The Army wants drones that make their own networks

On the same subject

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  May 26, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  La Défense, une des clefs de la relance ?

  Les présidents du Gifas et du BDLI appellent à une accélération de l'engagement de la France et de l'Allemagne sur les programmes de défense pour contre-balancer les effets de la crise sur la filière aéronautique civile. Une supply chain duale Face à une filière aéronautique civile confrontée à la première crise systémique de sa jeune histoire, Eric Trappier et Dirk Hoke, respectivement président du Gifas et président du BDLI, appellent « d'une même voix et d'une façon urgente à un plan de relance européen ambitieux en faveur de l'aéronautique civile pour préserver l'avenir ». Et cela passe notamment par « un soutien fort au niveau européen aux domaines de la défense et de l'espace, au moment où les enjeux budgétaires et de souveraineté sont cruciaux ». En clair, une accélération et un engagement plus fort des gouvernements français et allemands dans les programmes de défense mais aussi spatiaux peuvent venir « contre-balancer utilement la baisse d'activité de la filière aéronautique civile et dont les conséquences sur la chaîne des fournisseurs mettent en danger un certain nombre d'ETI et PME», souligne Eric Trappier qui est aussi président de Dassault Aviation. « D'autant que nombre de ces entreprises ont une activité duale. Elles sont présentes à la fois dans le civil et le militaire », poursuit-il. Accélérer sur le SCAF « Ces ETI et PME sont également vitales par le caractère unique de leurs savoir-faire. Si elles ne survivent pas à la crise, nous souffrirons tous », surenchérit Dirk Hoke qui ajoute : « il faut donc accélérer sur le volet défense pour également préserver nos capacités qui sont cruciales pour réaliser l'autonomie stratégique et la souveraineté de l'Europe ». Une claire allusion au programme SCAF qui ne s'appuie pour l'instant que sur une enveloppe de 150 M€ pour une durée de dix-huit mois. Ce contrat-cadre appelé Phase 1A doit déboucher sur des financements plus substantiels avec 4 Md€ prévus d'ici à 2025. Raison de plus pour débloquer de nouveaux fonds et plus vite dans le contexte actuel. Financer la R&T sur l'avion durable Pour les présidents du Gifas et du BDLI, le deuxième volet de ce plan relance européen européen ambitieux en faveur de l'aéronautique civile est le soutien aux efforts conjoints « de la profession en faveur de l'innovation et d'une aviation responsable, intégrant les enjeux liés à l'environnement ». Pour Dirk Hoke, qui est aussi président d'Airbus Defence and Space, l'abandon du projet E-Fan X, un démonstrateur dédié aux essais de propulsion électrique, ne signifie nullement que le constructeur européen a renoncé à ses travaux de recherche sur la décarbonisation de l'aviation. Si Airbus a suspendu le programme E-Fan X, le constructeur, en collaboration avec Siemens et le DLR, l'équivalent de l'Onera en Allemagne, a également réalisé des travaux sur la propulsion à hydrogène sur un démonstrateur baptisé HY4 qui a d'ailleurs réalisé un premier vol dès 2016. Au décollage, une batterie lithium-ion fournit l'électricité, mais en vol, une pile à combustible puise de l'hydrogène dans un réservoir maintenu à basse température pour produire un courant électrique par réaction avec l'oxygène de l'air, puis rejette de la vapeur d'eau. De son côté, Dassault Aviation a identifié plusieurs applications possibles avec des piles pouvant alimenter des fonctions de base « telles que les charges de cabines avions, les sources d'énergie pour les équipements, les galleys ou cuisines », voire même « des fonctions intégrées comme l'alimentation de secours ou le remplacement de l'unité auxiliaire de puissance ». Plus dans notre prochain numéro 2689 du 22 mai. https://www.air-cosmos.com/article/la-dfense-une-des-clefs-de-la-relance-23110

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  May 14, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  A delicate balancing act: The US government must juggle a pandemic and the FY21 budget

  By: Robert DuPree For the past few months, the U.S. federal government has been, quite understandably, totally focused on addressing the enormous health care and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. These efforts will necessarily continue to be front and center in the weeks and even months ahead, no matter how rapidly the curve flattens or declines, as different sectors and regions reopen. But to move the country forward, Congress must prepare to do its regular business for the year, which largely means tackling appropriations bills. Congressional staff have reportedly been doing the prep work to get spending bills ready for whenever the House and Senate can safely convene to work on them (or to do much of this work remotely). The American people — including federal contractors large and small, and our employees — are relying on Congress to check its partisan impulses and figure out how to do two things at once in the coming months: Continue to combat the COVID-19 crisis, and develop fiscal 2021 funding bills for all federal departments and agencies to meet our nation's needs. Unfortunately, there are some who are already taking a simplistic view, saying Congress will be so busy dealing with the pandemic that it will have to just give up and pass a continuing resolution to fund the government beyond the election into next year or even for a full year. On the contrary, the pandemic is exactly why Congress should be doing its work and completing updated appropriations bills on time. First of all, in these extraordinary times, the country doesn't need appropriations bills which merely extend the decisions made on spending last December, when Congress finally completed action (over two months late) on FY20 appropriations bills. The COVID-19 pandemic was just a blip on the horizon at that time. For FY21, the country needs updated spending legislation that more accurately reflects the greatly changed world we now face. Moreover, departments and agencies also need the flexibility to enter into new contracts to meet new needs, which is generally prohibited unless expressly provided under a continuing resolution. Further, Congress and the administration must come to grips with the elephant in the room — the strict annual spending caps imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011, as amended. To mix metaphors, this law is no longer just an elephant, it's an emperor who has no clothes. Congress has modified the BCA's statutory spending caps a number of times over the past decade (thus, the above caveat “as amended”). Now we're about to face the final year of the law's spending caps, and what do we find? The caps are a joke. The caps were meant to limit discretionary spending each year, but Congress has repeatedly found ways around them. This has usually been done in one of two ways. The first is by including some amount of normal baseline defense spending under the category of overseas contingency operations, or OCO, which is “wartime” funding; this occurs even when unrelated to America's overseas/wartime military efforts. OCO spending is exempt from the BCA caps, so funding part of the base Defense Department budget this way enables the law's defense-spending cap to be technically met while also understating the Pentagon's non-wartime expenditures. The second way is by designating certain spending as “emergency” expenditures. Yes, these are almost always for valid, unforeseen emergencies, but it is still spending that would otherwise exceed the discretionary caps. Only Congress can wave a wand and say: “No, it doesn't exceed the cap — it's for an emergency.” To be honest, the caps painted an unrealistic picture of efforts to control federal spending anyway. By only being applied to discretionary spending, exempting massive entitlement expenditures and interest on the debt, the caps presented a partial picture of true federal-spending restraint to begin with. And now the COVID-19 crisis has resulted in multiple legislative packages being enacted, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates could add over $2.7 trillion to the current year's deficit. But because they are loans or designated as “emergency” spending, they don't violate the caps. They just add to the deficit. In reality, true federal spending has soared far past the stable level of spending that the caps were purported to achieve when the BCA was first enacted. Yet, the caps are still in place for next year, which will impact the congressional appropriations process by either preventing the spending needed to address current needs, or leading to further contortionist efforts by legislators to circumvent the caps. So let's quit pretending. Congress and the administration should agree to repeal the final year of the caps as part of the next COVID-19 legislative package so appropriators can be upfront about the spending needed without having to hide so much of that spending behind the “emergency spending” loophole. Be transparent, and admit the country is, like during World War II, spending a whole lot more than anticipated to meet the crisis. And most of all, get the job done by acting in a bipartisan fashion to pass appropriations bills by Oct. 1, 2020, that accurately reflect our real needs and expenditures. Admittedly, that may not be easy to do in an election year, but the nation and the federal contracting community are depending on Congress to be able to manage the COVID-19 crisis response, while simultaneously conducting its regular business. Robert DuPree is manager of government affairs at Telos Corporation. He focuses on political developments in Congress and the executive branch, including the federal budget, appropriations process, national defense and cybersecurity. He previously served as legislative director for a senior member of the U.S. House of Representatives. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/05/13/a-delicate-balancing-act-the-us-government-must-juggle-a-pandemic-and-the-fy21-budget/

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  May 8, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - May 7, 2019

  NAVY Lockheed Martin, Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded a $84,925,824 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-13-C-5116 for AEGIS combat system engineering, architecture, development, integration and test; Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air integration and test; and training, studies and computer program maintenance. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey, and is expected to be completed by December 2019. Fiscal 2014 and 2017 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); fiscal 2018 and 2019 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy); fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy); and fiscal 2019 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $58,414,159 will be obligated at the time of award and funding in the amount of $4,217,275 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. G2 Software Systems Inc.,* San Diego, California, is awarded a $83,493,639 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee, multiple-award contract to provide command and control (C2) technologies and capabilities in the areas of innovative science and technology research, systems engineering, architecture, design, development, integration, testing, configuration management, quality assurance, and implementation and support of C2 net-centric military operations. This is one of six contracts awarded. All awardees will have the opportunity to compete for task orders during the ordering period. This two-year contract includes four two-year options which, if exercised, would bring the overall, cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $93,030,165. All work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed May 6, 2021. If the options are exercised, the period of performance would extend through May 6, 2029. Fiscal 2019 working capital (Navy) funds in a guaranteed amount of $10,000 will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire by the end of the current fiscal year. Funds will be obligated as task orders are issued using research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); operations and maintenance (Navy); other procurement (Navy); shipbuilding construction (Navy); and working capital fund (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via a request for proposal (N66001-18-R-0002) and publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command e-Commerce Central website. Fourteen offers were received and six were selected for award. Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-19-D-0059). Geocent,* Metairie, Louisiana, is awarded a $83,338,808 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee, multiple-award contract to provide command and control (C2) technologies and capabilities in the areas of innovative science and technology research, systems engineering, architecture, design, development, integration, testing, configuration management, quality assurance, and implementation and support of C2 net-centric military operations. This is one of six contracts awarded. All awardees will have the opportunity to compete for task orders during the ordering period. This two-year contract includes four two-year options which, if exercised, would bring the overall, cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $93,030,165. All work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed May 6, 2021. If the options are exercised, the period of performance would extend through May 6, 2029. A guarantee of $10,000 using fiscal 2019 working capital (Navy) funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders are issued using research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); operations and maintenance (Navy); other procurement (Navy); shipbuilding construction (Navy); and working capital fund (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via a request for proposal (N66001-18-R-0002) and publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command e-Commerce Central website. Fourteen offers were received and six were selected for award. Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-19-D-0060). Forward Slope Inc.,* San Diego, California, is awarded a $76,903,173 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee, multiple-award contract to provide command and control (C2) technologies and capabilities in the areas of innovative science and technology research, systems engineering, architecture, design, development, integration, testing, configuration management, quality assurance, and implementation and support of C2 net-centric military operations. This is one of six contracts awarded. All awardees will have the opportunity to compete for task orders during the ordering period. This two-year contract includes four two-year options which, if exercised, would bring the overall, cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $93,030,165. All work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed May 6, 2021. If the options are exercised, the period of performance would extend through May 6, 2029. A guarantee of $10,000 using fiscal 2019 working capital (Navy) funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders are issued using research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); operations and maintenance (Navy); other procurement (Navy); shipbuilding construction (Navy); and working capital fund (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via a request for proposal (N66001-18-R-0002) and publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command e-Commerce Central website. Fourteen offers were received and six were selected for award. Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-19-D-0058). Advanced Sciences and Technologies LLC (AS&T),* Berlin, New Jersey, is awarded a $68,106,416 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee, multiple-award contract to provide command and control (C2) technologies and capabilities in the areas of innovative science and technology research, systems engineering, architecture, design, development, integration, testing, configuration management, quality assurance, and implementation and support of C2 net-centric military operations. This is one of six contracts awarded. All awardees will have the opportunity to compete for task orders during the ordering period. This two-year contract includes four two-year options which, if exercised, would bring the overall, cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $93,030,165. All work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed May 6, 2021. If the options are exercised, the period of performance would extend through May 6, 2029. A guarantee of $10,000 using fiscal 2019 working capital (Navy) funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders are issued using research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); operations and maintenance (Navy); other procurement (Navy); shipbuilding construction (Navy); and working capital fund (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via a Request for Proposal (N66001-18-R-0002) and publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command e-Commerce Central website. Fourteen offers were received and six were selected for award. Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-19-D-0056). Solute Inc.,* San Diego, California, is awarded a $55,891,672 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee, multiple-award contract to provide command and control (C2) technologies and capabilities in the areas of innovative science and technology research, systems engineering, architecture, design, development, integration, testing, configuration management, quality assurance, and implementation and support of C2 net-centric military operations. This is one of six contracts awarded. All awardees will have the opportunity to compete for task orders during the ordering period. This two-year contract includes four two-year options which, if exercised, would bring the overall, cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $93,030,165. All work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed May 6, 2021. If the options are exercised, the period of performance would extend through May 6, 2029. A guarantee of $10,000 using fiscal 2019 working capital (Navy) funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders are issued using research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); operations and maintenance (Navy); other procurement (Navy); shipbuilding construction (Navy); and working capital fund (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via a request for proposal (N66001-18-R-0002) and publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command e-Commerce Central website. Fourteen offers were received and six were selected for award. Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-19-D-0061). United Technologies Corp., Pratt & Whitney Engines, East Hartford, Connecticut, is awarded $55,675,476 for modification P00005 to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm contract (N00019-18-C-1021). This modification provides additional funding for F135 long lead items to support the production delivery schedule, exercises an option for additional initial spare parts, and provides program administrative labor for the global spares pool in support the Navy; Air Force, and Marine Corps, non-U. S. Department of Defense (DoD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in East Hartford, Connecticut (67 percent); Indianapolis, Indiana (26.5 percent); and Bristol, United Kingdom (6.5 percent), and is expected to be completed in April 2022. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps); non-U.S. DoD participant and FMS funds in the amount of $55,675,476 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This effort combines purchases for the Navy ($4,161,749; 7.5 percent); Air Force ($3,116,792; 5.6 percent); Marine Corps ($556,570; 1.0 percent); non-U.S. DoD participants ($24,899,106; 44.7 percent); and FMS Customers ($22,941,259; 41.2 percent). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Data Intelligence LLC,* Marlton, New Jersey, is awarded a $48,103,672 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee, multiple-award contract to provide command and control (C2) technologies and capabilities in the areas of innovative science and technology research, systems engineering, architecture, design, development, integration, testing, configuration management, quality assurance, and implementation and support of C2 net-centric military operations. This is one of six contracts awarded. All awardees will have the opportunity to compete for task orders during the ordering period. This two-year contract includes four two-year options which, if exercised, would bring the overall, cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $93,030,165. All work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed May 6, 2021. If the options are exercised, the period of performance would extend through May 6, 2029. A guarantee of $10,000 using fiscal 2019 working capital (Navy) funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders are issued using research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); operations and maintenance (Navy); other procurement (Navy), shipbuilding construction (Navy); and working capital fund (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via a request for proposal (N66001-18-R-0002) and publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command e-Commerce Central website. Fourteen offers were received and six were selected for award. Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-19-D-0057). Black Construction/MACE International JV, Harmon, Guam, is awarded a $29,877,000 firm-fixed-price contract for the construction of a three-megawatt photovoltaic electrical generation system at Naval Support Facility (NSF) Diego Garcia. The work to be performed provides for the construction (design-bid-build) of a three-megawatt photovoltaic electrical generation system and the supporting electrical distribution system upgrades required to interconnect the photovoltaic array with the existing NSF Diego Garcia. The project will also include site preparation, fencing, perimeter lighting and a ground cover system. Work will be performed in Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territories and is expected to be completed by June 2021. Fiscal 2015 military construction (Department of Defense) contract funds in the amount of $29,877,000 are obligated on this 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 proposal received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, is the contracting activity (N62742-19-C-1324). Nathan Kunes Inc.,* San Diego, California, is awarded a $13,681,778 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for development, implementation and testing of computer network defense measures; development of wireless computing security, cross-domain solutions, and vulnerability assessments; and system and security engineering to evaluate commercial information assurance products. This two-year contract includes one three-year option which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $35,236,186. All work will be performed in San Diego, California. The period of performance of the base award is from May 7, 2019, through May 6, 2021. If the option is exercised, the period of performance would extend through May 6, 2024. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders are issued using operations and maintenance (Navy); other procurement (Navy); and research, development, test and evaluation (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via request for proposal N66001-18-R-0351 which was published on the Federal Business Opportunities website and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command e-Commerce Central website. Two offers were received and one was selected for award. The Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-19-D-0089). BAE Systems, Information and Electronics Systems Integration Inc., Hudson, New Hampshire, is awarded $10,853,462 for cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order N0001919F0019 against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-16-G-0021) for the upgrade of the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) guidance section. This delivery order provides for non-recurring tasks to combine the Rotary Wing APKWS II and the Fixed Wing APKWS II Guidance Sections into one hardware and software solution. Work will be performed in Hudson, New Hampshire (93 percent); and Austin, Texas (7 percent), and is expected to be completed in April 2021. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 procurement of ammunition (Navy and Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $10,853,462 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY San Antonio Lighthouse for the Blind,** San Antonio, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $11,295,446 modification (P000013) exercising the second one-year option period of a one-year base contract (SPE1C1-17-D-B024) with two one-year option periods for flame resistant, operational camouflage pattern, intermediate weather outer layer trousers. This is a firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. Location of performance is Texas, with an Oct. 31, 2020, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2020 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. UPDATE: Federal Contracts Corp., Tampa, Florida (SPE8EC-19-D-0040), has been added as an awardee to the multiple-award contract supplying felling trailers for commercial trucks and trailers, issued against solicitation SPE8EC-17-R-0008, announced April 20, 2017. *Small business **Mandatory source https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1840893/source/GovDelivery/