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On the same subject

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  September 5, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - September 4, 2019

  NAVY General Electric Aviation, Lynn, Massachusetts, was awarded $143,680,709 for modification P00005 to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00019-18-C-1007). This modification is for 24 low rate initial production Lot 3 T408-GE-400 turboshaft engines and three Lot 2 T408-GE-400 engines for the CH-53K helicopter. In addition, this modification provides for associated engine and programmatic support, logistics support, peculiar support equipment and spares. Work will be performed in Lynn, Massachusetts, and is expected to be completed in December 2022. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $143,680,709 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. (Awarded Aug. 29, 2019) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (N00189-19-D-Z033); and University of Virginia Darden School Foundation Inc., Charlottesville, Virginia (N00189-19-D-Z034), are being awarded multiple award, firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts worth $24,535,554 that will include terms and conditions for the placement of firm-fixed-price task orders to provide academic programs to educate the Department of the Navy acquisition personnel in support of the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition. The contracts will run concurrently and will include a 60-month base ordering period and an option for a six-month ordering period; if exercised, the total value of this contract will be $27,496,527. The base ordering period of the contract is expected to be completed by September 2024; if the option is exercised, the ordering period will be completed by March 2025. All work will be performed at various contractor locations throughout the U.S., and the percentage of work at each of the contractor facilities cannot be determined at this time. Fiscal 2019 acquisition workforce development funds (Department of Defense) in the amount of $2,000 will be obligated ($1,000 on each of the two contracts to fund the contracts' minimum amounts), and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured for the award of multiple contracts pursuant to the authority set forth in Federal Acquisition Regulation 16.504. The requirement was solicited through the Federal Business Opportunities website, with two offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet, Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity. ARMY Science Applications International Corp., Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $97,530,579 modification (P00064) to contract W912DY-16-F-0093 for management and technical support necessary to advance high performance computing services, capabilities, infrastructure and technologies. Work will be performed in Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland; Stennis Space Center, Mississippi; Vicksburg, Mississippi; and Lorton, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 18, 2020. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $1,012,268 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity. RLB Contracting Inc.,* Port Lavaca, Texas, was awarded a $9,571,200 firm-fixed-price contract for maintenance dredging of Houston ship channel. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Brady Island, Texas, with an estimated completion date of March 5, 2020. Fiscal 2017, 2018 and 2019 operations and maintenance, civil funds in the amount of $9,571,200 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston, Texas, is the contracting activity (W912HY-19-C-0015). Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Florida, was awarded an $8,126,438 modification (P00015) to contract W31P4Q-18-C-0070 for the acquisition of Joint-Air-To-Ground missile engineering services. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, with an estimated completion date of March 2, 2021. Fiscal 2019 procurement, Air Force; and operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $8,126,438 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY The Boeing Co.,* St. Louis, Missouri, has been awarded a maximum $25,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for engineering and supply chain analysis sustainment support and for various spare parts. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a one-year base contract with four one-year option periods. Location of performance is Missouri, with a Sept. 6, 2020, performance completion date. Using customer is Defense Logistics Agency. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 warstopper funds and defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Richmond, Virginia (SPE4AX-18-D-9450). CORRECTION: The modification announced on Sept. 3, 2019, for General Dynamics Land Systems Inc., Sterling Heights, Michigan (SPE7MX-16-D-0100), for $38,040,445 was announced with an incorrect award date. The correct award date is Sept. 4, 2019. AIR FORCE Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a $8,422,148 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00032) to previously awarded contract FA8675-16-C-0067 for field team support services for Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) development test mission support including, test planning, test operations, test reporting and telemetry analysis. This contract modification provides for exercise of the third option for an additional 12 months of services to support ground tests, captive flight tests and live fire tests conducted for developmental purposes up to and including operational test readiness reviews. The effort also encompasses management and maintenance of AMRAAM separation test vehicles and other assets used for the test programs. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $46,807,656. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 5, 2020. This award is the result of a sole source acquisition and only one source was solicited and received. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $2,000,000; and Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $99,600 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity. The Boeing Co., Defense, Space & Security – Network, Newark, Ohio, has been awarded a $7,494,440 firm-fixed-price delivery order, FA8119-19-F-0094, to basic contract FA8119-14-D-0003 for Air Launched Cruise Missile warhead arming devices remanufacture. This delivery order provides for the remanufacture of 110 Air Launched Cruise Missile warhead arming devices for the fifth option period. Work will be performed at Newark, Ohio, and is expected to be completed by May 9, 2020. This award is the result of a sole source acquisition. Fiscal 2019 missiles procurement funds in the amount of $7,494,440.00 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Sustainment Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/1952112/source/GovDelivery/

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  June 23, 2020 | International, Naval

  The US Navy and Marine Corps should acquire Army watercraft

  By: Capt. Walker D. Mills and Lt. Joseph Hanacek The Navy intends to acquire up to 30 new light amphibious warships, or LAW, to support new Marine Corps requirements. The vessels are needed to meet the challenges of “evolving threats in the global maritime environment,” according to the Navy program office, and are tied to the new operational concepts of Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations and Distributed Maritime Operations as well as the Marine Corps' Force Design 2030 effort. Once complete, the acquisition will have almost doubled the number of L-class amphibious ships already in naval service. Rather than accepting a new amphibious design built from the ground up, however, decision-makers should take advantage of the fact that many key requirements of the new vessels are very similar to the capabilities of vessels operated by U.S. Army Transportation Command. The Navy and Marine Corps should delay any new construction and immediately acquire some of these existing vessels to drive experimentation and better inform their requirements for the LAW program. The key requirements of the future LAW include having 8,000 square feet of cargo space, a range of 3,500 miles, a speed of up to 14 knots, accommodation for a crew of up to 40 Navy personnel and 75 embarked Marines, and up to 200 feet in length. The vessel also needs to have a roll-on/roll-off capability, preferably with a stern ramp. U.S. Army Transportation Command has over 100 vessels, and dozens have similar capabilities to those required of the LAW. The Army's LCU-2000s, also called the Runnymede-class large landing crafts, are smaller, with roughly half of the cargo space designed for the LAW and slightly slower, but they boast nearly double the range. The Runnymede-class vessels have nearly 4,000 square feet of cargo space and can travel 6,500 miles when loaded and at 12 knots; and they can unload at the beach with their bow ramp. The Army's General Frank S. Besson-class logistics support vessels are larger than the future LAW, at 273 feet in length but can claim 10,500 square feet of cargo space and a 6,500-mile range loaded to match the LCU-2000. These vessels also have both a bow and stern ramp for roll-on/roll-off capability at the beach or ship-to-ship docking at sea. The version built for the Phillipine military also has a helipad. Army Transportation Command has 32 Runnymede-class and eight General Frank S. Besson-class vessels in service. Mostly built in the 1990s, both classes of vessel have many years left in their life expectancy and more than meet the Navy's 10-year life expectancy for the LAW. These vessels are operable today and could be transferred from the Army to the Navy or Marine Corps tomorrow. In fact, the Army was attempting to divest itself of these watercraft less than a year ago, which underscores the importance of this opportunity even further. Congress is firmly set against the Army getting rid of valuable, seaworthy vessels and has quashed all of the Army's efforts to do so thus far, but transferring this equipment to the Navy is a reasonable course of action that should satisfy all parties involved. While acquiring “surplus” military equipment might lack the allure and promise of designing a new ship class from the ground up, the reality of the situation is that this overlapping of service needs couldn't come at a better time. By acquiring a watercraft that meets most of their requirements from the Army, the Navy and Marine Corps simultaneously fill current capability gaps and obtain an invaluable series of assets they can use to support the evaluation and experimentation of new designs and concepts. This will allow Navy and Marine leaders to give their units the maximum amount of time to evaluate and experiment with new designs to get a better idea of what they need both in future amphibious craft as well as operational and support equipment. The significance of so rapidly acquiring the Army's amphibious craft isn't just limited to developing a better amphibious force either. There is a very real capability gap that exists in the fleet today in the areas of surplus seagoing capacity, and acquiring these Army watercraft would go an extremely long way toward addressing it. Often overlooked, the availability of surplus vessels is absolutely critical to the process of developing new technologies, developing the tactics to employ them, conducting training, and providing decision-makers the requisite capacity to remain flexible in the face of unexpected challenges. The Navy and Marine Corps today are hurtling toward a new future of distributed operations and unprecedented levels of integration in the littorals. The Marine Corps commandant has clearly specified that force design is his No. 1 priority and that significant changes to the Marine Corps are in the works. At the same time, the Navy and Marine Corps continue to serve as the first responders for many of the nation's emerging challenges around the globe. They've long been in need of a boost in their amphibious capabilities so as to be better positioned to meet the demands of today and prepare for the challenges of tomorrow, and taking possession of the Army's Runnymede- and Frank S. Benson-class vessels is a solution on a silver platter. Capt. Walker D. Mills is a U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer serving in Cartagena, Colombia. Lt. Joseph Hanacek is a U.S. Navy surface warfare officer based in Dam Neck, Virginia. The views expressed here are theirs alone and do not necessarily represent the views of these military branches or the Defense Department. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/06/22/the-us-navy-and-marine-corps-should-acquire-army-watercraft/

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  April 12, 2023 | International, Aerospace

  Saab eyes Colombia, Peru as potential Gripen clients amid Latam push

  Sweden's Saab AB is looking to boost sales of its Gripen fighter in Latin America, eyeing potential purchases by Colombia and Peru as it prepares to start producing the aircraft in Brazil in partnership with Embraer SA .