DoD SBIR/STTR Component BAA Open: Army SBIR BAA 21.4, Topic A214-004

On the same subject

• 

  February 21, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Lockheed’s Raider X enters construction in advance of US Army’s decision on way forward

  WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Lockheed Martin's Sikorsky is already building its prototype for the U.S. Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft competition ahead of the service actually choosing companies to build prototypes. While the Army will select two companies to proceed next month, Lockheed is already using funding as part of its contract to build its Raider X coaxial helicopter, Tim Malia, Sikorsky's FARA director, told a group of reporters Feb. 19 at the company's flight test facility. The Army awarded full-scope contracts to the five teams selected to design FARA; those deals included funding to build aircraft. But when the Army chooses which two teams will move forward, that funding spigot essentially turns off for those that aren't picked. When asked what happens with Raider X, should the Army decides to go with other teams, Malia said: “I don't anticipate that problem.” The five teams that won awards in April 2019 to design FARA were: AVX Aircraft partnered with L3 Technologies; Bell Helicopter; Boeing; a Karem Aircraft, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon team; and Sikorsky. Sikorsky's offering is based on its X2 coaxial technology seen in its S-97 Raider and the Sikorsky-Boeing developed SB-1 Defiant, which are now both flying. The prototype aircraft are expected to start flying in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, and the flight test is expected to run through 2023. The engineering and manufacturing development phase is expect to begin in FY24. “This is the culmination of years of investment in the X2 Technology Demonstrator and the S-97 Raider aircraft that have proven the advanced technology and shown its ability to change the future battlefield,” Malia told Defense News when the company first unveiled its design for FARA. FARA is intended to fill a critical capability gap currently being filled by AH-64E Apache attack helicopters teamed with Shadow unmanned aircraft following the retirement of the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters. The service has tried and failed three times to fill the gap with an aircraft. The Army also plans to buy another helicopter to fill the long-range assault mission, simultaneously replacing some UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters in the fleet. The SB-1 Defiant is a possible candidate for that future aircraft. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/02/20/lockheeds-raider-x-already-under-construction/

• 

  June 18, 2018 | International, Aerospace

  Work on Dutch F-35s kicks off in Italy

  Tom Kington ROME — Assembly is underway in Italy on a F-35 Joint Strike Fighter destined for the Netherlands Air Force, Dutch and Italian officials have said. The Netherlands is planning to assemble most of its F-35s at the line at Cameri in northern Italy, where Italian Air Force and Navy F-35s are already being assembled. Dutch secretary of state for defense, Barbara Visser, attended a ceremony at Cameri on Thursday to mark the start of the work on Dutch aircraft. “She was there as the aircraft, ‘AN9,' went to the mating station as assembly got under way,” said Dutch Air Force spokesman, Sidney Plankman. The aircraft is the ninth of the Netherlands' order of 37 F-35As. The first eight are being assembled at Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth facility in the U.S. The first Dutch F-35 assembled in the U.S. will roll off the Fort Worth line in January 2019 and will head to Luke Air Base for pilot training, said Plankman. “Six or seven of those assembled in the U.S. will go to Luke,” he added. Under a deal struck with the Italian government, the remaining 29 Dutch aircraft will all be assembled at Cameri, which is owned by the Italian government and operated by Italian state-controled defense firm Leonardo in partnership with Lockheed Martin. AN9 will be completed in February 2019 before undertaking test flights in Italy and heading to the Netherlands around October 2019. “It will be the first F-35 to arrive in the Netherlands,” said Plankman. Cameri has already delivered F-35As to the Italian Air Force, which are flying from Italy's Amendola Air Base. In January, the first F-35B to be assembled outside the U.S., which is destined to fly with the Italian Navy, was handed over to Italy at Cameri. Italy is currently due to purchase 60 F-35 As and 30 F-35Bs. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/06/15/work-on-dutch-f-35s-kicks-off-in-italy/

• 

  June 12, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Senate bill promises more funding for space-based hypersonic defense, but mum on details

  Nathan Strout An early version of the Senate's annual defense bill would provide additional funding for space-based sensors capable of detecting and tracking hypersonic weapons, according to a summary released June 11. However, details on the proposal are scant. Congress has become increasingly concerned over the threat posed by hypersonic weapons under development by China and Russia. Too dim to be reliably picked up by current space-based sensors and able to maneuver around terrestrial sensors, hypersonic weapons make much of the current missile warning system obsolete, as it was designed for ballistic missile threats. To counter this threat, the Defense Department has proposed a solution: a proliferated constellation of satellites operating in low Earth orbit. Once a hypersonic threat is detected, the constellation tracks it while passing custody from satellite to satellite as the weapon moves around the globe. This Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor, or HBTSS, will be part of the new National Defense Space Architecture, a proliferated constellation that will eventually be made up of hundreds of small satellites operating primarily in low Earth orbit. The Space Development Agency is overseeing this effort and plans to begin placing its first satellites on orbit in fiscal 2022. The Missile Defense Agency listed HBTSS as an unfunded priority during the prior budget cycle, and ultimately Congress did allocate $108 million to the agency for the program in FY20. Now the Senate Armed Services Committee says it will provide additional funding for the program for FY21, but it has yet to say by how much. The summary also does not note where the funding for HBTSS will go. Determining which agency would be in charge of HBTSS was a source of friction between the Pentagon and Congress in 2019, with the latter pushing for MDA to take primary responsibility for the effort, while the White House claimed it was too early to put one agency in charge. Ultimately, legislation passed by Congress in December directed MDA to be the lead agency for the development and deployment of HBTSS. However, the Missile Defense Agency's proposed FY21 budget transfers HBTSS funding responsibility to the Space Development Agency. At the same time, MDA awarded four $20 million contracts to companies to develop HBTSS prototypes in October. The four companies selected were Northrop Grumman, Leidos, Harris Corporation and Raytheon. The SDA recently issued a request for proposals for wide field of view satellites that references medium field of view satellites which are expected to be launched in 2023. According to SDA Director Derek Tournear, those will be the first space components of MDA's HBTSS. Still, it's unclear whether Congress will endorse moving HBTSS funding responsibility to SDA in FY21. When faced with criticism over that move from legislators at a March hearing, MDA Director Vice Adm. Jon Hill assured them that his agency would remain in charge of sensor development for HBTSS, with SDA providing money to MDA for the effort. Hill said the decision to move the funding was made by Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin SDA is asking for $137 million for space technology development in FY21, which includes funding for space sensor technology. The agency expects to begin placing payloads on orbit in FY22. The budget request does not specifically break out funding for HBTSS. MDA has also asked for $207 million for hypersonic defense. That funding will help the agency develop a regional glide phase weapon system and maturing technologies for future hypersonic defense architectures. It does not include funding specifically for HBTSS, as that has transitioned to SDA. CORRECTION: This story has been corrected to show that the medium field of view satellites are not part of the SDA's wide field of view solicitation. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/06/11/senate-bill-promises-more-funding-for-space-based-hypersonic-defense-but-mum-on-details/