MBDA Enforcer missile production proposed for funding by the European Commission

On the same subject

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  February 25, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - February 24, 2019

  NAVY The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded a $93,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract incorporates the next three planned configurations of the operator flight program/system configuration set into the Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18 F and EA-18G aircraft training systems. Additionally, this contract procures spares, support equipment, technical manual updates and on-site training. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri (85%) and Amberley, Australia (15%) and is expected to be completed in February 2025. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(4). Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity (N61340-20-D-0003). Arwi JV LLC,* National City, California, is awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a maximum amount of $10,000,000 for roofing repair and maintenance at Naval Base Point Loma, California. Initial task order is awarded at $350,180 for re-roofing at Buildings 260 and 262. Included is the requirement to repair and maintain roof components that are incidental to the main roof structure, such as scupper drains, downspouts, gutters, as well as roof-mounted hardware that may require to be removed and reinstalled by reason of the primary roof repair requirements. Work for this task order is expected to be completed by June 2020. All work on this contract will be performed in San Diego, California. The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months with an expected completion date of February 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, Navy (OMN) contract funds in the amount of $350,180 are obligated on this task order and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by OMN. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website with four proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N62473-20-D-0041). Raytheon Co., Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, is awarded a $7,992,944 cost plus fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-17-C-5405) for design agent engineering and technical support services for the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System, SeaRAM, and Land-based Phalanx Weapon System. Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) is a fast-reaction terminal defense against low and high-flying, high-speed maneuvering anti-ship missile threats that have penetrated all other defenses. CIWS is an integral element of the Fleet Defense In-Depth concept and the Ship Self-Defense Program. Operating either autonomously or integrated with a combat system, it is an automatic terminal defense weapon system designed to detect, track, engage and destroy anti-ship missile threats penetrating outer defense envelopes. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by January 2022. Fiscal 2020 weapon procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $7,992,944 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. In accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1), this contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. ARMY Griffon Aerospace Inc.,* Madison, Alabama, was awarded a $49,957,259 order-dependent contract to procure MQM-170 "Outlaw" Remotely Piloted Vehicle Targets, MQM-171 "Broadsword" Unmanned Aerial Systems - Targets, depot level repair and maintenance, storage of government furnished equipment, base operations services, field operations services, qualification training execution, and inventory and transfer support for targets management office and other Department of Defense customers. 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. 23, 2022. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity (W900KK-20-D-0006). L-J Inc.,* Cayce, South Carolina, was awarded a $13,456,000 firm-fixed-price contract for furnishing plant, equipment, labor, transportation, fuel, lubricant, supplies and materials, and performing all operations in connection with raising dikes and berms, installation of geotextile, and installation of new spillway systems in Clouter Creek, Berkeley County, South Carolina. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of June 18, 2021. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston, South Carolina, is the contracting activity (W912HP-20-C-0001). *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2092565/source/GovDelivery/

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  August 9, 2018 | International, Aerospace

  Studies Seek to Industrialize Additive Manufacturing for Aerospace

  Lindsay Bjerregaard Oerlikon is partnering with Boeing and Lufthansa Technik to research standardization and qualification of additive manufacturing processes. Oerlikon is pairing up with major aerospace players to make additive manufacturing (AM) a more feasible option for industrialization. The Swiss technology and engineering group has signed agreements this year with Lufthansa Technik (LHT) and Boeing to collaborate on research into ways AM for aerospace can be more easily standardized and qualified. The most recent of these agreements is the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with LHT, which aims to establish “robust and repeatable processes for AM in the aircraft MRO industry.” According to a spokesperson for Oerlikon, the collaboration's research seeks to understand what process variability exists when the same component geometries are built on the same machine using the same powder batch, heat treatment, testing conditions and build parameters in different global locations. Oerlikon and LHT will print these components using an Oerlikon-produced IN718 powder alloy on identical printers at LHT Hamburg and Oerlikon's locations in Charlotte, North Carolina and Barleben, Germany. Once the variables are identified, the study's objective is to understand how they can be controlled to achieve repeatable processes—which will ensure that all parts meet quality requirements and reduce the cost of recurring quality validation, according to Oerlikon. The company says this repeatability could also provide potential savings in procurement, warehousing and supply chain management. For now, the partnership is set for a one-year period, but the companies say the scope and timeframe is likely to increase. Meeting the challenges of qualifying AM materials and processes for aerospace is also at the heart of Oerlikon's collaboration agreement with Boeing. The five-year agreement, which was signed in February, seeks to develop standard materials and processes for metal-based AM. The collaboration's research will initially focus on industrializing titanium powder bed fusion AM. The companies say that in addition to meeting qualification challenges, it will enable them to “provide a route for the adoption of AM with a qualified supply chain that achieves quality and cost targets.” Full Article: https://www.mro-network.com/emerging-technology/studies-seek-industrialize-additive-manufacturing-aerospace

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  February 13, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Pentagon seeks to cut F-35s, other equipment to pay for Trump’s border wall

  By: Aaron Mehta , Valerie Insinna , David B. Larter , and Joe Gould WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is seeking to divert $3.8 billion, largely from its fiscal 2020 weapons procurement budget, in order to fund President Donald Trump's border wall, according to a reprogramming request to congress obtained by Defense News. Among the victims of the cuts: a mass of aircraft purchases including F-35 joint strike fighters, C-130J cargo aircraft, MQ-9 Reaper drones and P-8 maritime surveillance planes, as well as ground vehicles and naval priorities. Overall, the plan would shift $2.202 billion in FY20 defense appropriations and $1.629 billion in FY20 Overseas Contingency Operations funding towards the wall, a key priority from president Donald Trump ahead of the November presidential elections. Air Force and Navy aviation spending takes the brunt of the cuts proposed by the Pentagon, with aircraft procurement going down by $558 million for Navy and Marine Corps and $861 million for the Air Force. Importantly, all of the funding decreases target items that were specifically added by Congress during the budgeting process, which could incur rancor from lawmakers. For the Navy, the Pentagon would cut two of the six F-35B short takeoff and landing aircraft added to the FY20 budget by Congress and two MV-22 Ospreys, stating that “current funding is more than sufficient to keep the production line open.” It also seeks to eliminate funding for one of the nine P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft funded in FY20, stating that the additional aircraft is “[in] excess to the 117 aircraft required.” In the Air Force's budget, the Pentagon slashed funding for the four of the eight C-130Js added by Congress for the reserve and Air National Guard. The department stated that funding for those planes can be rescheduled to fiscal year 2021, when the period of performance for the associated contract starts. The request would eliminate eight MQ-9 Reaper drones, culling most of the funding added by Congress for an increase of 12 MQ-9s. “The program is currently undergoing a strategic review,” the department stated in written justification, referring to an ongoing debate within the Air Force about how many Reapers to buy and retain over the next decade. “Procurement, if necessary, can be rescheduled to a later fiscal year.” Combatant commanders have consistently said they need more surveillance assets around the globe. It also strips $156 million for advanced procurement for the F-35A and removes $180 million for light attack aircraft for the Air Force, which the service has decided against procuring but has been widely supported by lawmakers as a low-cost alternative for the counter-terrorism fight. The Army would stand to lose $100 million in funding for national guard Humvee modernization and $194.5 million in Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck funding. However, with the Humvee set to be replaced by JLTV, the Army is unlikely to be heavily impacted by these funds being shifted around. The reprogramming request also cuts $650 million in advanced procurement funding for an America-class Amphibious Assault Ship, LHA-9, which is being built in Mississippi at Ingalls Shipbuilding. On its website, Huntington Ingalls Industries says the advanced funding provided by Congress, “enables a hot production line and a supplier base of 457 companies in 39 states to build this powerful warship.” The reprogramming also cuts funding one expeditionary fast transport ship, which is built in Alabama at Austal USA, which has been an area of interest for the powerful Republican Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Richard Shelby. The ship was deemed “excess to current programmatic need,” the reprogramming document says. “The procurement exceeds the program-of-record requirement,” the document reads. “This is a congressional special interest item.” In addition, the national guard and reserves would lose about $1.3 billion in what the reprograming request describes as unnecessary funding, given historic underexecution of prior year funds. A spokesman for the Pentagon declined to comment. Last year, the defense department had budgets, largely for military construction projects, diverted into funding a stretch of the wall project. Those projects cut included the rebuilding of several DoD schools both in the U.S. and abroad, special operations training centers in Europe and Hurricane Maria relief for Puerto Rico National Guard facilities. Overall, more than 100 projects had funding delayed. Asked on Tuesday about a potential reprograming of defense funds to pay for the wall, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said “We did receive the request from DHS, that's all I'll say right now. We're working our way through the process, we're doing all those things we need to do. So when we're ready to make an announcement, we'll make an announcement.” Word that the Pentagon may once again be raided to pay for the wall came in mid-January, and at the time seemed to catch Republican supporters in Congress off-guard. “I wish they wouldn't take [wall funding] out of defense. I want to build the wall, I supported direct appropriations for it and fought for it — but we have to evaluate what this does to the military, what it affects, where and how,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Richard Shelby, R-Ala, at the time. But he added that nobody should be surprised the administration repeated the tactic, after it worked last year. https://www.defensenews.com/breaking-news/2020/02/13/pentagon-seeks-to-cut-f-35s-other-equipment-to-pay-for-trumps-border-wall