Sweden vows to push defense collaboration, cyber defense at EU helm

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  June 26, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - June 25, 2019

  ARMY Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Connecticut, was awarded a $91,291,064 hybrid (cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price) contract to provide engineering and other support services for all versions of the H-60 Blackhawk. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of June 27, 2024. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-19-D-0079). DynCorp International LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $12,337,211 modification (P00034) to contract W58RGZ-17-C-0011 for modification of five C-12R aircraft to a C-12V. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, with an estimated completion date of May 31, 2023. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement, Army funds in the amount of $12,337,211 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. MCR Federal LLC,* McLean, Virginia, was awarded an $8,135,050 modification (0001 20) to contract W31P4Q-16-A-0016 for technical engineering support services. Work will be performed in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of June 29, 2020. Fiscal 2019 foreign military sales admin and other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $8,135,050 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. NAVY Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, is awarded a $62,975,474 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for engineering and technical services to meet fleet requirements for Synthetic Signature Generation based training systems. This contract will provide scientific, engineering, and technical services required for the design, development, fabrication, integration, test, fleet implementation and maintenance. Work will be performed in Bethesda, Maryland, and is expected to be complete by December 2022. Fiscal 2019 other procurement (Navy), fiscal 2017 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy), and fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $10,762,779 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with one offer received. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, West Bethesda, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00167-19-D-0004). L3 Systems Co., Camden, New Jersey, is awarded an estimated $41,518,454 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price, cost-plus fixed-fee contract. The Battle Force Tactical Network program requires the procurement and integration of commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) high frequency internet protocol and subnet relay hardware, COTS software and government off-the-shelf software into a specified configuration for the Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence. This contract has a five-year ordering period up to the contract award amount. There are no options. Work will be performed in Camden, New Jersey, and work is expected to be completed by June 2024. No funding is being placed on contract and obligated at the time of award. Contract actions will be issued and funds obligated as individual delivery orders. This contract was competitively procured as a full and open competition with proposals solicited via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with three offers received. The Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N00039-19-D-0035). Wyle Laboratories Inc. (aka, KBRwyle), Huntsville, Alabama, is awarded a $41,081,160 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide engineering, technical, operational, test and logistics services in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division's (NAWCAD's) Surface/Aviation Interoperability Laboratory. In addition, this contract provides for facilities testing and laboratory equipment, installed avionics and ship-combat systems maintenance. Work will be performed at NAWCAD, Patuxent River, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in July 2024. No funds will be obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposals; four offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-19-D-0070). Gilbane Federal, Concord, California, is awarded a $31,683,336 firm-fixed-price contract for unaccompanied enlisted housing at the Naval Base Guam. Buildings 5, 6, 18 and 20, will undergo conversion and alteration of each structure to house double-occupancy, permanent-party housing units and building common areas including multipurpose spaces, shared kitchens, vending areas, shared laundries and other miscellaneous support spaces. This project will also include the full renovation of the second floor existing double-occupancy permanent-party housing units in Building 18. The contract also contains one unexercised option, which if exercised, would increase cumulative contract value to $32,966,436. Work will be performed in Joint Region Marianas, Guam, and is expected to be completed by October 2022. Fiscal 2019 military construction (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $31,683,336 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with four proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, is the contracting activity (N62742-19-C-1310). BAE Systems Land & Armaments L.P., Louisville, Kentucky, is awarded $14,134,492 for a firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00174-19-C-0004 for one overhauled/upgraded MK45 Mod 4 gun mount, and their associated components. The 5-inch MK 45 light weight gun mount system provides an effective weapon for anti-surface, naval surface fire support, and anti-air warfare missions, and is installed aboard DDG- 51 and CG-47 class ships. This contract is to provide all necessary material and services required to overhaul and upgrade MK 45 gun mounts to support AEGIS Modernization and Arleigh Burke new construction requirements. Work will be performed in Louisville, Kentucky, and is expected to be complete by October 2023. Fiscal 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $14,134,492 will be obligated at time of award and not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division, Indian Head, Maryland, is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE Innovative Technologies International Inc., Lynchburg, Virginia, has been awarded a $7,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Katana Hardware Fabrication effort. The contract provides for concept design analysis and advanced fabrication capabilities to rapidly manufacture products meeting specific characteristics through a partnering arrangement by fulfilling research, development, test and evaluation requirements for Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, with organization-specific tasks. Work will be performed at Lynchburg, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by June 25, 2024. This contract is the result of a sole source award. Fiscal 2018 research and development funds in the amount of $24,897.00 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Research Laboratory, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity, Eglin AFB, Florida (FA8651-19). *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1887115/source/GovDelivery/

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  April 8, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Land, C4ISR

  COVID-19: Army Delays Missile Defense Network Test EXCLUSIVE

  The long-awaited IBCS battle network is meant to connect a wide range of Army radars and weapons – and potentially other services' as well – for anti-aircraft and missile defense. By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR. WASHINGTON: The Army has indefinitely postponed a major test of its IBCS air and missile defense network to protect the soldiers and civilians involved from the COVID-19 coronavirus, Breaking Defense has learned. A battalion of air defense troops who'd been training for weeks at White Sands Missile Range have been sent back to home base. Even more important for public health, technical experts from multiple Army agencies and contractors will no longer have to travel to the test. Known formally as a Limited User Test, the event requires participation from across the country, the head of the Army's air & missile defense modernization task force, Bring Gen. Brian Gibson, told me in late March. The LUT would involve both soldiers and civilians from Fort Sill, the Army's artillery & air defense center; Huntsville, headquarters for the service's missile procurement; and extensive support from the host facility, White Sands Missile Range, as well as neighboring El Paso, Tex., Gibson said. Other participants would come from even further afield, such as Army Test & Evalucation Command (ATEC) at Aberdeen Proving Grounds. “There are testers from afar that come in to oversee that test,” Gibson told me. “Those are all variables that are part of this daily assessment on should we, can we, do we continue?” Ironically, the soldiers training for the test were probably safer than the general public – as long as they were isolated in the desert at the vast White Sands Missile Range. But if one of them were somehow exposed to the coronavirus, Gibson warned, the patient would be in close quarters with lots of other soldiers and a long way away from a hospital. “Certainly, being away from large population centers is a different dynamic, [and] most of the time that is positive,” Gibson told me in March, “but, also, we're very cognizant that's still a pretty large number of individuals we have together in tight quarters that are further away from population centers where most of the health care infrastructure and support is.” There have been no reports that any soldiers involved have fallen ill. The test had been scheduled to begin May 15, after weeks of intensive training and preparation. No new date has been set, but if the Army can start the LUT up in July – far from a foregone conclusion – it can keep the high-priority program on schedule. Why IBCS Matters What is IBCS? The name is an awkward nested acronym for Integrated Air & Missile Defense (IAMD) Battle Command System. The network is intended to share data and commands seamlessly among a wide range of historically incompatible systems across the Army and, potentially, the other services. As such, it's the No. 1 priority in the Army's air & missile defense portfolio, which is in turn one of the service's Big Six priority areas for modernize. The program's been in the works for over a decade with many ups, downs and delays, but the Army and lead contractor Northrop Grumman are confident they have turned IBCS around. Four years ago, an earlier — disastrous — Limited User Test revealed software problems that led the Army to delay the program four years and overhaul the entire program. Since that 2016 LUT, the Army and Northrup have been bringing soldiers and engineers together frequently to try out the latest software upgrades and make fixes, rather than waiting for feedback from a major test event. The Army even brought in the Air Force for an experiment in which an F-35A Joint Strike Fighter successfully transmitted targeting data on a missile to IBCS. Compatibility with IBCS is now mandatory for all future Army air & missile defense systems, which has been a stumbling block for the Israeli-made Iron Dome. Top brass have even begun touting IBCS as a key building block of the future Joint All-Domain Command & Control (JADC2) mega-network meant to coordinate all the armed services in a future war with Russia or China. So the Army and Northrop were understandably eager to show off how well the latest version of IBCS performs. When they'll have a chance to do so depends less on what they do themselves than on the progress the entire nation makes against an insidious and invisible enemy. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/04/covid-19-army-delays-missile-defense-network-test-exclusive

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  May 2, 2022 | International, Aerospace

  Shortage Of Veteran Aircraft Maintainers Is Growing And Concerning