STG announced this week that it has won the Information Assurance (IA) Services for Army Directorates of Information Management (DOIM) Area Processing Center (APC) Installation, Processing Node Migrations Support Task Order. Under this three-year, performance-based task order, which is valued up to $71M, STG will perform IA services for: DoD IA Certification and Accreditation Process (DIACAP), current operations and installations, new operational requirements as they emerge and IA migration services supporting the Army’s consolidated information technology (IT) services for APCs. The task order falls under the Army’s Total Integration and Engineering Services (TEIS) contract.

“Our knowledge of Army engineering initiatives has prepared us to fully understand the customer requirements and design and develop the winning solution,” said Paul Fernandes, STG Chief Operating Officer. “Our TEIS team in Sierra Vista, Arizona, has proven insight into the customer, and we will be building on a capability already proven at NETCOM, ARL and ATEC.”

This effort will consist of IA migration services for the Fort Huachuca, Arizona installation DOIM and many other installation DOIMs across the United States. Work will be performed at posts, camps and stations around the country. To date, this is STG’s largest win under the TEIS contract.

“This win enables us to expand our role in the IA arena and establishes STG as a leader in the forefront of this highly demanding area,” said Simon Lee, STG President and CEO. “Our proven Army experience and past success cements STG’s position as a high-value, low-risk provider of IA services.”

The economic downturn appears to be affecting the aerospace market in more ways than sales.  Vendors are now having to cut costs and labor in order to survive.  One industry hit heavily by the recession is the steel sector.  As a consequence of the severe downturn in the steel market and the uncertain prospects for 2009, SSAB is undertaking a cost savings program that is estimated to reduce operating costs by at least SEK 1 billion per year. As part of the program, SSAB intends to reduce its workforce by 1,300. The savings program will be implemented in 2009 and the full impact is expected to be felt in 2010.

“I regret that we must announce this reduction in personnel. But demand for steel has fallen sharply in the autumn and we must adapt our costs to the new conditions,” says SSAB’s CEO, Olof Faxander. “We are doing this to strengthen SSAB’s future competitiveness and will continue to develop the company’s successful niche strategy.” Our expectations regarding prices for the fourth quarter, as stated in the interim report for the third quarter, have not changed. But, as SSAB previously announced (November 19, 2008), demand for steel has fallen rapidly. Demand has fallen in all geographic markets and in all customer segments. This is particularly the case with regard to the transportation, building and infrastructure sectors. It is against this background that SSAB is now implementing measures which are intended to strengthen profitability and cash flow.

The cut-back in personnel affects in total 1,300 people throughout all divisions and subsidiaries . It is intended that the reduction will take place primarily through a reduction in the number of consultants and contractors and a reduction of approximately 1,100 employees in the Group.

In the Strip Products Division this affects approximately 450 persons and in the Plate Division approximately 350.

Operations in the North American Division are in part conducted using third party contractors, and a reduction will take place through a cut-back in the use of approximately 140 such contractors.

NCI has been awarded a task order from the Army National Guard (ARNG) and Air National Guard (ANG) worth an estimated $173 million under the ITES-2S contract, if all options are exercised. The award of the competitive task order continues and expands NCI’s role with these clients. The period of performance covered by this new task order is for a 10 month base period and options that will extend to September 2015.

Under this task order, NCI is responsible for managing all IT and telecommunications equipment and systems operating in the ARNG and ANG National Capital Region environment as well as supporting end-users of this equipment. Services to be provided under this contract include:

• Data communication
• Voice communication
• Security management
• Email
• Web services
• Active directory
• Other back office support
• Server and desktop support
• Video and audio conferencing engineering support
• Information technology services.

“We are very pleased and honored to have been chosen by the ARNG and ANG to provide their information technology support services. Our association with these important customers is extremely important to our company and we look forward to a strong partnership in supporting both the ARNG and ANG to meet their vital missions,” stated Charles Narang, NCI Chairman and CEO.

AECOM Technology Corporation, a provider of professional technical and management support services for government and commercial clients, announced this week that it has won its first three task orders for Contract Field Teams (CFT), which are valued at $163 million.

The CFT contract is an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract with the U.S Air Force to support the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Under the first task order, AECOM will support the U.S. Navy F-18 Fighters – both the Legacy Hornet as well as the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet – in Lemoore, Calif. Under the other two task orders, AECOM will support operations at the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station in Cherry Point, N.C., and the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany, Ga.

The CFT program, which has a maximum value of $10.12 billion over a seven-year period of performance, provides major and minor inspections, maintenance, modifications and repairs of aircraft and ground vehicles at government locations around the world.

It looks like it’s a great holiday season for BAE Systems who has received Level 5 certification against the Software Engineering Institute Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). This is the highest level rating that an engineering organization can achieve. The designation was awarded after an independent two-week investigation led by the Systems and Software Productivity Consortium which involved in-depth interviews and document reviews.

“This is a great achievement; CMMI Level 5 is an indicator of how our process improvements compare to our competitors and has been a factor in our ability to win contracts over the last several years,” said Ann Hennon, director of Core Process and Training for Ground Systems. “Achieving and maintaining this rating lets our customers know that they can count on us to provide the products and services they expect.”

More than 100 Ground Systems employees from three different sites – Santa Clara, California; Orlando, Florida; and York, Pennsylvania – in 10 different functional areas from Engineering and Project Management – were surveyed. As part of this process, the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, now requires validation of the results certified by the appraisal team, thus raising the bar of the appraisal process. In all, more than 2000 artifacts such as drawings, designs, documents and video were reviewed.

CMMI is a process improvement approach that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes. It can be used to guide process improvement across a project, a division, or an entire organization. CMMI helps integrate traditionally separate organizational functions, set process improvement goals and priorities, provide guidance for quality processes, and provide a point of reference for appraising current processes.

A rating of CMMI Level 5 requires Ground Systems to have and follow a defined set of processes, evaluate implementation of those processes and seek ways to improve the company’s methods used to develop and build products.

“We are continually seeking ways to improve our ability to develop products for our customers,” Hennon continued. “Our focus over the last couple of years has been expanding industry best practices across all engineering functions and development sites within Ground Systems. Achieving a rating of CMMI Level 5 is a clear indication the organization is implementing those best practices.”

The Aerospace engineering firm, a.i. solutions, is known for conducting routine conjunction assessment for 24 NASA satellites, including NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s (GSFC) Earth Science Constellation (ESC). The Chinese anti-satellite test (ASAT) in early 2007 generated a massive amount of space debris in orbits similar to ESC missions. “Within 30 days of the ASAT test, every member of the ESC had debris from the destroyed satellite approach within 25 kilometers,” says David McKinley, an a.i. solutions project engineer for GSFC’s Conjunction Assessment Team. By June 2007, the first ESC risk mitigation maneuver as a direct result of the Chinese debris was performed by the Terra spacecraft, confirming that the Fengyun-1C break-up was having significant operational impacts on the ESC member missions.

Now, nearly two years later, the debris has not decayed significantly, accounting for nearly 15% of all conjunctions in the ESC, says McKinley. NASA wanted to assess the long-term operational impacts to ESC missions—over the next twenty years or even 100 years into the future. Such long-term intensive analyzes meant creating high fidelity orbit propagations of the several thousand pieces of debris for decades into the future—a huge analysis problem requiring enormous amounts of computing power and months to complete. GSFC wanted results sooner.

a.i. solutions configured its commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) FreeFlyer to perform in a clustered, high performance computing (HPC) environment. Using Microsoft^® Windows HPC solutions, FreeFlyer and 10 clustered computers; the 20-year analysis was completed in less than 3 days. The end result shows that the Fengyun debris continues to remain a threat to the ESC member missions in the near future. In fact, the number of conjunction threats the ESC missions experience is predicted to triple by the year 2027. Further analysis shows that even after 100 years, over 20% of the ASAT debris could still be in orbit. a.i. solutions has several white papers on the analysis available for download from their website.

Force Protection has been winning new orders for its range of survivability solutions.  Chairman and CEO Michael Moody, pointed to Force Protection’s selection by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence as the preferred bidder for the Wolfhound Tactical Support Vehicle (Heavy) program as an example of the way his company is strengthening its capability to respond to urgent operational requirements, “We completed design work and built two prototypes for Wolfhound, which is based on our highly successful Cougar vehicle, in just 90 days. During this time we also carried out blast tests and mobility trials.”

Executive Vice President for Customer Operations Damon Walsh stated, “The selection of Force Protection to produce the Wolfhound confirms our responsiveness to customer needs. We offer our customers, including the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence, the flexibility to set aggressive production schedules to meet their unique requirements. In addition, our vehicles, once delivered, continue to demonstrate an operational readiness rate exceeding 90 percent. Many truck manufacturers worldwide offer the capability to deliver large quantities; what sets Force Protection apart is having both delivery performance capability and the most survivable, sustainable vehicles in the field.”

Force Protection proposes to deliver these vehicles in conjunction with their UK integration partner, NP Aerospace.

Two customised Cougar variants are already featured in major United Kingdom Ministry of Defence programs. The Mastiff 6×6 is in service with British forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. Deliveries of the Ridgback 4×4 began in August of this year. The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence has also recently ordered 24 more Mastiffs together with 14 Force Protection Buffalo route clearance vehicles.

Michael Moody said that the increasing adoption of Force Protection vehicles by the UK, the United States, Italy, France, Canada and Iraq was evidence that the company had, “The right technology at the right time. Cougar and Buffalo continue to prove their worth as the most survivable, sustainable vehicles on the battlefield.”

Space Exploration Technologies successfully conducted a full mission-length firing of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle’s first stage at its McGregor Test Facility in Texas, on November 22. For the static test firing, the first stage remains firmly secured to the massive vertical test stand, where it fired for 178 seconds or nearly three minutes – simulating the climb of the giant rocket from the surface of the Earth towards orbit.

At full power, the rocket generated 855,000 pounds of force at sea level. In vacuum, the thrust increases to approximately one million pounds or four times the maximum thrust of a 747 aircraft. The test consumed over half a million pounds of propellant. All nine engines fired for 160 seconds, then two engines were shut down to limit the acceleration and the remaining seven engines continued firing for 18 more seconds, as would occur in a typical climb to orbit.

The test firing validated the design of SpaceX’s use of nine engines on the first stage, as well as the ability to shut down engines without affecting the functioning of the remaining engines. This demonstrates the ability of Falcon 9 to lose engines in flight and still complete its mission successfully, much as a commercial airliner is designed to be safe in the event of an engine loss. Like an airliner, the Falcon 9 engines are enclosed in a protective sheath that ensures a fire or destructive loss of an engine doesn’t affect the rest of the vehicle.

The Falcon 9 will be the first vehicle since the Saturn V and Saturn 1 to have the ability to lose any engine/motor and still be able to complete its mission without loss of crew or spacecraft. Engine out reliability proved crucial to mission success on two of the Saturn V flights.

“In the past month, we performed significant upgrades to the test stand and flame trench in preparation for this test,” said Tom Mueller, Vice President of Propulsion for SpaceX. “We added the flight base heat shields around the engines to protect the bottom of the rocket from the prolonged blast of heat and vibration.”

“The full mission-length test firing clears the highest hurdle for the Falcon 9 first stage before launch,” said Elon Musk, CEO and CTO of SpaceX. “In the next few months, we will have the first Falcon 9 flight vehicle on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, preparing for lift-off in 2009.”

The nation’s first aerospace business incubator opened it doors this week at the Colorado School of Mines, positioning the state as a global economic center for the commercialization of space-derived technologies. With primary funding from the Colorado Economic Development Commission (EDC), the 8^th Continent Aerospace Business Incubator now serves as a virtual home for entrepreneurial companies that turn innovations from the Space Program and defense industries into profitable businesses and investment opportunities.

“With our aerospace workforce, research institutions and venture capital communities, Colorado is at the center of ‘Space 2.0,’ the emerging generation of entrepreneurial ventures that are solving some of the world’s biggest problems,” said Colorado Governor Bill Ritter. “From sustainable resources to alternative energy, from biosciences to IT, and from agriculture to tourism, aerospace technologies are integrating into every aspect of Colorado’s economy.”

The 8^th Continent Aerospace Business Incubator is supported by a $150,000 EDC grant matched by the Colorado School of Mines, the law firm Townsend and Townsend and Crew, and Metzger Associates Public Relations for a total of $372,000 in cash and in-kind services over three years. Incubator management and advisory services will be sourced through the Boulder Innovation Center, along with access to financial resources through 8^th Continent Funding Network partners including the Keiretsu Forum, Rockies Venture Club, TechStars and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

“Our goal is to connect our Incubator tenants with the advisors, venture capitalists and service professionals who can help nurture inventions into profitable businesses,” said Burke Fort, Founder and Director of the 8^th Continent Project.

The 8^th Continent Aerospace Business Incubator also announced its first tenant today, an Australian company, flaik, Inc., that has developed a GPS-based skier tracking and social networking system that will debut at Steamboat and Copper Mountain this season. “Through the 8^th Continent Aerospace Business Incubator, flaik’s goal is to enter the North American market, and build a team with Colorado’s IT talent, ski industry and risk capital community behind it,” said Fort. “Companies like flaik are using commercial satellite technology to serve consumer markets, and is a perfect example of the Space 2.0 businesses that are forming in Colorado, and around the world.”

In client news this week, LynuxWorks distributed a press release that announced that Lockheed Martin has selected LynxOS 5.0 real-time operating system (RTOS) and Luminosity 3.0 development toolkit for the radar design and development portion of the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) program.  MEADS, under development by MEADS International for the United States, Germany and Italy, is designed to replace the Patriot and Hawk missile systems.

Combining battlefield protection with flexibility, MEADS protects maneuvering ground combat forces and provides homeland defense against tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and aircraft. The LynxOS 5.0 migration enables Lockheed Martin to take advantage of the latest LynuxWorks network stack and Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) technologies — both of which are now integrated into the software, while still maintaining POSIX conformance.

“Our decades of experience in the military market continue to be applied toward growing our partnership with Lockheed Martin and improving military technology,” said LynuxWorks CEO Gurjot Singh. “We have already demonstrated that our software was powerful enough to handle the stringent security demands of the MEADS launcher. We’re now going to prove it has the mettle to handle the MEADS radar controls.”

When completed, MEADS will be the only air defense system capable of immediate deployment upon arrival, beginning operations with a “plug-and-fight” capability. The system will provide greater firepower with less manpower than current systems, dramatically decreasing operations and support costs.

LynxOS 5.0 is a real-time POSIX-conformant operating system designed for real-time, mission critical systems. The high performance software supports application programming and Linux application binary interfaces (APIs/ABIs).

Luminosity 3.0 is a Java-based integrated development environment (IDE) that is based on the popular open-source Eclipse IDE platform. The third generation of Luminosity supports the latest LynuxWorks operating systems, including LynxOS 5 and LynxOS-SE and provides a simplified, flexible platform to create, edit, compile, manage and debug embedded and real-time applications. The easy-to-use interface gives developers easy access to a wide array of both enterprise and embedded plug-in tools to speed development and reduce time to market via the unique Luminosity Validated Plug-In Program.