Netherlands prioritises army in defence budget spending hike

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  February 18, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - February 15, 2019

  NAVY The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Cambridge, Massachusetts, is awarded a $191,029,190 fixed-price-incentive-fee contract for the production of TRIDENT II D5 Strategic Weapon System MK6 Guidance Equivalent Units. This contract contains options which, if exercised, would bring the total contract value to $391,767,950. Work will be performed in Cambridge, Massachusetts (30.5 percent); Clearwater, Florida (20.6 percent); Pittsfield, Massachusetts (43.2 percent); and McKinney, Texas (5.7 percent). The work is expected to be completed by July 31, 2022. If the option is exercised, work will continue through July 31, 2023. Fiscal 2019 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $189,489,000; and United Kingdom funds in the amount of $1,540,190 are being obligated on this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was awarded on a sole-source basis in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1)&(4) and was previously synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunity website. Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00030-19-C-0008). Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Syracuse, New York, is awarded a $20,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-incentive-fee and firm-fixed-price contract for engineering and technical services for the design, development, testing, integration, technology insertion/refreshment and system support of the AN/BLQ-10 Electronic Warfare System (Technology Insertion (TI)-20, TI-22, and TI-24) on new-construction and in-service submarines. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $970,083,614. Work will be performed in Syracuse, New York (95 percent); and Manassas, Virginia (5 percent), and is expected to be completed by February 2020. If options are exercised, work will continue through February 2029. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funding in the amount of $8,500,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with two offers received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-19-D-6200). The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded a $17,777,048 modification to a previously awarded, cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-18-D-0001). This modification increases the ceiling of the contract to procure up to an additional quantity of two F/A-18E/F aircraft, modified to extend the service life of the aircraft. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri (75 percent); and El Segundo, California (25 percent), and is expected to be completed in October 2020. No funds are being obligated at time of award, funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Su-Mo Builders Inc.,* Honolulu, Hawaii, is awarded $9,989,777 for firm-fixed-price task order N6247819F4051 under a previously awarded, multiple award construction contract (N62478-18-D-4023) to provide repair to the mess hall and replace the walk-in freezer and cooling systems at Building 1089, Marine Corps Base, Hawaii. The project includes repairs to various areas and components of the mess hall, as well as electrical work, landscaping, the construction of two mechanical enclosures, and the installation of hand wash stations, an entry vestibule, and air conditioning. Work will be performed in Kaneohe, Hawaii, and is expected to be completed by September 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps) contract funds in the amount of $9,989,777 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Six proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Hawaii, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, is the contracting activity. Seemans Composites, Gulfport, Mississippi, is awarded a $9,125,520 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the machining center proposal. This effort will evaluate Navy unmanned underwater vehicles launch and recovery needs and define target areas for further evaluation and design definition. Work will be performed in Gulfport, Mississippi, and is expected to be completed Feb. 11, 2022. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $9,125,520 are obligated at the time of award. No funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured under N00014-18-S-B001 lLong range broad agency announcement (BAA). Proposals will be received throughout the year under the long range BAA; therefore, the number of proposals received in response to the solicitation is unknown. The Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N00014-19-C-2015). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY SupplyCore Inc.,* Rockford, Illinois, has been awarded a maximum $90,000,000 firm-fixed-price, bridge contract for facilities maintenance, repair, and operations items. 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 an eight-month contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Illinois, with an Oct. 25, 2019, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019, through 2020 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE8E3-19-D-0004). Excel Garment Manufacturing Ltd.,* El Paso, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $15,526,032 firm-fixed-price, definite-quantity contract for Navy utility coveralls. This was a competitive acquisition with three offers received. This is an eight-month contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Texas, with an Oct. 14, 2019, performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-19-C-0004). ARMY Oshkosh Defense LLC, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was awarded a $74,189,379 modification (P00004) to contract W56HZV-18-F-0153 for procurement of Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles variants. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2021. Fiscal 2019 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $74,189,379 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity. Abt Associates Rockville, Maryland (W912HQ-19-D-0002); AECOM Technical Services Inc., Los Angeles, California (W912HQ-19-D-0003); Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., McLean, Virginia (W912HQ-19-D-0004); and CDM Federal Programs Corp., Carbondale, Illinois (W912HQ-19-D-0005), will compete for each order of the $47,200,000 firm-fixed-price contract for navigation, data and systems analytical and professional support services. Bids were solicited via the internet with seven received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 14, 2024. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, is the contracting activity. The Boeing Co., Mesa, Arizona, was awarded a $12,850,128 firm-fixed-price foreign military sales (Qatar) contract for post-production support services for the Qatar Armed Forces AH-64E Apache helicopter fleet. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Mesa, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 14, 2024. Fiscal 2019 foreign military sales funds in the amount of $3,078,195 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-19-C-0020). AIR FORCE Apogee Engineering, Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded a $28,193,611 firm-fixed-price contract for Space Logistics Infrastructure Support Services (SLISS) – 2. The SLISS-2 contract will provide services to the Space and Missile System Center Space Logistics Directorate and related space organizations. The SLISS-2 contract will be used to acquire non-personal services in support of various missions, command, control, communications and intelligence activities within Air Force Space Command. Additionally, the contract will provide logistical support to various space organizations such as, Air Force Satellite Control Network, Space Lift Range System, Global Positioning System, Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, Military Satellite Communications, and Space Based Infrared Systems. Work will be performed at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado; and Schriever AFB, Colorado, and is expected to be completed Feb. 28, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and four offers were received. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $4,515,781 are being obligated at the time of award. Space and Missile Center/Sustainment Directorate at Peterson AFB, Colorado, is the contracting activity (FA8823-19-F-0001). Jackpine Technologies Corp., Maynard, Massachusetts, has been awarded a $12,000,000 single-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the Hanscom Development, Security and Operations Cloud. This contract provides for on and off premise cloud-based service provider to the Department of Defense (DoD) community, acting as a collaborative and secure platform to test, develop and connect a multitude of DoD-wide users. Work will be performed at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, and is expected to be completed Feb. 14, 2021. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Foreign military sales funds in the amount of $45,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity (FA8730-19-D-0003). DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY Intelligent Waves LLC, Reston, Virginia, was awarded a competitive firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with the Defense Information Systems Agency to provide global logistical service management and field service representatives in support of the Distributed Tactical Communication System and the Department of Defense Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services program. The cumulative face value of this action is $48,000,000 with the base year funded by fiscal 2019 defense working capital funds. The basic proposal was solicited via electronic means through FedBizOps with six proposals received. The period of performance is from Feb. 25, 2019, to Feb. 24, 2020, with four 12-month option periods. Performance will be at various locations within the U.S. and deployed locations worldwide. The Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity (HC1013-19-D-0003). IntelSat General Corp., McLean, Virginia, was awarded a firm-fixed-price contract modification to exercise Option Period Three on task order GS-35F-0478U/HC1013-16-F-0020 for commercial satellite communications service in direct support of the U.S. Air Force's Central Command network architecture, which includes fixed and mobile platforms, including remotely piloted aircraft and communications on-the-move assets. The face value of this action is $8,553,756 funded by fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds. Primary performance will be at the contractor's facility. The period of performance is Feb. 16, 2019, through Feb. 15, 2020. The Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity (HC1013-16-F-0020-P00007). * Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1759513/source/GovDelivery/

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  November 22, 2022 | International, Aerospace

  Europe’s new warplane program could finally, maybe, take off

  Eric Trappier, the boss of France's industry lead Dassault, plays down progress as a "a pseudo-political announcement."

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  May 7, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Army’s Shift To FVL Poses Big Risks For Small Suppliers

  After decades of building traditional helicopters in traditional ways, contractors must get ready for the Army's new high-speed Future Vertical Lift aircraft. Small makers of key parts need help. By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.on May 06, 2020 at 2:14 PM WASHINGTON: What worries the Army's aviation acquisition chief as he helps industry get ready to build a revolutionary new generation of aircraft in the midst of a global pandemic? “It's the mom and pop shops,” Patrick Mason said today. “It's the Tier 3 suppliers, typically on the hardware side.” “Those are the ones we remain focused on, because those are those are the ones that can end up in a single point failure,” the program executive officer for Army aviation continued. “That's what we're doing right now through COVID and we're going to continue to do that as we look ...to Future Vertical Lift.” While the big Tier 1 prime contractors should be fine, they depend on smaller Tier 2 suppliers for key components, and they depend on yet smaller Tier 3 suppliers. As you trace the provenance of a crucial component down that supply chain, you all too often find a single point of failure. That's some tiny, easily overlooked company that happens to have the only people who know how to build a particular part, like an actuator or a valve, or the only one who can apply a particular heat treatment or protective coating to someone else's part so it can survive the stresses of flight. It would be easier if the Army was just winding down production of one kind of traditional helicopter and ramping up another. Then industry could build any new parts required in the old way. But Future Vertical Lift is about building new kinds of aircraft in new ways. Even the most traditional-looking competitor, Bell's proposal for the FARA scout helicopter, is being designed, built, and tested using new digital tools. Those tools allow much greater precision and efficiency than traditional blueprints, but only for facilities that have the necessary technology installed. Bell and its rivals, Sikorsky and Boeing, are also all eager to use 3D printing and other advanced manufacturing techniques to improve the performance and reliability of key parts while reducing their cost. That's another set of new technologies that small firms can't easily afford. Will increasing sales of drones help make up the revenue? In addition to the optionally manned FARA scout and FLRAA transport, which will have human crews aboard for most missions, FVL is also building a whole family of completely unmanned aircraft. The major companies can get in on much of that business, Mason said, but some of their smaller suppliers can't. If you build electronics or write flight control software, then. you can work on either manned or unmanned aircraft. But, Mason said, if you specialize in building a particular kind of hardware for manned aircraft, most drones are so much smaller that they use entirely different systems, such electric actuators instead of hydraulics. So for small manufacturing shops, he said, “there's less synergy.” Mason's concerns were well supported by a study of the FVL industrial base by the Center for Strategic & International Studies, released today. “The primes are all in,” said Andrew Hunter, director of defense industrial studies at CSIS, who hosted yesterday's call, “[but] it's a big challenge for those Tier 3 and lower suppliers to make this transition.” During months of workshops with industry, “the concern that we heard expressed repeatedly was lower down the supply chain, [with] Tier 3 and lower suppliers,” Hunter said. “It's an expensive investment that they may be challenged to raise the capital to do, [and] it certainly will involve retraining their workforce to use these new manufacturing techniques.” “Industry has to see they're going to get a return on that investment,” he said. “Even optimistic management who are true believers and think they are definitely going to get a return on this investment because they're going to win [FVL contracts], they've still got to justify it to the banks. They've still got to justify it to their corporate boards.” Changing The Rules What complicates the business case for contractors is that the Army wants a new approach, not just to building the new aircraft, but also to how it keeps them flying. Over an aircraft's decades in service, the long tail of operations, maintenance, and upgrades dwarfs the up-front cost of research, development, and acquisition. While the CSIS study calculated that the Army could afford to build the Future Vertical Lift if budgets remain near historical averages – not guaranteed in the wake of the pandemic – the bigger risk is whether or not the service can control those Operations & Sustainment costs in the long term. Army Futures Command's director for aviation modernization, Brig. Gen. Walter Rugen, said he was confident that extensive physical prototyping and digital modeling would help the service get a handle on those costs. “Our requirements... are still in draft form, so if we need to trade one away to maintain our budgets, we will do that,” he said. “We are going to understand to the greatest degree possible what our O&S costs are and make sure that it's within our budget.” For helicopters, Hunter said, O&S is typically 65 percent of the total cost over the lifetime of a program. Now, not all that money goes to aerospace contractors, since sizable chunk goes to pay military maintenance personnel, buy fuel, and so on. But contracts to sustain existing aircraft are a more important revenue stream for most contractors than actually building new ones. While projected spending on R&D (blue) and procurement (red) rise and fall, remaining under $2.5 billion a year, Operations & Sustainment costs (green) remain largely constant at over $7.5 billion — a crucial source of cash for industry. (CSIS graphic) So any Army effort to economize on operations & sustainment hits contractors where they live. What's more, the Army isn't just trying to squeeze savings out of the existing process; it's changing the rules of the game. Historically, companies could bid low to build a new weapons system because, once they got the contract, they had a de facto monopoly on maintaining and upgrading that system for decades. Now the Defense Department is pushing hard to break this “vendor lock” in two main ways: It's increasingly requiring companies to hand over their intellectual property and technical data. The government can then give that data to potential competitors trying to build cheaper alternatives, as on the Army-run Joint Light Tactical Vehicle program. Second, it's requiring companies to make their products compatible with government standards for how different components fit together physically and connect electronically, with the aim of creating Modular Open System Architectures where you can swap out one company's component and replace it with another vendor's. Developing a common MOSA for all manned and unmanned aircraft is a top priority for the Army's Future Vertical Lift initiative. “Part of what we're doing [over] the next year, year and a half, is the strategy associated with the operational availability, that we want out of these platforms, the intellectual property we want to obtain,” Mason said. “What's the valuation of the IP, the intellectual property? Because intellectual property drives their ability to control the aftermarket, and the aftermarket is where you see the year over year cash flow [that's] critical to most of their business models.” “As you look at Modular Open System Architecture...the business case and the business model associated with it is something that we're working through with industry right now,” Mason said. “It is critical that we have the right incentive structure, it is critical that we provide the right framework so that industry continues to invest and they continue to see a return on that invested capital.” To prevail in future conflicts, “we can't afford not to do Future Vertical Lift,” Brig. Gen. Rugen said. “What this report talks to is national interest we have in preserving the rotorcraft industrial base as we go forward.” https://breakingdefense.com/2020/05/armys-shift-to-fvl-poses-big-risks-for-small-suppliers/