September 23, 2024 | International, Land
May 1, 2020 | International, Aerospace
The US Air Force wants to develop a hypersonic cruise missile
By: Valerie Insinna
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force is seeking information from industry about hypersonic cruise missile technology, with the hopes of starting up a new prototyping program in the near future.
The service issued a sources sought notification on April 27 asking companies to submit information about air-breathing conventional hypersonic cruise missiles that could be launched from fighter jets and bombers.
The responses will help the Air Force determine whether to begin funding a new program of record and figure out how quickly it will be able to field the new weapon, said Air Force acquisition executive Will Roper.
“In the case of how fast we could go with the scramjet technology getting into cruise missile and missionizing it, I think we can go fast,” he told reporters April 30. “I don't know how fast — that's why we're reaching out to the street. But given how far scramjet technology has matured, I'd expect that we'll be able to go pretty quickly on this.”
According to the solicitation, the service would aim to conduct a preliminary design review in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021. The technologies offered should feature ramjet, scramjet or dual-mode propulsion — a major difference from the hypersonic weapons currently under development by the Defense Department, which are all boost glide missiles.
There are multiple advantages to fielding air-breathing and boost glide hypersonic weapons, Roper said. Boost glide missiles fly just below space, above the “thick atmosphere” where scramjet missiles would fly. That allows scramjet missiles to take on certain missions and targets that boost-glide systems cannot engage.
“In the world of competing technology, we can't afford to have any blind spots or cede any ground. So we're preparing to make sure we don't cede ground on scramjet technology and hypersonic cruise missiles as a whole,” Roper said.
“We will have greater flexibility with this as a whole. That's one reason we're interested in accelerating the technology. It's mature, it's ready. It will give our operators greater flexibility.”
It will also allow the Defense Department to diversify the number of companies that can produce hypersonic weapons, he said.
“In the case of boost glide technology, a lot of our major programs in the department go to the same suppliers,” in part because those companies have pioneered materials and components that have not been replicated throughout industry, Roper said. “One of the reasons I'm excited about starting a hypersonic cruise missile program is that we will have different suppliers. It's a very different technology.”
Roper said the hypersonic cruise missile effort would involve inputs from the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
In particular, DARPA's Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept, or HAWC, effort could inform the new program. As part of the effort, a Raytheon-Northrop Grumman team and a Lockheed Martin-Aerojet Rocketdyne team are building scramjet-powered hypersonic vehicles.
“Scramjet technology has come a long way. I have been exceptionally impressed by what new manufacturing techniques are enabling,” Roper said. “I entered this job thinking scramjet will probably be a step behind boost glide. I am delighted to say that I was wrong. Scramjet is much more mature and ready to go than I originally thought.”
The Air Force may be embarking on a new hypersonic weapons program just months after canceling one of its two development efforts, the Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon, or HCSW. Although HCSW showed promise and was on track for flight tests, the service killed it the fiscal 2021 budget rollout this February in favor of the Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon.
Both ARRW and HCSW are boost-glide weapons made by Lockheed, but the Air Force decided to pursue ARRW because it was more affordable and could be carried in larger quantities by the B-52 and F-15 aircraft, Roper said.
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Satellite imagery provider Planet to go public
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October 16, 2018 | International, Naval, Land, C4ISR
Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - October 15, 2018
ARMY Absolute Business Solutions Inc., Herndon, Virginia (W911QY-19-D-0001); Data Systems Analysts Inc., Feasterville Trevose, Pennsylvania (W911QY-19-D-0002); DCS Corp., Alexandria, Virginia (W911QY-19-D-0003); HII Mission Driven Innovative Solutions Inc., Huntsville, Alabama (W911QY-19-D-0004); Integrity Consulting Engineering and Security Solutions,* Purcellville, Virginia (W911QY-19-D-0005); Interactive Process Technology LLC, Billerica, Massachusetts (W911QY-19-D-0006); Joint Research and Development Inc.,* Stafford, Virginia (W911QY-19-D-0007); Kalman and Company Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia (W911QY-19-D-0008); MLT Systems LLC,* Stafford, Virginia (W911QY-19-D-0009); Mustang Gray LLC,* Stafford, Virginia (W911QY-19-D-0010); Patricio Enterprises Inc., Stafford, Virginia (W911QY-19-D-0011); and Whitney, Bradley & Brown Inc., Reston, Virginia (W911QY-19-D-0012), will share in a $249,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for providing resources in support of the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense. Bids were solicited via the internet with 21 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 14, 2023. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity. NAVY Dyncorp International LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $152,247,409 firm-fixed-price, cost reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides for logistics support services and material for the organizational and depot level maintenance of approximately 118 TH-57 aircraft. Work will be performed in Milton, Florida, and is expected to be completed in November 2022. No funds will be obligated at time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal, with two offers received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity (N61340-19-D-0905). WR Systems Ltd., Norfolk, Virginia, is awarded a $49,999,996 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, performance-based contract with provisions for cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price task orders. The contract is for the procurement of positioning, navigation and timing engineering and in-service engineering agency support services. The services required include design development, systems integration, acquisition and prototype engineering, technical documentation, and integrated logistic support in order to support the Integrated Product Team. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by October 2020. Fiscal 2018 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,200 are obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured because this is a sole-source acquisition pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1), one source or limited sources (Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii)(B)). Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Atlantic, Charleston, South Carolina, is the contracting activity (N6523619D8001). The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded $24,400,000 for cost plus-incentive-fee delivery order N0001918F2046 against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-16-G-0001). This order provides for Airborne Electronic Attack (AEA) System enhancements to the ALQ-218 receiver system hardware and communication lines between assemblies to accommodate future planned functional growth and enhancements. Thirteen sets of WRA-7, WRA-8, WRA-9, and 18 AEA gun bay pallets will be modified and the associated technical directives will be written in support of the Navy and the government of Australia. Work will be performed in Baltimore, Maryland (31 percent); St. Louis, Missouri (23 percent); St. Augustine, Florida (15 percent); Bethpage, New York (11 percent); Patuxent River, Maryland (10 percent); and China Lake, California (10 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2020. Fiscal 2018 aircraft procurement (Navy); and foreign military sales funds in the amount of $24,400,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This delivery order combines purchases for the Navy ($23,157,457; 95 percent); and the government of Australia ($1,242,543; 5 percent). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Connecticut, is awarded a $14,718,840 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Next Generation Submarine Science and Technology Research. This contract contains options, which if exercised, would increase the contract value to $39,661,906. Work will be performed in Groton, Connecticut, and work is expected to be completed by Oct. 14, 2019. If options are exercised, work will continue through October 2023. Fiscal 2018 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount $10,000 will be obligated at the time of award. No funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured under N00014-18-S-B001 “Long Range Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Navy and Marine Corps Science and Technology.” Proposals will be received throughout the year under the long range BAA, therefore, the number of proposals received in response to the solicitation is unknown. The Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N00014-19-C-1002). DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY Southwind Construction Services LLC, Edmond, Oklahoma, was awarded a competitive firm-fixed-price contract for the installation of raised floor and high density cooling and power upgrade at the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma data center. The face value of this action is $9,177,535 funded by fiscal 2018 and 2019 capital funds. Performance will be at Data Center Oklahoma City, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. Proposals were solicited via the Federal Business Opportunity website and three proposals were received. The period of performance is 365 days after contract award (estimated period of performance is Oct. 22, 2018 - Oct. 21, 2019). The Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, Scott AFB, Illinois, is the contracting activity (HC102819C0001). *Small Business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1662895/source/GovDelivery/