News

By: Mark Pomerleau The Army is nearing the finalization of its first set of requirements for a vehicle-based assured position, navigation and timing solution. The six- to seven-page capabilities requirements document is waiting signature from Army leadership, Willie Nelson, director of the assured-PNT cross-functional team, said Oct. 9 at the Association of the United States Army annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Nelson described this feat as a somewhat watershed moment for the Army because the service has been trying for years to compete a requirements document. Previously, the approach was trying to come up with a systems-of-systems approach for the entire Army that ended up being too big and too expensive. Now, the approach is to break off smaller chunks to be more manageable. This includes a mounted requirement, which is completed and awaiting signature, a dismounted requirement, which is also nearly complete, as well as others. The program managers are now using rapid equipping contracting vehicles to get after solutions in this space immediately. Nelson also said the plan for engaging industry is to ask for specific solutions within each of the position, navigation and timing sectors as opposed to only something that addresses all the above. “I break it down because I think everybody has an area within that. Maybe you've got a specialty area where you've got a unique or innovative capability that can help in one of these areas, we're all ears,” he said. The Army is planning an industry day in Austin, Texas, for February or March where it plans to provide industry with technical and program or record roadmaps in the the mounted, dismounted and aerial spheres of assured-PNT realm. https://www.c4isrnet.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2018/10/09/the-army-finally-knows-what-it-needs-to-help-gps-denied-troops

News release October 9, 2018 – Ottawa – National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces Canada and Mexico share a common interest in addressing issues of mutual concern, in order to advance our respective nations' security and prosperity. Both countries are committed to establishing stronger defence ties and enhancing hemispheric relations. Canada's support to the Americas is multifaceted, helping contribute to the safety and stability of the region, while adhering to and exemplifying the values of Canadians. Highlighting those mutually shared priorities, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan today signed the Canada-Mexico Defence Cooperation Arrangement with General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, Secretary of National Defense and Admiral Vidal Francisco Sob‎erón Sanz, Secretary of the Navy. The signing of a bilateral Canada-Mexico Defence Cooperation Arrangement is an important step forward in the evolving Canada-Mexico relationship. This Defence Cooperation Arrangement will provide a mechanism to further collaborate in a number of key areas, including defence education, training, and capacity building; defence materiel; peace support operations; and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. Quotes "Canada and Mexico enjoy a close partnership, including strong defence ties. Canada welcomes the signing of this Defence Cooperation Arrangement with our friend and hemispheric partner, Mexico, on the margins of a successful Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas. ‎We look forward to continuing to work with Mexico to advance our shared defence priorities." Harjit S. Sajjan, Defence Minister Quick facts The Canada-Mexico Defence Cooperation Arrangement was signed on the margins of the Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas held in Mexico from October 7 to October 10, 2018. Both Canada and Mexico's commitment to establishing stronger defence ties has resulted in measured progress in defence engagement over the last few years including high-level visits, strategic and operational dialogue, and training opportunities. Mexico has been a member of the Military Training and Cooperation Program (MTCP) since 2004. For 2018/19, 73 MTCP course allocations to Mexico are planned, subject to in-year change, including senior staff positions on the prestigious National Security Program, Joint Command and Staff Program, and Army Operations Course. Associated links Canada – Mexico Relations Contacts Byrne Furlong Press Secretary Office of the Minister of National Defence Phone: 613-996-3100 Email: byrne.furlong@forces.gc.ca Media Relations Department of National Defence Phone: 613-996-2353 Email: mlo-blm@forces.gc.ca https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2018/10/government-of-canada-signs-defence-cooperation-arrangement-with-mexico.html

David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen The radar sites detect potential threats entering North America's airspace and transmit a stream of data to military command centres in the south CAMBRIDGE BAY, Nunavut — The white domes that rise from the tundra look innocuous enough, and yet they play a critical role in protecting millions of Canadians and Americans thousands of kilometres away. Inside, where photographs are forbidden, they are like a time capsule from the late 1980s, the décor still reflecting the late Cold War era when the Canadian and U.S. governments established the North Warning System, the chain of mostly unmanned radar sites of which the Cambridge Bay facility is a part. Spanning Canada's northern coastline across the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Labrador, the radar sites exist to detect potential threats entering North America's airspace, transmitting a stream of data to military command centres in the south. At the Cambridge Bay site, dozens of civilian contractors — employees of Raytheon Canada — work around the clock to keep the installation operating in temperatures that can dip to -60 C in January or February. At times during the winter, Arctic storms almost completely cover some of the sites in snow, requiring contractors to climb through hatches in the roofs of the buildings to conduct maintenance work. But the North Warning System now faces a threat greater than the harsh Arctic environment. In seven years the radar system is expected to be obsolete. The Canadian and U.S. governments are trying to figure out how to upgrade the radars for modern times — opening the door that the sensors could be plugged in to the Pentagon's missile defence system as well as be modernized so they can track a new generation of Russian cruise missiles. Canada and the U.S. are trying to figure out technological improvements for the early warning system and are in the midst of discussions on the topic. A joint study on continental defence is expected to be finished by next year, Department of National Defence spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier told Postmedia. “Following the completion of the study, Canada and the United States will determine the next steps for the replacement of the NWS and update the project timelines accordingly,” he added. But that could emerge as yet another point of contention between Canada and the Trump administration in the U.S., which has already admonished Canada for not spending enough on defence. The last time the U.S. and Canada modernized the radar system was during the tenure of U.S. President Ronald Reagan, when relations between the two nations were on a solid footing. “Negotiating with the Trump administration is going to be a lot different than with the Reagan government,” explained defence analyst Martin Shadwick. “Trump will be the wild card.” Shadwick said details about funding and what the radars need to do in the future could become sticking points. The Liberal government has recognized it has to do something about what it calls the capability gaps in the North Warning System. “While the current NWS is approaching the end of its life expectancy from a technological and functional perspective, unfortunately the range of potential threats to the continent, such as that posed by adversarial cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, has become more complex and increasingly difficult to detect,” the government's defence strategy, released last year, pointed out. But the Liberals did not include funding for the modernization of the NWS in that policy, saying it would come later. Canada is currently responsible for 40 per cent of the cost of the North Warning System, with the remaining 60 per cent falling to the Americans. Canada owns the sites and provides the site operations and maintenance while the U.S. owns the radar and radio equipment. Ernie Regehr, a senior fellow in Arctic security and defence at The Simons Foundation, has found that while the cost for upgrading the North Warning System is unknown at this time it can be expected to run into the billions of dollars. Canada and the U.S. share the responsibility for a credible contribution to the defence of North America, Regehr pointed out. “And the American definition of credible is the one that counts,” he wrote in a March briefing for the Simons Foundation. Full article: https://nationalpost.com/news/modernizing-warning-radars-in-the-arctic-will-cost-canada-and-the-us-billions-of-dollars

AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Florida, has been awarded a $390,792,959 firm-fixed-price, fixed-price-incentive-fee contract for Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) lot 16 production for 360 JASSM-extended range, three foreign military sales (FMS) separation text vehicles, one FMS flight test vehicle-live fire and tooling and test equipment. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, and is expected to be completed by Oct. 31, 2021. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. This award uses fiscal 2018 missile procurement funds and FMS funds. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity (FA8682-19-C-0009). Applied Defense Solutions Inc., Columbia, Maryland, has been awarded a $7,526,650 fixed-price and cost-reimbursement modification (P00015) to contract FA255017C8002 for non-governmental space situational awareness services. This modification provides for the exercise of an option for an additional quantity of 12 months of services under the basic contract. Work will be performed at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, and is expected to be completed by Oct. 18, 2019. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $26,458,756. The 50th Contracting Squadron, Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Oct. 4, 2018). CORRECTION: The contract announced on Oct. 4, 2018, to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, (FA8620-18-F-2365) for $19,446,593 has not awarded. ARMY General Dynamics Land Systems, Sterling Heights, Michigan, was awarded a $366,852,050 modification (0002 04) to contract W56HZV-17-D-B020 for upgrade of Stryker flat-bottom vehicles to the Double V-Hull Engineering Change Proposal 1 configuration. Work will be performed in Sterling Heights, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2021. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 procurement of weapons and tracked vehicle funds in the amount of $366,852,050 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity. The Boeing Co., Mesa, Arizona, was awarded a $242,109,170 modification (P00021) to foreign military sales (United Arab Emirates) contract W58RGZ-16-C-0023 for the remanufacture of eight, and procurement of nine new-build Apache AH-64E aircraft. Work will be performed in Mesa, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 28, 2023. Fiscal 2010 foreign military sales funds in the amount of $242,109,170 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Federal Contracting Inc., doing business as Bryan Construction, Colorado Springs, Colorado, was awarded a $52,812,678 firm-fixed-price contract for design and construction of a squadron operations facility and associated operational training facilities at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico. Bids were solicited via the internet with 15 received. Work will be performed in Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico, with an estimated completion date of April 1, 2021. Fiscal 2015 and 2016 military construction funds in the amount of $52,812,678 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque, New Mexico, is the contracting activity (W912PP-19-C-0001). General Dynamics Land Systems, Sterling Heights, Michigan, was awarded a $24,957,920 modification (0001 19) to contract W56HZV-17-D-B020 for upgrade of Stryker flat-bottom vehicles to the Double V-Hull Engineering Change Proposal 1 configuration. Work will be performed in Sterling Heights, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2021. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 procurement of weapons and tracked vehicle funds in the amount of $24,957,920 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity. M.R. Pittman Group LLC,* Saint Rose, Louisiana, was awarded a $17,255,645 firm-fixed-price contract for interim closure structure demolition. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in New Orleans, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of May 8, 2020. Fiscal 2014 other procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $17,255,645 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-19-C-0001). Short-Elliott-Hendrickson Inc., Lacrosse, Wisconsin, was awarded a $19,500,000 firm-fixed-price contract for architect and engineering services for the Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, Department of Public Works. Bids were solicited via the internet with nine received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 5, 2023. U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command, Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, is the contracting activity (W911SA-19-D-2001). Keysight Technologies, Englewood, Colorado, was awarded an $8,977,287 firm-fixed-price contract for Oscilloscopes 307/U. Two 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 Sept. 28, 2023. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-18-D-0081). NAVY Donjon Marine Co. Inc., Hillside, New Jersey, was awarded a maximum value $215,000,000 cost-plus-award-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for salvage related towing, harbor clearance, ocean engineering project and point-to-point towing services. The primary purpose of this contract is to provide services to assist in the performance of salvage of ships, craft, cargo, and other items as tasked (e.g., aircraft, weaponry, equipment); salvage related towing, harbor clearance; and point-to-point towing; and ocean engineering projects in support of the Supervisor of Salvage. Work will be performed along the North and South American East Coast, and is expected to be completed by September 2023. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $50,000 was obligated at the time of award and expired at the end of the fiscal 2018. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with four offers received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-18-D-4307). (Awarded Sept. 28, 2018) SMIT Salvage Americas LLC, Houston, Texas, was awarded a maximum value $215,000,000 cost-plus-award-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for salvage related towing, harbor clearance, ocean engineering project and point-to-point towing services. The primary purpose of this contract is to provide services to assist in the performance of salvage of ships, craft, cargo, and other items as tasked (e.g., aircraft, weaponry, equipment); salvage related towing, harbor clearance; and point-to-point towing; and ocean engineering projects in support of the Supervisor of Salvage, SEA. Work will be performed along the North and South American West Coast, and is expected to be completed by September 2023. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $5,000 was obligated at the time of award and expired at the end of the fiscal 2018. This contract was competitively procured via Federal Business Opportunities website, with one offer received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-18-D-4308). (Awarded Sept. 28, 2018) SMIT Singapore PTE LTD, Singapore, was awarded a maximum value $215,000,000 cost-plus-award-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for salvage related towing, harbor clearance, ocean engineering project and point-to-point towing services. The primary purpose of this contract is to provide services to assist in the performance of salvage of ships, craft, cargo, and other items as tasked (e.g., aircraft, weaponry, equipment); salvage related towing, harbor clearance; and point-to-point towing; and ocean engineering projects in support of the Supervisor of Salvage. Work will be performed across the Western Pacific region, and is expected to be completed by September 2023. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $5,000 was obligated at the time of award and expired at the end of the fiscal 2018. This contract was competitively procured via Federal Business Opportunities website, with two offers received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-18-D-4309). (Awarded Sept. 28, 2018) PAE Applied Technologies LLC, Arlington, Virginia, is awarded a $24,292,143 cost-plus-award-fee modification to previously-awarded contract (N66604-05-C-1277), increasing the cumulative total value of the contract for operation and maintenance services for the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC). AUTEC is the U.S. Navy's large-area, deep-water, undersea test and evaluation range. Underwater research, testing and evaluation of anti-submarine weapons, sonar tracking and communications are the predominant activities conducted at AUTEC. The contractor performs services required to perform AUTEC range operations and maintenance of facilities and range systems. In addition, the contractor is responsible for operating a self-sufficient one-square-mile Navy outpost. This modification increases the total value of the contract to $788,075,722. Work will be performed on Andros Island, Commonwealth of the Bahamas (82 percent); West Palm Beach, Florida (18 percent); and is expected to be completed by September 2019. No contract funds are being obligated at this time. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Newport Division, Newport, Rhode Island, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Corp., Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded $8,020,809 for cost-plus-fixed-fee order N6339419F0003 under a previously awarded basic ordering agreement (N6339417G0001) for engineering services in support of land-based test site maintenance, inventory control, diminishing material source efforts, and program management for the Mk 92 fire control system. This order includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this order to $9,276,806. The order combines purchases for the Navy (16 percent); and the governments of Philippines (40 percent); Egypt (20 percent); Saudi Arabia (16 percent); Poland (4 percent); and Taiwan (2 percent). Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama (26 percent); Philippines (20 percent); Egypt (17 percent); Moorestown, New Jersey (13 percent); Saudi Arabia (13 percent); Port Hueneme, California (4 percent); Poland (3 percent); Taiwan (2 percent); and Nigeria (2 percent); and is expected to be completed by September 2022. Foreign military sales (other defense agencies) funding in the amount of $2,579,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme, California, is the contracting activity. U.S. TRANSPORTATION COMMAND Jacobs Technology Inc., Tampa, Florida, has been awarded a contract modification P00017 on contract HTC711-17-C-D001 in the amount of $18,940,678. This modification provides continued Information Technology Service Management Enterprise support to the U.S. Transportation Command (US TRANSCOM). Work will be performed primarily on-site at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, and other locations: DISA DECC, St Louis, Missouri; USTRANSCOM Office, Washington District of Columbia; JECC, Norfolk, Virginia; and the Pentagon. The option period of performance is from Oct. 1, 2018, to Sept. 30, 2019. Fiscal 2019 transportation working capital funds operations, operations and maintenance and Defense Health Program funds were obligated at award. This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $48,981,052 from $30,040,374. U.S. Transportation Command, Directorate of Acquisition, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Airtronics Inc.,* Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a maximum $13,644,800 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contract for aviation cable assemblies. This was a competitive acquisition with three offers received. This is a two-year base contract with a one-year option period. Location of performance is Arizona, with an Oct. 16, 2021, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Richmond, Virginia (SPE4A619D0001). DCX-CHOL Enterprises, Inc.,* Chatsworth, California, has been awarded a maximum $12,960,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contract for aviation cable assemblies. This was a competitive acquisition with three offers received. This is a two-year base contract with a one-year option period. Location of performance is California, with an Oct. 16, 2021, performance completion date. Using military service Army. The type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Richmond, Virginia (SPE4A619D0002). *Small Business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1656310/source/GovDelivery/

By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — Lt. Gen. Eric Wesley is the new Army Capabilities Integration Center director and the first director to guide the center's efforts under the purview of the brand-new Army Futures Command, as opposed to Training and Doctrine Command, where the center lived since its inception. ARCIC will be responsible for the development of future operational and war-fighting concepts that align and inform the service's major modernization priorities that Futures Command is tasked to develop in a new and rapid way. In an unprecedented method, concept and capability development will be formed in parallel. In a wide-ranging interview with Defense News, Wesley discussed how the Army is evolving its major operational concept — Multidomain Operations 1.5 — and how ARCIC will continue to align modernization strategy with the concept as the Army heads toward a fully modernized force by 2028 — one that can provide overmatch against peer adversaries. When are you coming out with the new version of the Army's Multidomain Operations concept (MDO 1.5)? Will it be at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference? We're teasing it out. What we're going to do is deliver all of the principles and tenets of this new concept, and then you'll see the signed version within 30 days of that. Why is getting the MDO concept right so critical? I'll say upfront this is the most fundamental rewrite of an operational concept since AirLand Battle that was published in 1982. Concepts are critical, particularly at a point in time when you see the world's dynamics fundamentally shift in a way that you've got to, in many ways, reconfigure or redesign and modernize your army. What has changed in the world that requires multidomain operations? I'd say there are a number of things. But if there's a word that you want to remember in terms of identifying the challenges we face within the pacing threats, it is the word “standoff.” And what [our adversaries] have invested in are things that mitigate against the United States and our partners and allies' strengths. We're very good at close combat, and they've watched us over the last 30 years or so. And when you give the United States and our coalition partners and allies time to build up against it, usually the outcome is preordained based on ability to get into position and conduct operations the way we like to conduct them. So recognizing that, they've invested in what we oftentimes refer to as anti-access, area denial capabilities, which serendipitously came parallel with our withdrawal from the continent of Europe and the Korean Peninsula over the last 30 years. Fll article: https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2018/10/08/us-army-capabilities-integration-chief-talks-multidomain-ops

By Naomi Nix Alphabet Inc.'s Google has decided not to compete for the Pentagon's cloud-computing contract valued at as much as $10 billion, saying the project may conflict with its corporate values. The project, known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud, or JEDI, involves transitioning massive amounts of Defense Department data to a commercially operated cloud system. Companies are due to submit bids for the contract, which could last as long as 10 years, on Oct. 12th. Google's announcement on Monday came just months after the company decided not to renew its contract with a Pentagon artificial intelligence program, after extensive protests from employees of the internet giant about working with the military. The company then released a set of principles designed to evaluate what kind of artificial intelligence projects it would pursue. “We are not bidding on the JEDI contract because first, we couldn't be assured that it would align with our AI Principles," a Google spokesman said in a statement. "And second, we determined that there were portions of the contract that were out of scope with our current government certifications.” The spokesman added that Google is “working to support the U.S. government with our cloud in many ways.” The Tech Workers Coalition, which advocates for giving employees a say in technology company decisions, said in a statement that Google's decision to withdraw from the cloud competition stemmed from “sustained” pressure from tech workers who “have significant power, and are increasingly willing to use it.” Read more: Google Won't Renew Pentagon AI Drone Deal After Staff Backlash Google is behind other technology companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in obtaining government cloud-security authorizations that depend on the sensitivity of data a service is hosting. The JEDI contract attracted widespread interest from technology companies struggling to catch up with Amazon in the burgeoning federal government market for cloud services. Final requirements for the project were released in July after a months-long lobbying campaign in Washington by tech companies including Microsoft, International Business Machines Corp. and Oracle Corp. that opposed the Pentagon's plans to choose just one winner for the project instead of splitting the contract among a number of providers. “Had the JEDI contract been open to multiple vendors, we would have submitted a compelling solution for portions of it,” the Google spokesman said. “Google Cloud believes that a multi-cloud approach is in the best interest of government agencies, because it allows them to choose the right cloud for the right workload.” In a report to Congress, the Defense Department said making multiple awards under current acquisition law would be a slow process that “could prevent DoD from rapidly delivering new capabilities and improved effectiveness to the warfighter that enterprise-level cloud computing can enable.” The department also said it expects “to maintain contracts with numerous cloud providers to access specialized capabilities not available under the JEDI Cloud contract.” — With assistance by Ben Brody, and Josh Eidelson https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-08/google-drops-out-of-pentagon-s-10-billion-cloud-competition

by James Langford A sweeping Defense Department review ordered by President Trump has identified roughly 300 gaps in weapon-makers' supply chains that could threaten U.S. military campaigns if they're not corrected, a senior administration official said Thursday. The report, commissioned in July 2017, will be presented to Trump on Friday, and the president is expected to earmark funds available through both the Defense Production Act and a 1939 defense stockpile program to address some of them, the official said. The issues were identified largely at small and midsize firms that have supplied top-line U.S. contractors like Boeing and Lockheed Martin and have been harmed more than their larger customers by cuts in U.S. government spending, the official said. Compiled by 16 working groups with hundreds of subject-matter exports, the report found both fragile markets and weakened companies, situations that could affect the production of devices such as propeller shafts, as well as supplies of raw materials like rocket fuel, ceramics used in body armor, and metals used in combat vehicles. "We have a situation where we've identified a number of vulnerabilities which demand immediate action," the official said. "This administration's hallmark is immediate action, and with this report, there's also a blueprint for actions that will be launched immediately." The review reflects the president's belief that economic security is synonymous with national security, highlighted with the imposition of double-digit tariffs on steel and aluminum earlier this year. Those duties were set under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allows the White House to intervene in markets to protect national security. Full article: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/business/us-defense-industry-report-finds-300-security-risks-needing-immediate-action

By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has picked Raytheon and Lockheed Martin to continue on the path to develop a next-generation air and missile defense radar following a concept design phase that looked at four different companies' technology, according to company representatives. The Department of Defense Ordnance Technology Consortium awarded contracts to four companies to come up with designs to help inform the Army's requirements for the Patriot AMD radar replacement a year ago. Because of their previous involvement, it came as no shock both Raytheon and Lockheed received contracts for the Lower Tier Air-and-Missile Defense Sensor. Northrop Grumman and dark horse Technovative Applications, based in Brea, California, were also awarded contracts. Raytheon is the manufacturer of the legacy Patriot system, and Lockheed Martin spent years developing a system to replace Patriot, from which the Army ultimately walked away. That system — the Medium Extended Air Defense Systems — is still in development with Germany. After spending years debating when and how it would replace its current Patriot system's radar with one that can detect threats coming from any direction, the Army decided to hold a competition for a brand-new 360-degree, lower-tier AMD sensor in early 2017. Replacing the radar becomes evermore critical as the Army looks at dealing with different threats: ones that fly slower, faster or maneuver differently. According to the Army's Air and Missile Defense Cross-Functional Team lead, Brig. Gen. Randall McIntire, the service is trying to move quickly to procure a radar more capable than the current one; any future radar must fit into the future Integrated Air and Missile Defense framework. The AMD CFT is part of the Army's new four-star organization — Army Futures Command — tasked to get after the service's top six modernization priorities. AMD is fifth on that list ahead of soldier lethality and behind the network. Each priority has an assigned CFT to manage modernization efforts. The concept design contracts were given a period of performance of 15 months, so the downselect to Raytheon and Lockheed came slightly early. Congress has mandated that the Army by 2025 find a way to produce a 360-degree radar, accelerating the service's effort to bring something online. The Army will get a capable radar over time, McIntire told Defense News in an Oct. 1 interview, but it might be worth quickly fielding a radar and then building capability into the system over time. McIntire noted that while a 360-degree capability is a top priority, there might be some key performance parameters that rank higher such as more efficiency and better range. “We are proud to be selected as one of the companies to move forward to the Technical Maturation and Risk Reduction phase for the Lower Tier and Air Missile Defense Sensor that will provide the United States Army the ability to detect, identify, track and report aircraft and missiles,” a Lockheed spokesperson said in an Oct. 3 statement to Defense News. Raytheon spokesman Mike Nachshen told Defense News that the company is entering the technology-maturation and risk-reduction phase of the program with a brand-new radar, rather than an upgraded Patriot radar. The capability was designed from the ground up using gallium nitride technology and a staring array, rather than a rotating one, to provide constant 360-degree coverage, according to Nachshen. The company has its own GaN foundry. Raytheon expects to begin discussions with the Army over the next few weeks to determine how the radar's performance will be evaluated, the timeline of the phase and how much the Army plans to invest. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2018/10/04/army-chooses-raytheon-lockheed-to-mature-new-missile-defense-radars

By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — A combination of Chinese influence and budgetary uncertainty means America's defense industrial base is decaying at the lower levels, with some vital suppliers facing “domestic extinction,” a new study from the Trump administration is warning — and direct investment from the administration appears to be the solution. The study, the result of an executive order issued by president Donald Trump last July, also warns that if the situation is not remedied, the Pentagon faces “limited capabilities, insecurity of supply, lack of R&D, program delays, and an inability to surge in times of crisis.” The language seems dire, but much of the 140-page report appears to contain little new for those who have paid attention to defense industrial issues over the last several years. Many of the concerns outlined in the report echo that of a Defense Department internal study, released earlier this year, which warned long-term trends, including demographics and sole-source suppliers going out of business, were set to create major hurdles for the department. The report has been long coming. Trump ordered its creation in July of 2017, with Peter Navarro, his trade czar and a well-known China hawk, as the coordinating point man. At the time, Navarro said the study was being driven by concerns that “we cannot retain a preeminent military without a healthy, growing economy and a resilient industrial base.” By May 2018, the Pentagon had sent its conclusions into the White House for coordination which set industry expectations of a release shortly thereafter. However, the release dated continued to be pushed back, due largely to other news overtaking the White House. Trump, along with Deputy Secretary of Defense Pat Shanahan, is expected to appear at the White House Friday around 1:45 PM eastern time to sign several actions into law. The full report will be released shortly after. The report identifies five macro issues facing the defense industrial base: Sequestration and uncertainty in U.S government spending, which create instability and drives small firms away from defense work A decline of U.S. manufacturing capability and capacity, leaving weaknesses throughout the supply chain Antiquated U.S. government business practices, which the report warns leads to contracting delays and discourages innovation Industrial policies of competitor nations, both due to “collateral damage of globalization” and specific targeting by great powers like China And diminished U.S. STEM and trade skills, which are creating gaps in the workforce. The Departments of Defense, Energy, and Labor all submitted recommendations in the report, to deal with 300 individual weak points that are of concern. Notably, DoD's conclusion calls for the expansion of “direct investment in the lower tier of the industrial base,” through the department's Defense Production Act Title III, Manufacturing Technology, and Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment programs. That would address “critical bottlenecks, support fragile suppliers, and mitigate single points-of-failure.” Ellen Lord, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, told reporters it would not be “prudent” at this point to put a total dollar figure on what investment might be coming, but a senior administration official, speaking on background ahead of the report release, identified several shops being given extra cash. Those include $70 million fr a plant that produces gun components, in order to launch modernization and risk mitigation programs, as well as $1 million for the facility that produces the Abrams tank to procure better tooling. DoD's conclusions also call for the creation of an industrial policy to “inform current and future acquisition practices;” to attempt to diversify away from complete dependency on sources of supply in politically unstable countries who may cut off U.S. access, including “reengineering, expanded use of the National Defense Stockpile program, or qualification of new suppliers,” to work with allies on joint industrial base challenges; and to “modernize” the organic industrial base to ensure readiness. The Department of Energy, whose National Nuclear Security Agency handles the development of nuclear warheads, will propose establishing an “Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program to address manufacturing and industrial base risk within the energy and nuclear sectors” as part of its FY2020 budget request. And the Department of Labor will work to encourage STEM growth, as well as consider “potential incentives to recruit and retain workers to enter and/or stay in the industrial base, such as tuition reimbursement.” All three departments must provide an update 180 days from the issuance of the report. The Chinese Bogeyman While the report casts itself as part of the broader return of great power competition, it is impossible to miss that the authors view China as the industrial bogeyman. The words “China," “Chinese” or “Beijing” appear in the report 232 times; “Russia” appears only once, as part of a quote from another document — which also mentions China. The report is being released the same day that Vice President Mike Pence gave a keynote speech in Washington decrying what he called Chinese attempts to influence the American public, and just hours after Bloomberg issues a bombshell report that a Chinese company had managed to insert tiny, microscopic chips into hardware used by both the DoD and American intelligence services. “The Chinese Communist Party has also used an arsenal of policies inconsistent with free and fair trade, including tariffs, quotas, currency manipulation, forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft, and industrial subsidies doled out like candy, to name a few,” Pence said in his speech. “These policies have built Beijing's manufacturing base, at the expense of its competitors — especially America. That China is attempting to infiltrate the defense industrial base is no surprise to those who have been tracking DoD's comments on the issue in the last several years, but the report sums it up thusly: “While multiple countries pursue policies to bolster their economies at the expense of America's manufacturing sector, none has targeted our industrial base as successfully as China.” “China represents a significant and growing risk to the supply of materials and technologies deemed strategic and critical to U.S. national security; a challenge shared by key allies such as Germany and Australia,” the report adds, singling out rare earth metals and critical energetic materials for munitions and missiles as areas of concern. “China's actions seriously threaten other capabilities, including machine tools; the production and processing of advanced materials like biomaterials, ceramics, and composites; and the production of printed circuit boards and semiconductors.” China is four times as large as its next closest competitor when it comes to exporting to the U.S. rare earth materials, used in lasers, radar, sonar, night vision systems, missile guidance, and jet engines, making Beijing a significant supplier of these capabilities needed for America's high-end defense capabilities. Single sourced, and disappearing While much of the specific weak points in the defense industrial base are not spelled out in the public-facing part of the report, the 140-page document does include a number of examples of weak spots in the defense industrial base, largely in the lower-tier suppliers who make pieces and parts that would ordinarily go unnoticed on a large military system. A senior administration official, speaking ahead of the report's release, cited ceramics, high performance aluminum and steel, titanium, tungsten and carbon fibers as some of the components the Pentagon is concerned about. The report offers further examples. For instance, it says there are only four America suppliers with the capability to manufacture large, complex, single pour aluminum and magnesium sand castings, needed to help produce American airpower. Those suppliers “face perpetual financial risk and experience bankruptcy threats and mergers mirroring the cyclicality of DoD acquisition,” per the report. Meanwhile, there is only one qualified source for the upper, intermediate, and sump housing for an unnamed heavy lift platform used by the Marines (potentially the CH-53 King Stallion) that recently went through bankruptcy proceedings. “Without a qualified source for these castings, the program will face delays, impeding the U.S. ability to field heavy lift support to Marine Corps expeditionary forces,” the report warns. A material called ASZM-TEDA1 impregnated carbon is used in 72 chemical, biological and nuclear filtration systems owned by the DoD, and there is only a single qualified source, the report notes. “The current sourcing arrangements cannot keep pace with demand. DoD is using Defense Production Act Title III authorities to establish an additional source of this critical material,” the report says. In yet another example, the study looked at the companies that make flare countermeasures for military aircraft. There are only two domestic suppliers for flares with “little incentive to invest in infrastructure,” and both suffered explosions at their production sites in recent years. “Both companies have experienced quality and delivery problems since the accidents. As program offices look to improve quality and cost, they are beginning to look offshore at more modern facilities, where there are fewer quality and safety concerns.” Hawk Carlisle, a former Air Force officer who now leads the National Defense Industrial Association, called the reporter's findings “sobering." “Recent efforts by Congress and the administration have been encouraging, but more must be done,” Carlisle said. “Streamlining the acquisition process, updating the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States guidelines, and reforming how we sell our systems to allies and partners have all been steps in the right direction.” Added Eric Fanning of the Aerospace Industries Association, "Guaranteeing the health of the American manufacturing and defense industrial base is a critical national security and economic priority as the United States combats today's threats and those we'll face tomorrow. We applaud the Administration's focus on these issues and look forward to working together to implement the assessment's recommendations with the same spirit of industry-government cooperation and engagement that led to today's report,” Both groups were part of 15 conversations the working group had with industry during the production of the report. https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2018/10/04/white-house-warns-of-domestic-extinction-of-suppliers-in-industrial-base-report-and-dod-is-ready-to-help-with-cash