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Wildfires are an unpredictable phenomenon that a large percentage of homeowners could face sometime in their lifetime. In many instances homeowners have little or no time to prepare their personal items or property so it is imperative they have a plan in place. To protect yourself from a wildfire you must first analyze the potential risks within your local area and what ways you can protect your property.
Wildfires are caused by a host of factors including manmade and natural with the majority coming from lightning strikes and accidental manmade fires. Homeowners who live in or around natural woodlands are the highest risk factor, but area on the edge of suburbia are at risk as well. Wild fires don't know boundaries and will spread wherever there is fuel and the wind pushes it. Weather patterns make wildfires so unpredictable that they can change course several times an hour leaving homeowner will little time to react.
There are steps homeowners can take to be prepared if they are faced with sudden wild fire risk. Assess the fuel available for fires on and near your property and work to reduce it as much as possible. Create a fire break on the edge of your property with a non-fuel material such as rocks or dirt. Having your property in prepared condition allows you more time for other measures such as applying a fire retardant to your structure. Protect your home from wildfire with FireIce a flame retardant that is easily applied to your home within a short time period and ideal for sudden fire risks. FireIce, a product that when mixed with water creates a fire retardant gel is quickly applied to all vulnerable surfaces. A homeowner can leave with confidence that their preparation and fire retardant gives them the best chance at avoiding a loss.
If you would like more information on products that could save your house from a wildfire, please contact us.
Tags: wildfire, fireice, protect home from wildfire
Categories: FireIce | GelTech Solutions
Wildfires have become a common addition to most news outlets over the past few years as the frequency of these disasters continue to increase. According to a recent article by USA Today "Western lawmakers push legislation to prevent wildfires" wildfires in the last decade have burned more land than the previous four combined. This increased threat means all homeowners in fire threat areas need to be prepared.
Western legislators are rallying to change the way designated fire suppression funds are used. In recent years, large fires or "mega-fires", eat a large percentage of this budget which is meant for forest maintenance to reduce the risk of fires. As more and more of this budget gets used for fighting fires the more forests are becoming even more at-risk of a fire. This poses a great risk for homeowners, especially those at the edge of the wilderness.
Your company responds to a fire in a one story, single family residential structure. It is a ranch style structure. The time is 6:00 am on a Sunday morning. While responding, you hear the first arriving officer report that there is fire coming from a bedroom window on the B-C corner of the house with smoke also coming from the open front door.When you arrive, the incident commander directs your officer to perform a primary search of the structure. Other companies have been directed to ventilate the structure and to do an interior attack on the fire.What other operations, if any, must be coordinated with your primary search?Answer: There are several other operations that must be conducted nearly simultaneously with the beginning of the primary search. Of course, it may be necessary to force entry into the structure. In this case it appears the front door is open and that is the most appropriate point to enter the structure. Also, ventilation must occur prior to entering the structure to reduce the heat and improve visibility. Finally, fire attack will also begin immediately following ventilation. Your search team may actually follow the attack team into the structure.What fire conditions can be expected inside the structure?Answer: It is apparent from the conditions observed outside of the structure that at least the bedroom is involved in fire. Smoke is moving throughout the structure as evidenced by the smoke coming from the open front door. The quantity of fire and smoke indicates that the fire is intense which means it is going to be hot. Also, the fire may have extended to other rooms and areas. In this type of scenario it is crucial that you maintain situational awareness - both individually and as a team. Even after ventilation has been completed fire conditions may remain extreme until the fire is extinguished. Flashover may be possible in other rooms until the hot smoke and gases have been ventilated and the fire is extinguished.How should the primary search be conducted?Answer: The primary search is a rapid but thorough search of the house. The search should begin in an area most likely to have someone needing rescue. At this time of day that would be the bedroom area. The search would start with the bedrooms closest to the room of origin and then work away from the fire area. If the fire is controlled quickly, the primary search may actually begin in that room. During the search common hiding places should be checked. As a room is searched the door should be marked indicating the primary search has been completed. When the primary search has been completed the officer will give an 'All Clear' to the incident commander.
By Rob Rosovich, Fire Protection Engineer
Tags: FireIce, Search and Rescue, Fire Academy
Hey FireIce Bloggers! Check out todays question and answer below:
Describe this operation. How must the blower be placed at the open entry point?
Positive Pressure Ventilation or PPV is defined as: "A method of ventilating a confined space by mechanically blowing fresh air into the space in sufficient volume to create a slight positive pressure within and thereby forcing the contaminated out the exit opening".The fan or blower is placed 4' to 10' from the entry point you must ensure the fan cone completely covers the entry point. An exit point MUST be created opposite the entry point to push the smoke out of the exit opening. This exit opening should be the same size or slightly smaller than the entry opening. The entire goal is to create postive pressure an it is important that no other exterior doors or windows are opened during this operation.
Tags: fire, firefighting, fireice, wildland fire, firefighter, fire suppression, fire gel, positive pressure ventilation, firefighters
Tags: fire, firefighting, fireice, wildland fire, firefighter, fire suppression, fire gel, fire suppresion, stream patterns, gel agents, flow rates, changing gears, stream application
(A segmented look at Firefighting, Fire Extinguishing Products, and Fire Suppression)In the last segment we touched on some of the things that are being done by the local, state, and federal agencies to reduce the threat of wildfires in the wildland urban interface. In this segment we'll look at fire extinguishing products and their effectiveness.
It appears that wildfires have become a pandemic and we have all seen the news clips of airplanes and helicopters dropping some sort of liquid on a fire… But what is that liquid? Some of it may be clear, some of it appears to be bubbly, and some of it may be red or blue. More often than not they are fire extinguishing products and some have been around for close to 100 years to aid firefighting efforts and help to firefighters with fire suppression. So let's look at these fire extinguishing products and how well do they work for fire suppression.Firefighting foams are the chemicals that have been around longest ever since the early 1900's and developed by a Russian Chemist named Alexsandr Loran. Originally firefighting foams were designed to combat flammable or combustible liquid fires. It wasn't until the 1980's when the foam manufacturers came up with the idea of making a formulation to be used on wildland fires which has evolved into Class "A" foam.So what are firefighting foams or class "A" foams?The chemical composition of these fire extinguishing products vary from manufacturer to manufacturer but all contain some sort of surfactant. Surfactants are compounds that lower the surface tension of liquid (usually water). Surfactants are usually organic compounds which are carbon-containing compounds such as carbides, carbonates, simple oxides of carbon and cyanides. Other components of firefighting foams are organic solvents such as trimethyltrimethylene glycol and hexylene glycol, foam stabilizers such as lauryl alcohol, and corrosion inhibitors.Now that we have your attention of what's in firefighting foams! Let's look at their effects on the environment… The US Forest Service QPL (Qualified Products List) specifies a mix ratio of 0.1 to 1.0 % foam concentrate to water and clearly states that they must be mixed within that ratio to comply with their specifications. Now on the other hand firefighters are taught in the Fire Academy to mix firefighting foam at a ratio of 3 gallons of foam concentrate mixed with 97 gallons of water to get an end product of 3% foam. Hmmm the US forest Service says a maximum of 1%... Why?? Let's look at toxicity on mammals and fish…Acute Oral Toxicity Mammals (Foam Concentrate):Phos Chek WD 881 = 4378 LD₅₀ (mg/Kg) it also is moderately irritating to non washed and washed eyes, and has a 0.9 primary irritation index for skin irritation.Phos Chek WD 881-C = >5050 LD₅₀ (mg/Kg) it is also moderately irritating to non washed and washed eyes and has a 1.4 primary irritation index for skin irritation.Tyco Silv-Ex = >5050 LD₅₀ (mg/Kg) it is also severely irritating to non washed and washed eyes and has a 2.7 primary irritation index for skin irritation.National Foam KnockDown = >5000 LD₅₀ (mg/Kg) it is also moderately irritating to non washed eyes and mildly irritating to washed eyes and has a 1.2 primary irritation index for skin irritation.**Note** The lower the Lethal Dosage value (LD₅₀) is - the more toxic it is. Fish Toxicity (Foam Concentrate):Phos Chek WD 881 = LC₅₀ 11 mg/L soft water and 10 mg/L hard water.Phos Chek WD 881-C = LC₅₀ 17mg/L soft water and 10mg/L hard water.Tyco Silv-Ex = LC₅₀ 46mg/L soft water and 28mg/L hard water.National Foam KnockDown = 28mg/L soft water and 26mg/L hard water. **Note** The lower the Lethal Concentration value (LC₅₀) is - the more toxic it is.Let's look at what firefighting foams do to fire equipment? We already established that firefighting foams contain corrosion inhibitors. Corrosion inhibitors are a chemical compound that decreases the corrosion rates of a material, typically a metal or an alloy. Corrosion tests are designed to measure the loss of structural integrity of the affected metal and potential loss of the metal item. Significant corrosion in fire pumps or aircraft may have catastrophic effects to human life. Corrosion testing is based on mils-per- year and the US Forest Service is looking to minimize the risk of corrosion- caused fire equipment failure in the field. The benchmark is less than (Uniform Corrosion Partial Submersion at 120˚F (Foam Concentrate):Phos Chek WD 881 = 0.1 Aluminum, 1.9 Steel, and 0.5 Yellow Brass.Phos Chek WD 881-C = 0.9 Aluminum, 4.7 Steel, and 0.7 Yellow BrassTyco Silv-Ex = 0.1 Aluminum, 4.9 Steel, and 3.5 Yellow BrassNational Foam KnockDown = 0.4 Aluminum, 1.1 Steel, and 0.1 Yellow BrassWhile all of these firefighting foams comply with the US Forest Service Specifications it should be noted that the above testing results is public record and are published on the US Forest Service's website.How effective are firefighting foams in aiding firefighters in fire suppression or fire extinguishment?Simply it last for seconds compared to water!! Here are the test results from the US Forest Service QPL list.Lateral Ignition Flamespread Test (LIFT)Phos Chek WD 881 = 211 seconds compared to Water = 112 secondsPhos Chek WD 881-C = 255 seconds compared to Water = 124 seconds Tyco Silv-Ex = 139 seconds compared to Water = 128 secondsNational Foam KnockDown = 225 seconds compared to Water = 116 secondsBasically what we have learned from this segment is that firefighting foam is corrosive to firefighting equipment, it's not that great for the environment, and it's not very effective compared to water. So stop wasting the taxpayer's money!On a side note National Foam as well as AFG Firewall, Kidde, and Ansul are all owned by Tyco. In the next segment we will look at Long Term Retardants the red stuff being dumped from airplanes and helicopters…
By: Rob Rosovich, Fire Protection Engineer
(A segmented look at Firefighting, Fire Extinguishing Products, and Fire Suppression)In this segment we'll look at fire extinguishing products and their effectiveness.
Hey FireIce bloggers. You are the Chief of a rural fire department and you were just toned out to a motor vehicle fire. You, your District Chief and your engine company of 2 firefighters are responding. Upon arrival you find a 2000 Ford Expedition with heavy fire coming from the engine and passenger compartments. The vehicle is 20' from a structure…During attack you find the engine compartment has magnesium components in it as it starts to explode with sparks… What Do You Do?FireIce instructor's synopsis is below… Upon arrival the firefighters attacked the vehicle fire with a 1 ½" pre-connect. Upon discovering the magnesium components in the engine compartment the firefighters went defensive and began to protect the structure. The Chief pulled a 2 ½ gallon pressurized water extinguisher loaded with FireIce and attacked the engine compartment fire with magnesium… Here are the quotes from the Chief on scene:"There was none of the usual sparks or small explosion associated with putting water on the fire."" The FireIce gel coated and cooled the magnesium as soon as it made contact with the fire.""All in all great product can't wait to use until we can try it on a larger scale like a house fire."The District Chief quoted: "FireIce did exactly what we have seen in the videos.""Then it was used on the rest of the interior and put down all the smoke and steam within seconds.""Great Stuff, it's always better to see it in action on a live burn rather than a controlled environment conducted by the seller."Many of you said to use foam, but why?? Whether it's wet foam or dry foam what are you achieving?? Faster knockdown, better cooling abilities, better suffocation?? Here is what foams definition of Heat Resistance: Foam's ability to resist the actual heat of the liquid or surface on which it is applied. The Firefighters Guide to Foam by National Foam: Rates its AFFF's heat resistance ability as fair (page 7).What happens to foam when absorbs heat? Does foam displace heat? Let's take a moment to look at how foam works and what it can do and CANNOT do.When foam concentrate is mixed with water, whether you are using a Class A or B product, its main action is to break the surface tension of the water. Thus, the water becomes "lighter" (hence the term "light water"). The principle theory behind Class A foams is that the reduction in surface tension (or separation of the molecular structures of water through adding a surfactant) will allow the water to "penetrate" into tiny cavities, like cracks, crevasses found in porous materials.By making the water lighter with a Class B product, it allows water to float across the top of hydrocarbon fuels (which normally have a lower specific gravity than water alone). Once the finished foam product is on top of the fuel, the surfactant is then released from the mix, creating a film which covers the fuel and separates it from the oxygen available in the ambient air. This action works very well and I am certain will continue to be a great asset to the fire service for fighting flammable/combustible liquid fires.What can foam NOT do? First, with its mediocre heat resistance, it has a hard time standing up to extreme temperatures for any length of time. Even if we aerate the mix, we have to be cognizant of how high heat will affect the finished product. Finished (B) foams are laden with air bubbles to "lighten" the water. What happens to heated air? It will have a drastic increase in molecular activity and will expand, causing the bubbles to burst. Secondly, if using Class A foam, you cannot "penetrate" a non-porous material (i.e.-solid steel or magnesium). The product will simply run off the fuel.So.....we are fighting a magnesium engine block fire. It is non-porous AND produces very high heat! Can we put out magnesium with water or foam? Yes, but only from a great (safe) distance and using COPIOUS amounts of either agent. Foam or water will run off of the block easily and will rapidly vaporize under the intense heat.FireIce is a water enhancer! It will: A) stick to the block and allow more heat absorbing water molecules to continue to "stack" on top of itself, absorbing the heat at a faster rate and for a longer period of time and B) allow us to be closer to the burning product without the explosive effects of applying water to burning magnesium. FireIce will also "coat" the burning block, excluding ambient air from the combustion process…
Stay Safe!
Tags: fire, firefighting, fireice, firefighter, fire suppression, fire gel, fireice academy
Hey FireIce Blog Readers! FireIce Academy is back in session!! Please size up the scene…You are the officer of the first due Engine Company responding to a reported structural collapse of an apartment building.Upon arrival you see what is pictured. There are No reported missing persons...What are your initial actions?What other resources will be needed?How do you begin Rescue Operations?What do you do about Safety… for your crew? Bystanders? How do you secure the scene? Stay Safe!
In rapidly deteriorating conditions, a properly performed head-first ladder bailout can be life saver. Here are some important fundamentals to prevent injuries during the procedure:Place the ladder at an angle less than 75 degrees to allow for greater control and prevent slipping.Place the tip of the ladder just below the window sill so the exit area is kept open and the firefighter can keep low.Exterior teams should position ladders on upper floor windows to provide alternate exit for interior companies in the event of an emergency.Have a crew or member available to heel ladders or reposition ladders in the event the firefighter is in a window over from the ladder.Communicate and listen; know where crews are operating and adjust accordinglyBe proactive.When training, make sure you use rated safety line and a rated safety harness assembly on the firefighter and inspect all ropes and harnesses in use prior to training. Content Courtesy of FireRescue1
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Gluten-free travel articles, tips, and resources for people with celiac disease. | Eat. Explore. Enjoy.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Going to Atlanta
Pizza Fusion in Buckhead, http://www.pizzafusion.com/. They do make gluten pizzas here as well, but also take precautions to prevent cross-contact with the gluten-containing foods. Apparantly, this Pizza Fusions location makes its gf crust in a separate spot in the kitchen, but not all Pizza Fusions do this. Here is a link to a blog with an interview with the owner of the Atlanta Pizza Fusion at 2233 Peachtree Road, Suite MAtlanta, GA 30309 / 404-351-9334.
Z Pizza has three locations in the Metro Atlanta area. Check http://www.zpizza.com/ for locations. The author of the "Glad to Be Gluten Free" blog doesn't like the Midtown store location due to the staff seeming uninterested in the needs of gluten-free diners, and also stated that parking in that area is a hassle. A better experince was had at the Alpharetta store, as well as the newest location in Duluth, where she also got a gluten-free apple pie pizza for dessert.
Pepperoni's in Duluth GA has gotten high marks for its gluten-free pizza crust. They are also working in serving gluten-free pasta and desserts. They already have some gluten-free ciders and Bard Tale beer.
Virginia Highlands (near the Junkma n's Daughter) either already has gf pizza or will soon. They use the same crust as Z Pizza.
Another reisdent of Atlanta has found a GF Baker that she loves. Called Little Red Hen, it does not have a retail location; it only does custom orders, including wedding cakes, special occasion desserts, and items such as red velvet cake and gingerbread house and cookies. They deliver in the Atlanta metro area. Call (404) 376-3410.
The following chain restaurants in Atlanta have gluten-free menus.
Bonefish Grill
Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse, 8215 Roswell Rd., Building 600, Atlanta. 800-434-6245
The Capital Grille, 255 E. Paces Ferry Rd., Atlanta. 404-262-1162
Carrabba's Italian Grill, 2999 Cumberland Blvd., Atlanta. 770-437-1444
Carrabba's Italian Grill, 1210 Ashford Crossings, Atlanta. 770-804-0467
Cheeseburger in Paradise, 1230 Ashford Crossing, Atlanta. 770-730-0782
Fleming's Steakhouse, 4501 Olde Perimeter Way, Atlanta. 770-698-8112
Legal Seafood
Mimi's Cafe, 1221 Ashford Crossing, Atlanta. 770-351-8444
Outback Steakhouse, 3850 Roswell Rd. NE, Atlanta. 404-266-8000
Outback Steakhouse, 2145 Lavista Rd., Atlanta. 404-636-5110
Outback Steakhouse, 1220 Ashford Crossing, Atlanta. 770-481-0491
P.F. Chang's China Bistro, 500 Ashwood Parkway, Atlanta. 770-352-0500
Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, 267 Marietta St., Atlanta. 404-223-6500
Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, 5788 Roswell Rd. NW, Atlanta. 404-255-0035
Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, 950 E. {aces Ferry Rd., Atlanta. 404-365-0660
Ted's Montana Grill, 1874 Peachtree Rd., Atlanta. 404-355-3897
Ted's Montana Grill, 133 Luckie St., Atlanta. 404-521-9796
Other recommendations for Celiac-Friendly restaurants:
Brasserie Le Coz, Lenox Square Mall.
Cedar's, Lenox Rd.
Doc Chey's Asian Kitchen, http://www.doccheys.com/
Fogo De Chao, http://www.fogodechao.com/
Four Seasons on Peachtree at 14th St. According to one celiac listserv post, the chef at Four Seasons does a gluten free High Tea, but please call ahead.
Himalaya's Indian Restaurant, Peachtree Industrial Rd.
Jitlada, La Vista Rd.
Maggiano's Little Italy, 3368 Peachtree Rd., Atlanta. 404-816-9650
Maggiano's Little Italy, 4400 Ashford Dunwoody Rd., Atlanta. 770-804-3313
Roy's, http://www.roysrestaurant.com/
Saba Restaurant, 1451 Oxford Rd., NE, Atlanta.
Saba Restaurant, 350 Meade Rd., Decatur. http://www.saba-restaurant.com/
Woodfire Grill, http://www.woodfiregrill.com/
Here to Serve Restaurants is a conglomeration of serveral restaurants in the Atlanta area that apparantly can provide gluten-free meals if they have enough notice. http://www.heretoserverestaurants.com/. Included are:
Shout (located inMidtown) but they do not have gf soy sauce for the sushi.
Restaurants owned by the Buckhead Life Group, including Buckhead Diner, and Nava, are said to accomodate the gluten-free diet.
The GIG Gluten Free Restaurant Awareness Program has a list of restaurants that have undergone their training program. http://www.glutenfreerestaurants.org/index.php
The Essential Gluten-Free Restaurant Guide (2nd edition) 2007-2008 lists numerous other restaurants for the Atlanta area. It's a great resource that can be purchased at http://www.triumphdining.com/
Atlanta has a Meet-Up Gluten-Free Dining Group. http://www.meetup.com/atlantagfdinnerclub/
A site listing Gluten-Free friendly restaurants in Atlanta. http://www.urbanspoon.com/t/9/1/Atlanta/Gluten-free-friendly-restaurants
A Gluten-Free Guide for Atlanta.
3 comments:
a plethora of gf choices, here in the deep red south.ReplyDelete
I write the 'glad to be gluten free blog' and run the Atlanta Gluten Free Dinner Club. We have made massive changes in our dining out options here over the last two years. The kicker is that places that would not entertain the thought of hosting our group three years ago are now begging us to host an event there. It's all about money - and that's ok with us. With places closing left and right, restaurants need anyone they can get in the seats. Even if they require special food and attention.ReplyDelete
We are having a private pizza party event at Z Pizza in Alpharetta later this month. They now have gluten free pasta, beer, brownies and carrot cake. Oh, and the kicker is they serve the same desserts to all. The glutenoids don't even know they're eating a gluten free brownie....lol! Priceless!

subset: commoncrawl


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Archive for the 'Contest & Free Giveaway' category.
Free Giveaway: Crossword Gift Vouchers worth Rs. 1,750
About Crossword: Crossword, founded in October 1992, is the largest retail chain of bookstores in India. They sell Authored Books, CDs, DVDs, Music, Learning Courseware, Stationary Items, Books for Kids, and other related goods. It has 63 stores across India – Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Amritsar, Bhopal, Bengaluru, Chennai, Durgapur, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkatta, Kota, Lucknow, Mumbai, N
In Contest & Free Giveaway with no comments on .


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AUSTIN — South by Southwest became South by SouthWesteros on Sunday when the creators and cast of "Game of Thrones" spoke at the media and tech conference in Austin, Texas.
D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, who created the hit HBO drama, covered some fun behind the scene stories at a panel Sunday. They also confirmed that the eighth and final season will only be six episodes.
"We have a 140 page outline for what's only going to be six episodes for the final season," Benioff told the packed audience after describing how the show is preparing for its final run.
The series just wrapped its seventh season, which will debut on July 16. The upcoming season will also be shortened with just seven episodes instead of the usual 10. (CNNMoney and HBO are both owned by Time Warner.)
The creators were joined by cast members Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner, who play Arya and Sansa Stark on the show.
The two young stars moderated the talk and joked with the creators about giving away the details of the anticipated next season.
"Should we just tell everyone now?" Weiss laughed. "It's a lot of work to shoot this."
With the show being one of the most popular and talked about on TV, Williams asked how "Game of Thrones" stops spoilers from leaking out.
"Intimidation and murder," Weiss joked.
Benioff then added that it's hard to keep things under wraps, but the series, which is based on George R.R. Martin's book, hasn't been hurt by spoilers in the past.
"People had the spoilers of Ned's death in a f***ing book and somehow that season still worked," he said.


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The Footdown were at the Red Bull Hill Chasers event with their cameras in hand and here's the result.
"Like I said in my last post the roadies took this VERY seriously, like their lives depended on it. They were all on rollers before racing and just generally uptight. Kieran and Ed, the two local fixed gear boys racing did really well, I can't help but think that if they had taken it as seriously as the sportsmen then they would have dropped the roadies like a sack of spuds. Superted's lockring slipped out of the gate and Tom La Marche was rocking tyres so wide that I'm surprised he got up the hill at all, amazingly he won his first race. Anyway, watch…"
Wait, Tom won? Really?


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Budget $30-250 AUD
We have several clips & photos that need to be put together into a promotional video - approx 5 minutes in length. A good knowledge of fishing is a huge added advantage.
Please supply portfolio link to previous projects completed.
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please ignore the bid amount we will discuss the price later in the chat after we have discussed the project thoroughly Relevant Skills and Experience: . Proposed Milestones: 155 - . Hi hEAVYd11! please inbox me to dis Flere


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Conor Barry talks to award-winning funnyman David O'Doherty about life, comedy, and tweeting too much
David O'Doherty is puffing out his cheeks like a chipmunk. "It's my new default face," he declares. "I've been working on some new faces." otwo has accompanied O'Doherty into town after a gig in the UCD Student Bar, modestly described as "semi-floundering": "It had some nice moments and then some boring moments. It's a lot like life, you know?"
Never one to let the press down, O'Doherty agrees to an interview as we stand under a tree, with drunken twenty-somethings squinting to see if it really was the Irish comedian there braving the elements. All of this, just so David can get across one key point that seems to have been bothering him.
"There is meant to be an O in my name. I'd like to make that clear," he laughs. "The Irish Times made up this thing about two years ago that I added an O for showbiz reasons, which is the last thing you'd do if you were trying to be more showbiz – make your name sound like an Irish wrestler."
O'Doherty began comedy in 1999 after failing to follow in his father's footsteps of becoming a jazz musician. Not, admittedly, the most obvious of career shifts. "I was temping after college and I hated temping. So I did a stand up gig and the first couple went quite well. I was lucky because the first was with Tommy Tiernan in a tiny bar. Then the second gig was with Ardal O'Hanlon, and if I'd started in, say, London it would have been like five years before I'd even gotten to meet those sorts of people. The fact that it's Dublin meant that I could just experience being around them and see how they operate. So I learnt a great deal in a short time. And I went to Edinburgh, and won the newcomer award, and they gave me an enormous cheque for £1500. By enormous, I mean it was cardboard. So I was officially pro then, which meant I never had to go back to temping."
Does he still get nervous? "I get nervous doing some of these TV gigs, where you've got that feeling of mistrust of yourself, of power, where you could just pull down your pants live on Australian television in front of six million people. You could say 'arseballs' on Rick O'Shea's afternoon show on 2FM and get him into trouble. But no, I don't really get nervous anymore… If you go out on stage and you are nervous, it is very hard to make things up. The antithesis of improvisation is shitting yourself."
In the cold with puddles surrounding us, O'Doherty muses about Twitter. "I'm really fascinated by the psychology of status updates on Twitter. People sending out these weirdly aspirational messages about their own life: 'Just had a picnic on a hill. What a dream day', Which is achieving nothing in the world… If you're a newsmaker and you're announcing that the new currency of Ireland is children, then you should have a Twitter, and Twitter as much as your tweeting heart desires, but to me it seems like filling the world with unnecessary information."
It is this type of thinking that O'Doherty has built a career upon; otwo asks if a comedian's lifestyle contributed to this. "Y'can go a bit insane because you don't have much to do during the day, but that's only if your head isn't right. Just treat it as a sort of massive holiday. I certainly remember as a kid pulling a sicky from school one day, it being a nice day… sitting out in the garden and going, 'All those losers are in school and I'm having some sweet sunshine.' Sometimes I think my life is like that. Especially when I phone someone up at 2:30pm and go, 'Let's play pitch and putt,' and they tell me to keep my voice down because the boss is near."
It is this unique way of looking at the world that has been the cause of O'Doherty's success. "I think part of being a good comedian is having the bravery to fail whereby you're not put off your own thing. The world doesn't really need more stand up comedians who've figured up how stand up comedy works and do the thing that works, which is to be reasonably high energy and talk about things that everybody knows. What the world needs are new people with unique standpoints. That's why Maeve Higgins in this country is so unique. She is really getting the reputation she deserves overseas now; people going 'where the fuck did this come from?'"
It's getting wet, so otwo concludes by asking what other comedians inspire him. "I still get incredibly inspired every year going to Edinburgh or going to Montreal. You might see three or four people who really remind you of why you're doing it in the first place, which is not to write jokes that other people laugh at. You hope they do, but the reason to do it is to write jokes that you find interesting and are a reflection of your own unique mind. It's like when you hear a new band that you really, really like. And I still get a buzz from that."


text: In September last year, I visited Johannesburg for the first time. We stayed at African Pride Melrose Arch Hotel for a week. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there. It located in the heart of Melrose Arch surrounded by restaurants and cafes. It is a great boutique hotel with quirky deco. I loved it. The breakfast was fantastic, plenty varieties of... More


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A crab fisherman has been sentenced to three years' probation in Sonoma County Superior Court for using 100 illegal Dungeness crab traps in the Stewarts Point State Marine Preserve last April, according the district attorney's office. Steven Anello, a commercial fisherman, also was sentenced to five days in jail, fined $10,000, required to give up any money he made on crabs he caught, perform 20 hours of community service work and keep out of the marine preserve, the district attorney's office said. Officials from the California Department of Fish and Game observed Anello using the 100 traps inside the preserve off of the coast of Sonoma County from April 3 to April 7, the district attorney's office said.
Fish and Wildlife Warden Tiffany Stinson and other department officials raised 23 of Anello's illegal nets, the district attorney's office said. Anello's traps did not contain a state-required safety device allowing the crabs to escape if the traps are not raised, the district attorney's office said. Under state law, it is prohibited to take anything alive from within the marine preserve and to deploy fishing equipment there, the district attorney's office said. Anello was initially charged with taking Dungeness crab out of the preserve and using his traps there, but the charges were dismissed after he entered a plea of no contest to possessing the illegal traps, the district attorney's office said.
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Seibu Lions: Yusei Kikuchi to throw BP on 23rd
by Gen on Feb.21, 2010 @ 7:25 pm, under NPB, Spring Camp
...A note from Sunday's practice game against the Hiroshima Carp:
Hisashi Takayama hit two 2-run homers (first and fourth innings) and sandwiched a single in the third.
...Yusei Kikuchi has been penciled in to throw BP on the 23rd. Hisanobu Watanabe stepped into the batter's box after Kikuchi 54th pitch in the bullpen. Both Kikuchi and Watanabe were happy with his session. (It seems Kikuchi is also getting closer to figuring out his delivery -- he's now raising his right leg and pausing it briefly before taking his stride. According to the rules, a pause is allowed so long as there's no vertical movement.)
If Kikuchi pitches well during his BP session, he could win himself a shot at pitching in a game against the Yomiuri Giants (practice game on the 26th and exhibition games on the 27th and 28th). This will likely be his only shot at getting a chance to pitch in an exhibition game since his schedule gets a little busier in March. On 3/3 Kikuchi will attend an NPB rookie meeting in the city and on 3/6 he has his graduation ceremony at Hanamaki Higashi. What Kikuchi will do in between 3/3 and 3/6 is not yet known, but he will likely work out in Tokorozawa. That means he probably won't return to the team until 3/9.
...Masahiro Abe attended early morning BP on Saturday (start time around 7am).
...Additional notes from Saturday's intra-squad practice game:
Hideaki Wakui topped out at 142km/h.
Yasuyuki Kataoka collected three hits.
Takumi Kuriyama collected two hits, including a double in his 4th at bat.
Takeya Nakamura fouled a ball off his left leg and was removed from the game.
Abe started at second and batted 7th.
...Nakamura didn't accompany the team to the practice game against the Hiroshima Carp. He instead stayed back and spent time working on his swing. He told reporters that his leg was fine.


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Dramatic changes in the financial markets have created increased challenges for companies seeking capital as well as investors seeking returns. Growing companies are experiencing an escalating need for capital, while investors are showing a decreased tolerance for risk. This economic trend makes private equity investments more critical – and complicated – than ever before.
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mio2™ belongs in every music creator's MIDI arsenal. It's a powerful little interface to connect your MIDI gear and/or computers. Share MIDI between two computers and two MIDI devices at the same time! It can also work stand-alone. Filter, merge, remap MIDI with computers or without.
What makes mio2™ unique? The iConnectivity difference.
Other MIDI Interfaces: Basic 2x2 MIDI. Support for only one computer. Won't work without a computer. Nothing's changed since 1985.
The mio2™ difference:
mio2™ is a member of the most innovative line of interfaces on the planet. The MIDI interface is reinvented.
|mio2 Features
|Minimum System Requirements
|iOS DEVICES
Mac OS X 10.8 or greater
1 free USB port
Windows 7 or greater
1 free USB port
With Camera Connection Kit (CCK)
CoreMIDI compatible app
|Device Specifications
|214 mm
|8.43 in
|37 mm
|1.46 in.
|140 mm
|5.51 in.
|965 g
|2.13 lbs
|What's In The Box


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Editor's Note: This version corrects that Anderson's death is the 23rd homicide in the city of Toledo this year.
Deidra Hopings and her nephew Cross Hoffman, 3, watch as police investigate a shooting at 1520 Elm Street.
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There was no official word yet that the man shot outside of a North Toledo apartment complex had died, but neighbors already were convinced.
To the group of people gathered at the corner of Elm and East Bancroft streets, it was more unusual that the shooting had happened at midday than that another man was dead.
Killed was Andrew J. Anderson, 31.
"This is happening all the time," said a woman who lives nearby and refused to give her name, fearing retaliation. "But broad daylight? It's ridiculous."
Andrew Anderson
RELATED CONTENT: The Blade 2013 Homicide Report
Police said Anderson was shot "multiple times" outside 1520 Elm. A neighbor who heard gunshots and then saw the victim lying on the sidewalk called 911 at 1:23 p.m. Tuesday.
Paramedics loaded the victim into an ambulance, pumping a plastic bag trying to get oxygen into the man's body before taking him to Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Numerous witnesses who watched police as officers made their way up to various doors, knocking, looking for anyone who might have seen anything, said they heard six shots all in a row.
"All I could think was to hit the floor," said a different woman who also lives nearby and fears retaliation.
A person who witnessed the shooting told police that a black man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and red T-shirt fled the scene after the shots were fired.
Clara Anderson said that with so many people out on the street, someone has to know who killed her son, who lived at her Bancroft Street home. He recently had been diagnosed with Crohn's disease and was returning home after picking up a prescription when he was shot, she said.
"This is so wrong. They evidently didn't care who saw 'em, in broad daylight," she said.
Ms. Anderson said her son was athletic and enjoyed cooking. She said she didn't think he had any enemies — at least, "none that would shoot him down in broad daylight."
No suspects were named nor charges filed in the homicide, Toledo's 23rd this year, as of Tuesday night. Included in the city homicides are two reported at Toledo Correctional Institution, which falls under Ohio Highway Patrol jurisdiction.
Police could not say what, if any, motive there might have been for the shooting.
Daytime shootings, in Toledo, are not unheard of — but they occur infrequently. Of the 132 shootings reported to police this year, 33 — about 25 percent — happened during daylight. The majority occur at night or during the wee hours, Toledo Police Sgt. Joe Heffernan said.
Deidra Hopings was driving by the scene with her mother and young nephew Tuesday afternoon and decided she wanted to see what the commotion was about.
She took the 3-year-old boy, Cross Huffman, up to the crime-scene tape, where the toddler asked his aunt what happened.
"Somebody got shot," she told him.
"Got shot?" he asked, sounding surprised.
Ms. Hopings, a North Toledo resident, said the toddler understands what it means for someone to be shot.
"This seems like it's constantly going on," she said.
Police ask that anyone with information contact Crime Stoppers at 419-255-1111.
Contact Taylor Dungjen at: firstname.lastname@example.com, 419-724-6054, or on Twitter @taylordungjen.
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Compared to the style in other rooms in your home, the décor in your bathroom probably looks sparse and functional. With a few small changes, you can give it a stylish makeover just in time to wow your holiday guests and make a big impact on your home's health and sustainability:
1. Cover with Care
New paint or wall covering can update the look of a bathroom in a flash, but many come loaded with Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) that threaten indoor air quality. Find low- and no-VOC options at your local home center.
2. Replace the Shower Curtain
Traditional vinyl curtains and liners are often made from materials like PVC, which can release VOCs. These can elevate the level of air toxins in your home for up to a month, according to the EPA. Further, many companies add phthalates to their curtains to make them more pliable. If vinyl is your only choice, air the curtain outdoors for several days to reduce off-gassing.
If you're remodeling, opt for a glass shower door and avoid a curtain entirely. But for a quick, eco-friendly facelift, choose a fabric curtain made from hemp, organic cotton or naturally antimicrobial bamboo. Fabric is easy to clean (just toss in the washing machine) and if you purchase sustainably-sourced material, your choice can have a lasting impact.
3. Choose a New Bath Mat
Bath mats made from 100% bamboo come in a wide range of colors and textures and don't require you to compromise a chic look to be good to the earth. Or for something even closer to natural, you can also step out of the shower onto a moss carpet, which will flourish in the damp environment of the bathroom and provide the added benefit of fresher air.
4. Inspect the Bath Toys
Even grownups have been known to have a bath toy or two, but many traditional plastic bath toys are riddled with BPA, PVC and phthalates that can leach into the hot water. Instead of tossing caution to the wind, toss in toys that you know are free of the big three. This guide from Simply Natural Mom is a perfect jumping-off point for making bath time both green and clean.
5. Makeover Personal Care Products
The bathroom is home to most of our beauty and hygiene needs. While these don't qualify as "décor" now is a great time to consider making more mindful choices. Check out EWG's guide to the safety of personal care products and consider replacing suspect products
6. Clean Green
Get rid of the harsh chemicals you use to clean tubs and toilets. Pay attention to the government-mandated warning labels on cleaning products; the terms used, from least to most toxic, are "caution," "warning" and "poison/danger." Aim for products that don't require such a warning label or those that say "caution" only. Seek out environment-conscious brands. Look for cleaners like these at your local retailer.
7. End the Paper Trail
We use a lot of paper in the bathroom, from personal cleanup to wiping down the sink when we don't have a towel at hand. Go recycled. Enough said.
8. Clear the Air
For the healthiest bathroom on the block, ensure you have adequate ventilation. If your system isn't where you want it to be, you don't have a window to crack, and you're not planning on a full remodel anytime soon, there are some temporary fresh air solutions: add a houseplant, leave the door slightly ajar, and set a fan blowing outward into the house (toward an open window) during a long shower.
Have you done a bathroom Eco-Makeover? Share some of your best tips!


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Autowriting Experience with Smita Jayakar
Thank You Smita Jayakar. I'm sharing my experience to all the readers out there. I have personally experienced Auto writing
I am Smita Jayakar, an actress and theatre personality from Mumbai, India. However, this site is not about Smita, the actress. It's about the spiritual healer in me.
My quest for a deeper understanding of peace and happiness in life led me to experiment with various natural therapy techniques and practices. Finally, I discovered a simple and practical approach to heal my inner self. Through years of professional and personal life, I have shared this knowledge with many, helping them heal themselves naturally, keeping up their daily schedules and time routines.
I have tried to present much of this through my site…my personal journey of 'self discovery', my natural healing techniques, my workshops and a variety of useful information about holistic living.
Thank You Smita Jayakar. I'm sharing my experience to all the readers out there. I have personally experienced Auto writing
From , Ms. Shweta Belose 16/06/2018 Professor at NES Ratnam College, Bhandup Residence : Thane Dear Smita Jaykar Madam, It
Feeling low or negative is a usual thing that happens with all of the ups and downs that life has
A smile is a beautiful thing. It is a universal symbol of happiness. Have you ever noticed what happens within
Dear Smita Jaykar Madam, It was wonderful experience we had for the two 'Auto writing' sessions , for our Mother (first) and Father ( later ) ,which we had with you on 4th June 2018 and 14th June 2018 . We would like to place our gratitude as it was a great relief for us to know the status of the souls by actually contacting them through you.
Ms. Shweta Belose
नमस्कार मॕम ! मी आपले पुस्तक आत्ता नाहि तर केव्हा मधील सहा प्रकरणे नुकतीच वाचली.आपली मुद्देसुद भाषा आटोपशीर मांडणी छोटि प्रकरणे याने पुस्तक वाचताना हलके फुलके वाटते व आध्यातम म्हणजे काहितरी जड भरपुर क्लीष्ट आणि भरपुर शाब्दिक अवडंबर हि पूर्वीची आध्यात्मिक समिकरणे आपोआप गळून पडतात. जसे वाचत जाऊ तसे एक प्रकारे उर्जातरंग जाणवले.व एक प्रकारचे चैतन्यपूर्ण आनंदि वातावरण आनुभवास आले.हा तोच अनुभव असेल का जो आध्यात्मिक मार्गावर सुरूवातीस येतो?असो.मला शक्ती प्राप्त होतानाचा आनुभव आला. मॕम माझ्या समीर स्वामिनी या यु ट्युबवरील व्हिडीओजना कृपया एकदा जरुर पहा.मी कविता करतो लेखन करतो व गाणी लीहितो.आणि ती अभ्यासपूर्वक लिहीतो.ती आपण जरुर एकतरी ऐकावी हि आपणास विनंती जेणेकरुन आपल्याला थोडे मनोरंजन होईल व तसे झाले तर आपण पुस्तकरुपाने पाठविलेल्या शक्तीबद्दल अल्प प्रमाणात कृतज्ञता व्यक्त […]
Dear friends, I met Smita Jayakar a few days ago and she is just absolutely radiating positive energy and inner peace. Her one day workshop will surely help to bring the chakras in balance and in harmony with the universe. Chakra meditation is a beautiful way to bring the balance we so need in our lives. It's a fact that our external world is a direct reflection of our inner world. We just need to work on these important energy centres to bring about a transformation. I have personally experienced the beautiful benefits of chakra meditation for last couple of years. Hope some of you can make it for her wonderful workshop.
Smita ji thank you so much for this wonderful experience, I'm so glad we did this and it was a lifetime experience, so overwhelming. The process was amazingly positive, there were so many Unanswered questions that I had in mind, so many complaints and so many things that I had to say that I couldn't otherwise. This session has healed my soul, I feel lighter and so much better about myself. Life has been a bit tough for me and my daughters when I lost my husband and they lost their father but this has made things so much better for us and I'm so grateful, I feel blessed.
Darshana Shanbag. Dress designer
In March 2004, we were introduced to the Oneness ideology by Ms Smita Jayakar and we thank the Divine for sending us grace through her. The blessing has not only guided us and helped us achieve personal and professional satisfaction and success but most importantly introduced us to our real selves, our Antarayamin.
In 2006, I attended Smitaji's workshop for the first time. I had come all the way from Kolhapur to attend the workshop, having no clue of what the Oneness ideology was all about.
Dear Smitaji, I really enjoyed your workshop based on the Oneness ideology. For me the biggest learning from the workshop was that life is relationships, first with our selves, then with others and finally with God. From the deeksha that I have attained, there is enlightenment.
If I were to put things simply, meeting Smita Jayakar was a spiritual turning point in my life. Things started changing from the moment I met her. I already had some exposure to spirituality but the Oneness teachings that she explained to me were unlike any other.
Although I have never denied the existence of the Almighty, I never realised that complete faith and surrender can work Miracles in one's life. I only felt it after I attended one of the retreats held by Ms Smita Jayakar.
Before meeting Smita Jayakar, I did not know much about spirituality. I used to think that it is an esoteric subject meant only for the intellectuals. But Smitaji not only made spirituality extremely easy to understand, but explained practical ways of applying it in life.


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A variant of Étaín favoured by W. B. Yeats.
From: Adene in A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology »
Subjects: Religion.
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Her spiritual adventures included the Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church, Alcoholics Anonymous, and her attempt to become a lay associate of the Franciscans. But the Franciscans sent her away. "Run, don't walk, to the abbey up the hill, " they advised her. And so she did, heading to the Benedictine abbey she was pointed to. Much to her surprise, there she found the home she'd been seeking for so long.
The Abbey Up the Hill is Bonomo's reflection on her first year as a Benedictine oblate -- a lay person vowing to live according to the 6th century Rule of St. Benedict, a monastic guide to living a balanced life with God at the center. Month-by-month, she records her spiritual growth with honesty, humor, and insight. This is the unforgettable story of a pilgrim's struggles to leave off wandering and finally come home.


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Raytheon to Make More MALD
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Events, Military Aviation, production program, Raytheon, Services, U.S. Air Force
The U.S. Air Force executed a further production option with Raytheon (RTN) for their Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD). These will be a new version called the MALD-J that adds jamming capability to the decoy.
The contract has a value of just over $80 million and will provide for 202 of the systems including a warranty and shipping containers.
The MALD is carried by aircraft and then is deployed. It flies autonomously simulating the aircraft by flying similar profiles and speeds with a similar radar return. It has a range of about 500 miles and contributes to confusion of enemy aid defenses by increasing the number of targets being detected and tracked.
The MALD-J is the newest version of the system adding a jammer capability to it. This means it will provide even more confusion to enemy air defenses.
Budget Allows Navy to Move Forward on Carrier Contracts
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Department of Defense, Events, HII, Military Aviation, production program, Services, U.S. Navy
The signing by President Obama of the full year's funding bill has allowed the different U.S. services to begin issuing contracts that had been waiting to see how sequestration and the Continuing Resolution would be resolved.
On Friday the Navy moved quickly to issue a contract to Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) for the overhaul and refueling of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, a Nimitz class aircraft carrier. The contract has a value of around $2.6 billion.
The work is expected to take over 3 years and will include upgrades to different parts of the ships as well as refurbishing components and compartments along with refueling the reactors that power the ship. Included are the necessary modifications to operate the Navy's version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter which will fly in a Short Take-Off-and-Landing (STOL) configuration.
HII was also awarded a contract worth over $400 million to continue buying material for the new CVN 79, designated John F. Kennedy. The CVN 79 contract was started in 2009 and is expected to be delivered in 2020. It is of a modified Nimitz design referred to as the Gerald R. Ford class.
HII is the only company able to build the large nuclear aircraft carriers for the U.S. Navy.
Navy Awards Contracts for New Ship Components
Filed under: Alabama, Alliant Techsystems, Austal, Business Line, Companies, Congress, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Events, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Marinette Marine, production program, Services, States, U.S. Navy, Wisconsin
The building of a modern warship requires not only the initial large contract with the builder but numerous other ones to buy components and support for the actual ships. Other systems are purchased with separate contracts and then items are provided to the builder for installation on the ships as they are assembled. The U.S. Navy is currently building new aircraft carriers, missile destroyers, Littoral Combats Ships (LCS), amphibious warfare ships as well as support vessels.
The LCS is being built by 2 different yards under 2 separate contracts. The LCS-1 design are made in Wisconsin by Marinette Marine and Lockheed Martin (LMT). The LCS-2 in Mobile, AL by Austal America and General Dynamics (GD). While they have dissimilar hull designs the basic weapon fit remains the same and both will carry mission modules. Up to 20 LCS are on contract to be built with the Navy periodically issuing contracts for 2 from each builder.
2 related contracts were recently awarded to support U.S. Navy ship construction. First General Dynamics (GD) received one for 8 MK 46 Naval Weapon Systems. The MK 46 is a 30mm cannon mounted in a stabilized turret. These will be installed on LPD-12 amphibious assault ships and the LCS. The contract is worth $26 million and is a follow on to previous contracts under which 30 systems have been delivered.
Then ATK (ATK), the ammunition and explosive manufacturer, received a contract for 30mm ammo. This $12 million contract is for incendiary rounds for the MK 46. It is a 5 year Indefinite Delivery / Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contract with 1 base and 4 option years. As an ID/IQ the Navy will order off of the contract what is required to outfit ships with the Mk 46 weapon.
With Sequestration and the budget reductions recently passed by Congress and agreed to by the Obama Administration FY13 will probably not see many more major contracts awarded. There may be many though like these to support bigger programs already underway.
Lockheed Receives Contract to Continue F-22 Upgrades
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, development program, Events, Lockheed Martin, Military Aviation, production program, Services, U.S. Air Force
Lockheed Martin (LMT) has completed deliveries of the F-22 Raptor to the U.S. Air Force. Based on past experience the aircraft may remain in service to well into this century. Due to this projected service life the Government just awarded a contract to continue upgrades to the aircraft.
Similar to one issued in 2003 this almost $7 billion Indefinite Delivery / Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contract will allow the Air Force to buy the necessary technical services and work to integrate new electronics, weapons and sensors onto the aircraft. The contract is for 10 years.
Like all ID/IQ contracts there is no guarantee that any work will be awarded or the full value of the contract reached.
The previous contract too had a value of over $7 billion and supported integration of different Increments for the aircraft.
The F-22 was developed over two decades ago and was in production for over ten years. It is not surprising that there will be new weapons such as the Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) or missile systems that need to be added. There will also be new air-to-air systems as well as data links, sensors and more efficient electronics and engines that ultimately could be added to the aircraft.
It is also conceivable that some of the technology being developed for the F-35 could also be added to the F-22 like the new helmet.
As with many military systems the OEM will be making money off of them well after production ends.
Oshkosh to Build MRAP Vehicles for the UAE
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Countries, Events, Oshkosh Truck Corp, production program, UAE
Air shows and exhibitions are often times when new contracts are announced. At the Paris or Farnborough shows Boeing (BA) and Airbus take it in turns to say who bought what aircraft. There are also military contracts. At the recent IDEX 2013 in Dubai the UAE government continued its practice of doing this with some major contract awards.
One of these was reportedly for 750 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles from the U.S. company, Oshkosh (OSK). Oshkosh has made trucks for the U.S. military for some time even though its primary markets are construction and emergency vehicles.
Due to the mine and Improvised Explosive Device (IED) threat in Iraq and Afghanistan the U.S. military and some of its allies invested heavily in Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles from a variety of suppliers. These were heavily armored trucks designed to resist mines and were used for troop transport and route clearance. They were not primarily tactical vehicles.
In 2008 Oshkosh won a contract to build a lighter, more maneuverable MRAP for use in Afghanistan called the MRAP-AT After building several thousand of these the contract is basically over as the U.S. reached its acquisition goal. This means that Oshkosh needed to look to other customers for this product.
The announcement of the UAE deal worth over $350 million is a major sale for the company. Often times with these programs the first sale is the hardest and once others start using a system it becomes easier to sell. As with any vehicle contract Oshkosh stands to make further revenue off of spares, engineering support and maintenance services.
Air Force Awards GPS Contracts
Filed under: Boeing, Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Events, Lockheed Martin, production program, Satellites, Services, U.S. Air Force
Even as the nation heads towards sequestration and its dramatic effects on defense spending the Pentagon continues to execute programs and award necessary contracts. Recently the Air Force awarded 2 separate Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) contracts. GPS satellites provide signals that allow receivers to locate themselves. It is used heavily by both the military and in many civil applications.
The Air Force is in the process of upgrading the existing satellite systems to the new Block III status. Lockheed Martin (LMT) received a $62 million contact to buy long lead materials for GPS Block III satellites #5 & 6. These are the last two systems on a contract to procure the Block III satellites. Ultimately up to 32 will be built and placed into orbit. The first one is planned for launch next year.
At the same time Boeing (BA) received a contract that was worth $51 million to support launch of the Block IIF satellite. This has one base year and up to 4 option years. Up to 12 Block IIF satellites will be launched with 3 currently in orbit. This contract will prepare the systems for launch and support them once in orbit.
Maintaining a viable GPS constellation has become critical to the U.S. military as it allows precision guidance of everything from a patrol of Soldiers or Marines to ships and bombs and missiles. The military has worked hard to execute available options on contracts prior to the sequestration but have been hampered by the Continuing Resolution Authority (CRA) that still exists.
P&W Receives JSF Engine Contract
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Congress, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Department of Defense, development program, Events, GE, Lockheed Martin, Military Aviation, Pratt & Whitney, production program, Rolls-Royce, Services, U.S. Air Force, UTC
The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is produced by Lockheed Martin (LMT) but the engine for the advanced tactical aircraft comes from United Technologies (UTX) Pratt & Whitney. As with many other aircraft programs the engine is procured under a separate contract and then provided to the aircraft manufacturer. This means as aircraft options are executed another contract action must take place for the engines.
P&W received their contract recently to support the most recent JSF order. This contract will be for 32 more F135 engines and is the 5th order so far to match the first 5 Low Rate buys of the F-35. No value was given but earlier estimates were of a cost that was close to $40 million per unit.
For several years Congress funded against DoD wishes another engine development program as risk reduction. This was with General Electric (GE) and Rolls-Royce (RR) and several hundred million dollars was given to them for the F136 engine. The idea was to have enough production capability or maintain schedule if there were issues with the primary F135 engine. In the first Obama administration this was a program that was terminated.
The JSF program continues to gain momentum as more are produced, more training conducted and development continues. It still is several years behind its original schedule and has had significant cost growth. This has led to some of the original international partners to re-consider how many aircraft they will buy and the terms of their contracts.
As the largest part of the Pentagon's budget it would face cuts of several hundred million dollars if the required reductions are spread evenly. This would affect this years operations and perhaps cause further delays in the overall program.
U.K. Military Continues to Buy Qinetiq's Support
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Countries, development program, England, Events, logistics, QinetiQ, S&T, Services
Qinetiq is a British company that was formed several years ago when the U.K. privatized parts of their Research, Test, Development & Engineering (RDT&E) support structure. This included labs, ranges and the employees who had formally been civil servants. Over the last 2 decades the British governments have been very aggressive about converting formally government positions and roles to private companies with a goal of cost savings. This was the opposite policy of the U.S. which had tried converting contractor positions to government ones in the past with the same goal.
Qinetiq due to the fact that it provides fairly critical services to the U.K. military through the testing & evaluation (T&E) services it provide signed a 25 year contract in 2003. This had a predicted value of over $8 billion if all parts were fully executed.
Now the U.K. government has announced that the last 5 year option has been executed. This option is worth about $1.6 billion.
These types of arrangements are not unheard of in other countries and the U.S. relies on contractors to provide many of the services Qinetiq does to the U.K. military. It is just they don't normally transfer title of the facilities and management to the contractors. Often equivalent U.S. test ranges have contractors doing most of the work under oversight of the U.S. government.
In 2010 the company underwent a shake up in management as well as a re-organization. Qinetiq had expanded its business interests beyond the U.K. including work in America. Some problems caused the CEO to resign and the company to refocus on their core, original purpose.
South Korea Interested in Global Hawk
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Congress, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Countries, Department of Defense, development program, Events, FMS, Military Aviation, Northrop Grumman Corp., production program, Services, South Korea
It is being reported that South Korea has requested to purchase 4 of Northrop Grumman's (NOC) long range, strategic Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), the Global Hawk. With supporting parts, services and other items the contract is estimated at around $1.2 billion. Congress will have to approve the sale.
The Global Hawk conducts long range surveillance and intelligence data collection missions. It is currently used by the U.S. Air Force and will also support European and U.S. Navy missions. The Global Hawk has been in service since the early part of this century and has flown thousands of hours of missions in support of Iraq and Afghanistan. The system has consistently been upgraded with new sensors and other equipment over time.
In their original 2013 budget the Obama Administration had proposed reducing the number of Global Hawks that they planned to buy as well as retire some others. Congress fought this proposal questioning the rationale of continuing to use manned U-2/TR-1 aircraft for these missions.
This contract will follow on to a European order for 5 and the annual buys by the U.S. Air Force and Navy to support their programs.
Navy Proposes Multi-Year for P-8 Production
Filed under: Boeing, Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Department of Defense, Military Aviation, production program, Services, U.S. Navy
The P-8 is the new maritime patrol and anti-submarine aircraft developed for the U.S. Navy. It will replace the venerable P-3 Orion aircraft that have been in service for almost 50 years. It is based on a Boeing (BA) 737 commercial airliner. The program is currently in low rate production for the Navy as well as India.
The most recent production order was placed earlier this year for 11 aircraft from the FY12 budget.
Now the Navy has asked for the authority to utilize a multi-year contract for the procurement of 72 aircraft. This contract could be worth well over $10 billion. It would support FY15-19 production indicating there would be two more annual orders placed in FY13 and FY14.
Normally large aircraft programs transition to a multi-year once production is at a steady state and the service has received approval of full rate production. The Navy believes that by FY15 these conditions will be met and a multi-year is the most effective way to buy the aircraft.
The Navy also operates the 737 in transport and command and control configurations.
Annual Production Options Continue to be Executed as V-22 Buy Goes Through
Filed under: Bell, Boeing, Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Events, Federal Budget Process, Military Aviation, production program, Services, Textron, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps
Despite the "Fiscal Cliff" and sequestration facing the U.S. Federal budget the U.S. military has continued to execute their FY13 buys for hardware. The vote last night in the house delayed sequestration issues and also extended some of the Bush tax cuts. The options on existing contracts are able to be awarded under Continuing Resolution Authority so they are not tied to any new budget or legislation.
One of the most recent was the production buy for the V-22 from Boeing-Bell (BA). The Marine Corps and Air Force will purchase a further 22 V-22 for just over $1.4 billion. These will be delivered in 2014-2015.
This follows the current production contract for 21 aircraft being delivered at this time.
This is the second multi-year production contract for the versatile tilt rotor aircraft that has seen use in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Despite End of C-17 Production Boeing Still Generating Revenue
Filed under: Boeing, Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Events, FMS, Military Aviation, production program, Services, U.S. Air Force
The C-17 has been the standard strategic transport for the U.S. Air Force for the last two days. Flying alongside the much smaller C-5 fleet it has flown thousands of missions carrying cargo and passengers in support of Iraq and Afghanistan. Congress and the Air Force decided to end production for the Air Force a few years ago although there are still some open Foreign Military Sales (FMS) cases and hopefully a few more remaining. Even so the C-17 will remain in U.S. service for several more years.
Despite the lack of production orders Boeing (BA) is still able to generate revenue from the platform through maintenance, retrofit and service contracts with the American defense department. They were just awarded a ten year contract for software, hardware and weapon system upgrades worth almost $900 million.
In most cases these days the military rarely buys full data rights to a weapon system due to the prohibitive costs involved. This means that many times the OEM receives the bulk of the support and sustainment contracts. In the end these can easily dwarf the value of the production contract.
ATK Receives Contract from the MDA as Budget Execution Continues
Filed under: Alliant Techsystems, Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, development program, Events, MDA, missile defense, Services
Despite the "Fiscal Cliff" negotiations and the fact that the Federal Government continues to operate under Continuing Resolution Authority (CRA) the Department of Defense continues to execute contract options. Under CRA new ones cannot be awarded but options on existing contracts may be executed. That explains why a production option for the F-35 could be issued even though it is worth over $3 billion.
ATK (ATK), for example, recently received a contract from the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) related to the development of Modular Divert and Attitude Control Systems (MDACS) technology for the Navy's SM-3 Block IIB interceptor. The SM-3 is a ship launched missile that ultimately places a kill vehicle outside the atmosphere to engage the enemy missile threat.
The recent North Korean launch highlighting potential threats that the SM-3 is designed to perhaps deal with. It was reported that the U.S. and Japanese Navy deployed ships with the SM-3 capability in response to the launch.
The contract has a value of almost $53 million.
Because the kill vehicles are based on ships they cannot use liquid propelled DACS so solid rocket ones must be developed. They are flown like miniature space ships using controlled thrust from little rockets to move them. ATK is working on extending the performance of the DACS systems already used on the SM-3 program.
Raytheon to Continue JAGM Development
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Department of Defense, development program, Events, Lockheed Martin, Military Aviation, Raytheon, Services, U.S. Army
Following the award of a similar contract to competitor Lockheed Martin (LMT) in August, Raytheon (RTN) received a contract from the U.S. Army to continue development of their proposed solution to the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) requirement.
The $65 million contract will provide for a Preliminary Design Review (PDR) and then ultimately allow mating of the Raytheon guidance sections with other missile components. Raytheon will continue to utilize their tri-mode seeker developed as part of the Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) program.
Lockheed received a $64 million contract at the end of Fiscal Year 2012 for the same purpose.
The JAGM is a new missile that will replace the existing Hellfire and Maverick missiles launched from a variety of helicopters and fixed wing aircraft to strike ground and vehicle targets. The Hellfire has seen a great deal of use in Afghanistan and Iraq providing precision fire support for ground troops.
The Army had looked at cancelling JAGM but decided instead to continue development through these small contracts. If the program does go on to complete development and enter production the requirement could be for thousands of missiles at a cost of $10-12 billion. The Hellfire has also seen significant Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and the JAGM would be expected to as well.
Raytheon JAGM mock up photo by Author.
5th LRIP Batch of F-35 JSF to be Awarded
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Congress, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Department of Defense, development program, Events, Lockheed Martin, Military Aviation, production program, Services, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy
Lockheed Martin (LMT), the prime contractor on the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), and the U.S. Department of Defense have pretty much wrapped up negotiations for the latest batch of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) production. This goal was to complete and award this by the end of 2012 and it looks like that will be met.
The FY13 order will be for 32 more of the advanced aircraft split between the 3 variants. The bulk, 22, are the Air Force's Conventional / Take Off and Landing (CTOL) version. These are intended to replace the F-16 and A-10 platforms currently in use. Then there are 3 F-35B Short/Vertical (S/VTOL) for Marine Corps to meet the AV-8A mission and finally 7 F-35C carrier based aircraft for the Navy. Estimates for the cost of the aircraft along with engineering services and other money is in the $3.8 – 4 billion range.
The F-35 program remains several years behind original schedules and cost have increased greatly but much progress has been recently made. There are now over 150 aircraft delivered or in production with this order. They are supporting test and development along with training for pilots and ground crew.
Due to the high concurrency remaining with the program Lockheed will have to go back and modify many of the current production aircraft to the final standard after they are delivered. This is due to the much more T&E remaining for things like the advanced helmet, software and other parts of the aircraft. The F-35 continues to remain on track to be the most expensive defense acquisition program in history.
Photo from U.S. Navy Imagery's flickr photostream.
GD's Force Protection Divison Wins U.K. Contract
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Countries, England, Events, Force Protection, General Dynamics, Oshkosh Truck Corp, production program, Services
Force Protection was one of the first and largest manufacturers of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles used by the U.S. and its Allies in Afghanistan and Iraq. For a time during the first decade of this century the company won a large number of contracts to build, service and maintain these vehicles as the U.S. quickly ramped up its inventory.
Over the last few years though it was a different story as the company faced struggles due to declining demand and the fact that the new MRAP for Afghanistan, the MRAP-AT, contract was won by Oshkosh (OSK). Eventually the company and its assets were acquired by General Dynamics (GD) who also has made MRAP and armor for these vehicles.
That does not mean that different military forces are not investing in MRAP just that the market has shrunk significantly. The U.K. just awarded GD a contract for 51 more Force Protection Foxhound vehicles for use in Afghanistan. The value is just over $73 million.
The U.K. already operates Foxhounds and in 2010 ordered 376 of them. They are made in the U.K. by the former Force Protection.
The military vehicle market still remains strong as the U.S. needs to replace and upgrade large amounts of vehicles from the 1980's that have seen heavy use since 2001. They also need to fit the stocks of MRAP's into their tactical formations and doctrine.
Photo from Think Defence flickr photostream.
ATK Gets Order for Aircraft Survivability Components
Filed under: Alliant Techsystems, atk, Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Department of Defense, Events, Military Aviation, missile defense, production program, Services, U.S. Army
Back in October Alliant Techsystems (ATK) received a contract from the U.S. Army to provide replaceable components for the AN/AAR-47 aircraft defense system. This was an Indefinite Quantity/Indefinite Delivery (ID/IQ) contract under whichthe military could order what they needed. Even though the total value could be close to $70 million there was no guarantee that orders would be placed.
The AAR-47 Missile Warning Set is a series of sensors, analysis and display systems mounted on helicopters and aircraft to detect, identity and inform the crew about surface-to-air missile threats. It is currently a product of ATK only but was developed by that company along with Loral in the 80's.
The ID/IQ contract is to purchase basically replacement parts for the system.
The first order was placed this week an has a value of just over $30 million.
ATK manufactures aircraft components, ammunition and pyrotechnics. They have had a rough 12 months but things recently have got a lot better for the company. They did lose a major contract to operate the Radford Ammunition but kept the one for Lake City. Declines in orders for that type of product by the U.S. military is expected as fighting winds down in Afghanistan. They recently reorganized and the last quarter earnings showed good results from their efforts.
Photo from The National Guard's flickr photostream.
AAR Afghanistan Airlift Support Continues
Filed under: AAR Corporation, Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Department of Defense, Events, logistics, Military Aviation, Services
Due to the terrain and nature of the threat in Afghanistan the American and Coalition Forces operating there rely heavily on rotary and fixed wing transport. Not all of this may be provided with their own military assets so as with many other types of support they contract it out. One of the companies that has been providing this service for several years is AAR.
Yesterday AAR received another option on their contract to continue to provide this support. The option on the initial 2010 contract is worth about $160 million and will utilize several commercial helicopters to fulfill. Normally this would be a five year contract so there are at least one more option to award.
While the U.S. Army and Marine Corps provide the majority of the rotary wing assets in Afghanistan this use of contractors to supplement military resources has grown more common over the last 3 decades. The U.S. military has focused on their combat units with a corresponding reduction in support elements. Most of the housekeeping services are now contractor provided.
Lockheed Receives Order for 2 More SBIRS Satellites
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, development program, Events, Lockheed Martin, missile defense, production program, Satellites, Services, U.S. Air Force
The Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) is the new missile warning satellite constellation being placed into orbit by the U.S. Air Force. It will consist of 2 different systems. One of these will be in high orbits and the others in geosynchronous orbits. Lockheed Martin (LMT) is a major contractor with the program.
The Air Force recently awarded a contract to Lockheed for the next 2 geosynchronous satellites – GEO 5 and 6. The initial value of the contract is a little over $80 million. This will fund further non-recurring effort on the 2 satellites as well as begin some long lead procurement.
GEO-1 satellite was launched last spring and is in orbit conducting tests. GEO-2, 3 & 4 are in production with the launch date of GEO-2 set for March of next year.
Over the next several years the rest of the systems will be built and placed into orbit replacing older Cold War era systems.
Northrop to Support HII Ship Construction
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Events, HII, logistics, Northrop Grumman Corp., production program, Services, U.S. Navy
Last year Northrop Grumman (NOC) spun off its shipbuilding division into a new company, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII). This meant that the company was no longer building ships for the U.S. Navy. HII assumed the yards owned by NOC in Louisiana and Mississippi and the current contracts.
That does not mean that Northrop no longer is part of the military shipbuilding program though. It was just recently awarded a contract to provide a component for a new amphibious warship under construction by HII. The approximately $50 million contract will provide the Machinery Control System (MCS) to HII for installation on the new ship.
The Navy is building a new class of LHA ships to supplement existing LHA's of the Tarawa class and the LHD ships of the Wasp class. These new LHA will combine features of both previous class ships and carry helicopters, V-22 tiltrotors and landing craft. They will be able to support Marine units and transport them to shore. The new LHA-6 America class ships also have the capability to support the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter providing a measure of ground attack and air defense capability.
Raytheon Continues Light Weight Torpedo Production
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Events, production program, Raytheon, Services, U.S. Navy
The U.S Navy exercised an option with Raytheon (RTN) for the production of Mk 54 Light Weight torpedoes. This is the standard surface vessel and air launched system used by the Navy and some allied nations. The option had a value of a little over $45 million.
It provides for one years production as well as test and engineering services for the system. The Mk 54 is carried by the SH-60, P-3 and cruisers, destroyers and frigates. It just recently completed testing from the new P-8 maritime patrol aircraft that will eventually replace the P-3.
The Mk 54 is also used by the Australian Navy and will be by the Indian as well as they will operate several P-8I aircraft.
The Mk 54 has been in production for 8 years and replaced the Cold War era Mk 50 and Mk 46 systems. It is fired from the traditional Mk 32 launch systems in use for decades, the ASROC rocket as well as from aircraft.
Until the full effects of sequestration are decided upon by Congress the Pentagon continues to exercise their planned FY13 budget under the existing 6 month Continuing Resolution Authority.
Pentagon Plan JSF Upgrade Contract
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Department of Defense, development program, Events, Lockheed Martin, Military Aviation, production program, Proposal, Services, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy
The U.S. Air Force and Navy Joint Project Office for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) announced recently that they plan to tender a contract to upgrade the first 93 F-35 aircraft to be consistent with a later production version. This covers 4 years of Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) aircraft that are currently being delivered.
No value for the contract was estimated but it should be several hundred million dollars to modify that number of aircraft.
It would be expected that Lockheed Martin (LMT), the prime contractor on the current JSF development and production effort, would be awarded the contract. The announcement though did leave an opening for others to submit proposals to do the work. This would be extremely hard for another contractor to do depending on how much technical data the Government owns and is available. Just estimating the cost of the work without that information would be difficult.
The JPO is expecting this contract to take some time to develop, negotiate and award as the LRIP 5 production contract remains in negotiation with Lockheed and probably won't be awarded until the end of this year. Those aircraft would be coming off of the production line in several months. This will allow the program to continue production, testing and training while then beginning to retrofit the existing aircraft.
Rolls-Royce Continues Support of T-45
Filed under: BAE Systems, Boeing, Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Events, logistics, Military Aviation, production program, Rolls-Royce, Services, training, U.S. Navy
One of the advantages the OEM has when it comes to winning defense contracts is that they often will get the support and maintenance work from the government. It is uncommon now for the military to purchase complete Technical Data Packages (TDP) from the OEM's and this makes it hard for some of the effort to be transferred to another supplier.
The engine in the T-45 trainer was actually developed jointly by Rolls-Royce and France's Turbomeca originally for the Jaguar attack aircraft. That aircraft has been retired but the companies continue to support the power plant in its current uses.
The British company just received a further contract option to support the T-45 engine maintenance and parts support. This is the 4th option on the contract and is worth about $100 million.
The T-45 is a product of Boeing (BA) and BAE Systems (BAE:LSE) and is used by the Navy as a carrier training aircraft. It has been in use since 1991.
ATK Keeps Major Contract for Lake City Plant
Filed under: Alliant Techsystems, atk, Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Events, logistics, production program, Services, U.S. Army
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) is a mid-sized defense contractor. It primarily manufactures ammunition, pyrotechnics and rocket motors. The company is experiencing some struggles due to the ending of the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and the potential defense budget cuts. It has made several changes recently to adjust to these new market conditions but key to the company's near term success was retention of the contract from the U.S. Army to manage the Lake City ammunition plant operations.
Last year the company lost the contract for the Radford Plant in Virginia to BAE Systems (BAE:LSE). BAE was also aggressively targeting the Lake City contract as well. ATK had run these plants responsible for large amounts of ammunition and explosives for the U.S. military for several years and they were a core part of their revenue and earnings. Short term the loss of the Lake City contract would have been a blow to the company.
Yesterday it as announced that the Army had decided to award the contract to ATK again. The initial contract is for seven years but it has options for a further three. No value has been reported yet.
To indicate the size of the production at Lake City in September the company and Army celebrated the delivery of 2 billion 7.62mm rounds from the plant. Due to the demands of the last ten years of combat ATK had expanded the plant to produce over 1.5 billion rounds annually of 5.56mm as well as other sizes.
The winning of this contract gives ATK more time to continue its adjustments and reorganization to address the changing market it finds itself in and establish a good foundation for future performance.
ULA Wins Contract for Further Launch Services
Filed under: Boeing, Business Line, Companies, Contract Additions, Contract Awards, Events, Lockheed Martin, logistics, Satellites, Services, space, U.S. Air Force, United Launch Alliance
As the fiscal year came to an end this weekend the Pentagon closed it out by awarding several FY12 contacts. One of the biggest was to United Launch Alliance (ULA) for launch services in FY 2013.
ULA is a joint venture between Boeing (BA) and Lockheed Martin (LMT) and builds Atlas and Delta rockets used to launch military payloads. The overall program is the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV). Under the contract ULA provides both the launchers as well as engineering, management and launch activity support.
This part of the contract option for FY13 is worth a little over $1 billion and the number of launches planned for this year was not specified.
The original plan for EELV a decade a go was to support both Boeing and Lockheed as separate launch vehicle providers but eventually the decision was made to establish a joint venture between the two companies as a way to reduce costs.