Defense Dept.

October 14, 2009 -- CONTRACTS

NAVY    » read more »

10/14/2009 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Congress has reached agreement on a $680.2 billion National Defense Authorization Bill for fiscal 2010.

The bill authorizes a 3.4 percent military pay increase and full funding for the Defense Health Program, and it caps F-22 Raptor production at 187 aircraft. For civilian workers, it ends the National Security Personnel System. It includes a base budget of $550.2 billion and $130 billion for overseas contingency operations.

Congress released the conference report Oct. 7. The full Senate and House must pass the conference report before the bill goes to President Barack Obama for his signature.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 8) — The Army today released suicide data for the month of September. Among active-duty Soldiers, there were seven potential suicides. One has been confirmed as a suicide, and six are pending determination of the manner of death. For August, the Army reported 11 potential suicides among active-duty Soldiers. Since the release of that report, four have been confirmed as suicides and seven remain under investigation.

There were 117 reported active-duty Army suicides from January 2009 through September 2009. Of those, 81 have been confirmed, and 36 are pending determination of manner of death. For the same period in 2008, there were 103 suicides among active-duty Soldiers.    » read more »

BETHESDA, Md. - 14 Oct 2009: The U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has awarded IBM (NYSE: IBM) a technology and services contract to modernize the planning, programming, budgeting and execution functions within the command. USSOCOM and IBM will work together to design, develop and integrate the Special Operations Resource Business Information System (SORBIS) using advanced analytics and reporting capabilities to speed access to information to improve the command's business enterprise.

The award has an estimated contract value not to exceed $20 million over the five-year indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract.    » read more »

Oct 13 2009 -- Calling it a “long-overdue major victory for our dedicated federal employees, retirees, military personnel and their families,” Congressman Gerry Connolly cheered final passage of the defense authorization bill in the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday. The bill now goes to the Senate, which is expected to pass it, and then on to President Obama for his signature.    » read more »

IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 13, 2009 -- The Boeing [NYSE: BA] A160T Hummingbird unmanned helicopter successfully completed 20 test flights from Aug. 31 to Oct. 8 with the Foliage Penetration Reconnaissance, Surveillance, Tracking and Engagement Radar (FORESTER). The tests, conducted at Fort Stewart, Ga., validated the radar-carrying A160T's flight characteristics with more than 50 hours of flying time.

FORESTER is being developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Army to provide enhanced coverage of moving vehicles and dismounted troops under foliage, filling the current surveillance gap. The Fort Stewart tests were conducted under a contract with DARPA.    » read more »

TEWKSBURY, Mass., Oct. 12, 2009 -- The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) a $5.5 million contract to design, fabricate and test Self-HEALing mixed-signal Integrated Circuits (HEALICS) technology. If all contract phases are completed, the value of the contract could reach $11 million.

Raytheon's HEALICS effort incorporates self-healing into a complex system-on-chip (SoC) design, providing the capability for the chip to sense undesired circuit behaviors and correct them automatically. This maximizes the yield of increasingly complex mixed-signal SoC's on an individual wafer to meet demanding performance specifications in the presence of extreme process variations and environment conditions.    » read more »

October 9, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter today announced that more than $26 million in funding for local New Hampshire projects which she requested was authorized in the Fiscal Year 2010 National Defense Authorization Act.

“I am pleased that this important funding was included in the National Defense Authorization Act,” said Congresswoman Shea-Porter. “I supported these projects because they will boost our local economy and help keep our country safe.”

Shea-Porter successfully secured funding for the following projects in the Fiscal Year 2010 National Defense Authorization Act:

$10 million for Replacing Squadron Operations Facilities for the Air National Guard    » read more »

October 8, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. - The U.S. House of Representatives today enacted a series of new measures to rein in the government’s use of private security contractors as part of its annual bill to authorize Department of Defense operations. Congressman David Price (D-NC) strongly applauded the measures, several of which closely parallel legislation authored by Price in the 111th Congress.

“Contractors need to be accountable, and that means more transparency is necessary,” Congressman Price said. “We need to ensure that contractors operate within the bounds of the law and that sensitive operations like the interrogation of detainees are conducted by our military.”    » read more »

October 8, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today after the House passed the conference report for the fiscal year 2010 Defense Authorization bill, which helps improve our military readiness, and supports our troops and their families. The conference report also includes bipartisan provisions to strengthen law enforcement against hate crimes. The bill passed by a vote of 281 to 146:

“The Defense Authorization bill reflects Congress’ unyielding commitment to our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines. We owe a debt of gratitude to them for their sacrifice, service, courage, and bravery.    » read more »

The Hate Crimes Prevention Act will help protect Americans, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, disability, religion or national origin, in the event of violent hate attacks

October 8, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), a conferee on H. R. 2647, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2010, cheered the passage of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which was included in the Defense bill, while registering his strong reservations on the military commissions provision also included.    » read more »

October 9, 2009 -- Washington, DC - Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) today released the following statement in response to comments made by the Pentagon about the VH-71 presidential helicopter program. Hinchey, who is a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, helped secure $485.2 million for the continued development of Increment 1 of the VH-71 presidential helicopter program.

He will be serving on the House-Senate conference committee that's expected to meet next week to determine funding for the helicopter.

"The Pentagon is once again misleading the public about its proposed presidential helicopter plan. It is offering incomplete information and citing figures that are directly contradicted by its own internal documents.    » read more »

Cites Strong Commitment to Military Personnel and Their Families, Emphasis on Military Readiness

October 8, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn. – 3) today applauded the FY10 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 2647) as important legislation that makes a strong commitment to military personnel and their families, restores our nation’s military readiness and protects our troops in harms way. The bill was passed by the House of Representative today by a 281 to 146 vote    » read more »

Washington, Oct 8 -- WASHINGTON, DC – Washington, DC – Congressman Joe Courtney today voted to approve the House-Senate conference report on the Fiscal Year 2010 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 2647). The agreement, which passed in a 281-146 vote, now heads to the Senate for approval.

The NDAA sets the federal budget for the Department of Defense for the next fiscal year. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Congressman Courtney helped draft this bill and won support for several key priorities for the state and the region.    » read more »

October 7, 2009 -- Although U.S. Army deployments have been linked positively to the likelihood of reenlisting for much of the past decade, a new RAND Corporation study shows that by 2006 the mounting burden of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan reached the point where deployment had a negative effect on reenlistment.

However, the increased rate of deployment did not reduce reenlistment rates through 2007 for any of the three other branches of the U.S. military.    » read more »