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Jeff Yorsz, who previously worked for Northrop Grumman, has been named president of QinetiQ North America, the company announced today.
Yorsz was general manager of Northrop's Adaptive Optics Associates, according to QinetiQ.
Former Pentagon official Brett Lambert is to become vice president for corporate strategy at Northrop Grumman beginning Jan. 26, the company said today.
He will replace Stanley Szemborski, who has retired from the company. Lambert previously served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for manufacturing and industrial base policy, focusing on defense industry consolidation and preservation of the defense industrial base. He has also worked as executive vice president of DFI International.
The Joint Staff recently issued an updated instruction memo on the Joint Doctrine Development System.
The Jan. 5 memo "establishes the role of joint doctrine and explains the responsibilities of the Joint Staff, Combatant Commands, Services, and combat support agencies for joint doctrine development."
Joint doctrine "consists of fundamental principles that guide the employment of U.S. military forces in coordinated action toward a common objective and may include tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP)," the memo states.
The Joint Staff has issued a number of new or updated joint doctrine publications in recent months, among them:
United Technologies will eliminate its propulsion and aerospace systems unit following the departure of the organization's chief executive at the end of the month, the company said Thursday.
Alain Bellemare, CEO of the PAS unit, will leave the company but continue to serve as a consultant to UTC, the company added. Because of his decision to leave, United Technologies said it would "streamline" its aerospace operations by making Pratt & Whitney and UTC Aerospace Systems, both formerly part of PAS, stand-alone units.
The leaders of those businesses will report directly to Gregory Hayes, UTC's chief executive, the company said. Mike Dumais, who led UTC Aerospace Systems' power, controls and sensing systems segment, will become United Technologies' senior vice president for strategic planning.
The Air Force has launched a competition to replace seven Minuteman III re-entry vehicle testing units that have been in service for more than 40 years.
On Jan. 13, the service released a request for proposals for the production of new MK12A testing units to ensure reliability testing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA, can continue on the intercontinental ballistic missile through 2030.
Preparation for the competition has been going on since January 2014, and the award is valued at more than $100 million, according to past notices on the Federal Business Opportunities website.
The Jan. 13 notice accompanying the RFP indicated that the competition has been revised and pushed back due to "numbering requirements."
The contract comes as the Air Force pumps millions of dollars in additional spending into the nuclear enterprise following an embarrassing missileer cheating scandal last year.
A number of internal and external reviews have identified ICBM test support equipment as deficient, particularly as the Air Force looks to sustain the Minuteman III until its replacement -- the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent -- comes online.
According to the RFP notice, the service will award one lowest-price-technically-acceptable contract to the preferred offeror, and delivery of the first unit is due 20 months after the award.
"All re-entry field support equipment units and support equipment must be delivered no later than 44 months after contract award," the notice states.
The contract comes as the Air Force holds discussions with industry on a separate efforts to replace MK12A reentry vehicle and MK21 arming and fuzing assembly test support equipment and modify the re-entry vehicle trainer simulator.
Work on the test equipment is being directed by the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center's ICBM directorate at Hill Air Force Base, UT.
The Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman's Herndon, VA-based Technical Services unit a $963.5 million contract for intercontinental ballistic missile ground subsystems support, according to a Pentagon statement.
Work on the five-year, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract will entail "sustainment engineering, technical assistance and program management services for ground subsystems to include sustainment, assessment, system modification and technical support" of ICBMs siloed at Hill Air Force Base, UT, Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA, Malmstrom Air Force Base, MN, Minot Air Force Base, ND, F.E. Warren Air Force Base, WY, and Offutt Air Force Base, NE, as well as in Colorado Springs, CO and Needham, MA, the Jan. 14 statement reads.
"This award is the result of a competitive acquisition with two offers received," the Air Force said, adding that nearly $4.4 million in fiscal year 2015 operations and maintenance funds have been obligated at the time of award.
Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley wants his service to make sure it employs small businesses on contracts whenever possible.
In a Jan. 12 memo, Stackley writes that "the evidence is overwhelming that where affordability is paramount, a strategy that includes Small Business creates more affordable outcomes and promotes innovation and technical advancement. Accordingly, the [Navy's] sweeping success in meeting its goals for Small Business in 2014 bodes well for execution in 2015."
Stackley notes that "there is wide variance in the employment of Small Business across the" Navy. Consequently, he calls on each of the service's Head of Contracts Activity and program executive offices "to formulate their Small Business strategy for 2015 and 2016, clearly identifying how they will incorporate and promote Small Business participation as prime contractors and through sub-contract provisions across the breadth of contracts under their purview. This Small Business strategy should include measurable performance objectives, such as contract type, estimated value, schedule for award, and plan for competition."
The Air Force has awarded Raytheon a $21.9 million base contract for AMRAAM technical support, just weeks after the company received a $492 million contract for foreign and domestic missile production.
The contract has five one-year option periods, according to the Jan. 14 award notice posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website.
The company is the sole provider of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, including the latest D-model that improves the weapon system's accuracy, network compatibility and adds a two-way data link -- according to service documents.
The primary export variant is the older C7-model, which has also received improvements.
The service had anticipated awarding the technical support contract last October, according to an earlier presolicitation notice.
The contract provides "materials, facilities, test equipment, engineering and management services to support AMRAAM production and AMRAAM requirements in various areas of systems engineering, software, overall flight test support, and logistics support," the notice states.
The announcement comes after the Air Force concluded negotiations for production Lots 28-30 for fiscal years 2014-2016. Those negotiations wrapped up Nov. 24, 2014, Inside the Air Force reported last month.
Wayne Rehberger will become chief financial officer of the combined company created by Engility's deal to buy TASC, Engility said today.
Rehberger has served as CFO of TASC since 2010 and previously was chief operating officer of XO Communications. He will succeed Michael Alber, Engility's CFO, once the deal with TASC closes.
The Air Force is looking for vendors to update the structural and mechanical sustainment master plans for its HH-60G, TH-1H and UH-1N helicopters.
The work is currently performed by the Mercer Engineering Research Center (MERC) under a short-term contract that would expire March 18 unless the service exercises two one-year option periods, according to a Jan. 9 sources-sought notice posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website.
The market research calls for vendors that could identify the tasks and processes needed to sustain the structural and mechanical integrity of the aging helicopters in their operational environments through the remainder of their service lives.
The market research covers two acquisitions: the Aircraft Structural Integrity Program and Mechanical Equipment and Subsystems Integrity Program.
Responses are due Feb. 9.
In the wake of the year's end, defense contractors have begun to announce the dates and times of their fourth-quarter and year-end 2014 earnings teleconference calls. Here are a few:
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) and Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI) today announced the Republican and Democratic leaders of the panel's subcommittees:
Subcommittee on AirLand
Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) Senator Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.)
Chair Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities
Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.)
Chair Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Personnel
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)
Chair Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support
Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.)
Chair Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Seapower
Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) Senator Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii)
Chair Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Strategic Forces
Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) Senator Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.)
Chair Ranking Member
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel met with Ashton Carter at the Pentagon today, the first time the two have met face-to-face since Carter was nominated to succeed Hagel in early December, according to a short statement from Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Defense Department's chief spokesman.
"The meeting gave both leaders a chance to get reacquainted and to discuss wide-ranging issues of importance to the Defense Department," Kirby said.
The discussion likely included America's ongoing campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and the approaching budget crunch expected from the onset of sequestration in fiscal year 2016 should Congress fail to avert it.
Congressional officials have said that Carter's nomination hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to occur in the first week of February -- the same time the FY-16 budget request is scheduled to be released -- though no firm date has been set.
Carter previously served as Hagel's deputy before stepping down in December 2013. President Obama nominated Carter to become defense secretary one year later.
Carter has also served as the Pentagon's chief acquisition executive.
The Obama administration is scheduled to release the fiscal year 2016 budget request on Monday, Feb. 2, according the Office of Management and Budget, making it the first on-time submission in recent memory.
“We look forward to working with Congress on returning to regular order in the annual budget process,” according to a Thursday statement from Emily Cain, a spokeswoman for OMB.
Meanwhile, Ashton Carter, a former deputy defense secretary who has been tapped to succeed Chuck Hagel to lead the Pentagon, is scheduled to have his nomination hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee that same week, according to congressional officials, though a firm date has not been set.
Mackenzie Eaglen, a defense budget analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, said Carter would be expected to defend the FY-16 budget request regardless of his role, or lack thereof, in building it due to his previous experience within the administration.
"Carter will absolutely be expected to defend this budget even if he had zero input," she wrote in an email. "That also is not unprecedented nor necessarily unusual."
David Wajsgras will become president of Raytheon's intelligence, information and services business as of March 2, the contractor said today.
Wajsgras, who serves as the company's chief financial officer, will succeed Lynn Dugle, who is set to retire from Raytheon. Anthony O'Brien has been named the new CFO, also starting March 2, Raytheon said.
Wajsgras joined Raytheon in 2006 from Lear Corp., where he was chief financial officer. He also previously served as corporate controller for Engelhard Corp and worked at Honeywell International.
O'Brien has been with Raytheon since 1986, most recently serving as chief financial officer for Raytheon's integrated defense systems unit.