Intuitive Machines gets $116.9 mln NASA contract for delivery to Moon's south pole

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  September 9, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - September 08, 2020

  AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Roy, Utah, has been awarded a $13,293,562,839 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for a tested and fully qualified design of the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD). The GBSD will replace the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Weapon system. This contract will provide for the engineering and manufacturing of the GBSD. Work will be performed in Roy, Utah, and multiple other locations nationwide, and is expected to be completed February 2029. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and one offer was received. Fiscal Year 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $85,000,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (FA8219-20-C-0006). NAVY Raytheon Technologies Corp., Pratt and Whitney Military Engines, East Hartford, Connecticut, is awarded a $174,221,174 modification (P00022) to previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm, cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost contract N00019-18-C-1021. This modification exercises an option for the production and delivery of 14 F135-PW-100 low rate initial production Lot 14 propulsion systems for the Air Force in support of the F-35A conventional take-off and landing aircraft. Work will be performed in Middletown, Connecticut (46%); East Hartford, Connecticut (22%); Windsor Locks, Connecticut (16%); North Berwick, Maine (11%); Phoenix, Arizona (3%); and Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico (2%), and is expected to be completed in June 2022. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Air Force) funds in the amount of $174,221,174 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. RDA Inc.,* Doylestown, Pennsylvania, is awarded a $19,983,378 cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N68335-20-F-0360) against previously issued basic ordering agreement N68335-20-G-3039. This order provides for continued advanced technology research and development efforts for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) products for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and under-sea warfare (USW) systems under SBIR topic N98-035 titled “Signal Processing and System Concepts to Exploit Passive Signals in Airborne Active ASW Missions; topic N04-247 titled “Littoral Environment Parameter Estimation from Bistatic and Multistatic Fleet Air ASW Acoustic Reverberation Data;” and topic N06-011 titled “Multi-Sensor Data Fusion for Littoral Undersea Warfare.” Further development and research efforts will include engineering, technical, managerial, analysis, prototyping, maintenance, quality control, training and test participation. Additionally, this order provides operational software development, acoustic capability enhancements and technical engineering for further development and transition of technologies and system performance improvements, providing on-going fleet training and maintenance products for deployed systems. Work will be performed in Warrenton, Virginia (45%); Patuxent River, Maryland (35%); and Doylestown, Pennsylvania (20%), and is expected to be completed in September 2025. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $852,759 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. Aeronautics Systems, San Diego, California, is awarded an $11,635,599 cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N00019-20-F-0103) against previously issued basic ordering agreement N00019-20-G-0005. This order provides non-recurring engineering for qualification testing and integration of the Redundancy unmanned air vehicle common automatic recovery systems and multi-platform anti-jam Global Positioning System navigation antenna integrated upgrades into the MQ-8C Fire Scout aircraft. Work will be performed in San Diego, California (90%); and Moss Point, Mississippi (10%), and is expected to be completed in January 2023. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $11,635,599 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY Qwest Government Solutions Inc., doing business as CenturyLink QGS, Herndon, Virginia, was awarded a $70,250,013 modification (P00004) against non-competitive firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract HC1013-19-D-0002 to increase the current contract ceiling. This modification allows for the continued operations and maintenance support for dark fiber and commercial facilities in the continental U.S. to support the Department of Defense. Funding will be obligated at the individual task orders. The total contract ceiling value has increased from $126,895,698 to $197,145,711. The period of performance is Nov. 30, 2018, through Nov. 29, 2023. The Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity. ARMY Amentum Services Inc., Germantown, Maryland, was awarded a $29,034,547 hybrid (cost-no-fee, labor-hours) contract for contractor labor support services at Anniston Army Depot and Watervliet Arsenal. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed at Anniston Army Depot, Alabama; and Watervliet Arsenal, New York, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 15, 2023. Fiscal 2020 Army working capital funds in the amount of $29,034,547 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-20-F-0396). Manson Construction, Seattle, Washington, was awarded a $26,493,750 firm-fixed-price contract for maintenance dredging. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work will be performed in Plaquemines, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of June 20, 2021. Fiscal 2020 civil operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $26,493,750 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-20-C-0061). Kallidus Technologies Inc.,* Lowell, Massachusetts, was awarded a $15,478,911 firm-fixed-price contract to construct a new security forces and communications training facility. Bids were solicited via the internet with six received. Work will be performed in Westhampton Beach, New York, with an estimated completion date of April 1, 2022. Fiscal 2020 military construction (Army National Guard) funds in the amount of $15,478,911 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Property and Fiscal Office, New York, is the contracting activity (W50S8E-20-C-0005). Bell Textron Inc., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $13,500,000 order-dependent contract to conduct design studies, analyses, simulation, testing, integration and fabrication activities in order to mitigate risks, investigate operational usage and conduct maturation activities at the technology, subsystem and system-level maturation for the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft and its variants. 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 Sept. 7, 2025. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W911W6-20-D-0006). Enviremedial Services Inc.,* Oceanside, California, was awarded a $9,455,140 firm-fixed-price contract for a vehicle wash system, preventive maintenance and inspections, labor, management, supervision, tools, materials and equipment to perform facility support services at Marine Corps Reserve centers. 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 March 28, 2026. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston, South Carolina, is the contracting activity (W912HP-20-D-3000). DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY HRL Laboratories LLC, Malibu, California, was awarded a modification to incorporate sole-source additional scope totaling $8,390,427 to previously awarded contract HR0011-19-C-0006 for a Phase 2 Millimeter-wave GaN Maturation (MGM) project. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $18,789,575 from $10,399,148. Work will be performed in Malibu, California, with an expected completion date of September 2022. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $1,950,000 are being obligated at time of award. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity. Kryptowire LLC, McLean, Virginia, was awarded a $7,337,148 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for a research project under the Open, Programmable, Secure 5G (OPS-5G) program. The OPS-5G program will create open source software and systems enabling secure 5G and subsequent secure mobile networks such as 6G. Work will be performed in McLean, Virginia; Blacksburg, Virginia; and Fairfax, Virginia, with an expected completion date of September 2024. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funding in the amount of $883,977 is being obligated at time of award. This contract was a competitive acquisition under an open broad agency announcement and 40 offers were received. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HR0011-20-C-0154). *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2340084/source/GovDelivery/

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  June 17, 2019 | International, Other Defence

  Enabling Revolutionary Nondestructive Inspection Capability

  X-rays and gamma rays have a wide range of applications including scanning suspicious maritime shipping containers for illicit materials, industrial inspection of materials and processes, and medical diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Current technologies, however, are not ideal. X-rays produce a continuum of energies that limit their inspection and diagnostic performance, and gamma rays can only be produced at specific energies unique to a given radioactive isotope. DARPA today announced its Gamma Ray Inspection Technology (GRIT) program. GRIT seeks novel approaches to achieve high-intensity, tunable, and narrow-bandwidth sources of gamma ray radiation in a compact, transportable form factor that would enable a wide range of national security, industrial, and medical applications. A Proposers Day webinar describing the goals of the program is scheduled for July 8, 2019. “What we're trying to do in GRIT is transform the use of x-rays and gamma rays,” said Mark Wrobel, program manager in DARPA's Defense Sciences Office. “Current sources of gamma rays, like Cobalt-60 or Cesium-137, are not very flexible. They require special licenses to possess and only emit gamma rays at very specific energies. What we desire is a source of very high-energy photons that we can tune to match the application we need. This ranges from more effective detection of illicit cargo, to a more informative medical x-ray.” GRIT aims to provide a source of tunable, pure x-rays and gamma rays from tens of keV (kilo-electron volts) up through over ten MeV (mega-electron volts). Currently, tunable and narrow bandwidth gamma ray sources only exist at highly specialized user facilities best suited for basic research and are not able to support broad practical applications. Shrinking these photon sources to a transportable system is a major goal and challenge of the GRIT program. GRIT technology could make possible a range of new inspection and diagnostic protocols. In medical and industrial radiography, for example, GRIT could enable revealing specific elemental and material content, such as calcium in bones or specific metals in cargo. A typical x-ray only shows differences in density in the object being inspected – whether a piece of luggage at an airport, or an individual at a doctor's office. If successful, a GRIT x-ray source could be tuned to detect and quantify the concentration of specific elements of interest, such as the amount of calcium in a given bone x-ray, enabling radiologists to actually see bone composition. Tuning energy between 10s of keV to over 100 hundred keV would allow detection of specific elements that might be of interest in characterizing novel materials and processes at micron scales. These techniques would be relevant to defense applications including non-destruction inspection of novel additively manufactured materials and alloys for their elemental composition. At energy levels in the MeV range, gamma ray photons have high enough energy to actually interact with the nuclei of atoms. Whereas x-rays work by interacting with the shells of atoms, GRIT would be able to stimulate the nucleus of an atom to bring about an effect called nuclear resonance fluorescence, a sort of “fingerprint” that is unique to each isotope on the periodic table. “With GRIT, you could probe and detect specific isotopes of interest by fine-tuning the photon energy to minimize background noise and take advantage of the nuclear resonance fluorescence phenomenon,” Wrobel said. “Those isotopes could be rare-earth elements of interest or special nuclear materials. To be able to definitively say, ‘Yes, there's highly enriched uranium in this object' and be able to characterize how much is present would be a significant leap forward over our current capabilities.” DARPA is seeking expertise in a range of technologies on the GRIT program including advanced accelerator technology, high-energy laser systems, novel control systems, and new x-ray and gamma ray detector technology. To register for the GRIT Proposers Day webinar, visit: https://go.usa.gov/xmh28. GRIT's focus on new, compact photon sources for inspection complements DARPA's Intense and Compact Neutron Sources (ICONS) program, which is developing compact neutron sources. The two technologies would work in tandem, yielding a very robust inspection capability. Caption: The Gamma Ray Inspection Technology (GRIT) program seeks tunable gamma ray sources for a host of national security, industrial, and medical applications. https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2019-06-14

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  September 28, 2018 | International, Aerospace

  LOCKHEED MARTIN SELECTS HARRIS CORPORATION TO DELIVER F-35'S NEXT GENERATION COMPUTER PROCESSOR

  Supply Chain Competition Continues to Reduce Cost and Enhance Capability FORT WORTH, Texas, Sept. 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has selected Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS) to develop and deliver the next generation Integrated Core Processor (ICP) for the F-35 fighter jet. The Lockheed Martin-led competition within the F-35 supply chain will significantly reduce cost and enhance capability. The F-35's ICP acts as the brains of the F-35, processing data for the aircraft's communications, sensors, electronic warfare, guidance and control, cockpit and helmet displays. "We are aggressively pursuing cost reduction across the F-35 enterprise and, after conducting a thorough review and robust competition, we're confident the next generation Integrated Core Processor will reduce costs and deliver transformational capabilities for the warfighter," said Greg Ulmer, Lockheed Martin vice president and general manager of the F-35 program. "The next generation Integrated Core Processor for the F-35 will have positive benefits for all customers in terms of life cycle cost, capability, reliability and more." The new Integrated Core Processor is a key element of the planned "Technology Refresh 3" modernization that takes advantage of fast evolving computing power to ensure the advanced F-35 remains ahead of evolving threats. Additional elements in the tech refresh include the Panoramic Cockpit Display Electronic Unit and Aircraft Memory System, which were also recompeted and awarded to Harrislast year. Reduce Costs, Increased Performance The Harris-built ICP will be integrated into F-35 aircraft starting with Lot 15 aircraft, expected to begin deliveries in 2023. The next generation ICP system is targeted to generate the following results compared to the current system: 75 percent reduction in unit cost 25 times increase in computing power to support planned capability enhancements Greater software stability, higher reliability, and increased diagnostics resulting in lower sustainment costs An Open System Architecture to enable the flexibility to add, upgrade and update future capabilities "The new F-35 ICP will pave the way for system scalability well into the future," said Ed Zoiss, president, Harris Electronic Systems. "Open systems are the future of avionics and Harris has invested substantial R&D to deliver more affordable and higher performance solutions than would have been possible using proprietary technology." Supply Chain Optimization The ICP selection comes on the heels of Lockheed Martin's selection of Raytheon for the Next Gen Distributed Aperture System, which will reduce lifecycle costs by more than $3 billion, enhance reliability and increased capability. "With production ramping up and the operational fleet growing fast, we are looking at every layer of our global supply chain to find opportunities to increase capacity, reduce production and sustainment costs, improve parts reliability and enhance capabilities," said Ulmer. In addition to competition, the company is transitioning several F-35 suppliers to longer term Performance Based Logistics contracts to enhance parts availability and reduce sustainment costs. Previously under annual contracts, the new 5-year PBLs allow each supplier to make longer term investments and actions to reduce costs and improve efficiencies. With radar evading stealth technology, advanced sensors, enhanced weapons capacity, supersonic speed and superior range, the F-35 is the most lethal, survivable and connected fighter aircraft ever built. More than a fighter jet, the F-35's ability to collect, analyze and share data is a powerful force multiplier enhancing all airborne, surface and ground-based assets in the battlespace and enabling men and women in uniform to execute their mission and come home safe. For additional information, visit www.f35.com. About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 100,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. This year the company received three Edison Awards for ground-breaking innovations in autonomy, satellite technology and directed energy. About Harris Corporation Harris Corporation is a leading technology innovator, solving customers' toughest mission-critical challenges by providing solutions that connect, inform and protect. Harris supports government and commercial customers in more than 100 countries and has approximately $6 billion in annual revenue. The company is organized into three business segments: Communication Systems, Space and Intelligence Systems, and Electronic Systems. Learn more at harris.com. SOURCE Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2018-09-27-Lockheed-Martin-Selects-Harris-Corporation-to-Deliver-F-35s-Next-Generation-Computer-Processor