Lithuania to buy US helicopters to bolster NATO capabilities in Baltics

On the same subject

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  December 31, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  Air Force begins to roll out special cyber defense teams

  By: Mark Pomerleau The Air Force is beginning to build specialized cyber teams across the service whose primary mission is to defend local installations and critical mission tasks from cyberattacks. These teams will ensure that a particular wing or smaller organization can complete their mission from a cyber perspective, Maj. Gen. Robert Skinner, commander of 24th Air Force/Air Forces Cyber, told Fifth Domain in a November interview. For example, Skinner said if a wing has an F-16 unit that's responsible for offensive counter air or defensive counter air support, mission defense teams will understand those weapon system and everything that goes into making those air sorties successful as a way to defend that mission from a cyber standpoint. As an example, an eight-man team at the 2nd Weather Group within the 557th Weather Wing monitors the network and recently discovered several “bogus” account requests. The commander, Col. Patrick Williams, said the team was able to figure out that many of the requests were either bots or foreign requests that “had no business being on that network.” By working with the Network Operations and Security Center to eliminate that activity, the number of requests dropped by 80 percent, a huge win, Williams said. He added this was done with just a nascent mission defense team given that the teams are just being filled out across the major commands now. Skinner said each major command is at a different point in activating the teams. In addition, Air Force leaders said the service hopes to achieve efficiencies within its entire IT and cyber defense enterprise. The officials pointed to the Air Force's “enterprise IT as a service” pilot, which examines what efficiencies can be gained by having commercial companies conduct the IT services as opposed to having airmen maintain the IT infrastructure. One benefit of such a move could be that it frees up personnel to spend more time on cyber defense. “Our core strategic theme is moving from IT focused delivery into mission defense teams,” Bill Marion, deputy CIO of the Air Force, said during a keynote presentation in early December. Skinner said the service will likely be able to “re-mission” workers from their IT positions and assign them to these more active defensive roles such as mission defense teams. These mission defense teams are different from cyber protection teams that the Air Force, and other services, provide to U.S. Cyber Command. “In my eyes the [mission defense team] is a [cyber protection team] lite,” Skinner said. "We're very proud of our cyber protection team training and I think that the more of that I can get with our mission defense teams, the more successful they'll be and then our cyber protection teams can be really focused on the high end, the big threats that we'll run into in a peer competition and peer adversaries.” https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/air-force/2018/12/27/air-force-begins-to-roll-out-special-cyber-defense-teams

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

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - March 06, 2020

  DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Tactical & Survival Specialties Inc.,* Harrisonburg, Virginia (SPE8EJ-20-D-0010); W.S. Darley & Co.,* Itasca, Illinois (SPE8EJ-20-D-0011); Atlantic Diving Supply Inc., doing business as ADS,* Virginia Beach, Virginia (SPE8EJ-20-D-0012); Federal Resources Supply Co.,* Stevensville, Maryland (SPE8EJ-20-D-0013); Unifire Inc.,* Spokane, Washington (SPE8EJ-20-D-0014); and Quantico Tactical Inc.,* Aberdeen, North Carolina (SPE8EJ-19-D-0015), are sharing a maximum $4,000,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract under solicitation SPM8EJ-13-R-0001 for special operational equipment. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. These are 365-day bridge contracts. Locations of performance are Virginia, Illinois, Maryland, Washington, and North Carolina, with a March 6, 2021, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE8EJ-20-D-0010). General Dynamics Mission Systems Inc., Taunton, Massachusetts, has been awarded a maximum $49,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for production of spare parts in support of the Warfighter Information Network Tactical Increment 1. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulations 6.302-1. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Massachusetts, with a March 5, 2025, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2025 Army working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland (SPRBL1-20-D-0003). Cummins Inc., Memphis, Tennessee, has been awarded a maximum $9,752,276 fixed-price contract for diesel engine repair kits. This was a competitive acquisition with one offer received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Tennessee, with a March 5, 2025, performance completion date. Using military services are Army and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2025 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Columbus, Ohio (SPE7LX-20-D-0095). NAVY The Boeing Co., Seattle, Washington, is awarded $800,000,000 for an advanced acquisition modification (P00167) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-14-C-0067). This modification procures long lead material and activities in support of lot 11 P-8A aircraft production and delivery. Work will be performed in Seattle, Washington (97.04%); Huntington Beach, California (2.4%); Mesa, Arizona (.55%) and El Segundo, California (.01%). The purpose of this contract modification is to procure long-lead material and activities in support of 18 P-8A Lot 11 aircraft (8 Navy, 4 New Zealand, and 6 Republic of Korea). The mission of the P-8A MMA is to provide long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance capable of broad-area, maritime and littoral operations. Work is expected to be completed by June 2020. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $800,000,000 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. AIR FORCE George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, has been awarded a $320,689,444 cost-type contract for Mobile Unmanned/Manned Distributed Lethality Airborne Network (MUDLAN) accelerated development and demonstrations software and hardware. This contract provides for the enhancement of technologies to be developed under the MUDLAN Joint Capabilities Technology Demonstration program, including digital beam forming multi-beam Common Data Link apertures; directional K/Ku/eKU and W-band systems; MUDLAN multi-functional network controller (MFNC) for connecting multiple platforms while maneuvering; and using the MFNC to recognize jamming and autonomously move to other bands. Work will be performed in Fairfax, Virginia, and is expected to be complete by March 6, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition, and two offers were received. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $650,000 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Rome, New York, is the contracting activity (FA8750-20-C-0555). Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory LLC, Laurel, Maryland, has been awarded a cost-plus-fixed-fee $16,769,744 modification (P00009) to task order FA8819-19-F-1003 for deep space advanced radar concept technology demonstration. The contract modification completes the delivery of the technology demonstration project. Work will be performed in Laurel, Maryland; and White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, and is expected to be completed by June 30, 2021. Fiscal 2020 research and development funds in the amount of $2,000,000 are being obligated at the time of award. The total cumulative face value of the task order is $45,564,088. The Space and Missile System Center Directorate, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado Springs, Colorado, is the contracting activity. ARMY Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Florida, was awarded a $154,979,758 contract for Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor System (M-TADS/PNVS) systems for the Apache attack helicopter in support of the Moroccan government. 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 Aug. 31, 2023. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W52P1J-20-F-0225). Raytheon Co., Andover, Massachusetts, was awarded a $108,321,679 modification (P00002) to contract W31P4Q-19-C-0055 for the procurement of hardware, facilities, equipment, and all technical, planning, management, manufacturing, and testing efforts to include all incidental services to produce the PATRIOT Digital Sidelobe Canceler and Peripheral Enhancement Assembly box production kits. Work will be performed in Andover, Massachusetts; Chatsworth, California; and Simsbury, Connecticut, with an estimated completion date of July 31, 2022. Fiscal 2020 missile procurement, Army; and 2010 Foreign Military Sales (Netherlands) funds in the amount of $108,321,679 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Oshkosh Defense LLC, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was awarded a $25,522,182 modification (P00314) to contract W56HZV-15-C-0095 to exercise available options on the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle contract. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2021. Fiscal 2020 other procurement, Army; Marine Corp procurement; and Navy procurement funds in the amount of $25,522,182 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity. Sierra Nevada Corp., Sparks, Nevada, was awarded an $8,500,000 firm-fixed-price contract for Tactical Automated Landing System components support for the RQ-7B tactical unmanned aircraft system. 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 Feb. 27, 2023. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W911QY-20-D-0011). General Dynamics Mission Systems, Taunton, Massachusetts, was awarded an $8,016,219 modification (P00001) to contract (W15P7T-19-F-0022) to procure warranty coverage for the configuration items for the Tactical Network Transport On the Move System. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Taunton, Massachusetts, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $8,016,219 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY Bluehawk LLC, West Palm Beach, Florida, was awarded a $32,094,786 labor-hour contract (HHM402-20-C-0019) to provide technology transfer analysis and assessment services. Work will be conducted in Charlottesville, Virginia, with an expected completion date of Aug. 31, 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and management funds in the amount of $2,935,456 are being obligated at time of award. This contract was awarded through a HUBZone set-aside and six offers were received. The Virginia Contracting Activity, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2104849/source/GovDelivery/

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  September 22, 2024 | International, Aerospace

  Recruits need real rifles at boot camp, top enlisted airman says

  Recruits carrying weapons during boot camp "is another reminder that you’re in the profession of arms,” the chief master sergeant of the Air Force said.