Space Systems/Loral Gains Contract To Provide Satellite For SES

SES, the European satellite operator, will buy another Loral satellite.

Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications [LORL] received a contract to manufacture the new spacecraft for SES.

The Sirius 5 is a multi-mission satellite which will operate in both Ku and C frequency bands, delivering direct-to-home broadcasting, broadband, point-to-point, and VSAT services in Europe and Africa.

The bird will be stationed at 5 degrees East, and will boast two Ku-band beams, one serving customers in the Nordic and Baltic countries and the other serving sub-Saharan Africa. It has 36 active Ku-band transponders available.

The spacecraft also has two C-band beams, one with global coverage and one with hemispheric coverage, which can be operated with up to 24 active C-band transponders. This satellite design also includes a Ka-band uplink capability, allowing for flexible operations between Europe and Africa.

Based on the Space Systems/Loral 1300 satellite bus, the satellite is scheduled for delivery in 2011 and is designed to serve more than 15 years.

"This is the third satellite that we will deliver to an SES company," said John Celli, president and chief operating officer of Space Systems/Loral.

ITT Gains Telemetry, Tracking And Command Contract Worth Up To $1.26 Billion

NASA selected ITT Corp. [ITT] to perform telemetry, tracking and command services for near-Earth missions under the Space Communications Network Services contract worth up to $1.26 billion, NASA announced.

ITT Advanced Engineering and Sciences of Herndon, Va., will support NASA Space and Near Earth Networks, which provide most of the communications for a wide range of NASA science-based Earth-orbiting spacecraft, including the International Space Station, the space shuttle, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Earth Observing System satellites.

This cost-plus-award-fee core and indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract has a basic period of five years and three months, including the phase-in period. The contract also includes two one-year options.

The core portion of the contract provides for operation and maintenance of the Space Network, comprised of the tracking and data relay satellites and associated ground systems located primarily at White Sands, N.M., and Guam. The contract also provides support to ancillary space network sites located in American Samoa, Ascension Island and Australia.

The indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity portion of the contract provides for operation and maintenance of the Near Earth Network, including operations at Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Va.; the White Sands Complex in Las Cruces, N.M.; the Merritt Island Launch Annex in Florida; and McMurdo Station in Antarctica. It also includes commercial tracking and data-acquisition operations worldwide, and the Electronics Systems Test Laboratory at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

This portion of the contract also includes support for the Satellite Laser Ranging network and the global Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network. Support in the areas of systems and sustaining engineering, logistics, facilities management and hardware and software development for the Space Network and the Near Earth Network also will be provided.

General Dynamics Gains $85 Million Further Order For Hydra-70 Rockets In Larger $900 Million Long-Term Pact

The Army gave General Dynamics Corp. [GD] an $85 million additional order for Hydra-70 rockets and warheads as part of an earlier five-year contract that has a potential of up to $900 million if all options are exercised.

GD will begin deliveries in May 2010 under the $85 million increment.

General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products will make the hardware for the Army Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command.

Hydra-70 is a family of unguided rockets offering several warhead configurations that enable an aircrew to match the rocket to the specific mission.

Rockets can be fired from a variety of rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, including the Army Apache and Marine Corps Cobra attack helicopters, the Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon and combat aircraft of many nations worldwide.

Lockheed Gets PAC-3-Related Contract

The Army gave Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT] a $5.4 million contract to support recertifying 72 baseline Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) missiles.

Lockheed Missile and Fire Control-Dallas, at Grand Prairie, Texas, will perform the work during the current fiscal 2009 that began two weeks ago, and in 2010.

The company also will provide one lot of consumable material to support recertification of 24 baseline PAC-3s during the current fiscal year.

The work will be performed in Huntsville, Ala, under the contract, which is managed by the Army Aviation and Missile Command at Redstone, Ala.

General Dynamics Receives Missile Planning System Contract

The Navy gave General Dynamics Corp. [GD] a contract worth up to $13.5 million to help develop the Maritime Integrated Air and Missile Defense Planning System (MIPS), the company announced.

MIPS is an operational-level planning tool designed to help the joint force maritime component commander rapidly analyze and optimize alternatives for defeating current or projected air and missile threats.

In operation, MIPS uses advanced algorithms to predict the outcomes of various scenarios and interactions of military forces, to allow the commander to visualize enemy courses of action, and to help determine the most effective way to counter those actions.

General Dynamics has been developing MIPS and sustaining a limited fleet capability for five years. Under this new contract, General Dynamics will update the existing software models to address new threat and weapon characteristics.

General Dynamics also will migrate that software to a new computing platform that will overcome the hardware obsolescence issues that face the existing fleet capability and conforms to Navy open architecture computing environment standards.

Work will be performed in Virginia Beach and Fair Lakes, Va., and is expected to be completed by July 2010.