BAE Systems Australia to expand F-35 precinct

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  September 18, 2020 | International, Land

  Army backs off idea to submit its own bid in Bradley replacement competition

  Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The Army is backing off a plan for the service to submit its own bid to the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle replacement competition after it indicated its intention to offer up its own design in a draft request for proposals posted in July. The service tried once before to competitively solicit designs for its Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) but ended up with just one offering after its requirements proved too onerous to industry and included a requirement to deliver a working prototype to the Army by October 2019. In a statement sent to Defense News Sept. 17 from Ashley John, an Army spokeswoman, she said “As a result of industry feedback and continuous dialogue between Army senior leaders, the government will not submit a proposal in response to the OMFV RFP. A revision to the draft OMFV RFP was made today and deletes paragraph A.3.1 Interested Government Offeror in its entirety." The Army's intention to develop its own bid was met with scrutiny as industry officials questioned whether the service could play the game after service leaders had already seen industry's cards during an earlier iteration of the competition. The move, many in industry thought, would have easily teed up protests. With pressure to get the competitive process right this time in a program where the service plans to spend $4.6 billion from fiscal 2022 through FY26, it is turning to industry input earlier and more than ever. Congress questioned Army leaders earlier this year on why it seemed the service did not pay attention to the signs or listen to industry and make adjustments before having to cancel its previous competition. First, BAE Systems, which manufactures the Bradley, decided not to compete due to unachievable requirements set within a very short timeline. Then the Army had to disqualify a Raytheon and Rheinmetall team because they couldn't get a physical bid sample to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, in time. The service, this time around, reviewed and analyzed over 500 industry comments in response to the draft RFP and will now spend several weeks providing responses to industry concerns, John said. “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,” John said. The Army waded back into the OMFV effort with the release of a market survey in February that tapped industry for ideas on what a future vehicle might look like. The market survey itself asked companies to weigh in on what affected their decisions to participate in the previous OMFV competitive effort and how the Army might better engage with industry this time around. Instead of providing a laundry list of requirements that when paired together became unachievable — especially when delivered over an ambitious fielding goal of 2026 — the Army will give industry roughly nine characteristics with which to work. The Army is also not requiring the delivery of physical bid samples in the first phase of competition. The Army plans to release a final RFP in December, which will results in the award of up to five contracts in June 2021. It appears likely that the Raytheon and Rheinmetall team and General Dynamics Land Systems will submit bids for the new competition. BAE Systems has not publicly said whether they plan to compete this time. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/09/17/army-backs-off-idea-to-submit-its-own-bid-in-bradley-replacement-competition/

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  October 2, 2020 | International, C4ISR, Security

  MDA and Army see successful Patriot and THAAD test after failure

  Jen Judson UPDATED — This story has been updated to include a statement from Lockheed Martin. WASHINGTON — After a failed test in February, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and the Army successfully intercepted a target in an Oct. 1 test using a Patriot air and missile defense system as well as a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system integrated together, according to an MDA statement. In the test at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, the THAAD AN/TPY-2 radar detected and tracked a Black Dagger target missile and provided that information to the Patriot system. The Patriot launch system deployed a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement missile and destroyed the target. In February, the AN/TPY-2 detected and tracked a Black Dagger and supplied the information to the Patriot system, but the missile missed the target “due to an interceptor software upgrade error,” according to the MDA statement. The error “has since been corrected, as demonstrated by today's successful intercept,” the statement noted. The success of the test "validates the interoperability of the Patriot and THAAD weapon systems,” MDA Director Vice Adm. Jon Hill said in the statement. “This capability is vital to the Ballistic Missile Defense System to defend against rogue threats to our homeland, deployed forces and allies.” “We're proud to support the Missile Defense Agency and U.S. Army Program Executive Office Missiles and Space to provide this vital capability within the Ballistic Missile Defense System,” Scott Arnold, Lockheed Martin vice president of integrated missile defense in the company's Missiles and Fire Control business, said in statement. Lockheed Martin manufactures the THAAD weapon system. The missile tests this year meet a congressional requirement for the Army and the MDA to test integration and interoperability of the THAAD and Patriot weapon systems annually. Last year, the first-ever test of THAAD's ability to remotely fire an interceptor was a success, a significant milestone in proving the ability to decouple launchers from radars and fire control systems. The Army's work to integrate the Patriot and THAAD systems was born out of an urgent operational need on the Korean Peninsula. The effort uses some of the principles of decoupling launchers and radars so an operator, for instance, can use a THAAD radar — which can see farther than a Raytheon-made Patriot radar — but decide to engage a Patriot interceptor depending on the threat picture. The ability to use the THAAD radar also gets more out of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement weapon fired from Patriot units, which outperforms the organic Patriot radar. In another test last year at White Sands, a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Cost Reduction Initiative interceptor took out an air-breathing threat at a record distance. That test also showed it can be integrated into the Northrop Grumman-made Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System, which is the command-and-control system of the Army's future air and missile defense architecture. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/10/01/mda-and-army-see-successful-patriot-and-thaad-test-after-failure/

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  July 21, 2024 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR

  Drone warfare in Ukraine prompts fresh thinking in helicopter tactics

  The shift is animated in large part by proliferating ground-based air defenses that make manned flight over the battlefield almost impossible.