Defense Innovation Unit project makes supercomputers more accessible

On the same subject

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  July 17, 2024 | International, Aerospace

  India implements uniform 5% tax for all aircraft, aircraft engine parts

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  June 11, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Lord: Defense Contractors Need Billions In COVID-19 Relief

  The Pentagon is likely to seek double-digit billions of dollars to reimburse defense contractors that were authorized to seek the money by the CARES Act to preserve their workforce during the COVID-19 crisis, the Pentagon's top procurement officer told lawmakers June 10. The problem is that while the section of the $2 trillion COVID-19 relief bill allows contractors to seek that reimbursement, the bill did not provide any related funding. For just one prime contractor, the estimated costs to keep its workforce in a steady state throughout the crisis exceeds $1 billion, Ellen Lord, the under secretary of acquisition, logistics and technology, said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing. Without additional funding, Lord warns that the Pentagon will “eat into readiness and modernization and slow down readiness and modernization on an ongoing basis.” Aviation and aviation propulsion are two of the hardest-hit areas of the defense industrial base, because of the implosion of the civil aviation industry, she said. Satellite launches also have been hit, given their dependence on the commercial industry, Lord said. Lawmakers were looking for details about how much would be needed for defense contractors, as they anticipate a new COVID-19 spending bill will move through Congress at the end of July. According to Lord, there have been 960 closures and 859 reopenings due to COVID-19. The average closure is about 57 days. But contractors will be specifically requesting reimbursement for issues that affected their employees. So far, contractors are holding back from seeking claims because they are aware that no appropriation exists yet. The Pentagon's internal acquisition group has been tracking data from prime contractors; subcontractors, though, may not be sharing all of their issues to avoid revealing proprietary data, she said, while pledging to provide specific guidance on allowable costs within 30 days. “The defense industrial base is the nexus of economic and national security and it's vitally important to make sure it stays as healthy as possible,” she said. https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/budget-policy-operations/lord-defense-contractors-need-billions-covid-19-relief

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  July 21, 2020 | International, Land

  US Army seeks to compete as OMFV prime, industry unnerved

  by Ashley Roque Industry is concerned about a potential US Army plan to bid on, judge, and select its own M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle replacement, and is likening such a measure to a metaphorical self-licking ice cream cone. During the past few weeks, defence companies have been eagerly awaiting the release of a draft request for proposal (RFP) for the army's latest attempt to design and field an Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV). Although they were interested in learning more about what the army is seeking this time around, they were also keen to see if a provision was included that enabled the service's Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) to also compete as a prime contractor. As several sources suspected, the draft RFP publicly released on 17 July included such provision. “Potential offerors are notified that a US government entity may submit a proposal as a prime offeror,” the army wrote. Ashley John, the public affairs director for the army's Program Executive Office for Ground Combat Systems, confirmed to Janes on 19 July that the service is exploring options to “leverage its core competencies and compete with industry in the design of a future combat vehicle”. More specifically, she said that the service wanted to use its science and technology community and engineers to “potentially develop” a Bradley replacement vehicle. As a result, interested vendors now have a flurry of questions over the ethics and legality of such a measure. One industry source that closely collaborates with the service and GVSC told Janes https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/us-army-seeks-to-compete-as-omfv-prime-industry-unnerved