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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/

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: Mike Gruss and Jeff Martin The Pentagon plans to announce Jan. 31 that Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, the Department of Defense's top artificial intelligence official, will retire from the Air Force this summer, C4ISRNET has learned. Shanahan has served as the first director of the Pentagon's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, an effort to accelerate the Pentagon's adoption and integration of AI at scale, since December 2018. Lt. Cmdr. Arlo Abrahamson, a spokesman for the center, confirmed the retirement in a Jan. 30 email and said a search for the next director is underway. Shanahan previously oversaw the Pentagon's algorithmic warfare cross-functional team, better known as Project Maven, a pathfinder effort to apply AI and machine learning in analyzing full-motion video. Pentagon leaders created the JAIC after noting nearly 600 projects and programs across the department had come to touch on artificial intelligence in some way. Officials wanted a central hub to help facilitate progress. In late 2018, Dana Deasy, the Defense Department's chief information officer, appointed Shanahan to lead the new center. During his tenure, Shanahan served as a voice of reason on how artificial intelligence could be used by the military and avoided the often popular science fiction comparisons that accompany discussions of AI. In an interview with C4ISRNET last year, Shanahan said the center has focused on using artificial intelligence for predictive maintenance efforts and to improve humanitarian relief. He also advocated for a greater understanding of the subject. “On one side of the emerging tech equation, we need far more national security professionals who understand what this technology can do or, equally important, what it cannot do,” Shanahan said during a talk at the Naval War College in December. “On the other side of the equation, we desperately need more people who grasp the societal implications of new technology, who are capable of looking at this new data-driven world through geopolitical, international relations, humanitarian and even philosophical lenses,” he said. Lawmakers approved $183 million for the center in the fiscal year 2020 budget. Shanahan also has been a vocal proponent for improving the department's cloud capabilities and specifically the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract, which is expected to provide the infrastructure the Pentagon needs to boost artificial intelligence. https://www.c4isrnet.com/artificial-intelligence/2020/01/31/pentagons-top-artificial-intelligence-official-to-retire/

NAVY Lockheed Martin Corp., Owego, New York, is awarded $2,338,000,000 for a firm-fixed-price, performance-based logistics requirements contract for the repair, upgrade or replacement, required availability, configuration management and inventory management for approximately 1,049 weapon replaceable assemblies and shop replaceable assemblies associated with both the MH-60R and MH-60S helicopters. Work will be performed in various contractor supplier locations throughout the U.S. (48%) of which one percent of the supplier work will be performed by five organic depots via commercial service agreements; Stratford, Connecticut (38%); and Owego, New York (14%). This contract includes a five-year base period with one two-year option period. Work is expected to be completed by January 2025; if the option is exercised, work will be completed by January 2027. Annual working capital funds (Navy) for $182,462,250 will be issued for delivery order (N00383-20-F-0W00) that will be awarded concurrently with the contract and will initially be obligated at the time of award as an undefinitized contract action with a commitment of an additional $60,820,750 for period of performance through September 2020. Funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One company was solicited for this sole-source requirement under authority 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1) and Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1, with one offer received. Naval Supply Systems Command, Weapon Systems Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00383-20-D-W001). APTIM-Harper Construction JV, LLC, Alexandria, Virginia (N62478-20-D-4001); B.L. Harbert International LLC, Birmingham, Alabama (N62478-20-D-4002); Hensel Phelps Construction Co., Honolulu, Hawaii (N62478-20-D-4003); Kiewit Infrastructure West Co., Honolulu, Hawaii (N62478-20-D-4004); Mortenson Construction, Minneapolis, Minnesota (N62478-20-D-4005); RQ-ABSHER JV, Carlsbad, California (N62478-20-D-4006); Stronghold Engineering Inc., Riverside, California (N62478-20-D-4007) are each being awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award design-build/design-bid-build construction contract for construction projects located primarily within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Hawaii area of operations (AO). The maximum dollar value including the base period and four option years for all seven contracts combined is $990,000,000. No task orders are being issued at this time. The work to be performed provides for, but is not limited to, labor, supervision, tools, materials and equipment necessary to perform new construction, repair, alteration and related demolition of existing infrastructure based on design-build, or design-bid-build (full plans and specifications) for infrastructure within the state of Hawaii. Work will be performed within the NAVFAC Hawaii AO. The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months, with an expected completion date of January 2025. Operations and maintenance, Navy (O&M, N) funds for $175,000 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by O&M, N and Navy working capital funds. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website with 12 proposals received. These seven contractors may compete for task orders under the terms and conditions of the awarded contract. NAVFAC Hawaii, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Space, Titusville, Florida, is awarded a $473,832,955 cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00030-20-C-0101) for TRIDENT II (D5) Life Extension 2 Strategic Systems Programs Alteration Advanced Development Program efforts. Work will be performed in Denver, Colorado (78.7%); Sunnyvale, California (5.6%); Beltsville, Maryland (1.9%); Titusville, Florida (1.5%); Cape Canaveral, Florida (1.3%); Palo Alto, California (1.3%); Folsom, California (1.1%); and other various locations (less than 1% each, 8.6% total). Work is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2026. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds for $2,800,000 are being obligated on this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract is being awarded to the contractor on a sole source basis under 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) and was previously synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities website. Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Corp., Owego, New York, is awarded a $185,874,486 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-reimbursable indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides program management, various levels of maintenance, training and logistics support to sustain the operational capability of 24 Royal Australian Navy MH-60 Romeo aircraft. Work will be performed at Yerriyong, Australia (79%); Owego, New York (18%); Edinburgh, Australia (1%); Stratford, Connecticut (1%) and Orlando, Florida (1%), and is expected to be completed in January 2024. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation 206.302-4. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-20-D-0001). Phoenix International Holdings Inc., Largo, Maryland, is awarded a $97,000,000 (maximum value) cost-plus-award-fee and fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract for diving and diving related services. The primary purpose of this contract is to provide the necessary engineering and technical support to provide operational and non-operational support to the Navy's air, mixed gas and saturation diving services program to support the office of the Supervisor of Salvage and Diving, Director of Ocean Engineering. Work will be performed worldwide based on each individual task order, and is expected to be completed by January 2027, with no new orders being placed after January 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding for $45,000 will be obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. 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. Kay and Associates Inc., Buffalo Grove, Illinois, is awarded a $67,314,436 modification (P00009) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00421-17-C-0044) to exercise an option for maintenance and support services for F/A-18 C/D and associated equipment in support of the government of Kuwait. Work will be performed in Kuwait, and is expected to be completed in January 2022. Foreign military sales funds for $47,657,218 are being obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded a $51,706,014 firm-fixed-price modification to a previously-awarded contract (N00024-14-C-5114) for the production and delivery of four SPY-1 low noise amplifier (LNA) radar arrays. The contract provides upgraded SPY-1 LNA phased arrays that will enhance in service ballistic missile defense-capable destroyers. These radar arrays will be used as a continuing effort to facilitate AEGIS Baseline 5.4.1 (BMD 4.2) to the AEGIS fleet. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey (80%), and Clearwater, Florida (20%), and is expected to be completed by March 2022. Fiscal 2020 Defense-wide procurement funding for $51,706,014 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Huntington Ingalls Inc., Ingalls Shipbuilding Division, Pascagoula, Mississippi, is awarded a $44,707,851 cost-plus-fixed fee modification to a previously awarded contract N00024-16-C-2415 to exercise options for life cycle engineering and support for the LPD-17 class Amphibious Transport Dock Ship program. This contract modification is for the exercise of options for post-delivery planning and engineering, homeport technical support, Class Integrated Product Data Environment, data maintenance and equipment management, systems integration and engineering support, LPD 17 class design services, research engineering, obsolescence management, class material readiness, emergent repair provision, training and logistics support, ship alteration development and installation, material management, operating cycle integration, availability planning and configuration data management. Work will be performed in Pascagoula, Mississippi (96%); Norfolk, Virginia (1%); San Diego, California (1%); Mayport, Florida (1%); and Sasebo, Japan (1%); and is expected to be completed by December 2020. Fiscal 2016 and 2017 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy/SCN) and fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy/OPN) funds in the amount of $9,474,186 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Fiscal 2019 research and development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) funds for $5,000 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Funding: fiscal 2016 SCN (53.6%), fiscal 2020 OPN (25.2%), fiscal 2017 SCN (21.1%), and fiscal 2019 RDT&E (0.1%). The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. EA Engineering, Science, and Technology Inc.,* Hunt Valley, Maryland, is awarded a maximum amount $36,791,892 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for long-term monitoring, operations and maintenance environmental remediation services for facilities in the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Northwest (NW) area of operation. The work to be performed includes a full-range of environmental services for Navy installations throughout the Navy Region NW area of operations and includes pre-priced line items in accordance with the statement of work, as well as, non-pre-priced work to be negotiated on a task order basis. Work on this contract will be performed at various installations including but not limited to Washington (78 %), Alaska (18%), Idaho (1%), Montana (1%), Oregon (1%), and Wyoming (1%). The term of the base contract is not to exceed 66 months with an expected completion date of July 31, 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, Navy contract funds for $10,000 (the minimum guarantee) are obligated for task order number one and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website with five proposals received. NAVFAC NW, Silverdale, Washington, is the contracting activity (N44255-20-D-6006). Haskell, Jacksonville, Florida, is awarded a $25,630,550 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of welding and body shop facility at Marine Corps Logistics Base, Albany. The work to be performed will construct a single-story steel frame welding and light/heavy body shops facility to include concrete foundation, insulated exterior steel panels with brick veneer and standing seam metal roof. The project will provide high bay areas to support heavy vehicle and equipment loads and exterior staging areas. The building interior will be painted concrete masonry unit (CMU) walls with hollow metal insulated and glazed doors, aluminum frame windows, resinous epoxy flooring in restrooms and administrative areas and finished concrete flooring and CMU walls with industrial finishes in shop and high by areas and roll-up doors. The administrative area, break room, information technology room, restroom and locker rooms will be air-conditioned. This project will provide anti-terrorism/force protection (AT/FP) features and comply with AT/FP regulations and physical security mitigation in accordance with Department of Defense (DoD) Minimum AT Standards for Buildings. User generated unit costs were used for this project and include the cost of features to meet the minimum DoD AT/FP standards. Work will be performed in Albany, Georgia, and is expected to be completed by April 2022. Fiscal 2019 military construction, (Navy) contract funds for $25,630,550 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website with three proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40085-20-C-8504). Rockwell Collins Simulation and Training Solutions, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is 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. Coastal Enterprises of Jacksonville Inc., Jacksonville, North Carolina, is awarded a $10,168,933 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for custodial services at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. The work to be performed provides for various custodial services including but not limited to emptying trash cans, sweeping, dusting, mopping and cleaning restrooms for various buildings throughout the base. The maximum dollar value including the base period and four option years is $10,168,933. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and is expected to be completed by January 2025. No funds will be obligated at time of award. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, (Navy) contract funds for $1,755,820 for recurring work will be obligated on individual task orders issued during the base period. This contract was procured via AbilityOne in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 8.603. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40085-20-D-4001). Chemring Energetic Devices, Downers Grove, Illinois, is awarded a $7,196,463 firm-fixed-price modification to a previously awarded, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract N00174-17-D-0009 to exercise option-ordering period for development, product improvement and prototyping support. Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Co. will provide engineering, technical, administrative and programmatic management support for total Life Cycle Management of the various aircrew escape systems managed under the Joint Program Office for Cartridge Actuated Device/Propellant Actuated Device Tri-Service Charter. Work will be performed in Downers Grove, Illinois, and is expected to be completed by January 2021. No contract funds are being obligated at the time of this action. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division, Indian Head, Maryland, is the contracting activity. EaglePicher Technologies, Joplin, Missouri, is awarded a $7,161,581 firm-fixed price modification to a previously awarded, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract N00174-17-D-0012 to exercise option-ordering period for development, product improvement and prototyping support. Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Co. will provide engineering, technical, administrative and programmatic management support for total Life Cycle Management of the various aircrew escape systems managed under the Joint Program Office for Cartridge Actuated Device/Propellant Actuated Device Tri-Service Charter. Work will be performed in Joplin, Missouri, and is expected to be completed by January 2021. No additional funds are being obligated at the time of this action. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division, Indian Head, Maryland, is the contracting activity. CH2M HILL Inc. Englewood, Colorado, is awarded a $2,920,835 cost-plus-award-fee modification that will increase the maximum dollar value of an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity task order to complete a preliminary assessment (PA) and site investigation (SI) assessing the extent of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances concentration in groundwater and soil at various Naval facilities. The work to be performed provides for additional tasks related to addressing the PA and SI to meet the requirements of the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act sections 104 and 121; Executive Order 12580; and the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan. The PAs and SIs include the main installations, fence-line to fence-line and all other areas historically owned by the Navy associated with these installations. After award of this modification, the total cumulative task order value will be $7,990,707. Work will be performed in the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Northwest (NW) area of operations, including but not limited to, Washington state (84%) and Alaska (16%), and is expected to be completed by December 2021. Fiscal 2020 environmental restoration, (Navy) contract funds for $2,920,835 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. NAVFAC NW, Silverdale, Washington, is the contracting activity (N62470-16-D-9000). ARMY iina' ba' Inc., Farmington, New Mexico, was awarded a $240,000,000 contract and task order for professional land survey services. Bids were solicited via the internet with 12 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 30, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Little Rock, Arkansas, is the contracting activity (W9126G-20-D-6007 and W9126G-20-D-6008). Burns & McDonnell Engineering Co. Inc., Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a $40,000,000 contract for military projects for the Baltimore District and within the North Atlantic Division area of responsibility. Bids were solicited via the internet with 26 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 30, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W912DR-20-D-0002). AECOM Technical Services Inc., Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a $40,000,000 contract for military projects for the Baltimore District and within the North Atlantic Division area of responsibility. Bids were solicited via the internet with 26 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 30, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore Maryland, is the contracting activity (W912DR-20-D-0001). Stantec Consulting Services Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina, was awarded a $40,000,000 contract for military projects for the Baltimore District and within the North Atlantic Division area of responsibility. Bids were solicited via the internet with 26 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 30, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W912DR-20-D-0005). GF-D Design Partners JV, Fairfax, Virginia, was awarded a $40,000,000 contract for military projects for the Baltimore District and within the North Atlantic Division area of responsibility. Bids were solicited via the internet with 26 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 30, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W912DR-20-D-0003). HDR Engineering Inc., Washington, District of Columbia, was awarded a $40,000,000 contract for military projects for the Baltimore District and within the North Atlantic Division area of responsibility. Bids were solicited via the internet with 26 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 30, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W912DR-20-D-0004) Whitman, Requardt and Associates LLP, Baltimore, Maryland, was awarded a $40,000,000 contract for military projects for the Baltimore District and within the North Atlantic Division area of responsibility. Bids were solicited via the internet with 26 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 30, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W912DR-20-D-0006) DynCorp International LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $30,179,883 modification (P00025) to contract W58RGZ-16-C-0016 for maintenance support services for the government of Saudi Arabia's Royal Saudi Land Forces Aviation Command Aviation Program. Work will be performed in Saudi Arabia with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2021. Fiscal 2020 Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount $30,179,883 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Facility Services Management Inc., Clarksville, Tennessee, was awarded a $14,262,848 modification (P00010) to contract W9124A-19-C-0002 to plan, manage and perform operations and maintenance for the Directorate of Public Works at Fort Huachuca. Work will be performed at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2024. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $14,262,848 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE Jacobs Technology Inc., Tullahoma, Tennessee, has been awarded a $225,155,326 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for Rocket and Propulsion Technology Research. This contract provides on-site research and development to the Air Force Research Laboratory across a wide spectrum of propulsion-related areas. Work will be performed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and is expected to be complete by Jan. 31, 2028. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and with two offers received. Fiscal 2019 and 2020 research, development, test and engineering funds in the amount of $197,000 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, is the contracting activity (FA9300-20-F-9801). Dynetics, Huntsville, Alabama, has been awarded a $92,999,625 basic, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Test Systems and Equipment Capabilities (TSEC) support and $30,934,550 delivery order for the Guided Weapons Evaluation Facility (GWEF) Radio Frequency (RF) Modernization Design. The contract provides for the specific needs to include: Hardware-in-the-loop simulators for the GWEF RF Modernization and AFRL Kinetic Kill Vehicle Hardware in the Loop Simulator system upgrades; joint multi-platform advanced combat identification development; calibration sets integration, and software updates; Air Defense Artillery Phased Technology Digital Command Link, and immediate need technologies to support Department of Defense (DoD) ranges. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama and other DoD locations. The contract has a five year ordering period with work expected to be completed by Jan. 2025. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $2,500,000 are being obligated at the time of award via incremental funding. The Air Force Test Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity (FA2487-20-D-0071; first delivery order FA2487-20-F-0072). Rolls-Royce Corp., Indianapolis, Indiana, has been awarded $62,973,620 delivery order modification (P00001) to previously awarded contract FA8504-17-D-0002 for C-130J Propulsion Long Term Sustainment. This order provides funding for option 3 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 $62,973,620 are being obligated at the time of award. The total cumulative face value of the contract is $62,973,620. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity. Valdez International Corp., Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded a firm-fixed-price contract in the amount of $38,102,027 for support services to operate, sustain and assure the availability of Air Force Information Network (AFIN) to enable war-fighter mission execution. Work will be performed at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia; Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado; Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; and Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition, with 11 proposals received. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $38,102,027 are being obligated at the time of the award. The 38th Cyberspace Engineering Installation Group, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity (FA8773-17-C-0002). Ultra Electronics Advanced Tactical, Austin, Texas, has been awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity type, firm‐fixed-price contract for the Link-16 Alaska (LAK) program with a ceiling of $30,750,000. This contract provides contractor logistics support (CLS) services. Work will be performed in Austin, Texas, effective June 22, 2020, and is expected to be completed by March 21, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $100,000 are being obligated at the time of award of the first order. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contract activity (FA8574‐20-D-0001). Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a $23,512,260 firm-fixed-price contract modification (P00070) to previously awarded contract FA8615-12-C-6016 for F-16 retrofit. This modification provides for the unclassified purchase of an additional quantity of ten Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar Spares Units being acquired under the basic contract. This contracting action is the result of a long term agreement reached between Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. and Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. Work is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2022. The entire acquisition is fully funded by a Taiwan Foreign Military Sales appropriation in the amount of $23,512,260 obligated at the time of award. Total cumulative face value if the contract is $2,595,704,750. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity. General Dynamics Information Technology, Falls Church, Virginia, has been awarded a $15,191,692 firm-fixed-price contract modification (P00003) to previously awarded task order FA4890-19-F-A022 issued under GSA Alliant 2 Unrestricted Government-Wide. The contract modification provides for the exercise of option year one – period of performance Feb. 1, 2020, to Jan. 31, 2021, for services being provided under the basic task order. Work will be performed at Langley Air Force Base and Beale Air Force Base, but could expand to Ft. Smith, Arkansas; Republic of Korea; McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas; Birmingham, Alabama; Otis Air National Guard Base, Massachusetts.; Reno, Nevada; Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii; Terra Haute, Indiana; Ramstein Air Base, Germany; and Ogden, Utah. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $15,191,692 are being obligated at the time of award. The total cumulative face value of the contract is $217,425,053. Headquarters Air Combat Command, Acquisition Management & Integration Center, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, is the contracting activity. Akima Logistics Services LLC, Herndon, Virginia, has been awarded a $6,923,402 firm-fixed-price option indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for full contractor logistics support of 58 United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) aircraft. Work will be performed at the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, and USAFA auxiliary airfield and is expected to be completed by Jan. 31, 2021. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity (FA8106-19-F-8002). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., North Wales, Pennsylvania, has been awarded an estimated $189,694,350 firm-fixed-price requirements contract for the supply of Adenovirus Vaccine Type 4 and Type 7. This is 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 five-year contract with five one-year options periods. Location of performance is Pennsylvania, with a Dec. 31, 2024, performance completion date. Using customers are military recruitment centers throughout the U.S. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2025 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2DP-20-D-0002). Honeywell International Inc., Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a $22,417,763 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for generators. 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 five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Arizona, with a Feb. 1, 2025, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2025 Army working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Warren, Michigan (SPRDL1-20-D-0043). *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2071889/source/GovDelivery/

LE BREXIT ET LES ENTREPRISES Londres veut continuer à assumer un rôle majeur dans la sécurité européenne, mais le pays sort de l'Union au moment où celle-ci s'engage davantage pour assurer la sécurité des Etats membres. Ce qui soulève de nombreuses questions. Anne Bauer @annebauerbrux Les Britanniques ne cessent de le répéter : leur départ de l'Union européenne ne remet pas en cause leur volonté de continuer à jouer un rôle de premier plan dans la défense de l'Europe. Ainsi la Grande-Bretagne participe, depuis le premier jour, à l'Initiative européenne d'intervention (IEI), le club des Etats-Majors européens lancé par le président Emmanuel Macron. Elle est, avec la France, le principal appui des Américains dans la coalition internationale au Levant et au Sahel, elle soutient les forces françaises par la mise à disposition de trois hélicoptères Chinook. En termes de coopération militaire, les Britanniques sont à bord de l'avion de chasse européen, Eurofighter, de l'avion de transport militaire A400M, de la constellation Galileo et de divers programmes de missiles, notamment via la firme européenne MBDA. Et en novembre prochain, la France et la Grande-Bretagne, les deux seules armées du continent européen dotées de l'arme nucléaire, devraient fêter les dix ans du traité bilatéral de Lancaster House et lancer, à l'occasion, un projet clé : le démonstrateur d'un nouveau missile de croisière franco-britannique . Pas de risque à court terme Chez le missilier européen MBDA, on insiste d'ailleurs sur « la force et la pérennité de la relation franco-britannique en matière de défense et de sécurité, initiée en 1998 à Saint-Malo et formalisée en 2010 par le traité de Lancaster House ». Et de rappeler que cette relation bilatérale est au coeur même du projet de l'entreprise , qui est de b'tir un champion mondial des missiles, en partageant l'effort industriel au travers de programmes en coopération européenne. De fait, du côté des industriels de la défense, le Brexit inquiète peu à court terme. Les biens de défense sont exonérés des règles générales de l'OMC sur les droits de douane. Et le commerce des armes est un sujet à part, régi par des conventions particulières. Dans l'aéronautique en outre, chacun est désormais certain que Londres restera membre de l'Agence européenne de sécurité aérienne, qui édicte les normes et veille à leur application. Interrogé par « Les Echos », le patron d'Airbus, Guillaume Faury, déclarait en septembre dernier que « les craintes relatives à la perte des certifications aéronautiques de production et de conception pour les pièces produites au Royaume-Uni, ainsi que pour la libre circulation de nos employés, ont été écartées, à force de travail en interne et avec les gouvernements. » Fonds européen de défense : in or out ? Toutefois, le Brexit intervient au moment même où l'UE engage une dynamique nouvelle en matière de défense. Pour la première fois, le budget européen pourra servir à subventionner la recherche et le développement de programmes d'armement. Or de facto, les Anglais sont déjà hors jeu. Dans l'anticipation du Brexit, ils ne participent pas à la nouvelle politique de « coopération structurée permanente », qui a donné naissance à une quarantaine de projets de coopération dans la défense entre divers pays européens. Et, faute de répondant côté anglais, Paris s'est tourné vers Berlin pour envisager le futur de deux équipements clé de défense : l'avion de combat du futur et le char de nouvelle génération. Les Britanniques ne font pas non plus partie du futur Fonds européen de défense, qui doit aider au financement de ses projets. Enfin, ils quittent les instances dirigeantes de l'Agence européenne de défense. Au sein des industriels du secteur, nombre d'opérateurs souhaitent le retour de la Grande-Bretagne dans les instances européennes. Terrain d'entente Car personne n'a intérêt à maintenir des tensions, comme celles nées de l'exclusion de Londres du réseau protégé de communication gouvernementale, de la constellation Galileo. Dans l'aéronautique, chacun espère que le futur avion de combat franco-allemand, le SCAF, et son concurrent britannique, le projet Tempest mené avec les Italiens et les Suèdois, se rejoindront un jour. « C'est dans l'intérêt des Britanniques comme dans celui des Européens, qu'un terrain d'entente soit trouvé dans les futurs traités d'association qui seront négociés cette année », commente le président de MBDA, Eric Béranger. « Le Royaume-Uni devrait pouvoir bénéficier d'un statut particulier qui permettra de poursuivre les nombreuses coopérations qu'il a en Europe, dans les missiles bien évidemment, mais aussi dans l'aviation militaire ou le spatial de défense », ajoute-t-il. Mais avec un groupe principal de défense BAE Systems, qui est déjà un important fournisseur de l'armée américaine, la tentation britannique peut être de regarder davantage outre-Atlantique qu'outre Manche. https://www.lesechos.fr/industrie-services/air-defense/brexit-londres-promet-de-continuer-a-jouer-un-role-majeur-dans-la-defense-europeenne-1168197

By: Jill Aitoro SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — Dual-use technology — that is, tech that can be adapted from the commercial market to serve the needs of the military — is core to the U.S. Department of Defense's innovation strategy. But those willing to put money toward big ideas argue it's the wrong approach. “In terms of how to build a startup and how to scale really fast, you can't have two missions,” said Katherine Boyle, an investor with venture capital firm General Catalyst, during a Defense News roundtable in California. “You can't be a 10-person startup saying: ‘OK, we're going to sell to the DoD, but we're also going to sell to these commercial customers, and it's just going to work out magically.'" For the second year in a row, Defense News hosted the roundtable to dig into Pentagon's efforts to engage with the commercial tech community — this year digging into the challenges and opportunities that come with investment in defense development. To the Pentagon, dual-use technology offers an attractive means of drawing new players into the military fold, while also leveraging the more rapid development that happens on the commercial side. But the model is evolving, said Mike Madsen, director of strategic engagement with the government's Silicon Valley outreach hub Defense Innovation Unit. With DoD, “it takes two years to get to a ‘yes,' when a lot of companies need a ‘no' in 30 days because they don't have the capital,” he said. “So we flipped it. Now we start with the DoD problem set and take it out to industry. And we've lowered a lot of the barriers to entry — we negotiate [intellectual property] for each contract, we negotiate auditability, we move quickly. We look to award prototype contracts in 60 to 90 days.” The approach also attempts to rebalance the gradual shift in research and development investments in the last couple of decades. As noted by Tom Foldesi, DIU's commercial engagement director, one-third of worldwide R&D was tied to the Department of Defense in the 1960s. That percentage has since tanked to 3.7 percent. A separate business line allows R&D to continue to iterate to the next generation of technology so the DoD can “go back to the cookie jar” and tap into the technology to solve future problems, Foldesi said. But to Trey Stephens, a partner at venture capital firm Founders Fund and a co-founder and executive chairman of Anduril Industries, the model ensures the large, traditional defense contractors continue to dominate as the small businesses only “dabble in defense.” It also means the DoD won't bear sole responsibility for the economic growth of these small tech startups. “Where I'm not on board is where a traditional defense company is being asked by the government to integrate dual-use capabilities as a way to prevent that oligopoly from being shaken,” he said. “We have to break this oligopoly. We can only do it if we find companies that are willing to own their responsibility for execution on programs.” To be clear, Stephens acknowledged cases where commercial technology companies can be primes. Lawsuit aside, he's “on board” with awarding the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract to a commercial business — Microsoft — “because the capability is similar enough.” Microsoft was awarded the Pentagon's JEDI cloud contract, but Amazon Web Services has asked a federal court to block the department and the company from beginning work on the project, according to a Jan. 13 court filing. In terms of new capabilities, Stephens advocates for turning the model on its ear: Enable startups to first development a solution to a problem faced within the DoD, then turn that around and sell it to commercial industries. “The commercial industry is oftentimes looking to the government for aspirational solutions to some of its hardest problems, whereas the inverse doesn't really work,” he said. General Catalyst, which counts The Honest Company, Snapchat and Airbnb among its portfolio of companies, has invested in two pure-play defense companies: Anduril, and Palo Alto machine-learning company Vannevar Labs. The latter is developing a product that would bring natural language-processing technologies to support counterterrorism missions. “We actually think this is a better model,” Boyle said. “If you're scaling rapidly, you have to be very focused on your customer set. And if you're going to have to sacrifice a customer, even if you're a multibillion-dollar company, you're going to sacrifice the one who's moving the slowest. And that's usually the government.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/smr/cultural-clash/2020/01/30/silicon-valley-investors-to-dod-dual-use-tech-is-a-bad-strategy/

By: Jill Aitoro SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — Private investors are not yet lining up to back defense startups, but they are paying close attention. Two factors have created an opening that could lure venture capitalists to defense investments: first, a few select venture-backed technology startups are gaining traction; and second, there's been a strategic shift in approach to weapons development from the U.S. Department of Defense, focusing more on information warfare and, as such, software. In the words of Mike Madsen, director of strategic engagement at the Pentagon's commercial tech hub, Defense Innovation Unit: "We're at a significant inflection point right now that will be visible through the lens of history.” Nonetheless, for the tech startups, it's been slow going, as discussed during a Defense News roundtable in California. For the second year, leadership from DoD and the tech community came together to discuss the state of the Pentagon's efforts to attract commercial startups — this time digging into the challenges and opportunities that come with investment in defense development. “We went into this eyes wide open, knowing full well that to the venture community, the math doesn't make sense. Making the choice to contribute to the advancement of artificial intelligence for DoD represented for us more of a mission-driven objective,” said Ryan Tseng, founder of artificial intelligence startup Shield AI. But early on, “we were fortunate to get the backing of Andreessen Horowitz, a top-tier venture fund. They're certainly leaning in, in terms of their thinking about defense technology — believing that despite the history, there might be a way to find an opening to create companies that can become economically sustainable and make substantial mission impact.” Shield AI has raised $50 million in venture funding since 2015, with more rounds expected. Indeed, a few key Silicon Valley investors have emerged as the exceptions to the rule, putting dollars toward defense startups. In addition to Andreessen Horowitz, which counts both Shield AI and defense tech darling Anduril in its portfolio, there's General Catalyst, which also invested in Anduril, as well as AI startup Vannevar Labs. And then of course there's Founders Fund. Led by famed Silicon investors Peter Thiel, Ken Howery and Brian Singerman, among others, the venture firm was an early investor in Anduril, as well as mobile mesh networking platform goTenna. Founders Fund placed big bets on Palantir Technologies and SpaceX in the early days, which paid off in a big way. Some of the early successes of these startups have “done an excellent job of making investors greedy,” said Katherine Boyle, an investor with General Catalyst. “There's a growing group who are interested in this sector right now, and they've looked at the success of these companies and [are] saying: ‘OK, let's learn about it.' ” Take Anduril: The defense tech startup — co-founded by Oculus founder Palmer Luckey and Founders Fund partner Trae Stephens — has raised more than $200 million and hit so-called unicorn status in 2019, reaching a valuation of more than $1 billion. As the successes piled up, so did the venture capital funding. According to Fortune magazine, those investors included Founders Fund, 8VC, General Catalyst, XYZ Ventures, Spark Capital, Rise of the Rest, Andreessen Horowitz, and SV Angel. “I started my career at Allen & Company investment banking. Herbert Allen, who's in his 80s, always said: ‘Hey, you should run into an industry where people are running away,' ” said John Tenet, a partner with 8VC as well as a co-founder and vice chairman of defense startup Epirus. “There's so much innovation occurring, where the government can be the best and biggest customer. And there are people who really want to solve hard problems. It's just figuring out where the synergies lie, what the ‘one plus one equals three' scenario will be.” Also attracting the attention of Silicon Valley investors is the growing emphasis by the Pentagon not only on systems over platforms, but software over hardware. Boyle described the shift as the “macro tailwind” that often drives innovation in a sector. Similar revolutions happened in industrials and automotive markets — both of which are also massive, global and slow-moving. That emphasis on tech, combined with some recent hard lessons, also provides a glimmer of hope that the typical hurdles associated with defense investments — lengthy procurement cycles and dominance by traditional manufacturers, for example — could be overcome. Consider U.S. Code 2377, which requires that commercially available items be considered first in procurement efforts, said Anduril's Stephens. He also noted court decisions in lawsuits filed by SpaceX and Palantir, which ultimately validated claims that defense agencies had not properly ensured a level playing field for major competitions. “These types of things are now at least in recent memory for Congress, and so they have some awareness of the issues that are being faced,” Stephens said. “It's much easier now to walk into a congressional office and say, ‘Here's the problem that we're facing' or ‘Here's the policy changes that we would need.' There are also enough bodies like DIU, like In-Q-Tel, like AFWERX, like the Defense Innovation Board, like the [Defense Science Board] — places where you can go to express the need for change. And oftentimes you do see that language coming into the [National Defense Authorization Act]. It's part of a longer-term cultural battle for sure.” For now, all these factors contribute to the majority of skeptical investors' decisions to watch the investments with interest — even if they still take a wait-and-see approach. And that places a lot of pressure on the companies that are, in a sense, the proof of concept for a new portfolio segment. “My fear is that if this generation of companies doesn't figure [it] out, if they don't knock down the doors and if there aren't a few successes, we're going to have 20, 30 years of just no investor looking around the table and saying we need to work for the Department of Defense,” Boyle said. “If there aren't some success stories coming out of this generation of companies, it's going to be very hard to look our partners in the eye and say: ‘We should keep investing in defense because look at how well things have turned out.'” https://www.defensenews.com/smr/cultural-clash/2020/01/30/as-tech-startups-catch-dods-eye-big-investors-are-watching/