Done deal: Boeing will have to rip and replace KC-46 sensor and camera systems on its own dime

On the same subject

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  May 10, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Swiss Air 2030 program clears hurdle of external review — with tweaks

  By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — Switzerland should package the proposed buy of 40 or so combat aircraft as a unique track under the $8 billion Air 2030 program, according to a new study commissioned by the defense ministry. This, the study argues, will increase the chance the purchase will be approved in an eventual national referendum. The conclusion is part of a report by former Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier, who was tasked earlier this year by the new defense minister, Viola Amherd, to critique the envisioned air-defense reboot. The recommendation speaks to the government's strategy of seeing the aircraft acquisition through a circuitous decision-making process in a country with a strong plebiscitary tradition. Buying the aircraft makes up the lion's share of the Air 2030 program, at roughly $6 billion. The purchase of ground-based, air-defense weaponry accounts for the rest. The current Cabinet plan is to pursue the aircraft and ground-based, anti-missile weaponry as a package deal, allowing the populace to vote on both segments en bloc in the likely event that a referendum is called. But advocates for new aircraft, which includes Nicollier, contend that the need for new planes is so great that the decision should be teed up without any distractions whatsoever. “In my opinion, it is wise to choose this track for the combat aircraft, after the past experiences of our direct democracy,” Nicollier wrote in his report. “It is ... useless to mix another weapon system to this next battle, which concerns only the plane and which promises, as usual, to be much more emotional than professional.” Nicollier's comment refers to a previous Swiss decision about replacing parts of its aging combat aircraft inventory, composed of F-5 Tiger and F-18 planes, five years ago this month. At the time, the population voted down the government's pick of the Saab Gripen E following a grueling campaign by advocates and opponents that quickly left the realm of national security arguments. Some believe that putting a specific aircraft model out for a referendum contributed to the program's defeat, a mistake that the defense ministry wants to avoid at all costs this time around. According to a statement on the ministry's website, Nicollier's analysis, submitted in French, recommends that the population should get the chance to vote on the aircraft acquisition only in general terms, leaving the choice of aircraft model up to the government later on. The competitors for the aircraft procurement are Airbus with the Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin with the F-35A, Boeing with the F-18 Super Hornet and Dassault with the Rafale. Saab and its Gripen E also are taking another go at it. Nicollier's report will probably be seen as good news for the industry contenders. For one, it supports the idea that Switzerland must quickly act to modernize its abilities to control the national airspace at a time when traditional geopolitical fronts in Europe are becoming murky. In addition, it proposes a path for the aircraft acquisition that appears mindful of lessons learned from the Gripen debacle of 2014. Cabinet officials are expected to debate the Nicollier report in the weeks ahead and determine how its recommendations will shape the Air 2030 program, a Swiss defense ministry official told Defense News. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2019/05/09/swiss-air2030-program-clears-hurdle-of-external-review-with-tweaks

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  January 10, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - January 10, 2020

  NAVY Dignitas Technologies JV, LLC,* Orlando, Florida, is awarded a $99,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable, firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides total life cycle support for the Multipurpose Reconfigurable Training System 3D® and the Virtual Interactive Shipboard Instructional Tour 3D™ programs to include development, production, integration, test and evaluation, delivery and sustainment. Work will be performed Orlando, Florida, 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 a small business set-aside, competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal; four offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Center, Training Systems Division, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity (N61340-20-D-0008). MTS Advantage LLC (MTSA), Dumfries, Virginia (N65236-20-D-8002), is awarded a $90,820,000 single award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, performance based service contract utilizing cost-plus-fixed-fee task orders. The contract is for Cyber Red Team and operational test support services and provides for information assurance, cyber defense, cyber systems security and network infrastructure program management. Work will be performed worldwide and is expected to be completed by January 2026. If the option is exercised, work would continue until July 2026. If all options are exercised, the cumulative value of the contract will increase to $99,902,000. Contract funds in the amount of $25,000 will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract includes a five-year ordering period and one six-month option-to-extend-services in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Clause 52.217-8. The single award contract was competitively procured by full and open competition after the exclusion of sources via the Naval Information Warfare Center e-Commerce Central website and the Federal Business Opportunities website, with four timely offers received. Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic, Charleston, South Carolina, is the contracting activity. The Boeing Co., Seattle, Washington, is awarded a $42,297,380 modification (P000163) to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm target, firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00019-14-C-0067). This modification exercises an option for integrated logistics services and site activation support of P-8A aircraft for the Navy and the government of Australia. Work will be performed in Seattle, Washington (56%); Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (38%); and Brisbane City, Australia (6%), and is expected to be completed in September 2021. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $39,820,706; and Royal Australian Air Force unique funds in the amount of $2,476,674 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This modification combines purchases for the Navy ($39,820,706; 94%); and the government of Australia ($2,476,674; 6%) under a formal cooperative agreement. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Alutiiq Solutions LLC,* Anchorage, Alaska, is awarded a $7,519,828 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide support services to include research and analysis, strategic initiative support, executive leadership management support and administrative, operational and technical program support to the Naval Air Systems Command Strategic Leadership Services Team. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland (60%); and Arlington, Virginia (40%), and is expected to be completed in February 2025. No funds will be obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. This contract was a small business 8(a) set-aside competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal; one offer was received. The Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-20-D-0007). Marathon Construction Co.,* Lakeside, California, is awarded a $7,375,000 firm-fixed-price task order (N62473-20-F-4093) under a multiple award construction contract to repair the deteriorated quay wall at Naval Base San Diego. The work to be performed provides for the renovation of several sections of the quay wall along the piers at Naval Base San Diego. Work includes repair of the quay wall substructure, steel sheet piles, relieving platform and berthing system defects. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed by January 2022. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $7,375,000 is being obligated at the time of this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Two proposals were received for this task order. Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N62473-16-D-1802). AIR FORCE ArmorSource LLC, Hebron, Ohio, has been awarded a $17,374,500 firm-fixed-price contract for Next Generation Ballistic Helmets. This contract provides for the manufacturing and delivery of up to 24,300 LGD Sniper Gen II Ballistic Helmets with delivery to continental U.S. and outside the continental U.S. active duty Air Force security forces squadrons. The ordering period for the helmets will be complete by Jan. 8, 2023. This award is a result of a competitive acquisition with nine offers received. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $9,996,415 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Installation Contracting Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8003-20-D-0001). ARMY Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $7,741,646 hybrid (cost-no-fee, cost-plus-incentive-fee, and firm-fixed-price) contract for General Electronic Test Station test equipment, installation, test program set, hardware, software, upgrades, training, engineering services and repair parts. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 8, 2024. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $880,405 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-20-C-0016). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY American Water Operations and Maintenance LLC, Camden, New Jersey, has been awarded a $7,288,260 modification (P00017) to a 50-year utilities privatization contract (SP0600-17-C-8322) with no option periods incorporating an increase to the operations, maintenance, renewal and replacement charges for water and wastewater utility service systems. This is a fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract. Location of performance is Ohio, with a Nov. 30, 2068, performance completion date. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 Air Force operations and maintenance funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2053783/source/GovDelivery/

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  March 12, 2024 | International, Aerospace

  F-35 upgrade delays prompt US Air Force to scale back jet purchases

  The Pentagon stopped accepting deliveries of the newest F-35 Joint Strike Fighters in summer 2023 as software problems snarled the jets' latest upgrades.