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As it looks to get new technologies developed and into the field as quickly as possible, the Department of Defense has been making greater use of Other Transaction Authority (OTA), a quick-strike contracting mechanism that has gone in and out of fashion since the 1950s, but is now seeing a resurgence. The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), for example, recently awarded a $49 million OTA to Enterprise Services, teaming with four other companies, for DISA's National Background Investigation Services (NBIS), a shared service intended to combine a number of separate systems to speed up process investigations. The Navy also took the OTA route in awarding Advanced Technology International a $100 million deal to manage work on the Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Command's Information Warfare Research Project. The Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental (DIUx), created in 2015 to foster innovation in partnership with industry, has made extensive use of OTAs, telling Congress earlier this year it had awarded 61 other transaction agreements worth $145 million, with the agreements reached within an average of 78 days. What both projects have in common are that they involve prototyping new technologies and involve companies that don't usually work as DoD contractors. They also aim for rapid development and deployment. The Navy contract “will accelerate acquisition and bring non-traditional sources, research and development labs, and industry together to provide new, innovative information warfare solutions,” said Rear Adm. C.D. Becker, commander of SPAWAR Systems Command. Full article: https://www.meritalk.com/articles/are-otas-the-thing-of-the-future/

By: Valerie Insinna POZNAN, Poland — The Air Force's ambitious new ISR strategy calls for a sensing grid that fuses together data from legacy platforms like the RQ-4 Global Hawk, emerging technologies like swarming drones, other services' platforms and publicly available information. And deciphering all of that data will be artificial intelligence. Such a system may sound like something out of a sci-fi book, but the service believes it could be in service by 2028. In a July 31 interview, Lt. Gen. VeraLinn “Dash” Jamieson, the Air Force's deputy chief of staff for ISR, explained the Air Force's new “Next Generation ISR Dominance Flight Plan,” which lays out the service's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance goals for the next 10 years. In the past, “when we fielded a sensor, we fielded a sensor to answer a question,” Jamieson said. What the ISR flight plan tries to accomplish is far more extensive: “How do I get the data so I can fuse it, look at it and then ask the right questions from the data to reveal what trends are out there?" “We have to do all of that at the speed of relevance — meaning at warfighting speed — so that our decision cycle has shrunk,” she added. “We get our effects in and out, and we create chaos and confusion in the adversary. Once he gets behind, it is extremely difficult to actually catch up.” Full article: https://www.c4isrnet.com/air/2018/08/01/air-forces-future-isr-architecture-could-feature-drone-swarms-and-hypersonics-all-with-ai-underpinning-it-all/

Gareth Jennings, London Boeing is to begin development of a Block 3-standard Boeing CH/MH-47 Chinook transport and assault helicopter toward the end of the 2020s, ahead of fielding by the US Army in the late 2030s/early 2040s. The timeline was disclosed by the army's MH-47G programme manager, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Klarenbach, in a briefing presented earlier in 2018 and seen by Jane'son 1 August. According to the briefing, Block 3 technology development for both the CH-47F and MH-47G will run from about 2027 to 2040, with production immediately following. With Boeing currently engaged in the early stages of the Block 2 upgrade for the US Army's Chinook fleet (the first of three prototypes is now in final assembly, ahead of the first low-rate initial production delivery in fiscal year 2023), in May 2017 the company first touted the notion of a Block 3 upgrade to take the Chinook out to the 2060s. No details as to what a Block 3 upgrade might include were released, but Boeing at that time noted it could feature the new Future Affordable Turbine Engine (FATE), which is being provisioned for inclusion in Block 2, as well as active parallel actuator systems and torque management systems. It could also see the Chinook become optionally-piloted. “[Optionally piloted] is not a huge technology challenge with the flights controls the Chinook has – it is more a tactics, techniques, and procedures [TTP] challenge,” said Randy Rotte, Boeing's director of cargo helicopter sales and marketing. “Unlike the [US Marine Corps'] K-MAX, which carried its cargo sling-loaded, someone would need to get inside [of the unmanned Chinook] to load and unload it.” While the US Army has yet to comment on what a Block 3 Chinook might entail, Col Klarenbach's briefing slides showed two possible configurations. Full article: https://www.janes.com/article/82113/us-army-discloses-timelines-for-block-3-chinook

By: Daniel Cebul WASHINGTON — Leonardo DRS has received an additional $13 million to continue engineering and testing a vehicle-mounted system that the U.S. Army hopes will protect soldiers from small drones, according to a July 31 Defense Department statement. Leonardo was awarded an initial $16 million contract by the Army in July 2017 to develop a counter-UAV capability dubbed the Mobile Low, Slow Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Integrated Defense System, or MLIDS, with hopes of deploying “numerous production systems in early summer 2018." At the annual Association of the U.S. Army conference in October, the company announced it had received a $42 million production contract for an undisclosed number of MLIDS to fit the Army's requirement to defeat small, inexpensive unmanned systems such as quadcopters and fixed-wing aircraft that operate as airborne improvised explosive devices. “Drones are becoming an increasingly dangerous threat against our forward-deployed soldiers, and we are proud to support this urgent requirement to protect them from potentially lethal small unmanned aerial vehicles,” Aaron Hankins, vice president and general manager for DRS Land Systems, said in October 2017. “We are working hard to deliver the best capability to our soldiers as quickly as possible." Full article: https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2018/08/01/us-army-increases-investment-on-counter-drone-matv-program/

By: Pierre Tran PARIS — France is seeking to reduce its reliance on U.S. approval for French arms exports as Washington withholds clearance for an American component on the French Scalp cruise missile, which blocks the sale of additional Rafale fighter jets to Egypt. “It is true that we depend on this (U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations) mechanism: We are at the mercy of the Americans when our equipment is concerned,” French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly told the Committee for National Defense and Armed Forces of the lower-house National Assembly, according to recently released transcripts from July 4. France lacks the means to be totally independent of the U.S., she said, adding that French authorities are looking for ways to boost its autonomy. Parly was answering a question from parliamentarian Jean-Jacques Ferrara on the blocked sale of a further batch of Rafale aircraft to Egypt. “Are we looking to improve the situation?” Parly said. “The answer is yes. In the case raised by Mr. Ferrara, we cannot get the U.S. to lift its opposition to the sale of Scalp missiles." “What is the solution? That the manufacturer of these missiles, namely MBDA, make the investment in research and technology to be able to make a similar component, which would avoid ITAR," she added." “We are able to do it for this contract because the component can be built within a reasonable amount of time even if the client, naturally, sees it as too long.” MBDA declined to comment for this story. Full article: https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/08/01/a-jet-sale-to-egypt-is-being-blocked-by-a-us-regulation-and-france-is-over-it/

By: Jeff Martin WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force is looking to replace three aircraft — the E-4B command post, the C-32A executive airlifter and the Navy's E-6B command post — under the purview of a single program known as NEAT. Air Force Materiel Command posted the request for information Tuesday for NEAT — otherwise known as National Airborne Operations Center (NAOC), Executive Airlift, Airborne Command Post (ABNCP), Take Charge and Move Out (TACAMO). The RFI comes after an April Senate hearing where Gen. Robin Rand, the commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, said it was time to get “very serious” about replacing the E-4B and E-6B. While the RFI provides little information into what is specifically sought, it does ask for companies' experience in commercial derivative military aircraft and joint work with other businesses. It also asks companies to propose a “recommended technical solution” for the NEAT program. Full article: https://www.defensenews.com/newsletters/daily-news-roundup/2018/08/01/us-air-force-may-replace-3-types-of-aircraft-with-a-single-platform/

By: Sam LaGrone and Megan Eckstein THE PENTAGON — The two U.S. amphibious warships that were planned to be central to the Rim of the Pacific 2018 exercises were unable to fully participate in the event due to mechanical failures that highlight continued readiness problems with the Navy's amphibious fleet. The amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) was set to lead the amphibious portion of the Rim of the Pacific 2018 exercise, but it spent the second half of the exercise tied to a pier in Pearl Harbor. USS Boxer (LHD-4) was set to be a key platform in Southern California RIMPAC SOCAL but was sidelined before the exercise. In December, half of the Navy's 31 amphibious ships were in maintenance as a result of short-term spending bills and irregular funding, Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis, deputy chief of naval operations for operations, plans and strategy (OPNAV N3/N5), said at a House Armed Services readiness subcommittee hearing. Bonhomme Richard was set to be the command ship for the exercise's maritime component commander, Chilean Navy Commodore Pablo Niemann Figari. However, partway through the exercise the ship suffered a propulsion casualty and came back to port, USNI News understands. Niemann, his staff and the ship's company still participated in the exercise from the pier, USNI News understands. “USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) is currently in port Pearl Harbor and is participating in RIMPAC 2018,” reads a U.S. 3rd Fleet statement to USNI News this week. Officials would not elaborate on why the ship was not underway. Full article: https://news.usni.org/2018/08/01/failure-two-ships-participate-rimpac-highlight-amphibious-readiness-gap

By: Carl Prine The Navy has pulled the trigger on the lucrative engineering services contract for afloat and ashore operations worldwide. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific awarded Science Applications International Corp. a $116 million prime contract to continue providing a wide range of management and technical support to the Navy's Tactical Networks In-Service Engineering Activity — what sailors call “TACNET ISEA" for short. The bulk of the work is expected to be performed in San Diego and Norfolk, with some additional help on Navy vessels and shore sites around the globe. The contract calls for a three-year base period of performance but includes a two-year option that, if exercised, will hike the value of the deal to about $196 million. In 2015, SAIC landed a similar three-year $80 million deal with SPAWAR. “We are proud to continue our support to SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific TACNET and are dedicated to ensuring the highest degree of fleet readiness. For more than 20 years, we have assisted the Navy with sustainment services for critical TACNET systems that serve as the backbone of U.S. naval vessels,” said Jim Scanlon, SAIC senior vice president and general manager of the Defense Systems Customer Group, in a press release. With more than $4.5 billion in annual revenues, Virginia-based SAIC is a global technical and engineering titan. Full article: https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2018/08/01/spawar-inks-lucrative-contract/  

By: Leo Shane III WASHINGTON — Senators gave final approval to the annual defense authorization bill on Wednesday, sending the $717 billion budget package to the White House to become law in the next few weeks. The move marks the 58th consecutive year Congress has approved the military spending policy measure and the earliest that lawmakers have finished the work in 41 years. Typically, lawmakers labor until late fall before reaching agreement on the legislation. It sets the military pay raise at 2.6 percent starting next January, adds 15,600 more troops to services' overall end strength, and boosts aircraft and ship purchases above what the White House had requested. It also gives lawmakers a solid legislative victory to tout before voters in the lead-up to the November mid-term elections, and some parliamentary breathing room they hope can lead to progress on appropriations bills in the next few weeks. WASHINGTON — Senators gave final approval to the annual defense authorization bill on Wednesday, sending the $717 billion budget package to the White House to become law in the next few weeks. The move marks the 58th consecutive year Congress has approved the military spending policy measure and the earliest that lawmakers have finished the work in 41 years. Typically, lawmakers labor until late fall before reaching agreement on the legislation. It sets the military pay raise at 2.6 percent starting next January, adds 15,600 more troops to services' overall end strength, and boosts aircraft and ship purchases above what the White House had requested. It also gives lawmakers a solid legislative victory to tout before voters in the lead-up to the November mid-term elections, and some parliamentary breathing room they hope can lead to progress on appropriations bills in the next few weeks. Congress is giving the officer promotion system a massive overhaul The changes will have a far-reaching impact on military culture and change the incentives for how individual officers manage their careers. By: Leo Shane III A day earlier, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced that he had reached an agreement with Senate Democrats on bringing defense appropriations legislation to the Senate floor later this month, as part of a broader effort to wrap up fiscal 2019 military spending issues before the election. Full article: https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2018/08/01/congress-finalizes-defense-budget-authorization-months-ahead-of-schedule/