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The report found increases in spending and jobs in the defense sector has helped stabilize the local economy ANDREW DYER Defense spending across San Diego County bolstered the local economy during the pandemic this year and now accounts for a quarter of the county's gross regional product, according to a new report released Tuesday. According to the annual Military Economic Impact Report, more than $33 billion in direct payments — via payroll, defense contracts, and retirement and veterans benefits — went to people and companies in the county during the 2020 fiscal year. That spending, along with spillover that researchers call a multiplier effect, equates to a total economic impact of more than $52 billion — 25 percent of San Diego's gross regional product. The numbers show an increase of 5.7 percent in direct spending and a 7.7 percent increase in jobs that pencils out to 342,486 jobs. Numbers in this year's report differ from last year's in part because Rady School of Management at UC San Diego compiled and analyzed the data, using modeling that was more conservative than prior calculations, said Mark Balmert, CEO of the San Diego Military Advisory Council, which commissions the annual report. Almost 60,000 active duty sailors and 50,000 active duty Marines make up the largest factions of employment, the report says, with more than 30,000 local civilians also employed by the Defense Department. Indirect employment linked to defense contracts adds roughly 190,000 jobs — about 15,000 more than fiscal year 2019. The presence of the military and defense industries has softened the economic blow of the pandemic, Balmert said. “The Rady School team did a great job of independently confirming what many of us already know, that the Defense budget provides an incredible stabilizing force during economic downturns such as we are experiencing during COVID19,” Balmert, a retired rear admiral, wrote in an email. The report singled-out the impacts of three Nimitz-class aircraft carriers that call San Diego home — the USS Carl Vinson, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, and the USS Abraham Lincoln. Each ship, the report notes, brings more than 3,000 sailors, making the three together a top-10 employer in San Diego. Each carrier contributes about $767 million to the region, the report says. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/military/story/2020-10-13/defense-spending-up-in-san-diego-counteracting-pandemic-report-finds

NAVY CAPE Environmental Management Inc.,* Honolulu, Hawaii, is awarded a $90,000,000 cost-plus-award-fee modification to previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract N62742-16-D-1807 for environmental remedial action services at various sites within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Pacific area of responsibility (AOR). This modification brings the total cumulative contract value to $185,000,000. The work to be performed provides for, but is not limited to, remedial actions such as removal actions, expedited and emergency response actions, pilot and treatability studies, facility operation and maintenance and performing other related activities associated with returning sites to safe and acceptable levels. Task orders and modifications will be primarily funded by environmental restoration (Navy); base realignment and closure; and customer-reimbursable funds. Work will be performed in Hawaii (65%); California (25%); Guam (4%); Washington (1%); and other locations within the NAVFAC Pacific AOR below 1% (5%), and is expected to be completed by July 2021. No funds will be obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, is the contracting activity. Schuyler Line Navigation Co. LLC, Annapolis, Maryland, is awarded an $11,406,250 modification under previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract N32205-18-C-3508 to fund the second one-year option period. The option will continue to provide one U.S. flagged chemical and oil products tanker MT SLNC Goodwill in support of the Department of Defense Logistics Agency Energy for the transportation of clean petroleum products in the Far East region. The current contract includes a 12-month base period, three 12-month option periods and one 11-month option period. Work will be performed in the Far East region, and is expected to be completed by Oct. 14, 2021. The option will be funded by working capital funds (Navy) for fiscal 2021. The Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity. CORRECTION: A contract awarded on Sept. 9, 2020, to Core Services Group Inc.,* Virginia Beach, Virginia (N00189-20-D-0020), to provide test and evaluation support services for Commander, Operational Test and Evaluation Force Aviation Warfare Division, was announced with an incorrect value amount. The correct amount is $42,000,000, and if options are exercised, the total amount will be $47,000,000. DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY SecuriGence LLC,* Leesburg, Virginia, was awarded a $68,745,415 (excluding unexercised options) fixed-price-award-fee, firm-fixed-price, time and materials, labor hour task order for multi-network support services. This task order provides and manages the entire range of information technology (IT) services, support, engineering and infrastructure necessary to implement the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency IT operational, mission and research objectives. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia, with an expected completion date of February 2022. Fiscal 2020 research and development funds in the amount of $4,500,000 are being obligated at time of award. This task order was a competitive acquisition and three offers were received. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (GS-35F-626GA HR0011-21-F-0006). ARMY Calgon Carbon, Moon Township, Pennsylvania, was awarded an $18,920,000 firm-fixed-price contract for activated, impregnated copper-silver-zinc-molybdenum-triethylenediamine carbon in support of M49 and M98 filter production at Pine Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 13, 2025. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W52P1J-21-D-3002). General Dynamics Land Systems Inc., Sterling Heights, Michigan, was awarded a $12,076,618 modification (P00013) to contract W56HZV-19-C-0062 for Utility Bus Interface Modules. Work will be performed in Tallahassee, Florida, with an estimated completion date of July 30, 2021. Fiscal 2021 revolving funds in the amount of $12,076,618 were obligated at the time of the award. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY CORRECTION: The contract (delivery order) announced on July 7, 2020, for BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration, Greenlawn, New York (SPRPA1-20-F-C20G), for $26,305,633, was announced with an incorrect award date and incorrect delivery order number. The correct award date is Oct. 14, 2020, and the correct delivery order number is SPRPA1-21-F-C200. *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2382161/source/GovDelivery/

Joe Gould WASHINGTON ― Over recent months, the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency has awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts for the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic, but that's not necessarily benefitting the Defense Department's usual vendors. In fact, the Pentagon contracting arm is seeing fewer small businesses in its traditional supplier base competing for contracts in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the director of the DLA's Office of Small Business Programs, Dwight Deneal, said Tuesday. “Our percentages [of small business involvement] are as high as they've ever been over the past five years, but we are recognizing that the participation level from our supplier base's standpoint has steadily declined,” Deneal said at a small business panel at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual meeting, which was being conducted virtually. “So [the DLA is] looking at the gaps in there and how do we strategically attack those areas where some of our suppliers are just not participating in or winning some DLA contracts,” Deneal said, adding that the agency plans to roll out a new virtual outreach effort next month to reengage its small suppliers. The comments came as the Pentagon faces congressional scrutiny amid reports it awarded lucrative contracts for disposable medical gowns to a handful of unexpected and inexperienced companies despite bids from more than 100 vendors with track records of successfully completing federal procurement contracts. To boot, the Pentagon's allocation of $688 million to aid troubled suppliers of aircraft engine parts as well as shipbuilding, electronics and space launch services is facing anger on Capitol Hill because the money wasn't spent to increase the country's supply of medical equipment. Pentagon officials have denied any wrongdoing and stressed the need to support companies large and small that make up the defense industrial base. Without mentioning either controversy, Deneal said the DLA's dealings on personal protective equipment contracts reflected a commitment to small businesses and efforts to revive domestic supply chains for PPE, widely regarded as a necessity in the wake of the pandemic. “A lot of companies are starting to pivot their assembly lines to start to get into the business of producing PPE, and that has been quite clear from some of our last solicitations ... for gowns, where we had robust competition from small businesses ― companies that had traditionally never bid on government contracts,” Deneal said. “We were able to allow that competition pool and subsequent awards to be small business awards, and I think that speaks to the importance that DLA sees and [places on] the small business community,” Deneal added. “It goes to show how our acquisition community is forward thinking and forward leaning.” The decline in small business participation extends beyond the DLA. The director the Navy's Office of Small Business Programs, Jimmy Smith, said his data showed a similar and “troubling” trend in need of targeted contracting activity by the Navy. “We're spending about the same, equivalent money every year, but one of the things we're watching in our supplier base is a pretty steep decline in industry partners in certain areas,” Smith said. “I think [it's] incumbent upon us to understand what those shortcomings are and [offer] some solicitations, sources sought in a number of areas where we are seeing a decline in industry partner involvement.” Smith plans to address the gap in the coming year by pushing contacting officers to directly deal with small businesses and by enforcing agreements with large contractors that they flow work to smaller partners. “It's definitely troubling from our standpoint on making sure we've got a viable supplier base,” Smith said. “Having a fragile supplier base does us no good, and it actually impacts the war fighter in negative ways.” https://www.defensenews.com/2020/10/13/pentagon-officials-see-troubling-small-business-decline-since-covid/

Usman Ansari ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's Navy is racing to plug operational and technological gaps as part of an unprecedented modernization effort, according to the outgoing naval chief, but analysts are divided on whether the move will deter adversaries. Adm. Zafar Mahmood Abbasi was speaking during the an Oct. 6 change-of-command ceremony when he detailed measures he enacted, prioritizing “combat readiness and offensive capability” for the historically undersized force amid tension with India. In addition to reorganizing the Navy's force structure, he outlined acquisition and development programs, some of which were mentioned for the first time or had new details confirmed. These included: Expanding the Navy to more than 50 warships (more than doubling major surface combatants to 20, with plans for six additional large offshore patrol vessels). The apparent free transfer of a Chinese Yuan-class submarine to train Pakistani crews for its eight Hangor subs. Developing the hypersonic P282 ship-launched anti-ship/land-attack ballistic missile. Establishing the Naval Research and Development Institute to nurture indigenous design talent (it is presently engaged in programs such as the Jinnah-class frigate, Hangor-class subs, UAV jammers, directed-energy weapons, underwater sonar surveillance coastal defense systems, unmanned underwater vehicles and unmanned combat aerial vehicles). Replacing of the P-3C Orion patrol aircraft with 10 converted commercial jets, the first of which has been ordered. Acquiring medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned combat aerial vehicles as well as 20 indigenous gunboats, which are to be commissioned by 2025. The Navy would not provide more details when asked, though the gunboats were previously confirmed as undergoing design. Rivals However, analysts are divided on whether these programs will prove a sufficient deterrent against Pakistan's archrival India. Author, analyst and former Australian defense attache to Islamabad, Brian Cloughley, claimed it is “quite impossible for Pakistan to achieve a naval structure that even approaches that of the Indian Navy.” “It cannot afford it. At best, its deterrence value would be entirely local," he said. Though he described India's aircraft carriers as “decidedly inferior in effectiveness in international terms, and present no threat to China,” they are a “major threat” to Pakistan's Navy when they are out of range of shore-based air power. In the event of a conflict involving India's Navy, Pakistan “would deploy all its assets to destroy it, and although the [Indian Navy] would suffer major losses, the attrition factor would be the decider,” he added. In contrast, expansion of the Pakistan Navy would “effectively neutralize India's growing naval capability,” according to Mansoor Ahmed, a senior research fellow at the Center for International Strategic Studies in Islamabad. He noted that India has “long enjoyed the most decisive numerical advantage; that is potentially destabilizing, as it could encourage belligerency and aggression, and fuel crisis instability.” However, Pakistan's modernization efforts would “help keep the nuclear threshold high,” “enhance Pakistan's second-strike capability by increasing survivability of its surface and submarine fleet,” and provide considerably increased capacity for attrition, Ahmed added. Similarly, Tom Waldwyn, a naval expert at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, said there is merit in the expansion program. “Certainly the ship- and submarine-building plans, once realized, will be a significant boost to Pakistan's conventional maritime capability. By the end of this decade, the frigate fleet will grow by half and the submarine fleet will probably double in size. The planned gunboats could free up the new frigates to perform tasks the Pakistan Navy is currently not able to do as often,” he said. The Hangor program is probably the most noteworthy because of China's involvement, Waldwyn added. “Although local build of Hangor submarines is planned to be complete before the end of the decade, regenerating that industrial capability will be a big effort, and I expect that Chinese assistance in doing so will be crucial.” But one factor depends on whether Germany provides export clearance of diesel engines for the submarine. Pakistan's Ministry of Defence Production, the Navy's public relations department, the German embassy in Islamabad, and Germany's Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control all declined to respond to Defense News' inquiries about the engines. It is unknown whether the program is now proceeding with Chinese substitutes. Weapons and platforms Announcement of a contract for unmanned combat aerial vehicles, however, appears to be official confirmation the Chinese Wing Loong II deal first reported in October 2018. Though photographed undergoing testing in Pakistan, there was never official confirmation of a contract. Air power expert at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, Justin Bronk, said it “is probably one of the most effective options for armed UAV acquisition available to Pakistan.” “It has proven fairly satisfactory in service with the [United Arab Emirates] and others, and can carry a wide variety of cheap and effective Chinese munitions. Its sensor capabilities are not up to U.S. standards, especially in terms of stabilization. But given that sales of MQ-9 and other comparable U.S. systems are restricted, and Israeli UAVs are seldom exported with acknowledged weapons capabilities, Wing Loong II is probably the best option available,” Bronk explained. In regard to what aircraft Pakistan will choose to replace its P-3C Orion fleet, Defense News asked the Navy and the Ministry of Defence Production, but neither provided details by press time. A small number of business or regional jets from Brazil, Russia or Ukraine with non-Western systems (to avoid sanctions) could readily be converted to suit Pakistan's requirements. However, there is no official, publicly available notice or hint of sale to Pakistan from these countries' manufacturers, and there was no response to related queries. Such a conversion could be locally done, as wider naval modernization is underpinned by Pakistan's in-house research and development program. Still, the IISS analyst added, it's not essential the work be performed domestically. On the modernization effort as a whole, Waldwyn noted that “developing the local capability to design and build this equipment is not a prerequisite to providing conventional deterrence in the short term, and importing equipment from abroad can sometimes be less expensive.” “However, there is value to developing the defense industrial base and sovereign technological capabilities, as it can protect you against geopolitical changes going forward,” the IISS analyst added. For Ahmed, domestic work would demonstrate Pakistan “is determined to maintain the required level of modernization” — particularly with directed-energy weapons. Meanwhile, he said he's uncertain what new purpose the P282 missile will serve. He is unconvinced the P282 is a hypersonic cruise missile intended to replace the current ship- and submarine-launched Harbah cruise missile. However, if the P282 is a ballistic missile as claimed, “it would make sense only if deployed on a submarine” where it could serve as part of Pakistan's nuclear deterrent. Nevertheless, he added, the modernization program will still “greatly enhance the overall credibility of Pakistan's deterrent posture vis-a-vis India.” https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/10/14/outgoing-pakistan-navy-chief-reveals-details-of-modernization-programs/

Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — Textron Systems has teamed with artificial intelligence firm Shield AI to work together on “multi-domain autonomy,” the two firms announced Tuesday. According to a Shield AI spokesman, the collaboration will integrate the company's software onto Textron's unmanned systems, with an early focus on U.S. Army modernization priorities. The initial collaboration will focus on sharing exploration data between small unmanned aerial systems developed by Shield AI and unmanned ground vehicles developed by Textron Systems. This is not the first collaboration with a traditional defense firm for Shield AI, which is one of a number of of tech companies aiming to break into the Pentagon market. The company has worked closely with the Defense Department's technology hub, the Defense Innovation Unit, and it has raised more than $50 million in venture funding since 2015. Textron Systems is a subsidiary of Textron, the 38th largest defense company in the world, according to the annual Defense News Top 100 list. Included in its portfolio are a number of unmanned systems, including the Ripsaw ground robotic combat vehicle and the Shadow aerial system. “Working with U.S. Department of Defense customers since the 1980s to provide reliable, highly capable unmanned systems, we understand how these technologies extend the capabilities of our warfighters, while keeping them at a safe standoff distance,” Textron Systems Senior Vice President Wayne Prender said in a statement. “We are continuously enhancing our autonomous platforms to meet stated and anticipated future requirements for our customers. We look forward to collaborating with Shield AI on this shared priority.” Added Ryan Tseng, Shield AI co-founder and CEO: “We are excited to innovate together and believe this marks a significant moment on our path to achieving our mission and delivering AI for Maneuver at scale.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/show-reporter/ausa/2020/10/14/textron-systems-shield-ai-team-up-on-unmanned-project/

Jen Judson WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin's Sikorsky and Bell have each begun to forge the aircraft that will compete to become the U.S. Army's Future Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) expected to be fielded by 2030. “It's become very real to me,” Brig. Gen. Wally Rugen, who leads the Army's effort to develop future vertical lift aircraft, told Defense News in a recent interview. “We're seeing forgings, castings, transmissions, gear boxes, blades, cockpits, airframes, real tangible things that are already built, already manufactured and going together,” he said. Final designs on the aircraft are due from both Bell and Lockheed in November, according to Rugen. And despite complications across the defense industry due to the coronavirus pandemic, both vendors “see no problem” achieving that original schedule. The Army will take about a month to review those final designs, Rugen said, and then the service will conduct a readiness review with Army senior leaders in mid-December, where the hope is the program will get the final go-ahead. The service is pushing for the prototypes to fly for the first time in the first quarter of fiscal 2023. One major factor in getting those prototypes airborne is whether the Army's Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP) engine is ready to drop into the aircraft. The ITEP engine has been developed to replace the engines in UH-60 Black Hawk utility and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, but will also be FARA's first engine. Key to progress with that is getting the first engine into testing starting in late 2021, Rugen said. “That is our engine and that is our critical path really through the engine,” he said. General Electric, which is building the ITEP engine for the Army, “understands that,” Rugen said. “They've had a lot of friction to fight through and they're fighting through it very well from what I can see,” he added, referring to the impact of the pandemic on the company's progress. While the ITEP engine schedule has not slipped, it has now essentially lost any padding and is aligned with the original schedule, Rugen said. General Electric and the Army had previously found some ways to accelerate the timeline. In addition to ITEP, the Army is also planning on furnishing a gun and a modular effects launcher to both competitors. The 20mm gun has begun firing live rounds and will fire 285,000 rounds “this year,” Rugen said. The modular effects launcher is in the prototyping phase, but Rugen added that, like the 20mm gun, it will fly at Project Convergence 2021 on a FARA surrogate aircraft. Sikorsky has pitched a design based off of its S-97 Raider that it is calling the Raider X. The S-97 has been flying for more than five years. “These flights have produced tremendous data that inform our flight program, help refine the design of Raider X ... and reduce risk for the program,” Jay Macklin, Sikorsky's business development director for FVL, told Defense News. The company began building physical components last year in anticipation of a contract to build a prototype, he said. Sikorsky also has had key suppliers under contract for more than a year. During the flight test period, Sikorsky plans to be “more focused on validation of design versus traditional methods of fly-fix-fly that have been used on many past aircraft across industry,” Macklin said. Bell unveiled its design — the 360 Invictus — for FARA a year ago just ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference. Bell has completed multiple design and risk reviews and reports it is on schedule for its build, according to Chris Gehler, vice president and program director of the Invictus program. The company has completed critical design reviews for rotors and drive systems, and the team has been accepting parts at its Amarillo, Texas, facility where it will soon begin to build the aircraft, Gehler told Defense News. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2020/10/14/lockheed-bell-begin-forging-prototypes-to-compete-for-armys-future-armed-recon-aircraft/

Jen Judson WASHINGTON — As the Army looks to bring on two future helicopters by 2030, the service is planning to review its entire aviation fleet in fiscal 2023, Lt. Gen. James Pasquarette, the Army G-8, told Defense News in an Oct. 8 interview. Over the past several years, the Army has said it is at “an inflection point” when it comes to prioritizing modernization in order to ensure soldiers can fight in a multidomain environment against near-peer adversaries. Part of that is ensuring the Army is balanced properly when it comes to making sure the current fleet is ready while funding the ambitious development of two new aircraft along with a number of other enablers like a digital backbone, air-launched effects and a new engine, to name a few. In FY20, the Army took controversial steps to shift funding from the current fleet to the future one when it decided it would not buy Block II CH-47F Chinook cargo helicopters for the active force, opting to procure the variant just for special operations. Congress has pushed back on that decision in both its FY20 and FY21 defense bills, injecting funding into the program to keep the pump primed to build Block II Chinooks for the active component against the Army's wishes. So far the Army isn't planning on backing down on its decision to scale down and only buy the Block II variant for special operations. “The Army's position has not changed. I mean, our position is we don't have to make a decision,” Pasquarette said. “It's based on the age of the fleet and other factors,” Pasquarette said. “Our concern is that if Congress decides that we need to move down the Block II path here ... that starts to push out dollars against our modernization priorities that we're very concerned about.” The Army “must develop” both the Future Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) and the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA), he stressed. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy also signaled during an Oct. 8 interview with Defense News that tough decisions on the aviation fleet would have to be made as the FLRAA and FARA aircraft begin to fly. The prototype aircraft for FARA are expected to start flying in the fourth quarter of FY22 and the engineering and manufacturing development phase is expected to begin in FY24. FLRAA prototypes will be delivered in roughly the summer of 2026. The last time the Army restructured its fleet was in 2013 to deal with impending budget cuts and reductions that would have been made through sequestration. The effort was a way to take control of what was cut rather than let every program across the board take salami-slice chops. As a result, the service decided to retire its OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters and use AH-64E Apache attack helicopters paired with Shadow unmanned aircraft systems to fill the armed scout role until future aircraft could come online. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2020/10/14/army-to-conduct-thorough-review-of-aviation-fleet-in-fy23/

Todd South The gun that will replace both the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon and the M16/M4 rifle/carbine weapons — and add a new, widely distributed caliber to the U.S. military inventory for the first time in decades — is less than two years away. The Next Generation Squad Weapon finished its first prototype test event in September. The three previously selected offerings came from Sig Sauer, Textron Systems and General Dynamics Ordnance. Brig. Gen. David Hodne, Infantry School commandant and Soldier Lethality Cross Functional Team director, along with Brig. Gen. Anthony Potts, head of Program Executive Office Soldier, gave updates to Army Times ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting and Exposition. Concurrently, the Army in April has also selected two companies, L3 Technologies and Vortex Optics, to compete for the fire control for the weapons system. Sig Sauer's design looks much like a conventional assault rifle while GD is using a bullpup design, which shortens the length by building the magazine feed into the weapon stock. Textron has built its weapon around the cartridge, which is unique to them, a cased telescope item that has the projectile inside of the casing to reduce weight. Back in April, each of the companies provided 15 rifles, 15 automatic rifles and 180,000 cartridges using the government-developed 6.8mm projectile. The 6.8mm projectile was chosen after decades of testing and evaluation showed that 5.56mm lethality at mid-ranges on the battlefield was inadequate and existing 7.62mm could be outperformed by the 6.8mm round and save weight for the soldier. The new caliber also gives the soldier both a rifle and automatic rifle firing the same round, both effective past the 600m mark of existing light calibers. Following the September testing, the companies will have six months until their next prototype test, scheduled to begin in February. During the annual Maneuver Warfighter Conference at Fort Benning in Georgia, Maj. Wyatt Ottmar, project officer over NGSW for the Soldier Lethality CFT, laid out some of the recent developments and next steps for the weapons system. Ottmar noted that Sig Sauer provided a combined steel lower and brass upper ammunition cartridge to reduce weight. A contract is expected to be awarded to one of the three companies this coming fiscal year with fielding to start in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2022, or sometime between August and October 2022, to Infantry, Stryker and Armor Brigade Combat Teams. Ultimately, the weapon will be fielded to all close combat forces, including special operations forces, infantry, combat engineers and scouts. The fire control is expected to field six months ahead of the weapon, Potts said. That will allow the NGSW producer to better integrate the optic with the weapon. https://www.defensenews.com/news/your-army/2020/10/14/the-armys-saw-and-m4-replacement-is-headed-to-troops-by-2022/

Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army began building an entire virtual world a few years ago for its Synthetic Training Environment (STE) to bring accuracy and a real-life feel to training, but a deployment of One World Terrain in Afghanistan has proved it's not just a training tool, according to Maj. Gen. Maria Gervais, who is in charge of the service's STE development. One World Terrain, or OWT, compiles realistic and, in some cases, extremely accurate virtual maps of territory all over the globe. The idea is to be able to click on any place on a virtual globe and go there. Soldiers can then train virtually in an exact environment in which they can expect to operate in reality. “We're seeing now there are better uses for operational capability,” Gervais told Defense News in an Oct. 8 interview ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference. “And it's helping us inform how do we now expand this to meet training, operational and also targeting requirements.” It all began with a unit that used OWT for training at the National Training Center on Fort Irwin, California, and saw value in it, Gervais said. When the unit deployed to Afghanistan, the soldiers asked to take the system — which included a drone and software — she said. The unit was able to capture terrain for the purpose of mission-planning rehearsal and route planning. But the soldiers also used it to take an in-depth look at the forward-operating base to see how it was set up and analyze it for vulnerabilities. “I will tell you from that usage, they figured out they had to make some changes,” Gervais said. “And then they went out and they started looking at other operating bases within their area. They expanded it.” The system “immediately started proving its utility to them,” she said, “but from that unit from what they were able to do, we then were able to take the next unit that was coming in behind them and provide all that information to them and allow them to understand how One World Terrain could be used.” The Army's 82nd Airborne Division also used the system prior to deploying to another theater. The division captured the terrain, using it for predeployment planning and mission rehearsals, including how and where to set up a base and where to position electronic warfare systems. OWT also helped the 25th Infantry Division out of Hawaii prepare for a Joint Training Readiness Center rotation, and its members also plan to use it during the exercise. These uses have led the Army to provide more drones and software for more units, Gervais said. Starting in December and January, the Army will begin fielding “a little bit more capability,” she added. In March, the STE team went to Germany to observe an assured position, navigation and timing exercise that included a sensor-to-shooter, live-fire drill. The team worked with the 1st Cavalry Division's intelligence analysts and put OWT on the Distributed Common Ground System-Army (DCGS-A) system, which is an intelligence analysis platform. “We showed them the capability, and what came out of there was pretty astounding,” Gervais said. With 3D terrain from OWT in the system, decisions could be made more quickly because there was no need to compare two different databases and reason against it, she said. That cut workload by about 60 percent, she added. OWT was on a DCGS-A system at Project Convergence at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, this year, Gervais said, and it showed the realm of the possible from a targeting perspective. While the STE had a limited scope during Project Convergence, “we're going to be more integrated in Project Convergence 21 next year,” she added, so that “everybody's kind of operating off the 3D terrain.” https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2020/10/14/afghanistan-deployment-proves-one-world-terrain-is-more-than-a-training-tool/