The United States Navy has awarded TexTech Engineered Composites a USD 76.8 million contract to deliver carbon phenolic heatshield materials and other reentry components for American and British strategic missile programmes, according to the contracting notice.
The award, made on 2 October, is described as a “cost-plus-fixed-fee indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the delivery of carbon phenolic heatshield materials and other reentry materials.”
The notice specifies that it “combines purchases for the U.S. Navy (98 percent) and the government of the United Kingdom (2 percent) under the Foreign Military Sales program.”
Work will take place in Winston Salem, North Carolina, and is scheduled to run “to be completed by October 2030.” At award, the Navy obligated USD 4.3 million in research, development, test and evaluation funds alongside USD 3 million in UK FMS funds. The contracting office confirmed that “$4,309,864 will expire at the end of the current Fiscal year.”
The Navy stated that the contract was not competed, citing 10 USC 3204(a)(1), with the notice saying the award was issued because “only one responsible source and no other type of supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.” TexTech is one of the few US suppliers capable of producing the specialised carbon phenolic ablative materials used to protect reentry bodies during extreme atmospheric heating.
Carbon phenolic remains integral to thermal protection systems for submarine launched ballistic missile reentry vehicles. The UK’s two percent share reflects its participation in the Trident missile enterprise through long standing cooperative arrangements with the US Navy.
The Navy said the contract supports both ongoing reentry material production and development work, with the RDT&E funding indicating continuing improvement and qualification of thermal protection materials.
The Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division is listed as the contracting activity.
That blasted BBC News edit of Trump’s speech could have far-reaching consequences for future defence deals with the USA. Whatever nonsense some observers may say about the ‘Special Relationship’, it amounts to huge advantages for UK defence and commerce.
I cannot stand Trump as I think the man is
1) divisive for US political cohesion and I personally want a strong cohesive US as the lead liberal democracy and I think he and his cohorts have walked the US into a classic Chinese political warfare trap.
2) Divisive for western unity.. the west can only be the dominant paridgm if European powers, the U.S. and pacific democracies walk hand in hand.. as soon as they split.. china and Russia together have the ability ( or will have within a decade ) to challenge any one group on its own.. but I still believe if the entire west was unified and its populations held faith with their polical leadership through serious suffering the west would win.
Essentially I consider him a geopolitical and geostrategic idiot who’s profoundly damaging the future of the west.
But and this is really important as a Broadcaster the BBC represents the UK as a whole as such it is charged with being completely unbiased in its reporting.. its whole purpose is to find and publish the truth.. so supporting the core strength of a liberal democracy.. a well educated electorate that has sources of information it can trust.. this a a massive breach of that.. essentially the bbc has been found to twice twist the truth around what happened on that profoundly impactful day in US democratic and constitutional history.. it fucked up very very badly and I don’t think we have seen the last of the repercussions of that .. both geopolitically ( an institution of UK fairness and honesty has been found to lie) and from an internal political point of view around our own populations further reduction in trust in our media and information… china and Russia are laughing their arses off about this… they could not have scripted it from a political warfare activity point of view.
Champagne style nuclear system on a brown ale budget, you have to hand it to HMG, pretty sweet only picking up 2% of the cost.
Thanks 🙏 to MAGA
😀
Yes Maurice 10, aligned to Vance’s statement about the UK becoming the first Islamic Nuclear armed state Starmer has some real serious grovelling to do. I hope he realises that, but I am not over confident he will.