Army Awards $50 Million Contract for New Special Operations Sniper Rifle

On the same subject

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  September 11, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  SAIC to buy rival government services contractor Engility for $1.5 billion

  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Science Applications International Corp (SAIC) (SAIC.N) said on Monday it will acquire Engility Holdings Inc (EGL.N) for $1.5 billion in stock, a deal that will turn it into the second-largest independent U.S. government services contractor. The acquisition is the latest example of how increased defense spending under President Donald Trump and the Republican-led Congress is driving contractors to pursue mergers so they have more scale to bid on bigger projects, spanning everything from outdated computer systems to space exploration. Engility shareholders will receive $40.44 in SAIC stock for each of their shares, an 11.5 percent premium to Engility's closing price of $36.24 on Friday, the companies said. SAIC will assume $900 million in Engility debt, giving the deal a total value of about $2.5 billion. On completion of the deal early next year, SAIC's board will expand to 11 seats from nine, and SAIC shareholders will own about 72 percent of the combined company. Engility, based in Chantilly, Virginia, provides skilled personnel to the U.S. departments of defense, homeland security and justice, among others. The acquisition will boost SAIC's offerings to its space customers and expand its customer base in the intelligence community, SAIC Chief Executive Tony Moraco said in an interview. The increased U.S. defense budget and a two-year budget deal reached earlier this year that lifted caps on defense spending also emboldened SAIC to pursue the deal, Moraco added. Full article: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-engilityholdings-m-a-saic/saic-to-buy-rival-government-services-contractor-engility-for-1-5-billion-idUSKCN1LQ1CG

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  April 26, 2023 | International, C4ISR

  Space Force eyes ‘outernet’ for better data flow in orbit

  A review of the satellite communications enterprise recommended a mix of commercial and government SATCOM networks.

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  October 2, 2019 | International, Land

  Pencils down: Bids are in to replace the US Army’s Bradley fighting vehicle

  By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The bids are in for a chance to build prototypes for the Army's Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle that will replace its Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle. Among them is a Raytheon and Rheinmetall team putting forward Rheinmetall's Lynx 41 Infantry Fighting Vehicle, and General Dynamics Land Systems, which showcased its Griffin III technology demonstrator equipped with a 50mm cannon a year ago at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual exposition. It is currently unknown if any other teams submitted bids by the service's set deadline of Oct. 1. None have come forward publicly despite rumors of a dark horse or two. Absent from the usual brood of combat vehicle manufacturers is BAE Systems. Defense News broke the news earlier this year that the company wouldn't compete in the OMFV competition. Textron has joined the Raytheon and Rheinmetall team with plans to, if chosen to build the new vehicle, build Lynx here in the United States at its Slidell, Louisiana, manufacturing facility. Raytheon and Rheinmetall announced a joint venture Oct. 1 — calling it Raytheon Rheinmetall Land Systems LLC — to pursue the OMFV competition. “General Dynamics Land Systems submitted our OMFV proposal and bid sample to the US Army on 27 September. GD's bid sample was purpose built to address the desired system lethality, survivability and mobility as substantiation of our response to the Army's request for proposal,” the company said in a statement sent to Defense News. The company did not provide details on the submission. GDLS did note, however, that it is proposing a “purpose built vehicle” using technologies from other platforms and “years of investment in advanced capabilities to include a 50mm cannon,” according to the statement. The Army released its request for proposals in March opening a competition to build prototypes. The service plans to choose from the pool of bidders up to two teams to build 14 prototypes each. The service will choose a winner that will start replacing Bradleys in 2026 that is designed to better operate in future environments that would allow soldiers to maneuver to a position of advantage and “to engage in close combat and deliver decisive lethality during the execution of the combined arms maneuver,” according to an Army statement issued along with the RFP release. Some of the threshold requirements for OMFV are a 30mm cannon and a second-generation, forward-looking infrared system, or FLIR. Objective requirements are a 50mm cannon and a third-generation FLIR. Brig. Gen. Ross Coffman, who is in charge of Next-Generation Combat Vehicle (NGCV) modernization efforts, said at the Defense News Conference in September that he is confident the requirements set for OMFV are right and had no plans to change them. The selected prototypes will go through “rigorous” operational testing and soldier assessments. The Army plans to downselect to one vehicle for low-rate initial production following the assessments and testing. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/10/01/pencils-down-bids-are-in-for-armys-bradley-fighting-vehicle-replacement