Estonian firm develops virtual ‘shooting range’ to test cyber defenses

On the same subject

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  August 13, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - August 12, 2019

  ARMY Birdon America Inc.,* Denver, Colorado, was awarded a $196,941,052 firm-fixed-price contract for acquisition of M30 bridge erection boats, crew protection kits, stock lists, tools, test equipment, service representative and support, training and storage. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 12, 2024. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-19-D-0093). NAVY Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a Lockheed Martin Co., Stratford, Connecticut, is awarded $107,353,729 for firm-fixed-price advance acquisition contract modification P00029 to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00019-16-C-0048). This modification procures long lead items for six CH-53K low-rate initial production lot 4 aircraft. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut, and is expected to be completed in August 2020. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $107,353,729 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Austal USA LLC, Mobile, Alabama, is awarded $23,099,311 for cost-plus fixed-fee task order N6931619F4002 against previously awarded basic ordering agreement N00024-15-G-2304 to accomplish advance planning, material procurement and accomplishment of work in support of the post shakedown availability (PSA) of littoral combat ship USS Tulsa (LCS 16). This effort encompasses all of the manpower, support services, material, non-standard equipment and associated technical data and documentation required to prepare for and accomplish the PSA. The work to be performed will include correction of government responsible trial card deficiencies, new work identified between custody transfer and the time of PSA and incorporation of approved engineering changes that were not incorporated during the construction period which are not otherwise the building yard's responsibility under the ship construction contract. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) - only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Work will be performed in Seattle, Washington, and is expected to be complete by April 2020. Fiscal 2019 and 2013 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); and 2019 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $12,199,311 will be obligated at time of award, and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion, and Repair Gulf Coast, Pascagoula, Mississippi, is the contracting activity. SOLPAC Construction Inc., doing business as Soltek Pacific Construction Co., San Diego, California, is being awarded a $12,111,121 firm-fixed-price task order (N6247319F5055) under a multiple award construction contract for the construction of a Littoral Combat Ship Mission Module Readiness Center at Naval Base San Diego. The work provides for the construction of a facility in a portion of the existing northwest wing of Building 3304. The renovated building will support a variety of functions including administration, conference, fabrication, maintenance, storage, locker rooms, secret and non-classified internet protocol router network telecommunications and a wash rack for the facility. The project includes all pertinent site improvements and site preparations, mechanical and electrical utilities, excavation and grading, foundations, roofing, telecommunications, plumbing, fire protection systems, heating, ventilation and air conditioning. The task order also contains two unexercised options and two planned modifications, which if exercised would increase the cumulative task order value to $13,102,121. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed by March 2021. Fiscal 2019 military construction (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $12,111,121 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Four proposals were received for this task order. Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N62473-18-D-5855). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY BMK Ventures, Inc.,** Virginia Beach, Virginia, has been awarded a maximum $10,500,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for hospital equipment and accessories for the Defense Logistics Agency electronic catalog. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. This was a competitive acquisition with 88 responses received; 20 contracts have been awarded to date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Location of performance is Virginia, with an Aug. 11, 2024, performance completion date. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2024 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2DH-19-D-0013). Epic Aviation LLC, doing business as Epic Card,** Salem, Oregon, has been awarded a maximum $7,955,949 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for fuel. This was a competitive acquisition with 148 responses received. This is a 43-month contract with a six-month option period. Location of performance is Alabama, with a March 31, 2023 performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SPE607-19-D-0118). *Small business **Service-disabled, veteran-owned small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/1932379/source/GovDelivery/

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  December 24, 2023 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Year in review: Top stories from 2023

  Russia sends a symbolic message to Turkey, Britain orders new rifles, Hungary clashes with a U.S. senator over weaponry and more!

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  May 11, 2020 | International, C4ISR

  DoD Pushes To Reverse FCC OK Of Ligado 5G Network

  "The impact is significant, and it's unacceptable," Gen. Jay Raymond told the Senate Armed Services Committee. By THERESA HITCHENSon May 06, 2020 at 8:14 PM WASHINGTON: DoD is pressing for the FCC to reverse its controversial decision to approve Ligado's plan to create a mobile 5G communications network, one the Pentagon asserts will jam GPS receivers. “It is clear to DoD that the risk to GPS far outweighs the benefits of this FCC decision. And the FCC needs to reverse their decision,” DoD CIO Dana Deasy told the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) hearing during a marathon hearing this afternoon. A formal “re-petition” action has to be taken by National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) by the end of May. NTIA, which falls under the Commerce Department, coordinates federal agency use of the radio frequency spectrum. DoD, Deasy told the SASC, is working to provide NTIA with the necessary technical information to do so. SASC members were divided on the wisdom of the FCC's April 20 decision to approve Ligado's latest plan to repurpose its current L-band spectrum for use in a US-wide terrestrial 5G network. The SASC hearing did not fall along partisan lines. Instead, the division came between the SASC leadership and the committee's members who also sit on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. It has jurisdiction over the FCC. For example, while Republican SASC Chairman James Inhofe and Democratic Ranking Member Sen. Jack Reed excoriated the FCC decision, Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, who chairs the Commerce committee, expressed support for the FCC. Indeed, a number of senators with a foot in the Commerce Committee raised the fact that the FCC's decision not only was approved unanimously by the five FCC commissioners, but also has been praised by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Attorney General William Barr. (Barr was tapped by President Donald Trump on April 4 to head a new Telecom Team designed to ensure that China cannot dominate the 5G marketplace and undercut the security of emerging US networks.) DoD and many other agencies, including the Transportation Department, have opposed the planned Ligado (formerly LightSquared) network for nearly a decade, arguing that it will drown out GPS signals in most current receivers. Their protests have been echoed by a wide swathe of the defense and commercial transport industry, including the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Defense Industrial Association. Indeed, according to a press release put out today by Inhofe's office: “This opposition extends to the private sector as well. Numerous industries across the gamut – commercial air, satellite communications, weather, construction, and more – have also registered their objections to the FCC's Order.” Mike Griffin, head of DoD Research and Engineering, explained that the issue is the “noise” that will be created by Ligado because it will use spectrum designed for satellite use to rebroadcast via terrestrial cell towers. He said that the situation for the vast number of GPS receivers today would be analogous to trying to hear the “rustling of leaves” through the noise of “100 jets taking off all at once.” Perhaps most significantly, Griffin pushed back hard against Ligado's assertions in FCC filings (and most recently in a letter today to the SASC obtained by Breaking D) that most receivers would not be affected. He said testing done by the Transportation Department showed that high-end GPS receivers used in civil aviation, which costs some $10,000 each, are impacted by Ligado's planned signal strength. Even those “hardened” receivers are “barely capable” of discerning GPS signals through the “noise” caused by Ligado's 9.8 dBW — an energy level about equal to that put out by a 10 watt light bulb). More worryingly, Griffin asserted that most commercial GPS receivers — including those that would be used to guide self-driving cars in the future — “lose lock” on the signal at a power level some 100 times lower than Ligado plans to use. Gen. Jay Raymond, double hatted as the head of Space Force and Space Command, told the SASC that Ligado's network would have a “significant impact” on Dod's homeland defense mission, as well as on military and commercial space launch capabilities. “In my opinion, the impact is significant, and it's unacceptable,” he said. While Deasy said one avenue for reversing the decision could be legislative action, it remains unclear what the SASC can actually do, however — should the committee even be able to agree on a course of action. Inhofe said it is legally unclear to him right now whether the Congressional Review Act, that allows Congress to overturn a decision by a federal agency, actually applies to the FCC decision for technical reasons. (The FCC officially is independent of the Executive Branch.) Retired Adm. Thad Allen, former Coast Guard Commandant and chair of the Space-Based Positioning and Timing National Advisory Board, suggested that the Senate Commerce Committee should hold a hearing and force the FCC to reconsider. Those members of that committee participating today, including Wicker, seemed reluctant to consider the idea of even having an exploratory hearing. For example, Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal suggested that the matter perhaps might be better adjudicated in the courts, given the questions raised about the legalities of the FCC's administrative process that have been raised by members of Congress as well as several industry groups. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/05/dod-pushes-to-reverse-fcc-ok-of-ligado-5g-network/