February 12, 2020 | International, Land
PENTAGON: As the Army moves billions into new high-tech weapons, truck-maker Oshkosh is feeling the pinch. The 2021 budget request not only decreases spending on three Oshkosh vehicles, the 10-wheel FHTV, the 6-wheel FMTV, and 4×4 JLTV: It also calls for a new competition the following fiscal year for JLTV, the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle originally meant to replace the Humvee.
That's especially worrying for the Wisconsin company, because JLTV is the youngest program of the three and the most important for the company's long-term future. But then-Army Secretary Mark Esper — now Secretary of Defense — has publicly criticized JLTV as overly specialized for the kind of counterinsurgency conflicts the Pentagon is no longer focused on. While the Army insists it will still buy the planned total of 49,099 trucks, eventually, it keeps slowing down the annual rate and extended the deadline to complete production, which now won't end until 2042. (That leaves the Humvee in service, at least with some units, indefinitely).
Why recompete? “We do that to drive the price down,” said Deputy Assistant Army Secretary John Daniels this morning, when my colleague Jen Judson asked about the proposal. But any new competition would be two fiscal years from now and Daniels declined to give any details.
The only other information about the plan is buried on page 102 of the fifth volume of the Army's newly released procurement request for 2021, which also includes projections for 2022 and beyond. Under JLTV, the “justification book” says that:
“Current contract options may be exercised through 30 November 2023 assuming contractual quantity headspace is still available. Current funding indicates headspace quantity of 16,901 may be achieved in FY 2021, with competitive follow on contract award anticipated in FY 2022. A split procurement will occur between the existing Oshkosh contract and the new competitively awarded contract based on the approved acquisition strategy. The Program Office continues to gather insight from industry partners to better understand their position to ensure strong competition for the follow on contract.”
In plain English, this means Oshkosh's current contract to build Joint Light Tactical Vehicles runs though fall 2023. Since production will continue for decades, the Army will have to award a new contract to buy more JLTVs for itself, the other services and allies. But when it comes time to award that follow-on contract, the service doesn't want Oshkosh to be its only option: It wants at least one competitor to drive down costs.
https://breakingdefense.com/2020/02/army-seeks-new-jltv-competition-in-2022
June 11, 2021 | International, Land
Textron announced its Cottonmouth 6×6 armoured vehicle as an entrant for the US Marine Corps' (USMC) Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle (ARV) requirement in May, revealing that the vehicle had entered validation testing at the National Automoti...
December 10, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
NAVY General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Connecticut, is awarded a $346,500,311 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-16-C-2111 for fiscal 2019 lead yard support and development studies and design efforts for Virginia class submarines. This lead yard support will maintain, update, and support the Virginia class design and related drawings and data for each Virginia class Submarine, including technology insertion, throughout its construction and post shakedown availability period. The contractor will also provide all engineering and related lead yard support necessary for direct maintenance and support of Virginia class ship specifications. In addition, this contract modification provides development studies and design efforts related to the Virginia class submarine design and design improvements, preliminary and detail component and system design, integration of system engineering, design engineering, test engineering, logistics engineering, and production engineering. The contractor will continue development studies and design efforts related to components and systems to accomplish research and development tasks and prototypes and engineering development models required to fully evaluate new technologies to be inserted in succeeding Virginia class submarines. Work will be performed in Groton, Connecticut (91 percent), Newport News, Virginia (8 percent); and at other various sites throughout the U.S. (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by September 2019. Fiscal 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); and fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $129,889,865 will be obligated at time of award and no funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. BAE Systems Land & Armaments LP, Minneapolis, Minnesota, is awarded a $41,528,204 firm-fixed-price modification to previously-awarded contract N00024-13-C-5314 for Mk 21 mod 2 (SM-3); and Mk 21 mod 3 (SM-6) canisters in support of the Mk 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS). The Mk 41 VLS provides a missile launching system for CG 47- and DDG 51-class surface combatants of the Navy, as well as surface combatants of allied navies. This effort includes the manufacture, production and test of Mk 21 mod 2 and Mk 21 mod 3 canisters. The canisters provide rocket motor exhaust gas containment and a launch rail during missile firing. The canisters also serve as missile shipping and storage containers. Work will be performed in Aberdeen, South Dakota (90 percent); and Minneapolis, Minnesota (10 percent), and is expected to be completed by August 2021. Fiscal 2018 weapons procurement (Navy); fiscal 2018 Defense-wide procurement; and fiscal 2018 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $41,528,204 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. DRS Power & Control Technologies Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is awarded a $13,339,019 firm-fixed-price modification to previously-awarded contract N00024-14-C-4200 to exercise an option for DDG 51-class power conversion modules (PCM) for the Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) production ship sets, engineering services and associated support. This contract provides for the AMDR PCM non-recurring engineering, long-lead-time material, low-rate initial production units for testing, associated engineering services and support, and up to 12 production ship sets for DDG 51-class ships. The requirements support the DDG 51 class flight III new construction program (PMS 400D) and the electric ships office (PMS 320). The AMDR PCM will supply power to the radar from the ship's service electrical system. Work will be performed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and is expected to be completed by April 2022. Fiscal 2017 and 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $13,339,019 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. Progeny Systems Corp., Manassas, Virginia, is awarded a $12,739,130 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-14-C-6220) to exercise options for engineering services and Navy equipment. Work will be performed in Manassas, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by September 2020. Fiscal 2017 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); and fiscal 2019 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $12,739,130 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 Navy Yard, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Detyens Shipyards Inc., North Charleston, South Carolina, was awarded a $9,062,606 firm- fixed-price contract for USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) mid-term availability commencing on Jan. 8, 2019. Work will include general steel and piping repairs, air conditioning plant installation, air conditioning plant maintenance, steam driven fire pump turbine inspection, bilge and ballast segregation, lifeboat and life raft davit falls replacement, and ventilation duct cleaning. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $11,323,572. Work will be performed in North Charleston, South Carolina, and is expected to be completed by Feb. 21, 2019. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $9,062,606 and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with proposals solicited via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with one offer received. The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N3220519C6500). (Awarded Dec. 6, 2018) AIR FORCE Affordable Engineering Services, San Diego, California; Logmet LLC, Round Rock, Texas: Powerhouse Resources International, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and SkyQuest Aviation, Glendale, Arizona, have been awarded a ceiling $160,000,000 firm-fixed-price, multiple-award, five-year, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for maintenance with an option to extend the ordering period by one year. This contract will support maintenance and related tasks for Ogden Air Logistics Complex, Hill Air Force Base, Utah; Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona; Vandenberg AFB, California; Malmstrom AFB, Montana; Minot AFB, North Dakota; Randolph AFB, Texas; and Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyoming. Work is expected to be completed Dec. 6, 2025. This multiple-award is the result of a competitive acquisition and eight offers were received. Fiscal 2018 consolidated sustainment activity group - maintenance funds in the amount of $10,000 ($2,500 per awardee) are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Sustainment Center, Hill AFB, Utah, is the contracting activity (FA8224-19-D-0011). ARMY Fluor Federal Solutions LLC, Greenville, South Carolina, was awarded a $145,720,840 firm-fixed-price contract for a weapons storage and maintenance facility. Bids were solicited with five received. Work will be performed in Laramie, Wyoming, with an estimated completion date of April 17, 2020. Fiscal 2016 military construction funds in the amount of $147,965,622 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, Nebraska, is the contracting activity (W9128F-18-C-0029). Intelligent Decisions LLC, Ashburn, Virginia, was awarded a $46,500,000 modification (P00005) to contract W912DY-18-F-0004 for information technology hardware, agnostic parts and accessories. Work will be performed in Ashburn, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 11, 2019. Fiscal 2019 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers revolving funds in the amount of $46,500,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Arrowpoint Corp.,* McLean, Virginia, was awarded a $17,022,960 modification (P00012) to contract W9133L-15-F-0011 for the management of the reserve component manpower system. Work will be performed in McLean, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 15, 2019. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $17,022,960 were obligated at the time of the award. National Guard Bureau, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity. FN America LLC, Columbia, South Carolina, was awarded a $13,273,603 modification (P00015) to contract W15QKN-15-D-0003 for work on the M240 series machine gun. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 8, 2019. U.S. Army Contracting Command, New Jersey, is the contracting activity. The 106 Group Ltd.,* St. Paul, Minnesota (W912PP-19-D-0003); Brockington and Associates Inc.,* Peachtree Corners, Georgia (W912PP-19-D-0004); Desert Archaeology Inc.,* Tucson, Arizona (W912PP-19-D-0005); R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates Inc.,* Las Cruces, New Mexico (W912PP-19-D-0006); Harris Environmental Group Inc.,* Tucson, Arizona (W912PP-19-D-0007); Keres SEAS JV,* Albuquerque, New Mexico (W912PP-19-D-0008); Northland Research Inc.,* Tempe, Arizona (W912PP-19-D-0009); North Wind Resource Consulting LLC,* Phoenix, Arizona (W912PP-19-D-0010); Statistical Research Inc.,* Redlands, California (W912PP-19-D-0011); and Stell Environmental Enterprises Inc.,* Exton, Pennsylvania (W912PP-19-D-0012), will share in a $9,900,000 firm-fixed-price contract for tribal consultation, cultural resources, and environmental services. Bids were solicited with 12 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 6, 2023. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque, New Mexico, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Parker-Hannifin Corp., Irvine, California, has been awarded a maximum $14,202,759 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity delivery order (SPRRA1-19-F-0113) against a three-year contract (SPRRA1-19-D-0031) for hydraulic manifolds. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. Location of performance is California, with a Nov. 30, 2023, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 Army working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. Aurora Industries LLC,* Camuy, Puerto Rico, has been awarded a maximum $36,835,535 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for duffle bags. This is a two-year contract with no option periods. This was a competitive 8(A) set-aside acquisition with three responses received. Location of performance is Puerto Rico, with a Dec. 6, 2020, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-19-D-1117). *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1708175/source/GovDelivery/
July 10, 2020 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR
By THERESA HITCHENSon July 09, 2020 at 4:23 PM WASHINGTON: The Air Force plans to expand its “predictive maintenance” using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to another 12 weapon systems, says Lt. Gen. Warren Berry, deputy chief of staff for logistics, engineering and force protection. “I continue to believe that predictive maintenance is a real game changer for us as an Air Force,” he told the Mitchell Institute today. “There's a lot of power in moving unscheduled maintenance into scheduled maintenance, and we're firmly convinced that it will improve our readiness and improve our combat capabilities by doing so.” “We have long been a fly-to-fail force,” he explained, simply waiting for aircraft to quit working and then trying to fix them by moving parts to wherever the planes were grounded. But today's unpredictable and relatively slow approach to getting fighters and bombers back in the air simply won't be possible in future conflicts, as Russian and China seek to degrade US communications including via cyber attacks and attacks on US bases. The service has made “logistics under attack” one of its key priorities as it shifts focus to deal with globalized peer conflict, asking for $3 billion in 2021 to fund various efforts. Berry noted that the Air Force is “talking to” the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) about best practices and lessons learned as it pushes ahead with its two key predictive maintenance initiatives: “condition-based maintenance plus (CBM+) and “enhanced reliability centered maintenance (ERCM). The service has been using CBM+, which involves monitoring platforms on three aircraft: the C-5, the KC-135 and the B-1. “They've been doing it for about 18 to 24 months now, and we're starting to get some real return on what it is that the CBM+ is offering us,” he said. ERCM, he explained, “is really laying that artificial intelligence and machine learning on top of the information systems that we have, the maintenance information system data, that we have today, and understanding failure rates and understanding mission characteristics of the aircraft and how they fail,” he said. While he said he didn't have the list at his fingertips, Berry said the dozen weapon systems being integrated would come under the ERCM effort by the end of the year. Berry said that there are a number of other changes to how the Air Force does logistics that will require future focus, especially the question of how best to preposition supplies in the European and Pacific theaters. He noted that the Pacific region presents particular problems because of the wide geographic dispersement of allies there. “I think we need to fundamentally change how we think about prepositioning our assets,” he said. “And that really does require partners and allies, in not just prepositioning the material and equipment, but prepositioning capacity and capability — whether that's through operational contracting support or whether that's through things that are actually on the installation that we can take advantage of.” “We're not going to be able to bring what we could bring in the past,” he added, “and so much of what we are going to use is probably going to have to be there.” This is going to require new ways to partner with allies and friendly nations in those regions, he said, noting that the European Deterrence Initiative and the Pacific Deterrence Initiative might help. “But, we're gonna have to make those a little bit more foundational moving forward,” he said. Finally, Berry stressed that improved command and control is going to be the base of all of the Air Force's efforts to establish “adaptive operations and agile combat employment” — concepts for operating in a distributed manner from a large number of small operating locations in a peer conflicts. As a 2019 study on “distributed operations” by RAND explains, “this type of distributed air operations in a contested environment represents a significant shift in the way the Air Force has operated since the end of the Cold War.” Berry said that “Log C2” is related to Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2), another top Air Force priority as Breaking D readers are well aware. “JADC2 is about having the decision advantage in multi- domain operations, and so in the log enterprise sustainment we want to have that same decision advantage in order to support multi-domain operations because sustainment and logistics follows operators,” he said. “And so we've got to be able to have the sense orient and respond posture ... to be able to support multi-domain operations in the way that the operators plan to employ.” This involves moving to replace old IT systems with modern capabilities, including cloud storage and data fusion from multiple sensors — whether those be onboard an aircraft such as the F-35 or from a machine doing specific maintenance. “That data really is the key to our awareness of what's happening in the environment, and what's happening in the broader enterprise, to include at home and the depots and the broader supply system,” he said. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/07/air-force-expands-ai-based-predictive-maintenance/