Brazilian planemaker Embraer targets defense jet sales in Mexico visit

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  December 9, 2024 | International, C4ISR, Security

  Socks5Systemz Botnet Powers Illegal Proxy Service with 85,000+ Hacked Devices

  Malicious Socks5Systemz botnet infects 85,000 devices, powering PROXY.AM proxy service in 31 countries.

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  June 20, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - June 19, 2019

  MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY DTechLogic LLC, a joint venture** Huntsville, Alabama, is being awarded a competitive cost-plus-award-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and cost-reimbursable contract. The total value of this contract is $255,909,986. The contractor will provide the infrastructure and cybersecurity engineering necessary to support ballistic missile defense system (BMDS) hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) and related ground testing in a continuous integration/continuous agile testing (CI/CAT) environment. The work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama. The performance period is from June 2019 through June 2024. This award is the result of a competitively awarded acquisition in which four offers were received. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $100,000 are being obligated on this award. The Missile Defense Agency, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (HQ0147-19-C-0012). AIR FORCE ArmorWorks Enterprises, Chandler, Arizona, has been awarded a $206,073,316 firm-fixed-price contract for delivery of payload transporters. This contract provides for replacement of aging payload transporters. Work will be performed in Chandler, Arizona, and is expected to be complete by July 30, 2024. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2018 procurement funds in the amount of $31,322,624 are being obligated at the time of award. The Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Contracting Division, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (FA8204-19-C-0005). DEFENSE HEALTH AGENCY Dell Federal Systems, Round Rock, Texas, was awarded a firm fixed order for $82,895,710 (Base-plus-2) and FAR 52.217-8 six months extension in the estimated amount of $13,815,951 with an estimated total of $96,711,662, using fiscal 19 O&M funds (HT0015-19-F-0087). This is an enterprise-level blanket purchase agreement (BPA) call for Microsoft software and support against the Enterprise Software Initiative (ESI) BPA for Microsoft. This procurement is to renew Microsoft licenses for 72 customers within Defense Health Agency (DHA), Air Force, Army, and Navy. These licenses are required for products including VISIO Professional, Windows Server Standard, Project Standard, and SQL Server Enterprise. The requirement was competitively solicited among all awardees under the ESI multi-award BPA for Microsoft, and the proposals were evaluated on the lowest-price-technically-acceptable (LPTA) basis. The amount of $27,631,903 for the base year is obligated at the time of the award. The DHA Health Information Technology Contracting Division (HIT-CD), located in San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity (HT0015). (Awarded June 10, 2019) NAVY Lockheed Martin Corp., Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded a $76,670,049 cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-18-C-5103 to exercise options for AEGIS development and test sites operation and maintenance at the Combat Systems Engineering Development Site, SPY-1A Test Facility and Naval Systems Computing Center. This option exercise is for continued technical engineering, configuration management, associated equipment/supplies, quality assurance, information assurance and other operation and maintenance efforts required for the AEGIS development and test sites. This option exercise also provides for the continuing site maintenance and planned improvements of the sites for AEGIS Combat System and Aegis Weapon System upgrades to CG-47 and DDG-51 class ships through the completion of Advanced Capability Build 20 and Technology Insertion 16, in addition to AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense and FMS requirements. This contract modification combines purchases for the U.S. Navy (34.7%), Missile Defense Agency (MDA) (22.7%) and the governments of Japan (34.4%), Australia (4.7%), South Korea (2.1%), and Norway (1.4%) under the foreign military sales program. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey, and is expected to be complete by June 2020. Foreign military sales (Japan, Australia, South Korea, Norway); fiscal 2014 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (MDA); fiscal 2019 operation and maintenance (MDA); fiscal 2019 operation and maintenance (Navy); fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $29,746,093 will be obligated at time of award, and funding in the amount of $4,617,194 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Data Intelligence LLC,* Marlton, New Jersey, is awarded a $12,584,840 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide cybersecurity and security engineering-related services to the Department of Defense, National Guard Bureau and Department of Homeland Security. This two-year contract includes one, three-year option period which, if exercised, would bring the potential value of this contract to an estimated $31,832,280. Work will be performed in Marlton, New Jersey (25%) and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (75%), and work is expected to be completed June 18, 2021. If the option is exercised, work will continue through June 18, 2024. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders are issued using operations and maintenance (Navy and Army); other procurement (Navy); research and development (Air Force); research, development, test and evaluation (Navy), and acquisition, contracts and improvements (Coast Guard). This contract was competitively procured via Request for Proposal N66001-17-R-0066 and publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website and NAVWAR e-Commerce Central website. Nine offers were received, and one was selected for award. The Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-19-D-0076). Ultralife Corp., Newark, New York, is awarded a $9,985,687 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract procures Universal Vehicle Adapter radio battery chargers, MRC-UVA-V1, in support of the Family of Special Operations Vehicles Ground Mobility Vehicle and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected platforms. Work will be performed in Newark, New York, and is expected to be completed in June 2024. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was a limited competition in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 3.02-1(c) via an electronic request for proposal posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website, with one offer received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (N68335-19-D-0132). ARMY B.L. Harbert International LLC, Birmingham, Alabama, was awarded a $67,147,000 firm-fixed-price contract for a general purpose warehouse at Red River Army Depot, Texas. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work will be performed in Texarkana, Texas, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 22, 2023. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 military construction and operations and maintenance Army funds in the combined amount of $67,147,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth, Texas, is the contracting activity (W9126G-19-C-0029). General Dynamics Mission Systems, Taunton, Massachusetts, was awarded a $20,576,456 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for system engineering and program management support for the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical Increment 2 systems and equipment. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Taunton, Massachusetts, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 13, 2020. Fiscal 2019 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $17,582,214 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W15P7T-10-D-C007). Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Connecticut, was awarded a $14,991,526 modification (P00005) to foreign military sales (Saudi Arabia) contract W58RGZ-17-C-0009 to procure the Post Green DD250 aircraft support, storage and maintenance for UH-60M aircraft for the Saudi Arabian Ministry of the National Guard. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2022. Fiscal 2019 foreign military sales funds in the amount of $14,991,526 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Pine Bluff Sand and Gravel Co., White Hall, Arkansas, was awarded a $9,925,269 modification (P00009) to contract W912EQ-16-C-0008 for the rental of the dustpan hydraulic pipeline dredge for up to six month to perform maintenance dredging within the Mississippi River and tributaries to authorized channel dimensions. Work will be performed in New Orleans, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 23, 2019. Fiscal 2019 Mississippi River and tributaries civil funds in the amount of $9,925,269 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Memphis, Tennessee, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Pama Inc.,* Elgin, Illinois, has been awarded a maximum $7,102,814 firm-fixed-price contract for horizontal boring mills. This is a one-year contract with no option periods. This was a sole source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. Locations of performance are Illinois and Italy, with an Oct. 30, 2020, performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Richmond, Virginia (SPE4A8-19-C-0002). *Small business **Woman Owned Small Business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1881299/source/GovDelivery/

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  July 6, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  US Air Force delays timeline for testing a laser on a fighter jet

  By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force's long-planned test of an airborne laser weapon aboard a fighter jet has been delayed until 2023 due to technical challenges and complications spurred by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, its program head said. The Air Force's Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator program, or SHiELD, had originally planned to conduct its first flight demonstration in 2021, but the test has been pushed two years back, said Jeff Heggemeier, SHiELD program manager for the Air Force Research Laboratory. “This is a really complex technology to try to integrate into that flight environment, and that's ultimately what we're trying to do with this program, is demonstrate that laser technology is mature enough to be able to integrate onto that airborne platform,” he told Defense News in a June 10 interview. “But even things like COVID, and COVID shutting down the economy. That has impacts.” Beyond that, the future of using laser weapons aboard fighter aircraft is even more unclear. The goal of SHiELD was to give combat jets a way to counter missiles shot by an enemy aircraft or by air defense systems on the ground. But in May, Mike Griffin, the Pentagon's undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, noted that he was “extremely skeptical” that an airborne laser could be used for missile defense. Asked what that meant for SHiELD, Air Force acquisition czar Will Roper acknowledged that the service is rethinking how it could best use directed-energy technologies. Perhaps the most optimal use for SHiELD wasn't onboard a fighter, he said. “What I've told that team is, let's have a dialogue,” Roper said during a June 9 event hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “Let's understand the different power levels and what they should correspond to, and let's not make the highest power level that we can dream up and the mission that's the sexiest be the thing that drives us.” “What I expect to get laser weapons to the goal line has been the humble, but important and very worrisome small drone threat. They continue to show up, they're difficult to attribute — we don't know who is sending them to our installations and tests and things of that nature, and we can't afford to shoot missiles at them,” he added. “So this is a perfect threat to make laser weapons real, and once they're real, we'll do what the military does. We'll look to scale the power.” Heggemeier said there are many ways the Air Force could spin off laser technologies developed by the SHiELD program, but it's critical the service continue with development so it can gauge the maturity and usefulness of the capabilities. “I think it's important for us to first remember what the whole point of SHiELD is. The whole point of SHiELD is not an acquisition program where we're turning out hundreds or tens of these laser systems for operational use. What we're trying to do with SHiELD is exactly answer those questions of: ‘Is laser technology mature enough to go on an airborne platform? Have we solved enough of those technical challenges that this is now a feasible thing?' Because there is that concern.” He also drew a distinction between the tactical, self-defense capability a SHiELD laser would give combat aircraft versus a more powerful laser capable of intercepting highly-advanced ballistic missiles, as the Missile Defense Agency has proposed. “You're not talking about these really, really long ranges. You're talking about a shorter range and different targets just to protect yourself or your wingman,” Heggemeier said. “Missile defense can mean a lot of things. Some of those missile defense missions are very, very hard, and some of them aren't quite so hard.” For now, at least, the Air Force's investment in directed energy remains stable. The service's budget lays out cash for high-energy lasers in multiple funding lines. For fiscal 2021, it requested $15.1 million for basic research and $45.1 million for applied research for high-energy laser technology, as well as another $13 million for high-power, solid-state laser technology. In FY20, the service received $14.8 million for basic research and $48.2 million for applied research for laser technologies. SHiELD is comprised of three elements: the laser itself, which is being developed by Lockheed Martin; the beam control system made by Northrop Grumman; and the pod that encases the weapons system, from Boeing. Heggemeier said the pod is under construction, with integration of the laser and beam control system planned to start next year. “A lot of the challenge is trying to get all of this stuff into this small pod. If you look at other lasers that are fairly mature, we have other laser systems that some other contractors have built that are ready to be deployed. But these are ground-based systems, and they are much, much more mature,” he said. In April 2019, the Air Force Research Lab conducted a ground test with a surrogate laser system — the Demonstrator Laser Weapon System, or DLWS, now in use by the Army. The demonstration involved the successful downing of several air-to-air missiles. “It turns out the DLWS system, when you take everything into account, is a really good surrogate for the laser power on SHiELD,” Heggemeier said. Because both SHiELD and DLWS generate similar amounts of energy on target — in SHiELD's case, Heggemeier would only say that it amounts to “tens of kilowatts” — the surrogate test gave the lab a good idea how the laser physically affects a target. In 2019, the team conducted a flight test of a pod with the same outer mold line as the one under development by Boeing. The pod was mounted to an aircraft — Heggemeier declined to specify the model — and flown around Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, to help measure how vibrations, the force of gravity and other environmental factors might influence the performance of the weapon. Air Force Magazine reported in 2019 that aerial demonstrations of SHiELD would occur onboard an F-15 fighter jet. https://www.defensenews.com/air/2020/06/30/us-air-force-delays-timeline-for-testing-a-laser-on-a-fighter-jet/