April 28, 2024 | International, Land
December 17, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Space Force selects new prototype consortium manager
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force has found a new manager for its expanded prototyping organization — the Space Enterprise Consortium — which will oversee $12 billion in awards for space-related projects over the next 10 years.
The Space and Missile Systems Center's Space Development Corps selected National Security Technology Accelerator, known as NSTXL, to manage its SpEC Reloaded portfolio to adopt ever-evolving innovations before they're outdated. SMC expects to issue the award on Dec. 31, following a required 30-day congressional notification period.
Launched in 2017, SpEC has doled out prototyping awards for everything from new ground systems to a Link 16-enabled space vehicle that shows the location of friendly and enemy forces. SpEC has reduced contract award timelines by 36 percent, grown membership by 55 percent year over year to 441 members, and awarded 80 prototype efforts cumulatively valued at $856 million, according to SMC.
“There's no question that SpEC has been an overwhelming success for the government programs that have utilized it to accelerate their prototyping, and for the consortium members to gain a better understanding on the USSF's architectural direction,” said Col. Tim Sejba, program executive officer for SMC's Space Development Corps.
Perhaps most importantly, SpEC provides an opening for nontraditional companies to begin working with the Department of Defense on space systems. SpEC helps connect vendors with organizations including the Space Rapid Capabilities Office or even the intelligence community's National Reconnaissance Office using other transaction authorities.
OTAs allow “us to get on contract much faster than traditional approaches,” SMC head Lt. Gen. John Thompson said in November. “In addition, the vehicle really lowers the bar for nontraditional contractors to become part of national security space efforts, makes it easier for them to get in the door. In fact, 350 of those 430 members of the consortium are really nontraditional contractors or academic organizations.”
The Space Force awarded the initial $100 million SpEC management contract to the Advanced Technology Institute in 2017 to manage the consortium through November 2022. However, the consortium's early success convinced the Space Force to revamp the effort with a significantly larger budget and an increased focus on cybersecurity.
“We are honored to contribute to U.S. space advancement,” NSTXL CEO Tim Greeff said. “This has been a very successful program thus far, and we look forward to taking it to next level to unlock more value for the U.S. military by engaging more nontraditional defense companies and bringing great innovation to the nascent Space Force.”
NSTXL also supports the U.S. Army's Training and Readiness Accelerator (TReX), the Navy's Strategic & Spectrum Missions Advanced Resilient Trusted Systems (S2MARTS), and the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) Energy OTA.
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July 25, 2022 | International, Aerospace
Thales: à la tête d'un projet de défense européen
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July 6, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Land
MBDA’s MMP missile selected to fulfil the European Beyond-Line-Sight battlefield engagement capability
July 1, 2020 - LynkEUs, an MBDA coordinated project, has been selected by the European Commission as part of the new European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP), following consultation with Member States. LynkEUs is the first technological and industrial contribution to the objectives of the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) Beyond Line Of Sight (BLOS) capability project. The BLOS capability project had been approved in November 2018 by the EU Defence Ministers. The LynkEUs project is managed in close partnership with the French, Belgian and Cypriot armed forces. The project seeks to define an initial operational concept for a European BLOS capability. It will also provide an opportunity to identify and test emerging solutions of potential value for future upgrades to the capability, and will be validated by a test campaign. The concepts and tests completed for the PESCO BLOS project will contribute to the development of a family of man-on-the loop BLOS missile systems with back image, based on the MMP medium range missile, and under full control of Europe's defence industry. Eric Béranger, MBDA CEO, said: “LynkEUs is the first cooperative project in the missile systems field leveraging on the new EU defence instruments, and the first EU defence R&D project to be coordinated by MBDA. It demonstrates our eagerness to cooperate to an ever-greater extent in Europe and to expand our circle of industrial and technological partnerships, particularly with innovative SMEs and European research centres. It also demonstrate our commitment to serve European strategic autonomy and technological sovereignty ambitions.” MBDA and its 10 partners – from Belgium: The Royal Military Academy, John Cockerill Defense, FN Herstal, Thales Belgium, and Xenics; from Cyprus: Aditess, Cyprus Institute, and SignalGenerix; from France: Novadem and Safran; along with the 3 subcontractors: MILREM (from Estonia), DELAIR (from France), and Carmenta (from Sweden) – are now entering the negotiation phase of the grant agreement with the Commission. This first success at the European level paves the way for further collaborative projects, that will consolidate a European BLOS capability by developing associated functions such as training systems and cooperative engagement. These new projects could be eligible for the future European Defence Fund as early as 2021. View source version on MBDA: https://www.mbda-systems.com/press-releases/mbdas-mmp-missile-selected-to-fulfill-the-european-beyond-line-of-sight-battlefield-engagement-capability/