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Kent Miller and Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — Within a few weeks, the Air Force will have the data it needs to make a decision on whether to install an interim version of the KC-46′s troubled remote vision system, the head of Air Mobility Command said in a Sept. 10 interview. In April, the Air Force and KC-46 manufacturer Boeing signed off on an agreement to replace the tanker's Remote Vision System — the series of cameras that provide imagery to the boom operator during refueling operations — with a newly designed system, called Remote Vision System 2.0. Boeing has agreed to develop and install RVS 2.0 on its own dime, but it has also proposed installing an enhanced version of the original system, eRVS, before then. But AMC commander Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost, who viewed a demonstration of the eRVS system during a Sept. 4 visit to Boeing Field in Washington state, isn't sold on the upgrade just yet. “The most important thing is, we cannot slow down getting RVS 2.0 into the airplane. So eRVS can't slow us down if we were to accept parts of that,” she told Air Force Times. “And then we want to make sure if we're going to put it on the airplane, that it actually gives us some tangible capabilities with respect to boom operator workload and capability with respect to opening up the envelope for actually doing operational air refueling, or it gives us a great enhancement getting ready for 2.0.” The Air Force and Boeing began flight testing the eRVS this summer. The demonstration shown to Van Ovost, which compared the original RVS to the enhanced version, revealed “some sharpening of the picture with respect to how the boom operator saw the airplane” in day and nighttime conditions, she said. But those improvements in image quality need to be weighed against the time it will take to retrofit the existing KC-46 planes in service with the new eRVS components. “Do we have to ground airplanes for a while to put the put the modifications in?” Van Ovost said. “What's the worth of the modifications compared to the operational envelope it's going to open up for our boom operators?” The Air Force is set to receive the full set of test data within the next few weeks. Once it has the answers to those questions, the service will be ready to decide whether to field eRVS. If the Air Force decides to incorporate the enhanced system, Boeing can start making those upgrades in the second half of 2021, said Mike Hafer, Boeing's global sales and marketing lead for KC-46. Boeing also remains on track to incorporate RVS 2.0 on KC-46s coming off the production line in late 2023 or early 2024, he said. The Air Force intends to purchase 179 KC-46s during the program of record. The first tanker was delivered to the service in January 2019. Boeing is locked into paying any costs associated with the KC-46 that exceed the $4.9 billion firm fixed-price ceiling on its 2011 contract with the U.S. Air Force. So far, Boeing will have spent more than $4.7 billion in company funds on the KC-46 program — almost equivalent to the Air Force's own investment in the program. The deal on RVS 2.0 capped a yearslong dispute over the original system, which the Air Force argued did not provide enough fidelity to boom operators in certain lighting conditions, resulting in incidents of operators accidentally scraping the boom against the receiver aircraft. Van Ovost said the main goal of the trip to Boeing Field was to better understand the progress on RVS 2.0 and whether the final design specifications agreed to in April would meet the needs of tanker operators in the field. Van Ovost described the performance of the original RVS as something the Air Force “couldn't live with” but said she “was pretty encouraged about the collaboration of the team, and how far they've gotten with the requirements of RVS 2.0.” “I'm encouraged that we are on a path to get a fully qualified tanker,” she added. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/afa-air-space/2020/09/16/air-force-needs-more-data-before-making-a-decision-on-enhanced-kc-46-vision-system/

Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — As the U.S. Air Force embarks on a new effort to field a replacement for the MQ-9 Reaper drone, multiple defense companies are stepping up with new, long-range, stealthy design concepts for the emerging MQ-Next competition. On Sept. 11, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin released renderings of their respective offerings for the Air Force's MQ-Next program. Northrop made public its swarming SG-2 concept, and Lockheed announced its flying-wing design. General Atomics put out a concept drawing of a next-generation uncrewed aerial system on Sept. 14 to correspond with the first day of the Air Force Association's Air, Space and Cyber Conference. For the past two decades, the Air Force has relied on the MQ-1 Predator and then the MQ-9 Reaper — both made by General Atomics — as its workhorse drones for surveillance and strike missions in the Middle East. But as more commercial drone makers enter the fray, it may become more economical and effective to operate a family of UAVs, with some built for high-end penetrating strike and reconnaissance missions, and others for low-end surveillance from commercial off-the-shelf manufacturers, said Will Roper, the Air Force's top acquisition official. “You might make the case that the Department [of the Air Force] needs both,” he said during a Sept. 15 roundtable with reporters. “But I wanted to give our team time to discuss with industry options that exist on both sides of that divide. We've got a lot of interesting responses, and I'm in discussions right now with the operational side of the Air Force about what they think the requirement is going to be.” The Air Force issued a request for information to industry on June 3, seeking market research on available technologies as well as conceptual designs. Boeing and Kratos each confirmed they responded to the request for information but have not released concept art for their potential offerings. General Atomics, Lockheed and Northrop have begun to shed light on their respective designs. Northrop's flying-wing design bears a close resemblance to the X-47B the company designed for the Navy, including using the same Distributed Autonomy/Responsive Control flight management system, which allows for operators to task multiple drones to fly autonomously according to parameters set by the user. However, the aircraft in the rendering is just one potential concept that Northrop could develop for the MQ-Next family of systems, said Richard Sullivan, the company's vice president of program management. “The customer didn't really give us strict requirements. We know that the [National Defense Strategy] scenario calls out environments with a pretty significant threat scenario. And so, what would we do to mitigate those?” he said. “We looked at those things, and we came up with a family of concepts ... trying to solve the problem across the landscape in terms of the ranges, the threats and the costs.” The General Atomics concept features a stealthy, long-winged, jet-powered air vehicle — a departure from the turboprop-powered MQ-9 Reaper. Dave Alexander, president of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, told Defense News that the aircraft's survivability and endurance, which is “significantly longer” than the Reaper, will be defining characteristics for the company's offering. Alexander also pointed to internal investments made by the company's aeronautics division and its Electromagnetic Systems Group on advanced propulsion systems, though he declined to say more about potential engine advancements. Keeping costs down will also be an important factor, he said. “Some platforms that get up to super high costs, even though they're unmanned — you can't afford to lose them. So they're not attrition-tolerant, and we want to hang on to that piece of it.” Lockheed Martin's operational analysis has found that an optimal-force mix of drones will require high-end aircraft and low-cost, expendable systems that can operate in swarms, according to Jacob Johnson, the company's unmanned aerial systems program manager. The company's next-generation UAS concept art features a tailless, stealthy, flying-wing design geared toward the high-end fight, although Johnson said Lockheed may put forward less exquisite systems depending on the Air Force's final requirements. “Over the last few years, with a lot of the [drone] shootdowns across the globe, one of the trends that I think is hard to ignore is what used to be considered permissive airspace. [It] is becoming increasingly contested,” he said. “Survivability is really the key to almost any mission, and I think that trend is going to continue into the future.” However, survivability alone will not be enough, Johnson said. The Air Force has made clear that any future air system must plug into the service's Advanced Battle Management System and export data across that system. Lockheed also plans to develop the drone using digital engineering to lower the total cost. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/air-force-association/2020/09/17/defense-companies-are-lining-up-to-build-a-replace

Jeudi 17 septembre, Florence Parly, ministre des Armées, et Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, ministre allemande de la Défense, ont posé la première pierre du futur escadron de transport tactique franco-allemand sur la base aérienne d'Evreux, avant de se rendre à Manching, en Bavière, pour visiter le site d'Airbus Defence and Space. A l'occasion de cette visite, les deux ministres ont exprimé le soutien de leurs nations aux principaux programmes de défense européens, tels que le développement d'un drone européen, l'Euro MALE, et le système de combat aérien du futur (SCAF). «La visite des ministres française et allemande de la défense à Manching est un signal clair de l'importance d'une industrie de défense forte et compétente pour l'Europe», a déclaré Guillaume Faury, CEO d'Airbus, «Manching est le centre de compétence et le champion national pour toutes les plates-formes militaires allemandes à voilure fixe et revêt donc une importance stratégique pour notre client local. Ici, nous façonnons également l'avenir de l'aviation militaire avec des programmes multinationaux tels que l'EuroDrone et le SCAF, et nous sommes très reconnaissants d'avoir pu présenter cela aujourd'hui aux décideurs».Ensemble de la presse du 18 septembre

MARCUS WEISGERBER Officials are mum, so here's a roundup of clues. Among the big questions surrounding the secret U.S. Air Force fighter-jet demonstrator revealed this week is: who built it? Will Roper, the head of Air Force acquisition, declined to say much about the new plane, other than it has actually flown, that some of the plane's systems have been flight-tested, and that it was designed and built using digital engineering. So let's look at some clues, starting with a likely predecessor to the Next Generation Air Dominance project that produced the new demonstrator. In January 2015, Frank Kendall, then defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, told the House Armed Services Committee about a DARPA-led project that was developing new planes and engine technology for the Air Force and Navy. “The intent is to develop prototypes for the next generation of air-dominance platforms — X-plane programs, if you will," Kendall said. Dubbed the Aerospace Innovation Initiative, the project aimed to “develop the technologies and address the risks associated with the air dominance platforms that will follow the F-35, as well as other advanced aeronautical challenges.” Roper wouldn't say whether the NGAD and AII projects are linked, but they sound quite similar. He instead said that he disclosed the plane's existence, in part, to encourage companies to invest more in digital engineering. "The obvious candidates for the NGAD prototype are Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, though General Atomics might be a possible designer—but that's a long-shot," Byron Callan, an analyst with Capital Alpha Partners, wrote in a Tuesday note to clients. "Textron's Scorpion program had recently proven that in one year's time, it could take a new clean sheet design to flight, but we doubt it's been able to elevate this skill to combat aircraft." The plane's engine, Callan wrote, was built by either GE or Raytheon Technologies' Pratt & Whitney. Here's the case for why each of the following companies could have built the new NGAD fighter. Boeing The Chicago-based aerospace giant already knows a lot about digital engineering, having partnered with Sweden's Saab to design and build their T-7A training jet in less than a year, near-lightspeed by U.S. military standards. Air Force officials have gushed about the T-7A, which beat out two other planes, the Lockheed Martin T-50 and Leonardo T-100, that were already being used by foreign air forces. The Boeing plane has a mission computer that can run third-party software and apps, allowing for easy updates. It is also designed for quick assembly: it takes just 15 minutes to assemble the forward and aft fuselages, compared with some 24 hours to assemble a F/A-18 Super Hornet fuselage, according to Leanne Caret, the CEO of Boeing Defense. Northrop Grumman It often gets overlooked that Northrop owns Scaled Composites — the Burt Rutan-founded, XPrize-winning design shop behind SpaceShipOne, the first aircraft to carry private citizens into space. Like Boeing, Northrop's Scaled built a plane from scratch for the Air Force's pilot training jet contest, but in the end didn't submit a bid. Northrop has seen an uptick in classified Pentagon work in recent years. It's been presumed that a sizable portion of that cash has gone to build B-21 stealth bombers, whose existence has been disclosed but are being built in secret. It's conceivable that some of the classified cash flowing into the company's Aeronautical Systems business is for the NGAD test aircraft. Northrop is also building the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, the new intercontinental ballistic missiles that will replace the Cold War Minuteman III, using the same digital design technology often touted by Roper. Lockheed Martin The company's Advanced Development Programs division — far better known as the Skunk Works — has long developed super-advanced, super-secret planes for the U.S. military, including the famed U-2 and SR-71 spy planes and the F-117 ground-attack jet. They also built the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. “ADP seems pretty busy across a number of fronts, but also...looking at the Digital Century Series and also looking at where the services are going to go in terms of sixth-gen and next-gen aircraft,” said Michele Evans, who leads Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and its Skunk Works operation, last week. Evans also touted Stardrive, a Lockheed effort to incorporate more commercial technology and practices into its manufacturing. “Think of model-based systems engineering, think about factory of the future, software development in terms of containerization technologies like Kubernetes, and agile [software] and then even into sustainment in terms of how we use data analytics and AI,” she said. “I think the technologies are just going to provide tremendous opportunities to speed up the development in the delivery of platforms going forward.” Someone else The most intriguing possibility is that the new jet may not be the product of one of the defense giants at all. There is evidence that the digital-design tools that Roper touted are allowing smaller upstarts to enter markets once reserved for only a few established contractors. In July, for example, an Air Force solicitation for proposals for drones to accompany manned jets drew 18 entries. “It shows there's a lot of interest from very large [companies], which you would expect, to very small,” Gen. Arnold Bunch, the head of Air Force Materiel Command, said in a Wednesday videoconference call with reporters. “I actually believe as we do the digital campaign and we look at doing digital engineering, it will actually open the door to more people to be able to participate that may not have before.” https://www.defenseone.com/business/2020/09/who-secretly-building-usafs-new-fighter/168541/

Andrew Eversden WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force will soon announce that the service can update an aircraft's software while in flight, the Air Force's chief software officer said Tuesday. Nicolas Chaillan, the service's software czar, hinted at the announcement during a wide-ranging interview on a webcast hosted by C4ISRNET, but he declined to share which aircraft could handle the upgrade before the formal announcement is made. The update is part of a larger push by the Air Force to modernize its software practices. However, Chaillan described the news as a “gamechanger” and offered insight into the challenges associated with updating software during flights. “We need to decouple the flight controls, the [open mission systems], all the air worthiness piece of the software from the rest of the mission [and] capability of [that] software so we can update those more frequently without disrupting or putting lives at risk when it comes to the flying piece of the jet or the system,” Chaillan said. A formal announcement could follow in coming days. The Air Force is embracing agile development and DevSecOps in several of its programs to accelerate development time and deploy tools faster. Critical to this effort has been two Air Force environments — Cloud One and Platform One. Platform One, which was recently deemed an enterprise solution by the Department of Defense, is a software development platform that hosts a broad range of DoD components, including the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. The JAIC moved to the Air Force platform as it awaits the results of an ongoing court battle between Amazon Web Services and Microsoft over the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI cloud. Chaillan said the F-35 program is also planning to move to Platform One soon. He added that he wants the platform to serve as a “software factory as a service.” In the next 12 to 18 months, Chaillan said that he sees the service continuing to add artificial intelligence and machine learning into its systems at scale. Both Cloud One and Platform One will be critical to the development of those systems. Cloud One, a multi-cloud environment with Microsoft and AWS, will also be looking to add new vendors “down the road,” Chaillan said. The Air Force's decision to go the multi-award route over the single award structure like JEDI made sense because of the advancement of cloud technology taken by the Air Force, Chaillan said. “When JEDI started, it did make sense to have a single award because cloud is very hard and very complex and it did makes sense to start there. Would I do that now? Probably not. I think technology changed,” Chaillan said. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/it-networks/2020/09/15/updating-software-in-flight-the-air-force-may-be-close/

Aaron Mehta and David B. Larter Update 9/16/20 — The original version of this story included a statement from Esper's prepared remarks calling for the Navy's shipbuilding accounts to grow to 13 percent of the service's budget. His delivered remarks did not include that specific figure. The story has been appended below to reflect Esper's delivered comments. WASHINGTON — U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Wednesday announced called for increased funding for Navy shipbuilding after a major review of its force structure — but it is unclear where that funding will come from. In a speech delivered at the think tank Rand, Esper called for a Navy of “over 350 ships,” specifically by increasing the Navy's shipbuilding funding account. “We will build this fleet in such a way that balances tomorrow's challenges with today's readiness needs, and does not create a hollow Navy in the process,” Esper said. "To achieve this outcome, we must increase funding for shipbuilding and the readiness that sustains a larger force. Doing this, and finding the money within the Navy budget and elsewhere to make it real, is something both the Navy leadership and I are committed to doing. The Pentagon sought $207 billion for the Navy in its fiscal 2021 budget request. Even a 2 percent shift under that top line would represent $4.14 billion in extra funding for shipbuilding — real money, even by Pentagon standards. The call to shift funding toward shipbuilding comes amid an accelerating naval arms race in the Pacific, with China investing in both a massive fleet and shore-based, long-range anti-ship missile capabilities to keep the U.S. Navy's powerful carrier air wing out of striking distance. China is building toward a fleet of as many as 425 ships by 2030, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, while the U.S. Navy is building to a fleet of more than 355 ships, Esper said. The decision to increase shipbuilding funds, which Esper billed as a “game changer” in his remarks, comes as a result of an internal “Future Naval Force Study,” led by Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist. That study — which essentially superseded a review from the service itself — was delivered to Esper this week. That envisioned fleet will include a number of unmanned systems that will “perform a variety of warfighting functions, from delivering lethal fires and laying mines, to conducting resupply or surveilling the enemy,” Esper added. “This will be a major shift in how we will conduct naval warfare in the years and decades to come.” In his remarks, Esper said the forthcoming study “will serve as our guidepost as we decide on, program and build out future fleet and conduct follow-on assessment in select areas.” “In short it will be a balanced force of over 350 ships, both manned and unmanned, and will be built in a relevant time frame and budget-informed manner,” he added. Part of the increased funding could come from Congress shifting around authorities. Esper called on the defense committees to allow the service to “put unused end-of-year Navy funding directly into the shipbuilding account, rather than see it expire.” Traditionally, unspent dollars at the end of the fiscal year are no longer usable by the military. But an internal shift in the Navy's budget, without a corresponding overall increase, means a shift in priorities elsewhere — likely, at least in part, through the retirement of older systems. A key question is whether the Navy will need to fully fund the budget realignment from inside its own coffers, or whether the Department of Defense will realign its own priorities to cover any of the increase, something Esper has been hesitant to commit to in the past. The Navy's shipbuilding budget has been squeezed by the arrival of the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine, the exorbitantly expensive next generation of nuclear deterrent-bearing boats. Adm. Michael Gilday, the chief of naval operations, said in a January speech at the annual Surface Navy Association symposium that the DoD budget should be realigned to cover the cost of the new Columbia class because it is eating a disproportionate share of the shipbuilding budget at a time the country is trying to grow the size of the fleet to match China. Even a single percentage realignment would make a difference, Gilday argued. To compare, he said, the Navy's budget in the 1980s — when it was building the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine — was much higher than today's budget. “One percent of the DoD budget would be $7 billion per year in the shipbuilding accounts,” the CNO explained. “If I make some comparison from today and I go back to the 1980s, there are some similarities there.” “Right now we are building the Columbia-class submarine. That is my highest priority,” he added. "By the time we sundown the Ohio class, we'll have 42 years in those hulls. We need to get Columbia out there. “Now, let's go back to when we were building Ohio in the 1980s: It was about 20 percent of the shipbuilding budget. Right now, Columbia is about 20-25 percent. In FY26-30 it's going to be about 32 percent. That's a lot of dough. In the 1980s, the Navy's percentage of the DoD budget was 38 percent. Right now, it's 34. So I think historically I have a case to make.” Jerry Hendrix, a retired Navy captain and analyst with the Telemus Group, said the recognition that the DoD is underfunding shipbuilding is a big step. “It sounds like he [Esper] has recognized that given where we are going with the Columbia class, that the Navy needs more money for shipbuilding, and that's an important recognition,” Hendrix said. “The other part of this is: Is this coming from the Navy's budget, or is it coming from the DoD budget? Because the Navy still needs the rest of its budget to do training and readiness. So that is a very important aspect of this.” https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/09/16/amid-pacific-naval-arms-race-us-defense-chief-pledges-billions-more-for-ships/

AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, Redondo Beach, California, has been awarded a $298,044,362 firm-fixed-price Evolved Strategic Satellite Communications contract. This contract provides a payload to develop hardware and software. Work will be performed in Redondo Beach, California, and is expected to be completed May 2025. This is a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $31,190,000 are being obligated at the time of award. The Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is the contracting activity (FA8808-20-C-0049). L3Harris Technologies Inc., Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded a $13,534,278, fixed-price incentive firm modification (P00008) to contract FA8823-20-C-0004 for system sustainment services Option Year 1. This modification updates and revises the maintenance of space situational awareness integrated capabilities sustainment performance work statement requirements for the current option year. Work will be performed in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Dahlgren, Virginia, and is expected to be completed Jan. 31, 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $21,165,500 are being obligated at the time of award. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $98,994,351. The Space and Missile Systems Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado Springs, Colorado, is the contracting activity. NAVY Core Tech-Hawaiian Dredging LLC, Tamuning, Guam, is awarded a $42,876,637 firm-fixed-price contract for design and construction of Munitions Storage Igloos Phase 3 at Andersen Air Force Base. The work to be performed includes construction of 20 adequately sized, configured, sited and protected munitions storage igloos required to support forward-positioned munitions at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. The facilities will include reinforced concrete foundations, rated 7-bar construction, floor slabs, columns, beams, lighting and electrical support, fire protection systems, lightning protection systems, intruder detection systems and all necessary supporting utilities for complete and usable facilities. The contract also contains four unexercised options, which if exercised, would increase cumulative contract value to $49,677,730. Work will be performed in Yigo, Guam, and is expected to be completed by June 2023. Fiscal 2020 military construction (Air Force) contract funds in the amount of $42,876,637 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the beta.SAM.gov website with seven proposals received. Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, is the contracting activity (N62742-20-C-1324). The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded a $41,437,959 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. This contract provides intermediate level repair capability at Fleet Readiness Centers. Additionally, it provides for the development of support equipment to test and troubleshoot aircraft armament equipment specifically pylons, bomb rack units, sonobuoy launchers, armament control panel and the aft pneumatic source in support of the P-8A Poseidon aircraft. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri (60%); Indianapolis, Indiana (30%); Whidbey Island, Washington (5%); and Jacksonville, Florida (5%), and is expected to be completed in September 2024. Fiscal 2018 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $34,897,349; and fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $6,540,610 will be obligated at time of award, $34,897,349 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, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (N68335-20-C-0843). Lockheed Martin Rotary Mission Systems, Orlando, Florida, is awarded a $21,405,614 cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract procures the Electro-Optics fourth generation (EO4) console and replaces the legacy Electro-Optics third generation console configuration to mitigate obsolescence, decreased availability and rising sustainment costs. The EO4 console subsystem is hosted by the electronic Consolidated Automated Support System family of automatic test systems and is used to test, diagnose and repair the H-60 Multi-spectral Targeting System and F/A-18 Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared weapon systems. This contract covers the EO4 program lifecycle with emphasis on the engineering and manufacturing development phase, which includes design and development, production and delivery of five engineering development models, spares and calibration equipment as well as support for integration, test and other program requirements. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, and is expected to be completed in September 2023. 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 two offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (N68335-20-D-0935). BAE Systems Technology Solutions and Services Inc., Rockville, Maryland, is awarded a $20,306,232 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification (P00017) to previously awarded and announced contract N00030-19-C-0007 to provide logistics engineering and integration support of the U.S. Ohio-class and UK Vanguard-class Strategic Weapon System (SWS) platforms, including support of future concepts. Work will be performed in Saint Mary's, Georgia (45.4%); Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania (30.1%); Rockville, Maryland (13.6%); Silverdale, Washington (2.9%); Portsmouth, Virginia (1%); Mount Dora, Florida (1%); New Market, Maryland (1%); Carlisle, Pennsylvania (1%); Mooresboro, North Carolina (1%); Mesa, Arizona (1%), Saint Simons Island, Georgia (1%); and St. Peters, Missouri (1%), with an expected completion date of Sept. 30, 2021. Subject to the availability of funding, fiscal 2021 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $16,641,589; and United Kingdom funds in the amount of $3,664,643 will be obligated. No funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was a sole-source acquisition pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1)(4). Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00030-19-C-0007). Shape Construction Inc.,* Poulsbo, Washington, is awarded a $13,726,809 firm-fixed-price task order (N44255-20-F-4357) under a multiple award construction contract to construct the Navigation, Seamanship and Shiphandling Trainer (NSST) Naval Station Everett, Washington. The work to be performed involves the renovation of Bldg. 2200 on Naval Station Everett into a multi-level space for the installation of the NSST. Renovation will include, but is not limited to, supports, power, data pathways, curtain supports and infrastructure, structural modifications, a new elevator, removal of existing equipment, replacement of roof, design and construction of a perimeter wall, and all utility and system interfaces for the new space. Work will be performed in Everett, Washington, and is expected to be completed by March 2022. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $13,726,809 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Four proposals were received for this task order. Naval Facilities Engineering Command Northwest, Silverdale, Washington, is the contracting activity (N44255-17-D-4006). Communications and Power Industries LLC, Beverly, Massachusetts, is awarded a $13,211,358 firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of 60 precision approach landing systems radio frequency components and assemblies in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division Webster Outlying Filed Air Traffic Control and Landing Systems Division. Work will be performed in Beverly, Massachusetts, and is expected to be completed in September 2025. No funds are being obligated at time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual delivery orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (N68335-20-D-0047). Salmons Dredging Corp.,* Charleston, South Carolina, is awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a maximum amount of $12,000,000 for crane rental and crane operator services at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina. The initial task order is being awarded at $3,753,761 for barge crane and mobile crane rental and operator services at the Nuclear Power Training Unit, Goose Creek, South Carolina. Work for this task order is expected to be completed by June 2021. All work on this contract will be performed in Goose Creek, South Carolina. The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months with an expected completion date of September 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) (O&M,N) contract funds in the amount of $4,880 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by O&M,N. This contract was competitively procured via the beta.SAM.gov website with one proposal received. Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity (N69450-20-D-0062). The Clement Group LLC,* Montgomery, Alabama, is awarded a $10,933,245 firm-fixed-price task order (N69450-20-F-0894) under a multiple award construction contract for a police station and emergency operations center (EOC) facility at Marine Corps Support Facility (MCSF), Blount Island, Florida. The work to be performed provides for the construction of a new two-story police station and EOC facility within MCSF Blount Island. The new facility will be masonry with a metal roof, special foundations and emergency power circuits and will feature sustainable technologies. The options, if exercised, provide for furniture, fixtures and audio visual equipment. The task order also contains two unexercised options, which if exercised, would increase the cumulative task order value to $12,014,234. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, Florida, and is expected to be completed by March 2022. Fiscal 2020 military construction (Marine Corps) contract funds in the amount of $10,933,245 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Four proposals were received for this task order. Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity (N69450-19-D-0918). Leidos Inc. Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $7,090,632 cost-plus-fixed-fee task order issued under a General Services Administration (GSA) One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This task order provides research support services to the chief science executive and the Research Services Directorate at the Naval Health Research Center (NHRC), San Diego, California, by conducting high-level technical and programmatic support tasks on various Navy and Marine Corps projects and contractor assistance in program execution. Work will be performed onsite at NHRC in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed by September 2024. The base period of performance under this task order will be awarded with fiscal 2020 Navy research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) funds. Fiscal 2020 Navy RDT&E funding in the amount of $752,337 will be placed on the task order at time of award and the remainder will be incrementally funded. The total aggregate value of the task order for the base period and three option periods is $7,090,632. This task order was competitively solicited to all OASIS Unrestricted Pool 4 large business award holders with one offer received. The Naval Medical Logistics Command, Fort Detrick, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N62645-20-F-0263). (Awarded Sept. 14, 2020) ARMY Chavis Inc., Maxton, North Carolina (W91247-17-D-0015, P00002); Outside the Box LLC, Richmond, Virginia (W91247-17-D-0014, P00002); CMC Building Inc., Bolton, North Carolina (W91247-17-D-0013, P00002); Lifecycle Construction Services LLC, Fredericksburg, Virginia (W91247-17-D-0017, P00002); and W4 Construction Group, Kalamazoo, Michigan (W91247-17-D-0018, P00002), were awarded $36,0000 in modifications to execute a broad range of maintenance, repair and minor construction projects at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Bids were solicited via the internet with 17 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 29, 2022. U.S. Army 419th Contracting Support Brigade, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is the contracting activity. Critical Solutions International, Charleston, South Carolina, was awarded a $35,685,503 modification (P00012) to contract W56HZV-17-D-0045 for support of the Husky 2G Vehicle-Mounted Mine Detection. Work will be performed in Charleston, South Carolina, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2022. Fiscal 2020 and 2021 Pseudo-Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $35,685,503 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity. Intercontinental Construction Contracting Inc.,* Passaic, New Jersey, was awarded a $23,566,504 firm-fixed-price contract for renovation of the Caven Point Army Reserve Center Facility. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work will be performed in Jersey City, New Jersey, with an estimated completion date of March 18, 2022. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Army Reserve) funds in the amount of $23,566,504 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville, Kentucky, is the contracting activity (W912QR-20-C-0036). Nova Group Inc., Napa, California, was awarded a $22,124,000 firm-fixed-price contract for Ellsworth Type III Hydrant Fuel System installation. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 15, 2022. Fiscal 2016 and 2020 military construction (defense-wide) funds in the amount of $22,124,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, Nebraska, is the contracting activity (W9128F-20-C-0039). Nova Group Inc., Napa, California, was awarded a $16,577,550 firm-fixed-price contract to replace and construct a new jet fuel complex at the Fresno Air National Guard Base. Bids were solicited via the internet with five received. Work will be performed in Fresno, California, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 23, 2022. Fiscal 2016 and 2018 military construction (defense-wide) funds in the amount of $16,577,550 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento, California, is the contracting activity (W91238-20-C-0022). Rice Lake Contracting Corp., Deerwood, Minnesota, was awarded a $15,286,000 firm-fixed-price contract for waste water treatment plant alterations at Fort McCoy. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, with an estimated completion date of July 13, 2022. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Army Reserve) funds in the amount of $15,286,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, Nebraska, is the contracting activity (W9128F-20-C-0043). Messer Construction Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, was awarded an $11,471,000 firm-fixed-price contract for addition and alteration of an aircraft maintenance hangar at Grissom Air Reserve Base. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Grissom, Indiana, with an estimated completion date of March 10, 2022. Fiscal 2020 military construction (Air Force Reserve) funds in the amount of $11,471,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville, Kentucky, is the contracting activity (W912QR-20-C-0039). Canvas Inc.,* Huntsville, Alabama, was awarded a $9,015,348 time-and-materials contract for programmatic service support for the Aviation Mission Systems and Architecture program office. Bids were solicited via the internet with five received. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 15, 2021. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Army); operations and maintenance (Army); research, development, test and evaluation (Army); and Foreign Military Sales (Afghanistan, Albania, Croatia, Greece, Jordan, Latvia, Morocco, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Taiwan, and United Arab Emirates) funds in the amount of $9,015,348 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-20-F-D003). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Mount Rogers Community Services,** Atkins, Virginia, has been awarded a maximum $14,834,277 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for advanced combat shirts. This is a one-year base contract with two one-year option periods. Locations of performance are Virginia, Florida, and Kentucky, with a Sept. 15, 2021, ordering period end date. Using military services are Army and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting agency is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-20-D-N120). The National Industries for the Blind,** Alexandria, Virginia, has been awarded a maximum $14,834,277 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for advanced combat shirts. This is a one-year base contract with two one-year option periods. Locations of performance are Virginia, Texas, North Carolina, and New York, with a Sept. 15, 2021, ordering period end date. Using military services are Army and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting agency is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-20-D-B090). M&M Manufacturing,*** Lajas, Puerto Rico, has been awarded a maximum $9,213,750 modification (P00015) exercising the first one-year option period of an 18-month base contract (SPE1C1-19-D-1145) with three one-year option periods for various types of blouses and coats. This is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. Location of performance is Puerto Rico, with a Sept. 19, 2021, ordering period end date. Using military services are Navy, Army and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. U.S. TRANSPORTATION COMMAND Amyx Inc., Reston, Virginia, has been awarded a $10,352,459 modification (P00044) for contract HTC711-17-F-D001 providing continued non-personal advisory and assistance service support providing functional, engineering and resource management services for entire acquisition lifecycles for information technology systems supported and in support of the U.S. Transportation Command and other associated supporting organizations. Work will be performed at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. The option period of performance is from Oct. 1, 2020, through Sept. 30, 2021. Fiscal 2021 transportation working capital (TWCF) operating funds; TWCF capital funds; and operations and maintenance funds will be obligated on Oct. 1, 2020. This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $48,590,167 from $ $38,237,708. U.S. Transportation Command, Directorate of Acquisition, Scott AFB, Illinois, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY UPDATE: The contract ceiling for the award announced on Sept. 3, 2020, to Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Reston, Virginia (HC1084-20-D-0009), for Enterprise Storage Solutions (ESS) III for Defense Information Systems Agency's Operations Center, has been updated to $640,000,000 from $79,452,482. The face value of this action is $70,250,013. The period of performance for the base period has also been revised to Oct. 1, 2020, through Sept. 30, 2025, and the option years follow consecutively through Sept. 30, 2030. *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2350212/source/GovDelivery/

A l'occasion d'une journée dédiée à la coopération franco-allemande ce jeudi 17 septembre, la ministre des Armées, Florence Parly, et son homologue allemande Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, devraient se concerter sur le lancement du projet d'« Eurodrone », le drone européen de moyenne altitude et de longue distance. Ce programme engagé depuis 2017 par Airbus, le maître d'oeuvre du projet avec Dassault Aviation et Leonardo en co-traitants, est proche d'une contractualisation avec l'Organisation conjointe de coopération en matière d'armement (OCCAR), le bureau intergouvernemental qui gère les grands programmes d'armement européens. Il s'agit d'une commande estimée à 7 milliards d'euros pour 21 systèmes de 3 avions non pilotés et de 2 stations sol, dont 7 systèmes sont destinés à l'armée allemande, 5 à l'Italie, 5 à l'Espagne et 4 à la France. Les appareils doivent être livrés entre 2027 et 2030. Les Echos du 17 septembre 2020

James Chew The recently published viewpoint “Can the Pentagon Spend More Smartly?” (AW&ST Aug. 31-Sept. 13, p. 58) highlights the consequences of increased dependence on technology to maintain an edge. In fact, the core issue of the exponential growth in cost associated with the linear growth in technology capability is highlighted in Norman Augustine's 1982 book Augustine's Laws. Specifically, two of “Augustine's laws” focus on what needs to be avoided within the Defense Department acquisition community. One of the laws states: “In the year 2054, the entire defense budget will purchase just one aircraft. This aircraft will have to be shared by the Air Force and Navy three and a half days each per week, except for leap year when it will be made available to the Marines for the extra day.” Additionally, the book highlights the Defense Department's growing dependence on electronic systems with this law: “After the year 2015, there will be no airplane crashes. There will be no takeoffs either, because electronics will occupy 100% of every airplane's weight.” Even if these laws seem outlandish, the book's underlying lessons still ring true today. For decades, the Pentagon was the driving force behind the development of microelectronics until, interestingly, the commercial sector ultimately ended up in the driver's seat. To share a little history, the Army-funded Micromodule project was the precursor of the integrated circuit and the Very-Large Scale Integration project created today's electronic design automation companies and resulted in the development of multichip wafer fabrication technology. The fact is, today's microelectronics technology would not exist, or would almost certainly be less sophisticated, if not for a few brave and visionary Defense Department project officers. The electronics industry is likely the most visible and significant example of a commercial market that not only transitioned from but significantly advanced technology developed by the U.S. military. Without the government investment, the device on which I am writing this article, and the one on which you are reading it, would perhaps not exist. There are lessons to be learned from both the public and private sectors, and best practices from each can certainly be applied cross-functionally to optimize outcomes. For example, the commercial electronics industry has enabled electronic systems companies to develop high-quality, sustainable and modernizable products on a “can't-miss-Christmas” schedule. Much of the industry's success is due in large part to an adherence to “first-pass success” and the computational software tools and processes that enable it. These tools and processes have been developed by companies that invest significant portions of their annual sales—some up to 40%—into research and development (that is “IR&D” to you in the Pentagon) and are a result of the intense competition within the unforgiving consumer electronics market. These tools and processes, which have institutionalized the product development practice of “emulate before you fabricate,” make up the foundation of on-schedule, on-cost product development. The best-case scenario is that the current Defense Department and defense industry electronic development process matches up with the commercial electronics development process, where they both seek to achieve “first-pass success.” Even if all things were equal, which they aren't, the commercial timeline would still be around 30% that of the defense timeline. Eliminating the need for prototype hardware and the associated tests and reworks is a major reduction in design time and cost. So, after so many years of funding research into electronic design and development, why have the Defense Department and defense industry turned away from the commercial processes that stemmed from that investment? Why aren't these processes being adopted? Congress appreciates that transitioning to commercial electronics best practices is the basis for the much-desired firm, fixed-price acquisition. The fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, reinforced by the fiscal 2021 Defense Appropriations Act, has an entire section on transitioning to commercial electronics best practices. Program offices and some individuals within the defense industrial base are seeking to better understand the commercial industry-proven way to design electronics that reduce design schedules by at least 70%, producing “first-pass success” electronic system designs that are immediately sustainable and agilely modernizable. The answer is out there—adopt commercial best practices to save time and money. With nontraditional companies entering the picture (what's the name of that space company?), the public sector should have plenty of motivation to implement tools and processes that are prevalent and successful in today's private sector. https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/budget-policy-operations/opinion-how-break-exponential-pentagon-cost-growth