September 7, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
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November 19, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
Pentagon is bullish on health of defense industrial base, even as COVID-19 cases mount
By: Valerie Insinna
WASHINGTON — Despite increasing coronavirus cases in the U.S., the Pentagon's top weapons buyer on Wednesday sounded a note of confidence that defense companies would remain open throughout the winter and keep weapons production on track.
“I am concerned about that — as we see within [the Defense Department] — the number of [COVID-19 positive] individuals still are increasing in industry,” Ellen Lord, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said during the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Ascend conference.
However, she added she doesn't anticipate another wave of facility closures.
“We're very hopeful that all of the steps that industry took during the pandemic — to space out [production] lines, to do telework, to find ways to comply with all the CDC regulations — that those have really prevented severe cases and the need to shut down,” she said, using an acronym for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“So I'm optimistic that although cases are going up, industry is going to continue to be very resilient. And we will continue at pretty impressive productivity rates,” she added.
At the height of the pandemic earlier this year, almost 700 defense companies shut down operations in the hopes of quelling the spread of the virus. By June, that number had decreased to 33 businesses, according to data from the Defense Logistics Agency and the Defense Contracts Management Agency
Currently, only one of those companies remains closed, Lord said.
However, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has been trending upward in the country since the end of September, with a high of almost 195,000 new cases reported Nov. 12, according to CDC data.
But there is cause for hope: On Wednesday morning, Pfizer announced that phase 3 trials of its vaccine showed it was 95 percent effective in preventing the virus, and the company could seek emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration within days, CNN reported.
During the conference, Lord was asked whether defense contractors would get priority access to COVID-19 vaccines, given the defense industry's status as an “essential” business sector during the pandemic.
“I don't have the answer to that,” she said. “That's being sorted out right now in the White House.”
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July 19, 2019 | International, Other Defence
This is Knight’s Armament’s new machine gun suppressor
Knight's Armament Company of Titusville, Florida, unveiled a new suppressor at this year's Special Operations Forces Industry Conference where members of the SOF community get to interact with vendors and industry partners to preview and try out the latest and greatest in special operations kit and gear. KAC's suppressor is designed primarily to be used with the company's premier belt-fed Light Assault Machine Gun platform, chambered for 5.56 NATO and marketed more towards the SOF and private military contractor communities than to conventional infantry forces. True to its name, the LAMG is indeed very light, weighing only 8.6 pounds unloaded. In comparison, the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon weighs in at 17 pounds unloaded. According to KAC, one of the LAMG's biggest selling points is its ability to put down a high volume of fire with a low cyclic rate of just around 575-625 rounds per minute, allowing the end user to maintain a greater degree of control over the weapon and concentrate accurate fire on target. The suppressor, delivered in kit form, mounts to a threaded barrel included in the kit, and makes heavy use of a unique Pressure Reduction Technology system, which vents the gasses from each shot forward, preventing the gas from venting backwards into the shooter's face. Additionally -- and probably its best feature -- the PRT system allows the LAMG to keep its factory cyclic rates during sustained fire without any major dips. The LAMG is currently available to defense buyers, which means that the new suppressor will likely only be targeted towards military sales. At the moment, US SOCOM doesn't list the LAMG in its belt-fed arsenal, though it's possible that there are foreign SOF units that make use of KAC's innovative light machine gun platform, and might potentially avail of a sustained fire suppressor. https://www.militarytimes.com/off-duty/gearscout/irons/2019/07/09/this-is-knights-armaments-new-machine-gun-suppressor/
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December 12, 2019 | International, Aerospace
RFP Reveals Main Thrust Of U.S. Counter-Hypersonic Plan
Steve Trimble The main thrust of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's counter-hypersonic strategy has just been revealed. The Regional Glide Phase Weapon System (RGPWS) prototype project demonstrates an interception capability against a medium- or intermediate-range threat. The MDA revealed the existence of the program in a request for prototype proposals released to industry on Dec. 5. An industry day for the RGPWS prototype project is scheduled on Dec. 18 at an MDA facility on Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. The RGPWS shows the MDA is moving faster to field at least a prototype counter-hypersonic capability than previous efforts suggested. The MDA had previously defined a concept for a Hypersonic Defense Weapon System (HDWS). The agency selected 21 proposals from industry in September 2018 for concept definition studies. MDA then down selected to five concepts in late August and early September 2019 for a nine-month-long concept refinement phase. The selected proposals included four kinetic concepts based on existing boosters and one Raytheon-directed energy system. The RGPWS is a parallel effort by MDA to the HDWS. The companies selected for the HDWS concept refinement phase could submit separate proposals for RGPWS. But other companies that were rejected after the concept definition phase or did not participate in HDWS can participate in the RGPWS, says Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), who was briefed on the program on Dec. 9. For example, Northrop Grumman's proposal was not down selected for the HDWS concept refinement phase, but it intends to compete for the RGPWS prototype project. “Northrop Grumman is engaged with MDA on Hypersonic Defense Regional Glide Phase Weapon System and will attend the upcoming industry day,” a spokesman says. Northrop has been developing kinetic and non-kinetic options for missile defense, including one concept in the latter category called the Terminal and Regional Electronic Attack Defense System. The acknowledgment of the RGPWS offers a limited glimpse into MDA's development strategy for the burgeoning counter-hypersonic capability. In July 2017, the agency first disclosed plans for funding a hypersonic defense demonstration. An item in the Selected Acquisition Reports for the Ballistic Missile Defense System added $508 million to the program's overall budget to pay for such a demonstration. In March 2019, the agency disclosed it would spend more than $600 million on hypersonic defense capabilities by the end of fiscal 2024. By emphasizing a “glide phase” weapon with a “regional” targeting area, the MDA also provided clues about the intent of the demonstration. It does not appear to be targeting an intercontinental ballistic missile with a nuclear hypersonic glide vehicle as the warhead, such as Russia's Avangard. It is more likely designed to target a hypersonic glide vehicle with regional range, Karako says. Options may include hypersonic glide vehicles on China's DF-17 and DF-21 missiles. “That's a good thing,” Karako says. “It's a smart move for MDA to start there.” Separately, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency continues to pursue the Glide Breaker program. It was revealed in July 2018 as a program with a particular interest in “component technologies that radically reduce risk for development and integration of an operational hard-kill system,” according to a DARPA solicitation document. But no further details about Glide Breaker have been released. https://aviationweek.com/defense/rfp-reveals-main-thrust-us-counter-hypersonic-plan