Back to news

August 5, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval

Boeing, Marines, Navy Celebrate $115 Million V-22 Facility

Boeing investment accommodates V-22 fuselage production and MV-22 modification program
Allows Ospreys to be delivered with higher quality, efficiency and improved safety

PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 1, 2019 — Boeing [NYSE: BA], the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy celebrated the transformation of a 350,000-square-foot facility outside Philadelphia into a modern factory where company employees will build fuselages for the V-22 tiltrotor aircraft and modernize the MV-22 fleet for the Marines.

“Boeing's $115 million investment supports U.S. and international demand for the unrivaled capabilities of the V-22,” said David Koopersmith, vice president and general manager, Boeing Vertical Lift. “We started this project two years ago in a mothballed building. Now, it is a state of the art manufacturing center for the only in-service tiltrotor aircraft in the world.”

The new factory will improve safety and productivity, lower operating costs, and reduce Boeing's environmental impact. It will be home to the Common Configuration – Readiness and Modernization (CC-RAM) program that standardizes the Marine Corps Osprey fleet by upgrading previously built aircraft to the new Block C configuration. The factory will also house fuselage production for Navy, Air Force, Marines, and international Osprey customers.

“The V-22 readiness program is our number one priority,” said U.S. Marine Corps Col. Matthew Kelly, V-22 Joint Program Manager. “The CC-RAM program is key in meeting our readiness goals and returning capable and reliable aircraft to Marine units around the world.”

Boeing employs approximately 4,600 people in Pennsylvania and supports 16,000 direct and indirect jobs in the commonwealth.

https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2019-08-01-Boeing-Marines-Navy-Celebrate-115-Million-V-22-Facility

On the same subject

  • With F-35 deal pending, Top Aces prepares for more advanced adversary training - Skies Mag

    August 3, 2022 | International, Aerospace

    With F-35 deal pending, Top Aces prepares for more advanced adversary training - Skies Mag

    As the Canadian federal government negotiates with its U.S. counterpart for the sale of the F-35 to replace the RCAF CF-188 Hornet, Top Aces is preparing for how best to deliver aggressor air training for a fighter far more advanced than the Hornet.

  • Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - November 9, 2018

    November 12, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

    Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - November 9, 2018

    DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Science Applications International Corp.,* Fairfield, New Jersey, has been awarded a $900,310,334 firm-fixed-price, requirements contract for supply and supply chain management of certain tires, supporting the Global Tire Program integrator contract. This was a competitive acquisition with two responses received. This is a five-year base contract with two two-year option periods, plus four two-month option periods. Locations of performance are Texas and other areas located outside the continental U.S., with a March 8, 2024, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and foreign military sales. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2024 defense working capital funds; and foreign military sales funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Columbus, Ohio (SPE7LX-19-D-0029). WGL Energy Services Inc., Vienna, Virginia, has been awarded a $137,122,332 firm-fixed-price, requirements contract to supply and deliver retail electricity and ancillary/incidental services. This was a competitive acquisition with 11 offers received. This is a two-year contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are Maryland; Washington, District of Columbia; and Pennsylvania, with a Dec. 31, 2020, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Defense Logistics Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, Defense Information Systems Agency and other federal civilian agencies. Using customers are solely responsible to fund this requirements contract and vary in appropriation type and fiscal year. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SPE604-19-D-8004). Ziehm Imaging, Orlando, Florida, has been awarded a maximum $135,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for radiology systems, accessories and training. This is a five-year base contract with one five-year option period. This was a competitive acquisition with 50 responses received. Location of performance is Florida, with a Nov. 8, 2028, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2018 through 2028 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2D1-19-D-0004). Constellation NewEnergy Inc., Baltimore, Maryland, has been awarded a $23,896,130 firm-fixed-price, requirements contract to supply and deliver retail electricity and ancillary/incidental services. This was a competitive acquisition with 11 offers received. This is a two-year contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are Maryland, New Jersey, Illinois and Pennsylvania, with a Dec. 31, 2020, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Air Force, Defense Intelligence Agency, Defense Contract Management Agency and other federal civilian agencies. Using customers are solely responsible to fund this requirements contract and vary in appropriation type and fiscal year. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SPE604-19-D-8003). Direct Energy Business LLC, Iselin, New Jersey, has been awarded a $7,082,242 firm-fixed-price, requirements contract to supply and deliver retail electricity and ancillary/incidental services. This was a competitive acquisition with 11 offers received. This is a two-year contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are Maryland; Washington, District of Columbia; and Ohio, with a Dec. 31, 2020, performance completion date. Using customers are Marine Corps, Defense Logistics Agency and the Computer Science Study Group. Using customers are solely responsible to fund this requirements contract and vary in appropriation type and fiscal year. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SPE604-19-D-8004). NAVY Enterprise Services LLC, Herndon, Virginia, is awarded a potential maximum value $485,965,204 modification under a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity existing Next Generation Enterprise Network contract (N00039-13-D-0013). This modification will add a new option period that will extend the potential ordering period by eight months from Oct. 1, 2019, through May 31, 2020. Current and future work will be performed throughout the U.S., Europe, Guam, Korea and Japan. No additional funding will be placed on contract or obligated at the time of modification award. This contract modification was not competitively procured because it is a sole-source acquisition pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1), One source or limited sources (Federal Acquisition Regulation subpart 6.302-1). This action is a result of a justification and approval that authorizes extending the ordering period. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity. The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Cambridge, Massachusetts, is awarded $109,531,179 for modification P00001 to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N00030-19-C-0001) to provide research into the applications of technologies to meet guidance requirements for operations on the common missile compartment for the U.S. Columbia-class program and the United Kingdom Dreadnought-class program; provide specialized technical knowledge and support for the hypersonic guidance, navigation and control application; provide technical and engineering services to support the guidance, navigation and control system that will support the Navy's hypersonic flight experiments. Work will be performed in Cambridge, Massachusetts (81 percent); and El Segundo, California (19 percent), with an expected completion date of Sept. 30, 2019. Fiscal 2019 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $11,306,900; operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $92,708,279; and United Kingdom funds in the amount of $5,516,000 will be obligated. Funds in the amount of $92,708,279 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was a sole-source acquisition pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1)&(4). Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. KBR Diego Garcia LLC, Houston, Texas, is awarded a $61,979,897 modification under a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N62742-17-D-3600) to exercise Option One for base operations support services at U.S. Navy Support Facility, Diego Garcia. The work to be performed provides for general management and administration services; command and staff (information technology services, information technology support and management, telephone services, telecommunication services, antenna maintenance); public safety (fire protection and emergency services); air operations (ground electronics, airfield facilities, and passenger terminal and cargo handling); port operations; supply (supply services and petroleum, oil and lubricant management and operations, and ship's store service activities); morale, welfare and recreation support; galley; bachelor quarters; facilities support (facility management, facility investment sustainment, restoration and modernization, custodial, pest control, integrated solid waste management, grounds maintenance, and pavement clearance); utilities (electrical, compressed gases, wastewater, steam, hot water and demineralized water, and potable water); base support vehicles and equipment; and environmental to provide integrated base operating services. After award of this option, the total cumulative contract value will be $118,107,288. Work will be performed in Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory, and is expected to be completed November 2019. No funds will be obligated at time of award. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy and Air Force); and fiscal 2019 non-appropriated funds in the amount of $43,553,618 for recurring work will be obligated on individual task orders issued during the option period, of which $42,716,660 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, and $836,958 is subject to the availability of funds for the next fiscal year. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, is the contracting activity. Navy Transportation Partners JV, Virginia Beach, Virginia, is awarded a maximum amount $30,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity architect-engineering contract for traffic engineering and planning services in support of projects primarily located at military installations in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. The work to be performed provides for comprehensive architect-engineering services required for transportation planning, design, and construction services in support of new construction, repair, replacement, demolition, alteration, and/or improvement of Navy and other governmental facilities. Projects may involve single or multiple disciplines, including, but not limited to, architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, civil, landscape design, fire protection, and interior design. Task order 0001 is being awarded at $199,921 for the design of an anti-terrorism perimeter and security entry point at Rome, New York. Work for this task order is expected to be completed by September 2019. All work on this contract will be performed at various Navy facilities and other government facilities within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic area of responsibility including, but not limited to the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months with an expected completion date of November 2023. Fiscal 2018 military construction, (Air Force) contract funds in the amount of $199,921 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by military construction (Navy); operations and maintenance (Navy); and Navy working capital funds. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with seven proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40085-19-D-9008). Colonna's Shipyard Inc., Norfolk, Virginia, is awarded a $10,473,071 firm-fixed-price contract for a 121-calendar day shipyard availability for the regular overhaul and dry docking of USNS Zeus (T-ARC 7). Work will include furnishing general services for the ship, inspect main propulsion motors, cable handling upgrades, heavy overboard system replacement, antenna mast modification, high precision acoustic positioning upgrade, docking and un-docking vessel, propeller shaft inspection, underwater hull cleaning and painting, freeboard cleaning and painting, and sea valve replacement. The contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the total contract value to $13,429,595. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by April 13, 2019. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $13,429,595 are obligated at the time of award. Contract funds will not expire. This contract was competitively procured with proposals solicited via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with three offers received. The Navy's Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N3220519C4151). ARMY AECOM Energy & Construction Inc., Greenwood Village, Colorado, was awarded an $117,338,000 firm-fixed-price contract for major rehabilitation, demolition, temporary facilities, surveying, dewatering and protecting lock chamber, blasting, removing and replacing horizontal concrete at Illinois River Basin, LaGrange Lock and Dam. Bids were solicited via the internet with one bid received. Work will be performed in Versailles, Illinois, with an estimated completion date of July 16, 2021. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of 24,700,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W912EK-19-C-0002). VERSAR Inc., Springfield, Virginia, was awarded a $25,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for support program management, contract administration, project engineering, quality assurance, real estate, and support staff for continued operations in Iraq. Bids were solicited via the internet with six bids received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 13, 2023. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Winchester, Virginia, is the contracting activity (W912ER-18-D-0012). IDS International Government Services LLC, Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a $22,037,300 firm-fixed-price contract for operations and maintenance (O&M) services for critical infrastructure, facilities, and Afghan national O&M vocation training for Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan in the planning and construction of Afghanistan National Security Forces facilities. One bid was solicited via the internet with once bid received. Work will be performed in Afghanistan with an estimated completion date of March 11, 2019. Fiscal 2018 Afghan Security Forces Funding funds in the amount of $14,000,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Winchester, Virginia, is the contracting activity (W912ER-19-C-0003). CORRECTION: A Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018, announcement that Deloitte & Touche LLP, Arlington, Virginia, was awarded an $18,056,941 firm-fixed-price contract to provide a cyberspace analytics capability was incorrect. That contract has not yet been awarded. CORRECTION: A Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018, announcement that Parsons Government Services Inc., Pasadena, California, was awarded a $15,837,195 firm-fixed-price contract to provide the Defensive Cyberspace Operations Mission Planning program was incorrect. That contract has not yet been awarded. AIR FORCE Pride Industries, Roseville, California, has been awarded a $14,193,270 modification (P00042) awarded for civil engineering services, and is for operations and maintenance, engineering, environmental, and grounds maintenance for 61st Civil Engineer and Logistics Squadron. Work will be performed at Los Angeles Air Force Base, California; Fort MacArthur, California; and Defense Contract Management Agency, Carson, California, and is expected to be completed by Nov. 30, 2019. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $10,429,104 are being obligated at the time of award. Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is the contracting activity (FA2816-17-C-0001). *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1687755/source/GovDelivery/

  • US Navy makes progress on aircraft carrier Ford’s bedeviled weapons elevators

    July 24, 2020 | International, Naval

    US Navy makes progress on aircraft carrier Ford’s bedeviled weapons elevators

    By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy is over the halfway mark in certifying the new aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford's 11 advanced weapons elevators, which have been at the center of an ongoing controversy over delays in getting the Navy's most expensive-ever warship ready for its first deployment. In a news release Thursday, the Navy announced it had certified Lower Stage Weapons Elevator 1, the sixth certified working elevator. LSWE 1 moves bombs from the forward magazine up to a staging area beneath the flight deck, where the weapons are armed and sent to the upper-stage weapons elevators that go to the flight deck. Crews had already certified the elevator that brings bombs from the aft magazine to the staging area. The elevators are designed to reduce the time it takes to get bombs armed and to the flight deck to mount on aircraft. “LSWE 5 has given us the capacity to move ordnance from the aft magazine complex deep in the ship through the carrier to the flight deck with a speed and agility that has never been seen before on any warship,” Rear Adm. James Downey, program executive officer for aircraft carriers, said in a statement. “LSWE 1 doubles-down on that capability and ramps up the velocity of flight deck operations. LSWEs 1 and 5 will now operate in tandem, providing a dramatic capability improvement as we proceed toward full combat system certification aboard Ford.” The remaining five weapons elevators are on track for certification by the time the ship goes to full-ship shock trials in the third quarter of 2021. The weapons elevators became the center of a firestorm last year and contributed to the firing of former Navy Secretary Richard Spencer. In January 2019, Spencer announced he'd told the president that if the weapons elevators aren't functioning by midsummer, then the president should fire him. But within months Spencer had to admit that the weapons elevators would not be finished until the end of 2021 or maybe 2022, which he blamed on Huntington Ingalls Industries for a lack of adequate communication. Turnover The Ford has had a witch's brew of technical problems and delays since construction of the ship began in 2005. The latest hiccup came in June in the form of a fault in the power supply system to the electromagnetic aircraft launch system, which is replacing the steam catapult system on Nimitz-class carriers. The fault curtailed flight operations on the ship for several days while the crew and contractors tried to identify the issue. In the wake of that incident, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition James Geurts fired Capt. Ron Rutan as Ford's program manager, citing “performance over time.” Geurts installed Capt. Brian Metcalf as program head. Making the Ford deployment ready was a focus of former acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly, who likened the ship to an albatross around the Navy's neck. “The Ford is something the president cares a lot about, it's something he talks a lot about, and I think his concerns are justified,” Modly said. “It's very, very expensive, and it needs to work. “And there is a trail of tears that explains why we are where we are, but right now we need to fix that ship and make sure it works. There is nothing worse than having a ship like that, our most expensive asset, being out there as a metaphor for why the Navy can't do anything right.” Conceived in an era when the Defense Department was looking to make giant steps forward in military technology while it had no direct peer competitors, the lead ship was packed with at least 23 new technologies. Those included a complete redesign of the systems used to arm, launch and recover the ship's aircraft. All those systems have, in their turn, caused delays in getting the Navy's most expensive-ever warship to the fleet, which was originally to have deployed in 2018, but now will likely not deploy until 2023. The Ford cost the Navy roughly $13.3 billion, according to the latest Congressional Research Service report on the topic. https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/07/23/the-us-navy-is-making-progress-on-the-carrier-fords-bedeviling-weapons-elevators/

All news