Plans for bigger defense budget get boost after House authorization bill vote

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  November 12, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  TOP US INTELLIGENCE OFFICIAL SUE GORDON WANTS SILICON VALLEY ON HER SIDE

  SUE GORDON, THE principal deputy director of national intelligence, wakes up every day at 3 am, jumps on a Peloton, and reads up on all the ways the world is trying to destroy the United States. By the afternoon, she has usually visited the Oval Office and met with the heads of the 17 intelligence agencies to get threat reports. The self-described “chief operating officer of the intelligence community” has a lot to worry about, but the nearly-30-year veteran is generally optimistic about America's future. Now, she says, she just needs Silicon Valley to realize that tech and government don't have to be opposed. On a recent trip to Silicon Valley, Gordon sat down with WIRED to talk about how much government needs Silicon Valley to join the fight to keep the US safe. She was in town to speak at conference at Stanford, but also to convince tech industry leaders industry that despite increasing employee concerns, the government and tech have a lot of shared goals. “I had a meeting with Google where my opening bid was: ‘We're in the same business'. And they're like ‘What?' And I said: ‘Using information for good,'” Gordon says. That's a hard sell in Silicon Valley, especially in the post-Snowden years. After Snowden's leaks, tech companies and tech workers didn't want to be seen as complicit with a government that spied on its own people—a fact Gordon disputes, saying that any collection of citizen's information was incidental and purged by their systems. This led to a much-publicized disconnect between the two power centers, one that has only grown more entrenched and public in 2018, as Silicon Valley has undergone something of an ethical awakening. Gordon agrees with and supports a broader awareness that technology can be abused, but came to Silicon Valley to explain why government and tech should solve those problems hand in hand. Pairing Up Gordon knows from public-private partnerships. The CIA's venture capital accelerator In-Q-Tel—which for nearly 20 years has invested in everything from malware-detection software to biochemical sensors to micro-batteries—was Gordon's idea. Groundbreaking at its conception, In-Q-Tel directly funds startups that could be of interest to national security, without limits on how that money can be used, and without owning the intellectual property. Among other successful investments, In-Q-Tel backed a company called Keyhole, which Google would go on to acquire and turn into Google Earth. Full article: https://www.wired.com/story/sue-gordon-us-intelligence-public-private-google-amazon

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  February 13, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - February 12, 2019

  AIR FORCE Tecolote Research Inc., El Segundo, California, has been awarded a $36,668,258 firm-fixed-price contract for Space and Missile Systems Center acquisition and financial support services. This contract provides the Remote Sensing Systems Directorate with a broad range of acquisition, strategic communication, and administrative capabilities to execute effective and responsive integrated program management of space-related research, development, production, sustainment, and lifecycle acquisition activities. Work will be performed in El Segundo, California, and is expected to be completed by Aug. 17, 2024. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and six offers were received. Fiscal 2019 space procurement in the amount of $974,326; and research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $5,137,759 are being obligated at the time of award. Space and Missile Systems Center Remote Sensing Systems Contracting Division, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is the contracting activity (FA8810-19-F-0002). Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $19,900,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Advanced Turbine Technologies for Affordable Mission-Capability (ATTAM) Phase I. The mission of the ATTAM Phase I program is to develop, demonstrate and transition advanced turbine propulsion power and thermal technologies that provides improvement in affordable mission capability. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed by Feb. 12, 2027. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and 54 offers were received. The first task order will be initially funded with fiscal 2018 research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) funds in the amount of $45,000; and fiscal 2019 RDT&E funds in the amount of $315,000 at the time award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8650-19-D-2059). AAR Manufacturing Inc., Cadillac, Michigan, has been awarded a $10,864,605 delivery order (FA8534-19-F-0023) to contract FA8519-14-D-0002 for the production of 463L cargo pallets. Work will be performed in Cadillac, Michigan, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2020. Fiscal 2017 other procurement funds in the amount of $6,345,157; and fiscal 2019 other procurement funds in the amount of $4,519,448 are being obligated at time of award. Total face value of the delivery order is $10,864,605. This delivery order brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $181,551,615. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity. 22nd Century Technologies Inc., Somerset, New Jersey, has been awarded a $8,344,625 firm-fixed-price contract to exercise Option III to support the 33rd Network Warfare Squadron (NWS) at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, in conducting its mission of Defense Cyber Operations (DCO). The contractor will provide plans and implantation in executing the 33rd NWS managed DCO mission. Work will be performed on Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, and is expected to be completed Feb. 28, 2020. This contract is the result of a competitive acquisition and eight offers were received. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $8,344,625 will be obligated at the time of award. The 38th Cyberspace Engineering Installation Group, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity (FA8773-15-C-0067). ARMY Tiber Creek Consulting Inc.,* Fairfax, Virginia, was awarded a $33,549,985 firm-fixed-price contract for mission essential core information system for operations and sustainment with periodic modernization life cycle phases. Bids were solicited via the internet with eight received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 7, 2024. U.S. Army Health Contracting Activity, San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity (W81K04-19-D-0007). Osborn Consulting / MGE Engineering / Natural System,* Bellevue, Washington, was awarded a $10,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for miscellaneous water resource civil works engineering, design, and engineering. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 10, 2021. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle, Washington, is the contracting activity (W912DW-19-D-1011). Fortis Nova A Joint Venture LLC,* Phoenix, Arizona, was awarded a $9,050,000 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of two new truck fill stands. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Las Vegas, Nevada, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 3, 2020. Fiscal 2019 military construction funds in the amount of $9,050,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles, California, is the contracting activity (W912PL-19-C-0006). NAVY Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Rolling Meadows, Illinois, is awarded a $27,291,319 fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for integration, testing, delivery, and performance as the lead systems integrator for the AN/AAQ-24 Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures System and the ALQ-213 Electronic Warfare Management System. These services are in support of Lot 9 and 10 P-8A production aircraft for the Navy and various Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers, including the governments of Australia and the U.K. Work will be performed in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, and is expected to be completed in February 2021. Fiscal 2018 aircraft procurement (Navy), and FMS funds in the amount of $11,751,506 are obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (N68335-19-D-0023). Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., St. Augustine, Florida, is awarded $16,883,718 for modification P00012 to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-reimbursable indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-14-D-0022). This contract modification extends the period of performance and provides depot maintenance for 44 Navy and Marine Corps Reserve F-5N/F aircraft. In addition to depot maintenance, this modification provides for aircraft inspections, repairs, overhauls, emergency repairs, modifications, engineering support and procurement of structural components required for the operation and sustainment of the F-5N/F aircraft. Work will be performed in St. Augustine, Florida (96 percent); Springville, Utah (3 percent); and Emmen, Switzerland (1 percent), and is expected to be completed in September 2019. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Warfare Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Moran Towing Corp., New Canaan, Connecticut, is awarded a $14,350,538 firm-fixed-price contract with reimbursable elements to support PM4 service support program for the time charter services of eight tugboats. The tugboats will be capable of ship handling, docking and undocking in the Norfolk, Virginia, harbor and surrounding waters. The contract includes a 12-month base period, three 12-month option periods, and one 11-month option which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $74,005,396. Work will be in Norfolk, Virginia, and surrounding waters, and is expected to be completed by February 2020. If all options are exercised, work will continue through Jan. 31, 2024. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,371,147 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with one offer received. The United States Navy's Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N3220519C3503). Cardno-Amec Foster Wheeler Joint Venture, Charlottesville, Virginia, is awarded $8,440,405 for firm-fixed-price task order N6247319F4047 under an indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity architect-engineering contract for building condition assessments at Marine Corps Base (MCB) Camp Pendleton, California; Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Camp Pendleton, California; Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California; MCAS Miramar, California; Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, California; Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, California; MCAS Yuma, Arizona, and MCB Camp Butler, Okinawa, Japan. Work will be performed in Oceanside, California (47 percent); Twentynine Palms, California (16 percent); Miramar, California (13 percent); Barstow, California (8 percent); San Diego, California (7 percent); Yuma, Arizona (7 percent); and Okinawa, Japan (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by February 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps) contract funds in the amount of $8,440,405 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One proposal was received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N62473-16-D-1866). U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND Raytheon Company Space and Airborne Systems, McKinney, Texas, was awarded a $15,000,000 modification (P00002) to an existing indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (H92222-18-D-0003) with cost-plus-fixed-fee contract line items. This action increases the ceiling from $30,000,000 to $45,000,000 for Silent Knight Radar Operational Flight Program (OFP) development, field service representative support and engineering services in support of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) fixed wing aircraft. This action completes OFP software delivery for the CV-22. Development work will continue to take place at the Raytheon facility in McKinney, Texas, and is expected to be complete by December 2021. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $5,450,390 are being obligated at the time of award. USSOCOM Headquarters, Tampa, Florida, is the contacting activity. DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY Artel, LLC, Herndon, Virginia, was awarded a firm-fixed-price contract modification (P00019) to exercise Option Period Four on task order GS-35F-5151H / HC101315F0009 for commercial satellite communications service. The face value of this action is $12,560,172 funded by fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds. The total cumulative face value of the task order is $71,314,976. Performance directly supports the U.S. Central Command Southwest Asia area of responsibility and Europe Communications Network Architecture and Contingency Support. Quotations were solicited via the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Schedule, Information Technology Schedule 70, and two quotations were received from 22 offers solicited. The period of performance for Option Period Four is Feb. 16, 2019, through Feb. 15, 2020, and there are no remaining option periods for this task order. The Defense Information Technology Organization, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity. *Small Business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1755709/

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  May 7, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Here's the Air Force's plan to revolutionize the way it trains pilots

  Oriana Pawlyk, Military.com When Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson visited AFWERX's Pilot Training Next program in Austin, Texas, last year, she watched as trainees took flight from the seats in front of her — through the use of virtual reality. It piqued her interest enough to ask service officials to explore waysthat similar flight simulator programs could be introduced to high schools to get young students involved in the nation's endeavors to create more pilots. Officials with Air Education and Training Command (AETC) are now gearing up to present Wilson's successor with a business case for more widespread use of the system, within the force. The move provides a glimpse into Air Force leaders' thinking as they overhaul the pilot training curriculum, introducing one that augments time airborne in the cockpit with simulators and technology on the ground. It comes as the Air Force readies itself for the possibility of complex conflict with a peer-level adversary equipped with long-range missiles and advanced combat aircraft. It's a future that may represent a strong contrast to recent decades, in which the Air Force has flown in largely uncontested airspace supporting ground troops. The service is attempting to boost its pilot ranks amid a longterm pilot shortage, even as its trainer fleet ages. Air Force officials say they want to move away from the service's old-fashioned, "industrial" approach to training — having pilots sit in classrooms for weeks then moving on to a trainer. This means using virtual reality earlier and more frequently in the training pipeline. As the service prepares to bring its latest trainer, known as the T-X, into the fold, it is proposing a more "concentrated dose" of training to seamlessly transition from virtual reality to the trainer and, finally, to the Formal Training Unit, or FTU. The system is well poised to reform in a few ways, said Gen. Mike Holmes, commander of Air Combat Command (ACC). Using the low-cost immersive environment of virtual reality, together with "competency-based learning," and moving skillset testing at the graduate level to an earlier place in the model, "would experience our pilots much faster," he said. "Those are two things that are poised to make a revolutionary changein how well we train pilots and in how long it takes us to train pilots," Holmes said Tuesday in an interview with Military.com. "I want to see how fast and well I can produce experienced pilots." Pilots end up leaving the service if they feel dissatisfied and lack a sense of purpose, added Lt. Gen. Steven Kwast, AETC commander. "You have to fly a lot to be good at what you do, and we don't have the money, and we don't have the weather, and we don't have the range space ... [because of] sequestration. And all these things that are politically driven oftentimes are frustrating the force," Kwast said in a separate interview. Airline hiring efforts are the biggest factor that drives pilot retention and production problem in the services, officials have said. Old learning mechanisms also bog down the system, often adding to pilots' frustration, Kwast said. "We would [add] layers of things over time" through the course of a pilot's service, "basically assuming, 'You can't handle the truth!' or 'You're not smart enough to be able to learn this holistically, we have to give it to you piecemeal and then you'd put it together in your brain over time.' That's why it would take seven years to make a great mission commander pilot." But now, he said "We're breaking that paradigm." Trainer fleet in trouble? The service still relies heavily on its trainer fleet for training, even though virtual reality is the new frontier, Holmes said. "There's still no substitute for being in a real airplane," he said. "I think we'll always want a mix of learning our skills cheaply, but also build on decision-making in a real airplane." The T-38 Talon has been the backbone of the Air Force's undergraduate pilot training, or UPT, program for decades. But last year, the trainer fleet was plagued with a series of crashes, two of which were fatal. Those selected to fly bombers and fighters typically receive their advanced pilot training in the T-38. The T-1A Jayhawk, meanwhile, is used in advanced training for students who are slated to go into cargo or tanker aircraft. The T-6 Texan II, used for instrument familiarization and low-level and formation flying, also has had its share of problems. Last year, the Air Force ordered an operational pause for the T-6 fleet after pilots suffered a series of unexplained physiological episodes, or UPEs. As a result, AETC on Feb. 1 ordered an indefinite operational pause for all T-6 aircraft at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi; Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma; and Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. That pause was lifted Feb. 28. A team of experts determined that the T-6's On-Board Oxygen Generating System (OBOGS) filter and drain valvesfailed at higher rates than expected. The discovery led to repairs and increased inspections, but pilotscontinued to suffer from UPEs. A T-6 trainer from Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, crashed just last week. The Air Force is preparing to receive new trainer jets to replace its current Northrop Grumman-made T-38s, some of which date to the mid-1960s. In September, the service awarded Boeing Co. a $9.2 billion contract to build its next aircraft for training pilots, known as the T-X program. The first T-X aircraft and simulators are scheduled to arrive at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, in 2023. The service has committed to buying 351 T-X jets, 46 simulators and associated ground equipment. The pay ment structure, officials have said, also allows for an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity option to give the Air Force the opportunity to purchase up to 475 aircraft and 120 simulators. Delays to this program or other unforeseen challenges could have catastrophic consequences, said retired Gen. T. Michael "Buzz" Moseley, former Air Force chief of staff. "My anxiety over this when I was the chief [is that] we are one sortie away from this older inventory having a problem," Moseley, an F-15 Eagle pilot, said in a recent interview with Military.com. "Here we are in 2019, and we're going to fly these airplanes until 2024 before T-X starts coming in." Kwast and Holmes agreed that the T-38 fleet will continue to undergo any upgrades necessary to keep them flying as long as it makes sense. "You can make anything last longer; it just takes more money to sustain," Kwast said. "I guarantee that the T-1, the T-38 and the T-6 all can last as long as we need them to last, depending on the business case and the amount of money you want to spend. But will the T-38 or the T-1 become too expensive, and [therefore], we have to jump to a different technology? Then we would look at other options." Boeing said it stands ready to produce the T-X. "Our T-X program, including engineering, manufacturing and test, is located in long-established Boeing St. Louis facilities," wrote Rachelle Lockhart, spokeswoman for the company's T-X program, in an email. "In fact, we built and assembled our first two T-X aircraft in St. Louis prior to contract award to prove the maturity of our design, repeatability in manufacturing and performance. We're now on contract, executing on schedule as planned, as are our suppliers." She added the trainer's production schedule could be advanced at the Air Force's request. "The US Air Force plan calls for a full production rate of 48 jets a year, and we will meet the customer need," Lockhart said. "Should the Air Force request a higher rate of production, we are well positioned to accommodate it." Full article: https://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-plan-to-revolutionize-pilot-training-2019-5