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  • New Tool Developed to Improve Pilot Visibility

    August 17, 2020 | International, Aerospace

    New Tool Developed to Improve Pilot Visibility

    8/14/2020 By Connie Lee Special Operations Command and the Army are adopting new technology to improve visibility during flight operations in degraded conditions. Sierra Nevada Corp. was selected for the third phase of the degraded visual environment pilotage system competition following a 2015 airborne test. The company's most recent contract modification includes full-rate production, according to a company news release. Paul Bontrager, Sierra Nevada's vice president for government relations, said the system will help pilots operate in areas with limited visibility such as fog and dust. “We've always had a hard time flying in snow and flying in dirt,” he said. “In Army aviation we've been waiting for this technology to mature, and it has.” To enable pilots to maintain their situational awareness, the product has multiple features such as cameras and radars, he said. The system also has light detection and ranging. By combining sensors, a pilot is able to see a more accurate picture of the surrounding environment. Additionally, there are different versions of the system with varying amounts of sensors, he noted. Sierra Nevada can take data from multiple sensors and fuse the imagery onto a screen, he said. “A camera can do so much,” he said. “But then a lidar can actually paint the landing area and give a lot of detail about the surface.” The military has often had to fly in challenging operating environments, he noted. In the Middle East, pilots would often experience “brown out,” which occurs when visibility is impacted by dust and sand which has resulted in crashes, he said. “When we got embroiled in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it was a significant thing,” he said. “We actually had more losses in the more recent years when it wasn't direct combat operations. We have more losses annually due to flying into planet Earth unintentionally than we do from enemy fire.” The degraded visual environment pilotage system is likely to be used in Army Chinooks and Black Hawks, and any aircraft with lifting capacity, he noted. “These are aircraft that have to land and take-off ... in all environments,” he said. “This is where it's most likely to be used initially ... and hopefully all aircraft will be outfitted with this technology eventually.” https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2020/8/14/new-tool-developed-to-improve-pilot-visibility

  • USMC seeks new FINN gateway pod prototype

    August 17, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval

    USMC seeks new FINN gateway pod prototype

    by Carlo Munoz The US Marine Corps (USMC) is seeking solutions for a new prototype for the airborne pod variant of its Fused Integrated Naval Network (FINN) programme, designed to upgrade overall interoperability between US Navy (USN) and the marines' tactical data links. The FINN airborne pod prototype being sought by the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory's Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) directorate “will provide a persistent [network] gateway that receives, bridges, translates, processes, and distributes information between other FINN nodes and the end-user nodes connected to them”, according to a 10 August service solicitation. Designed for deployment aboard the General Atomics' MQ-9B Reaper unmanned aerial system (UAS), the FINN airborne pod must be capable of cross-banding Internet Protocol (IP) and non-IP based data transfers, transmitted on current and legacy data link technologies, the solicitation stated. The pod technology aboard the new FINN prototype must also have beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) transmission capability. The prototype pod must also enable real-time data translations between users across Link-16, Tactical Targeting Network Technology (TTNT), Bandwidth Efficient Common Data Link (BE-CDL), the Intelligence Broadcast System (IBN), and National Security Agency Type-1 certified TrellisWare Tactical Scalable MANET-X (TSM-X) waveforms, as well as the Next Generation Waveform (NGW) developed by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the document added. https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/usmc-seeks-new-finn-gateway-pod-prototype

  • Amid The Financial Wreckage Of A&D, Space Rises Above

    August 17, 2020 | International, Aerospace

    Amid The Financial Wreckage Of A&D, Space Rises Above

    Michael Bruno As public companies reported their latest quarterly results amid the recent financial carnage in the aerospace and defense sector, it was hard to find genuine optimism. With COVID-19 gutting the commercial aerospace manufacturing sector and maintenance, repair and overhaul segment, and expectations hardening around flat or worse defense spending, most corporate managers provided slimmed-down outlooks for the foreseeable future. But one segment stood out for its near-universal positivity: space. It may have almost taken an implosion of the airliner business and historic federal deficit spending against a pandemic to get there, but suddenly outer space looks like the best place to be in business. “Space continues to be an opportunity for companies to drive growth in a flat-to-down environment,” Jefferies analysts wrote in an Aug. 10 report. As the recent earnings season showed, numerous companies are being lifted by space business. “The primes are having such strong growth there,” Credit Suisse analyst Rob Spingarn noted in a July 31 teleconference. For instance, L3Harris Technologies sees space—both space-based and ground support—as its fastest-growing opportunity, with a combined $10 billion pipeline of long-term opportunities and several bid proposals awaiting responses that total around $1 billion in the near term. “We feel very encouraged by the space business as a whole,” said L3Harris Chairman and CEO Bill Brown. Several others below the marquee prime government contractor level are also benefiting, according to Jefferies analysts Sheila Kahyaoglu and Greg Konrad. “Kratos Defense and Security is benefiting from the need for low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites in real-time data processing, and Mercury Systems is getting pulled in, given an increased need for data processing power at the edge.” What is more, both Booz Allen Hamilton and Parsons indicate that space is even a target area for mergers and acquisitions. President Donald Trump's administration's spending and focus on space, from the new U.S. Space Force to a NASA mission to return Americans to the Moon in the coming years, certainly helps set the tone. Significantly, there is a commercial sector race to establish LEO-based communication and Earth observation services—albeit one driven by billionaires and their personal passions for a space legacy. A more subtle shift, though no less significant, is occurring down the value chain, where there is an emerging middle market for space services. Companies such as Parsons, Virgin Galactic and KBR have reengineered their companies and are making money by providing support services for the space effort—in ways that are not as sexy as SpaceX's NASA crew transport mission but just as real when it comes to making a profit. “We had nice year-on-year growth in the space business, just under double-digit growth there,” KBR CEO and President Stuart Bradie said Aug. 6. The former Halliburton business, once publicly associated with military logistics support during the George W. Bush administration, now is the world's only government-licensed provider training astronauts for commercial space missions. “Investors often overlook that KBR has transformed its portfolio since 2015 and still perceive the firm as an engineering and construction play, given its heritage as a unit of Halliburton,” Cowen analyst Gautum Khanna noted in June. But acquisitions of Wyle Labs, Honeywell Technology Solutions and Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies in 2016-18 “put KBR on the map as a noteworthy government services competitor.” Government services, especially space, now are responsible for 70% of the company's annual revenue. Interestingly, the space market is expanding so fast that KBR itself may have competition for astronaut training. In June, NASA signed a Space Act Agreement with Virgin Galactic to develop a private orbital astronaut readiness program for space tourists. “As part of this, we will offer our existing space training infrastructure at Spaceport America and customized future Astronaut Readiness Program . . . allowing these private astronauts to become familiar with the environment in and en route to space such as G forces and zero G,” Virgin Chief Space Officer George Whitesides said Aug. 3. “This initiative has been largely driven by the considerable demand among our existing customer base to participate in orbital space flights.” There have also been plenty of space company setbacks in recent months, with OneWeb's bankruptcy heading the list. But it should come as no surprise that business success in space is hard. Maybe what is surprising is that space is already proving lucrative for public investors, and the market looks set to grow. https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/space/amid-financial-wreckage-ad-space-rises-above

  • Update: US Air Force seeks information on maritime strike weapon

    August 17, 2020 | International, Naval

    Update: US Air Force seeks information on maritime strike weapon

    by Pat Host The US Air Force (USAF) is conducting market research into kinetic weapons capable of engaging and defeating maritime surface vessels, according to a 24 July request for information (RFI) posted on the federal contracting website beta.sam.gov. No further details were available with the public version of the RFI, which had a version classified secret by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) armament systems development division. USAF spokesperson Ilka Cole said on 10 August that while the specific capabilities sought are classified, the service seeks information on any kinetic weapon capable of engaging and defeating maritime surface vessels. An expert believes that this RFI is the USAF's effort to capture weapons compatible with the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) that are not the Lockheed Martin AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) nor the Raytheon-Kongsberg Defense Systems Joint Strike Missile (JSM) air-launched anti-ship weapon being developed for the F-35. Bryan Clark, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute think tank in Washington, DC, told Janes on 31 July that the LRASM will probably not be compatible with the F-35 as the stakeholders have not been able to integrate it on to the aircraft for internal carriage due to the weapon's large size. Lockheed Martin spokesman Brett Ashworth said on 12 August that the company is investing in F-35 integration efforts for LRASM and the AGM-158B Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range (JASSM-ER). He said there is operator interest in both weapons and the company is working to ensure outstanding weapon stand-off and effects. https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/update-us-air-force-seeks-information-on-maritime-strike-weapon

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

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

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

    AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a $62,000,000,000 ten-year, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ), fixed-price-incentive contract for new production of F-16 Foreign Military Sale (FMS) aircraft. The total value for the initial delivery order is $4,941,105,246 and will be awarded on the same date. The initial delivery order is for 90 aircraft, including both the pre-priced recurring core configuration costs at $2,862,797,674 and the engineering change proposal/undefinitized contract action for the non-recurring costs not-to-exceed $2,078,307,572 obligated at approximately $1,018,370,710. Work will be primarily performed in Greenville, South Carolina; and Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed Dec. 31, 2026. This contract involves 100% FMS to FMS partner nations and is the result of a sole-source acquisition. FMS funds in the amount of $3,881,168,384 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (Basic IDIQ: FA8615-20-D-6052; initial delivery order: FA8615-20-F-0001). General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $188,866,819 undefinitized contract action for Belgium MQ-9B SkyGuardian procurement. This contract provides for four MQ-9B unmanned air vehicles, two Certifiable Ground Control Stations, spares and support equipment. Work will be performed in Poway, California, and is expected to be completed March 31, 2024. This contract involves Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to Belgium and is the result of a sole-source acquisition. FMS funds in the amount of $94,341,260 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8689-20-C-2013). Consortium Management Group Inc., Washington, D.C., has been awarded a $98,567,402 other transaction agreement for resilient embedded Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System prototype development. This agreement provides for rapid prototyping activity that includes development of detailed design prototypes, production representative prototypes, non-recurring engineering, contractor travel and the development of a technical data package. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C.; and Huntsville, Alabama, and is expected to be completed March 30, 2023. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and three offers were received. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $30,000,000 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity (FA8576-20-9-0001). Kaman Precision Products, Inc., Orlando, Florida, has been awarded a $57,334,714 firm-fixed-price contract for joint programmable fuze-152s. This contract provides a cockpit-selectable bomb fuze employed in MK-80 series warheads (both guided and unguided variations). Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, and is expected to be completed by July 2024. This contract involves Foreign Military Sales for 25 countries. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2018 ammunition procurement funds and special Defense acquisition funds in the amount of $57,334,714 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (FA8213-20-C-0005). Bowhead Professional and Technical Solutions LLC,* Springfield, Virginia, has been awarded a $16,362,847, firm-fixed-price contract for flying training operations support. This contract provides air education and training command fighter training and special operations forces, as well as personnel recovery training units, aircrew training support and standardization and evaluation support. Work will be performed at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington; Eglin AFB, Florida; Holloman AFB, New Mexico; Luke AFB, Arizona; Kirtland AFB, New Mexico; and Kingsley Field Air National Guard Base, Oregon, and is expected to be completed August 2025. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $3,270,680 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Installation Contracting Center, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, is the contracting activity (FA3002-20-C-0019). Textron Aviation Defense LLC, Wichita, Kansas, has been awarded an $11,312,199, multiple-contract-type, firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00079) to contract FA8617-17-C-6211 for the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System T-6, Sustaining Engineering and Program Management, Enhanced Onboard Oxygen Generating System. Work will be performed in Wichita, Kansas, and is expected to be completed Aug. 11, 2021. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $11,312,199 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity (FA8617-17-C-6211). Cromulence LLC, Melbourne, Florida, has been awarded a $9,912,581 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for software and hardware deliverables. This contract provides for research, design, development, testing, demonstration, integration and delivery of integrated software and hardware cyber capabilities that will raise awareness of cyber risks of space systems. A "Space Security Challenge 2020: Hack-a-Sat" competition will be held to bridge the security knowledge gap between space and cyber security communities. Work will be performed in Melbourne, Florida, and is expected to be completed Aug. 14, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and two offers were received. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $1,200,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Rome, New York, is the contracting activity (FA8750-20-C-1528). AJ Commercial Services Inc., San Antonio, Texas has been awarded a ceiling $7,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for exterior and interior painting. This contract has a five-year ordering period and includes the, furnishing all plant, materials, labor, equipment and all operations in connection with the exterior and interior painting. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and is expected to be completed Aug. 13, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and 11 offers were received. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $1,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Test Center, Eglin AFB, Florida, is the contracting activity (FA2823-20-D-0007). CORRECTION: The contract announced on Aug. 7, 2020, for Space Exploration Technologies, Corp., Hawthorne, California, for $316,000,000, was announced with an incorrect contract number. The correct contract number is FA8811-20-D-0002. NAVY Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Connecticut, is awarded a $125,819,311 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the labor and material efforts required to plan the USS Hartford (SSN 768) engineered overhaul (EOH) availability. The contracting approach will include advance planning, engineering, design efforts, prefabrication and shipyard execution work, including growth work and new work, necessary to prepare for and accomplish the maintenance and modernization work as defined in the USS Hartford EOH availability work package. Work will be performed in Groton, Connecticut, and is expected to be complete by February 2022. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) (91%); 2020 other procurement (Navy) (9%); and 2019 other procurement (Navy) funding (less than 1%), in the combined amount of $113,789,457 will be obligated at time of award, of which funding in the amount of $103,424,052 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website. This procurement was awarded under authority permitting other than full and open competition under 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(3) to maintain a facility, producer, manufacturer or other supplier available for furnishing property or services in case of national emergency or to achieve industrial mobilization. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-20-C-4312). Science Applications International Corp., Reston, Virginia, is awarded a firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and cost only $84,823,556 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-16-C-6425 to Option Year Four of the MK 48 Mod 7 Heavyweight torpedo production program to supply All Up Round torpedo equipment and support. This modification combines purchases for the Navy (93 %); and the governments of Australia (6%) and Taiwan (1%), under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. Work will be performed in Bedford, Indiana (50%); Marion, Massachusetts (29%); Middletown, Rhode Island (16%); and Indianapolis, Indiana (5%), and is expected to be completed by April 2023. Fiscal 2020 weapons procurement (Navy, 82%); fiscal 2019 weapons procurement (WPN) (Navy, 7%); fiscal 2018 weapons procurement (Navy); and FMS in the amount of $84,823,556, will be obligated at time of award and funding in the amount of $3,493,621 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year (FMS/Armaments Cooperative Program (7%); and fiscal 2018 WPN (4%)). The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C. is the contracting activity (N00024-16-C-6425). J.F. Taylor Inc., Lexington Park, Maryland, is awarded a $23,155,111 firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides for the production and delivery of a maximum quantity of six first article test external quick-disconnect umbilical cable assemblies and a maximum quantity of 2,500 external quick-disconnect umbilical cable assemblies in support of advanced anti-radiation guided missile production. Additionally, this contract procures a maximum quantity of six first article test external quick-disconnect umbilical cable assemblies and a maximum quantity of 5,000 production representative external quick-disconnect umbilical cable assemblies for various military standard 1760 compliant weapons for the F/A-18 series and EA-18G aircraft. Work will be performed in Lexington Park, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in July 2025. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal and three offers were received. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-20-D-0110). Serco-IPS Corp., Herndon, Virginia, is awarded a $22,617,450 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-only modification to previously awarded contract N00174-18-C-0015 to exercise options for professional support services for the Naval Sea System Command's Deputy Commander for Surface Ship Maintenance and Modernization. Services to be provided are in the areas of program management, administrative support, surface ship modernization, inactive ships, surface ships readiness, surface training systems, business and financial management, records management and information technology. This contract will ensure that the fleet undergoes a multitude of upgrades that will provide for the continuation of system capabilities and readiness. The contract will ensure the Chief of Naval Operations surface training master plan and the Navy training system plan requirements are fulfilled for validating all surface training systems procured and managed by participating acquisition resource managers. This contract also ensures that budgeting, financial management and business processes are executed to provide support and respond to fleet life cycle requirements for in-service mine warfare, surface combatant, amphibious, auxiliary and command ship classes of ships. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C. (56%); Norfolk, Virginia (19%); San Diego, California (17%); Mayport, Florida (2%); Yokosuka, Japan (2%); Pascagoula, Mississippi (1%); Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (1%); Manama, Bahrain (1%); and Sasebo, Japan (1%), and is expected to be complete by January 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy, 43%); 2020 other procurement (Navy, 21%); 2019 other procurement (Navy, 21%); and 2018 other procurement (Navy, 15%), funding in the amount of $12,172,964 will be obligated at time of award, of which funding in the amount of $6,975,964 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C. is the contracting activity. Marotta Controls Inc.,* Montville, New Jersey, is awarded a $22,190,510 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price contract for motor operated pilot valve supplies in support of the Navy's in-service engineering agent for damage control equipment and systems, fire protection systems and equipment and damage and fire recoverability. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's Damage Control, Recoverability and Chemical Biological Defense Branch (Code 336) has multiple requirements for the design, construction and procurement to replace the existing solenoid-operated pilot valves (SOPV) with the motor operated pilot valves for use aboard Navy ships. The purpose of the contract is to replace the SOPVs due to reliability issues noted in service. Work will be performed in Montville, New Jersey, and is expected to be complete by August 2026. Fiscal 2019 other procurement (Navy) funding in the total amount of $132,670 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was a total small business set-aside, competitively procured via the contract opportunities website at beta.sam.gov with two offers received. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N64498-20-D-4027). HII Mission Driven Innovative Solutions Inc., Huntsville, Alabama, is awarded a $15,933,605 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to exercise Option Period Three under previously awarded contract M95494-17-F-0021. The work to be performed provides Headquarters Marine Corps, Plans, Policies and Operations, Marine Corps Installations Command (MCICOM) and Commander Navy Installations Command with technical and engineering support for the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and High-Yield Explosive Consequence Management program. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C. (52%); Lejeune, North Carolina (10%); San Diego, California (10%); Quantico, Virginia (10%); Okinawa Prefecture, Japan (5%); Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan (5%); Seoul, Republic of Korea (4%); and Sicily, Italy (4%). Work is expected to be completed in August 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps and Navy) funds in the amount of $3,004,247 will be obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. MCICOM Headquarters, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity. Gryphon Technologies LC, Washington, D.C., is awarded a $14,620,466 cost-plus-fixed-fee, level of effort contract for technical and engineering services to perform ship checks to collect data and develop ship installation drawings for landing helicopter dock platforms. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia (88%); and San Diego, California (12%), and is expected to be complete by April 2021. Fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $162,615 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via beta.SAM.gov website, with four offers received. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N42158-20-C-N001). Collins-Elbit Vision Systems LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $12,915,360 firm-fixed-price contract. This contract provides for the production, delivery and support of the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) Night Vision Cueing and Display (NVCD) System. This contract procures 60 JHMCS night vision devices, 60 JHMCS night display adapters and 30 JHMCS helmet mounted display test sets (HMDTS) for the Navy; 16 JHMCS HMDTS for the government of Canada; five JHMCS HMDTS for the government of Kuwait; and two JHMCS HMDTS for the government of Malaysia, as well as two Hoffman adapter kits for the Government of Australia and one Hoffman adapter kit for the government of Switzerland. Additionally, this contract provides new and modified associated support equipment, interim repairs, non-recurring engineering, testing, technical data and all other supplies and services necessary to perform installation and testing of NVCD systems that are fully compatible with the F/A-18 series and EA-18G JHMCS. Work will be performed in Merrimack, New Hampshire (79%); Wilsonville, Oregon (15%); Atlanta, Georgia (4%); and Fort Worth, Texas (2%), and is expected to be completed in July 2022. Fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $10,736,298; fiscal 2019 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,534,402; and Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $644,660 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-20-C-0013). ARMY Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. LLC, Oak Brook, Illinois, was awarded a $44,851,000 firm-fixed-price contract for dredging the Mississippi River. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Venice, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2021. Fiscal 2019 civil operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $44,851,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-20-C-0044). Choctaw Transportation Co. Inc.,* Dyersburg, Tennessee, was awarded a $30,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide stone repairs to revetments and dikes along the Mississippi River. Bids were solicited via the internet with five received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2021. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg, Mississippi, is the contracting activity (W912EE-20-D-0015). Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. LLC, Oak Brook, Illinois, was awarded a $14,602,000 firm-fixed-price contract for maintenance dredging of Wilmington Harbor Inner Ocean Bar. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Wilmington, North Carolina, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2021. Fiscal 2018, 2019 and 2020 civil operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $14,602,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wilmington, North Carolina, is the contracting activity (W912PM-20-C-0021). MorseCorp Inc.,* Cambridge, Massachusetts, was awarded a $14,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to develop a variety of technologies to support military airdrop of cargo and personnel, including both hardware and software. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 13, 2025. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Army) funds in the amount of $2,600,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W911QY-20-C-0088). Morrish-Walace Construction Inc.,* Cheboygan, Michigan, was awarded a $7,276,650 firm-fixed-price contract to replace the mechanical drive system, excluding the motor, used to operate the four filling and emptying tainter valves on the MacArthur Lock. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work will be performed in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2022. Fiscal 2020 civil construction funds in the amount of $7,276,650 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W911XK-20-C-0020). MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY ITC Defense Corp of Arlington, Virginia is being awarded a competitive cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. The total value of this contract is $28,567,455. Under this new contract, the Contractor will provide the Missile Defense Agency with system support to include Maintenance and Supply Support; Packaging, Handling, Storage, and Transportation; Forward Stationing for Theater Support; Training and Training Support; and limited Missile Support to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Weapon system. Additionally, the Contractor will also be responsible for providing supply support, maintenance, material and personnel necessary to support THAAD peculiar equipment. The work will be performed in Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Sill, Oklahoma; and locations in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) with a performance period from August 2020 – August 2025. This contract was competitively procured via publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website with eight proposals received. Fiscal Year 2020 Operations and Maintenance funds in the amount of $1.395M are being obligated on this award. The Missile Defense Agency, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (HQ0853-20-C-0002). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Lakota Solutions, LLC,* Warner Robins, Georgia, has been awarded a maximum $22,937,145 hybrid firm-fixed-price, time and material, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for material handling equipment maintenance. This was a competitive acquisition with two responses received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are inside and outside the continental United States, with an Aug. 13, 2025, ordering period end date. Using customer is Defense Logistics Agency Distribution. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2025 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Distribution, New Cumberland, Pennsylvania (SP3300-20-D-0018). Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Mission Systems, Rolling Meadows, Illinois, has been awarded a maximum $19,689,152 firm-fixed-priced delivery order (SPRPA1-20-F-KF0F) against a five-year basic ordering agreement (SPE4A1-16-G-0005) for guardian laser transmitter assemblies, countermeasure transmitters in support of the Common Avionics program. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S.C. 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a two-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Illinois, with an Aug. 14, 2022, performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2022 Navy working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2313931/source/GovDelivery/

  • New Pentagon tech chief to focus on improving project coordination

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

    New Pentagon tech chief to focus on improving project coordination

    By: Andrew Eversden   WASHINGTON — The Pentagon's new acting research chief wants to provide the department's vast research and development enterprise with a “north star road map” amid an effort to adopt emerging technologies ahead of adversaries. Speaking on a webinar hosted by Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology, newly installed acting Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Kratsios said that he will focus on providing top-level guidance to the host of organizations that make up the Defense Department's R&D efforts. Those organizations include the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and service laboratories. Kratsios said a team of principal directors are working to establish road maps for individual technologies. “To me, what's critical is that R&E can serve as a place where we can sort of adjudicate disagreements between individual organizations, make sure they're working on these that complement each other, making sure that similar research isn't being done at multiple different labs,” Kratsios said Thursday in his first public speech since taking over the office from Michael Griffin, who left the position in July. The Pentagon's R&E team has laid out several modernization priorities that include emerging technologies, including advancements in hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence, 5G network connectivity and cyberspace. As different components across the department advance the maturity of these technologies, Kratsios said, his office will ensure modernization areas are not siloed. “The way that we succeed and provide the best tools for the war fighter is understanding that these technologies are going to interact with one another,” Kratsios said. “Even when, for example, you want to launch a hypersonic missile, that requires so much other important technology that all needs to be done and working together in concert. So for me, it's really building those relationships between those individual modernization priorities and making sure they don't remain stovepiped.” Kratsios still serves as the U.S. chief technology officer at the White House, a position he's held since August 2019. He has advised President Donald Trump on technology issues since early 2017. In that experience, Kratsios said, he's learned about the importance of looking across R&D efforts throughout the federal government, pointing to the research done by the National Science Foundation or the Energy Department on artificial intelligence as examples. “What I've learned is that in order to get the most out of the federal government's technology ecosystem to drive innovation ... you need to be better coordinated across all aspects of the ecosystem,” Kratsios said. https://www.defensenews.com/battlefield-tech/it-networks/2020/08/13/new-pentagon-tech-chief-to-focus-on-improving-project-coordination/

  • Silvus Technologies develops toughened waveform for US Army

    August 17, 2020 | International, C4ISR

    Silvus Technologies develops toughened waveform for US Army

    Andrew Eversden WASHINGTON — Silvus Technologies developed a new radio waveform that will make it more difficult for adversaries to intercept and detect communications signals of the U.S. Army, the company announced Aug. 13. Silvus has worked with the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command's C5ISR Center — or the Command, Control, Communication, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Center — since last August on developing a low-probability intercept/low-probability detect (LPI/LPD) waveform. Silvus and the C5ISR Center are now exercising a six-month option period, bringing the total award to $2 million. The funding for research and development will specifically go toward work the C5ISR Center is performing on a project called “Protected Communications for Manned/Unmanned Teams.” During the option period, Silvus is integrating several new capabilities with the LPI/LPD waveform, including the ability to shift operating frequency when communications are degraded, a capability to filter out interference and a technology that allows radios to control transmission power “to enable more discreet communications.” The secure communications for the manned-unmanned teaming project is focused on “high-throughput, secure, and low observable communications capabilities for manned/unmanned teaming operations,” the Silvus news release said. The new capability “brings together a powerful suite of anti-jam and LPI/LPD functions to enable robust, secure communications for the warfighter in congested and contested environments,” said Babak Daneshrad, founder and CEO of Silvus Technologies. The new waveforms will be tested in lab evaluations starting this winter into spring 2021, according to Edric Thompson, spokesperson for the C5ISR Center. He added that field demonstrations will take place during the center's ongoing Network Modernization Experiment in 2021 and Project Convergence 2021. For fiscal 2021, it has planned soldier touchpoint events at NetModX-22 and PC22. In May, Silvus was awarded nearly $4 million to provide 1,000 of its tactical Mobile Ad Hoc radios for the Army's Integrated Visual Augmentation System program. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/c2-comms/2020/08/14/silvus-technologies-develops-toughened-waveform-for-us-army/

  • The new strategy from Navy’s cyber command

    August 17, 2020 | International, Naval

    The new strategy from Navy’s cyber command

    Mark Pomerleau The Navy's primary cyber outfit released its strategic plan for the next five years, a document that calls for using the service's networks as a warfighting platform. The document, released by 10th Fleet/Fleet Cyber Command in late July, covers the range of responsibility of the command, which is the only fleet with a global footprint in all the military domains, to include cyberspace operations, signals intelligence and recently, the Navy's component to U.S. Space Command. Much has changed since the last strategic plan was published in 2015, namely, the rampant activity of adversaries on a daily basis below the threshold of armed conflict to strategically harm the United States. “The long term competition we face today is between democracies and authoritarian regimes, freedom of navigation, and access to shared world markets. Our long-term strategic competitors are executing strategic cyber activities to alter the international order. This will not let up,” the document read. It added that adversaries learned the military's game but now the military must learn the adversary's game and play it on their terms. “Historically, to undermine a state's power required territorially-focused, overt armed attacks or physical invasion. While that is and will always remain a possibility, technology has provided our adversaries with the ability to achieve their objectives without traditional military force,” the document read. “Currently, our adversaries are engaging us in cyberspace and the costs are cumulative – each intrusion, hack or leak may not be strategically consequential on its own, but the compounding effects are tantamount to what would have been considered an act of war.” The Navy, and military by extension, must be prepared to contest this activity. “I am certain the opening rounds of a 21st century great power conflict, particularly one impacting the maritime domain, will be launched in the electromagnetic, space, or cyber domains. If the Navy is to fight and win, Navy networks must be able to survive those hits and ‘fight hurt,'” Vice Adm. Timothy White, who rarely speaks publicly, said in the forward to the strategy. “Our people must be trained and exercised to fight through those hits. This contest spans the continuum of competition and conflict. We must win this contest during the day-to-day competition of ‘peacetime operations,' where our networks are already in close contact, under constant probing and attack. If we do not, we will be at a severe disadvantage during crisis and lethal combat.” The plan, which continues to nest within the Navy's overarching vision of Distributed Maritime Operations, features a three pronged vision; acting first in full spectrum information warfare, fighting and winning in a fully contested battlespace and promoting modernization and innovation. Moreover, the plan tweaks the five goals outlined in the previous strategic plan 2015-2020. They include: Operating the network as a warfighting platform: Following several high profile network breaches, the Navy must tighten the screws on its IT. Fleet Cyber is responsible for operating, maintaining and defending the network and as part of that, service leaders recognize they must “fight hurt” when networks are strained. They are also working ton establish greater cyber situational awareness across the service and reduce the intrusion attack surface. Conducting fleet cryptologic warfare: Fleet Cyber published its cryptologic cyber warfare vision in 2019. As part of the new strategy, command officials said they will seek to expand and enhance capabilities in distributed signals intelligence as part of its contribution to Distributed Maritime Operations. Delivering warfighting capabilities and effects: Fleet Cyber wants to expand how it delivers effects on the battlefield to include accelerating and synchronizing information warfare capabilities across Maritime Operations Centers, advancing integration of cyber effects into Navy and Marine Corps concepts and creating tactical cyber teams along with a maritime fires cell to provide expertise across the fleet for delivering cyber effects. Accelerate Navy's cyber forces: Fleet Cyber needs to develop a plan to meet increased demand, both for its joint force requirements through U.S. Cyber Command and Navy specific requirements. Leaders are also looking to mature organizational structures and command and control relationships between various cyber entities that control forces across the globe such as Joint Forces Headquarters–DoDIN, Joint Force Headquarters–Cyber and Cyber Operations–Integrated Planning Elements. Moreover, with the additional importance of the space domain, Fleet Cyber will look to exploit the increasing convergence between space, cyberspace and electromagnetic spectrum. Establish and Mature Navy Space Command: The document states that Fleet Cyber's goal is to “maintain maritime superiority from the sea floor to space with a core emphasis on lethality, readiness and capacity,” and so officials must re-focus to provide the best space integration possible as the service component to Space Command. The strategy also articulates Fleet Cyber's role in enabling Distributed Maritime Operations, which is underpinned by assured command and control, battlespace awareness and integrated fires. All of those require robust networks, information and completion of the kill chain. https://www.c4isrnet.com/cyber/2020/08/13/the-new-strategy-from-navys-cyber-command/

  • ‘No lines on the battlefield’: Pentagon’s new war-fighting concept takes shape

    August 17, 2020 | International, Land, C4ISR

    ‘No lines on the battlefield’: Pentagon’s new war-fighting concept takes shape

    By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — For most of this year, Pentagon planners have been developing a new joint war-fighting concept, a document meant to guide how the Defense Department fights in the coming decades. Now, with an end-of-year deadline fast approaching, two top department officials believe the concept is coalescing around a key idea — one that requires tossing decades of traditional thinking out the window. “What I've noticed is that, as opposed to everything I've done my entire career, the biggest difference is that in the future there will be no lines on the battlefield,” Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during an Aug. 12 event hosted by the Hudson Institute. The current structure, Hyten said, is all about dividing areas of operations. “Wherever we go, if we have to fight, we established the forward edge of the battle area, we've established the fire support coordination line, the forward line of troops, and we say: ‘OK, Army can operate here. Air Force can operate here,' ” Hyten explained. “Everything is about lines” now, he added. But to function in modern contested environments, “those lines are eliminated.” What does that mean in practice? Effectively, Hyten — who will be a keynote speaker at September's Defense News Conference — laid out a vision in which every force can both defend itself and have a deep-strike capability to hold an enemy at bay, built around a unified command-and-control system. “A naval force can defend itself or strike deep. An air force can defend itself or strike deep. The Marines can defend itself or strike deep,” he said. “Everybody.” That “everybody” includes international partners, Hyten added, as the U.S. operates so often in a coalition framework that this plan only works if it can integrate others. And for the entire structure to succeed, the Pentagon needs to create the Joint All-Domain Command and Control capability currently under development. “So that's the path we've been going down for a while. And it's starting to actually mature and come to fruition now,” Hyten said. The day before Hyten's appearance, Victorino Mercado, assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans and capabilities, talked with a small group of reporters, during which he noted: “We had disparate services [with] their concepts of fighting. We never really had a manner to pull all the services together to fight as a coherent unit.” Mercado also said the war-fighting concept will directly “drive some of our investments” in the future and tie together a number of ongoing efforts within the department — including the individual combatant command reviews and the Navy's shipbuilding plan. “I can tell you there's some critical components [from those reviews] — how you command and control the forces, how you do logistics; there are some common themes in there in a joint war-fighting concept,” he said. “I can tell you if we had that concept right now, we could use that concept right now to influence the ships that we are building, the amount of ships that we need, what we want the [combatant commands] to do. “So this war-fighting concept is filling a gap. I wish we had it now. Leadership wishes we had it now,” he added. “It would inform all of the decisions that we make today because now is about positioning ourselves in the future for success.” Like Hyten, Mercado expressed confidence that the concept will be ready to go by the end of the year, a deadline set by Defense Secretary Mark Esper. But asked whether the department will make details of the concept public when it is finished, Mercado said there is a “tension” between informing the public and key stakeholders and not giving an edge to Russia and China. “I think there is an aspect that we need to share of this joint war-fighting concept,” he said. “We have to preserve the classified nature of it. And I think I have to be careful what I say here, to a degree.” https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2020/08/14/no-lines-on-the-battlefield-the-pentagons-new-warfighting-concept-takes-shape/

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