US Navy, seeking energetics breakthroughs, releases new requirements

On the same subject

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  October 10, 2023 | International, Land

  Competing robotic vehicles on display after Army signals new approach

  The four companies have until August 2024 to provide the Army with their prototypes for testing

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  July 2, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Strategic Air Bases Receive First Counter-UAS Systems

  RACHEL S. COHEN Several Air Force installations with strategic assets are now armed with systems to protect against small unmanned aircraft that might loiter nearby. Steve Wert, the Air Force's digital program executive officer helping to roll out counter-UAS systems, said the service had fielded initial capabilities to an undisclosed number of US Strategic Command and Air Force Global Strike Command sites. Speaking at an Air Force Life Cycle Management Conference recently in Dayton, Ohio, Wert described the new systems as “a command-and-control capability integrated with some detection and some jamming,” but did not mention kinetic attacks. “Much more work to do,” he said. “We're finding the typical problems you will find on some bases. In order to have a radar providing detection, you actually have to build a tower. Building towers is hard because you have to do environmental assessments.” The systems provide “a composite suite of options” to sense and defeat drones attempting to enter restricted airspace around nuclear, space, electronic warfare, long-range strike, and missile defense resources, Air Force spokeswoman Laura McAndrews said. “The concept of ‘tailored and layered defense' provides the ability to execute kinetic solutions, such as traditional ballistic rounds and capture nets, coupled with other countermeasures that disrupt the operator's ability to navigate drones in our restricted airspace,” she said. The Air Force and Army are also collaborating on using 40 mm ammunition with nets that deploy and wrap around the drones to bring them down. “We've had some recent success working with the Army on kinetic defeat, successful test round firings,” Wert said. “The idea of a net round is probably a good solution, but that system's becoming accurate enough where the training rounds are directly hitting UAVs, so very good results there.” In May, Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord told reporters Defense Department officials were concerned that military personnel weren't aware of their options for addressing UAVs and the services weren't sharing their ideas. Combatant command representatives and acquisition officials meet each month to discuss the right way forward. That's generated a list of counter-UAS systems in the DOD with details on their maturity, how many are deployed, and how they are used, Lord said. The Air Force is also working toward laser and microwave weapons for that purpose. The FAA already regulates how and where small UAS are allowed to fly, though those rules are evolving in collaboration with the Pentagon, which called the issue a high priority earlier this year. “I really do think of these UAVs as something that's low-cost, it's easy to manipulate,” then-acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told the Senate Appropriations Committee in May. “We need to develop the capabilities and the rules because, quite frankly, this airspace is shared by so many different authorities, so it's as much about rules to operate in space as it is the technologies to defeat them.” Over the past few years, Defense Department officials have pointed to instances of enemy combatants dispatching small drones for strike and intelligence-gathering in the Middle East and of unmanned aerial vehicles lingering near high-end aircraft. US Strategic Command did not answer how many little aircraft have been spotted lately or if the number is growing. "So far, they've been incidental activities,” STRATCOM boss Gen. John Hyten said at a 2017 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. "But the fact that they're occurring, and then if you watch what is happening overseas in the [US Central Command theater] with the use of lethal UAVs and the use of UAVs for surveillance on the part of a terrorist adversary, I'm very concerned that those same kind of UAVs could be employed against our weapon storage facilities, especially on the nuclear weapon storage facilities." Air Combat Command chief Gen. Mike Holmes in 2017 also noted two incidents that interfered with operations on the same day and required reports to Air Force leadership. Conventional military assets need similar policies and protections as STRATCOM has put in place over the past few years, allowing workers to track and engage drones when needed, he argued. "At one base, the gate guard watched one fly over the top of the gate shack, tracked it while it flew over the flight line for a little while, and then flew back out and left," Holmes said. "The other incident was an F-22 . . . had a near collision with a small UAS, and I don't have anything that I can do about it." http://www.airforcemag.com/Features/Pages/2019/July%202019/Strategic-Air-Bases-Receive-First-Counter-UAS-Systems.aspx

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  January 11, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - January 10, 2019

  ARMY Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Linthicum Heights, Maryland, was awarded an $86,200,000 hybrid cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price contract for Starlite system support. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2023. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W56KGY-19-D-0002). Torch Technologies Inc., Huntsville, Alabama, was awarded a $9,102,000 modification (000044) to contract W31P4Q-09-A-0021 for strategic systems engineering, integration, test and analysis. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 6, 2019. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $9,102,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. U.S. TRANSPORTATION COMMAND Fourteen companies have been awarded Option Year 1 modifications under the following Category A III, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, fixed-price contracts: ABX Air Inc., Wilmington, Ohio (HTC711-18-D-C002); American Airlines, Fort Worth, Texas (HTC711-18-D-C003); Air Transportation International, Irving, Texas (HTC711-18-D-C004); Atlas Air of Purchase (HTC711-18-D-C005); Delta Air Lines Inc., Atlanta, Georgia (HTC711-18-D-C006); FedEx, Washington, D.C. (HTC711-18-D-C007); Hawaiian Airlines Inc., Honolulu, Hawaii (HTC711-18-D-C008); JetBlue Airways, Long Island City, New York (HTC711-18-D-C009); Miami Air International, Miami, Florida (HTC711-18-D-C010); National Air Cargo Inc., Orlando, Florida (HTC711-18-D-C011); Polar Air Cargo Worldwide Inc., Purchase, New York (HTC711-18-D-C012); United Parcel Service Co., Louisville, Kentucky (HTC711-18-D-C013); USA Jet Airlines, Belleville, Michigan (HTC711-18-D-C014); and Western Global Airlines, Estero, Florida (HTC711-18-D-C015). The companies are eligible to compete at the task order level for an option year estimated amount of $41,441,067. The program's cumulative value increased from $41,441,067 to $82,882,134 (estimated). This modification provides international commercial scheduled air cargo transportation services. Services encompass time-definite, door-to-door pick-up and delivery, transportation, in-transit visibility, government-approved third party payment system participation, and expedited customs processing and clearance of less than full planeloads for the movement of regular and recurring hazardous, refrigerated/cold chain (perishable), life and death, narcotics, and other regular recurring cargo shipments. Work will be performed world-wide. Option Year 1 period of performance is Feb. 1, 2019, to Jan. 31, 2020. U.S. Transportation Command, Directorate of Acquisition, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity. MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY Lockheed Martin Overseas LLC, Moorestown, New Jersey, is being awarded a $23,023,786 sole-source, fixed-price incentive and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00020) under contract HQ0276-16-C-0001, inclusive of all options. The total cumulative face value of the contract will increase from $53,809,908 to $76,833,694. Under Contract Line Item Numbers (CLIN) 0001, 0101, 0102, 0103, and 0105, the contractor will provide Poland Aegis Ashore Engineering Agent (AAEA) engineering and security support, AAEA test and site updates, risk mitigation support, and continued completion effort for the Aegis Ashore Poland site. The work will be performed in Redzikowo, Poland, with an expected completion date of December 2020. Fiscal 2018 defense-wide procurement funds in the amount of $17,637,800 are being obligated at the time of award. The Missile Defense Agency, Dahlgren, Virginia, is the contracting activity. NAVY MA Federal Inc.,* doing business as iGov, Reston, Virginia, is awarded a $22,238,503 firm-fixed-price task order from a previously awarded contract for the purchase of Small Form Factor suite production, acquisition, engineering management support, logistics, and sustainment support services. Work will be performed in Tampa, Florida (80 percent); and Herndon, Virginia (20 percent), and is expected to be completed by January 2024. Fiscal 2018 procurement (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $15,971,649; and fiscal 2019 procurement (Marine Corps) in the amount of $6,266,854 will be obligated at task order award and no funds will expire the end of the current fiscal year. This task order was competitively procured via the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement, with three offers received. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M67854-19-F-2025.) Kapili Services LLC,* Orlando, Florida, is awarded a ceiling $21,966,450 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide program manager training systems delta contract support. The ordering period is five years. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida (95 percent); and the remaining performed worldwide in various places (5 percent), and work is expected to be completed by Jan. 9, 2024. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $2,145,638 will be obligated on the first task order immediately following contract award and funds will expire the end of the current fiscal year. Fiscal 2018 research, development, test and evaluation (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $154,560 will be obligated on the first task order immediately following contract award and funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-5 and 15 U.S. Code 637. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contract activity (M67854-19-D-7815). AAI Corp. Hunt Valley, Maryland, is awarded a $10,839,582 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-only, firm-fixed-price modification to previously awarded contract N00024-14-C-6322 to exercise options for engineering and technical services for the Unmanned Influence Sweep System (UISS) unmanned surface vehicle platform. The UISS is one of the systems, which will allow the littoral combat ship to perform its mine warfare sweep mission. UISS will target acoustic, magnetic, and magnetic/acoustic combination mine types only. The UISS program will satisfy the Navy's need for a rapid, wide-area coverage mine clearance capability, required to neutralize magnetic/acoustic influence mines. UISS seeks to provide a high area coverage rate in a small, lightweight package with minimal impact on the host platform. Work will be performed in Hunt Valley, Maryland (70 percent); and Slidell, Louisiana (30 percent), and is expected to be complete by September 2019. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $10,839,582 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, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, California, has been awarded a $22,000,000 modification (P00006) to contract FA8802-19-C-0001 for federally funded research and development centers. Work will be performed in El Segundo, California, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2019. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $1,073,818,540. Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, El Segundo, California, is the contracting activity. Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a $21,000,000 modification (P00004) to the ceiling amount of the previously-awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (FA8675-15-D-0135) for advanced medium range air-to-air missile system improvement program software architecture and design risk reduction efforts to counter evolving threats. This modification provides an increase in the maximum ordering amount of the contract, from $50,000,000 to $71,000,000, to facilitate new task orders. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona. All orders under this contract will be placed on or before Sept. 30, 2019 with a period of performance not to exceed Sept. 30, 2022. No additional funds are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity. SRC Inc., North Syracuse, New York, has been awarded a $13,531,249 modification (P0007) to exercise an option on contract FA7037-17-D-0001 for the sensor beam program. Contractor will research, analyze, technically document, and perform reviews on electromagnetic systems, events and signatures required by the all services and other U.S. agencies. Work will be performed at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, and is expected to be completed by Jan. 31, 2020. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. Acquisition Management and Integration Center-Detachment 2, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1729037/source/GovDelivery/