Is this the Marine Corps' next amphibious combat vehicle?

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  March 12, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - March 11, 2020

  NAVY Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, is awarded a $109,607,857 firm-fixed-price modification to previously-awarded contract N00024-19-C-5406 for MK 15 Close-In Weapon System upgrades and conversions, system overhauls and associated hardware. Work will be performed in Louisville, Kentucky (29%); Tucson, Arizona (20%); El Segundo, California (9%); Melbourne, Florida (5%); Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (3%); Andover, Massachusetts (2%); Ottobrunn, Germany (2%); Williston, Vermont (2%); Tempe, Arizona (1%); Grand Rapids, Michigan (1%); Hauppauge, New York (1%); Ashburn, Virginia (1%); East Syracuse, New York (1%); Camarillo, California (1%); Phoenix, Arizona (1%); Joplin, Missouri (1%); Murray, Utah (1%); Dallas, Texas (1%); Corona, California (1%); Huntsville, Alabama (1%); Minneapolis, Minnesota (1%); Valencia, California (1%); Palo Alto, California (1%); and various places below one percent (13%). Work is expected to be complete by October 2023. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy); fiscal 2020 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); and fiscal 2020 weapons procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $109,607,857 will be obligated at time of award and were not competitively procured. Funds in the amount of $61,492,849 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. M.A. Mortenson Co., doing business as Mortenson Construction, Minneapolis, Minnesota (N62473-18-D-5850); RQ Construction LLC, Carlsbad, California (N62473-18-D-5851); R. A. Burch Construction Co. Inc.,* Ramona, California (N62473-18-D-5852); Harper Construction Co. Inc., San Diego, California (N62473-18-D-5853); Sundt Construction Inc., Tempe, Arizona (N62473-18-D-5854); SOLPAC Construction Inc., doing business as Soltek Pacific Construction Co., San Diego, California (N62473-18-D-5855); Bethel-Webcor Pacific JV,* Anchorage, Alaska (N62473-18-D-5856); and The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., Baltimore, Maryland (N62473-18-D-5858), are awarded $92,000,000 to increase the aggregate capacity of the previously awarded suite of firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award construction contracts. The contracts are for new construction, renovation and repair of commercial and institutional building construction projects at various government installations located in California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. All work will be performed at various federal sites within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southwest area of responsibility. The maximum dollar value, including the base year and four option years for all eight contracts combined has increased from $750,000,000 to $842,000,000. No funds are being obligated on this award and contract funds will not expire. Future task orders will be primarily funded by military construction (Navy); operations and maintenance (O&M) (Navy); O&M Marine Corps; and Navy working capital funds. The original contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website and 22 proposals were received. The NAVFAC Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Corp. Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded a $65,008,603 cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost-only modification to previously-awarded contract (N00024-19-C-5603) for combat system and engineering support of the Ship Self-Defense System. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey, and is expected to be complete by June 2022. Fiscal 2020 and 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy); fiscal 2020 and 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); fiscal 2020 and 2019 other procurement (Navy); and fiscal 2018, 2017 and 2016 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $4,707,191 will be obligated at time of award. Funds in the amount of $727,389 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Ocean Shipholdings Inc., Houston, Texas, is awarded a $13,445,617 modification under previously awarded firm, fixed-price contract (N32205-17-C-3001) to fund the second one-year option period. This contract option is being exercised for the operation and maintenance of two U.S. Naval Ship (USNS) Gordon-class, class surge, large, medium-speed roll-on/roll-off vessels; and two USNS Shughart class surge, large, medium-speed roll-on/roll-off vessels. This contract includes a 12-month base period, four 12-month option periods and a six-month option which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $220,028,462. Working capital contract funds (Navy) in the amount of $13,445,617 are obligated for fiscal 2020 and fiscal 2021 and will not expire. The Navy's Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N32205-17-C-3001). American International Contractors Inc., Arlington, Virginia, is awarded a $10,017,893 firm-fixed-price contract for alterations to the operation control center at Naval Support Activity I Bahrain. The work to be performed provides for the construction of a secure area requiring adherence to the National Counterintelligence and Security Center technical specifications for construction and management of sensitive compartmented information facilities, Version 1.4. Work will be performed in Manama, Bahrain, and is expected to be completed by August 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $10,017,893 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website. This proposed contract action will be awarded pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-2, Unusual and Compelling Urgency. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Europe Africa Central, is the contracting activity (N33191-20-C-0002). Cubic Defense Applications Inc., Austin, Texas, was awarded a $9,027,588 performance-based, cost-plus-fixed-fee, completion contract (N65236-20-C-8007). This contract is for research to develop and demonstrate software for real-time logistics and supply chain system situational awareness, future state prediction and assessment of resilience at unprecedented scale and speed. The contract includes an 18-month base period. Contract funds in the amount of $100,000 were obligated at the time of award. Work will be performed in Austin, Texas (61%); Minneapolis, Minnesota (22%); and Reston, Virginia (17%), and is expected to be completed by September 2021. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract was competitively procured, by full and open competition under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Strategic Technology Office broad agency announcement HR0011-19-S-0053 via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with nine timely offers received. Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic, Charleston, South Carolina, is the contracting activity. (Awarded March 9, 2020) ARMY AECOM Technical Services Inc., Los Angeles, California (W91278-20-D-0004); HDR Environmental, Operations and Construction Inc., Englewood, Colorado (W91278-20-D-0005); MSE Group LLC,* San Antonio, Texas (W91278-20-D-0006); Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Dallas, Texas (W91278-20-D-0007); Phe-Baker JV LLC,* Rockville, Maryland (W91278-20-D-0008, W91278-20-D-0009); Tetra Tech Inc., Pasadena, California (W91278-20-D-0010); and Trinity/Jacobs JV LLC,* Shalimar, Florida (W91278-20-D-0011), will compete for each order of the $49,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for architect and engineering services to support the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers South Atlantic Division. Bids were solicited via the internet with 20 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of March 10, 2023. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Salient CRGT, Fairfax, Virginia, was awarded a $38,078,488 modification (P00012) to contract W52P1J-18-C-0020 to provide mission critical information technology communications infrastructure and services in support of U.S. Special Operations military forces. Work will be performed in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and in Afghanistan, with an estimated completion date of March 14, 2023. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $38,078,488 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity. Tetra Tech-Stanley JV, Gahanna, Ohio, was awarded a $12,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for multi-disciplinary professional architect-engineer services primarily for civil works design. Bids were solicited via the internet with 10 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of March 11, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis, Missouri, is the contracting activity (W912P9-20-D-0009). AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Woodland Hills, California, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $24,978,602 unpriced change order modification (P00013) to previously awarded contract FA8540-19-C-0001 for embedded Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System engineering, manufacturing and development. This modification provides for the incorporation of System Requirements Document Version 3.2.1 and the incorporation of Statement of Work Revision 4. Work will be performed in Woodland Hills, California, and is expected to be complete by June 30, 2021. Fiscal 2020 research and development funds in the amount of $7,500,000 are being obligated at the time of award. The total cumulative face value of the contract is $149,990,015. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY SND Manufacturing, Dallas, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $8,130,915 modification (P00003) exercising the first one-year option period of a one-year base contract (SPE1C1-19-D-5038) with four one-year option periods for running suit jackets. This is an indefinite-delivery contract. Location of performance is Texas, with a March 17, 2021, performance completion date. Using military services are Navy and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. CORRECTION: The contract announced on March 6, 2020, for Quantico Tactical Inc.,* Aberdeen, North Carolina (SPE8EJ-19-D-0015), which is one of six companies sharing a $4,000,000,000 award, was announced with an incorrect contract number. The correct contract number is SPE8EJ-20-D-0015. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2109345/source/GovDelivery/

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  April 26, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  US Army picks 5 teams to design new attack recon helicopter

  By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — AVX Aircraft Co. partnered with L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, Bell Helicopter, Boeing, Karem Aircraft and Lockheed Martin-owned Sikorsky have won awards to design a new Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) for the U.S. Army over the next year, the service announced April 23. Only two teams will move forward, at the end of the design phase, to build flyable prototypes of the future helicopter in a head-to-head competition. The Army laid out a handful of mandatory requirements that the vendors had to meet and also a list of desired requirements for initial designs, Col. Craig Alia, the Future Vertical Lift Cross Functional Team chief of staff, told a select group of reporters just ahead of the contract awards. The service also looked at the vendors' execution plans and evaluated timing as well as funding profile requirements. “The ones that were selected were clearly meeting the mandatory requirements and were in the acceptable risk level of the execution plan and the desired requirements," Dan Bailey, who is the FARA competitive prototype program manager, added. The prototype program falls under the purview of the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation and Missile Center's Aviation Development Directorate. AVX and L3 unveiled its design for the FARA competition at the Army Aviation Association of America's annual summit in Nashville, Tennessee, earlier this month. The design uses AVX's compound coaxial and ducted fans technology. The companies said its single-engine design meets 100 percent of the Army's mandatory requirements and 70 percent of its desired attributes. The CEO of Textron, Bell's parent company, said during a recent earnings call, that its FARA design will be based on its 525 technology rather than its tiltrotor technology. Bell has built and flown a tiltrotor prototype — the V-280 Valor — for the Army's Future Vertical Lift program. Karem has been working to develop technology under a small contract to help build requirements for FVL aircraft focused on a medium-lift helicopter. Sikorsky's offering will be based off of its X2 coaxial technology seen in its S-97 Raider and the Sikorsky-Boeing developed SB-1 Defiant, which are now both flying. “This is the culmination of years of investment in the X2 Technology Demonstrator and the S-97 RAIDER aircraft that have proven the advanced technology and shown its ability to change the future battlefield,” Tim Malia, Sikorsky's director of Future Vertical Lift Light, told Defense News in an emailed statement shortly after the announcement. “We continue to fly the S-97 RAIDER to inform the design for FARA, which provides significant risk reduction to the program schedule and technical objectives. We are eager to continue to support the US Army, and we are excited that the Sikorsky FARA X2 will be ready for this critical mission," he said. A total of eight teams submitted data and potential designs for FARA, but upon evaluation, three of those did not meet mandatory requirements, according to Bailey. It is not publicly stated who the losing teams were, but MD Helicopters had previously protested the Army's decision to not enter into a first phase agreement with the company to develop a FARA prototype, arguing to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that the Army “unreasonably” evaluated its proposal and failed to promote small business participation. The GAO denied the protest earlier this month on the grounds it did not have authority to review protests of contracting mechanisms like Other Transaction Authorities (OTA) which the Army used in this case. The awards were made two months ahead of an already ambitious schedule to get FARA prototypes flying by 2023. A production decision could happen in 2028, but the service is looking at any way possible to speed up that timeline. The Army has to move quickly, Alia said. Echoing his boss, Brig. Gen. Wally Rugen, the FVL CFT director, he said the Army is “at an inflection point. We can't afford not to modernize. We know the current fleet is fantastic, but we can't indefinitely continue to incrementally improve 1970s to 1980s technology.” FARA is intended to fill a critical capability gap currently being filled by AH-64E Apache attack helicopters teamed with Shadow unmanned aircraft following the retirement of the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters. The service has tried and failed three times to fill the gap with an aircraft. The Army is also planning to procure another helicopter to fill the long-range assault mission, replacing some UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters in the fleet, simultaneously. With the advent of the new Army Futures Command — that is focused on six major modernization priorities of which FVL is third — the service is moving faster on prototyping capability to ultimately procure major weapon systems at a somewhat unprecedented speed. Through the AFC and the use of contracting mechanisms like OTAs, the Army has found a way to compress parts of the acquisition process that previously took three to five years into periods of time often amounting to less than a year. “What is exciting about the new process the Army has put in place,” Bailey said, “in basically a year's period of time, we've gone through concept, through an approved set of requirements, to developing an innovative approach to contracting, to building industry partnerships to have industry propose to us a plan and a solution.” And the Army rigorously evaluated those FARA proposals, Bailey said, all within that year. The teams have until January or February next year to provide design plans and an approach to executing the build of the prototypes followed by potential larger-scale manufacturing, Bailey said. The second phase of the program will be to build prototypes, and “only two will make it into phase 2 and they all know that now,” Bailey added. According to Rugen, when the request for proposals was released, the Army did not want to get locked into keeping inflexible requirements, but the request did state that the aircraft should have a maximum 40-foot rotor diameter. The Army also asked for the aircraft to be able to accept some government furnished equipment including an engine, a gun and a rocket launcher, Alia said. When it comes to some of the desirable attributes for a new aircraft, the Army is considering speed, range and payload possibilities, Alia said, but the service “wanted to encourage innovation by industry to come to us with their ideas and unique ways of meeting both mandatory and desirable characteristics and that is where we got some great feedback from industry and some innovative designs.” https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/aaaa/2019/04/23/us-army-picks-5-teams-to-design-new-us-army-attack-recon-helicopter/

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  September 7, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  In A&D Industry, Who Has The Best Environmental Requirements? | Aviation Week Network

  Green is the new green in aerospace and defense, but how do companies compare when it comes to their own standards?