February 21, 2024 | International, Aerospace, Security
Canada has signalled it’s prepared to get behind a Czech Republic initiative to ship tens of thousands of artillery shells from different countries to Ukraine on an urgent basis.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ukraine-russia-canada-artillery-shells-1.7120329
November 16, 2021 | International, Aerospace
Thailand's deal with the American company on the first day of the Dubai Airshow makes it the first international customer of the light attack aircraft.
March 15, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence
ARMY Northrop Grumman, Huntsville, Alabama, was awarded a $349,377,402 firm-fixed-price, Foreign Military Sales (Poland) contract for the procurement of two complete battery sets of Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System production hardware and software. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2026. Fiscal 2019 foreign military sales funds in the amount of $349,377,402 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-19-C-0003). Intuitive Research and Technology Corp.,* Huntsville, Alabama, was awarded a $36,479,628 modification (0014 45) to Foreign Military Sales (Taiwan) contract W31P4Q-09-A-0016 to provide rapid response and cost effective hardware solutions. Bids were solicited via the internet with six received. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of March 12, 2020. Fiscal 2019 foreign military sales; research, development, test and evaluation; operations and maintenance, Army; and other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $36,479,628 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Manson Construction Co., Seattle, Washington, was awarded an $18,122,000 firm-fixed-price contract for dredging. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Portland, Oregon; and San Francisco, California, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 26, 2019. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $18,122,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland, Oregon, is the contracting activity (W9127N-19-C-0011). Zodiac-Poettker HBZ JV LLC,* St. Louis, Missouri, was awarded a $7,330,000 firm-fixed-price contract for Department of Energy Interpretive Center. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work will be performed in St. Charles, Missouri, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 7, 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $7,330,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis, Missouri, is the contracting activity (W912P9-19-C-0002). AIR FORCE The Boeing Co., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, has been awarded a $250,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Long Range Stand-Off Cruise Missile weapon system integration. This contract provides for aircraft and missile carriage equipment development and modification, engineering, testing, software development, training, facilities, and support necessary to fully integrate the Long Range Stand-Off Cruise Missile on the B-52H bomber platform. Work will be performed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and is expected to be complete by Dec. 31, 2024. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2019 research and development funds in the amount of $6,343,893 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity (FA2103-19-D-3000). Schuyler Line Navigation Company LLC, Annapolis, Maryland, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $23,042,991, indefinite‐delivery/indefinite‐quantity contract for the Thule Base Air Base Sea Lift Support contract. This contract provides for all management, labor and services to accomplish the functions and responsibilities of receiving cargo from vendors, providing in‐transit origin storage, loading/offloading and transporting U.S. government and U.S. government-sponsored cargo to and from Denmark and Thule Air Base, Greenland. Work is expected to be complete by Sept. 30, 2023. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and three offers were received. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $846,000 are being obligated on the first task order at the time of award. The 21st Contracting Squadron, Detachment 1, Copenhagen, Denmark, is the contracting activity (FA2523‐19‐D‐0001). The Raytheon Co., Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, has been awarded a $21,186,712 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and time-and-materials contract to retrofit the F-15 fleet. This contract provides for retrofitting the F-15 fleets current Identify Friend of Foe units, which provides Mode 5 capability for the APX-114 and APX-119 on the F-15 models C/D/E via a hardware retrofit and software upgrade. These units also provide National Security Agency approved cryptography and robust anti-jam interrogation and reply encryption capabilities. Work will be performed at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland; and Largo, Florida, and is expected to be complete by August 2022. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 procurement funds in the full amount are being obligated at the time of award. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8634-19-C-2700). NAVY Omega Aerial Refueling Services Inc., Alexandria, Virginia, is awarded $92,370,920 for modification P00024 to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, cost-type contract (N00019-13-D-0010). This modification provides for additional aerial refueling services in support of the Department of the Navy, other Department of Defense agencies, and Foreign Military Sales customers during missions ranging from basic training to multi-national exercises. Work will be performed in Riverside, California (50 percent); Brunswick, Georgia (40 percent); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (10 percent), and is expected to be completed in March 2020. No funds are being obligated at time of award, funds will be obligated on individual delivery orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. United Technologies Corp., Pratt & Whitney Engines, East Hartford, Connecticut, is awarded $71,407,381 for firm-fixed-price-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee task order N0001919F0001 against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-17-G-0005) in support of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Aircraft for the Navy, Air Force; non- Department of Defense (DoD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. This order provides for supplies or services for non-recurring engineering for the identification and correction of service safety and durability deficiencies, maintains specification performance, and matures the propulsion system in advance of service operational use. Work will be performed in East Hartford, Connecticut (92 percent); and Indianapolis, Indiana (8 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2023. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy and Air Force); non-DoD participant; and FMS funds in the amount of $64,600,166 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This order combines purchases for the Navy ($25,363,518; 36 percent); Air Force ($24,943,370; 35 percent); non-DoD Participants ($12,930,389; 18 percent); and FMS customers ($8,170,105; 11 percent). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Space Ground Systems Solutions LLC, West Melbourne, Florida, is awarded a $19,729,508 modification for task order N00173-17-F-6203 under previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract N00173-15-D-2015 for spacecraft engineering, software, research and development services to the Naval Center for Space Technology. Work will be performed at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, District of Columbia (50 percent); and Space Ground Systems Solutions LLC, Melbourne, Florida (50 percent), and is expected to be competed July 1, 2020. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,796,029 will be obligated at the time of award. These funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Ocean Ships Inc., Houston, Texas, is awarded a $13,097,120 modification under previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract N3220517C3001 to exercise the first one-year option period for operation and maintenance of two USNS Gordon Class Surge Large, Medium-Speed Roll-On/Roll-Off vessels and two USNS Shughart Class Surge Large, Medium-Speed Roll-On/Roll-Off vessels. With all options exercised, it would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $220,028,462. Work will be performed at sea worldwide and is expected to be completed March 2020. If all options are exercised, work will continue through March 2023. Fiscal 2019 and availability of 2020 working capital contract funds in the amount of $13,097,120, and will not expire at the end of the fiscal years. The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1784315/
February 4, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
By: Joe Gould WASHINGTON ― President Joe Biden's nominee for deputy defense secretary, Kathleen Hicks, said she is “concerned” about consolidation in the defense industrial base, and that competition is needed to maintain an edge over China and Russia. Hicks, whose office would review deals that involve national security issues if she is confirmed by the Senate, told lawmakers Tuesday that she would work with them to ensure a healthy defense industrial base. The comments came amid market expectations that defense deal-making could take off in 2021. “Extreme consolidation does create challenges for innovation,” Hicks told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “We need to have a lot of different good ideas out there. That's our competitive advantage over authoritarian states like China, and Russia. And so if we move all competition out, obviously, that's a challenge for the taxpayer. But it's also a challenge in terms of the innovation piece.” As the space sector and technological developments drive growth in the aerospace and defense sector and the pandemic weakens commercial aviation firms, companies are “likely to pursue opportunities for consolidation,” the consulting firm Deloitte said in a recent report. Firms could seek new merger and acquisition opportunities, the report said, to “capture more value, drive cost-competitiveness, or acquire targeted niche capabilities and emerging technologies” such as “advanced air mobility, hypersonics, electric propulsion, and hydrogen-powered aircraft.” Recent years have seen a number of major deals, including the combination of Harris and L3 Technologies, United Technologies Corp. and Raytheon; BAE Systems and Collins Aerospace, and General Dynamics and CSRA. Lockheed Martin's $4.4 billion acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne, announced in December, has yet to clear regulators. The Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department also review mergers and acquisition activity in the defense sector. At Tuesday's hearing, Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, whose state hosts General Dynamics Electric Boat, told Hicks a drop in the number of submarine suppliers from 17,000 to 5,000 over recent decades suggested broader problems for the defense industrial base, problems that he said were, “extremely alarming to me.” Blumenthal indicated Hicks had committed prior to the hearing to aid small suppliers struggling with the pandemic's economic fallout and to develop new small and medium suppliers. (This was one focus of DoD's acquisition and sustainment office under the previous administration.) “I'm hoping you will focus on the supply chain that is vitally important to suppliers like Electric Boat or Raytheon or any of our major sources of supply,” said Blumenthal, who has served as the top Democrat on SASC's Seapower Subcommittee. A broader theme for the hearing was how Hicks, whose job involves supervising the defense budget, would invest in forward-leaning technologies under a flat budget and divest from existing weapons platforms. Meanwhile, lawmakers grilled Hicks about whether she supported spending on nuclear modernization, shipbuilding and other programs with connections to lawmakers' home states. Acknowledging the political and budget tensions, Hicks said she wants to link future budgetary decisions with concepts for operations, to buy “capabilities that actually line up to theories of victory for how we are trying to pace challenges from China and Russia.” Other lawmakers told Hicks they wanted an easier paths for smaller, cutting edge firms from outside the Beltway to do business with the Pentagon and for them to scale production of their products, beyond the experimentation phase. “We've had testimony before this committee that many smaller companies, particularly in Silicon Valley, and in the technology field generally have given up on the Pentagon, it's too complicated is too lengthy is too expensive, even to fill out the forms,” said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine. For her part, Hicks said Tuesday she would “increase the speed and scale of innovation in our force,” and she would work to understand how alternative acquisitions methods are servings smaller non-traditional suppliers. She affirmed that those firms cannot survive on research and development funding alone. “I do think a sustain level of [research and development] investment is vital, but we actually have to field capabilities, and that's a place where DoD has really struggled,” she said, adding that exercises and experiments help demonstrate the value of new technologies. “When we can demonstrate value, then we're in a much better position to have a dialogue with Congress and with industry about where that where those capabilities can take us.” https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2021/02/02/to-keep-up-with-rivals-dod-nominee-will-weigh-consolidation-vs-innovation/