US Air Force would buy six more F-15EXs in 2025 under draft House bill

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  January 28, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - January 24, 2019

  AIR FORCE Harris Corp., Space and Intelligence Systems, Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded a $72,261,464 cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Combat Mission Systems Support (CMSS) program. The CMSS contract will sustain the Space and Missile Systems Center portfolio of ground-based electronic warfare systems and develop the Counter Communications System Block 10.3. Work will be performed in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Palm Bay, Florida, and is expected to be completed by Feb. 29, 2024. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $11,733,417; and fiscal 2018 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $8,190,818 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air force Base, California, is the contracting activity (FA8819-19-C-0002). Spectrum Federal Solutions LLC, St. Louis, Missouri, has been awarded an $8,585,466 firm-fixed-price modification (P00003) to contract FA7014-18-C-1000 for procurement of various health care providers. The contract modification is for exercise of an option for embedded health care providers into various high-risk units and locations to provide assistance and treatment for airmen. Work will be performed in St. Louis, and is expected to be completed Jan. 31, 2020. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and five offers were received. Air Force District of Washington, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Jan. 10, 2019) ARMY Olin Corp. - Winchester Division, East Alton, Illinois, was awarded an $85,131,683 modification (P00036) to contract W52P1J-16-C-0003 for 5.56mm, 7.62mm and .50 caliber ammunition. Work will be performed in Oxford, Mississippi, with an estimated completion date of July 31, 2020. Fiscal 2017, 2018 and 2019 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $85,131,683 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity. L3 Technologies Inc., Victor, New York, was awarded a $68,964,170 modification (P00005) to contract W56JSR-17-D-0006 to test, inspect and repair components of the CSS VSAT AN/TSC-183A system. One bid was solicited via the internet with one bid received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 27, 2022. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Ibis Tek Inc.,* Butler, Pennsylvania (W15QKN-19-D-0016); and O'Gara Hess & Eisenhardt Armoring Company LLC,* Fairfield, Ohio (W15QKN-19-D-0017), will share in a $49,500,000 firm-fixed-price contract for armor hardware turret systems, platform integration kits, spare parts and hardware kits. Bids were solicited via the internet with 14 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 23, 2024. U.S. Army Contracting Command, New Jersey, is the contracting activity. AECOM Management Services Corp., Germantown, Maryland, was awarded a $9,050,209 firm-fixed-price contract for the purchase of linear demolition charge systems, spares and data items for the Assault Breacher vehicle weapon system. One bid was solicited via the internet with one bid received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 17, 2024. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-19-D-0003). Goodwill Industries of San Antonio,* San Antonio, Texas, was awarded a $7,886,436 modification (P00003) to contract W81K04-18-C-0002 for record processing services. Work will be performed in San Antonio, Texas, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 25, 2020. Fiscal 2019 and 2020 operations and maintenance, Army (subject to availability of funds) funds in the amount of $7,886,436 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Health Contracting Activity, San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity. NAVY Thales Defense and Security Inc., Clarksburg, Maryland, is awarded a $30,931,029 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the continued procurement, manufacturing, testing and delivery of High Frequency Distribution Amplifier Group system components and engineering services. This contract has a five-year ordering period up to the contract award amount. Work will be performed in Clarksburg, Maryland (55 percent); and West Sussex, United Kingdom (45 percent). Work is expected to be completed by January 2024. Contract actions will be issued and funds obligated as individual delivery orders. Fiscal 2018 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds will be placed on contract with an initial delivery order issued shortly after award of the base contract. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured because it is a sole-source acquisition pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) - only one responsible source (Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 6.302-1). The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N00039-19-D-0001). Harper Construction Co., Inc., San Diego, California, is awarded $17,281,265 for firm-fixed-price task order N6247319F4183 under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract (N62473-18-D-5853) for design and construction of a Marine Corps Reserve Training Center and a vehicle maintenance facility at Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, California. The task order also contains two planned modifications, which if exercised, would increase cumulative task order value to $17,429,251. Work will be performed in Seal Beach, California, and is expected to be completed by February 2021. Fiscal 2019 military construction (Navy Reserve) contract funds in the amount of $17,281,265 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Three proposals were received for this task order. Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity. Austal USA LLC, Mobile, Alabama, is awarded a $16,322,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee order against previously awarded contract N00024-11-C-2301 to provide engineering, management, and production services in support of prefabrication efforts, material procurement, and execution of work items for littoral combat ship USS Cincinnati (LCS-20) extended industrial post-delivery availability (EIPDA). The EIPDA is accomplished within a period of approximately 12 weeks between the time of ship custody transfer to the Navy and the shipbuilding and conversion, (Navy) obligation work limiting date. Efforts will include program management, advance planning, engineering, design, prefabrication, and material kitting. Work will be performed in Mobile, Alabama, and is expected to be complete by August 2019. Fiscal 2014 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $5,011,000; fiscal 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $2,550,000; and fiscal 2018 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $600,000 will be obligated at time of award, and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion, and Repair Gulf Coast, Pascagoula, Mississippi, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1739856/source/GovDelivery/

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  February 6, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, C4ISR

  The Navy's Surprise Unmanned Fighter Is a Glimpse of War's Near Future

  In a surprise announcement, the U.S. Navy revealed on Tuesday that it had successfully flown tests involving unmanned versions of the EA-18G Growler electronic attack fighter. The tests involved a single manned EA-18G controlling two unmanned versions of the same aircraft, opening up the possibility that the U.S. Navy could fly armed unmanned aircraft sooner than originally thought. The test, conducted by the U.S. Navy and Boeing, was undertaken by the U.S. Navy's flight test wing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. According to a C4ISRNET, a single EA-18G Growler controlled two unmanned Growlers in the air. The test is notable for several reasons. One, the Navy was not known to be working on unmanned systems other than the MQ-25 Stingray, a future drone tanker set to join the fleet in the mid-2020s. Second, the ability to convert a manned fighter such as the EA-18G Growler into an unmanned aircraft was also previously unknown. The EA-18G Growler is an electronic attack airplane. The EA-18 is based on the F/A-18F Super Hornet, has a crew of two, and is designed to escort Super Hornets on high risk air strikes. The Growler carries both a jamming pod designed to interfere with enemy radars and communications, preventing enemy air defenses from acquiring inbound aircraft and coordinating their attacks. The Growler also carries HARM anti-radar missiles, which detect the probing beams of enemy air defense radars and follow them to their source, destroying them. Without radars to guide them, many types of air defense missiles become unusable in combat. The Growler's electronic warfare mission is particularly high risk, placing the jet and its crew between the strike fighters it escorts and enemy missiles. That makes it a good candidate for the unmanned mission, where the loss of an aircraft won't result in the loss of a crew. The Growler and the Navy's main strike fighter, the Super Hornet, share 90 percent of their parts and systems. This makes it simpler to maintain both aircraft and allows the Growler to keep up with Super Hornets on missions. It also likely means that the Super Hornet can be unmanned, and possibly controlled by other Super Hornets. This test also reinforces the Navy's seriousness about unmanned aviation. The service caught considerable flak in the 2010s after testing the X-47B unmanned aerial vehicle—and then promptly shelved it. The service greenlighted the new MQ-25 Stingray carrier-based drone, but made it a tanker instead of a fighter or strike aircraft. Now we know that there's been an interest in unmanned aviation all along. But instead of building new unmanned aircraft, the Navy decided to leverage its fleet of hundreds of manned aircraft, devoting resources into converting them into unmanned platforms. Now it seems unmanned aircraft will almost certainly be an important weapon in the Navy's arsenal for future missions. Although drones can be controlled by crews on the ground on the other side of the planet, enemy electronic attack forces will be doing their best to interfere with U.S. forces, attempting to jam communications between a drone and its controllers. A manned aircraft could control multiple drones, providing instructions through unjammable short range communications. For now, it's still important to have a human around. https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a30771030/growler-unmanned-navy/

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  August 30, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  SPACECOM is a go: Newest combatant command signed into existence

  By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has a new combatant command. With a twirl of the pen, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper signed into creation U.S. Space Command, the 11th war-fighting command for the Defense Department. “This is a landmark day, one that recognizes the centrality of space to America's national security and defense," President Donald Trump said during the event, held in the Rose Garden of the White House. “It's all about space,” Trump said, adding that for anyone looking to challenge the U.S. in orbit, “it's going to be a whole different ballgame.” Air Force Gen. Jay Raymond is the new head of SPACECOM; Army Lt. Gen. James Dickinson has been nominated to become the deputy commander. Upon Trump's signature, 287 individuals, pulled largely from U.S. Strategic Command, became the first members of the new command. Earlier in the day, Raymond and Stephen Kitay, deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy, told reporters the creation of SPACECOM marked a new era in how the Defense Department approaches space. “We are at a strategic inflection point. There is nothing that we do [as a joint force] that isn't enabled by space. Zero,” Raymond said. “Our goal is to actually deter a conflict from extending into space. The best way I know how to do that is to be prepared to fight and win” should deterrence fail. SPACECOM's mission falls into four broad categories: To deter potential adversaries in space. To defend American assets in orbit. To deliver war-fighting capabilities (such as GPS) to other combatant commands. To develop joint war fighters to be able to operate in the space domain. The command will include a traditional headquarters staff, service components from all four armed services and two operational components: Combined Forces Space Component Command — focused on integrating space capabilities around the globe and throughout joint coalition partners — and Joint Task Force for Space Defense — focused on protecting and defending the war-fighting domain. “Space will not be an Achilles' heel. We will protect and defend and provide it for our way of life and our way of war,” Kitay added. Technically, this is a relaunch of SPACECOM, which existed in another form from 1985 through 2002. However, Raymond said, the two organizations are very different, with a “sharper” focus on the dangers from other nations in space a key part of the new incarnation. Those threats include kinetic and non-kinetic activities from competitors such as China and Russia — and any future competitors who might gain space capabilities in the future. As if to underscore the changing space environment, news broke Thursday that Iran's most recent attempt at a space launch appears to have failed on the ground. The effort was the third failed launch attempt this year, but the effort shows Iran is willing to invest significant national capital into putting assets into orbit. SPACECOM will continue to grow, including a final selection on the location of its headquarters. But questions remain about integration plans with an eventual Space Force, should Congress back its creation as a new military branch. The budget for SPACECOM in fiscal 2020 was $83.8 million, of which $75.6 million was shifted from previous organizations. Raymond warned that a continuing resolution this year would have a “significant impact” on the standing up of the new command. “We need to have stable budgets as we build this command. Continuing resolutions are never good, and it would be bad in this case as well,” he said. https://www.defensenews.com/space/2019/08/29/spacecom-is-a-go-newest-combatant-command-signed-into-existence/