgling Canadians with the best claim to victory.
In the spirited defence of their way of life, they surprised both the invaders and one another with their resourcefulness, co-operation and tenacity in the face of an invasion force with an overwhelming numerical advantage.
In that sense, their struggle was not unlike the American Revolution a generation earlier.
What Canadian-ness actually means continues to evolve and remains a perennial topic of discussion both domestically and internationally.
Nevertheless, its beginnings can be traced back to 18 June 1812, when her fractious inhabitants stood together against subjugation by a foreign power.
The 33.5 million people living in Canada today - fully one-fifth of whom are foreign-born - have this patchwork vanguard to thank for their country's steady path to progressive prosperity.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources BBC News
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