National Reconnaissance Office wants satellite imagery from commercial providers

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  October 27, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense – October 26, 2020

  NAVY Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a Lockheed Martin company, Stratford, Connecticut, is awarded a $550,372,323 modification (P00043) to previously awarded fixed-price-incentive (firm target), firm-fixed-price contract N00019-16-C-0048. This modification is for Lot IV low rate initial production and delivery of six CH-53K aircraft and associated aircraft, programmatic and logistics support, rate tooling and physical configuration audits. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut (33.17%); Wichita, Kansas (11.51%); Salt Lake City, Utah (7.18%); Hazelwood, Missouri (6.28%); Bridgeport, West Virginia (3.22%); Redmond, Washington (2.12%); Windsor Lock, Connecticut (1.84%); Kent, Washington (1.54%); Fort Worth, Texas (1.44%); Quebec, Canada (1.35%); Cudahy, Wisconsin (1.29%); Rochester, United Kingdom (1.27%); Fort Walton Beach, Florida (1.11%); various locations within the continental U.S. (24.68%); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (2%), and is expected to be completed in July 2024. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $519,899,846; and fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $30,472,477 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. Lockheed Martin Corp., Owego, New York, is awarded a $193,980,348 contract modification (P00019) to previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract N00019-19-C-0013. This modification adds a $180,000,000 not-to-exceed, undefinitized line item for the production and delivery of four MH-60R aircraft, and exercises a $13,980,348 option to procure three airborne low frequency sonars in support of the government of Greece. Work will be performed in Owego, New York (49%); Stratford, Connecticut (37%); Troy, Alabama (7%); Brest, France (6%); and Portsmouth, Rhode Island (1%), and is expected to be completed in February 2025. Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $43,980,348 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. Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, is awarded a $101,353,724 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for research, development, engineering and test and evaluation for programs throughout the Department of Defense (DOD) within its approved core competency areas including: (1) experimental oceanography; (2) acoustic propagation; (3) underwater instrumentation and equipment; (4) marine corrosion; (5) acoustic and related systems; (6) simulations and signal processing; and (7) mission related and public service oriented research and development. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $218,818,971. Work will be performed in Seattle, Washington, and is expected to be completed by October 2025. If all options are exercised, work will continue through October 2030. No funds will be obligated at contract award. Funds of multiple different appropriation types and years from program offices and agencies throughout the DOD may be obligated on individual task orders for efforts that fall within the core competency areas. This sole-source award was made pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c) (3), as implemented in Federal Acquisition Regulations 6.302-3; industrial mobilization; engineering, developmental, or research capability; or expert services. The capabilities developed and provided by Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, within the DOD approved core competencies are determined to be essential to support a variety of DOD programs managed by different technical sponsor organizations. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-21-D-6400). Smartronix LLC, Hollywood, Maryland, is awarded a $78,281,152 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides airborne capabilities integration support, including development, design, coding, integration, demonstration and validation of software for embedded systems, real time operating systems and hardware and software systems in support of various Navy, Department of Defense and other government new and legacy weapons systems, platforms and networks. Work will be performed in Hollywood, Maryland (30%); St. Inigoes, Maryland (28%); Huntsville, Alabama (28%); Patuxent River, Maryland (12%); Bowie, Maryland (1%); and California, Maryland (1%), and is expected to be completed in November 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 competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal; three offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-21-D-0007). AIR FORCE Tecan US Inc., Morrisville, North Carolina, has been awarded a $32,862,500 firm-fixed-price contract for robotic pipette tips. The scope of this contract effort includes the expansion of the U.S. domestic production capacity for robotic pipette tips by standing up infrastructure and increasing production capacity with Tecan US Inc. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a requirement for additional near term diagnostic testing capability which significantly exceeds manufacturing capacity of sample collection and processing consumables. This project will create Tecan's capacity to produce up to 40 million pipette tips per month domestically. Work will be completed in Morrisville, North Carolina, and is expected to be completed November 2022. This award is the result of a Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) request issued by the Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell (JRAC) and is a full and open competition. The solicitation was published by Department of Health and Human Services and JRAC in the CSO in August 2020. Fiscal other procurement funds are being used on this contract. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity (FA8730-20-S-0003). *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2394545/source/GovDelivery/

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  August 22, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  B-21 Development Applying Tough Lessons From B-2

  By Lee Hudson PALMDALE, California— The U.S. Air Force is taking lessons learned from the plagued B-2 Spirit bomber development program and applying them to the next-generation B-21 Raider. While it is unknown when the B-2 will retire, the aging stealth bomber may end up flying alongside the B-21. The B-2 bomber flew its inaugural flight 30 years ago from the Plant 42 runway here. Today, the Northrop Grummansite is preparing for development of the Raider and two newly erected beige buildings have popped up, likely tied to the next-generation bomber. Although technical and acquisition problems inundated B-2 development, the classified B-21 is taking a different approach. Many details remain classified, but the company and service officials acknowledge the team is being run by the Rapid Capabilities Office instead of a traditional program office. B-21 development appears to be progressing; the Air Force's No. 2 officer—Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Stephen Wilson—has said first flight is slated for December 2021. But House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee Ranking Member Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) alerted the public last year that there was a problem with the inlet design for the B-21's Pratt & Whitney-manufactured engines. Wittman says those issues were fully addressed and the program has made tremendous progress. “I've been pretty impressed by what both the Air Force and what Northrop Grumman have done in addressing these particular issues and I think we're on the right course,” he says. “Getting those things right to begin with and setting the tone and path I think is critically important.” An Air Force illustration issued in 2016 of the B-21 design suggests it may closely resemble the B-2. “The B-2 will be setting the path course for the B-21,” says Janis Pamiljans, aerospace systems sector president at Northrop Grumman. “What we've learned on B-2 are finding themselves baselined in the design for B-21 for supportability, sustainability, [and] mission capable rate.” The aging B-2s must be overhauled every nine years and are taken off the flight line for up to 12 months. Maintenance includes modifications and upgrades to antenna technology, avionics and software systems, costing U.S. taxpayers an average of $60 million for each aircraft, says Richard Sullivan, vice president and B-2 program manager at Northrop Grumman. Separately, the Air Force is funding the $3 billion B-2 Defensive Management System Modernization (DMS-M) program to enhance the aircraft's direct attack capability and upgrade its integrated air defense systems. The current DMS was designed in the 1980s and has not received any upgrades. “By leveraging ‘state-of-the-art' electronic warfare antennae, processors, controller and displays, B-2 aircrews will realize unprecedented situational battlespace awareness and dynamic, real-time threat avoidance in the most complex radio frequency emitter environments,” the Air Force says. “The inherent increased sensitivity of the modernized DMS over the legacy system, with increased processing power, will build a battlespace picture that could be shared with joint force platforms by onboard communication systems.” DMS-M is facing a possible eight-month delay as the service works with Northrop Grumman to implement an agile software development framework, Air Force acquisition executive Will Roper told lawmakers in March. Engineering and manufacturing development for the effort goes through July 2022, according to fiscal 2020 budget documents. Lawmakers acknowledge it is important that the nation's only operational stealth bomber remain relevant. But the House Armed Services Committee is concerned about DMS-M schedule delays, according to a report accompanying the lower chamber's mark of the fiscal 2020 defense policy bill. “Unless the B-2 DMS-M program makes significant changes, there may continue to be delays that will impact the success of the program,” the report says. The committee directs the Air Force to brief members on sufficient government software development expertise; contract definitization schedule; delivery schedule; determination of software baseline; and an assessment of related DMS-M-related program support. The Senate Armed Services Committee also is asking for answers regarding the U.S. bomber force. The upper chamber is requesting a brief on an updated bomber road map and plans for B-2 life cycle sustainment, among other items, according to a report accompanying the Senate's mark of the fiscal 2020 defense authorization bill. The upper chamber also would require details on Raider basing. To date, the service has been “real[ly] happy with the way Northrop has approached” the B-21 program, says Maj. Gen. James Dawkins, Eighth Air Force commander and overseer of the Joint-Global Strike Operations Center. The next-generation bomber completed a successful critical design review in December. “Everything I hear is that cost, schedule and performance is right on expectations,” Dawkins says. https://aviationweek.com/defense/b-21-development-applying-tough-lessons-b-2

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  June 2, 2022 | International, Naval

  What's new in Navy and Marine Corps unmanned boats

  The more the Navy experiments with unmanned systems, the more it's learning what it needs '€” and what it doesn't.