December 16, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
After months of debate and weeks of angst, the Senate has sent its annual defense bill to the president.
April 7, 2023 | International, Naval
The Columbia-class submarine is a top priority program for the U.S. Navy and will replace the fleet of Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines
August 13, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
ARMY Moderna TX Inc.,* Cambridge, Massachusetts, was awarded a $1,525,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for 100 million filled drug production doses of a SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-1273 vaccine. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2022. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Army) funds in the amount of $1,525,000,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W911QY-20-C-0100). (Awarded Aug. 11, 2020) Messer Construction Co., Dayton, Ohio, was awarded a $126,324,295 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center Intelligence Production Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 29, 2023. Fiscal 2020 military construction, defense-wide funds in the amount of $126,324,295 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville, Kentucky, is the contracting activity (W912QR-20-C-0030). HGL-APTIM JV,* Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $110,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for environmental construction activities in support of the Welsbach General Gas Mantle Superfund Site in Camden and Gloucester City, Camden County, New Jersey. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 11, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City, Missouri, is the contracting activity (W912DQ-20-D-3003). Total Technology Inc.,* Cherry Hill, New Jersey (W15QKN-18-D-0073, P00001); Logisys Technical Services Inc.,* Huntsville, Alabama (W15QKN-18-D-0077, P00001); and Pioneering Decisive Solutions Inc.,* California, Maryland (W15QKN-18-D-0078, P00002), will compete for each order of a $92,992,323 modification for an automated test system testing/diagnostics and netcentric support program. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of May 20, 2023. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Newark, New Jersey, is the contracting activity. The Boeing Co., Mesa, Arizona, was awarded an $11,701,146 modification (P00063) to contract W58RGZ-16-C-0023 for remanufactured Apache AH-64E aircraft. Work will be performed in Mesa, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2023. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $11,701,146 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Rolling Meadows, Illinois, was awarded a $10,008,657 modification (PZ0005) to contract W58RGZ-20-C-0018 for the re-manufacturing and delivery of the APR-39C(V)1 radar data processor. Work will be performed in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 11, 2023. Fiscal 2020 Foreign Military Sales (Saudi Arabia, United Emirates and Qatar) funds in the amount of $10,008,657 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. APC Construction LLC,* Harvey, Louisiana, was awarded an $8,942,389 firm-fixed-price contract for clearing and grubbing; structural excavation and backfill, excavation and embankments; placement of steel sheet and H-piling; construction of reinforced concrete floodwalls and deployable floodwalls; concrete scour protection, asphaltic pavement; chain link fences; concrete curbs and gutters; pavement markings; miscellaneous metal work, painting, turf establishment; and other related incidental work. Bids were solicited via the internet with 11 received. Work will be performed in New Orleans, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 6, 2022. Fiscal 2020 military construction (Army) funds in the amount of $8,942,389 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-20-C-0039). NAVY Amentum Services Inc., Germantown, Maryland, is awarded a $430,016,852 cost-plus-award-fee, cost reimbursement and firm-fixed-price contract for the operation and maintenance of the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC). AUTEC is the Navy's large-area, deep-water, undersea test and evaluation range. Underwater research, testing and evaluation of anti-submarine weapons, sonar tracking and communications are the predominant activities conducted at AUTEC. The contractor performs AUTEC range operations support services and maintenance of facilities and range systems. In addition, the contractor is responsible for operating a self-sufficient one square mile Navy outpost. Work will be performed on Andros Island, Commonwealth of the Bahamas (64%); and West Palm Beach, Florida (36%), and is expected to be complete by August 2025. With all options exercised, work will continue through August 2030. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $1,000,000 will be obligated at time of award and not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured using full and open competition via the Federal Business Opportunities website with six offers received in response to Solicitation No. N66604-18-R-0881. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Newport Division, Newport, Rhode Island, is the contracting activity (N66604-20-C-0881). Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., Greenbelt, Maryland, is awarded a $149,115,855 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of Hurricane Florence Recovery Package 1 located in Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point. The contract also contains 21 planned modifications and six unexercised options, which if exercised, would increase cumulative contract value to $161,250,305. This project provides replacements for various buildings damaged during Hurricane Florence. The proposed replacements are divided into five separate projects: (1) construction of a 23,000 square foot, two-story security building and a 15,000 square foot, two-story headquarters and headquarters squadron (H&HS) and Marine wing headquarters squadron (MWHS-2) facility. The new security facility will be comprised of the following areas: a command staff, operations division, accident investigation section, special reaction team, Naval Criminal Investigation Service, provost marshal office supply, traffic court, services/administrative division, weapons storage, emergency dispatch center, motor transport, animal control, training, physical security, detention cells, exercise/fitness room, galley/breakroom, and male and female lockers/shower area and bunk rooms. The H&HS and MWHS-2 headquarters facility will consist of administration space for both squadron's personnel and for the safety and standardization department. Site improvements include demolition, paved roads, parking, and fencing. (2) Construction of a 36,000 square foot vehicle maintenance shop. The new facility will include a vehicle maintenance shop, tool rooms, communication maintenance shop, storage areas, a classroom, exterior elevated vehicle wash rack with associated oil/water separator, enclosed battery storage and administrative offices. Site improvements include roads, parking, utilities, and fencing. (3) Fire stations replacement involving construction of a 32,000 square foot main fire station with five bays and a 12,000 square foot satellite fire station with two bays. Construction will include a fire hose drying rack, storage room, dayroom, training area, dining room, kitchen, exercise room, medical supply storage area, boat storage, administrative space, dispatch center, workroom, laundry, fire extinguisher maintenance room, self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) room, toilets and shower rooms for male and females and individual sleeping quarters with personnel lockers. Built-in equipment includes a compressed air system for vehicle maintenance, firefighter gear lockers, overhead vehicle doors, equipment racks, raised flooring, fire pump, vehicle bay radiant heating, grease trap, overhead hose reels, gear washer/dryer/extractor, cascade system for SCBA room testing, public address system, built-in work benches, vehicle exhaust system and emergency generator. Site improvements include utilities, parking, roadway and intersection improvements. (4) Range operations center (ROC) replacement involving construction of a 15,000 square foot ROC to support range management activities at Bombing Target 11. This facility will house the range operations and support center, weapons impact scoring system, electronics maintenance shop, public works maintenance shop, general purpose warehouse and appropriate support spaces. Site improvements include utilities and roadway. The site is only accessible by boat. (5) Station academic facility/auditorium involving construction of a 21,000 square foot general-purpose auditorium to provide an assembly area for instruction, training, and movies. The new facility will include adequate space for instruction/training, entrance and support spaces. Built-in equipment includes a stage, overhead doors, projector, screen, sound system, noise attenuation, seats and retail kitchenette. Site improvements include demolition, utilities and a parking lot. Work will be performed in Cherry Point, North Carolina, and is expected to be completed by August 2025. Fiscal 2019 military construction (MILCON), Marine Corps (MC) contract funds in the amount of $132,325,843; and fiscal 2020 MILCON, MC contract funds in the amount of $16,790,012, are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the beta.SAM.gov website with 11 proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40085-20-C-0055). DZSP 21 LLC, Marlton, New Jersey, is awarded a $48,586,983 cost-plus-award-fee contract for base operating support services at Joint Region Marianas. The maximum dollar value, including the mobilization, base period, six 12-month option periods, nine-month full performance, three-month demobilization and a six-month services extension period, is $545,318,090. The work to be performed provides for facility support and base operating support for the following services: management and administration, port operations, facilities management, facilities investment, utilities management, electrical, wastewater, steam, water and base support vehicles and equipment. Work will be performed at various locations on the island of Guam and is expected to be completed by April 2028. Fiscal 2020 working capital funds (WCF) (Defense); fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (O&M) (Navy (N), Defense); fiscal 2020 family housing O&M, N; fiscal 2020 O&M (Army National Guard); fiscal 2020 Defense Health Program funds; fiscal 2020 General Fund (formerly Navy WCF); fiscal 2020 Defense Commissary Agency; and fiscal 2020 Medical Facilities (Veterans Affairs) contract funds in the amount of $48,586,983, of which $8,975,667 will be obligated on this award and all will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunity website with five proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, is the contracting activity (N62742-20-C-1199). The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded $15,620,949 firm-fixed-price order N00019-20-F-0402 against previously issued basic ordering agreement N00019-16-G-0001. This order provides for the production and delivery of 25 Harpoon Block II+ captive air training missiles and 24 tactical missiles. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri (65.2%); Galena, Kansas (8.5%); Lititz, Pennsylvania (3.99%); McAlester, Oklahoma (2.76%); Anniston, Alabama (2.58%); Chatsworth, California (2.15%); Minneapolis, Minnesota (2.06%); Chandler, Arizona (2.03%); Cedar Rapids, Iowa (1.53%); and various locations within the continental U.S. (9.2%), and is expected to be completed in August 2023. Fiscal 2020 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $15,620,949 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Capco LLC, Grand Junction, Colorado, is awarded a $13,296,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the manufacture of M943 impulse cartridges used on B-1B and B-52H aircraft during the ejection sequence. The contract includes a five-year ordering period with no options. All work will be performed in Grand Junction, Colorado, and the ordering period is expected to be completed by August 2025. Fiscal 2020 ammunition procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $837,900 will be obligated for delivery order N00104-20-F-UF01 that will be awarded concurrently with the contract and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Annual fiscal ammunition procurement (Army) funds will be obligated to fund delivery orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured, with three offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00104-20-D-VF01). The Boeing Co., Seattle, Washington, is awarded a $12,825,294 modification (P00178) to previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract N00019-14-C-0067. This modification provides non-recurring and recurring engineering for development and integration of a modified Nose Radome into the P-8A aircraft in support of Lot 10 full rate production VI for the Navy and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in Meza, Arizona (59%); Seattle, Washington (40%); and Patuxent River, Maryland (1%), and is expected to be completed in March 2022. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $7,306,274; and FMS funds in the amount of $5,519,020, will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Great Eastern Group Inc., Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is awarded a modification to exercise and fund an option in the amount of $9,108,903. This is the first 12-month option and is part of a firm-fixed-price contract with reimbursable elements for Offshore Support Vessel Hercules. This vessel will be utilized to support refueling and resupply of the special mission ship SBX-1. This contract includes a 12-month base period, three 12-month option periods, and one 11-month option period. Work will be performed in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command's area of responsibility and is expected to be completed, if all options are exercised, by July 15, 2024. The option is funded by fiscal 2020 and 2021 research, development, test and evaluation funds. The Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N32205-19-C-3500). JOINT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CENTER Deloitte Consulting LLC, Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a Systems Engineering, Technology, and Innovation prime integrator task order (HC102820F2000) for an estimated $106,352,518 to design and build the Joint Common Foundation artificial intelligence development environment for the Department of Defense Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. The period of performance is a one-year base period from Aug. 17, 2020, through Aug. 16, 2021, valued at approximately $31,000,000, with three one-year option periods through August 16, 2024. Work will be performed in the greater Washington, D.C., area. The contracting activity is the Defense Information Systems Activity/Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. AIR FORCE The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, has been awarded a $95,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00005) to contract FA8681-19-D-0005 for Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) technical support and integration. Boeing will provide JDAM support for studies and analysis; product improvement and upgrades; integration including, but not limited to, software integration and aircraft integration; and associated hardware and testing. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be completed March 31, 2024. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity. Net-centric Design Professionals LLC, Boulder, Colorado, has been awarded a $28,613,576 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for Tools, Applications and Processing Laboratory and Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) Battlespace Awareness Center (OBAC) support services. This contract provides for an unrestricted research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) innovation environment for enhancing and/or developing new operational capabilities, while also providing an environment accessible to other Department of Defense, civil and commercial users to find new innovative uses of remote sensing data. The acquisition will also support the OPIR OBAC co-located with the Space Based Infrared System Mission Control Station, Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado. Work will be performed in Boulder and Aurora, Colorado, and is expected to be completed Aug. 31, 2022. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and five offers were received. Fiscal 2020 RDT&E funds in the amount of $3,033,587 are being obligated at the time of award. Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, California, is the contracting activity (FA8810-20-C-0002). CAE USA Inc., Tampa, Florida, has been awarded a $16,093,432 firm-fixed-price modification (P00160) to contract FA8223‐10‐C‐0013 for an option to extend the KC‐135 aircraft training system contract six months. Work will be performed at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base, Ohio; Grissom Air Reserve Base (ARB), Indiana; Scott AFB, Illinois; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Fairchild AFB, Washington; Altus AFB, Oklahoma; March ARB, California; Hickam AFB, Hawaii; Kadena Air Base (AB), Japan; Ramstein AB, Germany; and Royal Air Force Mildenhall, England, and is expected to be completed by March 31, 2021. This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $526,978,402. Fiscal 2021 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $16,482,440 will be obligated once funding has been appropriated. This contract action is being awarded under the Availability of Funds Clause. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, has been awarded a $14,756,832 cost-per-fixed-fee contract for the research and development of a prototype semantic forensic system that automatically detects, attributes and characterizes falsified, multi-modal media assets to defend against large-scale, automated disinformation attacks and supports a variety of potential transition partners. The scope of this effort is to design, develop, evaluate and refine a semantic forensics system capable of implementation on a number of local and cloud computing architectures for a variety of end users. Work will be performed in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and is expected to be completed October 2024. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and 37 offers were received. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $2,576,175 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Rome, New York, is the contracting activity (FA8750-20-C-1540). DEFENSE FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING SERVICE CACI Inc.-Federal, Chantilly, Virginia, is being awarded a maximum $59,296,656 labor-hour contract for comptroller mission systems support. Work will be performed in Chantilly, Virginia; and Arlington, Virginia, with an expected completion date of June 15, 2021. The contract has a 10-month base period with three individual one-year option periods. This contract is the result of a competitive acquisition for which one quote was received. Fiscal 2020 defense-wide operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $9,830,074 are being obligated at the time of the award. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Contract Services Directorate, Columbus, Ohio, is the contracting activity (HQ0423-20-F-0099). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Raytheon Technologies Corp., doing business as Pratt & Whitney Military Engines Division, East Hartford, Connecticut, has been awarded an estimated $30,143,455 modification (P00065) to a five-year contract (SPE4AX-15-D-9436) with one five-year option period for TF-33 aircraft engine spare-components. Location of performance is Connecticut, with a Sept. 26, 2023, ordering period end date. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2310984/source/GovDelivery/
October 4, 2018 | International, Aerospace
By: Jon Gambrell and Gerry Shih, The Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — High above Yemen's rebel-held city of Hodeida, a drone controlled by Emirati forces hovered as an SUV carrying a top Shiite Houthi rebel official turned onto a small street and stopped, waiting for another vehicle in its convoy to catch up. Seconds later, the SUV exploded in flames, killing Saleh al-Samad, a top political figure. The drone that fired that missile in April was not one of the many American aircraft that have been buzzing across the skies of Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2001. It was Chinese. Across the Middle East, countries locked out of purchasing U.S.-made drones due to rules over excessive civilian casualties are being wooed by Chinese arms dealers, who are world's main distributor of armed drones. "The Chinese product now doesn't lack technology, it only lacks market share," said Song Zhongping, a Chinese military analyst and former lecturer at the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force University of Engineering. "And the United States restricting its arms exports is precisely what gives China a great opportunity." The sales are helping expand Chinese influence across a region vital to American security interests. "It's a hedging strategy and the Chinese will look to benefit from that," said Douglas Barrie, an airpower specialist at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "I think the Chinese are far less liable to be swayed by concerns over civilian casualties," he said. At the start of the year, a satellite passing over southern Saudi Arabia photographed U.S.-made surveillance drones at an airfield, alongside Chinese-manufactured armed ones. According to the Center for the Study of the Drone at New York's Bard College, that was the first documented example of the two drone systems being used in the war in Yemen. The country has emerged as a "sort of a testing ground for these strike-capable drones," said Dan Gettinger, the co-director of the Center for the Study of the Drone. "There's a rapid turnaround from delivery to deployment." U.S. drones were first used in Yemen to kill suspected al-Qaida militants in 2002. One of the biggest Chinese exports is the Cai-Hong, or Rainbow, series made by the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., or CASC, the largest contractor for the Chinese space program. CASC's CH-4 and CH-5 models are on a par with San Diego-based General Atomics' Predator and Reaper drones, and much cheaper. Independent analysts say the Chinese models lag behind their American counterparts but the technology is good enough to justify the price tag, which might be half or less. A CASC executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to journalists, said cutting-edge U.S. models like Boeing Co.'s Stingray, introduced this year for the U.S. Navy, still hold a technological advantage. And while price is an advantage, so too is a more relaxed attitude toward how drones are used, said Ulrike Franke, an expert on drones and policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations Since 2014, China has sold more than 30 CH-4's to countries including Saudi Arabia and Iraq in deals worth over $700 million, according to CASC. Ten countries are currently in negotiations to purchase the CH-4, according to the firm. Last year, China sold to the UAE the Wing Loong II, an armed unmanned aerial vehicle roughly equivalent to the American MQ-9 Reaper. "In recent years, all types of drones have proven their value and importance through a high degree of use in warfare, and the military has noticed," said the top CASC executive. "Many countries are now speeding up the development for these weapons systems, including China." During President Xi Jinping's five years in power, China has stepped up spending on stealth fighters and aircraft carriers for its own military, while boosting sales of advanced equipment such as attack submarines to close allies like Pakistan. China still lags behind the U.S., Russia, France, and Germany in total arms sales but it's catching up. Chinese arms exports rose by 38 percent between 2008-12 and 2013-17, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which tracks the global arms trade. Mounting criticism over the rising civilian death toll in Yemen prompted the U.S. to impose restrictions on drone sales, forcing foreign countries to go through the U.S. government to buy armed drones, including those with laser-guidance systems. The Washington-based New America Foundation estimates more than 240 drone strikes in Yemen have killed more than 1,300 people, including at least 111 civilians. But with China's drone sales booming, there's growing pressure from U.S. arms makers to remove restrictions to let them catch up. After some U.S. lawmakers urged President Donald Trump to loosen controls and let General Atomics sell its armed Reapers to Jordan and the UAE, the administration on April 19 permitted U.S. manufacturers to directly market and sell drones, including armed versions. The government must still approve and license the sales, which are also contingent on human rights and proliferation reviews and congressional authorization. General Atomics did not respond to a request for comment. China doesn't routinely announce arms sales like the U.S. and others, but a review of drone spottings gives some indication of who its customers are. In Iraq in October 2015, the country's then-defense minister inspected a CH-4 drone at an air base in the city of Kut. Chinese armed drones have been operating at Jordan's Zarqa Airport, at an air base in Pakistan and from bases in Egypt in the Sinai Peninsula and near its border with Libya, according to satellite photos analyzed by the Center for the Study of the Drone. Satellite photographs taken of a mysterious air base in the United Arab Emirates' deep south — a desert area known as the Empty Quarter — appear to show three Wing Loong IIs, IHS Jane's Defense Weekly reported in January. Two CH-4s were spotted by satellite alongside surveillance-only Predators purchased by the UAE at Jizan Regional Airport in southern Saudi Arabia, near the kingdom's border with Yemen, according to the Center for the Study of the Drone. Outside of the Mideast, Nigeria has used Chinese armed drones against the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram. Shih reported from Beijing. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/10/03/chinese-armed-drones-now-flying-over-mideast-battlefields-heres-why-theyre-gaining-on-us-drones/