Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) is an American, privately held aerospace and national security contractor specializing in aircraft modification and integration, space components and systems, and related technology products for cybersecurity and health. The company contracts with the United States Armed Forces, NASA, and private spaceflight companies.[1] SNC is headquartered in Sparks, Nevada and has 33 locations in 19 U.S. states, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Turkey.[1]
The company was involved in over 400 successful space missions and built the cargo Dream Chaser, which is planned to resupply the International Space Station with both pressurized and unpressurized cargo.[5][6] As of July 2020, SNC has taken part in 14 different missions to Mars.[7]
History
The company was founded in 1963 by John Chisholm with a few employees working out of an airplane hangar in the Reno Stead Airport. It was acquired in 1994 by husband and wife Fatih Ozmen and Eren Ozmen. Fatih Ozmen was one of the original employees hired by Chisholm in 1981.[8] At the time of the Ozmens' acquiring SNC, it had around 20 employees. The company has since grown into a multi-billion dollar company with over 4,000 employees. SNC's main business is US Department of Defense and NASA contracts.[9][10]
In 2016, SNC built a 130,000 square feet (12,000 m2) aircraft modification facility in Meridianville, Alabama, alongside Madison County Executive Airport. The company expanded, building an additional 60,800 square feet (5,650 m2) facility, which could hold seven Beechcraft Super King Air/C-12/MC-12S planes. The company modifies commercial aircraft into military surveillance aircraft, such as the US Army's EMARSS platform.[11][12][13]
On April 14, 2021, SNC announced it would create Sierra Space, an independent commercial space company. SNC's space business currently generates $400 million in annual revenue, and SNC is projecting revenue will increase to $4 billion in five to ten years. Sierra Space will continue to develop the reusable Dream Chaser space plane.[16]
On February 1, 2010, Sierra Nevada Corporation was awarded[17] $20 million in seed money in phase 1 of NASA's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program for the development of the Dream Chaser. Of the $50 million awarded in the phase 1 CCDev program, Dream Chaser's award represents the largest share of the funds.[18]
On August 3, 2012, NASA announced new agreements with the Sierra Nevada Corporation and two other companies to design and develop the next generation of U.S. human spaceflight capabilities, enabling a launch of astronauts from U.S. soil in the next five years. Advances made by these companies under newly signed Space Act Agreements through the agency's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative are intended to ultimately lead to the availability of commercial human spaceflight services for government and commercial customers. As part of this agreement, Sierra Nevada Corporation was awarded $212.5 million, ostensibly to continue the development and testing of its Dream Chaser spacecraft.[19] The Dream Chaser is a revival of NASA's HL-20 Personnel Launch System lifting-body design.[20]
On July 24, 2014, Sierra Nevada Corporation signed a letter of cooperation with Tuskegee University to collaborate on efforts related to SNC's Dream Chaser.[21]
On August 1, 2014, Lockheed Martin and Sierra Nevada Corporation unveiled the composite airframe of the Dream Chaser, which will be used to conduct the first orbital launch in 2016.[needs update][22]
Internally the Dream Chaser program team is frequently referred to as the "Dream Team." The team includes well-known aerospace industry partners such as Lockheed Martin and United Launch Alliance, NASA centers and universities across the United States, small businesses such as Craig Technologies, as well as the European, German and Japanese.[23]
On September 16, 2014, Sierra Nevada Corporation lost the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract to SpaceX and Boeing, which NASA chose as the two companies that will be funded to develop systems to transport U.S. crews to and from the space station. Boeing won $4.2 billion and SpaceX won $2.6 billion to complete and certify their spacecraft by 2017.[24] NASA deemed SNC's proposal as less mature than the others.[25] In the selection statement, Bill Gerstenmaier, head of NASA's human exploration and operations directorate, explained the decision by stating that "a winged spacecraft is a more complex design and thus entails more developmental and certification challenges, and therefore may have more technical and schedule risk than expected", and "I consider SNC's design to be at the lowest level of maturity, with significantly more technical work and critical design decisions to accomplish. ... SNC's proposal also has more schedule uncertainty."[26] Director Mark Sirangelo said the team was "devastated", and called it "like a death in the family", and Washington Post said SNC "entered a realm particular to the world of government contracting: that of the big-time corporate loser".[27]
SNC filed a protest to the GAO against the selection, which was rejected.[28][29]The Washington Post called the moves to preserve the program "straddling the fine line between faith and delusion, persistence and masochism". While the Dream Chaser was designed to carry passengers, SNC modified it for cargo, worked through Thanksgiving 2015 to meet a January 2016 bidding deadline.[30] On January 14, 2016, SNC were awarded a Commercial Resupply Services contract during CRS-2 for resupply to the International Space Station between 2019 and 2024, guaranteeing a minimum of six launches.[27][6] SNC will use United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur rocket as the launch vehicle for Dream Chaser's cargo configuration starting from 2022.[31]
After losing the bid for NASA commercial crew, Sierra Nevada reduced the staff working on RocketMotorTwo in September 2014. In late November, SNC announced the permanent closure of their Poway, California propulsion development facility as they intend to consolidate all propulsion activity in one location, at the facilities of Orbital Technologies Corp.[34]
STPSat-5
As announced on Tuesday, October 14, 2014, the United States Department of Defense awarded Sierra Nevada Corporation's Space Systems with a contract to develop and build a next-generation science and technology demonstration satellite, known as STPSat-5, for their Space Test Program.[35]
SNC's Space Systems, working with Dynetics, participated in some early HLS design studies under NASA's HLS Appendix E program. They submitted a HLS proposal to NASA for HLS Appendix H, which was one of three proposals selected for further study, along with Blue Origin and SpaceX. NASA's Stephen Jurczyk identified the fuel drop tanks and low crew module as innovative strengths, but the propulsion system (identified by Scott Manley as SNC's Vortex engines) was a low-maturity risk. Overall, their technical rating and management rating were listed as "very good", making the Dynetics proposal the highest-rated project.[36][37][38]
Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) spacecraft
SNC has concluded a successful two-year on-orbit research mission for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The mission utilized SNC's Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) spacecraft in medium Earth orbit (MEO), and resulted in research and technologies that advance the potential future deployment of United States Department of Defense (DoD) spacecraft in the harsh radiation environment of MEO. The three successful DSX physics-based research/experiment areas include: Wave Particle Interaction Experiment (WPIx), Space Weather Experiment (SWx), and Space Environmental Effects (SFx). Robert Johnston, the principal investigator on the science side of the DSX team, commented on the DSX mission: "We will be working the science from this mission for the remainder of our careers ... DSX's contributions in understanding the environment of space are profound to our nation and the DoD."[39]
In 2009, SNC converted the PolishPZL M28 Skytruck into the C-145A Skytruck for the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC). One crashed beyond repair in Afghanistan in 2011, and 11 were retired in 2015. In 2016, three were sent to Kenya, two to Costa Rica, two to Nepal, and two to Estonia.[41][42] SNC took over maintenance of the AFSOC planes in 2017.[43]
Nigeria: 12 aircraft with weapons packages. The $593 million contract had been on hold since 2015 over human rights issues, but was discussed between President Donald Trump and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in February 2017 and approved later that year. The first plane was completed in 2020.[48][49][50]
Gorgon Stare is a remotely controlled, aircraft-based Wide-Area Persistent Surveillance (WAPS) system. Gorgon Stare includes the USAF's only operational day/night persistent wide-area motion imagery (WAMI) capability. The system has flown long-duration sorties daily in multiple theaters since March 2011, providing thousands of hours of direct combat support.
In Spring 2014, the U.S. Air Force deployed the latest generation of Gorgon Stare. The fully upgraded system simultaneously provides a four-fold increase in area coverage with a two-fold improvement in resolution compared to its predecessor. The system features two state-of-the-art imaging sensor turrets—an electro-optical (EO) sensor derived from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) ARGUS technology and an infrared (IR) sensor integrating the largest IR arrays available.[51]
Transport Telemedicine System
SNC's Transport Telemedicine System is a capability that captures and communicates patient care and condition information beginning at the point of injury and continuing until arrival at a medical facility. On September 24, 2014, at the inaugural Nevada Telemedicine Summit, SNC successfully demonstrated the capability to the U.S. Army Medical Material Agency. The Nevada Army National Guard MEDEVAC unit flew the demonstration mission.[52]
Multi-mission aircraft
On July 23, 2014, SNC's Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) business area located in Centennial, Colorado, won a competitive contract to provide and operate two multi-mission aircraft (MMA) for the State of Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control (DFPC).[53] Based on the Pilatus PC-12, the DFPC aircraft are equipped with electro-optical sensors and communications equipment that allow firefighters to detect small fires before they grow into large incidents that severely affect Colorado's lives, property, and resources. As a result of the integration of SNC's technology and modifications, the MMA are providing advanced fire detection, location, and behavior monitoring capabilities. Additionally, the aircraft feature a communications system that allows the aircrew to send collected information to all wildfire response personnel using the Colorado Wildfire Information Management System (CO-WIMS), a web-based collaborative information sharing tool that allows any firefighter immediate access to fire location, behavior, and other critical pieces of information. Colorado has also successfully employed the aircraft in search-and-rescue and environmental assessment missions.
In 2020, CBP Air and Marine Operations (AMO) issued a delivery order to SNC valued at roughly $47 million for the acquisition of two Multi-Role Enforcement Aircraft (MEA). These two aircraft are the 24th and 25th ordered MEA, and are expected to be delivered early 2022.[55]
In 2015, Sierra Nevada Corporation acquired 328 Support Services GmbH (328 SSG) and with it the maintenance rights and type certificates for the Dornier 328 and Fairchild-Dornier 328JET.[62] Later in 2015 an agreement was reached for the Turkish government to build the aircraft in Turkey as the T328 and TR328 and for Turkey to develop enlarged 60-70 seat "628" models, under the Turkish Regional Jet project.[63]First flights were anticipated in 2019, but the project was abandoned in 2017.[63] SNC and 328 SSG would continue exploring revivals of the 328 and 328JET.[63]
Controversy
False Claims Act lawsuit
In 2017, SNC settled a Justice Department lawsuit. The Eastern District of California's US Attorney alleged that SNC had overcharged the US government on federal contracts between 2007 and 2011, violating the False Claims Act. SNC settled without admitting liability, paying $14.9 million.[64][65]
Lobbying and political influence
In 2007, the Las Vegas Sun noted SNC was "adept at targeting campaign contributions at elected officials who can help it", also noting its active Sierra Nevada PAC, which was created in July 2001.[40][66][67][68]
In 2004, then-Nevada house representative and Armed Services Committee member Jim Gibbons promoted SNC to receive a $4 million no-bid helicopter technology development contract. In the same timeframe, SNC was making political consulting payments to Jim Gibbons' wife, Dawn Gibbons. Dawn was also paid by Jim's political campaign, and a nonprofit set up by the couple also paid Dawn money. These payments were exposed in 2007 by The Wall Street Journal, who also said a grand jury had convened for this and another corporation Gibbons had been entangled with.[69][70][71]
In 2009, SNC was tied to lobbying scandals from the PMA Group and Indiana congressman and House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense member Pete Visclosky. SNC paid PMA Group $280,000 in 2006 for lobbying, and PMA was exposed in a large lobbying scandal. A grand jury suponead Viclosky for documents and later declined to charge him. He was also cleared by the House Ethics Committee, though Visclosky declined to be interviewed by the committee, and there were "troubling aspects" uncovered in the probe. An email from SNC's Dave Klinger justified their requested contribution amounts to Viclosky, stating "He has been a good supporter of SNC. We have gotten over 10M in [earmarks]". Referring to the Klinger email, Steven V. Roberts and Cokie Roberts called the PMA/SNC relationship "a bribe by any other name".[72][73][74][75][40][76][77]
Wuhan Virology Institute report
In 2020, SNC's Multi-Agency Collaboration Environment (MACE) group produced a report shared among the Department of Defense and Congress attempting to demonstrate that the Wuhan Institute of Virology shut down for several days in October, providing evidence for the COVID-19 lab leak theory.[78] The report's evidence was based on patterns of cellphone location data around the WIV during the time period.[78] Similar arguments had been labeled inconclusive by Western intelligence agencies after additional analysis based on satellite imagery.[78]
The report came under heavy criticism and was the subject of a rebuttal in The Daily Beast, which pointed out that the shifting patterns in cell phone data were easily explained by observable road construction.[79][80] The rebuttal also noted that the report relied on extremely small sample numbers (some as small as seven cell phones for an institute with hundreds of employees).[79] Intelligence and health specialists interviewed by NBC were broadly skeptical of the report, the outlet reported,[78] as were Congressional staffers quoted by The Daily Beast.[79]
^ abc"Fatih Ozmen: Mystery man behind Sierra Nevada". Las Vegas Sun. 8 April 2007. Retrieved 22 May 2020. Most of the money went to the PMA Group, a mammoth lobbying firm in Washington founded by Paul Magliocchetti, formerly a top staffer on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee. Lockheed Martin, Boeing and dozens of other major defense contractors are on PMA's list of clients. Sierra Nevada, records show, has been among the firm's highest-paying clients the past two years, having paid it $280,000 last year.
^"Kenya seeking Skytruck aircraft from US - defenceWeb". defenceWeb. 7 December 2016. Retrieved 28 May 2020. In July 2015 AFSOC announced it was retiring two thirds of its C-145A fleet, with 11 aircraft subsequently being disposed of.
^"Textron Aviation awarded the contract for two Beechcraft King Air 350CER aircraft for U.S. Customs and Border Protection". txtav.com. 20 May 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2020. Textron Aviation Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) company, was awarded a contract for two additional Beechcraft King Air 350CER turboprop aircraft for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO). After mission modifications by Sierra Nevada Corporation, these two Multi-role Enforcement Aircraft (MEA) aircraft will join a fleet of 23 other King Air 350 aircraft used to safeguard the United States homeland as part of the coordinated application of CBP's aviation and maritime law enforcement resources.
^"Jamaica Defence Force commissions maritime surveillance aircraft". Flight Global. Retrieved 22 May 2020. The twin-turboprop Beechcraft King Air 350 WR has been modified by Sierra Nevada Corporation with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) equipment. The JDF did not disclose what sort of ISR equipment was added to the aircraft, though the country's cabinet reportedly approved a $16.9 million payment to Sierra Nevada and the inclusion of the aircraft under the Maritime Air and Cyber Command suggests it may have electronic eavesdropping capabilities, as well as the ability to track boats hauling contraband.
^"Sierra Nevada Corporation Pays $14.9m to Settle Allegations of Improper Contract Billings". justice.gov. 15 February 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2020. Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has paid $14.9 million to resolve allegations that it violated the federal False Claims Act when it knowingly misclassified certain costs, resulting in inflated overhead rates paid to SNC pursuant to various government contracts, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
^"Former Congressman's Wife Worked for Contract Winner". The New York Times. 31 March 2007. Retrieved 22 May 2020. In 2004, Mrs. Gibbons was paid as a consultant by the Sierra Nevada Corporation of Sparks, Nev., which received a no-bid contract that year to help develop technology to improve helicopter landing systems in desert conditions. The payments from Sierra Nevada were made to Politek Inc., a political consulting firm founded by Mrs. Gibbons, a former Nevada state legislator. The Journal reported that Politek's biggest client was her husband's 2004 re-election campaign, which paid the firm more than $93,000.
^Steve; Roberts, Cokie (11 March 2010). "A bribe by any other name". Arizona Daily Sun. Retrieved 22 May 2020. 'Bribe' is a hard term to define legally. But we know a payoff when we see one. And that e-mail exchange could not have been clearer: Sierra Nevada delivers for Visclosky because Visclosky delivers for Sierra Nevada.
^David D. Kirkpatrick; Charlie Savage (3 April 2009). "Lawmaker Said to Surface in Lobbying Inquiry". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 May 2020. The Capitol Hill publication Roll Call reported two years ago that of the center's seven charter tenants, five were PMA clients whose employees contribute heavily to Mr. Visclosky's campaigns. Of the five, only NuVant Systems, a fuel cell company started by a chemistry professor, had its headquarters in Mr. Visclosky's district. Two others – the Sierra Nevada Corporation, based in Nevada, and ProLogic, based in West Virginia - are each also reported to be embroiled in federal investigations involving their earmarks. (The center has now signed more than a dozen other non-PMA clients.)
^Eric Lichtblau; David D. Kirkpatrick (26 February 2010). "Panel Clears 7 Lawmakers in Lobbying Scandal". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 May 2020. For instance, executives at the Sierra Nevada Corporation made a series of donations to Mr. Visclosky after getting earmarks for the company. When a company executive asked why the business was contributing an additional $20,000, a second executive responded in a 2007 e-mail message: 'That's what each of the companies working with PMA and Visclosky have been asked to contribute. He has been a good supporter of SNC. We have gotten over 10M in adds from him,' he wrote, referring to the earmarks Sierra Nevada received.
$2.4 Billion(2021)[2]
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