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  August 31, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR

  Armaments consortium launches new path to field high-tech prototypes

  By: Joe Gould WASHINGTON ― The National Armaments Consortium, along with the DoD Ordnance Technology Consortium and Army Contracting Command-New Jersey, is taking steps to fast-track their armament prototyping efforts, it was announced Thursday. A year after the Army's high-profile reorganization to more quickly field cutting-edge weapons technologies, the Charleston, South Carolina-based National Armaments Consortium ― made up of 900 companies and academic institutions ― wants to better sync with both the government's increased demand and its actual bandwidth for turning research into prototypes. Pentagon modernization efforts have prioritized, in recent years, long-range precision fires, hypersonic and extended-range missiles, and anti-jam GPS devices ― all of which fall in the lane of the armaments consortium, said National Armaments Consortium Executive Director Charlie Zisette. “Armaments is kind of where the rubber hits the road for our war fighter because we're dealing with everything in the kill chain, protection and survivability,” Zisette told Defense News. “All of these things created a fairly large demand signal for modernization of our systems and components.” The 20-year-old NAC is one of a growing number of Pentagon-sponsored consortia that work to translate the government's notional requirements into technological breakthroughs and business opportunities. Consortia members will work with the government through collective “other transaction agreements” or “other transaction authorities.” These OTAs have become a popular tool to allow the government to communicate more openly about its needs and to work with nontraditional defense contractors whose innovations the Department of Defense wants to harness. According to Zisette, the NAC has 650 active projects at various stages to solve tough problems like developing a new heat-resistant composite material, new types of explosives and a complex long-range precision artillery system. So far this year, its efforts have led to 150 new-start acquisition programs, half awarded to “non-traditionals.” Historically, the NAC would release one annual solicitation based on government requirements, and host one annual collaboration event for NAC members to tout their technologies and ask government representatives about requirements. NAC also hosts a members-only online collaboration portal along similar lines. But something had to change. Amid the DoD's modernization efforts, the NAC has grown such that there would be 350 government solicitations and upward of 1,400 whitepapers, almost simultaneously. It was a “huge bow wave” that overwhelmed the procurement, legal and program staffs involved, Zisette said. “It became too much for the Department of Defense, so we were seeing our award-cycle times getting stretched out,” he said. “We realized we had to level that workload out: put in more agreements officers and contracts specialists so we could ... get quickly through the process itself.” The NAC unveiled Thursday it will initiate faster deadlines to develop prototypes, but it will also move to monthly solicitation releases and three virtual collaboration events per year instead of one. Other consortia will often either deal with requirements on an annual or ad hoc basis, meaning they're emailed out as they're developed. To Zisette's knowledge, no other DoD-sponsored consortia have monthly solicitation releases like the NAC is planning, but the idea for tri-annual events was something Zisette borrowed. “The total model will be a pathfinder,” he said, “but absolutely leveraging some of the best practices and input from across the department.” https://www.defensenews.com/2020/08/27/armaments-consortium-launches-new-path-to-field-high-tech-prototypes/

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  May 6, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Le GIFAS plaide pour un plan de relance européen pour soutenir la filière aéronautique

  Eric Trappier, président du GIFAS et PDG de Dassault Aviation, a lancé mardi 5 mai, lors d'une visioconférence, un appel à mettre en place un soutien dédié à la filière aéronautique. L'aéronautique française, après avoir marqué un léger temps d'arrêt pour organiser les mesures sanitaires, entre désormais dans une phase de remontée en puissance, a indiqué M. Trappier : «A ce jour, 30% des effectifs sont sur site, 25 à 30% des salariés sont en télétravail, 30 à 35% au chômage partiel. Les salariés reviennent petit à petit sur les sites de production». Le GIFAS a créé une task-force associant grands donneurs d'ordre, PME et équipementiers afin d'identifier les acteurs menacés et de mettre en œuvre des solutions de sauvetage, en liaison avec le ministère de l'Economie et des Finances et Bpifrance, qui «aura un rôle à jouer pour recapitaliser les entreprises en difficultés», souligne Eric Trappier. Le GIFAS, qui regroupe 400 acteurs et leurs 200 000 salariés, soutient l'idée évoquée par Bruno Le Maire de dédier «un ou plusieurs fonds à l'aéronautique» dans le cadre des plans de relance discutés en France et au niveau européen afin de «tenir et passer le cap». «Ces fonds doivent être suffisamment dimensionnés pour répondre aux besoins. L'unité de mesure, c'est le milliard», a insisté Éric Trappier. «Nous demandons à l'État de nous accompagner dans cette passe difficile, en particulier les plus faibles d'entre nous», a-t-il déclaré. M. Trappier plaide pour un plan de relance européen, notamment pour maintenir les efforts de recherche pour l'aviation «verte» de demain.

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  July 20, 2020 | International, Land

  US Army releases draft RFP for Bradley vehicle replacement

  By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army on Friday issued a draft request for proposals for the preliminary design phase of its delayed optionally manned fighting vehicle, or OMFV, the first major step in a relaunched competition to replace the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle. The preliminary phase will be open for 40 days, with the goal of gathering industry feedback ahead of the final RFP, which will come later this year. That final RFP will award of up to five design contracts in June 2021, setting the next stage in the competition. “As we continue to progress through the first phase of our five-phased approach for the OMFV program, communication, inclusive feedback and innovative thinking from industry remains key,” Maj. Gen. Brian Cummings, the Army's program executive officer for ground combat systems, said in a statement. “We are looking forward to receiving feedback and learning from industry what's in the realm of the possible as we continue to develop this truly transformational vehicle for our Soldiers.” Added Brig. Gen. Ross Coffman, director of the Next Generation Combat Vehicles Cross-Functional Team: “Accurately defining the desired set of capabilities without over-constraining the design is critically important. “The Army is committed to open communication with industry to ensure the characteristics and eventual requirements of the OMFV are informed by technological advances.” The focus on gathering industry feedback should not be a surprise, given the recent history of the program. When the OMFV program was conceived, the Army planned to hold a prototyping competition, selecting two winning teams to build prototypes with a downselect to one at the end of an evaluation period. But in October, the Army ended up with only one bidder in the OMFV competition — General Dynamics Land Systems — after other competitors dropped out, citing requirements and schedule concerns. As a result, the Army in January announced it would be relaunching the program to ensure more competition going forward — a decision that led to service leaders taking heat from Congress during testimony in March. OMFV is the first large acquisition effort to come out of Army Futures Command. The draft RFP, posted on a government contracting website Friday, drives home the point by stating: “To permit industry design freedom and promote innovation, the Army has avoided quantifying or prescribing critical levels of performance wherever possible.” “We do not want to box industry into a solution,” Cummings said. “We want to incentivize industry as they lean forward and think creatively to bring the Army innovative technologies and solutions necessary to achieve our vision — both in terms of the ability to integrate newer technology we are seeing today and leaving space for future growth on the OMFV platform.” https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/07/17/army-drops-draft-rfp-for-bradley-replacement/