US Air Force components partner on low code, no code pilot programs

On the same subject

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  August 14, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - August 13, 2019

  AIR FORCE DTH Corp., Newport News, Virginia (FA4830-19-D-A002); S&W Sales and Service LLC, Fort Valley, Georgia (FA4830-19-D-A003); Artesian Contracting Company Inc., Albany, Georgia (FA4830-19-D-A004); Pyramid Contracting LLC, Irmo, South Carolina (FA4830-19-D-A005); A.C. Blount Concrete Service Inc., Moultrie, Georgia (FA4830-19-D-A006); Veterans South Contracting LLC, Tuskegee, Alabama (FA4830-19-D-A007); Nisou LGC JV LLC, Detroit, Michigan (FA4830-19-D-A008); Precision 2000 Inc., Atlanta, Georgia (FA4830-19-D-A009); and Standard Contractors, Valdosta, Georgia (FA4830-19-D-A010), have been awarded a not-to-exceed $225,000,000 multiple award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for multi-discipline construction task orders. Work will be performed at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia; and Avon Park Range, Sebring, Florida, and is expected to be completed by Aug. 12, 2024. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and 40 offers were received. Operations and maintenance funds will be applied to individual task orders as needed. The 23d Contracting Squadron, Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Florida, has been awarded a $99,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) foreign military sales production support. This contract will provide for lifecycle support for all efforts related to JASSM and any JASSM variants in the areas of system upgrades, integration, production, sustainment, management and logistical support. Work will be performed at Orlando, Florida, and is expected to be completed by August 2024. This contract involves foreign military sales to Finland, Poland and Australia. This award is the result of sole-source acquisition. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity (FA8682-19-D-0003). G2i LLC, Albuquerque, New Mexico (FA9401-19-D-A009); ORCOM, a division of Ortega Companies Inc., Los Lunas, New Mexico (FA9401-19-D-A015); Jack Wayte Construction, Alamogordo, New Mexico (FA9401-19-D-A013); LC Structural, Las Cruces, New Mexico (FA9401-19-D-A012); QA Engineering, Albuquerque, New Mexico (FA9401-19-D-A010); Weil Construction, Albuquerque, New Mexico (FA9401-19-D-A011); and Sky Blue Builders, Albuquerque, New Mexico (FA9401-19-D-A014), have been awarded a $95,000,000 multiple award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price contract. This contract will design portions for a broad range of maintenance, repair, design, minor and/or new construction. The work includes facility upgrades, utility work, airfield pavements, roads, roofs and other assorted repair and maintenance projects. The tasks include trades such as carpentry, asbestos abatement/removal, demolition, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, concrete, masonry, welding and paving. Work will be performed at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, and is expected to be complete by Aug. 12, 2024. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and 16 offers received. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $1,695,204 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Installation Contracting Center, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, is the contracting activity. Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, has been awarded a $46,533,950 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to support the U.S. National Data Center (U.S. NDC) Operations Support and Studies (OSS) mission. This contract provides support to the U.S. NDC in the areas of maintenance, sustainment, configuration management, database and system administration, development, testing and integration of geophysical data processing software, hardware, and geophysical data from both traditional and non-traditional sources into the U.S. NDC system that includes the operational subsystem, alternate subsystem, training subsystem, sustainment/development subsystem, and special purpose/special access subsystems. The U.S. NDC OSS II effort will include conducting studies focused on improving and developing the U.S. NDC tools and methodologies for data collection, data analysis, event detection, event association, event location, event magnitude/yield estimation, event classification, seismic signatures repository, and advanced geophysical data processing needed to meet treaty-monitoring and national needs. Work will be performed at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, and is expected to be completed by Oct. 31, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and one offer was received. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds will be used and no funds are being obligated at the time of award. The Acquisition Management and Integration Center, Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity (FA7022-19-D-A002). Spartan Air Academy Iraq LLC, Irving, Texas, has been awarded a $31,477,060 task order, against indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract FA3002-18-D-0009 for continued Air Academy training in support of the Iraqi Air Force. Work will be performed at Balad Air Base, Iraq, and is expected to be completed by July 8, 2020. This contract involves foreign military sales for the country of Iraq. This award is the result of a country-directed sole-source acquisition. Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $31,477,060 and are being obligated at the time of award. The 338th Specialized Contracting Squadron, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY G2 Global Solutions LLC,* Gainesville, Virginia, has been awarded a base year plus four option year time and materials contract (HHM402-19-F-0139) with a ceiling of $84,683,469 to provide analytical services for the Defense Intelligence Agency's (DIA) Directorate of Operations. Through this award, DIA will procure services of senior and mid-level analysts to who will provide strategic-level analytical support through focused all-source analysis to advance national and Department of Defense (DoD) strategic goals and objectives for protecting DoD personnel, operations and missions. Work will be performed in the National Capital Region with an expected completion date of Feb. 6, 2025. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $7,780,767 are being obligated at time of award. This contract has been awarded through a 100% 8(a) set-aside competition and four offers were received. The Virginia Contracting Activity, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY World Fuel Services Inc., has been awarded a minimum $20,284,125 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for fuel. This was a competitive acquisition with 148 responses received. This is a 43-month contract with a six-month option period. Location of performance is Arizona, with a March 31, 2023, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SPE607-19-D-0119). ARMY Maersk Line Ltd., Norfolk, Virginia, was awarded a $7,124,218 modification (0001 77) to contract W52P1J-14-G-0023 for logistics watercraft and logistics support services in support of Army Prepositions Stock-4. Work will be performed in Yokohama, Japan, with an estimated completion date of March 16, 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $1,000,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity. *8(a) Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/1933591/source/GovDelivery/

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  September 28, 2018 | International, Aerospace

  US Air Force awards $9B contract to Boeing-Saab for next training jet

  By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — A Boeing-Saab partnership has won a $9.2 billion contract to produce the U.S. Air Force's next-generation training jet. Boeing's award for the T-X trainer program marks the third major victory by the company in about a month, following an $805 million contract to build the Navy's first four MQ-25 unmanned tankers, and a contract worth up to $2.38 billion to manufacture the Air Force's Huey replacement helicopter. The T-X downselect was first reported by Reuters. As the winners of the competition, Boeing and Swedish aerospace firm Saab are set to capture sales of at least 351 training jets to the U.S. Air Force, with possibly more in the international market. The program promises to keep Boeing's tactical aircraft business strong after the F-15 and F/A-18 Super Hornet lines disappear in the next decade. "Today's announcement is the culmination of years of unwavering focus by the Boeing and Saab team,” said Leanne Caret, president and CEO of Boeing's defense business. “It is a direct result of our joint investment in developing a system centered on the unique requirements of the U.S. Air Force. We expect T-X to be a franchise program for much of this century.” The indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract will allow the Air Force to buy up to 475 aircraft and 120 simulators, the Air Force said in a Sept. 27 statement, although the current plan is to buy 351 T-X aircraft, 46 simulators and associated ground equipment. The Air Force stated that the T-X program originally was to cost about $19.7 billion, and that Boeing's bid shaved $10 billion off that amount. “This new aircraft will provide the advanced training capabilities we need to increase the lethality and effectiveness of future Air Force pilots,” Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said in the news release. “Through competition we will save at least $10 billion on the T-X program.” Although the contract could be worth up to $9.2 billion, that sum is by no means a sure thing for Boeing. During a briefing with reporters on Thursday afternoon, Will Roper, the service's acquisition executive, and Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, its top uniformed acquisition official, said the $9.2 billion amount would be obligated to Boeing if the service executes all of options that would allow it to buy more aircraft at a quicker pace, purchasing all 475 planes. Additionally, Boeing assumes the preponderance of the risk with the T-X program, which starts as a fixed-price incentive fee contract, but at the fifth lot will transition to a firm-fixed price structure, Roper and Bunch said. Boeing and Saab's clean-sheet trainer, designed specifically for the Air Force, beat out Leonardo DRS and a Lockheed Martin-Korea Aerospace Industries partnership. Throughout the competition, the Boeing-Saab jet was seen as the front-runner by analysts like Roman Schweizer of Cowen Washington Research Group, who pointed to Boeing's aggressive bidding strategy and ability to absorb financial losses on programs like the KC-46 tanker aircraft. The T-X program is the Air Force's last major aircraft procurement opportunity up for grabs for some time, as the service's contracts for its next-generation fighter, tanker and bomber have already been awarded, as have the last remaining new-start helicopter contracts. As such, the decision could potentially trigger a protest with the Government Accountability Office. But Roper and Bunch pointed to the repeated interaction with industry through the competition, which could shield it from a protest, and lessons learned from previous programs on how to structure a competition. Roper also defended the service's selection of Boeing's design, which was the only proposed aircraft that was not a modified version of an existing plane. “We have a very deliberate process to evaluate risk, cost, and technical factors in the program and so its rigorous because we do have to evaluate things that have variances in them. The team looked at that, rolled up cost benefit, technical factors sand risk, to give best value to the government and overall our assessment was Boeing had a proposal that was best value,” Roper said. Under the initial $813 million award, Boeing will be responsible for delivering five T-X aircraft and seven simulators, with the first simulators arriving at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, in 2023. According to the T-X request for proposals issued in December 2016, the Air Force will then execute contract options for two batches of low-rate production and eight rounds of full-rate production. The contract also includes ground training systems, mission planning and processing systems, support equipment, and spares. Initial operating capability is planned by the end of fiscal 2024 when the first squadron and its associated simulators are all available for training. Full operational capability is projected for 2034. Beyond the 351-aircraft program of record, analysts have speculated there could be significant international interest in T-X from countries that plan to fly the F-35 fighter jet or from the U.S. Air Force as it considers buying new aggressor aircraft for air-to-air combat training, making the opportunity potentially even more lucrative. Although each of the three competing teams offered very different trainers to the Air Force, they were united by their cooperation with international aircraft manufacturers. Boeing partnered with Saab, which is building the aircraft's aft fuselage and other systems. The team produced two single-engine, twin-tailed prototypes, which were unveiled at Boeing's St. Louis, Missouri, facility to much fanfare in 2016. Saab promised that, should the partnership emerge victorious, it would build a new plant in the United States for its T-X work, although a location has not been announced. Leonardo DRS and Lockheed Martin offered modified versions of existent designs, hoping that a mature aircraft would be more palatable as the U.S. Air Force continues to foresee budgetary challenges in its future. DRS' T-100 is based on the Leonardo M-346 trainer, which is being sold to two F-35 users — Italy and Israel — as well as Singapore. Leonardo initially looked to partner with a big-name U.S. defense prime, first joining with General Dynamics and then, when that teaming agreement fell apart, Raytheon. Ultimately, Leonardo and Raytheon couldn't agree on pricing for the T-100, leading that partnership to also break up in January 2017. After Leonardo DRS was tapped to prime the program, the company announced its intention to do structural subassembly, final assembly and check out of the aircraft stateside at Moton Field in Tuskegee, Alabama, where it would build a new $200 million facility. Lockheed Martin meanwhile joined with Korea Aerospace Industries — a longtime collaborator who manufactured South Korea's version of the F-16 — for a modified version of KAI's T-50. Lockheed said that its T-50A would be built in Greenville, South Carolina, where it also plans to fabricate the F-16 in the future. https://www.defensenews.com/breaking-news/2018/09/27/reuters-air-force-awards-9b-contract-to-boeing-for-next-training-jet/

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  September 19, 2024 | International, Aerospace

  Air Force to deploy Ospreys in weeks as post-crash groundings lift

  The military grounded Ospreys after a fatal crash in November 2023, and Air Force Special Operations Command is gradually returning them to the air.