DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: U.S. DoD Awarded Contract To Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, San Diego, Calif., For Operations And Maintenance Services In Support of MQ-8B Fire Scout

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: U.S. DoD Awarded Contract To Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, San Diego, Calif., For Operations And Maintenance Services In Support of  MQ-8B Fire Scout

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources U.S. Department of Defense No. 930-12 - November 28, 2012
(NSI News Source Info) SINGAPORE - Novembe 29, 2012: Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $15,010,161 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for operations and maintenance services in support of the MQ-8B Fire Scout.
  

Work will be performed in Afghanistan (90 percent), and Patuxent River, Md. (10 percent), and is expected to be completed in November 2013.  

This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR 6.302-1.  

Contract funds in the amount of $1,500,000 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. 

 The remaining funding will be obligated on individual delivery orders as they are issued.  The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity (N00019-13-C-0018).


Northrop Grumman's Transformational Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle system provides unprecedented situation awareness and precision targeting support for U.S. Armed Forces of the future.

The MQ-8B Fire Scout has the ability to autonomously take off and land on any aviation-capable warship and at prepared and unprepared landing zones in proximity to the soldier in contact.

 The U.S. Navy has selected Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) to produce the next-generation Fire Scout unmanned helicopter using the Bell 407 airframe. The new variant provides greater range, endurance and payload capacity to ship commander's intelligence-gathering efforts.

According to a U.S. Department of Defense news release on contract awards released April 23, the company will produce a total of eight Fire Scouts within an amount not to exceed $262 million. The Navy plans to purchase a total of 28 aircraft under a rapid development effort.

The Fire Scout endurance upgrade has been designated as the MQ-8C.

"Through our company-funded Fire-X demonstration effort we proved that using the mature unmanned systems architecture developed for the MQ-8B Fire Scout paired with the Bell 407 helicopter would provide greater capability efficiently and affordably," said Duke Dufresne, vice president and general manager for unmanned systems. "By using systems that have many years of development already invested in them we can meet the Navy's needs quickly."

Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor for the MQ-8C program. Major suppliers for new variant include Bell Helicopter and Rolls Royce.

Final assembly of the new Fire Scout variant will be completed at Northrop Grumman's Unmanned Systems Center in Moss Point, Miss.

Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.


*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources U.S. Department of Defense No. 930-12 - November 28, 2012
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - KOREAN PENINSULA NEWS: Satellite Images Suggest 'Looming' N.Korea Missile Test

DTN News - KOREAN PENINSULA NEWS: Satellite Images Suggest 'Looming' N.Korea Missile Test

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources AFP
(NSI News Source Info) SINGAPORE - November 28, 2012: North Korea could carry out a long-range missile test in the next three weeks, with new satellite images showing increased launch site activity, according to satellite operator DigitalGlobe Inc.


The global provider of commercial high-resolution earth imagery said Monday that the new pictures showed significant movement at North Korea's Sohae (West Sea) Satellite Launch Station.

"Given the observed level of activity noted, of a new tent, trucks, people and numerous portable fuel/oxidizer tanks, should North Korea desire -- it could possibly conduct its fifth satellite launch event during the next three weeks," it said.

DigitalGlobe said the type of activity was consistent with preparations observed before North Korea's failed launch of its Unha-3 missile in April.

Pyongyang insisted the April launch bid was aimed at putting a satellite in orbit, but the United States and United Nations denounced the mission as a disguised ballistic missile test.

The test put a halt to international efforts to engage the isolated nation, with the United States calling off plans to deliver badly needed food assistance.

The North is in the final stage of preparations for a launch after missile parts were transported to the launch site early this month, an unnamed senior military official told Yonhap news agency.

"(The South Korean military) is judging that there is high possibility of (the North's) firing off the missile between December and January of next year," the official was quoted as saying.

Any test in the next three weeks would cast a heavy cloud over South Korea's presidential election on December 19.

There have been widespread concerns in Seoul that the North would seek to influence the ballot by conducting a missile launch or provoking a border clash.

The Japanese Asahi Shimbun newspaper had reported last week that the US government had already warned Japan and South Korea that an imminent test was possible.

Last month, the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said satellite images showed North Korea had conducted motor tests at the Sohae site to improve its long-range missiles.

Some analysts believe that a North Korean rocket, if successfully developed, could eventually reach the range to hit the United States.

North Korea is known to have an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) in development -- the Taepodong-2 -- but it has never been tested successfully.

Days after the failed April test, North Korea raised eyebrows by displaying what appeared to be a new set of ICBMs at a military parade to mark the 100th birthday of the North's late founder Kim Il-Sung.

But Western military analysts and UN sanctions experts concluded that the display models were simply mock-ups.

Full coverage

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*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources AFP
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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