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  June 3, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  COVID-19 Infects Defense Industry With F-35 Production Slowdown

  Steve Trimble May 27, 2020 This was supposed to be a relatively easy year for Lockheed Martin's F-35 production. As 2020 began, the stealth fighter program's three-year growth spurt had subsided after annual deliveries more than doubled between 2017 and 2019. Lockheed planned to deliver 141 F-35s in 2020, only seven more than in 2019. But the F-35 supply chain is not immune from the global disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. After signaling during a first quarter earnings call in April that a production slowdown was likely, Lockheed confirmed the impact on May 19. The company issued a new forecast of 117-124 F-35 deliveries this year. If Lockheed is unable to recover in the second half, the slowdown would mark the first year-over-year decrease in F-35 deliveries since the program began. “However, we will accelerate production when we return to pre-COVID-19 conditions and could see this number decrease,” the company says. The company's new financial guidance reflects the lower F-35 delivery total, with net sales for the year falling to a range of $62.25-64 billion from $62.75-64.25 billion. Other large F-35 suppliers include Northrop Grumman (center fuselage, radar), Raytheon Technologies (engine, distributed aper-ture system) and BAE Systems (aft fuselage, electronic warfare suite). It was not immediately clear which customers and variants would be affected by the potential shortfall of 18-24 F-35 deliveries in 2020. The Defense Department is closely watching the F-35, its single-largest production system. So far, senior acquisition officials expect the overall impact of the novel coronavirus on weapon system production to be manageable. But the Pentagon leadership considers the military aircraft industry an exception. Although demand and domestic U.S. military spending remain intact, the military aviation supply chain's links to the collapsing commercial aircraft market is causing delays. “I think [military] aviation has had a more acute sensitivity to supplier disruptions, largely driven by the massive upheaval in the commercial aviation market,” said James Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition. “Many of the aerospace companies were blended between military and commercial, and with commercial just falling through the floor, their abilities to stay open and keep their workforce has been a little bit more challenged.” Another sector Geurts is watching is the market for command, control, communications and computers and intelligence (C4I). “We're trying to track all of it,” he says. “But the most immediate impact we've seen has been on aviation.” Lockheed's F-35 assembly line in Fort Worth was hit hard by the COVID outbreak in mid-April. One employee, Claude Daniels, died after reporting COVID-19-related symptoms to a supervisor. Another F-35 employee, who survived, broadcast a Facebook Live video from his hospital bed, pleading with his unionized co-workers to sanitize their workspaces even if it is not in their job description. The company's management has said that the F-35 assembly line adopted new protocols in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which included regularly sanitizing equipment and quarantining employees exposed by co-workers or others to the virus. The COVID-19 response is not the only pressure on the F-35's production system. Lockheed exceeded the overall delivery target by three aircraft in 2019, but slower production of the less mature F-35C airframe nearly caused the company to miss the annual goal. To compensate, Lockheed moved up deliveries of four F-35As originally scheduled for 2020 to the end of 2019, allowing the company to beat the delivery target by three aircraft instead of missing it by one. Before the impact of the virus, the F-35's global supply chain was already strained by the three-year production ramp-up from 2017 to 2019. Late part deliveries jumped to 10,000 in 2019 from 2,000 in 2017, according to a May report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Monthly parts shortages, meanwhile, leaped to 8,000 in July 2019 from 875 a year before, the GAO says. The shortages represent a fraction of the 300,000 parts in each F-35, but the trend offered a glimpse of the pressure on the supply chain to meet demand during the ramp-up. https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/supply-chain/covid-19-infects-defense-industry-f-35-production-slowdown

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  April 28, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - April 27, 2020

  ARMY H&L Contracting LLC, Bay Shore, New York, was awarded a $113,747,342 firm-fixed-price contract for reduction of storm damages from coastal erosion and flooding through storm protective reinforced dune, beach berm and dune construction. Bids were solicited via the internet with eight received. Work will be performed in Rockaway, New York, with an estimated completion date of April 26, 2024. Fiscal 2014 civil construction funds in the amount of $113,747,342 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York, New York, is the contracting activity (W912DS-20-C-0015). Capco LLC,* Grand Junction, Colorado, was awarded a $33,600,571 firm-fixed-price contract for 40 mm M320 and 40 mm M320A1 grenade launchers. 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 April 26, 2025. U.S. Army Contracting Command, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (W15QKN-20-F-0377). Columbia Helicopters, Aurora, Oregon, was awarded a $9,900,000 firm-fixed-price contract to procure overhaul/repair of helicopter rotor heads. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of March 30, 2023. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-20-F-0370). Columbia Helicopters, Aurora, Oregon, was awarded an $8,150,000 firm-fixed-price contract to procure overhaul/repair of helicopter rotor heads. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 30, 2022. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-20-F-0369). Applied Aquatic Management Inc.,* Bartow, Florida, was awarded a $7,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide vegetation management, environmental restoration and protection, vegetation/geographic information systems mapping and aerial photographs on various projects and properties within boundaries of the South Atlantic Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Bids were solicited via the internet with seven received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of April 26, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity (W912EP-20-D-0003). NAVY Environmental Chemical Corp., Burlingame, California, is awarded a $58,398,023 modification under firm-fixed-price task order (N62470-19-F-9101) to allot the second increment, which provides for the construction of the master time clocks and operations facility at the Naval Observatory. Work will be performed in Washington, District of Columbia, and provides for the construction of new master time clocks and an operations facility. Work will include construction of Building 51, demolition of Building 82, upgrade of Building 83 electrical components, renovation of Building 78, rehabilitation of existing Building 6 and 7 foundations, walls and piers, Pepco 13.2kV (electric power company name and service voltage) work inside and outside of the fence line at the Naval Observatory fence line to include Verizon fiber work. Work is expected to be complete by September 2024. The total contract amount after allotting these funds will be $90,696,992. Fiscal 2020 military construction, (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $58,393,023 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N62470-18-D-8025). Vigor Marine LLC, Portland, Oregon, is awarded a $20,880,790 firm, fixed-price contract (N32205-20-C-4005) for an 87-calendar day shipyard availability for the overhaul dry-docking availability of the USNS Guadalupe (T-AO 200). The $20,880,790 consists of the amounts listed in the following areas: Category “A” work item costs, additional government requirement, other direct costs and the general and administrative costs. Work will be performed in Portland, Oregon. Work will include the furnishing of general services, shipboard access, clean and gas free tank voids and cofferdams, preservation of aft ballast and cargo tanks as well as the flight deck, overhaul repairs to main engine turbochargers and HP air compressor, davit arms and falls removal, cleaning and painting of hull freeboard and underwater hull, steel replacement and underway replenishment systems repairs. Work is expected to be complete by July 2020. The contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the total contract value to $22,186,509. Funds will be obligated on April 24, 2020. Contract funds in the amount of $20,880,790, excluding options, are obligated for fiscal 2020 using working capital (Navy) funds. This contract was competitively procured, with proposals solicited via the Federal Business Opportunities website and one offer was received. Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity. (Awarded April 24, 2020) Huntington Ingalls Inc., Pascagoula, Mississippi, is awarded a $10,100,000 cost-plus-award-fee delivery order against previously awarded basic ordering agreement N00024-16-G-2303 to provide program management, advanced planning, engineering, design, material procurement/kitting, liaison, scheduling, participation in planning conferences and design reviews in support of the post shakedown availability for DDG-119 (guided missile destroyers). Work will be performed in Pascagoula, Mississippi (75%); and Norfolk, Virginia (25%), and is expected to be complete by August 2021. Fiscal 2020 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $10,100,000 will be obligated at time of delivery order and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1), with only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair Gulf Coast, Pascagoula, Mississippi, is the contracting activity. (Awarded April 24, 2020) PrimeTech International Inc.,* North Kansas City, Missouri, is awarded a $9,322,851 firm-fixed-price, cost reimbursable General Services Administration (GSA) task order for integrated logistics distribution support. Work will be performed in Albany, Georgia. Work is expected to be complete by May 2021. If all options are exercised, work will continue through November 2021. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $14,355,112. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $9,322,851 will be obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured as a small business set-aside via the GSA eBuy website, with seven proposals received. The Marine Corps Logistics Command, Albany, Georgia, is the contracting activity (M67004-20-F-4101). Bell Boeing Joint Program Office, Amarillo, Texas, is awarded an $8,126,000 modification (16) to a cost-plus-fixed-fee order (0073) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-12-G-0006). This modification adds non-recurring baseline performance rig test efforts in support of the Improved Inlet Solution/Engine Air Particle Separator preliminary design on MV-22 and CV-22 Tiltrotor aircraft. Work will be performed in Indianapolis, Indiana (57%); Fort Worth, Texas (34%); Ridley Park, Pennsylvania (8%); and Jackson, Mississippi (1%), and is expected to be complete by April 2021. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Air Force) funds in the amount of $1,862,344; and fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,241,562 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Imagine Milling Technologies LLC, Fullerton, California, has been awarded a maximum $40,000,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for medical equipment and accessories for the Defense Logistics Agency electronic catalog. This was a competitive acquisition with 115 responses received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is California, with an April 26, 2025, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2025 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2DH-20-D-0035). DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY AT&T Corp., Columbia, Maryland, was awarded a firm-fixed-price contract modification to exercise Option Year Four for the Northstar Long-Haul Telecommunications Network and associated transmission circuits for an ultra-high frequency/line of sight communications system network. The face value of this action is $12,312,149, funded by fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds. The total cumulative face value of the contract is $68,464,912. The place of performance will be at various sites geographically dispersed across the continental U.S. The period of performance for this action is May 1, 2020, to April 30, 2021. The Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity (HC1013-16-C-0001, P00014). AIR FORCE Boeing Aerospace Operations Inc., St. Louis, Missouri, has been awarded an $8,733,007 firm-fixed-price task order FA8134-20-F-5701 against basic contract FA8106-16-D-0004 for crew rest modification efforts on the Air Force C-32 fleet. Work will be performed at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by Feb. 28, 2022. Fiscal 2019 and 2020 aircraft procurement funds in the amount of $8,733,007 will be obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity. Sierra Nevada Corp., Sparks, Nevada, has been awarded an $8,161,843 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for an Intent-Defined Adaptive Software (IDAS) Prototype. This contract provides for a software engineering performance baseline for measuring IDAS improvement over the current software by attempting challenges with existing tools and techniques and measuring the learning curve required for traditional developers to adopt emerging IDAS capabilities. Work will be performed in Herndon, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by April 27, 2024. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and 20 offers were received. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $737,596 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Rome, New York, is the contracting activity (FA8750-20-C-0518). *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2167014/source/GovDelivery/

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  July 15, 2022 | International, Aerospace

  Merlin Labs raises $105M, announces partnership with USAF to autonomize Super Hercules transport aircraft - Skies Mag

  After raising $105 million in Series B funding, autonomous flight company Merlin Labs announced a partnership with the United States Air Force to bring autonomy to the service’s C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft.