Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - November 13, 2018

On the same subject

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  October 17, 2023 | International, Aerospace

  Senior officials shed light on contentious procurement process for new surveillance aircrafts

  High-level bureaucrats on Tuesday provided an update on the government’s acquisition of a new fleet to replace its aging CP-140s, which has come under fire amidst rumours the feds are considering directly awarding the contract to Boeing.

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  December 10, 2019 | International, Naval

  BREAKING: Marine Corps Planning Major Program Cuts

  By Jon Harper SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — The Marine Corps intends to divest itself of legacy systems as it transforms into a more mobile and expeditionary force, the service's commandant said Dec. 7. In recent decades Marines have been busy fighting land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But now they must prepare for a potential conflict in a naval environment against advanced adversaries such as China, Gen. David Berger told reporters at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California. “We cannot wait any longer before we start adjusting our service to what we've got to be six, seven, eight years out,” he said. “We have lots of changes we have to make and ... we have to get rid of legacy things in the Marine Corps. We've got to go on a diet. We've got to get back on ship. We've got to become expeditionary again.” What types of legacy systems will be on the chopping block? “Big, heavy things,” Berger said. “Expensive things that we can't either afford to buy or afford to maintain over the life of it. Things that don't fit aboard ships. Things that can't fire hyper velocity projectiles. Things that don't have the range that we're going to need or the precision.” Mobility will be critical in future fights, he noted. Marines must be able to operate from ships or ashore, and move back and forth between domains. Other platforms that could see cuts include manned logistics vehicles and aircraft. “All those things we're going to trim down,” Berger said. The service is also looking to add new capabilities. The commandant did not identify specific systems that the Marines plan to buy, but he provided a flavor of the types of platforms that will be on the shopping list. “Think unmanned. Think expeditionary. Think very light. Think things that we can sustain forward without a huge logistical train,” Berger said. Unmanned logistics vehicles and aircraft are examples of new technologies that the service is interested in. Human beings will still be on the battlefield, Berger noted. “I just don't need them driving a truck delivering chow” if a self-driving platform could perform the task, he said. Drones could also deliver supplies. “Amazon does it. Why wouldn't we do it?” he asked. Unmanned combat aircraft are also on the wish list, he noted. The Marine Corps has been conducting wargames and simulations to help determine how the force should be redesigned for potential future combat scenarios that might occur 10 years out. “We're in the last stages of that,” Berger said. That effort will likely wrap up in late January or early February. Force composition changes will be made over 10 years, but some will begin next year, he said. Officials are examining “every part of our air-ground team,” Berger said. A wide range of capabilities are being looked at. “From individual equipment to crew served [weapons] to F-35s and everything in between.” The analysis will help determine which programs will be killed, trimmed or added, he said. The service needs new weapon systems that can find and kill enemy ships at range from ship or shore. “We have to become a naval force that's lethal in terms of putting at risk another naval force,” Berger said. In the future, large numbers of unmanned air and ground systems could function as motherships that launch other robotic vehicles and drones to conduct missions, he said. A major funding realignment is planned over the next five years. “You'll see a little bit of it” in the fiscal year 2021 budget blueprint, Berger said. “The big muscle movement — that will come in ‘22, ‘23, ‘24 in a big way.” https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2019/12/9/marine-corps-planning-major-program-cuts

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  April 14, 2020 | International, Land

  Pandemic not slowing Army plans to field enduring indirect fires protection capability

  By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The COVID-19 pandemic is not slowing down the Army's plans to field an enduring indirect fires protection capability, according to Lt. Col. Juan Santiago, the service's program development manager for the effort. The Army has had to take a few steps back over recent years to reconsider its ways forward to develop an enduring capability to defend against rockets, artillery and mortars as well as cruise missiles and unmanned aircraft systems. As the service re-examined its path, Congress mandated that it buy an interim capability aimed directly at protecting the force from a growing cruise missile threat, but the Army has stressed that the system it will use — Rafael's Iron Dome — won't cover all the bases needed for a lasting capability. Earlier this year, the Army sent a report to Congress outlining its plans to get after the enduring capability, partly by hosting a shoot-off with vendors that bring launcher and interceptor capabilities next year. The Army issued a request for information to industry at the beginning of March with plans to conduct an industry day. But with the COVID-19 pandemic raging in the United States and limiting travel and social contact, the IFPC program office had to get creative in order to keep the program moving forward. The office was able to host one-on-one meetings with interested vendors as part of an industry day this month and is planning to answer industry questions, which have been submitted virtually, Santiago told Defense News in an April 9 interview. To stay on track with the program, the office couldn't afford to delay industry engagements in order to keep the ball moving, Santiago explained. The next big step for industry is to submit white papers to the Army toward the end of April, Santiago said. The Army will review the papers over the course of a month and will notify industry by the end of May whether or not they will be invited to proceed into an agreement with the service to move forward, he said. Those selected will move into a modeling and simulation phase that will also include some hardware-in-the-loop activities where capabilities are demonstrated in a simulated environment to determine if they are ready to go out on the range for the live shoot-off next year in the 3rd quarter of fiscal 2021 at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. Santiago said he could not disclose the number of agreements that might be awarded. The Army will invite vendors to submit final proposals following the shoot-off, Santiago said, but even if a vendor isn't ready for that phase, it can still submit a final proposal that draws upon performance in a simulated environment and includes a plan to get to a live-fire capability within the desired timeline. The government will evaluate final proposals and choose one vendor to provide the launcher and interceptor solution in the fourth quarter of FY21, Santiago said. Initial capabilities are expected to be fielded by FY23. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/04/10/pandemic-not-slowing-down-army-plans-to-field-enduring-indirect-fires-protection-capability/