IED

The U.S. Navy has evaluated color-coded chemical detection technology known as colorimetric explosive detection kits, the service recently announced. Colorimetric detection technology is based upon a series of chemical reactions that produce a visual response, most often in the form of a color change dependent upon the molecular structure of the compounds being tested. 

Next Tier Concepts Inc., Vienna, Va., is being awarded an $8,980,601 firm-fixed-price contract for enterprise portal technical and strategic support services. The contract will provide strategic and technical support to mature the JIEDDO knowledge management governance model and architect; and build, operate and maintain the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) enterprise portal. The contracting activity is the JIEDDO Contract Operations, Arlington Va.

Chemlmage Bio Threat LLC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was awarded a $9,890,534 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification to procure the LightGuard on-the-move device for the detection of homemade explosives and precursor materials. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

R4 Incorporated, Eatontown, New Jersey, was awarded about $9 million for contractor logistic support on various improvised explosive device defeat/protect force equipment at approximately 60 locations. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity.

The U.S. Army National Guard is ramping up training opportunities for troops to fight back against the deadliest weapon in war zones-the improvised explosive device (IED). With an ultimate goal of increasing practice while decreasing travel costs, the guard is funding dedicated training lanes across the United States to give soldiers the skills they need to stay safe in any situation.

In the latest issue of SIGNAL Magazine, News Editor Rita Boland discusses how this initiative helps troops improve their tactics against IEDs in her article, "Battling Bombs at Home."

EDO Communications & Countermeasures Systems, Thousand Oaks, California, is being awarded a $17 million contract modification for the production and support of 265 JCREW 2.1 radio-controlled improvised explosive device (RCIED) electronic warfare (CREW) systems to Australia in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Vehicle mounted CREW systems are one element of the U.S. Defense Department's Joint Counter RCIED Electronic Warfare program. Spiral 2.1 CREW systems are vehicle mounted electronic jammers designed to prevent the initiation of radio-controlled improvised explosive devices. This contract is for the urgent procurement and support of CREW systems, to be used by Australian forces.

SRI International, Menlo Park, California, was awarded a $49 million contract, in which the government requires SRI International, under the direction of engineering research and development center and with assistance from the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization to provide necessary support, material and equipment, including training center and mobile ground station, to continue operations in Iraq of Desert Owl-1, an existing advanced airborne penetrating radar system. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineering Research and Development Center Contracting Office, Vicksburg, Mississippi, is the contracting activity.

The complexities of the U.S. Army’s networks and spectrum allocation processes interfere with the need to reassign units to different tasks, creating major delays and presenting serious challenges. To solve the issue, researchers intend to deliver a wide range of technologies, including automated spectrum planning and allocation tools and smarter radios, that will use spectrum more efficiently, network more effectively and provide commanders the flexibility to reorganize as needed.

Intelligence agencies could have investigated more thoroughly and shared information more effectively, but even if they had performed perfectly, they may not have been able to prevent last year’s Boston Marathon bombing, according to a report delivered today before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.