The Insider

NCI reported today that revenue fell but profit grew in its most recent quarter.

The contractor said sales for the three-month period ended Dec. 31 fell to $74.4 million, down about 7 percent from the same period a year earlier. However, NCI reported quarterly profit of $2.4 million, up from $2 million the prior year.

NCI attributed the sales decline to its PEO Soldier and NETCOM programs. Its PEO soldier contract accounted for just over 10 percent of the company's quarterly revenue, down from over 13 percent in the same period the previous year.

The Air Force announced today that it has entered into a five-year agreement with SpaceX that will allow the company to lease existing launch space to create the first-ever landing pad for its reusable Falcon-9 first-stage rocket boosters.

In a Feb. 10 press release, the service states that the agreement will support the company's renovation of an existing launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL, to support its testing of a reusable booster. The launch pad has previously been used for missile tests.

SpaceX has been testing its reusable launch system since 2012, and is slated for its next test flight tonight from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. In April 2014, the company achieved the first successful controlled landing of a rocket stage in the ocean. A test flight last month attempting a landing on a floating platform was unsuccessful.

SpaceX has yet to recover a reusable rocket.

The State Department has cleared the sale of remotely piloted MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance aircraft to the Netherlands, according to a Feb. 6 Defense Security Cooperation Agency notice.

The Dutch government selected the General Atomics Reaper in 2013 and the Royal Netherlands Air Force is well advanced in its preparations to accept the aircraft into its inventory.

The notice states the deal is worth $339 million for four Block 5 aircraft and four mobile ground control stations. The notice does not indicate whether the aircraft will be armed or used for surveillance purposes only, but there are no munitions sales attached to the purchase.

"This potential sale will enhance the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability of the Dutch military in support of national, NATO, U.N.-mandated, and other coalition operations," the document states. "Commonality of ISR capabilities will greatly increase interoperability between U.S and Dutch military and peacekeeping forces."

The MQ-9 package includes six Honeywell turboprop engines and six multispectral targeting systems, according to DSCA.

The Netherlands is a signatory to the Missile Technology Control Regime, which places certain restrictions on the export of unmanned aircraft of the Reaper's size and rage.

The Reaper sale is the fourth to a European nation, according to the MQ-9 program's latest selected acquisition report. The United Kingdom purchased 11 MQ-9s from 2007-2011. Italy has six and France has two.

After winning several major program contracts last year year, including the Combat Rescue Helicopter and the presidential helicopter, Sikorsky is seeing "much more certainty 20 years out than there is in the next five years," according to one company executive.

Samir Mehta, president of defense systems and services at Sikorsky, told reporters at a roundtable today that its recent wins are still in the developmental phase.

"The good news is we've won those programs, and that's what creates the confidence that far out," he said. But in "current production programs, we still see a lot of pressure associated with budgets to be able to buy existing programs."

He noted that Sikorsky's MH-60S and MH-60R are both going out of production. "That's creating potentially a dip in the next few years," Mehta said.

"We have to make sure that we do enough in the short-term with our production side so that we bridge the gap to when these programs go into production," he said.

Mehta added that Sikorsky fared well in the fiscal year 2016 budget released this week.

"The [president's budget] had some stability in it for us as it relates to '16," he said. "The problem is every year is a reset . . . While it's helpful, [it] doesn't necessarily go and allow you to do long-term planning when it comes to people, your supply chain."

The Professional Services Council, an industry group, announced today that it has bought the TechAmerica Foundation, including its vision forecast and conference, defense strategic planning forum, annual federal chief information officer survey and the American Technology Awards.

PSC bought the foundation from CompTIA, which acquired TechAmerica -- and the foundation -- last spring.

Stan Soloway, PSC's chief executive, said in a statement that the foundation's work naturally aligns with PSC's mission.

Huntington Ingalls Industries announced today it has acquired the Columbia Group's engineering solutions division, which designs and builds unmanned underwater vehicles for U.S. and international customers.

Huntington Ingalls declined to identify the cost of the deal. The Panama City Beach, FL-based Columbia Group unit has about 30 engineers, analysts, craftsmen and technicians, and its main customer is the Navy, the company said.

The acquisition will operate as an HII subsidiary known as Undersea Solutions Group.

Airbus Defence and Space said today it has named Fernando Alonso head of its military aircraft business, beginning March 1, and will restructure its A400M program.

Alonso, who will take over for Domingo Urena-Raso, has served as Airbus' head of flight test operations since 2007.

In the company announcement, Bernhard Gerwert, chief executive of Airbus Defence and Space, said the A400M program's integration of military capabilities and industrial ramp-up have been falling short.

"'[W]e have not been performing at the level which had been expected from us. That is unacceptable and we will fix that,'" he said.

Under the restructuring, the operations organization will take responsibility for all industrial-related activities for the A400M program, while program-related activities will remain within the military aircraft business unit, the company said.