Boeing Delivers Advanced Chinook Maintenance Training Devices to Canada

From Boeing:


Boeing Delivers Advanced Chinook Maintenance Training Devices to Canada

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 12, 2015 – Boeing [NYSE: BA] recently delivered a maintenance training system to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) that will help prepare technicians to keep the RCAF’s CH-147F Chinook helicopters mission ready.

The Chinook Maintenance Trainer includes a complete airframe and an interactive display system that allow the technicians to gain experience addressing a number of scenarios. Boeing also delivered six training aids focused on specific items including aircraft wiring and fuel tank maintenance.

“Boeing’s training helps prepare our customer to meet a wide range of operational requirements,” said Tony Barnett, Boeing project manager for Canadian Medium-to-Heavy Lift Helicopters (MHLH) Training Systems. “This training suite complements a very capable CH-147F aircraft and will permit the RCAF to accomplish their near-term operational missions.”
This system is the most recent part of Boeing’s training for the RCAF and follows on the company having instructed more than 180 pilots and maintenance technicians on the Chinook’s systems.

The RCAF will use the system at its MHLH Maintenance Training Center, which is being constructed at Garrison Petawawa, Ontario.

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is one of the world's largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world’s largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $33 billion business with 56,000 employees worldwide. Follow us on Twitter: @BoeingDefense.

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From Raytheon:

Raytheon and General Dynamics joint venture awarded U.S. Air Force Launch and Test Range Contract

DULLES, Va., Jan. 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Air Force has awarded one of its most important space procurements, potentially a multi-billion-dollar contract to operate, maintain, and sustain launch ranges at Florida's Space Coast and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, to a joint venture of Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) and General Dynamics.

The joint venture, called Range Generation Next (RGNext) is responsible for operations, as well as organizational and depot-level maintenance and sustainment for safe and effective launch, testing, and tracking of Department of Defense, civil, commercial, and international spacelift vehicles. It will also support ballistic missile, guided weapon, and aeronautical tests and evaluations.

The $1.5 billion, single-award contract has a one-year base period with nine one-year options. Raytheon and General Dynamics formed RGNext to pursue the opportunity, known as the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center's Launch and Test Range System (LTRS) Integrated Support (LISC) contract, supporting the U.S. Air Force Space Command.

Existing operations and maintenance at the Eastern and Western launch ranges and the engineering and sustainment work for the entire LTRS are being consolidated into LISC, primarily a fixed-price-incentive firm (target) contract.

"Together, Raytheon and General Dynamics offer the U.S. Air Force more than 40 years of operations and maintenance experience, along with leadership across information technology domains," said Lynn Dugle, president of Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services. "In this cost-sensitive environment, LISC will deliver efficiencies and economies of scale that could not be obtained under separate contracts. Our team is eager to play its part in helping the customer ensure safe mission operations."  

"As part of this proven team, General Dynamics Information Technology will leverage lessons learned and proven processes to ensure the ranges continue as the nation's premier launch facilities," said Dan Johnson, president of General Dynamics Information Technology.

For more information about General Dynamics Information Technology, please visit www.gdit.com.

More information about General Dynamics is available at www.generaldynamics.com.

About RaytheonRaytheon Company, with 2013 sales of $24 billion and 63,000 employees worldwide, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, security and civil markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 92 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as cyber security and a broad range of mission support services. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. For more about Raytheon, visit us at www.raytheon.com and follow us on Twitter @Raytheon.

Boeing Delivered All P-8As to U.S. Navy on Schedule and on Cost in 2014

SEATTLE, Jan. 9, 2015 – Boeing [NYSE: BA] last month delivered the eighth P-8A Poseidon of 2014, completing all planned deliveries to the U.S. Navy for the year on time and on cost.

That airplane, the 21^st overall for the program, flew from Seattle to Naval Air Station Jacksonville in Florida on Jan. 8. It joined other P-8As being used to train Navy crews.

Boeing Delivered All P-8As to U.S. Navy on Schedule and on Cost in 2014

Boeing Delivers F-22 Training Center with Advanced Visual System

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 8, 2014 – Boeing [NYSE: BA] has improved the realism of ground-based F-22 Raptor training by delivering the first simulators for that aircraft with an immersive, 360-degree visual environment.



Boeing Delivers F-22 Training Center with Advanced Visual System

CGI looks south for IT expansion

Governments everywhere must automate faster to boost productivity as budget deficits are pared, and CGI Group Inc., Canada's biggest independent IT services firm, says recent U.S. acquisitions, including Stanley Inc., will pay off handsomely down the road.

CGI paid almost $1 billion in 2010 for Stanley, a big IT services firm, to expand its work with U.S. government agencies in defence, cyber-security and health care. Analysts called it "the deal we've been waiting for," but some wanted CGI to expand in the commercial sector.

"Roughly half our total revenue now comes from the U.S. and margins there are rapidly catching up with Canada's," CEO Michael Roach said after Wednesday's annual shareholders' meeting.

He said CGI has started off fiscal 2012 with $1.4 billion in new contracts, extensions and renewals, equal to 135 per cent of revenue, and an order backlog of $13.6 billion, up $578 million from a year earlier.
"The outlook is strong for the back half this year as many contracts signed last year kick in," he said, "and we're focused primarily on organic growth, debt reduction and holding the pace of share buybacks."


Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/looks+south+expansion/6088279/story.html#ixzz1pVHdseaD

CGI looks south for IT expansion

UK Citizen & 2 Americans Charged for Conspiring to Defraud US Govt.

United Kingdom Citizen and Two Americans Charged in Alabama for Allegedly Conspiring to Defraud the United States Government 

U.S. Department of JusticeMarch 13, 2012

Office of Public Affairs(202) 514-2007/TDD (202) 514-1888

WASHINGTON—United Kingdom citizen Ahmed Sarchil Kazzaz and his company, Leadstay Company, were charged in an indictment unsealed today in the Northern District of Alabama for their roles in a conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay kickbacks in exchange for receiving subcontracts for a Department of Defense program in Iraq, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance of the Northern District of Alabama.

Kazzaz, 45, and Leadstay were charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud and commit offenses against the United States; six counts of unlawful kickbacks; one count of wire fraud; and three counts of mail fraud. Kazzaz was arrested on February 14, 2012 in Los Angeles. In addition, two informations filed in the Northern District of Alabama were unsealed today, charging Gaines R. Newell Jr., 52, and Billy Joe Hunt, 57, with conspiracy to commit the federal offenses of kickbacks, wire fraud, and mail fraud, and with filing false tax returns.

According to the indictment, Kazzaz paid more than $947,500 in unlawful kickbacks to two employees of a prime contractor to the United States government in order to obtain lucrative subcontracts for himself and Leadstay, in connection with the Coalition Munitions Clearance Program (CMCP). CMCP is operated in Iraq by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville Engineering and Support Center (HESC). HESC, located in the Northern District of Alabama, operated the CMCP to clear out, store, and dispose of weapons that were seized or abandoned in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. HESC awarded a contract to perform this work to an international engineering and construction firm headquartered in Pasadena, California.

The indictment alleges that beginning in about March 2006, Kazzaz entered into a kickback agreement with the California prime contractor’s program manager and deputy program manager, who arranged for the award of subcontracts to Kazzaz and Leadstay to provide materials, heavy equipment and operators for equipment for the CMCP. Kazzaz also allegedly obtained multiple funding increases to those subcontracts. From April 2006 through August 2008, Kazzaz and Leadstay received more than $23 million in U.S. funds for services under the CMCP.

According to the two informations unsealed today, Newell was the program manager in Iraq for the California-based prime contractor to HESC, and Hunt was the deputy program manager. Both are charged with conspiring to solicit and accept kickbacks to award subcontracts under the CMCP program and to commit mail and wire fraud by knowingly and intentionally devising a scheme to defraud the United States. In addition, both are charged with failing to report the kickback income on their federal tax returns.

“Mr. Kazzaz allegedly paid kickbacks to two employees of a California-based contractor in order to secure subcontracts for Department of Defense programs in Iraq,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer. “Federal contracts must be won or lost based on the merits of the bid, and we will continue to take aggressive steps to hold accountable anyone who tries to play by their own set of rules instead.”

“Government contracts fraud is an insult to all law-abiding taxpayers,” said U.S. Attorney Vance. “These defendants’ conduct was even worse in that they tried to illegally profit from defense contracts in Iraq, where American men and women were willing to put their lives on the line for freedom.”

“These charges clearly demonstrate that we will take firm action against those who make illegal payments while engaged in wartime contracting,” said Stuart W. Bowen, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR). “SIGIR and its investigative partners will continue our vigorous pursuit of those whose illegal acts undermined the U.S. government’s management of the stabilization and reconstruction effort in Iraq.”

“Individuals and businesses that illegally enrich themselves at the expense of the U.S. taxpayer, especially as wartime profiteers, or those who diminish the combat readiness or effectiveness of the U.S. military, will be aggressively investigated by DCIS and our investigative partners,” said Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) Special Agent in Charge Chris D. Hendrickson. “The combined investigative effort, the Department of Justice, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s work demonstrate the combined federal commitment to combating fraud, waste, and abuse.”

“IRS Criminal Investigation provides financial expertise with our law enforcement partners,” said Special Agent in Charge Leslie P. DeMarco of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) Los Angeles Field Office. “Today’s unsealing of these charges demonstrates our collective efforts in tracing illicit funds internationally to enforce the laws and ensure public trust.”

Kazzaz, Newell and Hunt are also facing criminal forfeiture proceedings.

The cases were investigated by the DCIS, IRS-CI, SIGIR, the FBI, and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Division. The cases are being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Catherine Votaw, on detail from SIGIR to the Fraud Section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Estes of the Northern District of Alabama.

An indictment and information contain charges, and defendants are innocent until proven guilty.

U.S. Chamber Hails Intro of Exculpatory Evidence Bill in Senate

U.S. Chamber Hails Introduction of Exculpatory Evidence Bill in U.S. Senate

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Lisa A. Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform (ILR), issued the following statement today regarding the introduction of the Fairness in Disclosure of Evidence Act of 2012 (S. 2197) in the U.S. Senate.  The bill would require that federal prosecutors: disclose evidence that is favorable to the defendant in the course of a criminal proceeding; outline when such evidence must be disclosed; and, provide meaningful remedies for violations of the rule.

“We applaud the Senate’s efforts to promote fairness in the legal discovery process by denying prosecutors the ability to withhold potentially exculpatory evidence. Along with a diverse cross section of the legal community, we look forward to working with members to enact this bill.

“In recent years, federal courts have overturned a string of high-profile convictions–including Senator Stevens’ 2008 corruption conviction and Lindsey Manufacturing’s 2011 conviction under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act–after seasoned prosecutors failed to disclose evidence favorable to the defense.  Under current Supreme Court precedent, individual and business defendants may never learn that potentially exculpatory evidence exists, and remedies for disclosure failures are also limited.  This bill would remedy that injustice.”

ILR seeks to promote civil justice reform through legislative, political, judicial, and educational activities at the national, state, and local levels.

News Release from GE

21 February 2012

GE Announces Upgraded Video Compression Module to Enhance Military Decision Making and Troop Safety

 

ICS-8580 rugged XMC responds to growing use of video in conflict zones

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA February 21, 2012 GE Intelligent Platforms today announced an enhanced version of the ICS-8580 rugged high definitionvideo compression XMC module. Designed in response to the growing use of video in a broad range of defense applications, it allows very high quality moving images to be captured, transmitted and stored at very high speed with very low latency and with minimal consumption of precious bandwidth or disk space. As such, it can make a significant contribution to superior decision making and improved troop safety.

The ICS-8580 can capture video inputs and archive or stream them overEthernet, managing multiple streams and performing capture, manipulation, conversion, compression, storage, decompression and video display. Its rugged XMC form factor means that it is compact, lightweight and consumes little power, enabling it to be easily deployed in systems destined for deployment in harsh environments that are constrained by size, weight and power (SWaP).

The original version of the ICS-8580 has been widely deployed in programs such as NASA’s Global Hawk initiative.

Specifically, the enhancements from the previous version of the ICS-8580 include:

• The provision of two DSPs, each of which can be configured as an encoder or decoder, providing superior system flexibility.
• Full support for PCI Express, allowing uncompressed data to be uploaded and downloaded and improving configurability within custom systems
• Provision of an SDK (software development kit) for faster integration with remote configuration options
• Inclusion of six inputs and four outputs for flexible pass-through modes, allowing the use of any front end connector and facilitating integration with legacy systems
• Out of the box ability to connect to a NAS (network-attached storage) for easier integration.
• Support for the synchronization of stereo or mono sound for improved flexibility.

“The increasing deployment of unmanned vehicles by military organizations around the world is increasing demand for the use of video for intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance applications,” said Rod Rice, General Manager, Military & Aerospace Products, GE Intelligent Platforms. “The ICS-8580 provides a substantial step forward in its ability to stream video, and provides a solution for a new realm of sophisticated, demanding applications.”

In video capture and transmission, the primary challenge is how to maintain video quality in order to maximize critical detail while minimizing the use of bandwidth by implementing highly efficient algorithms: transmitting ‘raw’, unprocessed high definition video data at very high speed requires bandwidth that is rarely available in, for example, air-to-ground applications. Similarly, storage of high definition video data – for later review and analysis, for example - in its uncompressed form can require terabytes of disk space.

The ICS-8580 features H.264 video compression/decompression (codec) technology, which is widely regarded as being the optimum solution: it is considered to be up to 3x as efficient as other codec solutions, allowing vital image detail to be retained while occupying the minimum possible bandwidth or storage.

At the heart of the ICS-8580 lies a combination of a versatile FPGA device coupled with powerful dual DSP signal processors, providing unparalleled compute power for video applications. The FPGA enables video switching, format conversions, scaling, blending and other processing functions while the dual DSP processors enable multichannel video compression and decompression for over 100x reduction in bandwidth with minimal impact on video quality. It can handle up to two channels of full HD (1080p30) or UXGA (1,600 x 1,200 @ 30 frames/second) video, or up to four channels of standard definition video.

For more information: http://defense.ge-ip.com/products/3525