Leonardo unveils new digital technology to revolutionise how armed forces suppress and defeat modern enemy air defences

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

  Storm clouds await Pentagon’s request for defense industry cash injection

  By: Joe Gould WASHINGTON ― Though the Pentagon is hunting for billions of dollars in a future package to combat the coronavirus pandemic, it looks like the next massive relief bill will be swamped in a partisan fight. The Pentagon announced it's seeking the funds to prop up the military's network of suppliers following $3 billion in new “progress payments" to increase cash flow to primary contractors and more vulnerable, smaller subcontractors. The details have yet to be disclosed as the Defense Department works through them with the White House budget office. But last week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he wants to “push the pause button” on the next aid package and, because Democrats aim to center it on bailouts for states hit hard by the pandemic, “move “cautiously.” “You've seen the talk from both sides about acting, but my goal from the beginning of this, given the extraordinary numbers that we're racking up to the national debt, is that we need to be as cautious as we can be,” McConnell told reporters on April 21. The Senate will reconvene in full on May 4 to work on coronavirus aid legislation, McConnell said Monday. It would mark the first time the chamber has been back in full since late March. The prospects for a speedy compromise looked dim when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., set herself at odds with McConnell last week, saying, “There will not be a bill without state and local” aid. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other congressional Democrats have added pressure on McConnell by pillorying the majority leader's suggestion that states declare bankruptcy. “Republican Senators: Raise your hand if you think your state should go bankrupt,” Schumer said in a tweet. McConnell's negotiating stance comes as the Congressional Budget Office projected Friday that the federal budget deficit would quadruple to $3.7 trillion, driven by the coronavirus pandemic and a government spending spree on testing, health care, and aid to businesses and households. According to the report, the 2020 budget deficit will explode after Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed four coronavirus aid bills that promise to pile more than $2 trillion onto the $24.6 trillion national debt in the remaining six months of the current fiscal year. Meanwhile, defense hawks are warm to a defense spending boost. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., has voiced support for an additional cash infusion for the defense industry. “The federal government can play a vital role in keeping military suppliers afloat,” Wicker, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in his weekly newsletter to supporters. “Already the Department of Defense has announced it is spending $3 billion to reimburse contractors affected by work delays and breaks in the supply chain. “As Congress considers new relief measures, I will work to include targeted funding to ensure that suppliers get the stable cash flow and contracts they need to endure this crisis. These awards should go toward projects the military has already identified as priorities and should not break the bank." Also last week, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., introduced legislation last week that calls for $43 billion for military infrastructure and weapons as part of a larger effort to confront China in the Indo-Pacific region. That bill also calls for $11 billion to mitigate pandemic-related cost overruns on weapons programs and $3.3 billion to mitigate COVID-19 impacts to the defense-industrial base. But Cotton's proposal is also loaded with new weapons purchases that would prove a boon to defense firms, albeit at a slower pace than a direct cash infusion. There's an added General Dynamics/Huntington Ingalls Industries-built Virginia-class submarine; more Lockheed Martin-built F-35A jets; Boeing-built F-15EX fighter aircraft; a battery for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense air defense system; and anti-ship/strike weapons. Cotton's bill follows a $6.1 billion China deterrence package from the influential ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas. That bill would fund an Indo-Pacific Deterrence Initiative, also favored in principal by HASC Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash. Observers predicted the added funding might find a way through any deadlock on a stimulus bill. “We don't foresee stand-alone adoption but do think elements of it could be spread across different spending bills,” analyst Roman Schweizer of the Cowen Group said of Cotton's bill in a note to investors. “With Congress in full-bore debt-spending mode, defense proponents might be able to bury this money in larger packages. The American Enterprise Institute's Mackenzie Eaglen proposed in a Defense News on Monday that the next package for the Pentagon should avoid submitting unfunded procurement priorities and also “focus on the health, safety and continuity of all the Pentagon's workforce.” “Democrats want another stimulus, ideally on ‘shovel ready' infrastructure jobs. DoD is absolutely going to need more help in some sort of bill to keep the defense supply chain from going to the unemployed lines, or worse, gobbled up by China,” Eaglen said in an email. “Most of defense stimulus is to prop up jobs and employment so I'd like to be optimistic and think Democrats would be very supportive.” Democratic leaders haven't yet signaled how they're predisposed toward added defense spending in a stimulus package. However, a House Democratic aide said that scenario would invite serious opposition from the progressive wing. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a member of HASC and the House Progressive Caucus leadership team, previewed the messaging in this fight in a tweet on April 21 saying: “The Pentagon shouldn't get any more COVID relief money." “A single F-35 could pay for 2,200 ventilators. 1 nuclear warhead could pay for 17 million masks,” Khanna said, adding that the Pentagon budget dwarfs the combined budgets of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and U.S. contributions to the World Health Organization. In the Senate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., “will strongly oppose no-strings-attached giveaways to the arms industry, as news reports seem to indicate are the Pentagon's likely request of Congress," said his spokesman, Keane Bhatt. "This is the time to put ordinary workers and small businesses first — not prioritize the profits of Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.” https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2020/04/27/storm-clouds-await-pentagons-request-for-defense-industry-cash/

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  June 20, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  These US partners in the Asia-Pacific are to receive ScanEagle drones

  By: Mike Yeo MELBOURNE, Australia — The U.S. Department of Defense has announced a contract award for 34 Insitu ScanEagle drones under the Foreign Military Sales program to partners in the Asia-Pacific region. Under the $47.9 million contract, announced May 31, the UAVs are for the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Respectively, they will take delivery of twelve, eight, eight and six ScanEagles. The manufacturer is a Boeing subsidiary. The announcement marks the first time that military equipment will be transferred to Vietnam following the end of a U.S. arms embargo imposed since the communist takeover there in 1975. It was fully lifted in 2016. The order also provides for spare payloads, spare and repair parts, support equipment, tools, training, technical services, and field service representatives. Work is expected to be completed in 2022. Defense News understands from multiple sources that the UAVs will be provided to these countries by the U.S. government, although there are conflicting reports on whether these will falls under the purview of the DoD's capacity-building program or the maritime security initiative announced in 2015. One of the key advantages of the ScanEagle is its ability to be launched by a pneumatic catapult unit and recovered by Insitu's Skyhook system, which means it can be operated from any patch of open space or from aboard a ship, negating the need for a runway. Sensor payloads available for the UAV include electro-optic, infrared and high-resolution video cameras that enable the operator to track stationary and moving targets. The UAVs will assist the recipient countries in improving maritime domain awareness over their territorial waters and exclusive economic zones. The contract announcement came on the same day that the DoD released its latest Indo-Pacific Strategy Report. The document lists as key priorities, among other things, building partner capacity and enhancing maritime domain awareness for third party partners in the region, as well as strengthening interoperability that includes increased information sharing between the U.S. and other like-minded countries in the region. All the recipient nations in this contract have interests in the South China Sea, with Indonesia being the only country among this group of four that does not claim ownership of any of the islands, features and rocks in the disputed Spratly or Paracel groups. https://www.defensenews.com/unmanned/2019/06/05/these-us-partners-in-the-asia-pacific-are-to-receive-scaneagle-drones/

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  November 4, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - November 01, 2019

  NAVY Rightstar Inc., Vienna, Virginia, is being awarded a multiple-award, firm-fixed-price Department of Defense (DoD) Enterprise Software Initiative (ESI) blanket purchase agreement (BPA) in accordance with the firms' General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule contracts. The potential estimated value of this category of BPA is $820,450,000. This agreement is being awarded as part of a multi-reseller/multi-software publisher software category management award for commercial off-the-shelf information technology asset management software; software maintenance support; information technology professional services; and related services in support of DoD ESI and under the direction of Office of Management and Budget, Enterprise Software Category. The software publisher under this agreement is Nlyte. The BPA provides for the purchase of Nlyte products and services by the DoD, U.S. intelligence community, and the Coast Guard worldwide. The ordering period will be for a maximum of 10 years from Nov. 1, 2019, through July 11, 2029. This BPA is issued under DoD ESI in accordance with the policy and guidelines in the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement, Section 208.74. This BPA will not obligate funds at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders using operations and maintenance (DoD) funds. Requirements will be competed among the awardees in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 8.403-3(c)(2), and the successful contractor will receive firm fixed-price orders. This BPA was competitively procured via the GSA E-Buy web site among 679 vendors. Two offers were received and two were selected for award. Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-20-A-0006). Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. - Marine Systems, Sunnyvale, California, is awarded a cost-plus incentive-fee $77,377,019 contract modification (P00002) to a previously awarded contract (N00030-19-C-0015) for technical engineering services, design and development engineering, component and full scale test and evaluation engineering, and tactical underwater launcher hardware production to support the development and production of the Common Missile Compartment (CMC). Work will be performed in Sunnyvale, California (55%); Ridgecrest, California (20%); Cape Canaveral, Florida (10%); Bangor, Washington (5%); Kings Bay, Georgia (5%); Barrow-In-Furness, England (2%); New London, Connecticut (1%); Quonset Point, Rhode Island (1%); and Arlington, Virginia (1%), and is expected to be completed by March 31, 2024. Fiscal 2020 shipbuilding and conversion Navy funding in the amount of $34,868,308 will be obligated on this award. Fiscal 2020 United Kingdom common funding in the amount of $42,508,711 will be obligated on this award. No funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Ultra Electronic Ocean Systems, Braintree, Massachusetts, is awarded a $45,161,439 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price contract for engineering and technical service for the design, development, testing, integration, technology insertion/refreshment and system support of the AN/BPS radar software management system on new construction and in-service submarines. Work will be performed in Chantilly, Virginia (50%); and Wake Forest, North Carolina (50%), and is expected to be completed by October 2020. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $100,861,439, and be complete by May 2026. Fiscal 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy-SCN); 2015 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy-SCN); 2019 other procurement (Navy-OPN); and 2014 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy-SCN) funding in the amount of $1,700,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of current fiscal year — funding: fiscal 2019 SCN (58%); fiscal 2015 SCN (18%); fiscal 2019 OPN (18%); and fiscal 2014 SCN (6%). In accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(5), authorized or required by statute 15 U.S. Code 638(r)(4) states: "To the greatest extent practical, Federal agencies and Federal prime contractors shall issue Phase III awards relating to technology, including sole source awards, to the SBIR and STTR award recipients that developed the technology." The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-20-D-6202). Lockheed Martin, Rotary and Mission Systems, Baltimore, Maryland, is awarded a $12,019,951 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to a previously-awarded contract N00024-11-C-2300 to exercise an option for the accomplishment of post-delivery support for USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul (LCS 21) of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program. This option exercise is for post-delivery support for the LCS program. Lockheed Martin, Rotary and Mission Systems, will provide expert design, planning and material support for LCS 21's post-delivery period. Lockheed Martin will perform the planning and implementation of deferred design changes that have been identified during the construction period. The corrections and upgrades are necessary to support USS Minneapolis-St. Paul sail-away and follow-on post-delivery test and trials period. Work will be performed in Marinette, Wisconsin (57%); Hampton, Virginia (14%); Moorestown, New Jersey (11%); San Diego, California (11%); and Washington, District of Columbia (7%), and is expected to be completed by October 2021. Fiscal 2015 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding for $7,000,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. General Electric Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, is awarded an $8,747,720 firm-fixed-price delivery order (N00024-20-F-4117) under a previously-awarded basic ordering agreement N00024-18-G-4113 for integrated electronic controller kits for LM2500 marine gas turbine engines. The materials procured under this basic ordering agreement are LM2500 MGTEs and related material. MGTEs are installed in FFG 7, CG 47, DDG 51, LCS Independence variant, LHD 8 and LHA 6AF-class vessels. Work will be performed in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is expected to be completed by December 2020. Fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $8,747,720 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This order was not competitively procured, in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) (only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements). The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY Dynetics Inc., Hunstville, Alabama (HHM402-19-D-0023), was awarded a five-year base with possible five-year option indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a ceiling value of $737,992,267. This contract will provide support services for the Missile and Space Intelligence Center. Work will be performed at Redstone Arsenal and Huntsville, Alabama, with an expected completion date of Oct. 31, 2029. The contract was awarded through a full and open solicitation and one offer was received. The Virginia Contracting Activity, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Booz Allen Hamilton, Alexandria, Virginia (HHM402-20-D-0002); Deloitte Consulting LLP, Arlington, Virginia (HHM402-20-D-0003); Logistics Management Institute, Tysons, Virginia (HHM402-20-D-0004); and Solutions Through Innovative Technologies, Fairborn, Ohio (HHM402-20-D-0005); were awarded a one-year base plus four one-year options indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ), multiple-award contract for strategic workforce analysis planning and management (SWAPM) with a maximum obligation amount of $88,714,746. This contract will provide support services to strategic workforce planning and analysis initiatives to support career field managers and organizational talent and position management requirements. Work will be performed in the National Capital Region with an estimated completion date of Oct. 17, 2024. No funds were obligated at time of award. The SWAPM contract was awarded through a full and open solicitation and five offers were received. Each company will receive a $2,500 minimum guarantee. Task Orders (TO) will be issued competitively under this ID/IQ, which will allow for the following TO contract types: firm-fixed-price, labor hour and time-and-material. The Virginia Contracting Activity, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Oct. 18, 2019) MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, is being awarded a sole source, cost only contract modification (P00069) under previously awarded contract HQ0276-15-C-0003 to increase the CLIN 0014 undefinitized contract action not-to-exceed value by $267,178,800 from $387,187,200 to $654,366,000. Under this modification, the "pacing items only" restriction is removed and the contractor is now authorized to work the full, unchanged, effort to manufacture, assemble, test and deliver 20 Standard Missile-3 Block IIA missiles and related efforts, and four missiles under Foreign Military Sales (FMS) case JA-P-ATB to Japan. The value of the contract is increased by $267,178,800 from $1,198,400,240 to $1,465,579,040. The work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona; and Huntsville, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of December 2022. Fiscal 2018 procurement, defense-wide funds in the amount of $209,000,000; and FMS funds in the amount of $7,652,000 will be obligated at the time of award. The Missile Defense Agency, Dahlgren, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HQ0276-15-C-0003). ARMY Ravenswood Solutions, Fremont, California, was awarded a $62,896,230 hybrid (cost-no-fee and firm-fixed-price) contract for a fully instrumented, highly realistic, and immersive training environment. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 31, 2024. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity (W900KK-20-D-0002). General Dynamics Land Systems, Sterling Heights, Michigan, was awarded a $9,043,846 modification (P00091) to contract W56HZV-17-C-0067 for Abrams systems technical support. Work will be performed in Sterling Heights, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2021. Fiscal 2019 and 2020 procurement of weapons and tracked combat vehicles; and operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $9,043,846 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity. Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, was awarded an $8,600,000 modification (P00001) to contract W911W6-18-C-0050 for or primary aircraft structure, to understand and overcome challenges to production of primary aircraft structure using stretch-broken carbon fiber. Work will be performed in Bozeman, Montana, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2021. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 research, development, test and evaluation, Army funds in the amount of $8,600,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Shearwater Mission Support LLC,* Anchorage, Alaska, was awarded a $7,238,172 modification (P00008) to contract W911S8-18-D-0018 for installation support services. Bids were solicited via the internet with six received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 30, 2020. U.S. Army Mission Installation Contracting Command, Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY U.S. Foods Inc., Salem, Missouri, has been awarded a maximum $43,988,785 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-quantity contract for full-line food distribution for customers in the Missouri and Illinois area. This was a sole source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a 364-day bridge contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Missouri, with an Oct. 31, 2020, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Air Force, Army National Guard, Air National Guard and other federal agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 defense working capital funds. The contracting agency is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-20-D-3243). Oshkosh Defense LLC, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, has been awarded an estimated $25,340,721 fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for tire and wheel assemblies. This was a competitive acquisition with one response received. This is a three-year base contract with two one-year option periods. Locations of performance are Wisconsin and New Jersey, with an Oct. 31, 2022, performance completion date. Using customers are Army and foreign military sales. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Columbus, Ohio (SPE7LX-20-D-0022). AIR FORCE Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a $16,553,897 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for universal armament interface. This contract provides for system engineering and program management for universal armament interface development. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by Nov. 19, 2024. This award is the result of a sole source acquisition. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $923,829 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8628-20-C-2267). Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Co., Hollister, California, has been awarded a $13,394,557 firm-fix-price with economic-price-adjustment for sustainment of B-1B Aircraft. This contract provides 48 shield mild detonating cord (SMDC) kits for B-1B aircraft; with each kit contains 461 SMDC lines. Work will be performed at Hollister, California, and is expected to be completed by June 30, 2023. This award is the result of a sole source acquisition. Fiscal 2018, 2019 and 2020 aircraft procurement funds in the amount of $13,394,557 will be obligated at the time of the award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Ammunition Contracting Division, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2006604/source/GovDelivery/