May 2, 2023 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR
Air Force prepares to retire U-2 spy planes in 2026
Congress needs to approve the retirement plan, which has run afoul of lawmakers in the past.
January 11, 2021 | International, Aerospace
Space Development Agency confirms SpaceX, L3Harris awards following protest
WASHINGTON — Following a protest by Raytheon Technologies, the Space Development Agency has reevaluated awards it made for eight satellites capable of tracking hypersonic weapons, opting to stick with its original vendors: SpaceX and L3Harris.
“The reevaluation confirmed the original selection decision announced in October and concluded that [SpaceX] and L3Harris Technologies' proposals offered the best value to the government,” said SDA spokesperson Jennifer Elzea in a Jan. 7 statement.
The agency initially announced contracts Oct. 5 for the eight satellites. L3Harris and SpaceX were awarded $193 million and $149 million respectively to each design and develop four satellites equipped with wide field of view (WFOV) overhead persistent infrared (OPIR) sensors. Those satellites would make up the agency's inaugural tracking layer, a low Earth orbit constellation capable of detecting and tracking ballistic and hypersonic weapons.
Shortly thereafter, competitors Raytheon Technologies and Airbus U.S. Space and Defense individually filed protests against the award with the Government Accountability Office. A stop work order was put in place, preventing L3Harris and SpaceX from moving forward with the contracts.
In response to the protests, SDA elected to reevaluate proposals. Raytheon filed another protest Dec. 17 claiming the agency's corrective was inadequate, but the GAO dismissed that action as premature. SDA completed its reevaluation in late December, confirming its original awards, and on Dec. 28 the stop work order was lifted.
“SDA is confident that reevaluation resulted in a fair outcome for all involved parties,” said Elzea. “The agency continues to make all efforts to keep the tracking layer of the National Defense Space Architecture on schedule.”
In dismissing Raytheon's protest as being premature, GAO did note that the company could still protest the agency's actions following the corrective action. Neither Raytheon nor Airbus immediately responded to inquiries as to whether they would file more protests.
Back in October, SDA Director Derek Tournear told C4ISRNET the contracts were the result of a full and open competition based purely on technical merit.
“SpaceX had a very credible story along that line — a very compelling proposal. It was outstanding,” he said. “They are one of the ones that have been at the forefront of this commercialization and commodification route.”
In addition, “L3Harris had an extremely capable solution. They have a lot of experience flying affordable, rapid, small satellite buses for the department,” he said. “They had the plant and the line in place in order to produce these to hit our schedule.”
The tracking layer is just one facet of the agency's National Defense Space Architecture, a planned mega-constellation that will eventually be made up of hundreds of satellites in low Earth orbit. SDA is using a spiral development approach to build out that constellation, by adding more satellites every two years. These eight satellites in question will be part of the first tranche, which is set to launch starting in 2022. More tracking layer satellites will be launched in later tranches. Tournear has previously stated that one of the agency's priorities is avoiding vendor lock, hosting an open competition for tracking layer satellites for future tranches.
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November 19, 2021 | International, Aerospace
UAE Air Force awards $3 billon maintenance contact to local firm GAL
To fulfil this agreement, GAL signed another contract with a separate Edge subsidiary, AMMROC, to perform the maintenance at the latter's Al Ain facility, which was first unveiled at the 2019 Dubai Airshow.
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October 19, 2020 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR
Thales launches small AESA radar for small aircraft
Christina Mackenzie PARIS – Thales launched on Oct. 16 its new AirMaster C, a compact, active electronically scanned array (AESA), airborne surveillance radar for small and medium-sized platforms. Although the radar's design phase has been finalized it still needs testing airborne. Nevertheless, Stéphane Lavigne, a sales director at Thales, said that the French Armed Forces Ministry had already notified its intention to buy the equipment for the future light joint army helicopter, the Guépard, developed by Airbus Helicopters and due to enter service in 2026. Jon Bye, Thales' head of customer marketing, said that the AirMaster C would ensure customers got “that great picture, first time, every time.” The active antenna radar is based on SiGe (silicon-germanium) technology fully validated in 2019. Thales says SiGe is “much more energy efficient than other technologies used for AESA radars, and allows the radar to self-cool.” François Arpagaus, the company's airborne surveillance product line director, said that AirMaster C is easy to integrate, less complex to operate and would allow users to “see more, more of the time” thanks to “multi-polarization” which allows the radar to automatically select the optimal settings for each mission. The radar was designed for a small footprint, making it 30 percent lower in size, weight and power than other radars in its class. It is small, no bigger than two A4 pages side by side, weighs less than 20 kg (45 lbs) and uses about 1 Kw of power. “It's perfect for small and medium-sized platforms, both manned and unmanned,” Arpagaus said. Lavigne said the sensor had been designed with a lot of input from radar users. “The program is launched, we are ready to take orders,” he said, adding that typical delivery time from contract signing would happen within two years. https://www.c4isrnet.com/c4isr/2020/10/16/thales-launches-small-aesa-radar-for-small-aircraft/