General Dynamics Electric Boat awarded $1.3 billion contract modification for long lead time material for Virginia-class submarines

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  January 27, 2021 | International, Naval

  Australia invests in advanced maritime weapons, minehunters

  By: Nigel Pittaway MELBOURNE, Australia — Australia's defense minister announced initiatives Monday that will fund early development work on a range of advanced guided weapons and new mine countermeasures/hydrographic ships for the Royal Australian Navy. The guided weapons program, to be developed under Project Sea 1300, is part of a 20-year, AU$24 billion (U.S. $19 billion) investment in maritime weapons that will deliver long-range anti-ship missiles, extended-range surface-to-air missiles, advanced lightweight torpedoes and maritime land-strike capabilities to the Navy. Under Project Sea 1300, the Australian government will continue to invest in the international development program for the Evolved Seasparrow Block 2 surface-to-air missile. Funds will also be used to further develop the SM-2 Block IIIC and SM-6 Block I missiles. The weapons upgrades will be integrated into the Navy's current and future major surface combatant fleet, beginning with the eight Anzac-class frigates, which are undergoing a series of upgrades via a midlife capability assurance program. “All of these new weapons will enhance the protection of our maritime resources and also our nation's border. They will also hold potential adversaries out to much greater distances — up to 1,500 kilometers [932 miles],” Defence Minister Linda Reynolds said. Reynolds added that the investment is in line with the recent Defence Strategic Update, which noted that “a number of nations” in the Asia-Pacific region are developing maritime capabilities, including sophisticated long-range strike weapons. “These announcements are not about any one nation in particular. They are about ensuring Australia has the sovereign capability in the maritime, land and air domains to protect our nation from any potential threats,” she said. Reynolds also announced that the government will acquire eight new, role-adaptable ships for mine countermeasures and hydrographic missions under Project Sea 1905. The new ships will be a variant of the Arafura-class offshore patrol vessels currently under construction for the Navy and will be built at Henderson in Western Australia. The government previously promised to build three vessels for the mine countermeasure and hydrographic roles; the new commitment for five more ships will attract an additional investment of AU$5 billion. “[The Department of] Defence has also released an invitation for Australian industry to provide us with a toolbox of robotic and autonomous systems for these eight new vessels,” the minister said. “And I would encourage all Australian companies — and we have many companies who are at the leading edge of autonomous systems, vehicles and vessels — to have a look at this and to work with Navy to develop options,” she said. https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2021/01/26/australia-invests-in-advanced-maritime-weapons-minehunters/

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  February 4, 2019 | International, C4ISR

  DARPA: Building Trusted Human-Machine Partnerships

  A key ingredient in effective teams – whether athletic, business, or military – is trust, which is based in part on mutual understanding of team members' competence to fulfill assigned roles. When it comes to forming effective teams of humans and autonomous systems, humans need timely and accurate insights about their machine partners' skills, experience, and reliability to trust them in dynamic environments. At present, autonomous systems cannot provide real-time feedback when changing conditions such as weather or lighting cause their competency to fluctuate. The machines' lack of awareness of their own competence and their inability to communicate it to their human partners reduces trust and undermines team effectiveness. To help transform machines from simple tools to trusted partners, DARPA today announced the Competency-Aware Machine Learning (CAML) program. CAML aims to develop machine learning systems that continuously assess their own performance in time-critical, dynamic situations and communicate that information to human team-members in an easily understood format. “If the machine can say, ‘I do well in these conditions, but I don't have a lot of experience in those conditions,' that will allow a better human-machine teaming,” said Jiangying Zhou, a program manager in DARPA's Defense Sciences Office. “The partner then can make a more informed choice.” That dynamic would support a force-multiplying effect, since the human would know the capabilities of his or her machine partners at all times and could employ them efficiently and effectively. In contrast, Zhou noted the challenge with state-of-the-art autonomous systems, which cannot assess or communicate their competence in rapidly changing situations. “Under what conditions do you let the machine do its job? Under what conditions should you put supervision on it? Which assets, or combination of assets, are best for your task? These are the kinds of questions CAML systems would be able to answer,” she said. Using a simplified example involving autonomous car technology, Zhou described how valuable CAML technology could be to a rider trying to decide which of two self-driving vehicles would be better suited for driving at night in the rain. The first vehicle might communicate that at night in the rain it knows if it is seeing a person or an inanimate object with 90 percent accuracy, and that it has completed the task more than 1,000 times. The second vehicle might communicate that it can distinguish between a person and an inanimate object at night in the rain with 99 percent accuracy, but has performed the task less than 100 times. Equipped with this information, the rider could make an informed decision about which vehicle to use. DARPA has scheduled a pre-recorded webcast CAML Proposers Day for potential proposers on February 20, 2019. Details are available at: https://go.usa.gov/xE9aQ. The CAML program seeks expertise in machine learning, artificial intelligence, pattern recognition, knowledge representation and reasoning, autonomous system modeling, human-machine interface, and cognitive computing. To maximize the pool of innovative proposal concepts, DARPA strongly encourages participation by non-traditional proposers, including small businesses, academic and research institutions, and first-time Government contractors. DARPA anticipates posting a CAML Broad Agency Announcement solicitation to the Federal Business Opportunities website in mid-February 2019. https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2019-01-31

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  October 15, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense – October 14, 2020

  NAVY CAPE Environmental Management Inc.,* Honolulu, Hawaii, is awarded a $90,000,000 cost-plus-award-fee modification to previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract N62742-16-D-1807 for environmental remedial action services at various sites within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Pacific area of responsibility (AOR). This modification brings the total cumulative contract value to $185,000,000. The work to be performed provides for, but is not limited to, remedial actions such as removal actions, expedited and emergency response actions, pilot and treatability studies, facility operation and maintenance and performing other related activities associated with returning sites to safe and acceptable levels. Task orders and modifications will be primarily funded by environmental restoration (Navy); base realignment and closure; and customer-reimbursable funds. Work will be performed in Hawaii (65%); California (25%); Guam (4%); Washington (1%); and other locations within the NAVFAC Pacific AOR below 1% (5%), and is expected to be completed by July 2021. No funds will be obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, is the contracting activity. Schuyler Line Navigation Co. LLC, Annapolis, Maryland, is awarded an $11,406,250 modification under previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract N32205-18-C-3508 to fund the second one-year option period. The option will continue to provide one U.S. flagged chemical and oil products tanker MT SLNC Goodwill in support of the Department of Defense Logistics Agency Energy for the transportation of clean petroleum products in the Far East region. The current contract includes a 12-month base period, three 12-month option periods and one 11-month option period. Work will be performed in the Far East region, and is expected to be completed by Oct. 14, 2021. The option will be funded by working capital funds (Navy) for fiscal 2021. The Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity. CORRECTION: A contract awarded on Sept. 9, 2020, to Core Services Group Inc.,* Virginia Beach, Virginia (N00189-20-D-0020), to provide test and evaluation support services for Commander, Operational Test and Evaluation Force Aviation Warfare Division, was announced with an incorrect value amount. The correct amount is $42,000,000, and if options are exercised, the total amount will be $47,000,000. DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY SecuriGence LLC,* Leesburg, Virginia, was awarded a $68,745,415 (excluding unexercised options) fixed-price-award-fee, firm-fixed-price, time and materials, labor hour task order for multi-network support services. This task order provides and manages the entire range of information technology (IT) services, support, engineering and infrastructure necessary to implement the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency IT operational, mission and research objectives. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia, with an expected completion date of February 2022. Fiscal 2020 research and development funds in the amount of $4,500,000 are being obligated at time of award. This task order was a competitive acquisition and three offers were received. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (GS-35F-626GA HR0011-21-F-0006). ARMY Calgon Carbon, Moon Township, Pennsylvania, was awarded an $18,920,000 firm-fixed-price contract for activated, impregnated copper-silver-zinc-molybdenum-triethylenediamine carbon in support of M49 and M98 filter production at Pine Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas. 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 Oct. 13, 2025. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W52P1J-21-D-3002). General Dynamics Land Systems Inc., Sterling Heights, Michigan, was awarded a $12,076,618 modification (P00013) to contract W56HZV-19-C-0062 for Utility Bus Interface Modules. Work will be performed in Tallahassee, Florida, with an estimated completion date of July 30, 2021. Fiscal 2021 revolving funds in the amount of $12,076,618 were obligated at the time of the award. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY CORRECTION: The contract (delivery order) announced on July 7, 2020, for BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration, Greenlawn, New York (SPRPA1-20-F-C20G), for $26,305,633, was announced with an incorrect award date and incorrect delivery order number. The correct award date is Oct. 14, 2020, and the correct delivery order number is SPRPA1-21-F-C200. *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2382161/source/GovDelivery/