Britain to send 200 air-defense missiles to Ukraine

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  January 1, 2024 | International, Aerospace

  New in 2024: Air Force plans autonomous flight tests for drone wingmen

  The Air Force is laying the groundwork for a vast fleet of more than 1,000 autonomous drones that will fly alongside piloted fighters.

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  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/

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  December 20, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  DARPA Awards Six Teams During Final Spectrum Collaboration Challenge Qualifier

  On December 12, DARPA held the second preliminary event of the Spectrum Collaboration Challenge (SC2) – the world's first collaborative machine-intelligence competition to overcome spectrum scarcity. Fifteen teams represented by members from across the academic, commercial and defense landscapes gathered at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) to pit their intelligent radio designs against each other in a head-to-head competition. At the event's conclusion, six of the eight top-scoring teams walked away with $750,000 each in prize money. While not all competitors received interim prizes, all 15 teams have an opportunity to move on to the next stage and compete in the 2019 Spectrum Collaboration Challenge grand finale, which will be held in conjunction with MWC19 Los Angeles, in partnership with CTIA, on October 23, 2019. The six prize-winning teams from the second preliminary event are: Zylinium, a team of independent researchers MarmotE from Vanderbilt University Sprite from Northeastern University Erebus, a team of independent researchers Gator Wings from University of Florida SCATTER from IDLab, an imec research group at Ghent University and University of Antwerp, and Rutgers University "During the second preliminary event we witnessed a technological shift," said Paul Tilghman, the DARPA program manager leading SC2. "For the first time, we saw autonomous collaboration outperform the status quo for spectrum management." Starting in early December, each team's radio participated in 105 matches against competitors in the Colosseum, a massive RF testbed that was developed specifically for SC2. The matches were held in a round-robin fashion where each radio network – working in groups of threes, fours or fives – had multiple opportunities to compete against every other radio design in the competition. Roughly 400 matches were held in total to determine the final team rankings and the prize recipients. During the PE2 matches, teams were put through six different RF scenarios designed to mimic the challenges that collaborative, autonomous radios will face in the real world. These scenarios challenged the radios to collaboratively mitigate interfering with an incumbent radio system, sense and adapt to the spectrum demands of high-traffic environments, handle the data demands of the connected soldier of the future, and beyond. Each scenario was designed to pressure test various elements of the teams' approaches and, in particular, their ability to successfully collaborate with the other radios operating within the same environment. “The six different scenarios were closely aligned to actual situations that our defense and commercial systems face in the field. The Wildfire scenario, for example, replicates the complex communications environment that surrounds an emergency response situation, while the Alleys of Austin scenario was designed to mimic what's needed to help dismounted soldiers navigate and communicate as they sweep through an urban environment. This real-world relevance was critical for us as we want to ensure these technologies can continue to develop after the event and can transition to commercial and/or military applications,” said Tilghman. The sixth scenario of the competition was used to determine the six prize winning teams. This scenario explored the essential question of the SC2 competition: can the top teams' collaborative SC2 radios outperform the status quo of static allocation? Each of the six teams that received awards at PE2 demonstrated that their radio was capable of carrying more wireless applications without the aid of a handcrafted spectrum plan, while simultaneously ensuring four other radio networks operating in the same area had improved performance. In short, each of these six radio networks demonstrated the autonomous future of the spectrum. To aid with decision making, teams applied AI and machine learning technologies in various ways. Some leveraged the current generation of AI technologies like deep learning, while others used more conventional optimization approaches. There were also a few teams that used first wave, rule-based AI technologies. “We're very encouraged by the results we saw at PE2. The teams' radios faced new and unexpected scenarios but were still able to demonstrate smart, collaborative decision making. PE2 showed us that AI and machine learning's application to wireless spectrum management creates a very real opportunity to rethink our current century-old approach,” said Tilghman. The competition now enters its third year and moves closer to the finale, which will be held at one of the country's largest annual technology and telecommunications shows – MWC19 Los Angeles. More than 22,000 attendees from the broad mobile ecosystem and adjacent industry sectors will convene at this three-day event to discuss the current opportunities and future trends shaping the industry. The SC2 championship event will be held on the keynote stage of MWC19 Los Angeles on October 23, 2019. At the conclusion of SC2's finale, three teams will be awarded $2 million, $1 million and $750,000, respectively, for first, second and third place. The real prize, however, will be the promise of a more efficient wireless paradigm in which radio networks autonomously collaborate to determine how the spectrum should be used moment-to-moment, helping to usher in an era of spectrum abundance. For more information about DARPA's Spectrum Collaboration Challenge, please visit: https://spectrumcollaborationchallenge.com/ https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2018-12-19