Space Force invokes Defense Production Act to prop up small launch market

On the same subject

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  September 1, 2021 | International, Other Defence

  The Green Heat Test Drive - call for proposals has been extended!/Banc d'essai énergie verte - appel de propositions prolongée!

  The Green Heat: Low Carbon Energy Generation for Heating Existing Buildings Test Drive call for proposals has been extended! We are pleased to announce that the deadline to apply to the Green Heat Test Drive Call for Proposals (CFP) has been extended by three weeks. The deadline for application is now Tuesday, September 28, 2021. See the full Call for Proposals that was issued July 27, 2021, and explore how you can support environmental progress and contribute to this key energy initiative. In extending the deadline, the Department of National Defence (DND) is maximizing its chances of getting the best technology to solve the challenge of finding ways to convert its buildings to low carbon heating without requiring a major building retrofit, and address greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. About the challenge: The Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces (DND/CAF) are looking to Test Drive creative energy generation solutions to pair up with existing heating systems to help lower our carbon footprint. Specifically, DND/CAF are seeking a large-scale, low carbon energy generation/transfer system for heating existing buildings by integrating with their current hydronic heat distribution systems. A test building has been selected in Kingston, Ontario, for a Design-Build team to design and install an innovative system, in order to assess the effectiveness and the costs of these integrated technologies, with the aim of reducing the energy demand and carbon footprint of DND/CAF's infrastructure portfolio. The potential funding for the Design-Build contract component of the project has been established in the range of $5,500,000. Interested in knowing more about this Test Drive? Please reach out to the Test Drive & Sandbox Team: IDEaSSandboxes-EnvironnementsprotegesIDEeS@forces.gc.ca The IDEaS Team Énergie Verte : Production d'énergie à faibles émissions de carbone pour le chauffage de b'timents existants – Appel de propositions prolongée! Nous sommes heureux d'annoncer que la date limite pour l'appel de propositions pour le Banc d'essai Énergie Verte a été prolongée de trois semaines. L'échéance pour présenter une demande est désormais fixée au mardi 28 septembre 2021. Consultez l'intégralité de l'appel de propositions publié le 27 juillet 2021 et découvrez comment vous pouvez soutenir le progrès environnemental et contribuer à cette initiative énergétique clé. En prolongeant la date limite, le ministère de la Défense nationale (MDN) maximise ses chances d'obtenir la meilleure technologie pour relever le défi de trouver des moyens de convertir ses b'timents au chauffage à faibles émissions de carbone sans nécessiter une rénovation majeure du b'timent, et de lutter à réduire les émissions de gaz à effet de serre (GES). À propos du défi : Le ministère de la Défense nationale et les Forces armées canadiennes (MDN/FAC) cherchent à tester des solutions créatives de production d'énergie à jumeler avec les systèmes de chauffage existants pour aider à réduire notre empreinte carbone. Plus précisément, le MDN et les FAC recherchent un système de production/transfert d'énergie à grande échelle et à faible émission de carbone pour le chauffage des b'timents existants; ce système serait intégré aux systèmes actuels de distribution du chauffage hydronique. Un b'timent d'essai a été sélectionné à Kingston, en Ontario, afin qu'une équipe de conception-construction conçoive et installe un système novateur. L'objectif est d'évaluer l'efficacité et les coûts de ces technologies intégrées, dans le but de réduire la demande d'énergie et l'empreinte carbone du portefeuille d'infrastructures du MDN et des FAC. Le financement possible pour le volet conception-construction du projet a été établi à environ 5 500 000 $. Vous souhaitez en savoir plus sur ce banc d'essai ? Veuillez contacter l'équipe Banc d'essai & Environnement Protégé : IDEaSSandboxes-EnvironnementsprotegesIDEeS@forces.gc.ca L'équipe IDEeS

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  December 12, 2024 | International, Land

  PAC-3 Equipped with Advanced Software Excels in Integrated Test

  During the two missions at White Sands Missile Range, PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) confirmed the ability to detect, acquire, track and engage flight test targets

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  July 20, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  DoD Needs Supply Chain Strategy To Survive Future Crises: Roper

  "We were in a very frenzied state," Air Force acquisition head Will Roper says of DoD efforts to stave off the collapse of key suppliers during the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis. By THERESA HITCHENSon July 17, 2020 at 4:38 PM WASHINGTON: Air Force acquisition head Will Roper says DoD needs to develop a new supply chain strategy that incentivizes industry to build a more diverse, responsive and resilient supply chain. “What I hope sticks on the other side of COVID-19 is a strategic focus on the supply chain,” he told a webinar co-sponsored by Government Matters and the Farnborough International Association today, on the even of the virtual air show. “Government has to have a strategy. We have to explain to industry what we consider good supply chain management practices to be, and not to be. And we need to write that in plain English, which the government has a tough time doing frequently.” That strategy also has to be followed up with incentives for industry to do the right thing, he said. “We have to put our money where our mouth is,” Roper said. For example, he said, it should include incentivizing contractors, big and small, to use digital manufacturing technologies that allow companies to quickly pivot to different missions in times of need. “That's a strategic capability for the nation. We need to encourage that,” he said. Roper noted that the Air Force is attempting to do just that with its centerpiece Advanced Battle Management Program (ABMS), being designed as a technology foundation for running future all-domain wars via the Joint All-Domain Command and Control System (JADC2). “We've got a pretty cool program called the Advanced Battle Management System. It's not a cool name — it's kind of like Castle Anthrax in Monty Python: ‘it's not a good name but it's the one we've got',” he joked. “That's a program where adaptability is king.” He explained that the service is working with industry to both explain, and reward, technology initiatives that will give operators the ability to rapidly upgrade or switch out old capabilities for new ones. As Breaking D readers knows, ABMS is attempting to iterate technologies developed under the program on a four-month cycle. Roper said the first three weeks of the COVID-19 crisis threw DoD into a maelstrom as acquisition authorities tried to cope with the potential of supplier collapse. “We were in a very frenzied state,” he said. The Air Force is the executive agent for all DoD use of Defense Production Act Title III contracts to support industry suffering from the coronavirus pandemic. However, the Defense Industrial Base Sector Coordinating Council under the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) actually chooses which companies to support based on service requests — including for the Air Force. While Roper sees ongoing problems from COVID-19 impacts on suppliers, especially small firms for whom cash-flow is highly important, he said that the Air Force and DoD are in a much better place now to handle them as they arise. “I don't think we'll see something as frenzied as what we went through during the first three weeks of COVID,” he said. “I think if this continues in future, we will have to take aggressive actions when there are hotspots that fire up in the country. Smaller companies are always going to be at risk by a few number of COVID-19 cases — they're going to have to shut down their facilities, they're going to have to clean, they're gonna have to be work force quarantining — and for companies of that size, having cash on hand to make payroll, to make invoicing, is critically important. Cash flow and liquidity is everything during a crisis. But we're more ready for that.” This is in part because leaders have a better grasp on what companies are likely to be at risk, Roper explained. “Now, we know who those critical suppliers are we have insight into our supply chain that we have ever had,” he said. For example, the small launch industry is one sector that Roper continues to keep a close eye on. “Small launch is still a big need for our industrial base for the Space Force and we want to try to try to do whatever we can to keep that market healthy,” he told reporters on July 14. Roper expressed some disappointment about OSD's July 1 decision to rescind a June-announced award of $116 million for six small launch companies: Aevum, Astra, X-Bow, Rocket Lab, Space Vector and VOX Space. He explained that OSD determined there “were some additional small business needs” that came up, because the small launch package was one of the last DPA approved actions, it was “the first to be put back in the batter's box.” “My hope is that whenever there's new Title III funding, or when resources free up due to other efforts not executing as planned, that those are the first to go back into the hopper. If I were asked today to put in one new Title III initiative, it's small launch,” he added. As Paul reported, Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord on June 22 said she is seeking approval for a funding package request in the “lower double digit billions” from the White House to cover COVID-19 related costs, including paying for industry claims of supply chain and workforce reductions. And a group of CEOs from major defense primes, in a letter obtained by Breaking D, are asking for DoD help in seeking yet more COVID-19 stimulus funds from Congress. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/07/dod-needs-supply-chain-strategy-to-survive-future-crises-roper