Griffon, Textron advance in Army’s Future Tactical UAS competition

On the same subject

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  December 3, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - December 02, 2020

  NAVY Lockheed Martin, Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded a $48,699,897 cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-13-C-5116 to exercise an option for AEGIS Combat System Engineering Agent efforts for the design, development, integration, test and delivery of Advanced Capability Build 20. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey, and is expected to be completed by December 2021. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy) $42,843,613 (88%); 2017 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) $5,656,326 (11%); and 2021 operation and maintenance (Navy) $199,958 (1%) funding will be obligated at time of award, of which, funding in the amount of $199,958 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. Rockwell Collins Inc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is awarded a $14,782,286 modification (P00005) to previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee order N00019-20-F-0460 against previously issued basic ordering agreement N00019-19-G-0031 in support of the E-6B Mercury aircraft. This modification exercises options to provide sustaining engineering support and diminishing manufacturing sources and material shortages management in support of the E-6B take charge and move out airborne command post aircraft. Work will be performed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (80%); Patuxent River, Maryland (10%); and Bellevue, Nebraska (10%), and is expected to be completed in November 2021. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $7,472,683, will be obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. CGI Federal Inc., Fairfax, Virginia, is awarded a $9,849,208 modification (P00055) to previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract M67004-16-C-0001 for plans and data support services. This modification extends services for a one-year period. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, Florida, with an expected completion date of Dec. 31, 2021. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $4,214,671 are being obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract modification was not competed under the authority of Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1; only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The Marine Corps, Blount Island Command, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity. ARMY BAE Systems Ordnance Systems, Kingsport, Tennessee, was awarded a $19,226,072 modification (P00733) to contract DAAA09-98-E-0006 to expand the landfill at Holston Army Ammunition Plant, Tennessee. Work will be performed in Kingsport, Tennessee, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 1, 2022. Fiscal 2021 procurement of ammunition (Army) funds in the amount of $19,226,072 were obligated at the time of the award. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2432887/source/GovDelivery/

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  June 12, 2020 | International, Security

  The Army AI task force takes on two ‘key’ projects

  Andrew Eversden The Army's artificial intelligence task force is working on two key projects, including one that would allow unmanned vehicles in the air to communicate with autonomous vehicles on the ground, after securing new funding, a service official said June 10. Gen. Mike Murray, commander of Army Futures Command, said during a June 10 webinar hosted by the Association of the United States Army that the task force has moved forward on the projects through its partnership with Carnegie Mellon University, launched in late 2018 . First, the team is working on programs dedicated to unmanned-unmanned teaming, or developing the ability of air and ground unmanned vehicles to talk to one other. The other effort underway is on a DevSecOps environment to develop future algorithms to work with other Army systems, Murray said. He did not offer further detail. The task force force has fewer than 15 people, Murray said, and fiscal 2021 will be the first year that it receives appropriated funds from Congress. Much of the work the task force has done so far as been building the team. In response to an audience question, Murray said that the task force is not yet working on defending against adversarial machine learning, but added that leaders recognize that's an area the team will need to focus on. “We're going to have to work on how do we defend our algorithms and really, how do we defend our training data that we're using for our algorithms," Murray said. In order to train effective artificial intelligence, the team needs significant amounts of data. One of the first projects for the task force was collecting data to develop advanced target recognition capabilities. For example, Murray said, being able to identify different types of combat vehicles. When the work started, the training data for target recognition didn't exist. “If you're training an algorithm to recognize cats, you can get on the internet and pull up hundreds of thousands of pictures of cats,” Murray said. “You can't do that for a T-72 [a Russian tank]. You can get a bunch of pictures, but are they at the right angles, lighting conditions, vehicle sitting camouflaged to vehicle sitting open desert?” Murray also said he recognizes the Army needs to train more soldiers in data science and artificial intelligence. He told reporters in late May that the Army and CMU have created a masters program in data science that will begin in the fall. He also said that the “software factory,” a six- to 12-week course to teach soldiers basic software skills. That factory will be based in Austin, where Futures Command is located, and will work with industry's local tech industry. “We have got to get this talent identified I'm convinced we have it in our formations,” Murray said. https://www.c4isrnet.com/artificial-intelligence/2020/06/10/the-army-ai-task-force-takes-on-two-key-projects/

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  July 30, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  Pentagon Creates ‘Do Not Buy’ List of Russian, Chinese Software

  Increasingly alarmed at foreign hacking, DOD and intelligence officials are racing to educate the military and defense contractors. The Pentagon is warning the military and its contractors not to use software it deems to have Russian and Chinese connections, according to the U.S. Defense Department's acquisition chief. Officials have begun circulating a “Do Not Buy” list of software that does not meet “national security standards,” Ellen Lord, defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, said Friday. “We had specific issues ... that caused us to focus on this,” Lord told reporters at the Pentagon. “What we are doing is making sure that we do not buy software that's Russian or Chinese provenance,” she said. “Quite often that's difficult to tell at at first glance because of holding companies.” The Pentagon started compiling the list about six months ago. Suspicious companies are put on a list that is circulated to the military's software buyers. Now the Pentagon is working with the three major defense industry trade associations — the Aerospace industries Association, National Defense Industrial Association and Professional Services Council — to alert contractors small and large. https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2018/07/pentagon-creates-do-not-buy-list-russian-chinese-software/150100/