How US Navy experiments could get drones beyond spying and into battle

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  October 22, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense – October 21, 2020

  WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS SERVICES Deloitte & Touche LLP, Arlington, Virginia, has been awarded a $52,928,501 firm-fixed-price, labor-hours and time and material contract. The contract provides audit remediation, risk management, financial management and reporting, data analytics and related services for the Deputy Chief Financial Officer Program within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller). When funds become available, fiscal 2021 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $9,216,636 will be obligated for this requirement. The expected completion date is Oct. 25, 2025. Washington Headquarters Services, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HQ0034-21-F-0002). NAVY Whitney, Bradley & Brown Inc., Reston, Virginia (N00189-21-D-Z001); Systems Planning & Analysis Inc., Alexandria, Virginia (N00189-21-D-Z002); and Metron Inc., Reston, Virginia (N00189-21-D-Z003), are awarded an estimated $35,478,966 multiple award for cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts to provide analytical, engineering, scientific and programming services in support of the program objective memorandum of the Chief of Naval Operations in the areas of manpower, fleet readiness and logistics capabilities. The contracts will run concurrently and will include a 60-month ordering period and are expected to be completed by October 2025. Work will be performed at various contractor supplier locations (94%); and Washington, D.C. (6%). The percentage of work at each contractor facility cannot be determined at this time. Fiscal 2021 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $150,000 ($50,000 on each of the three contracts) will be obligated to fund the contracts' minimum amounts and funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Individual task orders will be subsequently funded with appropriate fiscal year appropriations at the time of their issuance. This contract resulted from a full and open competitive solicitation through the Navy Electronic Business Opportunities and Federal Business Opportunities websites pursuant to the authority set forth in Federal Acquisition Regulation 16.504, with six offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command, Fleet Logistics Center, Norfolk Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Golden Manufacturing,* Golden, Mississippi, has been awarded a maximum $10,629,109 modification (P00010) exercising the first one-year option period of an 18-month base contract (SPE1C1-19-D-1160) with three one-year option periods for various types of trousers and slacks. This is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. Location of performance is Mississippi, with an Oct. 23, 2021, ordering period end date. Using military services are Navy and Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2022 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2389920/source/GovDelivery/

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  June 26, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  The F-35 Will Give Poland A More Advanced Air Force Than Some Major NATO Allies

  June 24, 2020 - This past January, the Polish government took the bold step to acquire thirty-two F-35A Joint Strike Fighters (JSF). Poland is becoming a major player in NATO. It is working to modernize its air, sea and land forces. It is also forging closer relations with the United States, hosting U.S. forces, allowing the prepositioning of military equipment, and working to improve interoperability. By making the decision to buy the F-35, Poland will leap ahead of a number of its European allies, most notably France and Germany, and enter the elite group of countries operating fifth- generation aircraft. The F-35 will not only be America's premier fifth generation fighter, but the world's. From its inception, the JSF was going to be an international fighter. The F-35 Consortium, consisting of the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, Norway, Denmark, and until recently Turkey, contributed more than $4 billion towards the program's development costs. The aerospace industries in each of these countries also contributed critical technologies. Current estimates for international purchases are between 600 and 700 JSFs. If all the NATO members currently planning to acquire the JSF fulfill their commitments, the F-35 will constitute NATO's single biggest fighter fleet, ahead of the Franco-German-British Eurofighter. This will provide a major boost to air power interoperability for the Alliance. The move from the current fourth-generation platforms to fifth-generation is both inevitable and urgent. There is a general consensus that fourth-generation aircraft have decreasing survivability in the face of advanced, integrated air-defense networks. Efforts to sustain the ability of older aircraft to penetrate increasing lethal defenses will require larger force packages and the extensive use of scarce support assets, such as airborne jammers. Given that NATO air forces will also be fighting outnumbered, with their infrastructure under continuous attack from long-range-fire systems, this is a losing proposition. The F-35 will inevitably become the centerpiece of NATO's air capability. Fifth-generation aircraft with low-observable features, commonly referred to as “stealthiness,” and an array of advanced sensors are able not only to counter advanced air defenses, thereby restoring the West's erstwhile advantage in the air, but improve the performance and survivability of fourth-generation aerial platforms. Employing its sophisticated suite of sensors, the JSF can pass high-quality, near-real-time targeting information to fourth-generation platforms operating at a distance from high-threat air defenses. In addition, with its revolutionary array of sensors and computers, the F-35 can serve as both a penetrating ISR and stand-in electronic warfare platform. Read more from the National Interest. View source version on F-35.com: https://www.f35.com/news/detail/the-f-35-will-give-poland-a-more-advanced-air-force-than-some-major-nato-al

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  September 7, 2023 | International, Naval, Security

  Allies target early AUKUS milestones to keep 20-year plan on track

  Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. have been hard at work since March to get the decades-long AUKUS submarine collaboration plan off to a strong start.