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August 17, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - August 14, 2020

AIR FORCE

Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a $62,000,000,000 ten-year, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ), fixed-price-incentive contract for new production of F-16 Foreign Military Sale (FMS) aircraft. The total value for the initial delivery order is $4,941,105,246 and will be awarded on the same date. The initial delivery order is for 90 aircraft, including both the pre-priced recurring core configuration costs at $2,862,797,674 and the engineering change proposal/undefinitized contract action for the non-recurring costs not-to-exceed $2,078,307,572 obligated at approximately $1,018,370,710. Work will be primarily performed in Greenville, South Carolina; and Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed Dec. 31, 2026. This contract involves 100% FMS to FMS partner nations and is the result of a sole-source acquisition. FMS funds in the amount of $3,881,168,384 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (Basic IDIQ: FA8615-20-D-6052; initial delivery order: FA8615-20-F-0001).

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $188,866,819 undefinitized contract action for Belgium MQ-9B SkyGuardian procurement. This contract provides for four MQ-9B unmanned air vehicles, two Certifiable Ground Control Stations, spares and support equipment. Work will be performed in Poway, California, and is expected to be completed March 31, 2024. This contract involves Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to Belgium and is the result of a sole-source acquisition. FMS funds in the amount of $94,341,260 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8689-20-C-2013).

Consortium Management Group Inc., Washington, D.C., has been awarded a $98,567,402 other transaction agreement for resilient embedded Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System prototype development. This agreement provides for rapid prototyping activity that includes development of detailed design prototypes, production representative prototypes, non-recurring engineering, contractor travel and the development of a technical data package. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C.; and Huntsville, Alabama, and is expected to be completed March 30, 2023. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and three offers were received. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $30,000,000 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity (FA8576-20-9-0001).

Kaman Precision Products, Inc., Orlando, Florida, has been awarded a $57,334,714 firm-fixed-price contract for joint programmable fuze-152s. This contract provides a cockpit-selectable bomb fuze employed in MK-80 series warheads (both guided and unguided variations). Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, and is expected to be completed by July 2024. This contract involves Foreign Military Sales for 25 countries. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2018 ammunition procurement funds and special Defense acquisition funds in the amount of $57,334,714 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (FA8213-20-C-0005).

Bowhead Professional and Technical Solutions LLC,* Springfield, Virginia, has been awarded a $16,362,847, firm-fixed-price contract for flying training operations support. This contract provides air education and training command fighter training and special operations forces, as well as personnel recovery training units, aircrew training support and standardization and evaluation support. Work will be performed at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington; Eglin AFB, Florida; Holloman AFB, New Mexico; Luke AFB, Arizona; Kirtland AFB, New Mexico; and Kingsley Field Air National Guard Base, Oregon, and is expected to be completed August 2025. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $3,270,680 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Installation Contracting Center, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, is the contracting activity (FA3002-20-C-0019).

Textron Aviation Defense LLC, Wichita, Kansas, has been awarded an $11,312,199, multiple-contract-type, firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00079) to contract FA8617-17-C-6211 for the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System T-6, Sustaining Engineering and Program Management, Enhanced Onboard Oxygen Generating System. Work will be performed in Wichita, Kansas, and is expected to be completed Aug. 11, 2021. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $11,312,199 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity (FA8617-17-C-6211).

Cromulence LLC, Melbourne, Florida, has been awarded a $9,912,581 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for software and hardware deliverables. This contract provides for research, design, development, testing, demonstration, integration and delivery of integrated software and hardware cyber capabilities that will raise awareness of cyber risks of space systems. A "Space Security Challenge 2020: Hack-a-Sat" competition will be held to bridge the security knowledge gap between space and cyber security communities. Work will be performed in Melbourne, Florida, and is expected to be completed Aug. 14, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and two offers were received. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $1,200,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Rome, New York, is the contracting activity (FA8750-20-C-1528).

AJ Commercial Services Inc., San Antonio, Texas has been awarded a ceiling $7,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for exterior and interior painting. This contract has a five-year ordering period and includes the, furnishing all plant, materials, labor, equipment and all operations in connection with the exterior and interior painting. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and is expected to be completed Aug. 13, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and 11 offers were received. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $1,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Test Center, Eglin AFB, Florida, is the contracting activity (FA2823-20-D-0007).

CORRECTION: The contract announced on Aug. 7, 2020, for Space Exploration Technologies, Corp., Hawthorne, California, for $316,000,000, was announced with an incorrect contract number. The correct contract number is FA8811-20-D-0002.

NAVY

Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Connecticut, is awarded a $125,819,311 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the labor and material efforts required to plan the USS Hartford (SSN 768) engineered overhaul (EOH) availability. The contracting approach will include advance planning, engineering, design efforts, prefabrication and shipyard execution work, including growth work and new work, necessary to prepare for and accomplish the maintenance and modernization work as defined in the USS Hartford EOH availability work package. Work will be performed in Groton, Connecticut, and is expected to be complete by February 2022. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) (91%); 2020 other procurement (Navy) (9%); and 2019 other procurement (Navy) funding (less than 1%), in the combined amount of $113,789,457 will be obligated at time of award, of which funding in the amount of $103,424,052 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website. This procurement was awarded under authority permitting other than full and open competition under 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(3) to maintain a facility, producer, manufacturer or other supplier available for furnishing property or services in case of national emergency or to achieve industrial mobilization. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-20-C-4312).

Science Applications International Corp., Reston, Virginia, is awarded a firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and cost only $84,823,556 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-16-C-6425 to Option Year Four of the MK 48 Mod 7 Heavyweight torpedo production program to supply All Up Round torpedo equipment and support. This modification combines purchases for the Navy (93 %); and the governments of Australia (6%) and Taiwan (1%), under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. Work will be performed in Bedford, Indiana (50%); Marion, Massachusetts (29%); Middletown, Rhode Island (16%); and Indianapolis, Indiana (5%), and is expected to be completed by April 2023. Fiscal 2020 weapons procurement (Navy, 82%); fiscal 2019 weapons procurement (WPN) (Navy, 7%); fiscal 2018 weapons procurement (Navy); and FMS in the amount of $84,823,556, will be obligated at time of award and funding in the amount of $3,493,621 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year (FMS/Armaments Cooperative Program (7%); and fiscal 2018 WPN (4%)). The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C. is the contracting activity (N00024-16-C-6425).

J.F. Taylor Inc., Lexington Park, Maryland, is awarded a $23,155,111 firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides for the production and delivery of a maximum quantity of six first article test external quick-disconnect umbilical cable assemblies and a maximum quantity of 2,500 external quick-disconnect umbilical cable assemblies in support of advanced anti-radiation guided missile production. Additionally, this contract procures a maximum quantity of six first article test external quick-disconnect umbilical cable assemblies and a maximum quantity of 5,000 production representative external quick-disconnect umbilical cable assemblies for various military standard 1760 compliant weapons for the F/A-18 series and EA-18G aircraft. Work will be performed in Lexington Park, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in July 2025. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal and three offers were received. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-20-D-0110).

Serco-IPS Corp., Herndon, Virginia, is awarded a $22,617,450 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-only modification to previously awarded contract N00174-18-C-0015 to exercise options for professional support services for the Naval Sea System Command's Deputy Commander for Surface Ship Maintenance and Modernization. Services to be provided are in the areas of program management, administrative support, surface ship modernization, inactive ships, surface ships readiness, surface training systems, business and financial management, records management and information technology. This contract will ensure that the fleet undergoes a multitude of upgrades that will provide for the continuation of system capabilities and readiness. The contract will ensure the Chief of Naval Operations surface training master plan and the Navy training system plan requirements are fulfilled for validating all surface training systems procured and managed by participating acquisition resource managers. This contract also ensures that budgeting, financial management and business processes are executed to provide support and respond to fleet life cycle requirements for in-service mine warfare, surface combatant, amphibious, auxiliary and command ship classes of ships. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C. (56%); Norfolk, Virginia (19%); San Diego, California (17%); Mayport, Florida (2%); Yokosuka, Japan (2%); Pascagoula, Mississippi (1%); Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (1%); Manama, Bahrain (1%); and Sasebo, Japan (1%), and is expected to be complete by January 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy, 43%); 2020 other procurement (Navy, 21%); 2019 other procurement (Navy, 21%); and 2018 other procurement (Navy, 15%), funding in the amount of $12,172,964 will be obligated at time of award, of which funding in the amount of $6,975,964 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C. is the contracting activity.

Marotta Controls Inc.,* Montville, New Jersey, is awarded a $22,190,510 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price contract for motor operated pilot valve supplies in support of the Navy's in-service engineering agent for damage control equipment and systems, fire protection systems and equipment and damage and fire recoverability. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's Damage Control, Recoverability and Chemical Biological Defense Branch (Code 336) has multiple requirements for the design, construction and procurement to replace the existing solenoid-operated pilot valves (SOPV) with the motor operated pilot valves for use aboard Navy ships. The purpose of the contract is to replace the SOPVs due to reliability issues noted in service. Work will be performed in Montville, New Jersey, and is expected to be complete by August 2026. Fiscal 2019 other procurement (Navy) funding in the total amount of $132,670 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was a total small business set-aside, competitively procured via the contract opportunities website at beta.sam.gov with two offers received. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N64498-20-D-4027).

HII Mission Driven Innovative Solutions Inc., Huntsville, Alabama, is awarded a $15,933,605 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to exercise Option Period Three under previously awarded contract M95494-17-F-0021. The work to be performed provides Headquarters Marine Corps, Plans, Policies and Operations, Marine Corps Installations Command (MCICOM) and Commander Navy Installations Command with technical and engineering support for the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and High-Yield Explosive Consequence Management program. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C. (52%); Lejeune, North Carolina (10%); San Diego, California (10%); Quantico, Virginia (10%); Okinawa Prefecture, Japan (5%); Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan (5%); Seoul, Republic of Korea (4%); and Sicily, Italy (4%). Work is expected to be completed in August 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps and Navy) funds in the amount of $3,004,247 will be obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. MCICOM Headquarters, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

Gryphon Technologies LC, Washington, D.C., is awarded a $14,620,466 cost-plus-fixed-fee, level of effort contract for technical and engineering services to perform ship checks to collect data and develop ship installation drawings for landing helicopter dock platforms. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia (88%); and San Diego, California (12%), and is expected to be complete by April 2021. Fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $162,615 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via beta.SAM.gov website, with four offers received. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N42158-20-C-N001).

Collins-Elbit Vision Systems LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $12,915,360 firm-fixed-price contract. This contract provides for the production, delivery and support of the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) Night Vision Cueing and Display (NVCD) System. This contract procures 60 JHMCS night vision devices, 60 JHMCS night display adapters and 30 JHMCS helmet mounted display test sets (HMDTS) for the Navy; 16 JHMCS HMDTS for the government of Canada; five JHMCS HMDTS for the government of Kuwait; and two JHMCS HMDTS for the government of Malaysia, as well as two Hoffman adapter kits for the Government of Australia and one Hoffman adapter kit for the government of Switzerland. Additionally, this contract provides new and modified associated support equipment, interim repairs, non-recurring engineering, testing, technical data and all other supplies and services necessary to perform installation and testing of NVCD systems that are fully compatible with the F/A-18 series and EA-18G JHMCS. Work will be performed in Merrimack, New Hampshire (79%); Wilsonville, Oregon (15%); Atlanta, Georgia (4%); and Fort Worth, Texas (2%), and is expected to be completed in July 2022. Fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $10,736,298; fiscal 2019 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,534,402; and Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $644,660 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-20-C-0013).

ARMY

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. LLC, Oak Brook, Illinois, was awarded a $44,851,000 firm-fixed-price contract for dredging the Mississippi River. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Venice, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2021. Fiscal 2019 civil operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $44,851,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-20-C-0044).

Choctaw Transportation Co. Inc.,* Dyersburg, Tennessee, was awarded a $30,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide stone repairs to revetments and dikes along the Mississippi River. Bids were solicited via the internet with five received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2021. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg, Mississippi, is the contracting activity (W912EE-20-D-0015).

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. LLC, Oak Brook, Illinois, was awarded a $14,602,000 firm-fixed-price contract for maintenance dredging of Wilmington Harbor Inner Ocean Bar. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Wilmington, North Carolina, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2021. Fiscal 2018, 2019 and 2020 civil operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $14,602,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wilmington, North Carolina, is the contracting activity (W912PM-20-C-0021).

MorseCorp Inc.,* Cambridge, Massachusetts, was awarded a $14,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to develop a variety of technologies to support military airdrop of cargo and personnel, including both hardware and software. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 13, 2025. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Army) funds in the amount of $2,600,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W911QY-20-C-0088).

Morrish-Walace Construction Inc.,* Cheboygan, Michigan, was awarded a $7,276,650 firm-fixed-price contract to replace the mechanical drive system, excluding the motor, used to operate the four filling and emptying tainter valves on the MacArthur Lock. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work will be performed in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2022. Fiscal 2020 civil construction funds in the amount of $7,276,650 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W911XK-20-C-0020).

MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY

ITC Defense Corp of Arlington, Virginia is being awarded a competitive cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. The total value of this contract is $28,567,455. Under this new contract, the Contractor will provide the Missile Defense Agency with system support to include Maintenance and Supply Support; Packaging, Handling, Storage, and Transportation; Forward Stationing for Theater Support; Training and Training Support; and limited Missile Support to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Weapon system. Additionally, the Contractor will also be responsible for providing supply support, maintenance, material and personnel necessary to support THAAD peculiar equipment. The work will be performed in Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Sill, Oklahoma; and locations in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) with a performance period from August 2020 – August 2025. This contract was competitively procured via publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website with eight proposals received. Fiscal Year 2020 Operations and Maintenance funds in the amount of $1.395M are being obligated on this award. The Missile Defense Agency, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (HQ0853-20-C-0002).

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

Lakota Solutions, LLC,* Warner Robins, Georgia, has been awarded a maximum $22,937,145 hybrid firm-fixed-price, time and material, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for material handling equipment maintenance. This was a competitive acquisition with two responses received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are inside and outside the continental United States, with an Aug. 13, 2025, ordering period end date. Using customer is Defense Logistics Agency Distribution. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2025 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Distribution, New Cumberland, Pennsylvania (SP3300-20-D-0018).

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Mission Systems, Rolling Meadows, Illinois, has been awarded a maximum $19,689,152 firm-fixed-priced delivery order (SPRPA1-20-F-KF0F) against a five-year basic ordering agreement (SPE4A1-16-G-0005) for guardian laser transmitter assemblies, countermeasure transmitters in support of the Common Avionics program. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S.C. 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a two-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Illinois, with an Aug. 14, 2022, performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2022 Navy working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

*Small Business

https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2313931/source/GovDelivery/

On the same subject

  • Targeting the future of the DoD’s controversial Project Maven initiative

    July 30, 2018 | International, C4ISR

    Targeting the future of the DoD’s controversial Project Maven initiative

    By: Kelsey Atherton Bob Work, in his last months as deputy secretary of defense, wanted everything in place so that the Pentagon could share in the sweeping advances in data processing already enjoyed by the thriving tech sector. A memo dated April 26, 2017, established an “Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team,” a.k.a. “Project Maven.” Within a year, the details of Google's role in that program, disseminated internally among its employees and then shared with the public, would call into question the specific rationale of the task and the greater question of how the tech community should go about building algorithms for war, if at all. Project Maven, as envisioned, was about building a tool that could process drone footage quickly and in a useful way. Work specifically tied this task to the Defeat-ISIS campaign. Drones are intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms first and foremost. The unblinking eyes of Reapers, Global Hawks and Gray Eagles record hours and hours of footage every mission, imagery that takes a long time for human analysts to scan for salient details. While human analysts process footage, the ground situation is likely changing, so even the most labor-intensive approach to analyzing drone video delivers delayed results. In July 2017, Marine Corps Col. Drew Cukor, the chief of the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Function Team, presented on artificial intelligence and Project Maven at a defense conference. Cukor noted, “AI will not be selecting a target [in combat] ... any time soon. What AI will do is complement the human operator.” As Cukor outlined, the algorithm would allow human analysts to process two or three times as much data within the same timeframe. To get there, though, the algorithm to detect weapons and other objects has to be built and trained. This training is at the heart of neural networks and deep learning, where the computer program can see an unfamiliar object and classify it based on its resemblance to other, more familiar objects. Cukor said that before deploying to battle “you've got to have your data ready and you've got to prepare and you need the computational infrastructure for training.” At the time, the contractor who would develop the training and image-processing algorithms for Project Maven was unknown, though Cukor did specifically remark on how impressive Google was as an AI company. Google's role in developing Maven would not come to light until March 2018, when Gizmodo reported that Google is helping the Pentagon build AI for drones. Google's role in the project was discussed internally in the company, and elements of that discussion were shared with reporters. “Some Google employees were outraged that the company would offer resources to the military for surveillance technology involved in drone operations,” wrote Kate Conger and Dell Cameron, “while others argued that the project raised important ethical questions about the development and use of machine learning.” A petition by the Tech Workers Coalition that circulated in mid-April called upon not just Google to pull out of Pentagon contracts, but for Amazon, Microsoft and IBM to refuse to pick up the work of Project Maven. (The petition attracted 300 signatures at the time of this story.) Silicon Valley's discord over the project surprised many in positions of leadership within the Pentagon. During the 17th annual C4ISRNET Conference, Justin Poole, the deputy director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, was asked how the intelligence community can respond to skepticism in the tech world. Poole's answer was to highlight the role of intelligence services in reducing risk to war fighters. Disagreement between some of the people working for Google and the desire of the company's leadership to continue pursuing Pentagon contracts exacerbated tension in the company throughout spring. By May, nearly a dozen Google employees had resigned from the company over its involvement with Maven, and an internal petition asking the company to cancel the contract and avoid future military projects garnered thousands of employee signatures. To calm tensions, Google would need to find a way to reconcile the values of its employees with the desire of its leadership to develop further AI projects for a growing range of clients. That list of clients, of course, includes the federal government and the Department of Defense. While efforts to convince the tech community at large to refuse Pentagon work have stalled, the pressure within Google resulted in multiple tangible changes. First, Google leadership announced the company's plan to not renew the Project Maven contract when it expired in 2019. Then, the company's leaders released principles for AI, saying it would not develop intelligence for weapons or surveillance applications. After outlining how Google intends to build AI in the future, with efforts to mitigate bias, aid safety and be accountable, Google CEO Sundar Pichai set out categories of AI work that the company will not pursue. This means refusing to design or deploy “technologies that cause or are likely to cause overall harm,” including an explicit prohibition on weapons principally designed to harm people, as well as surveillance tech that violates international norms. Taken together, these principles amount to a hard-no only on developing AI specifically intended for weapons. The rest are softer no's, objections that can change with interpretations of international law, norms, and even in how a problem set is described. After all, when Poole was asked how to sell collaboration with the intelligence community to technology companies, he framed the task as one about saving the lives of war fighters. The “how” of that lifesaving is ambiguous: It could equally mean better and faster intelligence analysis that gives a unit on patrol the information it needs to avoid an ambush, or it could be the advance info that facilitates an attack on an adversary's encampment when the guard shift is particularly understaffed. Image processing with AI is so ambiguous a technology, so inherently open to dual-use, that the former almost certainly isn't a violation of Google's second objection to AI use, but the latter example absolutely would be. In other words, the long-term surveillance that goes into targeted killing operations above Afghanistan and elsewhere is likely out of bounds. However, the same technology used over Iraq for the fight against ISIS might be permissible. And software built to process drone footage in the latter context would be identical to the software built to process images for the former. The lines between what this does and doesn't prevent becomes even murkier when one takes into account that Google built its software for Project Maven on top of TensorFlow, an open-source software library. This makes it much harder to build in proprietary constraints on the code, and it means that once the Pentagon has a trainable algorithm on hand, it can continue to develop and refine its object-recognition AI as it chooses. But the window for Google to be involved in such a project, whether to the joy or dismay of its employees and executive leadership, is likely closing. In late June, the Pentagon announced creation of a Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, which among other functions would take over Project Maven from the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team. The defense sector is vast, and with Google proving to be a complicated contractor for the Pentagon, new leadership may simply take its AI contracts worth million elsewhere with to see if it can get the programming it needs. And Maven itself still receives accolades within the Pentagon. Gen. Mike Holmes, commander of Air Combat Command, praised Project Maven at a June 28 defense writers group breakfast, saying that the use of learning machines and algorithms will speed up the process by which humans process information and pass on useful insights to decisions makers. Inasmuch as the Pentagon has a consensus view of explaining tools like Maven, it is about focusing on the role of the human in the process. The software will do the first pass through the imagery collected, and then as designed highlight other details for a human to review and act upon. Holmes was adamant that fears of malicious AIs hunting humans, like Skynet from the “Terminator” movies, are beyond premature. “We're going to have to work through as Americans our comfort level on how technologies are used and how they're applied,” said Holmes. “I'd make the case that our job is to compete with these world-class peer competitors that we have, and by competing and by setting this competition on terms that we can compete without going to conflict, it's better for everybody.” AI of the tiger Project Maven, from the start, is a program specifically sold and built for the work of fighting a violent nonstate actor, identifying the weapons and tools of an insurgency that sometimes holds swaths of territory. “Our responsibility is to help people understand what the intent is with the capability that we are helping to develop. ... Maven is focused on minimizing collateral damage on the battlefield. There's goodness in that,” said Capt. Sean Heritage, acting managing partner of Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx). “There's always risk in how it will be used down the road, and I guess that's where a small pocket of people at Google's heads were. But, as Mr. Work pointed out during his panel at Defense One, they don't seem to have as challenging of a time contributing to AI capability development in China.” Google's fight over Project Maven is partly about the present — the state of AI, the role of the United States in pursuing insurgencies abroad. It is also a fight about how the next AI will be built, and who that AI will be built to be used against. And the Pentagon seems to understand this, too. In the same meeting where Holmes advocated for Maven as a useful tool for now, he argued that it was important for the United States to develop and field tools that can match peer or near-peer rivals in a major conflict. That's a far cry from selling the tool to Silicon Valley as one of immediate concern, to protect the people fighting America's wars presently through providing superior real-time information. “The idea of a technology being built and then used for war, even if that wasn't the original intent,” says author Malka Older, “is what science fiction writers call a ‘classic trope.' ” Older's novels, set two or three generations in the near-future, focus on the ways in which people, governments and corporations handle massive flows of data, and provide one possible vision of a future where the same kinds and volumes of data are collected, but where that data is also held by a government entity and shared transparently. While radical transparency in data is alien to much of the defense establishment, it's an essential part of the open-source technology community for security concerns both genuine and sometimes not-so genuine. Building open source means publishing code and letting outsiders find flaws and vulnerabilities in the algorithm, without looking at any of the sensitive data the algorithm is built to process. And Project Maven is built on top of open-source framework. “One of the dangerous concepts that we have of technology is that progress only goes in one direction,” says Older. “There's constantly choices being made of where technology goes and where concepts go and what we are trying to do.” While it's entirely possible that the Pentagon will be able to continue the work of Project Maven and other AI programs with new contractors, if it wanted to reach out to those skeptical of how the algorithm would interpret images, it could try justifying the mission not just with national security concerns, but with transparency. “Part of being an American is that Americans have expectations about what their government does and whether the government uses tech and tools to infringe upon their rights or not,” said Holmes. “And, so, we have really high standards as a nation that the things that we bring forward as military tools have to live up to.” To work with the coders of the future, it may not be enough to say that the code — open source or not — is going to be used in ways consistent with their values. The Pentagon may have to find ways to transparently prove it. https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2018/07/27/targeting-the-future-of-the-dods-controversial-project-maven-initiative/

  • Israeli firm sells over 150 drones to European country

    February 27, 2020 | International, Aerospace

    Israeli firm sells over 150 drones to European country

    By: Seth J. Frantzman JERUSALEM — Bluebird Aero Systems has sold more than 150 vertical-takeoff-and-landing drones to an unnamed European country in a deal worth “tens of millions of euros,” the Israeli company announced Tuesday. The company, which makes WanderB and ThunderB tactical VTOL drones, said the customer will incorporate the two UAV types into infantry, armored, artillery and special forces units. The commander of the ground forces of the unnamed country provided a statement via Bluebird that said the government was impressed with the VTOL solution, as it will enable “high operational flexibility and provide invaluable real-time intelligence and situational awareness.” The VTOL design has been tested in harsh environments and proved reliable. The recently sold drones are expected to be deployed to enhance the capabilities of units adjusting to modern fighting methods, providing “advanced and reliable intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance capabilities to address the modern battlefield's challenges,” the commander said. The head of the country's special forces brigade command agreed with the ground forces commander that the long range and endurance of the man-packable and tactical UAVs will aid in rapid deployment with small units. The special forces leader added that the UAV is a fit for day and night use. Bluebird's unmanned aircraft systems have been operational with the Israel Defense Forces since 2002 and in other countries since 2006, where they have logged a total of 52,000 sorties. According to the recent edition of the Drone Databook at Bard College's Center for the Study of the Drone, Bluebird UAVs are also used by India, Chile and Ethiopia. These countries use the 9.5-kilogram SpyLite, which has a range of 50 kilometers. In contrast the ThunderB, which was sold in this contract, weighs 32 kilograms and has a range of 150 kilometers. It can also carry a small cargo under each wing, which Bluebird says can be used to drop “essential material” with an accurate ballistic trajectory. The WanderB is man-packable at 13 kilograms and a 50-kilometer range. It can be used to relay real-time surveillance using electro-optical/infrared payloads. Bluebird says the ThunderB is ideal for long, covert intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance missions. The Greek police have reportedly used SpyLite and ThunderB since 2014. And the WanderB has previously been offered to Spain. Bluebird is confident the latest deal will lead to additional European contracts. This deal adds to an overall trend of growth for Israeli companies in Europe as well as the expansion of the small and mini-UAV market. Israel's Elbit Systems sold more than 1,000 mini-drones in a $153 million deal last year to a southeast Asian country. More countries are seeking these smaller UAS solutions for tactical or special forces units in the field, including pairing drones with armored vehicles. This is especially the case as technology advances and units seek to modernize and network together fleets of drones. https://www.defensenews.com/unmanned/2020/02/26/israeli-firm-sells-over-150-drones-to-european-country/

  • F-35 upgrades slip to 2024, drawing lawmaker’s ire

    March 30, 2023 | International, Aerospace

    F-35 upgrades slip to 2024, drawing lawmaker’s ire

    “We currently are paying for a great capability, but we’re currently only getting a good capability fielded,” subcommittee chairman Rep. Rob Wittman said.

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