Sink Feeling: The Navy's 7 Big Problems (One Is the F-35)

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  June 2, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  The Air Force's Goal: Turn Cargo Planes into Makeshift Bombers

  The Air Force is proposing turning unarmed military cargo jets into temporary bombers. Cargo jets, with their large internal volume, could launch missiles from safe distances, far away from enemy forces. The Air Force has already successfully tested dropping simulated munitions from the back of airplanes. The U.S. Air Force is looking at arming otherwise unarmed cargo planes, pressing them into service as makeshift bombers. The service believes future wars with adversaries like Russia or China will require plenty of aerial firepower and transport planes, loaded with pallets of cruise missiles, could provide an inexpensive solution. According to Defense News, the Air Force thinks aircraft such as the C-130J Super Hercules and C-17 Globemaster III could become part-time missile trucks. The unarmed aircraft typically shuttle troops and equipment, but in a pinch, would be equipped with “smart pallets” carrying long-range cruise missiles and other munitions. The pallets would be capable of feeding position, navigation, and targeting data to their onboard missiles. Once dropped from the rear of the aircraft, the pallets would quickly release their missile cargoes, sending them downrange to their targets. The larger the aircraft, the more missiles it could carry. https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a32714464/air-force-cargo-planes-makeshift-bombers/

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  July 3, 2018 | International, Naval

  Australia officially announces $26B frigate contract. Here are the build details

  By: Nigel Pittaway MELBOURNE, Australia ― Australia will acquire nine high-end anti-submarine warfare frigates from the end of the next decade under a deal with BAE Systems worth AU$35 billion (U.S. $26 billion). The announcement was formally made Friday at the ASC shipyard in Osborne, South Australia, by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Minister for Defence Marise Payne and Minister for Defence Industry Christopher Pyne. A version of BAE Systems' City-class Type 26 ASW frigate, now under construction for the British Royal Navy, will be acquired under Australia's SEA 5000 Phase 1 project, also known as the Future Frigate Project. Referred to as the Global Combat Ship―Australia, or GCS-A, during the competition, the design will be known as the Hunter-class in Royal Australian Navy service and will replace the Navy's existing Anzac-class frigates. There has been speculation in the media that the decision to go with BAE may be driven, in part, by Australia's desire to secure strong terms with the U.K. as it negotiates a series of new trade agreements after Britain leaves the European Union. Payne noted Friday that the GCS-A design was selected because it was the most capable ASW platform. “This is a decision entirely based on capability, the best capability to equip the Navy in anti-submarine warfare,” she said. Regardless, news of BAE's win was welcomed in the United Kingdom, with Secretary of State for Defence Gavin Williamson referring to it as the “biggest maritime defence deal of the decade.” “This £20 billion ‘deal of the decade' demonstrates how British defence plays a huge role in creating jobs and prosperity and is ‘Global Britain' in action,” he commented on social media. “Great to see our military and industrial links strengthen with Australia.” The ships will be built by ASC Shipbuilding in South Australia, using local workers and Australian steel, under the Turnbull government's continuous naval shipbuilding program. “What we are doing here is announcing our commitment to build the nine Future Frigates,” Prime Minister Turnbull said. “The Hunter-class frigates will be the most advanced anti-submarine warships in the world.” The Hunter-class frigates will be equipped with CEA Technologies-built CEAFAR phased array radar currently fitted to the Navy's post-anti-ship missile defense Anzac frigates, together with Lockheed Martin's Aegis combat system and an interface provided by Saab Australia. The Aegis combat system was mandated for all of Australia's major surface combatants by the Turnbull government in October 2017. The GCS-A design was selected in preference to Fincantieri's Australian FREMM, dubbed FREMM-A, a variant of the ASW-optimized FREMM frigate now in service with the Italian Navy; and the F-5000 from Navantia, based on an evolution of the Royal Australian Navy's Hobart-class air warfare destroyer, which in turn is a derivative of the Spanish Navy's F-100 Álvaro de Bazán class. An ASW capability was the highest priority for the Royal Australian Navy, according to Chief of Navy Vice Adm. Tim Barrett. “I spoke as recently as last night to the First Sea Lord, my equivalent in the [British] Royal Navy, and I am assured by his comments on just how successful this platform will be as the world's most advanced anti-submarine warfare frigate,” he said Friday. The first steel is due to be cut on prototyping activities for the build at Osborne in late 2020, with full production following in 2022. The first ship of the class will be delivered to the Royal Australian Navy in the late 2020s. Under the deal, the government-owned shipbuilder ASC will become a subsidiary of BAE Systems during the build, with the government retaining a sovereign share in the entity. The shipyard will revert to government ownership at the end of the project. Turnbull said the arrangement ensures BAE Systems is fully responsible and accountable for the delivery of the frigates, noting that Australia retains the intellectual property and a highly skilled workforce at the end of the program. “My expectation is that the next generation of frigates that comes after the ones we're about to start building at ASC will be designed and built in Australia,” he said. BAE System's global maritime systems business development director, Nigel Stewart, told Defense News that he welcomes the build strategy. “We were really pleased with that as an outcome because ASC has great capability. We always wanted to use the workforce, but this allows us to join ASC and BAE together much earlier, and we think that will be really positive,” he said. Stewart said the plan was for the Hunter-class build to follow the Type 26 activity in the U.K. by around five years, which will serve to de-risk the Australian program. BAE is due to deliver the first ship, HMS Glasgow, to the British Royal Navy in 2025, with entry into service in the 2027 time frame. “We cut steel for the first Type 26 in the U.K. in June 2017, and we'll cut steel for full production of the Hunter class in South Australia in 2022,” he said. “We'll run at an 18-month drumbeat in the U.K., and somewhere between 18 months and two years in Australia. That will keep a five-year gap, which is almost perfect. You are de-risking the Australian program in the U.K. and you don't get the obsolescence issues you would if there was a longer gap, so it's a really good program overlap.” In other news Friday, the Turnbull government announced it will set up a AU$670 million training and capability center for the Hunter-class frigates in Western Australia. Known as Ship Zero, the initiative will be established at HMAS Stirling, the Navy's Fleet Base West, at the shipbuilding facility in Henderson. Much of the training traditionally performed at sea will be transferred into the land-based facility. The capital works project will be considered by the Australian Parliament early next year, and construction is expected to commence in 2019. https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2018/06/29/australia-officially-announces-26b-frigate-contract-here-are-the-build-details/

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  June 25, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - June 21, 2019

  U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, McKinney, Texas, was awarded a $96,639,799 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract modification (P00007) with firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract line items to an existing contract (H92222-16-D-0033). This contract modification increases the ceiling from $203,360,201 to $300,000,000 for continued low-rate initial production of the Silent Knight Radar system in support of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). Fiscal 2019 procurement funds in the amount of $54,720,000 are being obligated at time of contract modification. The remaining costs will be funded via delivery/task orders, and depending on the requirement, may be funded using research, development, test and evaluation; procurement; or operations and maintenance funding. The ordering period is valid for five years. The work will be performed in McKinney and Forest, Mississippi, and is scheduled to be completed by October 2022. USSOCOM headquarters, Tampa, Florida, is the contracting activity. NAVY Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, is awarded an estimated $72,817,062 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-plus-incentive-fee, firm-fixed-price contract for the Transformational Reliable Acoustic Path System (TRAPS) on behalf of the Maritime Surveillance Systems Program Office, Navy Program Executive Office Submarines. The TRAPS capability complements fixed surveillance systems and the surveillance towed array sensor system. TRAPS provides flexible and responsive wide area surveillance for theater antisubmarine warfare commanders worldwide. This contract has a three-year ordering period up to the contract award amount. There are no options. Work will be performed in Long Beach, Mississippi, and is expected to be completed by June 2022. No funding is obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as individual delivery orders are issued. This sole-source contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) - only one responsible source (Federal Acquisition Regulation subpart 6.302-1). The Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N00039-19-D-0030). FlexDecks Inc.,* Houston, Texas, is awarded a $17,200,997 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to procure up to 40 each V-22 and MV-22B maintenance wing platform stands for the Marine Corps, Air Force, Navy and the government of Japan. Work will be performed in Houston, Texas, and is expected to be completed in June 2024. Fiscal 2017 and 2018 aircraft procurement and foreign military sales funds in the amount of $5,490,973 will be obligated at the time of award, $4,519,637 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposals as a 100% small business set-aside; three offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (N68335-19-D-0134). Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Syracuse, New York, is awarded a $16,273,896 cost-plus-fixed fee, firm-fixed-price, cost contract (N00024-19-C-6269) for the procurement of multifunction modular masts for new construction Virginia-class Block V hulls, spares and repairs. This contract includes options, which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $97,860,000. Work will be performed in Nashua, New Hampshire (70%); and Syracuse, New York (30%), and is expected to be complete by June 2020. If all options are exercised, work will continue through June 2024. Fiscal 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $13,932,928 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with one offer received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE Accenture Federal Services LLC, Arlington, Virginia, has been awarded a $65,447,464 other transaction agreement for the execution of the enterprise information technology as a service compute and store risk reduction effort experiment. This agreement provides for an experiment for services to include providing a flexible and scalable hosting solution for applications and data, operation and maintenance of the compute and store environment, and application rationalization. Work will be performed in Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado; Maxwell AFB, Alabama; Offutt AFB, Nebraska; Joint Base Elemendorf-Richardson, Alaska; Cannon AFB, New Mexico; and Hurlburt Field, Florida, and is expected to be completed by June, 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $28,517,000 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity (FA8726-19-9-0002). Harris Corp., Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded an $18,084,893 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification (P00003) to previously awarded FA8819-19-C-0002 for the manufacturing of Air Force Satellite Control Network complaint L and S band antennas for the space combat range. Work will be performed at Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, and is expected to be completed by June 19, 2021. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $18,084,893 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, California, is the contracting activity. Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a $17,780,580 cost-plus-fixed fee with an embedded fixed-price and cost reimbursement contract to provide sustainment services for the Lebanese Air Force Armed Caravan Program. This contract provides field service representatives, repair and return, calibration, support equipment and spares. Work will be performed in Beirut, Lebanon, and is expected to be completed June 30, 2021, with the possibility of extending the completion date to June 30, 2024. This contract involves 100% foreign military sales to Lebanon. This award is the result of a sole source acquisition. Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $10,732,607 are being obligated at the time of the award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8620-19-C-3001). EaglePicher Technologies,* Joplin, Missouri, has been awarded a $14,125,999 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract action for an F-35 Agnostic Battery System. This contract provides for the acquisition of the manufacturing process improvement for the F-35 agnostic battery. Work will be performed in Joplin, Missouri, and is expected to be completed by June 17, 2022. This award is the result of a competitive Small Business Innovative Research action and one offer were received. Fiscal 2018 research and development funds in the amount of $7,248,000 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Research Laboratory Contracting, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8650-19-C-5077). Joe Torres Co., Bakersfield, California, has been awarded a $9,080,374 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for integrated solid waste management services. This contract provides for collection and disposal of municipal solid waste, recycling and landfill services. Work will be performed in Edwards Air Force Base, California, and is expected to be completed by June 30, 2024. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and two offers were received. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $439,615 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Test Center, Edwards AFB, California, is the contracting activity (FA9301-19-D-A006). ARMY General Dynamics Mission Systems, Marion, Virginia, was awarded a $44,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for Army Standard Family ISO Shelter, one-side expandable, two-side expandable, and modified extended rigid wall shelter. 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 June 21, 2024. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-19-D-0078). BIS Services LLC,* Kenner, Louisiana, was awarded a $32,305,200 firm-fixed-price contract for Calcasieu River and pass stone foreshore protection. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 12, 2020. Fiscal 2019 civil construction funds in the amount of $32,305,200 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-19-C-0051). BIS Services LLC,* Kenner, Louisiana, was awarded a $14,785,945 firm-fixed-price contract for Calcasieu River and pass stone foreshore protection, repairs and armoring. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work will be performed in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 10, 2021. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, civil funds in the amount of $14,785,945 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-19-C-0047). Huffman Construction LLC,* Poplar Bluff, Missouri, was awarded a $13,757,500 firm-fixed-price contract for Ohio River shoreline repair work for multiple pump stations and the construction of a new pump station. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work will be performed in Paducah, Kentucky, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 6, 2022. Fiscal 2017 civil construction funds in the amount of $13,757,500 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville, Kentucky, is the contracting activity (W912QR-19-C-0050). Gilbane Federal, Concord, California, was awarded a $13,601,007 firm-fixed-price contract for repair to Moran Hall South (Bldg. 29802). Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Fort Gordon, Georgia, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 2, 2021. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $13,601,007 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah, Georgia, is the contracting activity (W912HN-19-C-3007). Bhate Environmental Associates Inc.,* Birmingham, Alabama, was awarded an $11,382,741 firm-fixed-price contract for demolition services to plan and execute the removal of buildings and facilities to include the abatement and removal of asbestos containing materials and other regulated materials, disconnect and capping of utilities, complete removal of utilities, disposal of all debris materials and restoration. Nine bids were solicited with three bids received. Work will be performed in New Orleans, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 19, 2021. Fiscal 2019 NASA funds in the amount of $11,382,741 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W912DY-19-F-0428). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Sysco Seattle, Kent, Washington, has been awarded a maximum $21,000,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-quantity contract for full line food distribution for Navy ships customers in the Puget Sound/Seattle, Washington area. This was a sole-source acquisition in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a 240-day bridge contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Washington, with a Feb. 15, 2020, performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 defense working capital funds. The contracting agency is Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-19-D-3227). (Awarded June 20, 2019) Federal Prison Industries Inc.,** Washington, District of Columbia, has been awarded a maximum $17,232,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contract for Navy coveralls. This is a one-year base contract with four one-year option periods. Locations of performance are Atlanta, Georgia, Arizona, Mississippi, and District of Columbia, with a Nov. 30, 2020, performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2020 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-19-D-F027). Sysco Seattle, Kent, Washington, has been awarded a maximum $14,300,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-quantity contract for full line food distribution for land based customers in Seattle, Washington, and surrounding areas. This was a sole-source acquisition in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a 240-day bridge contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Washington, with a Feb. 15, 2020, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Army National Guard, and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 defense working capital funds. The contracting agency is Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-19-D-3226). (Awarded June 20, 2019) DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY Iridium Satellite LLC, Tempe, Arizona, was awarded a non-competitive firm-fixed-price contract modification (P00012) for the extension of services on the current Airtime contract (HC104714C4000). The face value of this action is $8,579,000, funded by fiscal 2019 defense working capital funds. The total cumulative face value of the contract is $469,483,000. Performance will be at the contractor's facility. The original solicitation was issued on the basis of other than full and open competition pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). Only one responsible source and no other type of supplies or services would satisfy agency requirements. The period of performance is June 22, 2019, through July 21, 2019. The Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity. (Awarded June 19, 2019) *Small business **Mandatory source https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1884099/source/GovDelivery/