June 21, 2019 | International, Land
By: Jen Judson
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has awarded a sixth contract to EOS Defense Systems USA, Inc. to develop a design to integrate a new weapon system on a Stryker combat vehicle.
The service originally announced it was awarding contracts to five companies, but following a protest filed by EOS, it reevaluated the company's proposal and determined it too should receive a contract, according to the Stryker project manager, Col. Glenn Dean, who spoke to Defense News in an interview this month.
The company protested the Army's original decision through Army Contracting Command; upon review, Dean said, it was learned the proposal had not been “accurately assessed.”
The sixth award was made June 5 and posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website. The Army made no follow-up announcement regarding the contract.
EOS is an Australian-owned company focused on precise, remote weapon systems.
The Army awarded $150,000 contracts to five companies on May 23 under its Stryker Medium Caliber Weapons System (MCWS) lethality program:
Defense News first reported in May that the Army had decided — after upgunning some of its Stryker vehicles with a 30mm cannon — that it would proceed to outfit at least three of its six brigades of double V-hull A1 Stryker infantry carrier vehicles with the more powerful guns and would hold a competition to acquire that weapon system.
The companies have to come up with integration designs using a government-furnished XM813 gun on a government-furnished Stryker DVH A1 hull.
The Army was prepared to award six contracts and had the money to bring EOS into the effort, Dean said.
Despite the late award, EOS was able to jump into the effort and participated in contractor training on the Stryker and the 30mm cannon, which took place earlier this month, so the companies could take possession of the government-furnished equipment.
The MCWS program will be carried out in two phases, which will culminate in equipping a Stryker DVH A1 brigade in fiscal 2022, according to the Army.
As part of the design study, competitors will build a production-representative vehicle.
The second phase will be a full and open competition to award a production contract. Draft requests for proposals will be released to industry beginning in fall 2019.
The two phases, as well as fielding, are expected to take 39 months total — a short timeline.
While the Army plans to initially procure three brigade sets of the Stryker MCWS DVH A1 — a total of 83 vehicles per brigade — the service could procure systems for additional brigades at future decision points, the Army said.
December 11, 2024 | International, Aerospace
Haifa, Israel, December 10, 2024 – Elbit Systems Ltd. announced today that it was awarded two contracts with an aggregate value of approximately $175 million for the supply of EW...
April 27, 2018 | International, Aerospace
By: Sebastian Sprenger BERLIN ― Airbus, Dassault and Leonardo have revealed the first full-scale model of an envisioned European drone at the Berlin Air Show, upping the the visibility ― and scrutiny ― of a project meant to epitomize the continent's growing military profile. Thursday's mock-up unveiling was orchestrated with big fanfare on the tarmac of Schönefeld airport south of the German capital. Featuring climactic music, lights and dissipating smoke, the ceremony organizers were lucky enough to catch a momentary break between a hefty mix of rain showers, sunshine and wind gusts, considered typical April weather here. The medium-altitude, long-endurance aircraft rides on a twin-turboprop propulsion system and will come in a strike-capable configuration when it reaches the actual flying stage in the mid-2020s. Germany, France, Italy and Spain have a hand in the program, though only the first three are considered the principal main industry partners, with Germany's Airbus in the lead. Notably, companies are building the unmanned plane so it can operate immediately in the dense European airspace. Past practice of first acquiring a drone and later worrying about requisite certifications has proven to be problematic, especially for the Germans. The mock-up is based on a vehicle configuration agreed by the partner nations in mid-2017. In January, the program passed a systems requirements review, prompting another study phase that should last through 2018 and lead to another milestone, a “system preliminary design review,” the companies wrote in a statement. “While still a lot of work lies ahead of us, this full-scale model represents a first milestone of what Europe can achieve in a high-technology sector if it bundles its industrial strength and know-how,” said Dirk Hoke, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space. Hoke told reporters he views the approach to the drone as a learning experience for a new combat aircraft development that is on the horizon between Germany and France. In addition, he told Defense News there is some hope of redemption for problem-plagued projects of the past. For example, the European drone will come in one base configuration for all the countries that users can then move to expand, avoiding too many separate build types that came to haunt the A-400M, Hoke said. “This is a chance to prove that we can work in a different way together,” he said. One of the configurations will entail a strike package, though officials said they had yet to think about the particulars of that mission set. In an apparent nod to Germany, Hoke told Defense News that the combat capability would depend on political sensitivities in each user nations, and that customers can opt to solely install the reconnaissance features. Armed drones are a thorny subject in Germany, as the weapons conjure up images of the U.S. government's targeted killing of suspected terrorists, which many in the country reject. By the time the issue of armaments comes up for the Eurodrone, however, there may already be a resolution. That's because upcoming parliamentary decisions could lead to Germany's first-ever armed drone, the Heron TP, leased through Airbus from Israel. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/techwatch/2018/04/26/companies-unveil-eurodrone-model-at-berlin-air-show/
October 27, 2022 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence
Along with investments in directed-energy and hypersonics, the strategy would make U.S. a 'fast-follower' in artificial intelligence and autonomy.