Navy Readies To Buy New Frigates As Industrial Base Wobbles

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  July 9, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  F-35 simulators can now team up with other fighter sims for virtual combat

  By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — U.S. Air Force F-35 pilots at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, will now be able to step into a simulator and train alongside virtual F-16s, F-15s and other aircraft, a Lockheed Martin executive said Wednesday. Air Combat Command formally accepted Lockheed's Distributed Mission Training system on June 22 after a final test on June 18. During that test, four F-35 simulators at Nellis carried out a virtual mission with pilots in F-22, F-16 and E-3 AWACs simulators at other bases, said Chauncey McIntosh, Lockheed's vice president for F-35 training and logistics. “We did originally intend to deliver this in the April time frame, but Nellis Air Force Base did shut down some operations due to the COVID crisis,” he told reporters in a July 1 briefing. “We worked very hard with both the [F-35 Joint Program Office] and the United States Air Force to ensure as soon as the facilities were re-stood up and open, that we were there to deliver this capability.” Although F-35 pilots in a simulator could previously train with up to three other F-35 sims at the same site, the DTS system allows for those pilots to fly digitally with a large number of varying types of aircraft, as long as the simulators can operate on the same network. Lockheed previously connected F-35 simulators to other aircraft sims in its test lab, but the June 18 test was the first time F-35 simulators linked to a mass of other simulators for a virtual mission in a highly contested environment, Lockheed said in a news release. F-15s will also be able to connect into the DMT system. The next step, McIntosh said, will be installing the DMT capability at Naval Air Station Lemoore this fall and to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in spring 2021. Both bases are in California. However, some limitations will still exist, even as new DMT locations are spun up. The capability is “very scalable to other platforms,” McIntosh said, but currently only F-35, F-22, F-16, F-15 and E-3 simulators are supported by DMT. McIntosh also previously told Defense News that the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps as well as the United Kingdom, which also plans to acquire the DMT system, won't be able to train together because they use different networks. https://www.defensenews.com/air/2020/07/01/f-35-simulators-can-now-team-up-with-other-fighter-sims-for-virtual-combat

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  November 14, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - November 13, 2018

  ARMY Barnard Construction Company Inc., Bozeman, Montana, was awarded a $324,422,299 firm-fixed-price contract for design and build of a pedestrian fence replacement project. Three bids were solicited via the internet with three bids received. Work will be performed in Yuma, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of April 1, 2020. Fiscal 2018 omnibus funds in the amount of $172,157,017 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth, Texas, is the contracting activity (W9126G-19-C-0007). SLSCO, Galveston, Texas, was awarded a $167,460,000 firm-fixed-price contract for border infrastructure design and build. Three bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Mission, Texas, with an estimated completion date of May 4, 2020. Fiscal 2018 omnibus funds in the amount of $167,460,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth, Texas, is the contracting activity (W9126G-19-C-0006). NAVY BAE Systems Jacksonville Ship Repair, Jacksonville, Florida (N00024-17-D-1007); Colonna Shipyards Inc., Norfolk, Virginia (N40027-17-D-1008); and Metro Machine Corp., Jacksonville, Florida (N40027-17-D-1009), are each awarded a $212,967,725 firm-fixed-price modification to their respective previously awarded multiple award contracts to exercise Option Year Two for the accomplishment of fixed priced delivery orders for docking and non-docking Chief of Naval Operations scheduled ship repair availabilities. Work will be performed in Mayport, Florida, and is expected to be completed by November 2019. No funding will be obligated at time of modification. The Southeast Regional Maintenance Center, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity. BAE Systems Jacksonville Ship Repair, Jacksonville, Florida (N40027-17-D-1001); Colonna Shipyards Inc., Norfolk, Virginia (N40027-17-D-1002); East Coast Repair and Fabrication LLC, Norfolk, Virginia (N40027-17-D-1003); Metro Machine Corp., Jacksonville, Florida (N40027-17-D-1004); North Florida Shipyards, Jacksonville, Florida (N40027-17-D-1005); and Tecnico Corp., Chesapeake, Virginia (N40027-17-D-1006), are each awarded a $42,641,520 firm-fixed-price modification to their respective previously awarded multiple award contracts to exercise Option Year Two for the accomplishment of fixed priced delivery orders for emergent and continuous maintenance availabilities. Work will be performed in Mayport, Florida, and is expected to be completed by November 2019. No funding will be obligated at time of the modification award. The Southeast Regional Maintenance Center, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity. Saifa Phommarine, doing business as Precision Dynamic,* Hayward, California (N6893619D0002); United Support Solutions – LMT Inc.,* Cedar Grove, New Jersey (N6893619D0003); ZYCI LLC,* Atlanta, Georgia (N6893619D0004); Modern Machine Co.,* Tehachapi, California (N6893619D0005); and Wutzler Machine Corp.,* Hemet, California (N6893619D0006), are each being awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts. The estimated aggregate ceiling for all contracts is $11,500,000, with the companies having an opportunity to compete for individual orders. These contracts provide for commercially available products manufactured from several different materials in different forms, shapes, sizes, complexity; specialty services for rapid processing, ranging from heat treating of manufactured items to paint and coating of manufactured items, and grinding services. These services are in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD), China Lake's Applied Manufacturing Technology Division. Work will be performed at NAWCWD, China Lake, California; and at various awardee's facility sites in Hayward, California; Cedar Grove, New Jersey; Atlanta, Georgia; Tehachapi, California; and Hemet, California; and various customer sites to be determined on individual orders, and is expected to be completed in November 2023. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. These contracts were competitively procured via an electronic request for proposals as a 100 percent small business set-aside; five offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, California, is the contracting activity. Detyens Shipyards Inc., North Charleston, South Carolina, is awarded a $10,046,484 firm-fixed-price contract for a 60-calendar day shipyard availability for the regular overhaul dry docking of USNS Joshua Humphreys (T-AO 188). Work will include general services; clean and gas free tanks; 01 level and tank deck hydro-blast and recoat; flight deck preservation and non-skid; stability test; main engine turbo charger overhaul; ship's service diesel engine overhaul; life boat davit blocks; recertify lifeboats and winches; fire and smoke damper service; dry-docking and undocking the vessel; propeller system maintenance; overhauling sea valves; underwater hull cleaning and painting; ground tackle inspection and preservation; simplex stern tube seals; cargo ballast system tanks overhaul; ram tensioner preservation; and repair and preservation of saddle winches. The contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the total contract value to $11,054,691. Work will be performed in North Charleston, South Carolina, and is expected to be completed by March 17, 2019. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount $10,046,484 will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured, with proposals solicited via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with two offers received. The Navy's Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N3220519C4013). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Stern Produce Co. Inc.,* Phoenix, Arizona, has been awarded a maximum $99,850,000 firm-fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for fresh fruits and vegetables. This is a 48-month contract with no option periods. This was a competitive acquisition with one response received. Location of performance is Arizona, with a Nov. 12, 2022, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps; and Department of Agriculture schools and reservations. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2022 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-19-D-P343). AIR FORCE The Boeing Co., Layton, Utah, has been awarded a $70,500,000 cost-plus-incentive-fee request for equitable adjustment contract modification to contract FA8214-15-C-0001 for the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Flight Test, Telemetry, and Termination program. This modification changes the specifications for the parts management plan, flight termination receiver, electromagnetic interference, cable qualification requirements, and antenna testing requirements. Most of the work is being performed in Huntington Beach, California; and work is expected to be completed by Jan. 29, 2021. No funds are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Nuclear Weapon Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contract activity. *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1689528/

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  May 11, 2020 | International, Naval

  The US Navy’s modernization rush must not harm mine countermeasures

  By: Rep. Rob Wittman As the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, we are reminded that even in a time of unprecedented technological growth and development, simple and primitive threats have the ability to radically alter our way of life. In spite of astonishing medical advancements, some threats, unfortunately, remain timeless. Many people have drawn comparisons between the current coronvirus pandemic and the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. The Spanish flu was caused by an H1N1 virus that was first identified in the United States in military personnel in the spring of 1918. It would eventually infect one-third of the global population, killing approximately 675,000 people in the United States and an estimated 50 million people worldwide. All of this was happening in the midst of the “war to end all wars” — World War I. While the homeland was battling the flu pandemic, the U.S. Navy was battling the U-boat threat in the Atlantic. In World War I, German submarines sank almost 5,000 ships, most of them merchant vessels. To help counter the U-boat threat, the United States and the United Kingdom embarked on an unprecedented and ambitious project: the construction of the North Sea Mine Barrage — a 230-mile-long underwater barrier of sea mines stretching from Aberdeen, Scotland, to Ekersund, Norway. The effort was a marvel of modern manufacturing, producing 1,000 sea mines every day. Over five months, the allies eventually laid over 70,000 sea mines, helping to contain the U-boat threat and protect allied shipping. As a second wave of the flu pandemic raged across the globe, World War I finally came to an end in November 1918. The American and British navies now had the task of cleaning up 70,000 live sea mines in the unforgiving North Sea. These primitive mines were anchored to the bottom of the sea, and the U.S. and U.K. had the advantage of knowing precisely where they were located because they had laid them. Despite those advantages, it took 82 ships and over 4,000 men — 10 times the assets that were required to lay the mines — to clean up the North Sea Mine Barrage. After almost a year of mine-clearing efforts, the operation was declared complete. Navy studies would later reveal that only approximately 40 percent of the American mines had actually been cleared, and mines continued to wash ashore for years after the end of the war. Fast forward a century and sea mines have proliferated around the world. Since the end World War II, sea mines have damaged or sunk four times as many U.S. Navy ships as any other method of attack. U.S. adversaries have paid attention. Russia was a pioneer in mine warfare and is estimated to have as many as 250,000 sea mines in its inventory. China is not far behind, with an inventory of around 100,000, including some of the world's most advanced mines. China has hundreds of mine-capable ships and aircraft, and could deploy thousands of mines a day during a conflict. To counter the mine threat, the U.S. Navy relies on 11 wooden-hulled Avenger-class mine countermeasures ships, 31 MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopters and a handful of explosive ordnance disposal platoons. The Navy wants to retire both the Avengers and Sea Dragons by 2025, while efforts to field any replacement capability have continued to falter. While the U.S. Navy has focused its research and funding on countering emerging threats such as advanced radars and hypersonic missiles, a time-tested threat waits patiently in the waters around the globe; and if we ignore the lessons of history, a centuries-old technology could lead to our defeat. Mine warfare, like public health, is an area that rarely attracts attention or significant investment until a crisis emerges. We should not wait until American lives are in peril before we take action. We need to change course immediately. First, the Navy must maintain its existing mine countermeasures forces until a credible replacement is fielded. Second, the Navy must make a significant investment to recapitalize the mine countermeasures force both in time and quantity to deliver a credible force. Unfortunately, the Navy has spent billions of dollars and wasted precious years pursuing a mine countermeasure module program that, even if it worked as advertised, would have neither the capability nor the capacity to effectively counter an enemy mine threat anticipated in our National Defense Strategy. Whether it's a pandemic or a proliferated naval threat, our citizens expect the United States to respond effectively, and we must make the necessary investments to counter the threats to our nation and our Navy. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/05/08/the-us-navys-modernization-rush-must-not-harm-mine-countermeasures/