Air Force to give Sierra Nevada Corp. a sole-source contract for light-attack planes, but Textron will also get an award

On the same subject

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  August 7, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  An aerospace startup just won a contract to develop an Air Force One jet that can travel at Mach 5. Here's an early look at the engine that could rocket from New York to Paris in 90 minutes.

  David Slotnick 19 hours ago The Air Force One of the future might be getting a major speed boost. An aerospace company called Hermeus on Thursday announced a contract with the US Air Force and the Presidential and Executive Airlift Directorate to develop a hypersonic aircraft for the presidential fleet. While the next Air Force One, a modified 747-8, is due to be delivered by Boeing next year, the Hermeus contract looks toward its eventual replacement. Hermeus said it won the contract after designing, building, and successfully testing a prototype of an engine capable of propelling an airplane to Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound — about 3,300 mph. Mach 5 represents the delineation between supersonic and hypersonic speeds. The company completed those tests in March, Aviation Week reported. Hermeus plans to build a demonstrator vehicle over the next five years, with commercial aircraft envisioned in about a decade, Skyler Shuford, its cofounder and chief operating officer, said in 2019. A press release announcing the Air Force contract said part of the project would focus on integrating Air Force requirements into the airplane's designs. Hermeus emerged last year, announcing plans to develop a Mach 5 aircraft that could fly from New York to Paris in about 90 minutes. Ars Technica reported in May 2019 that the company raised an initial round of funding, led by Khosla Ventures, which it used to develop the prototype. Hermeus said it would use a turbine-based combined-cycle engine for the propulsion system, according to the report. The company's cofounders are alumni of SpaceX, Blue Origin, and the aerospace company Generation Orbit. At the time, Hermeus said it planned to use mostly existing technology and materials to achieve hypersonic travel. "We can make a vehicle fly that fast with today's technology," Glenn Case, a cofounder and the chief technology officer, said in a video published this spring. "We aren't getting into anything too miraculous," Shuford told Ars Technica last year. "We want to do engineering, not science." As of Thursday, the company listed about 10 open positions, including for airframe and propulsion engineers. https://www.businessinsider.com/hypersonic-air-force-one-hermeus-mach-5-2020-8

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  March 1, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  What does Australia think of the F-35? One Air Force commander details his experience

  By: Nigel Pittaway MELBOURNE, Australia — The commander of the Royal Australian Air Force's Air Combat Group has provided insight into his experience with the Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighter, during the 2019 Avalon Airshow this week. Australia has 72 F-35As on order to replace the F/A-18A/B “Classic” Hornet fleet, as it's known Down Under; the country has received 10 aircraft to date. Two aircraft were delivered to RAAF Base Williamtown, north of Sydney, in December 2018, and a further eight are based in the United States at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, in support of international F-35 pilot training with the U.S. Air Force's 61st Fighter Squadron. Air Commodore Mike Kitcher said two more aircraft will be delivered to Australia in early April and eight will have arrived by the end of 2019. “Those two jets at Williamtown are flying five to six sorties a week, largely for aircrew training at the moment. We'll add another two aircraft to that fleet in early April, and we'll have another four by the end of this year and eight aircraft in Australia by the end of the year,” he said. Kitcher also described a sortie he flew in the Red Flag 19-1 exercise held in Nevada in February, in which RAAF Hornets flew with U.S. Air Force F-35As as part of an international strike package. “One of the key strike missions I did that day was to watch an eight-ship [formation] of F-35s kick open a door, which was a fairly hard door to open. Some F-22s came in after that to hold the door open, and the F-35s went back and picked up a strike train that consisted of [RAAF] Hornets, Super Hornets from the U.S. Navy, Typhoons from the [British] Royal Air Force and U.S. Air Force F-16s, supported by U.S. Navy [EA-18G] Growlers and U.S. Air Force F-16s,” Kitcher said. “That was the first time I've been in a high-end exercise, involving a significant air threat, a significant surface-to-air threat and even a cyberthreat. You could see the way the F-35 was working with Classic Hornets, Super Hornets, Typhoons and Growlers to solve a very difficult problem. I'm confident that we'll be doing that in Australia with our F-35s and our Super Hornets and Growlers within the next couple of years.” Two RAAF F-35As from No. 3 Squadron were present at Avalon, and one of them participated in the daily flying display. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/avalon/2019/02/28/what-does-australia-think-of-the-f-35-one-air-force-commander-details-his-experience/

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  October 15, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense – October 14, 2020

  NAVY CAPE Environmental Management Inc.,* Honolulu, Hawaii, is awarded a $90,000,000 cost-plus-award-fee modification to previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract N62742-16-D-1807 for environmental remedial action services at various sites within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Pacific area of responsibility (AOR). This modification brings the total cumulative contract value to $185,000,000. The work to be performed provides for, but is not limited to, remedial actions such as removal actions, expedited and emergency response actions, pilot and treatability studies, facility operation and maintenance and performing other related activities associated with returning sites to safe and acceptable levels. Task orders and modifications will be primarily funded by environmental restoration (Navy); base realignment and closure; and customer-reimbursable funds. Work will be performed in Hawaii (65%); California (25%); Guam (4%); Washington (1%); and other locations within the NAVFAC Pacific AOR below 1% (5%), and is expected to be completed by July 2021. No funds will be obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, is the contracting activity. Schuyler Line Navigation Co. LLC, Annapolis, Maryland, is awarded an $11,406,250 modification under previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract N32205-18-C-3508 to fund the second one-year option period. The option will continue to provide one U.S. flagged chemical and oil products tanker MT SLNC Goodwill in support of the Department of Defense Logistics Agency Energy for the transportation of clean petroleum products in the Far East region. The current contract includes a 12-month base period, three 12-month option periods and one 11-month option period. Work will be performed in the Far East region, and is expected to be completed by Oct. 14, 2021. The option will be funded by working capital funds (Navy) for fiscal 2021. The Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity. CORRECTION: A contract awarded on Sept. 9, 2020, to Core Services Group Inc.,* Virginia Beach, Virginia (N00189-20-D-0020), to provide test and evaluation support services for Commander, Operational Test and Evaluation Force Aviation Warfare Division, was announced with an incorrect value amount. The correct amount is $42,000,000, and if options are exercised, the total amount will be $47,000,000. DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY SecuriGence LLC,* Leesburg, Virginia, was awarded a $68,745,415 (excluding unexercised options) fixed-price-award-fee, firm-fixed-price, time and materials, labor hour task order for multi-network support services. This task order provides and manages the entire range of information technology (IT) services, support, engineering and infrastructure necessary to implement the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency IT operational, mission and research objectives. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia, with an expected completion date of February 2022. Fiscal 2020 research and development funds in the amount of $4,500,000 are being obligated at time of award. This task order was a competitive acquisition and three offers were received. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (GS-35F-626GA HR0011-21-F-0006). ARMY Calgon Carbon, Moon Township, Pennsylvania, was awarded an $18,920,000 firm-fixed-price contract for activated, impregnated copper-silver-zinc-molybdenum-triethylenediamine carbon in support of M49 and M98 filter production at Pine Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 13, 2025. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W52P1J-21-D-3002). General Dynamics Land Systems Inc., Sterling Heights, Michigan, was awarded a $12,076,618 modification (P00013) to contract W56HZV-19-C-0062 for Utility Bus Interface Modules. Work will be performed in Tallahassee, Florida, with an estimated completion date of July 30, 2021. Fiscal 2021 revolving funds in the amount of $12,076,618 were obligated at the time of the award. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY CORRECTION: The contract (delivery order) announced on July 7, 2020, for BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration, Greenlawn, New York (SPRPA1-20-F-C20G), for $26,305,633, was announced with an incorrect award date and incorrect delivery order number. The correct award date is Oct. 14, 2020, and the correct delivery order number is SPRPA1-21-F-C200. *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2382161/source/GovDelivery/