Military procurement

Ordered to Pay $400 Million Criminal Fine

March 1, 2010 -- WASHINGTON -- BAE Systems plc (BAES) pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia to conspiring to defraud the United States by impairing and impeding its lawful functions, to make false statements about its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) compliance program, and to violate the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), announced Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grindler.    » read more »

February 23,2010 -- WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell issued the following statement on the eve of the release by the U.S. Air Force of its final Request for Proposal (RFP) on the air refueling tanker competition:

“I am pushing to make sure the Department of Defense acts with urgent focus to correct past mistakes in the tanker competition. U.S. forces, including the men and women at Fairchild Air Force Base, WA, need new air refueling tankers to effectively conduct their vital national security responsibilities. I am seeking the best tanker possible for American warfighters as well as American taxpayers. At stake across the United States are some 50,000 jobs, many of them in Washington state.    » read more »

December 1, 2009 -- (WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash), today responded to Airbus and Northrop Grumman’s transparent attempt to once again press the Air Force into tilting the tanker competition in their favor by threatening to drop out of the competition.

“Today’s threat by Airbus to drop out of the tanker competition unless the rules are changed in their favor is no surprise. This is a new competition, but the players are the same and Airbus is up to its same old tricks.    » read more »

U.S. Joins False Claims Act Lawsuit Against Kuwait-Based Companies That Supplied Food to U.S. Troops in Middle East

November 16, 2009 -- The United States has joined a whistleblower suit against Public Warehousing Company (PWC), The Sultan Center Food Products Company (TSC), and PWC’s chief executive officer, Tarek Abbul Aziz Sultan Al-Essa, the Justice Department announced today.    » read more »

Rolls Royce will keep making Joint Strike Fighter engine; bill preserves 300 Indianapolis jobs, up to $1.7 billion for state economic development

October 28, 2009 -- Washington – Senator Evan Bayh today praised President Obama’s signing of a defense spending bill that includes full funding for an alternate Joint Strike Fighter aircraft engine made in Indianapolis.

Bayh led the fight on the Senate floor to secure funding for Rolls Royce North America to develop and produce the military fighter engine at its Indianapolis facility. When funding for the program was stripped out of the legislation this summer, Bayh successfully fought to have it reinstated in a joint Senate-House conference committee.    » read more »

October 6, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. – Tonight, the U.S. Senate failed to pass an amendment supported by Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) to strip $2.5 billion from the Defense Appropriations bill to fund the purchase of ten C-17 military aircraft that the Department of Defense didn’t want. The amendment, sponsored by Senator John McCain (R-AZ) would have saved $2.5 billion that will be spent on ten C-17 aircrafts opposed by the Department of Defense.

The Obama administration had already stated its opposition to the $2.5 billion for the additional C-17s stating that Defense Department analyses have shown that the current number of C-17s in the force and on order, along with other aircraft, are sufficient to meet the Defense Department’s needs.    » read more »

July 1, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – A retired U.S. military official pleaded guilty to bribery and conspiracy charges relating to Department of Defense (DOD) contracts in Afghanistan, the Department of Justice announced today.    » read more »

June 22, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – After last week’s victory to reverse the President’s decision to eliminate the C-17, U.S. Senator Kit Bond today renewed efforts to increase funding for the F/A-18 Super Hornet.

“Underfunding the Super Hornet gambles with our ability to project U.S. power from aircraft carriers, damages our security in the long run by eroding our competitive domestic industrial base, and puts more than 110,000 American jobs at risk,” said Bond. “I’m not willing to make this risky bet which is why I’ve joined with Senator Kennedy to restore funding for this critical program.”    » read more »

Two Military Officials Plead Guilty to Bribery, Fraud and Conspiracy Related to Defense Contracts in Afghanistan; Third Military Official Pleads Guilty to Receiving Stolen Property

June 19, 2009 -- Four Contractors and Four Contracting Companies Also Charged with Related Crimes

Two U.S. military officials pleaded guilty to various bribery, fraud and conspiracy charges relating to Department of Defense (DOD) contracts in Afghanistan. A third military official pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property, which was obtained through the bribery conspiracy. In addition, four DOD contractors and four affiliated contracting companies were indicted for their roles in paying bribes to the military officials and otherwise defrauding the United States.    » read more »

Vehicles Engineered For The Tough Terrain Of Afghanistan

WASHINGTON -- June 18 – The U.S. Senate late Thursday passed and now will send to the President a funding bill that reflects a push by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to boost development of tougher and more agile armored vehicles and other equipment needed by U.S. troops in the rugged terrain of Afghanistan.    » read more »

Yesterday, Lockheed Announced Plans To Cut Up To 750 Jobs In New York

June 17, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. - In the wake of yesterday's announcement that Lockheed Martin Corp. plans to cut up to 750 jobs in New York, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today called for sustained funding for the Increment One phase of the Marine One program.

The presidential helicopter program has already produced nine aircraft that are in varying stages of test or integration. In addition, according to current Navy estimates, the cost of a new Marine One program could be as high as $17 billion, not including the cost of extending the life of the current fleet, essentially putting the estimated cost exactly where the current project stands.    » read more »

PARIS, June 17, 2009 – The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] will dedicate funding to further development of the F-15 Silent Eagle program, with the goal of a flight demonstration in the third quarter of 2010. The announcement came at the Paris Air Show following meetings with potential customers and reaffirmed a commitment to the prototype program made by Boeing Integrated Defense Systems President and CEO Jim Albaugh at the air show on June 14.    » read more »

PARIS, June 17, 2009 -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has started integrating its Munitions Control Unit on the Jaguar fighter aircraft.

The MCU is a plug-and-play system that enables integration of modern weapons on legacy aircraft with minimal modifications to aircraft wiring and no changes to the flight and stores management software.

"Once MCU is integrated on an aircraft, aircrews can employ the Joint Standoff Weapon, Maverick missile, Paveway precision-guided munition and AIM-9M Sidewinder air-to-air missile using the aircraft's existing weapon management system," said Harry Schulte, Raytheon Missile Systems vice president of Air Warfare Systems. "Warfighters can have this capability for a fraction of what it costs to integrate one weapon by traditional means."    » read more »

AMARILLO, Texas, June 15, 2009 – The Bell Boeing Program Office announced today that it has been awarded Phase 1.5 of a two-phase Joint Performance Based Logistics (PBL) contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to support the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft for the Marine Corps (MV-22), and Air Force Special Operations Command (CV-22).    » read more »

15 June 2009 -- LE BOURGET, France -- GE Aviation recently achieved two significant P-8A milestones including flight management system hardware qualification and deliveries of stores management system hardware. The flight management system qualification is the final milestone prior to formal flight testing of the P-8A, due to take place later this year. The stores management system hardware deliveries follow delivery last month of key software for integration lab activity.    » read more »