January 29, 2021 | International, Naval
By: Vivienne Machi
STUTTGART, Germany — Rheinmetall and MBDA Deutschland have officially been tasked to build, test and field a high-energy laser weapon system for the German Navy over the next year.
The consortium, dubbed ARGE, was awarded a contract “in the low double-digit million euro range” by Berlin's military procurement office, the Federal Office for Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw). Work will be conducted through the end of 2021, with trials scheduled for 2022 aboard the Navy frigate Sachsen, per a joint press announcement released Thursday.
The work is to be split on a “roughly equal basis,” the companies said. Rheinmetall will be responsible for the laser weapon system, the beam guiding system, cooling, and integrating the weapon system with the overall laser source demonstrator. MBDA will focus on the operator console along with tracking technology and command-and-control system integration. Details have yet to be revealed about where the system's development will take place.
This latest contract continues the companies' collaboration on high-energy laser efforts, which was first announced in August 2019. Rheinmetall and the Germany military have been testing high energy laser technologies in the maritime domain since 2015, a company spokesman told Defense News.
“The contract marks a systematic extension of the functional prototype laser weapon successfully tested in recent years, with the experience gained now dovetailing into one of the most ambitious projects in the field of laser weapon development in Europe,” said Alexander Graf, head of Rheinmetall Waffe Munition's laser weapons program, and Markus Jung, who leads the company's laser weapon development segment.
Once the demonstrator is installed, it will be used to test other aspects of the laser weapon system, such as the sensor suite and combat management system, and evaluate rules of engagement, said Doris Laarmann, MBDA's head of laser business development, in the release.
The German arm of MBDA announced a restructuring of operations in late 2020, following mixed signals from Berlin regarding the status of the Tactical Air Defense System (TLVS) program. Executives have expressed skepticism that a contract award would emerge soon for the follow-on work of the former Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS). In 2015, the German government announced it would use MEADS as the basis for TLVS, which would eventually replace the nation's 1980s-era Patriot air defense systems.
April 21, 2021 | International, Land
Rheinmetall’s South African subsidiary Rheinmetall Denel Munition and Northrop Grumman signed a 10-year strategic partnership agreement to this effect in February 2021
December 3, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
NAVY Lockheed Martin, Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded a $48,699,897 cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-13-C-5116 to exercise an option for AEGIS Combat System Engineering Agent efforts for the design, development, integration, test and delivery of Advanced Capability Build 20. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey, and is expected to be completed by December 2021. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy) $42,843,613 (88%); 2017 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) $5,656,326 (11%); and 2021 operation and maintenance (Navy) $199,958 (1%) funding will be obligated at time of award, of which, funding in the amount of $199,958 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. Rockwell Collins Inc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is awarded a $14,782,286 modification (P00005) to previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee order N00019-20-F-0460 against previously issued basic ordering agreement N00019-19-G-0031 in support of the E-6B Mercury aircraft. This modification exercises options to provide sustaining engineering support and diminishing manufacturing sources and material shortages management in support of the E-6B take charge and move out airborne command post aircraft. Work will be performed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (80%); Patuxent River, Maryland (10%); and Bellevue, Nebraska (10%), and is expected to be completed in November 2021. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $7,472,683, will be obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. CGI Federal Inc., Fairfax, Virginia, is awarded a $9,849,208 modification (P00055) to previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract M67004-16-C-0001 for plans and data support services. This modification extends services for a one-year period. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, Florida, with an expected completion date of Dec. 31, 2021. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $4,214,671 are being obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract modification was not competed under the authority of Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1; only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The Marine Corps, Blount Island Command, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity. ARMY BAE Systems Ordnance Systems, Kingsport, Tennessee, was awarded a $19,226,072 modification (P00733) to contract DAAA09-98-E-0006 to expand the landfill at Holston Army Ammunition Plant, Tennessee. Work will be performed in Kingsport, Tennessee, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 1, 2022. Fiscal 2021 procurement of ammunition (Army) funds in the amount of $19,226,072 were obligated at the time of the award. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2432887/source/GovDelivery/
August 20, 2023 | International, Land, Security
The U.S. State Department has approved a possible sale to Australia of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) for $975 million, the Pentagon said on Friday.