We were honored this past week by receiving the 2008 Supplier Excellence Award from Northrop Grumman, a leading aerospace and defense firm.  The award was given for supplying the following client solutions:

• Internal Dashboard Metrics Collection and Auditing
• Dashboard Summary Reporting
• Requirements Flow-Down and N-Tier Analysis
• Program and Supplier Management Dashboards
• Oversight and Manager Assessment Dashboards
• SQM Scenarios

Unlimited Innovations, Inc.,  “demonstrated outstanding performance in providing key Mission Systems support data, information processing and change management solutions. Working hand-in-hand with executive management, UIUS solutions include systems for managing enterprise process improvement programs, executive reporting and decision support, process capability and productivity analysis, and the Supplier MA Assessment program.  Over the past six years UIUS proved that they can consistently bring new ideas, industry knowledge, technical skills and enterprise solutions to meet Northrop Grumman Mission Systems’ expanding business.“  - Northrop Grumman Mission Systems Evaluation Committee.

“Northrop Grumman endeavors to always provide the highest quality products and services to our customers so that they can succeed in their missions. When our suppliers meet or exceed Northrop Grumman’s expectations, we can do the same for our customers,” said Cynthia Hyland, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems sector vice president of contracts, pricing and procurement.

In some exciting news in the Aerospace and Defense industries, Alion Science and Technology, an employee-owned technology solutions provider, has been awarded a Logistics, Maintenance and Supply Support (LMSS) contract worth nearly $3 million from the U.S. Air Force to support the 93^rd Air Ground Operations Wing (AGOW) at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia.

The period of performance began August 13, 2008 and runs through August 1, 2013.

“Alion’s experts can provide realistic insights into how to better train and operate in future combat situations,” said Dick Brooks, Alion Senior Vice President and Manager of the Distributed Simulation Group. “Such training is designed to integrate kinetic and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) assets with ground combat operations in order to protect service members’ lives and neutralize insurgent resources.”

Under the program, Alion will provide operational management and technical integration in support of the warfighter in the areas of tactical air control and joint air ground operations. Integration of these two areas is the key to successful liaison between the Combat Air Forces and the U.S. Army ground commander’s scheme of maneuver. Alion will also ensure operational and tactical training to wing personnel, including equipment and technological advancements in communications, targeting and command and control. The goal is to increase both effectiveness and efficiency for Air Force personnel embedded within U.S. Army units.

The 93rd AGOW consolidates the tactical air control-party and battlefield weather specialties of the 3rd Air Support Operations Group at Fort Hood, TX, the 18th ASOG at Pope AFB, NC, and the specialized force protection capabilities of the 820th Security Forces Group at Moody AFB. The organization provides airmen specializing in ground-combat missions with a single command and control structure.

Image Courtesy of Volvo Aero Services

Volvo Aero Services and Boeing have extended a marketing and distribution partnership agreement, originally established in 1999, for an additional 10 years. Within the agreement, Volvo Aero Services will continue to provide multiple asset management services to support the distribution of quality aircraft parts for a wide range of Boeing aircraft models. In addition, Volvo Aero Services has been awarded the rights to manufacture and distribute Boeing proprietary parts.

The program, managed from the jointly established facility in Kent, Washington, covers the distribution of excess parts for in production and out of production Boeing and legacy McDonald Douglas aircraft.

“The extension of our contractual relationship with Volvo Aero further ensures that our customers will continue to receive the best, long-term parts support for their Boeing fleet,” said Dale Wikinson, vice president of Material Management. “They have proven to be an effective business partner that provides quality support.”

“The extension of our contract with Boeing is a testament to the success of our existing relationship”, says Claes Malmros, President and CEO of Volvo Aero Services. “We are extremely proud of our relationship and what has been created with Boeing over the last 10 years. We are looking forward to the continued success of our partnership.”

Volvo Aero Services Corporation, a subsidiary of Volvo Aero Corporation, is a leading provider of aftermarket services in the aviation industry. As the wholly-owned subsidiary of AB Volvo, Volvo Aero Corporation had 2007 revenues of $1.2 billion and employs over 3,200 people worldwide. Volvo Aero Services Corporation has a wide range of services based on its competence in asset management, logistics and leasing of aircraft engines as well as engine and aircraft components. The company is also the exclusive distributor of select material for Hamilton Sundstrand, Honeywell and The Boeing Company.

Courtesy of Bloomberg

Airbus SAS has been met with several delays this past year in regard to delivering their heavily requested A380 aircraft.  However this past week Airbus has said that they are confident that they are going to be able to produce the projected 12 jumbo jets by the end of 2008.  Due to the delays, along with the current economic conditions, the company’s stock has declined 34% this year, however after the announcement this past week, the stock rose 79 cents, the equivalent of 5.8%.

This could be a potentially very beneficial time for Airbus to gain significant market share against their main rival Boeing, due to Boeing’s current labor dispute and US political conflicts.  Presently there are already 21 orders of the A380 aircraft scheduled for 2009, Airbus confirmed their confidence that they would also be able to produce 100% of those orders as well.  So who is waiting for these planes?  Two large scale clients of Airbus are Qantas and Singapore Airlines, Bloomberg’s Andrea Rothman had this to say about the situation and these two clients:

“The first Qantas A380 will be used on the Melbourne to Los Angeles route starting Oct. 20, and on the Sydney to Los Angeles route from Oct. 24. The carrier will later add A380 flights from Australia to Singapore and London.  Singapore Airlines Ltd., the first to fly the A380, took delivery of its sixth 470-seat plane this week. It will use the aircraft to operate a second daily round-trip flight to London.”

Qantas’ CEO, Geoff Dixon said: “When we ordered our A380 in 2000, we said that in addition to giving us the opportunity to reinvent our product, this revolutionary new aircraft offered capacity and operating savings, as well as environmental improvements. Everything we have seen since our initial order has reinforced this view.”

Why the Demand?

“The A380 sets the standards for the 21st century, “ said Tom Enders, Airbus’ CEO. “More than 380 patents on board underline the aircraft’s leadership in eco-efficiency and innovation and will allow Qantas to continue to grow whilst reducing its impact on the environment. We appreciate Australia’s iconic airline sharing the A380 vision with us from the very beginning.”

In the highly competitive landscape of large-scale defense contracts, one of the keys to continued innovation and technology growth are healthy bidding wars.  However, once a bidding battle has been completed, it should not have to be performed once again due to one company’s dissatisfaction with their loss.  Although it appears to be the what is occurring in the current Pentagon Tanker Competition.

Photo Courtesy of WSJ

The Wall Street Journal reported that the bidding war, for the pentagon’s highly sought after $40 billion dollar tanker contract, has been temporarily called off due to the political entanglements involved in the situation.  This is despite the fact that Northrop Grumman Corp. had already been declared the winner over Boeing this past February.  Boeing’s domestic domination has caused a slowdown in the competitive marketplace and it is clear that the next US Presidential regime will not be forced to make the decision between the two companies.

So does this decision give Boeing a legitimate chance at winning back this contract?  Most likely not.  And there are two main reasons:

1. Boeing currently does not have a plane large enough to fulfill the Air Force’s request.  And with the current Boeing labor dispute (coverage), the company will certainly be meeting with delays for all new projects, especially its new 787.  Conversely, Northrop Grumman has already satisfied the Pentagon’s demand due to the fact that they won the original contract at the end of this past Winter.
2. If the new President is Sen. John McCain, Boeing will find itself on an uphill slope considering that McCain has previously blocked contracts from the aerospace firm that he believed were won ‘too easily’.

Austin Cole from the WSJ says this about the situation,

“Although the decision gives Boeing a chance at a fresh start, the company will face the prospect that one of its key critics, Sen. John McCain, could potentially be the next president when the matter is decided. Five years ago, the Republican senator helped scuttle an original plan to lease a fleet of tankers from Boeing because the contract was not competitively bid. His office played a key role in opening up the competition to Northrop Grumman and its partner, European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co.”

So despite the fact that Boeing has been given a second chance to win this contract, Northrop Grumman still appears to be the most likely company to win this bidding war, and rightfully so.

We’re excited to announce that we have launched this new blog to be a value added service to the aerospace and government consulting communities.  It will be updated regularly with news and information to assist you in whatever sector of the marketplace you work in.

In the Aerospace industry, it is vital to stay informed on the recent news and developments on a constant basis, and UI AGC provides aerospace and government client’s with subject matter experts and leading-edge information management systems driven by execution based dashboards that leverage legacy systems. Our third generation dashboards coupled with our domain expertise provides organizations a vastly improved approach to proactively managing excellence initiatives across the company, sectors, programs, and operational functions.