Top Aces Announces FAA Certification of F-16 Fighter Aircraft

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  September 16, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Achat de Rafale par la Grèce, crise du secteur aérien : entretien avec Eric Trappier, président du GIFAS et PDG de Dassault Aviation

  Eric Trappier, président du GIFAS et PDG de Dassault Aviation, s'exprimait ce matin sur RTL. Le dirigeant a notamment évoqué la commande de 18 Rafale par la Grèce, annoncée samedi 12 septembre. Les Rafale commandés par la Grèce seront livrés «dans l'année à venir, soit en 2021», indique M. Trappier. La commande comprendra 12 avions d' «occasion», actuellement opérationnels au sein de l'armée de l'Air française, une mesure décidée afin de répondre à l'urgence du besoin exprimé par la Grèce. Ces prélèvements d'appareils au sein de l'armée de l'Air française seront « compensés par la fabrication d'avions neufs », insiste M. Trappier. La fabrication de 18 Rafale garantit « un an de travail pour les chaînes de production de Dassault Aviation et de ses sous-traitants », souligne-t-il. M. Trappier rappelle également qu'une discussion avec le gouvernement français est en cours concernant l'achat d'une «cinquième tranche de 30 avions». Le Rafale est «un avion qui n'arrête pas d'évoluer, par standards successifs», souligne le dirigeant : «on est en train de développer le quatrième standard». Interrogé sur la crise que traverse actuellement le secteur de l'aéronautique, M. Trappier souligne que l'Etat est «très mobilisé» ; mais il met en garde contre le «changement d'hypothèse» qui surviendrait si «les frontières restent fermées et si le trafic aérien ne reprend pas». Il rappelle que le secteur de l'aéronautique travaille, depuis plusieurs années, à la mise au point d'un «avion décarboné», dont le développement s'est récemment accéléré avec le soutien du gouvernement. RTL Matin du 16 septembre

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  August 14, 2018 | International, Naval

  US Navy’s focus on rapid acquisition is opening up opportunities for Europe

  By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy intends to get much bigger, and that has meant new openings for European companies in the U.S. defense market. The Navy's new over-the-horizon missile destined for the littoral combat ship and the future frigate was recently awarded to the Norwegian firm Kongsberg, in partnership with U.S. company Raytheon, for its Naval Strike Missile. The future frigate program itself has awarded contracts to Spain's Navantia and Italy's Fincantieri for design work before the Navy selects a design later this year, meaning the service's next surface combatant may be a European design. And for the Navy's future training helicopter, both Franco-Dutch company Airbus and Italian firm Leonardo are top competitors for that program. Analysts say the Navy's recent surge in interest has been spurred by a confluence of circumstances that could mean even more opportunities for foreign companies looking to break into the U.S. market. Increased defense budgets are one reason the European companies have been seeing more business from the Navy and other American military branches. But a shift in the way the Defense Department tries to fill capabilities gaps has made the space more competitive for overseas firms, said Dan Gouré, a defense analyst with the Lexington Institute think tank. As the Navy and other services have shifted toward great power competition, it has found a number of capabilities that were not hugely important in a unipolar world have again become requirements with the reemergence of Russia and the rise of China as security threats. One such area is the small surface combatant, or FFG(X) program, which would be needed to escort supply convoys and work as a survivable sensor node in a larger surface combatant network. “With the frigate, for example, we hadn't built one of those in 40 years, but the Europeans have been building them for decades,” Gouré noted. “And if we needed a diesel-electric sub, they'd of course be the first in line.” This emphasis on speed of acquisition has also helped because the Navy and the rest of the Department of Defense are reluctant to get tied down by a yearslong, inevitably over-budget development process unless necessary, Gouré said. “The trend has been toward [other transaction authority] contracts, and that has made the European companies credible competitors,” he said. Another factor is that the Navy has been more willing to make trades on capabilities, said Bryan Clark, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. “I think what's new is that the Navy is openly seeking foreign proposals for some of these major new programs,” Clark said. “Foreign companies have always been able to submit proposals in response to RFPs, but usually they don't offer the high-end capability the U.S. is usually seeking. “The big change is that the Navy is willing to get a less-sophisticated capability in to get a design that is more mature.” In the case of the Navy's trainer helicopter competition, past success with European companies inside the DoD could be a driving factor in Airbus' and Leonardo's competitive bids. Airbus' North American division has been successful with the U.S. Army's Lakota program, built by Airbus Helicopters in Columbus, Mississippi, which is where the company would build its H135 helicopter if selected for the program. The Army has been happy with Lakota, so much so that it has been pushing to buy more of the airframes despite legal battles over the contracts. But the success of Airbus Helicopters with the Army is possible for much the same reason that, for example, Australian-owned Austal USA has been successful building both the trimaran version of the littoral combat ship and the expeditionary fast transport: a major manufacturing infrastructure investment in the United States. And that kind of cash outlay for a program can scare away European competitors. Getting around “Buy American” provisions would literally take an act of Congress. Despite having already developed, tested and fielded the capability the Navy wants, Kongsberg had to team with American defense giant Raytheon to sell its missile to the DoD. The “Buy American” provisions laid down and regularly upheld by Congress for defense procurement does have protectionist overtones, but there is a national security argument as well. In the event of a major, protracted conflict with Russia or China, it wouldn't be advantageous to have major suppliers located an ocean away or in occupied territory. And maintaining the industrial base has long been a concern of the U.S. Navy because of the limited the number of trained workers with experience who are building ships and nuclear reactors. Navy officials have testified that the shrinking industrial base, including the shipbuilders and the litany of subcontractors and vendors, is a significant concern. In 2015, then-head of the Navy's research, development and acquisition office Sean Stackley testified before Congress that some of the shipyards were just a contract away from going under. “We have eight shipyards currently building U.S. Navy ships. And of those eight shipyards, about half of them are a single contract away from being what I would call ‘not viable,' ” Stackley told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “In other words, the workload drops below the point at which the shipyard can sustain the investment that it needs to be competitive and the loss of skilled labor that comes with the breakage of a contract.” https://www.defensenews.com/top-100/2018/08/09/us-navys-focus-on-rapid-acquisition-is-opening-up-opportunities-for-europe/

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  November 5, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - November 04, 2019

  DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Brothers Produce Inc.,* Friendswood, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $202,500,000 firm-fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for fresh fruits and vegetables. This was a competitive acquisition with one response received. This is a 60-month contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Texas, with a Nov. 3, 2024, performance completion date. Using customers are Department of Agriculture schools. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2024 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-20-D-S736). Hesco Bastion Inc., North Charleston, South Carolina, has been awarded a maximum $24,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the Expeditionary Barrier System. This is a 10-month, 300-day bridge contract. Locations of performance are South Carolina and the United Kingdom with a Sept. 1, 2020, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE8E6-20-D-0001). Frank Gargiulo & Son Inc.,* Hillside, New Jersey, has been awarded a maximum $16,483,500 firm-fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for fresh fruits and vegetables. This was a competitive acquisition with one response received. This is a 54-month contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are New Jersey and New York, with a May 3, 2024, performance completion date. Using customers are Department of Agriculture schools. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2024 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-20-D-S737). NAVY Bell-Boeing Joint Project Office, Amarillo, Texas, is awarded a $146,039,547 modification (P00025) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, fixed-price-incentive-firm-target and firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-17-C-0015). This modification exercises the option to upgrade nine MV-22 aircraft from the Block B to the Block C configuration, as well as planned maintenance intervals for eight MV-22 aircraft, in support of the Common Configuration-Readiness and Modernization (CC-RAM) program. Work will be performed in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania (91%); and Fort Worth, Texas (9%), and is expected to be completed in March 2022. Fiscal 2018 and 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy - AP, N); and fiscal 2020 operation and maintenance (Navy – OM, N) funds in the amount of $146,039,547 will be obligated at time of award, $6,049,632 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year (Funding: fiscal 2018 AP, N $5,654,683; fiscal 2020 AP, N $139,989,915; and fiscal 2020 OM, N $394,949). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Space, Titusville, Florida, is awarded a $40,304,886 cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00002) to exercise options under a previously awarded contract (N00030-19-C-0100) for TRIDENT II (D5) missile production and deployed systems support. Work will be performed in Denver, Colorado (28%); Sunnyvale, California (25.2%); Biddeford, Maine (14.7%); Cape Canaveral, Florida (12.5%); Clearwater, Florida (9.8%); Oak Ridge, Tennessee (4.4%); Scottsdale, Arizona (2.2%); and other various locations (less than 1% each, 3.2% total). Work is expected to be completed Sept. 30, 2024. Fiscal 2020 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $32,016,540; and fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy) funds for $8,288,346 are being obligated on this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was awarded to the contractor on a sole source basis under 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) and was previously synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities website. Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded a $34,230,269 firm-fixed-price delivery order (N00019-20-F-0331) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-16-G-0001). This order provides for the non-recurring engineering, logistics product data, 28 Group A-1 retrofit kits, 28 Group A-2 retrofit kits, and 28 Group B retrofit kits for incorporation of the Distributed Targeting Processor-Network into the F/A-18 aircraft for the Navy and the Government of Australia. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri (99%); China Lake, California (0.5%); and Whidbey Island, Washington (0.5%), and is expected to be completed in June 2022. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $33,816,097; and Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $414,172 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Florida, is awarded a $20,700,000 firm-fixed price contract for the design, fabrication, procurement, delivery, installation, integration, configuration, technical documentation, test, modernization and concurrency of the Littoral Combat Ship Freedom Variant Integrated Tactical Trainer devices installed at Naval Station Mayport, Florida; and Naval Station San Diego, California. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida (51%); Moorestown, New Jersey (35%); Baltimore, Maryland (8%); Clearwater, Florida (3%); and Marion, Massachusetts (3%), and is expected to be completed in March 2022. Fiscal 2019 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $20,700,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity (N61340-20-C-0003). Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Connecticut, is awarded a $20,324,973 modification (P00272) to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N00019-06-C-0081) to provide System Demonstration Test Article Aircraft (SDTA) to support various test requirements under the System Development and Demonstration (SDD) program. The purpose of this contract modification is to definitize the costs associated with the instrumentation and transition of the aircraft between SDD and SDTA. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut, and is expected to be completed in February 2021. No funding is included in this contract modification; this requirement will be incrementally funded. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. ARMY High Desert Support Services, Alexandria, Virginia, was awarded a $30,000,000 modification (P00019) to contract W9124B-18-C-0004 for installation support services. Work will be performed in Fort Irwin, California, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 31, 2020. Fiscal 2020 operation and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $2,968,096 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Mission Installation Contracting Command, Fort Irwin, California, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Oct. 31, 2019) *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2008047/source/GovDelivery/