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ARMY Baywest LLC,* St. Paul, Minnesota (W912DY-20-D-0015); Bhate Zapata JV,* Birmingham, Alabama (W912DY-20-D-0016); HydroGeoLogic Inc.,* Reston, Virginia (W912DY-20-D-0017); IE Weston Federal Svcs JVB LLC,* West Chester, Pennsylvania (W912DY-20-D-0018); PIKA International Inc.,* Stafford, Texas (W912DY-20-D-0019); and Seres Arcadis SB JV LLC, Mount Pleasant,* South Carolina (W912DY-20-D-0020), will compete for each order of the $400,000,000 cost-plus-fixed fee, firm-fixed-price contract to perform Military Munitions Response Program responses involving conventional munitions and other munitions-related services. Bids were solicited via the internet with 18 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 3, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity. NAVY BAE Systems San Diego Ship Repair, San Diego, California (N00024-16-D-4416); Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc., San Diego, California (N00024-16-D-4417); and General Dynamics, NASSCO, San Diego, California (N00024-16-D-4418), are being awarded a $275,110,745 firm-fixed-price modification to exercise Option Period Four to previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award contracts for complex, emergent and continuous maintenance and Chief of Naval Operations availabilities on surface combatants homeported in San Diego, California. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed by March 2021. No funding will be obligated when the option is exercised. The Southwest Regional Maintenance Center, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity. Lyon Shipyard Inc.,* Norfolk, Virginia (N50054-20-D-0001); BMFT JV,* Chesapeake, Virginia (N50054-20-D-0002); Colonna's Shipyard Inc.,* Norfolk, Virginia (N50054-20-D-0003); Fairlead Boatworks,* Newport News, Virginia (N50054-20-D-0004); and East Coast Repair and Fabrication,* Norfolk, Virginia (N50054-20-D-0005), are each awarded a fixed-price, multiple award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide messing and berthing barges support in support of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center, Norfolk, Virginia. Lyon Shipyard Inc.* is awarded $82,029,325; BMFT JV* is awarded $87,651,824; Colonna's Shipyard Inc.* is awarded $96,692,648; Fairlead Boatworks* is awarded $97,020,569; and East Coast Repair and Fabrication* is awarded $109,260,981. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative ceiling value of this contract to $109,260,981. Work will be primarily performed in the Hampton Roads area, Norfolk, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by January 2021; if options are exercised, work is expected to be completed by February 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $60,000 ($12,000 minimum guarantee per contract) will be obligated at time of award, and funding in the amount of $60,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This multiple award contract was procured as a small business set-aide via Federal Business Opportunities with six offers received. The Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity. Colonna Shipyards Inc., Norfolk, Virginia, is being awarded a $10,536,728 firm-fixed-price contract for a 75-day shipyard availability for the regular post shakedown availability of USNS Burlington (T-EPF 10). Work will include Pump Room 1 and 2 renewal, tow modifications, Pump Room 7 and 8, ladder install, bilge preservation main engine rooms, line shaft bearing annual maintenance, freeze protection pipe heat trace instillation, freeze protection mission bay installation, perform annual stern ramp maintenance, install fuel sensors in diesel fuel service system, modify diesel fuel bunking piping, stern ramp upgrades, fire station isolation valves, adaptive force package temporary sensitive compartment information facility installations and temporary sensitive compartment information facility adaptive force package heating ventilation and an air condition upgrade install. This contract includes a 75-day base period and three options, which if exercised would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $10,711,518. Work will be performed at Colonna Shipyard Inc. and is expected to be completed by May 15, 2020. Navy working capital contract funds in the amount of $10,536,728 are obligated for fiscal 2020, and will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with proposals solicited via the beta.SAM.gov website and two offers received. The Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N32205-20-C-6712). Data Link Solutions LLC, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is awarded a $9,140,302 firm-fixed-price order for Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS) Cryptographic Modernization (CM) kits. The JTIDS CM Kits will provide a build-to-print solution to maintain secure operations of Link 16 for all versions of the JTIDS terminal. This order covers the production of 47 kits along with the associated program management, testing and logistics support to deliver the kits. This order includes one option which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this order to an estimated $12,057,419. If all options are exercised, work could continue until September 2021. Work will be performed in Wayne, New Jersey, with an expected completion date of July 2021. Fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $9,140,302 will be obligated at the time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This order was negotiated as a sole-source under the authority of 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1), using the procedures defined under Federal Acquisition Regulation 13.5 for orders less than $13,000,000. The Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N00039-20P0003). DEFENSE HEALTH AGENCY Nexsys Electronics, doing business as MedWeb,* San Francisco, California, was awarded a definitized, firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, single award contract (HT0038-19-D-0002) with a maximum value of $52,852,585. This contract provides in-theater systems support services for the Deployed Tele-Radiology System, a commercial imaging product used at military treatment facilities. This effort has one-base year, two option years, and one six-month optional ordering period. The estimated completion date is May 11, 2022. Work location is task order dependent but will primarily occur in San Francisco, California. The base task order was funded by fiscal 2019 and 2020 operations and maintenance funds. The award is the result of a non-competitive sole-source action. The contracting activity is the Defense Health Agency, Falls Church, Virginia. (Awarded Dec. 3, 2019) DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, has been awarded a maximum $15,275,346 firm-fixed-price contract for the production of KC-135 aircraft structural component fittings (landing gear trunnions). This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a one-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Missouri, with a Jan. 31, 2023, performance completion date. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Richmond, Virginia (SPE4A5-20-F-8228). (Awarded Jan. 31, 2020) *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2074589/source/GovDelivery/

AIR FORCE The following eight firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award task order contracts (MATOC) -- each with a not to exceed price of $90,000,000 -- have been awarded to the following: Doyon Management Services, Federal Way, Washington (FA4626-20-D-0010); Geranios Enterprises Inc., Great Falls, Montana (FA4626-20-D-0011); Guy Tabacco Construction Co., Black Eagle, Montana (FA4626-20-D-0012); James Talcott Construction, Great Falls, Montana (FA4626-20-D-0013); JE Hurley Inc., Colorado Springs, Colorado (FA4626-20-D-0014); NorthCon Inc., Hayden, Idaho (FA4626-20-D-0015); Sealaska Construction Solutions LLC., Seattle, Washington (FA4626-20-D-0016); and Wadsworth Builders Co. Inc., Great Falls, Montana (FA4626-20-D-0017). This MATOC contract is a design-build, bid-build construction acquisition based on a general statement of work further defined with each individual task order. Work to be performed under the MATOC will be the general construction category, to include maintenance, repair, alteration, mechanical, electrical, heating/air conditioning, demolition, painting and earthwork. Work will be performed at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, and is to be completed as specified in each individual task order by Feb. 2, 2027. This award is the result of a competitive solicitation to total small businesses, 8(a) small business, and HUBZone small businesses; 16 offers were received. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $4,000 ($500 each) are being obligated at the time of award. The 341st Contracting Squadron, Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, is the contracting activity. Rolls-Royce Corp., Indianapolis, Indiana, has been awarded a $57,360,519 delivery order modification (FA8504-20-F-0007-P00002) to previously awarded contract FA8504-17-D-0002 for C-130J propulsion long term sustainment. This order provides funding for Option Three and Power By The Hour flying hours. The work is expected to be completed Feb. 1, 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $57,360,519 are being obligated at the time of award. The total cumulative face value of the contract is $57,360,519. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity. Merrill Corp., Clearfield, Utah, has been awarded a firm-fixed price requirement type contract in the amount of $21,477,000 for the overhaul of duct assembly. Work will be performed in Clearfield, Utah, and is expected to be complete by Feb. 2, 2025. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2020-2025 procurement funds will be used. The base award is estimated at $4,020,084; Option One is $4,000,467; Option Two is $4,346,985; Option Three is $4,641,164; and Option Four is $4,468,298. Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity (FA8119-20-D-0001). The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, has been awarded a firm-fixed-price requirement type contract in the amount of $7,907,471 for the repair of KC-135 cowling and fan ducts. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be complete by Feb. 2, 2025. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2020-2025 procurement funds will be used. The base award (three year amount) is estimated at $4,941,509. Option One is $1,444,206; Option Two is $1,521,756. Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity (FA8119-20-D-0002). NAVY Manson Construction Co., Seattle, Washington, is awarded an $89,370,000 firm-fixed-price contract that provides for design-bid-build services for the construction of Seawolf Class Service Pier Extension, Naval Base Kitsap Bangor. The total cumulative face value of the contract including the award of four options will be $89,370,000. This contract award does not involve foreign military sales. The work to be performed provides for the construction of a 520 foot by 68-foot single level, reinforced concrete, general-purpose submarine berthing pier extension to the existing pier, with pier-side utilities, communication systems and two-580-square-foot concrete floating camels. The pier extension includes engineered pile and caps to support the pier deck, a fixed crane, equipment pads, mobile cranes and utility buildings. The project also configures and adds to the existing wave screen attenuation system and modifies the existing small craft berthing at the service pier. Additionally, the project constructs a low-rise compressor building on the pier for new tool air compressors and breathing air compressors and alters an existing building to accommodate new and existing lift stations, sewage equipment, storm drainage, industrial wastewater services and provides a new emergency generator. Work will be performed in Silverdale, Washington, and is expected to be completed by July 2022. The solicitation was competitively procured via Federal Business Opportunities with five offers received. Fiscal 2020 military construction funds for $89,370,000 are obligated on this award. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Northwest, Silverdale, Washington, is the contracting activity (N44255-20-C-2002). Rockwell Collins Simulation and Training Solutions, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was awarded a $20,337,451 modification (P00016) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N61340-17-C-0014). This modification procures updates to the Delta Software System Configuration #3 software baseline to include the visual system and cyber security on tactics and flight trainer devices. Additionally, this modification provides technology refresh and aircraft concurrency updates on tactics devices, aircraft concurrency and aerial refueling updates on the flight devices, tactics and flight device training and associated technical data in support of the E-2D Hawkeye Integrated Training System. Work will be performed in Point Mugu, California, and is expected to be completed in June 2022. Fiscal 2018 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,016,274; fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $13,061,234; and fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,259,943 will be obligated at time of award, $2,016,274 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Training Systems Division, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Jan. 31, 2020) Raytheon Co., Integrated Defense Systems, Marlborough, Massachusetts, is awarded a $9,107,841 cost-plus-fixed-fee undefinitized contract action under a previously awarded basic ordering agreement N00024-19-G-5107 to repair and test the USS Sampson (DDG 102) SPY-1D(V) transmitter suite. This order covers repair, refurbishment, reassembly and testing of the AEGIS Weapon System (AWS) AN/SPY-1D(V) Transmitter Group in support of USS Sampson (DDG 102) as well as associated testing support. Work will be performed in Andover, Massachusetts (65%); Keyport, Washington (16%); Moorestown, New Jersey (10%); and Marlborough, Massachusetts (9%), and is expected to be completed by September 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding for $4,108,940 will be obligated at the time of award and expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This order was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) (only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements). The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-20-F-5105). Zenetex LLC, Herndon, Virginia, was awarded a $7,521,702 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide contractor support services (CSS) to temporarily augment government personnel to assist in the acquisition, management and sustainment of Navy training systems. CSS support includes corporate operations, research and technology, program management, logistics, engineering, instructional systems and test and evaluation support services for various training systems managed by the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, and is expected to be completed in May 2020. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $432,783; fiscal 2019 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $138,112; fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $278,344; fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,002,318; fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $357,920; fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $507,119; fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $101,022; working capital (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,204,302; and Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $520,643 will be obligated at time of award, $785,463 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity (N61340-20-C-0009). (Awarded Jan. 31, 2020) ARMY H2 Direct LLC,* Gulf Breeze, Florida, was awarded a $39,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for personnel, equipment, supplies, facilities, transportation, tools, materials, supervision and other items and non-personal services necessary to provide information technology management support services. Bids were solicited via the internet with eight received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 28, 2025. The 418th Contracting Support Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas, is the contracting activity (W91151-20-D-0009). Cray Inc., Seattle, Washington, was awarded a $26,480,000 firm-fixed-price contract for Department of Defense high performance computing modernization. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Stennis Space Center, Mississippi, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 1, 2025. Fiscal 2020 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $26,480,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W912DY-20-F-0126). Sustainable System Solutions LLC,* Herndon, Virginia, was awarded a $9,563,615 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide the design, development, integration, testing and fielding of test capabilities systems and/or related test infrastructure among ranges within the Department of Defense test and evaluation community. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 2, 2030. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity (W900KK-20-D-0003). Escal Institute Advanced Tech, North Bethesda, Maryland, was awarded an $8,805,373 firm-fixed-price contract to provide training and certifications to verify and validate student proficiency in cybersecurity roles. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 2, 2021. Fort Gordon, Georgia, is the contracting activity (W911S0-20-F-0111). U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND The Boeing Co., Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, was awarded an $18,186,000 firm-fixed-price type delivery order (H92241-20-F-0020) under basic ordering agreement W91215-16-G-0001 to procure the long lead components and parts in support of MH-47G rotary wing aircraft. This action is required to satisfy an urgent need to sustain U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) heavy assault, rotary wing aircraft and to mitigate the impact of the MH-47G aircraft availability in light of increased SOF operational demands. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement, Army funds in the amount of $18,186,000 were obligated at the time of award. The majority of the work will be performed in Ridley Park. U.S. Special Operations Command, Tampa, Florida, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2073298/source/GovDelivery/

Le Pavillon France, fédéré par le Groupement des Industries de Construction et Activités Navales (GICAN) en collaboration avec le Groupement des Industries Françaises Aéronautiques et Spatiales (GIFAS), accueillera 11 entreprises sur Defexpo, salon international qui se déroulera à Lucknow en Inde du 5 au 9 février 2020. La représentation française au salon indien Defexpo est assurée par la présence de 19 entreprises représentantes de l'industrie de défense française. Il s'agit de grands groupes, mais également PME et ETI dynamiques. Cette présence marque ainsi le fort engagement de l'industrie française de la défense pour soutenir les forces armées indiennes. Les entreprises présentes sur le Pavillon France (Hall 3, stands R16 à R24, S18 et S19) sont : Arquus – Etienne Lacroix Group – Lynred – Rafale International – Rafaut Group – Roxel – RTSYS – Safran – Schneider Electric – Thales – Wartsilä Navy France. Par ailleurs, plusieurs sociétés françaises exposeront sur leur propre stand (Airbus – MBDA – Naval Group et Nexter), ou sous pavillon indien (Amphenol Interconnect – Axon'Cable – Nicomatic – Nucon Alkan – Trigo), signe de leur forte implantation dans le pays. Des rencontres entre industriels français et donneurs d'ordre indiens sont programmées tout au long de la semaine. Les industries aéronautiques, spatiales et navales françaises, rassemblées par le GIFAS et le GICAN, soutiennent la politique du «Make in India», dans les domaines de l'aéronautique, de la construction navale et de la défense. Dans cette optique, le GIFAS, le GICAN et la Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) organiseront un séminaire le 5 février à 15h30 dans le Seminar Hall 2. L'intention est de développer davantage le partenariat industriel entre les entreprises françaises et indiennes à tous les niveaux de la chaîne de production. Les relations stratégiques entre la France et l'Inde dans l'industrie aérospatiale sont pérennes (depuis plus de 70 ans). En 2018, une présence permanente du GIFAS en Inde a été établie à New-Delhi pour renforcer ce partenariat stratégique et développer les relations industrielles entre l'Inde et la France. En 2019, 60 membres du GIFAS sont implantés en Inde, représentant plus de 75 établissements, 20 partenariats en joint-venture et plus de 25 sites de production. https://www.aerobuzz.fr/breves-defense/forte-presence-des-industriels-francais-au-salon-indien-defexpo-2020/

Tucson will become the new headquarters for a combined business unit made up of Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems and a Massachusetts-based Raytheon business when parent Raytheon Co. and United Technologies Corp. finalize their merger. A Raytheon Missile Systems spokesman confirmed Friday that Tucson will become headquarters for the new Raytheon Missiles & Defense business, which will combine Missile Systems and Raytheon Integrated Defense, now headquartered in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. “We shared with our employees that upon merger close, our consolidated businesses will be named Raytheon Missiles & Defense and Raytheon Intelligence & Space," Raytheon spokesman John Patterson said. "They'll be headquartered in Tucson, Arizona and Arlington, Virginia respectively. We look forward to sharing more information once the merger closes — anticipated early in the second quarter of this year.” Raytheon — Southern Arizona's largest employer — announced in late October that Wes Kremer, president of Raytheon Missile Systems since last March, will become president of the combined missile and integrated defense unit as part of the merged parent company, which will be called Raytheon Technologies Corp. Raytheon Intelligence & Space will be formed from Raytheon's Space and Airborne Systems and Intelligence, Information and Services units, and UTC Mission Systems and Raytheon's Forcepoint cybersecurity unit. Together with two of UTC's current businesses — engine maker Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace — they will form the four main business units of the merged company. But the company said it would not announce the headquarters location of the new business units until the merger was finalized. The so-called "merger of equals" will create an aerospace and defense behemoth with annual revenues of $74 billion, second only to Boeing in the industry. Raytheon and United Technologies shareholders have approved the merger of the two companies, which is also contingent on United Technologies' successful spinoff of its Carrier heating, ventilation and air-conditioning business and its Otis Elevator subsidiary. The deal is also subject to federal anti-trust approval, which is expected after the Defense Department said it had few concerns about the merger. Raytheon is the Tucson region's largest employer with about 13,000 local workers. The company has been working to expand its campus at Tucson International Airport amid a plan to add more than 2,000 jobs. Raytheon also has significant operations at the University of Arizona Tech Park. The company makes many of the nation's front-line defense systems, including the Tomahawk cruise missile and the Standard Missile series of ship-defense and ballistic missile interceptors, and more recently has been working on hypersonic missiles and laser weapons to defeat drones and other threats. https://tucson.com/news/local/raytheon-chooses-tucson-for-headquarters-of-combined-missiles-defense-unit/article_ee884dfe-4489-11ea-8617-6b5185c6107b.html

By John A. Tirpak The F-35 fleet is safe to fly, despite an unknown number of under-strength fasteners being used to build critical areas of the jet, Pentagon acquisition and sustainment chief Ellen Lord said Jan. 31. Lockheed Martin workers mixed up titanium and Inconel bolts during manufacture of the F-35, and the Defense Contract Management Agency told Air Force Magazine neither the company nor the Joint Program Office knew how many aircraft were affected, or how far back the problem started. It said the whole fleet of 400-plus F-35s could potentially be affected. The titanium fasteners are lighter than the Inconel parts, and also have less shear strength. Lockheed is to present its 70-day root cause analysis of the “quality escape” to the government in February. At a press conference to discuss cyber security rules for Pentagon contractors, Lord said she had “looked at samples of that issue”—meaning the mixed-up fasteners—and said “right now we have assessed that there is no structural compromise of the aircraft.” She said the root cause analysis continues. “The JPO is working closely with Lockheed; we will continue to asses if there are any issues, but we have confidence in the integrity of the aircraft at this point.” Deliveries of the F-35 were halted briefly in November when the issue was discovered. A Lockheed spokeswoman said barrels of the two fasteners, which are visually similar and differ only in a number stamped into them, were mixed up at the company's Ft. Worth, Texas, factory, as well as the Final Assembly and Check-Out facility in Italy, though not at the FACO in Japan. Titanium fasteners were installed in places where the Inconel parts were specified, and vice versa. An inspection of some number of aircraft—it did not disclose how many—led the company to conclude the problem is not widespread, and there is no plan in the works to conduct fleetwide inspections. Each F-35 has some 50,000 fasteners, of which about 1.7 percent are supposed to be made of Inconel. The F-35C Navy version requires 3.5 percent Inconel fasteners because of the greater size and loads on that airplane. Lord said she's looking for “continuous improvement” in F-35 production, and reported seeing “incredible strides” in its quality over the last two-and-a-half years. However, “I think this is a journey that we will be on for the entire life of the F-35.” She expects Lockheed will continue to improve, “month over month, quarter over quarter, and year over year.” https://www.airforcemag.com/lord-says-f-35s-safe-despite-fastener-problem

By Steve Trimble The U.S. Air Force has released the full, sweeping vision for the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS), a two-year-old concept that proposes to disrupt modern norms for the service's command-and-control doctrine, military acquisition policy and industrial participation. The newly released ABMS architecture defines not a traditional program of record but 28 new “product lines” divided into six major components. The implementation strategy is not focused around traditional acquisition milestones measured in years, but rather development “sprints” fielding morsels of new capabilities every four months. The rights for much of the technology, including a new radar, communication gateway and software-defined radio, are claimed not by an industrial supplier, but by the Air Force itself. USAF adopts lead systems integrator-like model ABMS architecture built on government ownership The release of the strategy on Jan. 21 comes three weeks before the Air Force plans to release a budget plan that would shift $9 billion over the next five years for a “Connect the Joint Force” initiative. The proposed funding would come from retiring certain capabilities, including aircraft fleets, within the next five years, with a clear implication: The Air Force is willing, if Congress approves, to trade some capability now to obtain the ABMS over time. “I think of it as we're finally building the ‘Internet of Things' inside the military, something that is very overdue,” says Will Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, explaining the ABMS to journalists during the unveiling of the architecture in the Pentagon. The scale of the project's ambition has evolved since the ABMS was first proposed in 2018. Air Force leaders unveiled the concept two years ago as a replacement for the airborne Battle Management and Command and Control (BMC2) suite on the Northrop Grumman E-8C Joint Stars fleet. By September 2018, Roper first suggested the same technology could be applied to replace the aging fleet of Boeing RC-135 Rivet Joints and, sometime in the 2030s, the Boeing E-3C Airborne Warning and Control System. Those aims remain intact, but the revealed architecture clarifies that the goals of the ABMS are far broader. If the system is fully realized, the Air Force will create a “combat cloud” on a mobile ad hoc network, transposing the Internet of Things model from civilian technology to the battlefield. As a result, the nearly four-decade-old concept of a centralized command-and-control center—either ground-based or airborne—would be swept away by a future, decentralized digital network. Using computer processors and software algorithms instead of humans, machines would identify targets from sensor data, select the weapons and platforms to prosecute the target automatically, and finally notify the human operator when—or, crucially, whether—to pull the trigger. Roper compares the ABMS' effect on command and control to commercial services on a smartphone, such as the Waze app for drivers navigating traffic. Waze is not driven by a human staff monitoring and reporting traffic hazards, who then review each request for directions and customize a recommended route. Instead, Waze harvests traffic and hazard data from its users, while algorithms mine that information to respond to user requests for services. The Air Force's command-and-control system is constructed around the human staff model, but Roper wants to move the entire enterprise to the Waze approach. “If it didn't exist in the world around us, you'd probably say it was impossible,” Roper says, “but it does [exist].” The challenge for the Air Force is to defend and, if successful, execute that vision for the ABMS. The Air Force needs to secure the support of the other armed services, whose participation is vital to extracting the benefits of such a system. Moreover, the Air Force needs to sell the concept to Congress, despite a system that lacks obvious employment connections to specific legislative districts, such as future factory sites and operational bases. Roper acknowledges the problem of building support for an architecture, rather than a platform, such as a new fighter, bomber or ship. “Those are easy things to sell in this town. You can count them,” he says. “But the internet is not something that's easy to count or quantify, even though we're all very aware of its power.” The Air Force has briefed congressional defense committee staffs on the ABMS concept, but some remain skeptical. A Capitol Hill staffer familiar with the ABMS program doubts that other services will support the Air Force's vision. The ABMS model also appears unlikely to be embraced by industry, the staffer says. A key point of Roper's plan requires companies to cede some intellectual property rights on key elements of the ABMS architecture to the Air Force. But the Air Force is not waiting. Development of the ABMS started last year, even before an analysis of alternatives is completed. In December, the service staged the first demonstration of four new capabilities: transmitting data on a low-probability of intercept link via a gateway between stealthy Air Force and nonstealthy Navy fighters; connecting a C-130 to the SpaceX Starlink satellite constellation; demonstrating a cloud-based, command-and-control network up to a “secret” classification level; and setting up an unclassified common operational picture display at a remote command center inside a tent. As the second in the planned series of triannual events, the Air Force plans to stage the next ABMS demonstration in April, this time involving U.S. Space Force, Strategic Command and Northern Command. Roper, an Oxford-trained physicist, has little patience for the military's traditional development process, although he has made exceptions for complex, hardware-driven programs, such as the Northrop Grumman B-21 bomber and the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent. For most other programs, Roper wants to trickle out new features at Silicon Valley-speed. A common refrain by military acquisition reformers for decades has been to emphasize delivering an incomplete, “80% solution” sooner than waiting for a system that meets each of sometimes hundreds of detailed requirements. However, for Roper the timeline for delivering even an 80% solution in certain cases is far too long. “[We should] covet the 10-15% solutions that take the next step forward,” Roper said. “Because the learning in that step is so valuable to keep the velocity.” To execute the ABMS vision, Roper appointed Preston Dunlap last year as the lead architect. Unlike a traditional program executive officer (PEO), the architect is a role introduced to the Air Force by Roper, who previously in his career served as the chief architect for the Missile Defense Agency. The six components and 28 production lines for the ABMS are spread across multiple program offices, rather than consolidated under a single PEO. Thus, the role of the architect is to define the vision and then shape acquisition schedules as the various technologies reach maturity. Under Dunlap's architecture, the ABMS is built around six components: new sensors feeding databases in a cloud-based computing environment using software-defined radios, with new apps fusing the data into a common operational picture and integrated effects allowing cruise missiles, for example, to automatically retask sensors on other platforms during flight. Among the 28 product lines, the Air Force proposes to own the rights to the radar, software-defined radio and communications gateway. The Air Force's role resembles the lead systems integrator (LSI) model used for a series of largely failed acquisition programs 15-20 years ago, including the Army's Future Combat System and Coast Guard's Deepwater. In this case, however, the LSI is the Air Force, not an industrial supplier. Such an approach is not unprecedented. The Navy is using a similar model to manage the MQ-25A program, with Boeing selected as a subcontractor to deliver the air vehicle and Naval Air Systems Command providing the ground station and integrating both on an aircraft carrier. The gateway used in the first ABMS demonstration in December offers an example, Roper says. “We took a radio system that was actually built in concert with Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin to be able to deal with both platforms with the waveforms, and then a Honeywell antenna was able to speak across the frequencies associated with both radio systems,” Roper said. “So we got those three primary vendors working together underneath our government leadership.” https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/us-air-force-defines-radical-vision-command-control

By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — In 2017, the top two officials at the Pentagon — then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joe Dunford — testified to Congress that the defense budget needs to have 3-5 percent annual growth over inflation each year through 2023 to ensure America's military success. Dunford, speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee in June 2017, went as far as to say: “We know now that continued growth in the base budget of at least 3 percent above inflation is the floor necessary to preserve just the competitive advantage we have today, and we can't assume our adversaries will remain still." Three years later, as the Trump administration prepares to unveil its fiscal 2021 budget request on Feb. 10, such growth appears impossible. The budget is expected to be largely flat, as a two-year budget deal reached last summer calls for $740 billion in defense spending in the next fiscal year, up just $2 billion from the enacted FY20 amount. “The 3-5 percent goal was reasonable enough and absolutely needed,” said Mackenzie Eaglen, a budget analyst with the American Enterprise Institute. “But it is not happening. The defense top line for 2021 is negative real growth, aka declining.” Susanna Blume, a defense analyst with the Center for a New American Security, said that certain parts of the defense budget, particularly maintenance and personnel costs, grow faster than the rate of inflation. “That's what's behind these comments about requiring a certain amount of real budget growth in order to sustain the joint force as it is today,” she said. But there is a wild card, according to Ellen Lord, the Defense Department's top acquisition official: a series of reform efforts led by now-Defense Secretary Mark Esper, which so far have accounted for $5 billion in savings. “We're getting more and more efficient. That is obviously what Secretary Esper is focused on with his defensewide review, that we are cutting out administrative tasks and a variety of portions of programs to make sure we return those savings to our critical modernization efforts such as [artificial intelligence], hypersonics and so forth,” Lord said during a Jan. 31 news conference at the Pentagon. “We are always having to look very carefully at our budgets and make sure we triage them to focus on the critical few. So we're always concerned, but we're always going to work it.” How much of that expected growth gap can be filled by Esper's efficiency drive is difficult to pin down. Blume said its “certainly possible that efficiencies could make up some of that gap,” but whether the work that has been done now and is planned in the near term will be enough “are questions we don't have answers to today.” Added Eaglen: “Efficiencies alone will not get the Pentagon its 3-5 percent growth in actual dollars to reinvest. The defensewide review only yielded $5 billion, and the way it works with these drills is that the money doesn't necessarily move from pot A to pot B as a result." “But that doesn't mean it is not worth doing. Any money amount is helpful. And the exercise is also about getting the bureaucracy to shift its time, tasks and attention to great power competition as much as it's about shifting funds into higher priorities that support the strategy,” Eaglen said. If one of the Pentagon's big bets work out, that could be a real game-changer, Blume said. Those bets include efforts to replace a Defense Logistics Agency warehouse using a 3D printer as well as attempts by the Air Force to rapidly develop, prototype and produce fleets of planes. If one of them goes well, Blume said, “you can potentially start to bend some of those cost curves.” https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2020/01/31/the-pentagon-is-racing-against-inflation-for-military-might/

Mark Pomerleau The Pentagon has finalized the long anticipated cybersecurity standards contractors will have to follow before winning contracts from the Department of Defense, a new process called the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) 1.0. The model is a tiered cybersecurity framework that grades companies on a scale of one to five based on the level of classification and security that necessary for the work they are performing. “The government and the contractor community must keep working together to address real and growing cybersecurity threats, and we need a robust response to protect our infrastructure, information, and supply chains,” said David Berteau, president and chief executive of the Professional Services Council, a trade association for federal contractors. “With today's announcement, DoD has achieved a significant milestone. Here's what industry officials need to know about the version finalized Jan. 31. Why it was needed Previously, the Pentagon did not have unified standard for cybersecurity that businesses needed to follow when bidding for contracts. Companies could claim to meet certain industry standards for cybersecurity, but those assertions were not tested by auditors, nor did the standards take into account the type of work a company was bidding to complete. Since then, defense officials have said that cybersecurity is not a one size fits all approach. In the meantime, adversaries have discovered it is easier to target unsuspecting down tier suppliers, rather than prime contractors. “Adversaries know that in today's great power competition environment, information and technology are both key cornerstones and attacking a sub-tier supplier is far more appealing than a prime,” Ellen Lord, the under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, told reporters in a briefing at the Pentagon Jan. 31. Officials have said cyber theft by adversaries costs the United States about $600 billion a year. What will change? Contracts will mandate bidders reach a certain level of certification to win specific jobs. For example, if businesses aren't bidding on a contract that has extremely sensitive information, they must only achieve the first level of certification, which involves basic cybersecurity such as changing passwords and running antivirus software. More sensitive programs will require more stringent controls. Smaller companies down the supply chain will not, however, have to have the same level of certification as primes, said Katie Arrington, chief information security officer for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and the point person for the certification. Another significant change with the new process is the creation of an accreditation board and assessors. The board is an outside entity, separate from DoD, that will be charged with approving assessors to certify companies in the process. The accreditation body was formed earlier this month and officials are working on identifying and training the assessors, which will be called Certified Third-Party Assessment Organizations (C3PAO). What's next? Officials explained Jan. 31 that CMMC will follow a crawl, walk, run approach to ensure companies aren't unprepared for the change. The accreditation board is in the process of training the auditors that will oversee the certificaion. Once the requirements are met, a company's certification is good for 3 years. In the meantime, DoD plans to release 10 requests for information and 10 requests for proposals that will include the new cyber standards this year. The first solicitation could come as early as June. Arrington said earlier this week that she expects 1,500 companies to be certified by the end of 2021. She added that all new contracts starting in fiscal year 2026 will contain the cybersecurity requirements, however, Lord noted that they will not be not retroactive to previous contracts. https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/2020/01/31/pentagon-finalizes-first-set-of-cyber-standards-for-contractors/

By: Richard Matlock Over the past five years, missile threats have evolved far more rapidly than conventional wisdom had predicted. Best known is North Korea's accelerated development and testing of sophisticated, road-mobile ballistic missiles. But the U.S. National Defense Strategy requires renewed focus on greater powers. China has adopted an anti-access strategy consisting of new offensive missiles, operational tactics and fortifications in the South China Sea. Russia, too, has developed highly maneuverable hypersonic missiles specifically designed to defeat today's defenses. Grappling with these sobering realities demands change. The 2019 Missile Defense Review called for a comprehensive approach to countering regional missiles of all kinds and from whatever source, as well as the increasingly complex intercontinental ballistic missiles from rogue states. But programs and budgets have not yet aligned with the policy. The upcoming defense budget submission presents an important opportunity to address these new and complex challenges. The Missile Defense Agency's current top three goals are sustaining the existing force, increasing capacity and capability, and addressing more advanced threats. The first two are necessary but insufficient. The third goal must be elevated to adapt U.S. missile defense efforts to the geopolitical and technological realities of our time. For the last decade, less than 2 percent of MDA's annual funding has been dedicated to developing advanced technology, during which time our adversaries have begun outpacing us. As President Donald Trump said last January, we “cannot simply build more of the same, or make incremental improvements.” Adapting our missile defense architecture will require rebalance, discipline and difficult choices. Realigning resources to develop advanced technologies and operational concepts means investing less in single-purpose systems incapable against the broader threat. It also requires we accept and manage new kinds of risk. Indeed, meeting the advanced threat may, in the short term, require accepting some strategic risk with North Korea. The beginning of this rebalance requires more distributed, elevated and survivable sensors capable of tracking advanced threats. The most important component here is a proliferated, globally persistent space layer in low-Earth orbit consisting of both passive and active sensors. MDA may be the missile defense-centric organization best suited to developing and integrating this capability into the architecture, but there is considerable opportunity for partnering with others to move out smartly, as recently urged by Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Hyten. Partnerships with the Space Development Agency and the Air Force can be supplemented by collaborative efforts with commercial space companies. We need not do this all at once. Space assets could be fielded in phases, with numbers, capability (sensors, interceptors, lasers), missions, and orbits evolving over time. MDA demonstrated a similar paradigm with the Delta experiments, Miniature Sensor Technology Integration series and the Near Field Infrared Experiment in the past. Meanwhile, other sensors could alleviate the cost of building new, billion-dollar radar on islands in the Pacific Ocean — efforts which continue to suffer delay. Adding infrared tracking sensors to high-altitude drones, for instance, has already been demonstrated experimentally in the Indo-Pacific theater with modified Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles. These need not be dedicated assets. Sensor pod kits could be stored in theater to be deployed aboard Reapers or other platforms during heightened tensions. We must revisit boost-phase defenses and directed energy. In 2010, the Airborne Laser program demonstrated that lasers could destroy missiles in the boost phase, but deploying toxic chemical lasers aboard large commercial aircraft was fiscally and operationally untenable. Fortunately, considerable operational promise exists with recently developed solid-state lasers (the cost of which is around $2 of electricity per shot). We must move these systems out of the laboratory and build and test operational prototypes. Near-term actions to better manage risk against the rogue-state ballistic missile threat must not overtake the pursuit of these larger goals. Although the Pentagon is currently considering a 10-year, $12 billion program for a next-generation interceptor, nearer-term, cheaper options are available. Replacing each existing kill vehicle on the Ground-Based Interceptors with several smaller kill vehicles would multiply each interceptor's effectiveness dramatically. The U.S. has been developing this technology since 2006, including a “hover” flight test in 2009. Affordable solutions like this must be found. Missile defense cannot do it all. Denying, degrading and destroying enemy missile systems prior to launch must be part of the mix. But left-of-launch activities can be expensive and difficult, and reliance on a cyber magic wand carries risk, too. We need to broaden our approach to attack all parts of our adversary's kill chain. The National Defense Strategy urges that we contend with the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be — or as it previously was. To meet the threats of today and tomorrow, we must radically transform our U.S. missile defenses. It falls to the 2021 budget to do so. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/01/31/the-drive-to-advance-missile-defense-is-there-but-there-must-be-funding/