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By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON – The US Navy will need to develop a roadmap for developing future fighter aircraft years after it became apparent that the Navy's mainstay F/A-18 Super Hornet would struggle to keep the carrier outside of range to be effective against Chinese anti-ship missiles. A provision in the Senate Armed Services Committee's mark of the National Defense Authorization Act told the Navy to come up with a concrete plan for fielding next generation fighter aircraft, a move that comes months after congressional appropriators gutted 2020 funding for the Navy's next-generation air dominance program, taking the requested $20.7 million and slashing it to $7.1 million. By way of comparison, the Air Force requested $1 billion in funding for its Next Generation Air Dominance program, but saw a relatively minor 10 percent cut from appropriators that was cited as a “classified adjustment.” The SASC mark “requires the Navy to create a fighter aircraft force structure acquisition strategy and report on aircraft carrier air wing composition and carrier-based strike fighter squadrons to better prepare for potential conflicts envisioned by the National Defense Strategy,” according to a summary posted on the Committee's website. The Navy likely upset the congressional apple cart by zeroing out a planned buy of at least 36 Super Hornets that would have spanned FY22 through FY24. That move that should save $4.5 billion that the service plans to redirect to its sixth-generation fighter program, known as Next Generation Air Dominance or F/A-XX. So, what's F/A-XX? The Navy has tried to address the range issue with fielding an unmanned tanker, the MQ-25 Stingray, but that program could face delays if the Navy's operational schedule doesn't align to allow testing. But what exactly the F/A-XX will be is anyone's guess. The Navy finished an Analysis of Alternatives in June of last year and the spokesman for the Navy's assistant secretary for research, development and acquisition told Defense News earlier this month that the program was in the concept development phase. But some experts believe that given the Navy's budgetary constraints for the foreseeable future, the F/A-XX should be a derivative of a current aircraft. Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a retired submarine officer, said in recent testimony before the House Armed Services Committee that it would make sense to keep buying the F/A-18s to keep the line hot for a potential F/A-XX. “I think the F/A-XX is going to need to be probably a derivative of an existing airplane rather than some complete new clean sheet design given the fiscal constraints we're under,” Clark said. “Therefore, keeping production lines going for both of our existing strike fighters is a good idea to allow both to be an option for this future F/A-XX.” In 2019, formed Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work told Defense News that the next fighter should really be unmanned, and that going that route would help save some money. “The focus should be on the F/A-XX. If you really want range, that has to be the platform you are shooting for,” Work said. “Because with the Navy buying the F-35Cs, and the Marine [Corps] buying the F-35Bs and the Navy buying the Block III Super Hornet, you are not going to be able to afford two or three programs. So, the F/A-XX is the one you need to focus on. And if the analysis shows you need range, that points to unmanned.” But naval aviation has shown very little appetite for fielding an unmanned long-range fighter, and the Navy more generally has been tepid on unmanned technologies, according to former Chief of Naval Operations retired Adm. Garry Roughead, who testified at HASC alongside Clark. “I reflect that we flew an unmanned aircraft off of an aircraft carrier in 2012,” Roughead said. “2012! That has not happened again. Eight years, in my mind, of a hiatus in trying to advance this new technology is not aggressive by any stretch of the imagination.” Valerie Insinna contributed to this report from Washington. https://www.defensenews.com/2020/06/15/with-the-future-us-navys-carrier-air-wing-murky-congress-demands-a-plan/

By: Andrew Chuter LONDON – Four international consortia have been shortlisted by Britain's Ministry of Defence to enter the final stage of bidding to operate ground control facilities for its Skynet satellite communications network. Teams led by Airbus Defence & Space, Babcock Integrated Technology, BT and Serco, have been down-selected for the Skynet 6 Service Delivery Wrap program following the MoD's Defence Digital organization release of an invitation to tender document to the remaining contenders June 12. The make-up of one of the teams vying for the ground station operations contract is already known, while others have yet to announce who their partners are. Serco has declared its team will involve satellite operator Inmarsat, IT specialist CGI UK and the U.K. arm of defense giant Lockheed Martin. British communications company BT, Babcock and Airbus are all keeping their teaming arrangements under wraps for the time being. Airbus, Britain's biggest satellite builder, did though coincide the MoD Skynet 6 down-select with a separate space partnering announcement of its own. The company said June 16 it had teamed with KBR, Leidos UK, Northrop Grumman and QinetiQ to launch a new space initiative known as Open Innovation-Space aimed at increasing British involvement in future satellite communications efforts. No mention was made by Airbus of the Skynet 6 program. All the companies are working under strict Skynet 6 non-disclosure agreements with the MoD which forbid communication with the media and others. The ground station program is the second part of the MoD's wider Skynet 6 project to equip the military and government with a new generation of beyond-line-of-sight communications capabilities starting around 2028. The Skynet 6 program has already seen Airbus start work on a new satellite, called Skynet 6A, to act as a capability gap filler between 2025 and the introduction of the follow-on, new-generation capacity. A deal for preliminary design work and long-lead time manufacture was signed by Airbus and the MoD in March and the contract to build the Skynet 6A spacecraft is in the final stages of government approval and expected to be announced within weeks. The other two key parts of a program presently expected to cost in total around £6 billion ($7.6 billion) are the Enduring Capability project, to provide next generation communications capabilities, and the Secure Telemetry, Tracking and Command (STTC) project for providing assured sovereign control and management of satellites. The MoD has settled its STTC requirements for SkyNet 6A but its options for the longer term remain open. Work on defining what the Enduring Capability requirement might look like has been underway for a while and industry executives here expect the effort to be ramped up in the coming months with the first tranche of recommendations due to be presented to the MoD early next year, said people with knowledge of the program. The next-generation communications requirement is planned to get underway next year with the release by MoD of a pre-qualification questionnaire. One industry executive, who asked not to be named, said securing the Service Delivery Wrap deal was an important stepping stone towards satellite builders securing the big prize – the Enduring Capability requirement. “It will help the winning consortium secure local skills in the sector, help in understanding the customers communications requirements and assist in filling in the revenue gaps between what is often sporadic investment in satellites and payloads,” the executive said. Space is an industrial and military priority for the British, and while it remains unclear how the worsening economic picture here might impact defense spending it is hoped the sector ,and programs like SkyNet 6 and the Galileo global navigation satellite system replacement project, might escape the worst of the expected cuts. One cost cutting option the British are reckoned to have been looking at is to use future SkyNet 6 spacecraft to double up its use by carrying a GNSS capability as well. Skynet ground facilities are currently operated by Airbus as part of a wider private finance initiative (PFI) deal signed in 2003 to build, own and operate a constellation of communication satellites and associated capabilities on behalf of the British military. That deal expires Aug 2022. The winning Service Delivery Wrap contender is slated to take over ground operations from that point after a transition phase. In a contract note issued June 16 the MoD said the return date of the invitation to tender is set for June next year. The Service Delivery Wrap arrangement runs for five years, not including any transition phase, with two single-year extension options also expected to be included in the deal. The terms of the existing PFI arrangement entail the MoD paying a nominal fee of a Pound in exchange for which it will take ownership of hundreds of millions of Pounds worth of assets in the shape of ground infrastructure and the Skynet 4 and 5 satellite fleets currently operated by Airbus. This time around the MoD wants to retain overall ownership of the capability in order to help grow its space skills and management experience by way of owning the ground station assets with the winning consortium working under a straightforward service provision deal. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/06/16/british-mod-shortlists-four-vendor-teams-for-its-multibillion-dollar-skynet-satellite-program/

Réunis à Bruxelles, les ministres de la Défense européens ont appelé mardi 16 juin à un redémarrage rapide des missions de défense et de sécurité communes momentanément interrompues par la crise du Covid. Ils appellent à aller de l'avant dans les opérations, à renforcer le fonds européen de défense, à aller vers un outil de financement pour pouvoir équiper les armées entraînées comme au Mali et enfin à affermir la base industrielle et technologique de défense européenne afin de réduire toute dépendance dans les secteurs critiques. « Le terme d'autonomie stratégique, longtemps tabou, est désormais accepté de tous, même si tous les pays n'en ont pas la même interprétation de peur d'opposer leur appartenance à l'Otan et à l'Union européenne », explique un membre de l'entourage de la ministre de la Défense Florence Parly aux Echos. Les Echos du 16 juin 2020

The Canadian Press OTTAWA — Canada's national shipbuilding plan was rocked by yet another cost increase on Monday as the federal government revealed it will pay $4.1 billion for two long-overdue support ships for the navy — an increase of $1.5 billion from initial estimates. The revelation came as Ottawa officially awarded a contract for the full construction of the two new Protecteur-class joint support ships to Vancouver's Seaspan shipyards, which has already started work on the first of the vessels. Seaspan was first tapped to build the two ships and several coast guard vessels in 2011, at which point the supply ships were expected to cost $2.6 billion. The figure was later revised to $3.4 billion before another $700 million was added Monday. The first of the support ships was to have been delivered by 2019. The government says it now doesn't expect the first ship before 2023, with the second due in 2025. Seaspan has been under contract to work on some parts of the first ship since June 2018. The Royal Canadian Navy has been without a full-time support ship since 2014 and is currently relying on a converted civilian vessel that is being leased from Quebec's Chantier Davie shipyard to fill the gap. That ship, the MV Asterix, was at the heart of the failed prosecution of retired vice-admiral Mark Norman. The Liberal government was playing down the cost increase to the support ships on Monday, with senior ministers touting the importance of the vessels to the Royal Canadian Navy and the jobs that the project is creating in Vancouver and elsewhere. "These new ships will provide a necessary capability for our Royal Canadian Navy, while providing significant economic benefits and jobs to Canadians, including thousands of jobs created or sustained," Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said in a statement. Yet the cost increase is the latest to hit the shipbuilding plan, which has been plagued by delays and budget increases for years. The plan is intended to recapitalize the majority of Canada's naval and coast guard fleets. The entire plan to buy new warships to replace the navy's frigates and destroyers, several Arctic patrol vessels, a polar icebreaker and four science vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard in addition to the two support ships was pegged in 2011 at $35 billion. The warships alone are now expected to cost at least $65 billion while the rest of the projects have either seen similar budget increases or their budgets are under review. The delivery schedules for the projects have also been pushed back numerous times. Defence analyst David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute noted the new cost for the support ships is almost exactly how much Parliament's budget watchdog estimated following an analysis in 2013. The Conservative government at the time refuted the parliamentary budget officer's estimate, with then-public works minister Rona Ambrose saying appropriate safeguards had been put into place to protect taxpayers. "There's not a lot of detail in this today so it's hard to do a line by line," Perry said. "But superficially at least, the PBO's report from 2013 — which I recall being pooh-poohed pretty extensively — has held up pretty well." Ottawa has in recent years produced update cost estimates for most of the vessels being built through the federal shipbuilding plan. However, budgets for the polar icebreaker and an offshore science vessel for the coast guard are still under review. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2020. https://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/news/canada-to-pay-4-1b-for-navy-support-ships-in-latest-cost-increase-1.24153254

This year, at UAV Technology, SMi Group has announced the Royal Australian Air Force's Deputy Director RPAS, Lieutenant Colonel Keirin Joyce, as a speaker on the last day of the two-day event. Initially starting off his career in engineering and helicopters, Lieutenant Colonel Keirin Joyce found himself getting involved on the new drone program for the Australian Army, eventually progressing onto being one of the key assets for the organisation as the Australian Army Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Sub-Program Manager responsible for all Australian Army UAS activities 13 years later.* (Source: Flight Safety Australia). Interested parties will be able to save £200 off the conference price by 30th June: http://www.uav-technology.org/robtommPR4 The 5th annual UAV Technology will reconvene in London, UK on the 28th - 29th September 2020. The meeting will provide delegates with an opportunity to meet with high profile military and government personnel and hear their key insights as they present their exclusive briefings and exhibit their new technologies at the conference. Following his extensive background in the UAS sector, Lieutenant Colonel Keirin Joyce, Deputy Director RPAS, Royal Australian Air Force will provide an exclusive presentation on: ‘Royal Australian Air Force Armed RPAS Procurement' • Shift towards armed RPAS: why the RAAF is acquiring the MQ-9B Sky Guardian and how this fit into wider defence modernisation - "Jericho Edge" • Acquisition programme progress and lessons learned from working with industry • How the RAAF is preparing its manpower and infrastructure to support the MQ-9B and further opportunities for industry to engage • Where the RAAF is going future force development with UAVs, both UCAV and ISR For the full speaker list and the programme, visit: http://www.uav-technology.org/robtommPR4 UAV Technology 28th - 29th September 2020 London, UK Sponsored by: AeroVironment, Fizoptika, Leonardo and Mynaric For sponsorship and exhibition queries please contact Justin Predescu jpredescu@smi-online.co.uk or call +44 (0) 20 7827 6130 For delegate queries please contact Sadia Malick smalick@smi-online.co.uk or call +44(0)207 827 6748 For media queries please contact Carina Gozo at CGozo@smi-online.co.uk. *'Drone Flyer Diaries - LTCOL Keirin Joyce' (Source: Flight Safety Australia, Dec 2019) https://www.flightsafetyaustralia.com/2019/12/drone-flyer-diaries-ltcol-keirin-joyce/ https://www.roboticstomorrow.com/news/2020/06/15/royal-australian-air-force-to-speak-at-uav-technology-2020-/15355/

The decision signals the project won't be delayed by pandemic-driven deficit spending Murray Brewster · CBC News · Posted: Jun 15, 2020 2:45 PM The Liberal government has awarded a $2.4 billion contract to finish the overall construction of the navy's long-awaited supply ships. Today's announcement moves forward a Joint Support Ship program over a decade-and-a-half in the making. It also appears to signal the federal government remains committed to its multi-billion shipbuilding program despite record levels of pandemic-driven federal deficit spending. The contract, with Seaspan's Vancouver Shipyards, is for the construction of two replenishment vessels, Public Services and Procurement Canada said in a statement. Now that the construction deal has been signed, the overall price tag of the program — including design — is expected to be $4.1 billion, up from an earlier estimate of $3.4 billion. Seven years ago, the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) predicted the cost would end up where it has — an estimate that was roundly criticized and dismissed by the Conservatives, who were in power at the time. "The government announcement today did not have a whole ton of detail, so it's hard to do an exact comparison, but I certainly think that PBO estimate from a long time ago has held up pretty well over time," said Dave Perry, an expert in defence procurement and vice president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. The first supply ship is to be delivered in 2023, and the second vessel is supposed to arrive two years later. The yard started construction on certain portions of the first ship in 2018, while final design work was still underway — something that alarmed and even baffled some defence and shipbuilding experts. 'Business as usual' With the federal deficit expected to swell to over $252.1 billion because of COVID-19 relief measures, many in the defence community had been speculating that existing spending plans for the supply ships would be curtailed or scaled back. In a statement, federal Public Services Minister Anita Anand suggested the Liberal government is committed to staying the course. "This contract award is yet another example of our ongoing commitment to the National Shipbuilding Strategy, which is supporting a strong and sustainable marine sector in Canada," she said. Perry said he takes it as a sign the Liberals intend to proceed with their defence construction plans in the face of fiscal and economic uncertainty. "It is an indicator that, despite being business under some very unusual circumstances, it is still government business-as-usual under COVID," he said. In the same government statement, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan pointed out that an enormous amount of preparation work has been done already and he's pleased the project is moving forward. "An impressive amount of work has already gone into the construction of these new ships, and I look forward to their arrival in the coming years." said Sajjan. Construction during COVID-19 A senior executive at Seaspan said work to adapt the design from the original German plan (the Canadian ship is based on the German Navy's Berlin-Class replenishment vessel) was completed last year and work on the superstructure of the first Joint Support Ship — started in 2018 — has been proceeding apace, even through the pandemic. "It is well advanced," said Amy MacLeod, the company's vice-president of corporate affairs. "We are ready to continue. We're very, very happy with the quality of the ship, the progress of the ship, the momentum that we have and the expertise we have gained." The shipyard did not pause construction due to the pandemic — but it did have to figure out ways to carry on under strict physical distancing rules. "We, like everybody else, had to understand how to run a business in a pandemic," said MacLeod. "We made a lot of changes on how we build our ships." Turnstiles to enter and exit the yard were eliminated and the company went high-tech with a "heat map" that shows where everyone is working and how much space there is between individual workers. "And where we couldn't ensure appropriate social distancing because of COVID, we stopped that work." Perry said the gap between the construction of the two supply ships worries him to a degree. Seaspan intends to construct an ocean science vessel for the coast guard under a plan agreed to with the Liberal government in 2019. Any delay or hiccup in the construction of that ship could mean the delivery of the second naval vessel is pushed back even further, Perry said. Extending the navy's range News of the contract will come as a relief to the navy. Having replenishment ships to refuel and rearm frigates would allow the navy to deploy entire task groups to far-flung parts of the world. "With these warships, the Royal Canadian Navy will be able to operate with even greater flexibility and endurance," said Vice-Admiral Art McDonald, commander of the navy. "These ships will not only form part of the core of our naval task groups, they also represent a vital and strategic national asset that will enable the Navy to maintain its global reach and staying power." A tortured history It was 1994 when the replacement program was first discussed. The deficit-slashing years of that decade meant the plan was shelved. Resurrected in 2004, the Liberal government of former prime minister Paul Martin hoped to have the ships in the water by 2008 to replace the three-decade-old supply ships the navy had been operating. Faced with cost estimates well over what they had expected, the Conservative government of former prime minister Stephen Harper shelved the Liberal plan on the eve of the 2008 federal election. More than five years later, the navy was forced to retire both aging supply ships after one of them was crippled by a devastating fire. The absence of replenishment capability led the Harper government to lease a converted civilian supply ship from a private company, Federal Fleet Services, which operates out of the Davie Shipyard in Levis, Que. That plan led to a political and legal scandal when the former commander of the navy, Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, was accused of leaking cabinet secrets related to the plan. The Crown withdrew the charge a year ago after a protracted pre-trial court battle. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/supply-ship-navy-seaspan-1.5612770

La Commission Européenne a annoncé que 205 M€ allaient être débloqués afin de soutenir le fonds européen de la défense et plus précisément les initiatives PADR (volet recherche) et EDIDP (volet développement). « Renforcer l'autonomie stratégique et la compétitivité industrielle de l'Union européenne ». La commission européenne a annoncé le 15 juin qu'un financement de 205 M€ avait été approuvé dans le cadre du fonds européen de la défense, une somme qui devrait ainsi permettre de soutenir au total 19 projets européens. Parmi cet ensemble, 16 projets se consacrent aux questions de défense et 3 autres sont orientés vers les « technologies de rupture qui seront menés à l'échelle paneuropéenne » précise la Commission européenne. Par ailleurs, notons que les projets menés dans le cadre du FEDEF s'inscrivent dans la continuité du développement de l'Europe de la Défense, avec 9 propositions issues de projets CSP (coopération structurée permanente). Préparer la création du fonds européen de défense. Dans ce cadre, ces projets seront développés à travers les initiatives PADR (preparatory action on defence research) et EDIDP (european industrial developement programme), qualifiés comme étant « deux programmes précurseurs d'un véritable Fonds européen de la défense ». Le premier se concentre sur le volet recherche lorsque le second vise à soutenir les développements industriels. Thierry Breton, commissaire au marché intérieur, s'est réjoui de cette annonce et a ainsi déclaré : « Ces projets prometteurs démontrent la capacité de l'Union à promouvoir et à soutenir la coopération entre les industries de la défense sur le territoire européen et entre les États membres. En développant des technologies et des capacités de défense de haut niveau, nous renforçons la résilience et l'autonomie stratégique de l'Union. Tous les participants à la chaîne de valeur dans le secteur de la défense, quelles que soient leur taille et leur origine au sein de l'Union, peuvent en retirer des bénéfices. Doté d'un niveau de financement adéquat, le Fonds européen de la défense permettra d'étoffer considérablement ces premiers succès ». Un intérêt paneuropéen. Outre les financements, la Commission Européenne a également tenu à souligner l'intérêt des entreprises de l'Union pour ces dispositifs, puisque au total de 40 propositions qui ont été soumise au titre de l'EDIDP, 16 ayant finalement été sélectionnées et représentant 223 entités. Plus de 24 Etats membres étaient ainsi représentés. Par ailleurs, ces fonds permettent de soutenir l'ensemble du tissu industriel européen et attirent particulièrement les PME et ETI qui peuvent, par ce biais, nouer des partenariats mais également diviser les coûts de R&D. « Les PME représentent 37% (83 entreprises) du nombre total d'entités bénéficiaires d'un financement au titre de l'EDIDP, ce qui montre le rôle important des appels à propositions spécifiques pour les PME et des bonus PME mis en place », détaille ainsi la Commission Européenne. Les technologies futures. La Commission Européenne rappelle enfin que l'ensemble des projets retenus permettent de répondre aux priorités fixées par les Etats européens et qu'un volet important est consacré aux technologies de rupture. Parmi les axes de recherche et développement, un effort particulier est consacré aux drones, aux solutions spatiales, aux véhicules terrestres sans pilote, aux systèmes de missile de haute précision, aux futures plateformes navales, aux capacités d'attaque électronique aéroportées, aux réseaux tactiques et de haute sécurité, aux plateformes de « Cyber situational awareness » ainsi qu'aux solutions basées sur la furtivité active. https://air-cosmos.com/article/205-m-pour-le-fonds-europen-de-la-dfense-23237

Lee Hudson Fleet Readiness Center East is now certified to repair and test 14 F-35 components as part of a new public-private partnership with Lockheed Martin. FRCE is the lead site for depot-level maintenance on the F-35B short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing variant. Since 2013, the depot has conducted modification and repair for all three F-35 variants. FRCE provides engineering and logistics support for naval aviation, the other services, federal agencies and foreign governments. “This is a new workload coming in for Fleet Readiness Center East,” Steve Gurley, F-35 capability establishment at FRCE, said in a June 15 statement. “We inducted our first F-35 valve in February, into our valves and regulators shop. That valve is the first of 14 components that we've declared capability on.” Components of FRCE will work on span from valves, to ejection seats, to a turbomachine that provides power to start the jet's engine. The depot has declared capability in repairing and testing 14 components and anticipates that list growing to more than 105 components for the F-35. This new work positions FRCE to have a scheduled workload through 2024, Gurley said. Each new component declaration requires an in-depth analysis of current workload, future workload, facilities and required skill sets. “Our team consists of logisticians, industrial engineering technicians, engineers, facilities, program managers and the business office,” Gurley said. When FRCE establishes a new capability, the goal is to begin operation at full capacity and work through any unexpected obstacles. “We don't want to induct a component for repair and then have it go right into a delay status for material, or something that we have control over,” Gurley said. The plan is for FRCE to go from 14 F-35 components to 57 through November 2021. Some of the components are on the fleet's top degrader list, meaning when FRCE can repair and test those components it should help support F-35 readiness rates. https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/aircraft-propulsion/lockheed-us-military-establish-f-35-public-private-partnership

by Ashley Roque The US Army has awarded General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) with a USD2.5 billion contract to produce Stryker Double V-Hull A1 (DVHA1) vehicles. Service plans call for fielding 331 Stryker DVHA1s to the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division and this new contract covers seven years of work that will be completed by May 2027, according to Ashley John, the public affairs director for the army's Program Executive Office for Ground Combat Systems. “[This contract] includes a new hull configuration, increased armour, upgraded suspension and braking systems, wider tyres, blast-attenuating seats, and a height management system,” John told Janes on 15 June. In addition to increasing the chassis payload capacity from 55,000 to 63,000 lb, the DVHA1 upgrades include replacing the 350 horsepower Caterpillar C7 engine with a 450 horsepower Caterpillar C9 engine, replacing a 570 amp alternator with a 910 amp alternator capable of supporting electrical power required for future network upgrades, and more, according to the 2019 Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) report. Meanwhile, the army is also in the midst of a competition to pick a vendor to outfit Stryker DVHA1 vehicles with 30 mm cannons under the Medium Calibre Weapons System (MCWS) effort. Last year, the army awarded six companies – EOS Defense Systems, GDLS, Kollsman, Leonardo DRS, Pratt Miller, and Raytheon – with contracts valued at up to USD150,000. Each company was also given a Stryker DVHA1 and an XM813 cannon, and tasked with building a ‘production-representative vehicle' that integrates a government-provided weapon station onto the vehicle. https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/gdls-secures-usd25-billion-contract-for-us-army-stryker-dvha1