January 11, 2023 | International, Naval
Navy frustration building over late weapons, ship deliveries
The commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command said industry needs to start delivering ordnance on time.
January 14, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - January 13, 2020
NAVY
AgustaWestland Philadelphia Corp., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is awarded a $176,472,608 firm-fixed-price contract for the production and delivery of 32 TH-73A aircraft, initial spares, peculiar support equipment, flyaway kits, hoists, sling loads, data in excess of commercial form fit function/operations maintenance instructional training data as well as ancillary instructor pilot and maintenance personnel training. Work will be performed at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (87%); Mineral Wells, Texas (5%); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (8%), and is expected to be completed in October 2021. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $176,472,608 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal; five offers were received. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N61340-20-C-0007).
Airbus Helicopters Inc., Grand Prairie, Texas, is awarded a $37,729,000 firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides performance-based logistics support to include ground and repair maintenance of five UH-72 aircraft, sustaining engineering required to maintain UH-72 Federal Aviation Administration certification, the incorporation of U.S. Navy Test Pilot School specific modifications, and the support to provide ground and flight training for the UH-72/EC-145 aircraft. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in January 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 not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-20-D-0010).
C.E.R. Inc.,* Baltimore, Maryland, is awarded a $12,886,000 firm-fixed-price task order (N4008020F4121) under a multiple award construction contract for Gambo Creek Bridge replacement at Naval Support Facility Dahlgren. The work to be performed provides for a design build project to remove and replace Gambo Creek Bridge on Tisdale Road with a reinforced concrete bridge structure that complies with the Federal Highway Administration lane widths for two way traffic. Work will be performed in Dahlgren, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by November 2022. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $12,886,000 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Five proposals were received for this task order. Naval Facilities Engineering Command Washington, Public Works Department, South Potomac, Dahlgren, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40080-19-D-0011).
DRS Systems Inc., Melbourne, Florida, is awarded a $7,660,583 modification (P00001) to a cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable delivery order (N0001919F2730) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-19-G-0030). This modification provides program management, engineering and logistics support to mitigate identified risks to the Distributed Aperture Infrared Countermeasure program. Work will be performed in Dallas, Texas (70%); San Diego, California (27%); and Fort Walton Beach, Florida (3%), and is expected to be completed in December 2020. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,670,597; and fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,798,000 will be obligated at time of award, $2,670,597 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
AIR FORCE
Raytheon Missile Systems Co., Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a $10,593,360 modification P00001 to previously awarded contract FA8675-20-C-0033 for Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile Production Lot 33 spares. This contract modification provides for the production Air Force and Navy spares. Work will be performed at Tucson, Arizona, with an expected completion date of March 31, 2022. Fiscal 2018 Air Force procurement funds in the amount of $1,730,203; and fiscal 2020 Navy procurement funds in the amount of $8,863,157 are being obligated at the time of award. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $778,877,267. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Jan. 10, 2020)
*Small Business
https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2056101/source/GovDelivery/
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September 14, 2020 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR
Ligado Exemplifies Broken US Spectrum Management: Industry Experts
"There's a lot of inefficiencies in the process. But it's basically a fight, with each community pressing its case to its own regulatory body," says Jennifer Warren, Lockheed Martin's vice president for technology, policy and regulation. By THERESA HITCHENSon September 11, 2020 at 2:19 PM WASHINGTON: The FCC's controversial decision to let Ligado proceed with its 5G wireless network over fierce DoD objections is just one more example of the broken state of the US regime for managing spectrum, industry experts say. “There's a lot of inefficiencies in the process. But it's basically a fight, with each community pressing its case to its own regulatory body,” Jennifer Warren, Lockheed Martin's vice president for technology, policy and regulation, told the Secure World Foundation (SWF) Summit for Space Sustainability this morning. This has led a little-known but highly influential government advisory panel to recommend a series of options for overhauling the US regulatory system — including the creation of a new agency — to empower a single entity to decide how to balance skyrocketing demands for bandwidth as availability dwindles. “[T]he United States' current approach for managing the use of spectrum is no longer effectively serving the needs of the entire stakeholder community and would benefit from reform,” the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC) says in a recent report. “Moreover, with the increased use of spectrum by all stakeholders, we agree that issues around allocations, spectrum-sharing and band adjacencies will need to be handled with both speed and skill to ensure that the US is making the most of its critical national resources.” CSMAC, created by the Commerce Department in 2004, comprises spectrum policy experts outside the government. The report, said Warren, who was one of the authors, was designed to kick start what many in industry see as an urgent debate about how US spectrum policies can accommodate a rapidly changing technological environment — particularly the emergence of 5G networking, which has the potential to revolutionize global communications. Currently, two different US government bodies have regulatory control of spectrum by different users with very different priorities. The FCC governs use of spectrum by the commercial telecommunications industry (both terrestrial and space-based). The Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) governs access to bandwidth for government agencies, including DoD. This bifurcation was established by the 1934 Communications Act and remains in place despite massive upheaval in technology and spectrum use since then. The Ligado case underscores that, despite a 2003 memorandum of understanding between FCC and NTIA that pledges them to coordinate, there is no requirement that they reach consensus, Warren explained. Indeed, there isn't even a requirement that a disputed decision by the FCC, such as on Ligado, must be escalated for adjudication. Instead, the FCC has “unilateral decision-making power.” Indeed, the CMSAC report stresses that: “There are no statutory federal or non-federal bands. All such federal, non-federal, and shared band allocations result from agreements between NTIA and the FCC.” As Breaking D has reported extensively, DoD, the Intelligence Community, the Transportation Department, the FAA and even the Agriculture Department — not to mention congressional defense committee leaders — have charged that the Ligado plan will create serious interference to GPS receivers used both by commercial/civil users and US troops. Those concerns have been echoed by a number of commercial users groups, from airline pilots to construction workers to farmers. Not only does the current regulatory system block rational decisions on spectrum sharing among types of users, it also creates problems for the United States in its negotiations with other countries on spectrum usage at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Kimberly Baum, vice president of regulatory affairs at Echostar Corp., told SWF. The ITU is responsible for setting rules about how spectrum is used by whom at the international level via its Radio Regulations and frequency allocation tables — something that particularly affects satellites that usually serve more than one nation. Every three to four years, ITU holds a World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), the next of which is scheduled for 2023, where the 193 member nations propose changes to spectrum usage. The State Department is charged with bringing the US position on changes, developed by the FCC and NTIA, to Geneva. Baum, who also is co-chair of the Satellite Industry Association's (SIA) regulatory working group, explained that because the NTIA and FCC each works with its own constituents, sometimes for years, to craft those WRC proposals, differences between them are not resolved until the last minute — if at all. And this loses the time the US needs to try to convince other countries to back its views. (Indeed, as Breaking D readers know, a number of US lawmakers and policy experts are worried that internal US disarray on spectrum management rules for 5G is effectively ceding power at the ITU to China.) “I would love to see a concerted effort to make decisions that meaningfully accommodate multiple services and technologies in a more fair, thoughtful way,” Baum said. Any changes to the current regulatory system would require congressional action to rewrite the Communications Act, and re-allocate statutory authorities, said Warren. A next step, she said, might be for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to do a study of the issues and make recommendations to Congress. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/09/ligado-exemplifies-broken-us-spectrum-management-industry-experts
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September 5, 2023 | International, Land
U.S. Army awards BAE Systems $797 million contract to begin full rate production of Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle
This award brings the AMPV program into full-rate production, making it the first newly-designed and built tracked vehicle in the U.S. Army’s fleet to reach this production stage in three...