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July 9, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

Top Defense Execs Ask For Help in Next COVID Stimulus Package

The biggest defense manufacturers in the world warned the Pentagon and OMB of "significant job losses in pivotal states" if Congress doesn't come up with stimulus money to cover unforeseen expenses.

By on July 08, 2020 at 4:16 PM

WASHINGTON: A group of CEOs leading the world's top defense firms sent letters to Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord and and Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought on Wednesday, citing “significant job losses in pivotal states” if the federal government doesn't step in to assist with COVID-related costs.

Electoral maps have traditionally acted as a tried and tested tool defense contractors use when making pitches to both the Pentagon and Congress, as a way of showing where the jobs sit in different congressional districts.

The letter to Lord was signed by the leaders of Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Boeing, Raytheon, and BAE Systems, which represent five of the top seven defense companies in the world. Huntington Ingalls, Textron Inc., and L3Harris Technologies also signed onto the letter, which was obtained by Breaking Defense, requesting the Pentagon's help in pressing for stimulus money in the Senate's next rescue package. The Senate is slated to debate in the coming days.

Lord has previously estimated the Pentagon would have to pay more than “lower double digit billions” to offset costs borne by defense manufacturers in lost work hours, buying PPE equipment and propping up smaller suppliers.

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon last month, Lord said she's seeing a “three-month slowdown to all programs due to COVID-19,” after the virus shut down defense manufacturing facilities and production lines across the globe.

The vast majority of defense firms have operated at reduced capacity over the past several months, and Lord said the Pentagon continues to see the biggest impacts in the aviation and shipbuilding supply chains.

The CEOs write that US-based supply chains “are simply not able to absorb these significant costs. Without additional funding in the next stimulus package, the resolution of [reimbursement] claims will need to be funded from existing DoD budget topline resources for FY20-22.”

That would cause “significant reductions” in research and procurement budgets, they said, before pivoting to warning about Defense Secretary Mark Esper's top priority: modernizing weapons systems to keep abreast of China and Russia. Placing the burden on the companies to use their own case to meet unplanned emergency costs risks “thwarting the Department's ability to meet the challenges and threats associated with great power competition” they add.

In order to keep the smaller suppliers afloat, companies have pushed contracts forward to give the smaller supplier more work, and in turn, DoD has sped up planned payments to the defense industry, hitting the $2 billion mark in recent weeks.

Speaking at a Brookings Institution event this morning, Lord didn't mention the letter, but talked about moving more production of defense equipment to the United States from overseas. Part of that effort stems from President Trump's “American First” push to build up the domestic manufacturing sector, but Chinese influence in electronic supply chains is also a big concern.

During a visit to the Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard in Wisconsin late last month, Trump said “we'll always live by two simple rules: Buy American and hire American.”

Lord phrased the idea differently, saying she prefers to have two sources for equipment, and “we would like one of those, if possible, to be domestic.” That issue has been highlighted in the global pandemic shutdown which wreaked havoc on global supply chains. “We just found that particularly with microelectronics, we have gotten ourselves into a potentially compromised position,” Lord said. “Where we have US intellectual property going offshore for fabrication and packaging leaves us with some vulnerability there. That is unacceptable moving forward.”

During his Wisconsin visit, Trump suggested that one of the considerations for awarding a $795 million contract to the US home of the Italian shipbuilder was its location in a competitive state in the 2020 presidential election. “You notice that's not a supply chain going through China and going through other countries,” he said, adding, “I hear the maneuverability is one of the big factors that you were chosen for the contract. The other is your location in Wisconsin, if you want to know the truth.”

https://breakingdefense.com/2020/07/top-defense-execs-ask-for-help-in-next-covid-stimulus-package

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  • Nuclear deterrent still the US Navy’s top priority, no matter the consequences, top officer says

    December 12, 2019 | International, Naval

    Nuclear deterrent still the US Navy’s top priority, no matter the consequences, top officer says

    By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy's new top officer is doubling down on the service's commitment to field the new generation of nuke-launching submarines. Adm. Michael Gilday, who assumed office as the chief of naval operations in August, visited General Dynamics Electric Boat in Quonset Point, Rhode Island, on Tuesday. He reiterated in a release alongside the visit that the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine remains the Navy's top priority. “The Navy's first acquisition priority is recapitalizing our Strategic Nuclear Deterrent — Electric Boat is helping us do just that,” Gilday said. “Together, we will continue to drive affordability, technology development, and integration efforts to support Columbia's fleet introduction on time or earlier.” The service has been driving toward fielding the Columbia's lead ship by 2031, in time for its first scheduled deployment. Construction of the first boat will begin in October 2020, though the Navy has been working on components and design for years. Two generations of submariner CNOs have emphasized Columbia as the service's top priority. Gilday has made clear that having a surface warfare officer in charge has not changed the service's focus. In comments at a recent forum, Gilday said that everything the Navy is trying to do to reinvent its force structure around a more distributed concept of operations — fighting more spread out instead of aggregated around an aircraft carrier — would have to be worked around the Columbia class, which will take up a major part of the service's shipbuilding account in the years to come. “It's unavoidable,” Gilday said, referring to the cost of Columbia. “If you go back to the '80s when we were building Ohio, it was about 35 percent of the shipbuilding budget. Columbia will be about 38-40 percent of the shipbuilding budget. “The seaborne leg of the triad is absolutely critical. By the time we get the Columbia into the water, the Ohio class is going to be about 40 years old. And so we have to replace that strategic leg, and it has to come out of our budget right now. Those are the facts.” The latest assessment puts the cost of the 12 planned Columbia-class subs at $109 billion, according to the Congressional Research Service. Having nearly 40 percent of the shipbuilding budget dominated by one program will impact the force, which will force the Navy to get creative, the CNO said. “I have to account for that at the same time as I'm trying to make precise investments in other platforms,” he explained. "Some of them will look like what we are buying today, like [destroyer] DDG Flight IIIs, but there is also an unmanned aspect to this. And I do remain fairly agnostic as to what that looks like, but I know we need to change the way we are thinking.” Renewed push for 355 While the 12-ship Columbia-class project is set to eat at 40 percent of the Navy's shipbuilding budget for the foreseeable future, acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly has renewed calls to field a 355-ship fleet. The 355-ship goal, the result of a 2016 force-structure assessment, was written into national policy and was a stated goal of President Donald Trump. “[Three hundred and fifty-five ships] is stated as national policy,” Modly told an audience at the USNI Defense Forum on Dec. 5. “It was also the president's goal during the election. We have a goal of 355, we don't have a plan for 355. We need to have a plan, and if it's not 355, what's it going to be and what's it going to look like?” “We ought to be lobbying for that and making a case for it and arguing in the halls of the Pentagon for a bigger share of the budget if that's what is required,” Modly added. “But we have to come to a very clear determination as to what [355 ships] means, and all the equipment we need to support that.” In a memo, he said he wants the force to produce a force-structure assessment to get the service there within a decade. Modly went on to say that the Navy's new Integrated Naval Force Structure Assessment, while will incorporate Marine Corps requirements, should be presented to him no later than Jan. 15, 2020. The Navy plans to look at less expensive platforms to reach its force-structure goals, which will likely include unmanned systems. But Congress has shown some reluctance to buy into the concept because of the sheer number of unknowns attached to fielding large and medium-sized unmanned surface vessels. The newly released National Defense Authorization Act halved the number of large unmanned surface vessels requested by the service, and skepticism from lawmakers toward the Navy's concepts appears unlikely to abate by the next budget cycle. That means the 10 large unmanned surface vessels, or LUSV, the Navy programmed over the next five years seem unlikely to materialize at that rate. The Navy envisions the LUSV as an autonomous external missile magazine to augment the larger manned surface combatants. But the drive to field less expensive systems to execute a more distributed concept of operations in large areas such as the Asia-Pacific region is being pushed at the highest levels of the government. In his comments at the Reagan National Defense Forum over the weekend, Trump's national security adviser said the military must rethink how it buys its equipment. “Spending $13 billion on one vessel, then accepting delivery with elevators that don't work and are unusable is not acceptable,” O'Brien told the audience, referring to the troubled aircraft carrier Ford. “The National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy are clear: We must be ready for an era of prolonged peacetime competition with peer and near-peer rivals like Russia and China. ... The highest-end and most expensive platform is not always the best solution.” https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2019/12/10/nuclear-deterrent-still-the-us-navys-top-priority-no-matter-the-consequences-top-officer-says/

  • Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - December 14, 2020

    December 17, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

    Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - December 14, 2020

    AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Clearfield, Utah, has been awarded a $185,700,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the A-10 Aircraft Structural Integrity Program (ASIP) Legacy VII. This contract provides for sustaining engineering services of A-10 aircraft. Work will be performed in Clearfield, Utah, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 13, 2030. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $6,480,694 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (FA8202-21-D-0001). Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Linthicum Heights, Maryland, has been awarded a $163,650,543 requirements contract for the supply chain management of the APY-1/2 surveillance radar systems used on Airborne Warning and Control Systems aircraft. The contract provides for repairs, sustaining spares and engineering services relating to the APY-1/2 systems. Work will be performed in Linthicum Heights, Maryland, and is expected to be completed Sept. 9, 2028. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2021 defense working capital funds are being used and no funds are being obligated at the time of the award. The Air Force Sustainment Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity (FA8524-21-D-0006). The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, has been awarded a $79,569,583 firm-fixed-price contract for F-15 Eagle Passive Active Warning and Survivability System low rate initial production. Work will be performed in San Antonio, Texas, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2026. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2020 production funds in the full amount are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8634-21-C-2702). Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., McLean, Virginia, has been awarded a $13,464,704 requirements contract for the repairs, sustaining spares and engineering services relating to the Aircraft Alerting Communication Electromagnetic Pulse system. Work will be performed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 9, 2028. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2021 defense working capital funds will be used with no funds being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Sustainment Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity (FA8524-21-D-0001). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Science Applications International Corp., Fairfield, New Jersey, has been awarded a maximum $90,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for facilities maintenance, repair and operations items. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a one-year bridge contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are New Jersey, Hawaii, Guam and the Kwajalein Atoll, with a Dec. 14, 2021, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2022 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE8E3-21-D-0004). NAVY Raytheon Missiles and Defense, Tewksbury, Massachusetts, was awarded a $59,414,933 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and cost modification to previously awarded contract N00024-17-C-5145 to exercise options for DDG 1000 ship class integrated logistics support, engineering services and procurement of M5 call servers. The total ship activation (TSA) contract includes mission system activation and hull mechanical and electrical activation efforts to include waterfront integration, activation and test of Zumwalt class mission systems and mission system equipment at the system and subsystem levels; development and conduct of the Zumwalt class TSA test program; personnel, program management, planning, training and other efforts required to effectively support the execution of the Zumwalt class TSA; development and review of design drawings, technical data packages, installation control drawings and change documentation in support of Zumwalt class TSA; and development and implementation of government-approved proposed changes and the implementation of Zumwalt class cybersecurity/information assurance requirements. Work will be performed in San Diego, California (42%); Portsmouth, Rhode Island (27%); Tewksbury, Massachusetts (22%); Bath, Maine (7%); Ft. Wayne, Indiana (1%); and Marlboro, Massachusetts (1%), and is expected to be completed by December 2021. Fiscal 2020 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); and fiscal 2021 other procurement (Navy), funding in the amount of 5,489,262 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was procured under the statutory authority of 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1); only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Awarded Dec. 11, 2020) BAE Systems, Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc., Greenlawn, New York, is awarded an $18,003,287 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides for the production, test and delivery of up to five Mode 5 capable AN/APX-117A(V) systems; one Mode 5 capable AN/APX-118A(V) system; 308 Mode 5 capable AN/APX-123A(V) common identification friend or foe digital transponder systems; 289 Mode 5 kits; and associated shop replaceable assemblies and repairs incident to modification in support of fixed and rotary winged aircraft for the Navy, Army and non-Department of Defense participants. Work will be performed in Greenlawn, New York (85%); and Austin, Texas (15%), and is expected to be completed in December 2026. No funds will be obligated at time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-21-D-0008). Raytheon Missiles and Defense, Tucson, Arizona, is awarded a $17,765,396 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-16-C-5433 to exercise options in support Evolved SeaSparrow missile design agent, in-service support and technical engineering support services. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona (91%); Hengelo Ov, Netherlands (2%); Raufoss, Norway (2%); Ottobrunn, Germany (1%); Richmond, Australia (1%); and various locations with less than 1% each (3%), and is expected to be completed by June 2021. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. government and other country funds (NATO consortium members, non-Foreign Military Sales (FMS) (99%); and the government of Japan (1%) under the FMS program. Fiscal 2021 other country funds in the amount of $9,772,474 (55%); 2021 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,127,125 (29%); 2020 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,354,250 (13%); 2021 research, development, testing and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $399,547 (2%); and FMS (Japan) funds in the amount of $112,000 (1%) will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. GBD JV,* Aberdeen, Maryland, is being awarded a $13,000,000 firm-fixed-price modification to increase the maximum dollar value of an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for new paving, paving repair and/or replacement of various types of paving within Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Washington area of responsibility (AOR). The work to be performed provides for new paving, paving repair and/or replacement of various types of paving such as roadways, airfields, sidewalks, curbs, gutters, etc. Other incidental types of work, including but not limited to, demolition, site preparations and site drainage are also included in the scope of work. Paving and associated work may be ordered for industrial, commercial and residential locations indicated with each task order. After award of this modification, the total cumulative contract value will be $63,000,000. Work will be performed in the NAVFAC Washington AOR, including but not limited to, Maryland (40%); Virginia (40%); and Washington, D.C. (20%). The term of the contract is not to exceed 48 months with an expected completion date of April 2021. No funds will be obligated at time of award and funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. Future task orders will be primarily funded by military construction (Navy); operation and maintenance (O&M) (Navy); O&M (Marine Corps); and Navy working capital funds. NAVFAC Washington, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N40080-17-D-0033). Forward Slope Inc., San Diego, California, is being awarded an $11,323,595 modification P00008 to previously awarded requirements-type contract N66001-18-D-0117 to provide command, control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) planning and design services in support of shore installation projects. This one-year modification increases the overall value of the existing contract to $34,867,630. The period of performance is from Jan. 11, 2021, through Jan. 10, 2022. Work will be performed at the contractor's facilities in San Diego, California (50%); and Hawaii (50%). Contract funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds will be obligated as individual task orders are issued. This contract was originally competitively procured via request for proposal N66001-17-R-0002 published on the beta.SAM.gov website. Eight offers were received and one was selected for award. The Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-18-D-0117). ARMY InSap Services Inc., Marlton, New Jersey, was awarded a $24,507,978 modification (BA0250) to contract W91QUZ-11-D-0017 for enterprise application services support to the Army's Logistics Modernization Program. Work will be performed in Marlton, New Jersey, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 14, 2020. Fiscal 2020 civil consolidated working funds in the amount of $10,394,401 were obligated at the time of the award. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity. Oakland Consulting Group, Lanham, Maryland, was awarded a $12,407,852 modification (BA0236) to contract W91QUZ-11-D-0018 for enterprise application services support to the Army's Logistics Modernization Program. Work will be performed in Lanham, Maryland, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2021. Fiscal 2020 civil consolidated working funds in the amount of $4,359,142 were obligated at the time of the award. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity. Avion Solutions Inc., Huntsville, Alabama, was awarded an $8,820,564 modification (000337) to contract W31P4Q-18-A-0047 for logistics support for the Unmanned Aircraft Systems project manager's office. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2021. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $8,820,564 were obligated at the time of the award. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2446305/source/GovDelivery/

  • Norway To Add Sikorsky MH-60R Helicopters For Critical Maritime Missions

    October 29, 2023 | International, Aerospace

    Norway To Add Sikorsky MH-60R Helicopters For Critical Maritime Missions

    Norway’s order marks the second MH-60R contract award in less than a month

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