Space Development Agency awards $1.5 billion for transport satellites

On the same subject

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  March 18, 2020 | International, Naval

  With coronavirus on the loose, US shipyards make adjustments but keep building

  By: David B. Larter and Courtney Mabeus WASHINGTON — U.S. shipyards are adjusting to meet the new coronavirus threat, but work continues across the country. In the wake of news that Fincantieri's shipyards in Italy has suspended operations for two weeks to help stem the spread of the illness, US shipyards have responded with more modest changes: suspending international travel, limiting domestic travel and suspending participation in conferences and trade shows for shipyard employees. Yards are also changing leave policies to allow workers time to adjust to restrictions that have closed schools and businesses across the country. While to date the changes have been minor, several company officials told Defense News that the situation was evolving and more could be coming down the pike as the government responds to the unfolding crisis that has rocked the country over the past week. Huntington Ingalls Industries' president and CEO Mike Petters addressed employees in a video message posted to the company's website Monday. Peters said he is meeting regularly with division leadership and the company has posted links to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which he urged employees to check for the most accurate information. Employees who are experiencing symptoms or believe they may have been exposed should let the company know, he said. “Now more than ever we need to work as a team and look out for each other,” Petters said. Also on Monday, HII's Newport News Shipbuilding division president Jennifer Boykin extended "liberal leave" policies through second shift on March 20. In a post on the company's website, Boykin added that work would be "minimized" during the weekend and that with some exceptions, parking lots at the yard – the nation's only aircraft carrier manufacturer – would be open through Friday with no reserved spaces. Newport News Shipbuilding spokesperson Duane Bourne said the health and safety of workers remained the primary focus, calling it "premature to speculate on the impact of COVID-19 on our contracts." "We are having ongoing discussions with our customers and will continue that dialogue in preparing contingencies and future plans," Bourne wrote in an email. Fincantieri's Marinette shipyard in Wisconsin has suspended all international travel, all noncritical domestic travel and has suspended intracompany travel to prevent any potential spread between shipyards, said Eric Dent, the company's spokesperson. However, to date the company has seen no delays in operations. “So far, we have experienced no production delays,” Dent said. “Obviously like other businesses and shipyards, we have to balance force health protection and production as we work through this.” At General Dynamics' shipyards, both Bath Iron Works and submarine builder Electric Boat are continuing work, though they – like all the other yards – are allowing anyone who can work from home to do so, said Jeff Davis, a GD spokesperson. GD has likewise curtailed travel and ceased company participation in trade shows, Davis said. Electric Boat spokesperson, Liz Power, said the submarine builder is following all government recommendations. “Electric Boat remains open for business,” Power said. "Our ongoing mission is to provide our Navy with the high-quality submarines they require to complete their missions. “We have initiated all government-recommended measures to mitigate spread of the disease and continue to work closely with our employees, customers, suppliers, stakeholders and our community to keep them informed.” The ship repair industry is also taking precautions. Colonna's Shipyard Vice President Bob Boyd said the company is also asking its estimated 700 employees to follow the CDC's guidelines and advising anyone who feels sick to stay home. The company is doing additional screening with non-employees at its entrance, asking about recent travel and contacts, and talking with subcontractors about policies, Boyd said. With schools closed throughout Virginia, Colonna's "just taking it day-by-day." Dock landing ship Gunston Hall left Colonna's Shipyard in Norfolk last week and the company is currently working on Coast Guard vessel as well as Military Sealift Command's expeditionary fast transport ship Burlington, Boyd said. He said he couldn't speculate on what an order to stop work to counter the spread of the virus could mean for federal contracts. “Obviously, if they're shut down or we're ordered not to perform work, then you know, we'll follow those orders and resume work once we're cleared, but you know, it hasn't happened,” Boyd said. "We can't speculate that it will. So, we don't really know what will happen if and when those types of decisions are made, but so far they have not. " https://www.defensenews.com/coronavirus/2020/03/16/with-coronavirus-on-the-loose-us-shipyards-make-adjustments-but-keep-building/

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  August 12, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Land

  Here’s how the US Army’s missiles and space program office is being reorganized

  By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army is reorganizing its Program Executive Office Missiles and Space to focus on the integrated fires mission, the office's chief said. “This is the construct that we need to have within the PEO to be agile, to be flexible, and not just meet those requirements that we see today, but to be able to bend as needed for those requirements that are coming tomorrow,” Maj. Gen. Robert Rasch said Aug. 8 at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama. The PEO is moving from having eight program managers to five that all fall under an integrated fires-focused portfolio. The five different program offices will be Fires Radars and Sensors, Integrated Fires Mission Command, Air-and-Missile Defense Fires, Operational and Strategic Fires, and Aviation and Ground Fires. Additionally, the PEO will have an Integrated Fires Rapid Capabilities program office. The projects under Fires Radars and Sensors will be the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense System, Sentinel, AN/TPQ-50, AN/TPQ53, AN/TPQ-36, AN/TPQ-37, the Range Radar Replacement Program, and the Army Long-Range Persistent Surveillance — deployed in several global locations to defend against aircraft, cruise missiles and drones. The Integrated Fires Mission Command portfolio will include the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System, the Integrated Collaborative Environment, the Integrated Fire Control Network, and the Joint Tactical Ground Station, to name a few. The Air and Missile Defense Fires areas of responsibility will be the Indirect Fires Protection Capability Increment 2, Stinger missile, Avenger system, National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile, Expanded Mission Area Missile, Interim Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense system, Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile, PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement missile, Patriot launcher and C-RAM Intercept Land-based Phalanx Weapon System. The Precision Strike Missile, the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, Army Tactical Missile Systems, High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, and the Multiple Launch Rocket System will fall under Operational and Strategic Fires. Javelin, Hellfire, Tube-launched Optically Tracked Wire-Guided missile, Improved Target Acquisition and the Lethal Miniature Aerial Munition will be a part of Aviation and Ground Fires. Under the Integrated Fires and Rapid Capabilities portfolio will be Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon, and the Mobile Low, Slow Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Integrated Defense Systems. All of the products living under the PEO Missiles and Space umbrella will remain, it's just a matter of shifting them around, Rasch said, and that's the easy part. “What we have lacked in the past is really a systems-of-systems look at the requirements as they come into our PEO,” Rasch said, and the new organization will “make sure that we really understand how we need to implement these from a materiel perspective.” Rasch noted that going forward a lot of focus will be on the sensors portfolio to figure out “how we can truly make best use of the various sensors we have on the battlespace to provide better situational awareness that enables everything, that truly enables the concept or integrated fires that is needed to support multidomain operations.” The newly organized PEO will reach a full-operational capability by the first quarter of fiscal 2021, Rasch said. “You ask: ‘Why so long?' ... We have a little bit of work to do before I can start turning over all the locks, so we are in deep mission analysis right now.” Moving products around to different portfolios is easy, but “when we start looking at funding lines, we start looking at leadership across the varied PM offices, you start looking at the functional support that exists within those,” Rasch said. “We are going to make sure we can, deliberately, over the next year and half.” https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/smd/2019/08/08/heres-how-the-armys-missiles-and-space-program-office-is-being-reorganized/

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  January 15, 2024 | International, Land

  Belgium’s Cockerill to buy French armored-vehicle maker Arquus

  John Cockerill expects defense revenue of €1 billion (U.S. $1.1 billion) by 2026 from the combination of its defense division with Arquus.