Price Drop: Lockheed Pitches $80M F-35A to Pentagon

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  March 1, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - February 25, 2019

  NAVY DZSP 21 LLC, Marlton, New Jersey, is awarded a $106,378,427 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for base operations support services at Joint Region Marianas, Guam. The work to be performed provides for facility and base operating support for the following services: management and administration, port operations, ordnance, material management, facility management, sustainment, restoration and modernization, electrical, wastewater, steam, hot water and demineralized water, potable water, transportation, and environmental. Work will be performed at various locations on the island of Guam and is expected to be completed by February 2020. Fiscal 2019 and 2020 working capital funds (Navy and Defense); fiscal 2019 and 2020 transportation Air Force working capital funds; fiscal 2019 and 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy, Air Force, Defense); fiscal 2019 family housing operations and maintenance (Navy); fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps, Army, Army National Guard, and Air National Guard); fiscal 2019 health program funds (Defense); and fiscal 2019 commissary agency (Defense) contract funds in the amount of $106,378,427, of which $96,495,650 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, and $9,882,777 are subject to the availability of funds. This contract was issued as a sole-source procurement under the authority of 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1 - only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy Agency requirements. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, is the contracting activity (N62742-19-C-1175). Micro Systems Inc., Fort Walton Beach, Florida, is awarded a $22,986,171 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for production, repairs services and associated ancillary equipment for the systems for Naval Target Control Block II and III in support of Navy aerial targets. Work will be performed in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, and is expected to be completed in February 2024. Fiscal 2018 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,219,199 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code2304(c)(1). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0001919D0020). L-3 KEO, Northampton, Massachusetts, is awarded a $19,299,276 firm-fixed-price modification to previously awarded contract N00024-15-C-6252 to exercise options for the production of the Universal Modular Mast. The Universal Modular Mast serves as a lifting mechanism for Virginia class mast payloads. Work will be performed in Bologna, Italy (74 percent); and Northampton, Massachusetts (26 percent), and is expected to be complete by August 2021. Fiscal 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $19,299,276 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Leidos Corp., Reston, Virginia, is awarded an $11,560,339 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to procure non-recurring engineering efforts to analyze, define and document system and subsystem requirements for capability enhancements to integrate the adaptive radar countermeasures program on the F/A-18 aircraft. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia (50 percent); Clifton, New Jersey (25 percent); Goleta, California (10 percent); St. Louis, Missouri (10 percent); Raleigh, North Carolina (3 percent); and Huntsville, Alabama (2 percent), and is expected to be completed in June 2020. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $11,560,339 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-19-C-0051). Clark Nexsen-CH2m Hill JV Norfolk, Englewood, Colorado, is awarded a $9,500,000 modification to increase the maximum dollar value of an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for architect-engineering services design projects located throughout the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) area of responsibility worldwide (AOR). The primary tasks anticipated under this contract include DD Form 1391 documentation, design-build request for proposals, plans, specifications, cost estimates, related studies, field investigations, surveying and mapping, tests, evaluations, consultations, program management, conceptual designs, soil borings, hazardous materials identification, energy computation, life safety code studies, interior space comprehensive planning/design, conceptual designs, value engineering, other associated engineering services, shop drawing review, as-built drawing preparation, operation and maintenance support information, commissioning, and construction inspection and engineering consultation services during construction. After award of this modification, the total cumulative contract value will be $24,500,000. Critical projects are planned to be performed in the NAVFAC AOR worldwide, including but not limited to, Djibouti (53 percent); Italy (30 percent); Spain (12 percent); and Greece (5 percent). The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months with an expected completion date of November 2021. No funds will be obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. Future task orders will be primarily funded by operations and maintenance (Navy). Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N62470-17-D-5004). DRS Laurel Technologies, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, is awarded $8,893,970 for firm-fixed-price delivery order N0002419F5617 under previously-awarded contract N00024-15-D-5201 for 18 Technology Insertion 16 air-cooled Common Processing System cabinets and two remote access servers. The Common Processing System provides the computer processing and memory, data storage and extraction and input/output interfaces to support host software applications of Navy combat systems. Work will be performed in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and is expected to be completed by March 2020. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $8,893,970 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Co., Chandler, Arizona, is awarded an $8,892,173 firm-fixed-price modification under previously-awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract N00174-17-D-0016 to exercise an option for development, product improvement and prototyping support of various aircrew escape systems managed under the Joint Program Office for Cartridge Actuated Device/Propellant Actuated Device Tri-Service Charter. This requirement is for engineering, technical, administrative and programmatic management support for total life cycle management of the various aircrew escape systems. Work will be performed in Chandler, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by January 2020. No additional funds will be obligated at time of award. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division, Indian Head, Maryland, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., McLean, Virginia, has been awarded a $24,968,022 modification (P00031) to previously awarded contract HR0011-16-F-0005 for Enterprise Support Services. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $95,553,943 from $70,585,921. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia, with an expected completion date of May 2020. Fiscal 2019 research and development funds in the amount of $24,632,633 are being obligated at time of award. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE Rolls-Royce Corp., Indianapolis, Indiana, has been awarded a $19,459,236 firm-fixed-price delivery order (FA8504-19-F-0008-P00001) to previously awarded contract FA8504-17-D-0002 for C-130J Propulsion long-term sustainment. This delivery order provides for funding Option II flying hours. Work will be performed primarily at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, and also at various locations that support C-130J Propulsion long-term sustainment. Work is expected to be complete by Jan. 31, 2020. Fiscal 2019 procurement funds in the full amount are being obligated at the time of award, and this order brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $90,165,776. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins AFB, Georgia, is the contracting activity. Textron Defense Systems, Wilmington, Massachusetts, has been awarded a $15,956,064 firm-fixed-price modification (P00009) to previously awarded contract FA8204-14-D-0001 for the MK12A Mod 5 F Midsection remanufacturing program. This modification extends the ordering period of the original requirements contract by five years. Work is being performed at Wilmington, Massachusetts, and is expected to be complete by March 5, 2025. No funds are being obligated at time of award. The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity. LoadPath, LLC, Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been awarded a $14,899,737 ceiling cost-reimbursement contract for Advanced Spacecraft Systems with Integrated Structural Thermal Technologies (ASSISTT). This contract provides for the advancement of the technology and scientific knowledge in the areas of deployable structures, thermal systems, RF antenna structures, integrated structural sensing, and advanced manufacturing. Work will be performed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is expected to be complete by Feb. 28, 2024. This contract was the result of a competitive acquisition and four offers were received. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $440,670 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, is the contracting activity (FA9453-19-C-0002). Engineered Arresting Systems Corp., doing business as Zodiac Arresting Systems America, Aston, Pennsylvania, was awarded a $9,679,711 firm-fixed-price requirements contract for the Textile Aircraft Arresting Systems (TAAS) This contract provides for the production of the TAAS, a onetime emergency use overrun aircraft arresting system designed for use with tail hook equipped fighter aircraft, or non-hook equipped aircraft when couples with a net barrier engaging system. Work will be performed in Merpins, France, and is expected to be complete by Sept. 28, 2022. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition, and no funds were obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity (FA8533-17-D-0001). (Awarded Sept. 29, 2017) ARMY Next-CEI JV LLC,* Honolulu, Hawaii (W912CN-19-D-0002); R&I Construction Inc.,* Aiea, Hawaii (W912CN-19-D-0003); D&D Construction Inc.,* Waipahu, Hawaii (W912CN-19-D-0004); and Amethyst Builders LLC,* Ewa Beach, Hawaii (W912CN-19-D-0005), will compete for each order of the $16,800,000 firm-fixed-price contract for sustainment, restoration and modernization. Thirty bids were solicited with 19 bids received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 29, 2024. U.S. Army 413th Combat Support Battalion, Hawaii, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Silver Oak Leaf, Inc.,** Alpharetta, Georgia, has been awarded a maximum $16,074,375 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for blouses and trousers for the Type III, Navy Working Uniform. This was a competitive acquisition with six responses received. This is an 18-month base contract with three one-year option periods. Location of performance is Puerto Rico and Georgia, with a Feb. 24, 2021, estimated performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal year 2019 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-19-D-1135). * Small Business **Service-disabled veteran-owned small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1766751/

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  December 19, 2018 | International, Naval

  5 takeaways: Top US Navy officer releases updated strategy document

  By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy's top officer released an updated version of his strategy document Monday, an expanded version heavy on goals for specific programs that extend beyond his tenure as chief of naval operations. Almost twice the length of the first edition, Adm. John Richardson's Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority version 2.0 expands on some of the concepts laid out in 2016, and functions as a to-do list for both the fleet and the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations staff. Here are five takeaways: 1) Adversaries Design 2.0 is still aimed squarely at competing with China and Russia. “China and Russia seek to redefine the norms of the entire international system on terms more favorable to themselves,” the document reads, and goes on to say that the U.S. “competitive advantage has shrunk and, in some areas, is gone all together.” The U.S. Navy must be agile to keep pace with technology and the tactics of adversaries, the document outlines. To do so it must compete in “gray zone” areas as well as when the shooting starts – to compete with China and Russia in scenarios short of war as well as in direct combat, Richardson writes. “Our adversaries can operate at different levels of intensity in different domains and the same time,” the document reads. 2) To-do list The middle of the document greatly expands on the CNO's “lines of effort,” or areas of focus. Under “Strengthening Naval Power,” CNO lists a number of strategic goals – including standing up the new Norfolk-based 2nd Fleet, which will control ships, submarines and aircraft based out of Norfolk; developing new concepts of operations that focus on fighting as a more spread-out force able to cover more territory through networking sensors; and continuing to apply the lessons learned from the two fatal guided-missile destroyer accidents in 2017. The document outlines award date goals for contracts to major programs, from the future frigate (2020) and Large Unmanned Surface Vehicle (2023). It identifies the requirement for the replacement to the F/A-18 Super Hornet and E/A-18G Growler by the end of 2019 – a program known as Next Generation Air Dominance – to field by 2030. Other initiatives include integrating more artificial intelligence and machine learning into warfare systems, as well as 3D printing for replacement parts. The document also establishes goals for personnel including making it easier for sailors to choose and negotiate orders and access their records on their smart phones. 3) New stuff The document calls for a new three-star command inside OPNAV that is linked to a related effort to transform the Naval War College in Rhode Island and the Naval Post-Graduate School in Monterey, California. Naval War College, combined with Naval Warfare Development Command, will support Development Group East, which will workshop and develop new concepts based on the new technologies entering the fleet. On the West Coast, Development Group West will be supported by Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command the Post-Graduate School and will serve as a “center of excellence” for capabilities development. The three-star inside OPNAV will be the coordinator for these new constructs, tasked with overseeing the Navy's “education, experimentation, exercise, and analytic efforts.” The document also calls for the development and fielding of an offensive hypersonic weapon by 2025, a move to counter China and Russia's moves with similar systems. It also references a new “large-scale exercise” planned for 2020, although details are sparse. 4) Logistics The new design puts an emphasis on what has become a glaring shortfall of the U.S. military, its logistics. “We will aim to act as early as possible to de-escalate any crisis on our terms and be ready for the next move,” the document reads. “This will require we sustain the fight with the logistics capabilities needed to refuel, rearm, resupply and, repair our operational forces” Later the document calls for the Navy to “posture logistics capability ashore and at sea in ways that allow the fleet to operate globally, at a pace that can be sustained over time.” 5) Takeaway While the document is detailed, the overall tone shift of Richardson's design from documents released a decade ago is stark, according to James Holmes, a strategy professor at the Naval War College. “The change of tone from the 2007 Maritime Strategy, our first strategy since the 1980s, is stunning,” Holmes said in an email. “The 2007 strategy was a document for a world that might turn competitive or might remain cooperative. The name China appeared nowhere, let alone as a potential foe, while there were a fair number of gauzy generalities and platitudes in there. “You could track the shift in tone from 2007 through the 2015 ‘refresh' of the Maritime Strategy through Design 1.0 in 2016 to this document. Doing so tells you the world has changed around us and we are trying to change with it – or catch up where we've fallen behind.” As for the detailed pieces of the document, they function as a good list of priorities, said Bryan McGrath, a former destroyer skipper turned consultant who worked on the last Maritime Strategy. “This is a solid statement of command intent,” McGrath said. “It is essentially a worklist for his subordinates to guide and prioritize their efforts. It seems to me that any interest to an audience broader than the Navy flag community would be in understanding CNO's priorities.” Military Times reporter Geoff Ziezulewicz contributed to this report. https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2018/12/17/top-us-navy-officer-releases-updated-strategy-document-five-takeaways/

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  September 18, 2019 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR

  Virtual reality training — for pilots, maintainers and more — expands in 2020

  By: Stephen Losey One of the top priorities of Lt. Gen. Brad Webb, the newly minted head of Air Education and Training Command, will be expanding the Air Force's experiment with virtual reality training. So far, the Air Force has had success with Pilot Training Next, which uses VR, biometrics and artificial intelligence to better teach aspiring pilots how to fly. Webb is eyeing similar technologies, under the name Learning Next, to improve other forms of technical training. This could include teaching airmen how to maintain aircraft, fly remotely piloted aircraft or perform other technical tasks. These programs allow students' education to proceed more at their own pace, since they are based on competency and are not tied to a timetable, Wright said. A student who already has the fundamentals down can skip the basics and go right to what he or she needs to learn. AETC is now in the process of broadening Pilot Training Next, which has been a demonstration, to the next phase of wider experimentation, Webb said. He and Maj. Gen. Craig Wills, commander of the 19th Air Force, are working on plans to expand Pilot Training Next. By next summer, Webb wants to have set up Pilot Training Next elements at several squadrons, though it wouldn't be across all undergraduate pilot training bases. A few classes after that, Webb expects, Pilot Training Next will be expanded to all UPT bases. The Pilot Training Next expansion will likely be done methodically, at one base first, Webb said, though he would not say which base AETC is looking at. “What has happened in our last couple of years with Pilot Training Next has been an explosion, out of the box, of innovation,” Webb said. “Make no mistake, the Air Force wants this inculcated as fast as we can go,” he said. AETC is already in the “nascent stages” of testing VR and other technology-enhanced training for maintenance and other technical training as part of Learning Next, Webb said. Maintenance Next is a particular priority and is happening on an experimental basis at Kelly Field at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas, he said, and using VR for RPA training is also proceeding. As the VR pilot training shows, such programs can accelerate in a hurry, he said. Ethics Webb also wants to cultivate an “environment of excellence, professionalism, ethics and character development” during his time at AETC. Webb, who was previously commander of Air Force Special Operations Command, pointed to the ethical clouds that have fallen over parts of the special operations community in recent years. For example, the Navy relieved the entire senior leadership team of SEAL Team 7 earlier this month over what it described as leadership failures that resulted in a breakdown of good order and discipline while deployed. AFSOC took a hard look at itself, Webb said, to make sure it doesn't allow similar lapses to fester. “For a leader, you can never ... talk about core values enough,” Webb said. “If I had to look myself in the mirror from my last command, I can tell you my team knew our mission and vision of priorities backwards and forwards.” But while airmen at AFSOC understood Air Force core values, he acknowledged he didn't always articulate those values in his everyday “walk-around, talk-around” encounters. That can create problems if leaders assume airmen already know about the core values, he said. When a unit starts to feel the pressure from high operations tempos and a lack of resources, Webb said, that “get-'er-done” mentality can lead to bad decisions if airmen don't have a firm foundation of the Air Force core values. “If you don't have a firm foundation, you can go to a dark place with that ... ‘find a way to yes' mentality,” Webb said. “We've got to always talk about professionalism and ethics, and also always talk about our core values. That will be a capstone” of his time at AETC. Webb said he plans to continue with AETC's recent improvements in how special warfare airmen are recruited and trained, which included standing up the new Special Warfare Training Wing and the special warfare-focused 330th Recruiting Squadron. More work needs to be done to “normalize” and fine-tune those units, and more firmly fold them into AETC's everyday culture, he said. https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/09/16/virtual-reality-training-for-pilots-maintainers-and-more-expands-in-2020/