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August 22, 2018 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR

Air Force’s next GPS satellite ready to boost accuracy, anti-jamming capabilities

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Lockheed's Martin second GPS III satellite has passed all of the U.S. Air Force's technical and safety tests and is ready to be launched, likely in 2019, according to a company statement Aug. 21.

The statement marks the formal designation that the satellite is “available for launch.”

The first GPS III satellite was available for launch in September 2017 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and is set to liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida before the end of 2018. The next satellite will launch aboard a rocket from United Launch Alliance.

The new satellite constellation is expected to be a significant improvement over the current generation of satellites. According to Harris Corp., the company that provides Lockheed Martin with the satellites navigation payload, the next-gen satellites are equipped with “a Mission Data Unit (MDU) with a unique 70 percent digital design that links atomic clocks, radiation-hardened computers and powerful transmitters." This allows for signals three times more accurate than those on current GPS satellites, the company said. In addition to being more accurate, the satellite is also eight times more resistant to jamming. This model also adds and maintains signals to ensure compatibility with Global Navigation Satellite Systems and provide stronger signal integrity.

Harris also unveiled an upgraded payload in November 2017 to be used for the Air Force's GPS III Follow On (GPS IIIF) program, which will begin with the 11th GPS III satellite. This next-gen payload will grant the clock signal for a new GPS III Search and Rescue (SAR) payload, and extend the satellite's service life. Lockheed Martin is expected to be the prime contractor.

In June, the third GPS III satellite completed thermal vacuum and environmental testing to simulate how the satellite will hold up in the space's unforgiving environment.

https://www.c4isrnet.com/c2-comms/satellites/2018/08/21/air-forces-next-gps-satellite-ready-to-boost-accuracy-anti-jamming-capabilities

On the same subject

  • US Army’s jumping to the next level in virtual training

    May 22, 2019 | International, Land

    US Army’s jumping to the next level in virtual training

    By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has been building a virtual world in which to train soldiers for war, and it's expected to award contracts in June for reconfigurable virtual air and ground trainers and for a common synthetic environment that includes complex and real-life terrain. Maj. Gen. Maria Gervais, who leads the Synthetic Training Environment Cross-Functional Team, which is part of Army Futures Command, told reporters during a recent media roundtable that she's “encouraged” to see what her team accomplished since it formed roughly 18 months ago. While the service, at a time, led the charge when it came to developing virtual environments, it has clung to relics of the '80s and '90s — stove-piped training systems lacking in realism. As the Army shifts its focus to fighting in a multidomain environment, the service wants a new system that enables collective training across air, ground, sea, cyber and space with greater fidelity that can be used not only as a trainer but also as a mission-planning tool. Before the synthetic training environment, or STE, was prioritized through the establishment of Army Futures Command, it wasn't going to be ready until 2030, but Gervais shrunk that timeline through new approaches in development and acquisition by involving industry and soldiers in a collaborative and agile manner. What is the STE? Over the last 18 months, the components of the STE have taken shape and will consist of One World Terrain — which compiles realistic and accurate virtual maps of territory — training simulation software, a training management tool and virtual collective trainers. All of this will make up the soldier/squad virtual trainer and the reconfigurable virtual collective trainer. The idea is to be able to click on any place on a virtual globe and go there. Soldiers can then train virtually in an exact environment in which they can expect to operate in reality. Just a few years ago, building One World Terrain was painstaking, tedious and expensive, but through new technology applications, what used to take nine months to build can now take eight hours. The training simulation software will support training simultaneously across many locations and training platforms. The training management tool allows users to build training scenarios through simulation databases. The virtual trainers are being designed for dismounted, air and ground formations to train from a squad level through battalion, and ultimately at higher echelons. The trainer for the soldier and squad will support individual and collective task at the smallest formation. The reconfigurable virtual collective trainers, or RVCT, will represent Army and Marine Corps air and ground systems for training at the unit level and will be used for mission rehearsals at every echelon. Ready player one The Army plans to award contracts next month to build both an RVCT for aircraft and an RVCT for ground vehicles that are reconfigurable based on changes to platform inventories. The STE conducted an initial user assessment of what had been developed in March 2018, Gervais said. Since then, the Army has conducted more than 20 “touch points” with industry partners, which led to a user assessment in Orlando, Florida — where the STE cross-functional team is based — of One World Terrain, the training management tool as well as the training simulation software. Meanwhile, Gervais said, the team is in the middle of a user assessment of an RVCT—Air prototype at Fort Carson, Colorado, which began in April and is supported by soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division. The service completed its assessment of a ground simulation platform that went to Fort Riley, Kansas. Crew members for Abrams tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Stryker combat vehicles of the 1st Infantry Division supported that effort. One World Terrain is already in use and under evaluation by a Marine battalion as well as three divisions in the Army and Naval Special Warfare Command. It's also used at the National Training Center and by the 3rd and 7th special forces groups. All of the users are providing feedback, according to Gervais. A contract was awarded in September 2018 to build the squad advanced marksmanship trainer, which is a product of the Close Combat Lethality Task Force initiative to improve soldier lethality and survivability, and the capability is already fielded to the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York. The new trainer takes what was a tethered system and — while it still uses projectors and screens — allows users to move around a base with more flexibility, which is more operationally realistic. Ultimately, the projectors and screens could be replaced by a headset, which is in keeping with the service's requirement to bring trainers to an operational unit in the field or at home station. This means the system must be easy to set up and transport. “We will continue to field that out to the Army the rest of this [fiscal year],” Gervais said. Taking it to the next level The Army plans to use the other transaction authority, or OTA, contracting mechanism to award contracts next month to move quicker and more agile than the standard and often lengthy acquisition process. The service previously used OTAs for STE development. “What the existing OTAs have done for us is they have actually allowed us to get a quick look from industry on where they were with the capabilities,” Col. Marcus Varnadore, the project manager for the STE CFT, said during the media roundtable. “It was very important for us right up front to identify where industry really was with respect to the technology, which allowed us to then make some decisions about what path to go forward with, and it also allowed us, with that first OTA, to kind of get an idea of how we needed to structure our follow-on OTAs,” he added. With the upcoming OTA contract awards, “we are kind of taking that and moving it to the next level using OTAs to bridge our gap here to get to the [initial operational capability] ... before we transition ultimately into a production [full-operational capability] environment,” said Brian Serra, the branch chief of Army Contracting Command—Orlando. “We are using the flexibility of OTAs,” he added, “to adjust as we go so we are not married to a 100-page specification.” That translates to the CFT taking a two-year process and shrinking it to six months max. The incremental process has also allowed the STE CFT to track industry's progress in this arena. Gervais noted that in some cases, companies might have overstated a specific technology's capabilities, and in turn the serve may need to bolster funding for internal science and technology efforts to improve that specific tech. Alternatively, the Army might notice it's been developing technology that is already well-developed in the commercial world. “I'm very confident and comfortable that our efforts to date are going to keep us on track to meet an initial operational capability of fourth-quarter FY21,” Gervais said. To reach initial operational capability, Gervais expects to field a battalion set of the RVCT—Air and RVCT—Ground — running on the common synthetic environment made up of One World Terrain, the training management tools and the training simulation software — to at least four installations. Over the next two years following initial operational capability, the Army will expand that fielding to include all installations where the capability is required in order to reach full operational capability by FY23. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/05/17/us-armys-jumping-to-next-level-in-virtual-training-world/

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    August 23, 2022 | International, Aerospace

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  • Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - June 3, 2019

    June 4, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

    Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - June 3, 2019

    DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY HDT Expeditionary Systems Inc., Solon, Ohio, has been awarded a maximum $200,000,000 firm-fixed-priced, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for commercial off-the-shelf shelters and tents. This was a competitive acquisition with one response received. This is a one-year base contract with three one-year option periods. Locations of performance are Alabama, Ohio, Virginia and Kentucky, with a June 4, 2020, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2020 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-19-D-1158). NAVY Accenture Federal Services LLC, Arlington, Virginia, is awarded a $79,074,099 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide program and project management; support of the Navy Tele-Mentoring Program; system administration; training; communications support; data analytics; tele-radiology; and support of the Health Experts Online Portal and Pacific Asynchronous TeleHealth in support of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. Work will be performed in Falls Church, Virginia (83 percent); San Diego, California (10 percent); Portsmouth, Virginia (2 percent); Camp Pendleton, California (2 percent); Lemoore, California (1 percent); Twentynine Palms, California (1 percent); and Bremerton, Washington (1 percent). The contract will include a 60-month ordering period that will begin July 2019, and is expected to be completed by July 2024. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Defense Health Procurement) (O&MDHP) funds in the amount of $10,000 will be obligated to fund the contract's minimum amount and those funds will expire at the end of fiscal 2019. Subsequent task orders will be funded with the appropriate fiscal year O&MDHP funds. This contract resulted from a full and open competitive solicitation pursuant to the authority set forth in Federal Acquisition Regulation 16.504. The requirement was solicited through the Federal Business Opportunities and Navy Electronic Commerce Online websites, with 11 offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00189-19-D-Z024). Lockheed Martin Sippican Inc., Marion, Massachusetts, is awarded a $56,865,098 firm-fixed-price, cost, and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-16-C-6412 to exercise Option Year Three for the production of Mk 48 Mod 7 guidance and control (G&C) sections, Mk 48 Mod 7 Common Broadband Advanced Sonar System (CBASS) Functional Item Replacement (FIR) kits, spares, production support material, and related engineering services and hardware repair support for G&C sections and CBASS kits. Work will be performed in Marion, Massachusetts (88 percent); Braintree, Massachusetts (8 percent); and Lemont Furnace, Pennsylvania (4 percent), and is expected to be completed by March 2021. Fiscal 2019 and 2017 weapons procurement (Navy); Foreign Military Sales; fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); and fiscal 2018 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $56,865,098 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Communication & Power Industries LLC, MPP Division, Palo Alto California, is awarded a $10,244,971 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contract for evaluation, repair, rebuild and new manufacture of L-Band Klystron microwave tubes required to support the AN/SPS-49 radar system. Work will be performed in Palo Alto, California, and is expected to be completed by June 2024. Working capital funds (Navy) funding in the amount of $905,658 will be obligated at time of award, and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured, in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) - only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Crane, Indiana, is the contracting activity (N0016419DWP32). ARMY General Dynamics Mission Systems Inc., Taunton, Massachusetts, was awarded a $36,850,696 modification (0125) to contract W15P7T-10-D-C007 for post-deployment software support services. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of June 1, 2020. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity. TRAX International LLC, Las Vegas, Nevada, was awarded a $17,666,430 modification (P00312) to contract W9124Q-07-C-0504 for mission support services. Work will be performed in White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2019. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $2,100,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command, White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, is the contracting activity. CORRECTION: The contract announced on May 31, 2019, for DirectViz Solutions LLC (DVS),* Chantilly, Virginia (W91RUS-19-C-0014), was not awarded. No new award date has been set. AIR FORCE AAI Corp., doing business as Textron Systems, Hunt Valley, Maryland, has been awarded a $24,318,602 undefinitized contract action for AC-208 contract logistics support and maintenance training. This contract provides for contractor logistics support and maintenance training for the AC-208 aircraft. Work will be performed at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, and is expected to be complete by May 31, 2020. Fiscal 2018 Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $7,406,993 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Training Aircraft Division, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8617-19-C-6234). Work Services Corp., Wichita Falls, Texas, has been awarded a $20,805,260 firm-fixed-price modification (P00002) to the previously awarded contract FA3020-18-C-0013 for food services. This contract modification provides full funding for the first option period. Work will be performed at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, and is expected to be complete by June 30, 2020. This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $36,010,315. Fiscal year 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the full amount are being obligated at the time of award. The 82nd Contracting Squadron, Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1864933/source/GovDelivery/

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