Industry News
Bell Helicopter Awarded Army Contract
Bell Helicopter, a unit of Textron Inc., was awarded a US$2.2 billion contract by the United States Army to build its next generation Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter, or ARH. The ARH will replace the Army’s OH-58D Kiowa Warrior Helicopter also produced by Bell. The contract calls for Bell Helicopter to build 368 aircraft for delivery during fiscal years 2006 through 2013.
Bell ’s ARH is a militarized version of its highly successful 407 single engine light helicopter. Capable of being equipped with a wide variety of weapons, the Bell ARH will provide the Army with exceptional mission versatility and with the flexibility to accomplish armed reconnaissance, light attack, troop insertion, and special operations missions with a single aircraft. The Bell ARH will also provide greater deployability, interoperability and survivability.
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ThalesRaytheonSystems Signs $130 Million U.S. Army Contract Modification to Support Firefinder Radars
ThalesRaytheonSystems Company (TRS) has been awarded a US$130 million contract modification to provide spare parts to support the AN/TPQ-36 and AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder weapon locating radars fielded by the U.S. Army.
The modification adds part numbers and increases quantities of critical spare parts to ensure radar readiness for the Army's weapon locating radars worldwide, including those deployed in current operating theaters. This award brings the total value of the contract to more than $220 million.
The Firefinder contract provides for more than 18,500 deliverable spare parts covering more than 150 part-types for both the medium and long range detection radars. Deliveries began in June 2005 and will continue through December 2007.
Due to the increased operational usage of the Firefinder radars, ThalesRaytheonSystems and CECOM (U.S. Army Communications and Electronics Command) worked closely on an urgent basis to bring this contract to fruition in a very short period of time.
The TPQ-36 and TPQ-37 radars automatically detect, track and locate enemy mortars, artillery and rocket launchers allowing friendly forces to engage the hostile targets with pinpoint accuracy. The TPQ-36 radar is specifically designed to counter medium range enemy weapon systems out to a range of 24 kilometers while the TPQ-37 can locate longer range systems, to include surface launched missiles, out to 50 kilometers.
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Ericsson Signs GSM Expansion Frame Agreement with Guangxi Mobile
Ericsson has signed a frame agreement with Chinese operator Guangxi Mobile Communications Company Limited (Guangxi Mobile) for the Phase 10 GSM Expansion in 2005. The total value of the agreement is estimated to be US$62 million.
Nanjing Ericsson Panda Communications Company Ltd, Ericsson's largest joint venture in China, will supply the equipment under the agreement. The expansion is scheduled to be completed by September 2005.
Ericsson's presence in Guangxi dates back to 1991 when the company helped to deploy a TACS network. Over the past 14 years, the partnership between Ericsson and Guangxi Mobile has been continuously strengthened on the basis of jointly building a world-class mobile network.
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LaqTel Signs $50 Million Contract With Nortel
LaqTel, a new operator in Trinidad and Tobago, has signed a contract with Nortel, valued at approximately US$50 million, to build a 3G wireless network for nationwide delivery of mobile broadband services.
LaqTel selected Nortel to build an advanced wireless infrastructure to provide its subscribers with 'anywhere, anytime' access to a variety of services including Web browsing, large file downloads and online gaming at speeds comparable to fixed broadband connections like DSL. LaqTel also plans to offer business customers secure mobile access to their corporate data networks from any wireless device, making it possible for them to remain productive when away from the office.
Nortel will deploy its complete CDMA2000* 1xEV-DO 3G wireless solution for LaqTel, including CDMA2000 1X radio base stations, base station controllers, and core network technology. The deployment is expected to be complete by the end of 2005.
Nortel supplies EV-DO equipment to 12 of the 21 operators across the globe currently offering commercial EV-DO service, including Verizon Wireless in the United States, Vesper in Brazil, Smartcom in Chile, Pelephone in Israel and Telstra in Australia. Nortel also provided EV-DO equipment to Eurotel for the first commercial 450 MHz EV-DO service in Eastern Europe. With its CDMA equipment designed to support 1xEV-DO through modular upgrades to existing hardware, Nortel re-uses existing base station equipment to help operators reduce or eliminate the need for costly hardware replacements.
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U.S. Marine Corps Awards General Dynamics $43 Million Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle Contract
The U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va., has awarded General Dynamics Land Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, a US$43 million contract to continue the systems development and demonstration (SDD) phase and full-up system live-fire testing of the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV).
The EFV is the Marine Corps’ highest priority expeditionary modernization program. The EFV is an amphibious vehicle that allows Marines to implement operational maneuvers from the sea doctrine. It can launch forces from 20 to 25 nautical miles at sea and transport its crew of three and 17 combat-ready Marines to shore at speeds in excess of 20 knots, three times faster than the current platform’s speed. The EFV is capable of speeds up to 45 mph on land and is replacing the 30-year-old, less capable AAV7s.
General Dynamics will provide all required materials, services, personnel and facilities to complete EFV design and development, perform studies and analyses, manufacture and test all SDD prototypes, prepare for production, initiate EFV logistics support, and successfully complete the SDD phase.
The majority of work will be performed by General Dynamics Amphibious Systems, an operating unit of General Dynamics Land Systems, Woodbridge, Va., and is expected to be completed by September 2009.
The Marine Corps awarded General Dynamics the EFV contract in 1996. The vehicle entered the SDD phase in 2001. Production of 1,013 vehicles begins in fiscal year 2007 and continues into 2020.
The EFV’s breakthrough expeditionary design provides outstanding cross-country mobility, lethal firepower, high water speed and optimum crew protection and survivability. EFV provides the elements of flexibility and tactical surprise critical to establishing battlefield dominance.
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Longbow Limited Liability Company Receives Contract Worth $17.6 Million
The Longbow Limited Liability Company (LBL), a Joint Venture of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman Corporation, has been awarded a contract worth US$17.6 million to begin work on the Fire Control Radar Electronics Unit (REU) as part of the U.S. Army’s Apache Longbow Block III modernization effort.
The contract was signed during a ceremony at the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command in Huntsville, AL, earlier this month.
The Longbow Fire Control Radar (FCR) transformed the AH-64D Apache attack helicopter into a dominating adverse weather battlefield system. The FCR system enables the Apache Longbow to rapidly search, detect, locate, classify, prioritize, and, if desired, engage both moving and stationary targets out to the maximum range of its weapons. The REU leverages technology originally developed for the Comanche helicopter program to consolidate and replace two legacy FCR components while introducing new capabilities.
The new unit improves power ratios, provides built-in processor expansion growth, and can be retrofitted on Block II aircraft in addition to the Block III Apaches for which it was designed. It also offers the potential for integration of Level IV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle control and a tactical common data link. The REU’s design preserves the two-level maintenance concept and tool set, lowers operations and supportability costs, and provides for improved reliability. It meets the Army’s weight reduction goal, increasing space for other aircraft components.
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems are leading developers of advanced combat systems for the armed forces.
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IBM to Acquire DWL
Representatives of IBM announced Tuesday that the company has signed an agreement to acquire DWL, a privately held company based in Atlanta and Toronto. Financial terms were not disclosed.
DWL is a leading provider of customer data integration middleware which helps companies provide a single integrated view of prospect and customer information spread across multiple product and business silos. This capability allows businesses such as banks, insurance companies, retailers and manufacturers to quickly and consistently leverage their customer data to help address business challenges such as regulatory compliance, optimizing customer relationships, or integrating data from mergers and acquisitions. This capability can give them valuable customer insight in transactions and day-to-day interactions, a key enabler of Information on Demand.
The acquisition strengthens IBM's information management software portfolio, including the company's existing product information management software and enterprise data integration software, a key part of the company's On Demand strategy.
Today's increased focus on optimizing customer relationships, as well as regulatory compliance and merger activities, has driven a new level of need for customer data integration solutions. DWL provides robust, real-time, transactional customer data integration solution in the market, addressing the key challenge of delivering relevant, unique, customer information, both internally and externally. DWL technology is widely used among leading companies across the banking, insurance, finance, telecommunications, retail and manufacturing industries.
Built on a Java-based platform and the highly flexible services oriented architecture, DWL's development is consistent with IBM's overall software strategy and complements IBM's information integration portfolio, allowing customers to easily integrate it into their multi-vendor environments.
The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, and is expected to close later in 2005.
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Alcatel Wins DSL Project with Nile Online in Egypt
Representatives of Alcatel announced that the company has signed a frame contract to supply Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) solutions to Nile Online, an Egyptian Internet Service Provider, which is considered to be one of the largest internet backbones in the country.
Alcatel will provide and install 30,000 DSL lines in a one year time frame, providing a large number of users across the country with high speed internet connectivity and with platforms ready to deploy innovative broadband triple play services (voice, data, and video).
Under the terms of the contract, Alcatel will supply Nile Online with its industry-leading Alcatel 7302 Integrated Services Access Manager (ISAM), which will enable demand for high-speed internet access services and high quality broadband applications like IP TV. This is the first ISAM reference in the Middle East.
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EDS Selects Cognizant As Alliance Member For Global Application Development and Management Services
Representatives of EDS announced that the company has selected Cognizant Technology Solutions, a market leader in offshore application services, as an alliance member.
The alliance supports EDS’ transformation plan to become more cost competitive, adopt industry standards and shift to more standardized offerings. In addition, the alliance with Cognizant supports EDS’ global delivery model, delivering from the best geographic location based on highest quality and lowest cost.
The alliance is an important aspect in EDS’ growth strategy and transformation to a new global delivery model. EDS recently began a realignment of its application delivery function, organizing it into application delivery units specializing in specific software platforms, and application industry units, which specialize in industry-specific solutions.
