Pentagon maps out defense space strategy

On the same subject

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  June 5, 2024 | International, Land

  Lockheed Martin to buy up to 25 rocket launches from Firefly Aerospace

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

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - November 20, 2020

  NAVY BAE Systems Norfolk Ship Repair, Norfolk, Virginia, was awarded a $197,452,828, firm-fixed-price contract for the execution of the USS Wasp (LHD 1) fiscal 2021 Chief of Naval Operations scheduled docking selected restricted availability. This availability will include a combination of maintenance, modernization and repair of USS Wasp (LHD 1). This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value to $237,765,941. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by May 2022. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Navy) (97.2%); and fiscal 2021 other procurement (Navy) (2.8%) funding in the amount of $197,452,828 will be obligated at contract award, of which funding in the amount of $191,836,933 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured using full and open competition via the Federal Business Opportunities website with one offer received in response to Solicitation No. N00024-20-R-4404. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-21-C-4404). (Awarded Nov. 20, 2020) Auxiliary Systems Inc.,* Norfolk, Virginia, is awarded a maximum dollar value $35,423,320 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide alternating current/direct current motors and motor generator sets repair. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia, and is expected to be complete by November 2021 and if options are exercised, work will be completed by November 2025. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $12,000 ($12,000 minimum guarantee per contract) will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This single award contract was procured as a small business set-aside via the beta.sam.gov website with two offers received. The Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N50054-21-D-0001). Bell Boeing Joint Project Office, Amarillo, Texas, is awarded a $12,861,992 modification (P00004) to cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price order N00019-20-F-0315 against previously issued basic ordering agreement N00019-17-G-0002. This modification exercises options to modify the V-22 aircraft to the government of Japan's unique configuration requirements. Additionally, the modification exercises options for the production and delivery of nine traffic collision avoidance systems, technical support representation and preservation of aircraft post completion of unique modifications. Work will be performed in Stennis, Mississippi (75%); Ridley Park, Pennsylvania (15%); Fort Worth, Texas (5%); and Tokyo, Japan (5%), and is expected to be completed in August 2024. Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $12,861,992 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. Pacific Federal Management Inc.,* Tumon, Guam, is awarded a $10,366,798 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity modification for the exercise of Option Number One for base operating support services at Naval Base (NB) Guam and Naval Support Activity (NSA) Andersen. The work to be performed provides for all labor, supervision, management, tools, material, equipment, facilities, transportation and incidental engineering and other items necessary to accomplish all work to perform ground maintenance and tree trimming services for U.S. military facilities on Guam and NSA Andersen at various locations on Guam, Marianas Islands. After award of this option, the total cumulative contract value will be $19,783,731. Work will be performed in the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Marianas area of operations, including but not limited to, NB Guam (70%); and NSA Andersen, Guam (30%). This option period is from December 2020 to November 2021. No funds will be obligated at time of award. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (O&M) (Navy); and fiscal 2021 O&M (family housing) in the amount of $7,945,193 for recurring work will be obligated on individual task orders issued during the option period. NAVFAC Marianas, Guam, is the contracting activity (N40192-20-D-9000). IAP Worldwide Services Inc., Cape Canaveral, Florida, is awarded a $9,112,276 recurring/non-recurring services type modification for base operating services at Naval Support Activity Annapolis. The work to be performed provides for all management, supervision, labor hours, training, equipment and supplies necessary to perform base operating services to include, but not limited to, facility investment, service calls, pest control, operation of utility plants, refuse collection, special events and snow and ice removal. Work will be performed in Annapolis, Maryland, with the contract period of Dec. 1, 2020, to Feb. 28, 2021. No funds will be obligated at time of modification award. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance in the amount of $5,833,247 for recurring work will be obligated on individual task orders issued during the contract period. The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, Washington, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N40080-20-D-0500). ARMY FLIR Unmanned Ground Systems Inc., Chelmsford, Massachusetts, was awarded a $30,100,000 modification (P00007) to contract W56HZV-19-D-0031 for reset, sustainment, maintenance and recap parts to support the overall sustainment actions of the entire FLIR Unmanned Ground Systems family of small, medium and large robots. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 23, 2020. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity. Norfolk Dredging Co., Chesapeake, Virginia, was awarded a $20,490,500 firm-fixed-price contract to remove dredging material from the Delaware River. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Bellafonte, Delaware, with an estimated completion date of March 22, 2021. Fiscal 2010 civil construction funds in the amount of $20,490,500 were obligated at the time of the award. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (W912BU-21-C-0007). AIR FORCE Busek Co. Inc., Natick, Massachusetts, has been awarded a $20,335,186 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for development of a 1-2 kW Hall Thruster system for a near-term space experiment. This contract provides a contract vehicle the Air Force Research Laboratory, Aerospace Systems and Space Propulsion Division can use to address technical needs for next-generation strategic, tactical and spacecraft propulsion systems. Work will be performed in Natick, Massachusetts, and is expected to be completed Nov. 25, 2023. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $2,559,980 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, is the contracting activity (FA9300-21-C-6001). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Epic Aviation LLC, Salem, Oregon, has been awarded a maximum $11,263,200 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for jet fuel. This was a competitive acquisition with three responses received. This is an 18-month base contract with one six-month option period. Locations of performance are California and Oregon, with a May 31, 2022, performance completion date. Using customer is Air National Guard. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2022 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SPE605-21-D-4527). *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2427044/source/GovDelivery/

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  October 27, 2020 | International, C4ISR

  With its new space centre, NATO seeks the ultimate high ground

  Murray Brewster It's not the Space Force you may have heard about. Still, NATO's newly announced space centre boldly takes the seven-decade-old institution where no international military alliance has gone before. Most of its leading members and adversaries have sought individual advantage in the final frontier over the decades. And while the European Space Agency is a collective body, its civilian mission and its politics are inarguably different from those of NATO. That difference was on display this week as NATO defence ministers, meeting online, put the final pieces in place for the new centre, which has been in the works for a couple of years. "The space environment has fundamentally changed in the last decade," said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. "Some nations, including Russia and China, are developing anti-satellite systems that could blind, disable or shoot down satellites and create dangerous debris in orbit." NATO "must increase our understanding of the challenges in space," he said. Unlike U.S. President Donald Trump's much-hyped plan to make the Space Force a separate branch of the U.S. military, the North Atlantic alliance has been careful to present its space centre not as a "war fighting" arm but as something purely defensive. A 1967 international treaty commits 110 countries, including the United States and Canada, to limiting their use of space to "peaceful purposes" alone and prohibits the basing of weapons of mass destruction (nuclear bombs, for instance) in orbit. It further prohibits the militarization of the moon and other celestial bodies. Stoltenberg has insisted that alliance activities will be in line with international law. The rising threat of war in space That's an important point for Paul Meyer, adjunct professor of international studies in international security at Simon Fraser University in B.C. He warned in a recent policy paper for the Canadian Global Affairs Institute that the "prospects for armed conflict in space appear more likely than they have been since the days of the Cold War." Meyer said world leaders should think hard about what role — if any — arms control could play in avoiding a war in space. "Diplomatic solutions are not being pursued, despite the fact that irresponsible state conduct in space can ruin it for everyone," he said Friday. NATO has no satellites or space infrastructure of its own — but many member nations do and Stoltenberg said the alliance will draw on their expertise in setting up the new centre. Almost all modern militaries rely on satellites. In any major conflict between NATO and either Russia or China, the orbital communication and navigation grid would be the first piece of infrastructure to be hit. Not only does NATO need satellites for surveillance, reconnaissance and communications, an increasing number of military operations are being targeted from space. A good example is the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, during which 68 per cent of airstrikes employed smart bombs guided by lasers and satellites. Those "eyes in the sky" are also important for defence against ballistic missiles and (naturally) weather forecasting. Diplomacy and deterrence Dan Coats, the former U.S. director of national intelligence, warned Congress almost two years ago that China and Russia have trained and equipped their military space forces with new anti-satellite weapons. Those warnings have not been limited to the Trump administration. In the spring of 2019, Norway accused Russia of "harassing" communications systems and jamming Norwegian Armed Forces GPS signals. Last spring, the NATO space centre reported that Moscow had test-fired a satellite-killing missile. Frank Rose, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said in a recent online policy analysis that outer space will need to be "mainstreamed" within NATO when it comes to planning and operations. He also argued that the alliance will need to find a way to "incorporate diplomacy into any eventual strategy." Meyer agreed and noted in his October 2020 policy paper that Canada is largely absent from any meaningful debate on the militarization of space. The Global Affairs website, he said, contains outdated material, is full of banal, non-specific references and is largely devoid of Canadian content. "Pity the Canadian citizen who wishes to understand where our country stands on this troubling issue of outer space security," Meyer wrote. It's not clear what sort of contribution Canada might make to the new NATO space centre. In a statement, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said it's important for Canada's allies to develop a strategy that "ensures a peaceful use of space while protecting ourselves. "Canada has been a leading voice in NATO about the importance of space for the Alliance and we remain committed to working with our Allies and partners to prevent space from becoming an arena of conflict." https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nato-space-command-space-militarization-stoltenberg-1.5775269