Bombardier Defense Delivers First Global 6500 Aircraft to the U.S. Army’s HADES Program

On the same subject

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  March 2, 2020 | International, Naval

  The US Navy’s FFG(X) could be awarded sooner than expected

  By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON – The U..S Navy's next-generation frigate could be awarded within the next few months, earlier than expected, the service's top civilian said Friday. Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly told conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt that he had tasked Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition James Geurts to look at accelerating the award of the first ship, which was slated for this fall. “The plan was to try and do it in the latter part of this year,” Modly told Hewitt. “I've asked [Geurts] to try and accelerate that earlier, and he's looking into the possibilities for doing that. “But obviously, you know, we have acquisition rules, and we want to make sure that we do this in the proper way.” The competition has narrowed to bids from Huntington Ingalls Industries; a team of Navantia and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works; Fincantieri; and Austal USA. Navantia is offering a version of its F-100 design, which is in use by the Spanish Navy; Austal is submitting a version of its trimaran littoral combat ship; Fincantieri is offering its FREMM design; and Huntington Ingalls is believed to be offering an up-gunned version of its national security cutter. Lockheed Martin's version of the FFG(X), an up-gunned, twin-screw variant of its Freedom-class LCS, was pulled from the competition in May. The FFG(X) is supposed to be a small, multimission ship with a modified version of Raytheon's SPY-6 radar destined for the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, Lockheed Martin's Aegis Combat System, as well as some point defense systems and 32 vertical launch cells for about half the cost of a destroyer. The first ship ordered in 2020 is expected to cost $1.28 billion, according to budget documents, with the next ship in 2021 dropping to $1.05 billion. The Navy expects it to take six years to complete design and construction of the first ship, which should be finished in 2026. Once construction begins, planners anticipate it will take 48 months to build. The second frigate is expected to be ordered in April 2021, and from there it should be delivered about five and a half years after the award date. That means that the first ship should be delivered to the fleet in July of 2026, and the second about three months later. https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/02/28/the-us-navys-ffgx-could-be-awarded-sooner-than-expected

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  September 26, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  Pentagon Extends JEDI Deadline Again—With a Catch

  By Heather Kuldell, Managing Editor The department is requiring bidders to deliver their proposals in person. Companies bidding on the Defense Department's multibillion-dollar Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud contract will need to hand-deliver their proposals. “In lieu of electronic submission, an offeror's entire proposal shall be captured on one or more DVDs and submitted in person only. No other forms of submission will be accepted,” the department said in an amendment to the JEDI request for proposal posted Monday. The department also pushed the deadline back a few days. Bidders must contact JEDI procurement officials by 5 p.m. Eastern time Oct. 10 to get logistical details for turning in their proposals in person on Oct. 12. It's the second time the department extended JEDI's original Sept. 17 deadline, following other amendments that answered industry questions and a pre-award bid protest from Oracle. Defense officials describe the JEDI acquisition as the foundation for hosting mission-critical data for warfighters around the world. But since it was announced a year ago, the procurement has drawn scrutiny from industry and lawmakers for requiring a single cloud service provider instead of multiple vendors. The contract could be worth up to $10 billion over 10 years if all the follow-on options are exercised. But before the project sees a cent, Congress wants more insight into JEDI and the rest of the department's cloud computing projects. In the final conference report for the Defense-related minibus, appropriators order the defense secretary to deliver a cloud-centric budget accounting plan and a detailed, enterprisewide cloud computing strategy that includes “defining opportunities for multiple cloud service providers.” The department would be prohibited from spending anything on JEDI or the Defense Enterprise Office Solutions—another multibillion-dollar cloud contract—until 90 days after those plans are delivered to defense committees. “The conferees believe cloud computing, if implemented properly, will have far-reaching benefits for improving the efficiency of day-to-day operations of the Department of Defense, as well as enabling new military capabilities critical to maintaining a tactical advantage over adversaries,” lawmakers wrote in the joint explanatory statement. The Senate passed the minibus—which also includes labor, health, education and a continuing resolution—last week. The House is scheduled to vote on the package this week. https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2018/09/pentagon-extends-jedi-deadline-again-catch/151541/

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  September 18, 2018 | International, Security

  European Council - Leaders’ Agenda on Internal Security

  As Leaders set out at the Bratislava Summit two years ago, the Union's objective in this area is to do everything necessary to support Member States in ensuring internal security and fighting terrorism. The European Union must help protect the public, safeguard the Schengen area and respond intelligently to a changing security environment where some threats are hybrid in nature, and where the line between internal and external security is sometimes blurred. Building on the real progress made in recent years to strengthen our collective security, we must think in more operational terms and ensure the full and effective implementation of our previous conclusions, including on cybersecurity (October 2017, June 2018) and on strengthening resilience to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear-related risks, also in light of the Salisbury attack (March and June 2018). Leaders should focus on where EU efforts can add immediate value to national ones and on ways to reinforce Europe's long-term response to emerging and new threats, as part of the new Strategic Agenda for the Union to be adopted at the June 2019 European Council. Upgrading police and judicial cooperation Strengthening border security Resilience in cyberspace Crisis response capability Full article: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/36409/leaders-agenda-note-on-internal-security.pdf