Airborne Triton drone key to Navy’s signal goals, Clapperton says

Sur le même sujet

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  16 août 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - August 15, 2019

  ARMY GiaCare and MedTrust JV LLC,* Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was awarded a $218,983,564 firm-fixed-price contract for registered nursing services. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2024. U.S. Army Health Contracting Activity, San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity (W81K04-19-D-0021). Honeywell International Inc., Phoenix, Arizona, was awarded an $110,870,867 modification (P00102) to contract W56HZV-12-C-0344 for Total Integrated Engine Revitalization (TIGER) hardware to meet the Anniston Army Depot production of the Advanced Gas Turbine 1500 engine for the Abrams tanks and TIGER field repair site requirements. Work will be performed in Phoenix, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 22, 2022. Fiscal 2019 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $110,870,867 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity. The Ross Group Construction Corp., Tulsa, Oklahoma, was awarded a $46,949,880 firm-fixed-price contract for the construction of a new visiting quarters facility at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 1, 2021. Fiscal 2019 non-appropriated funds for Air Force services funds in the amount of $46,949,880 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville, Kentucky, is the contracting activity (W912QR-19-C-0028). Lord & Son Construction Inc.,* Fort Walton Beach, Florida, was awarded a $32,128,489 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a Long-Range Stand-Off Acquisition Facility on Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 14, 2021. Fiscal 2018 military construction funds in the amount of $21,128,489 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W91278-19-C-0023). GEO Consultants Corp.,* Kevil, Kentucky, was awarded a $9,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for environmental services. Nine bids were solicited with nine bids received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 14, 2024. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville, Kentucky, is the contracting activity (W912QR-19-D-0045). Michael Baker International Inc., Moon Township, Pennsylvania, was awarded a $9,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for communications engineering services within the Central Command Area of Responsibility. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 14, 2024. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville, Kentucky, is the contracting activity (W912QR-19-D-0043). NAVY Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded an $80,011,579 fixed-price-incentive, firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-14-C-5106 for fiscal 2019 AEGIS Modernization (AMOD) production requirements. This procurement covers the production, test and delivery of multi-mission signal processor equipment sets; electronic equipment fluid cooler; AEGIS Weapon System AMOD Upgrade equipment; Kill Assessment System 5.1 equipment; AEGIS spares; Australia Combat Systems Engineering Development Site; and AEGIS Ashore Japan Sites equipment. This contract combines purchases for the Navy (78.1%); the government of Japan (18.2%); and the government of Australia (3.7%) under the Foreign Military Sales program. This contract includes options, which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract action to $80,411,730. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey (71.2%); Clearwater, Florida (27.4%); and Owego, New York (1.4%), and is expected to be complete by November 2023. Fiscal 2019 defense-wide procurement; 2019, 2018, 2017 other procurement (Navy); 2019, 2018, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy); and Foreign Military Sales funding in the amount of $80,011,579 will be obligated at the time of award, of which $968,079 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Corp. Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded a $55,960,700 cost-plus-incentive fee, cost-only, firm-fixed-price contract for combat system engineering support on the Ship Self-Defense System (SSDS). The SSDS combat system engineering agent/software design agent primary deliverables will be SSDS tactical computer programs, program updates and associated engineering, development and logistics products. This contract will manage the in-service SSDS configurations as well as adapt and integrate new or upgraded war-fighting capabilities. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey (95.6%); and San Diego, California (4.4%), and is expected to be complete by December 2019. This contract includes options, which if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $637,583,110 and be complete by December 2028. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); 2019 other procurement (Navy); 2018 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); and 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $12,438,006 will be obligated at time of award, and funding in the amount of $1,306 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with three offers received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-19-C-5603). American Electronic Warfare Associates Inc.,* California, Maryland, is awarded a $40,103,262 fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides for technical support services for the Aircraft Prototype Systems Division of the Naval Air Warfare Center – Aircraft Division Integrated Battlespace Simulation and Test Department. Services to be provided include all phases of program execution from initial conceptual studies, execution planning, management, engineering, documentation, fabrication, installation/ modification and test and evaluation activity support for aircraft research, development, prototyping, experimentation and test and evaluation programs. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in November 2023. No funds will be obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual delivery orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposals as a 100 percent small business set-aside; two offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0042119D0076). FLIR Surveillance Inc., Wilsonville, Oregon, is awarded a $12,689,470 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a five-year ordering period for supplies, repairs and upgrades for Littoral Combat Ship configuration of Sea Star SAFIRE III Electro-Optics Sensor Systems. Work will be performed in Wilsonville, Oregon, and is expected to be complete by August 2024. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $432,514 will be obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) - only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane, Indiana, is the contracting activity (N00164-19-D-JQ49). Teledyne Instruments Inc., North Falmouth, Massachusetts, is awarded a $7,666,080 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable, firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for services and supplies to support the ongoing development of autonomous underwater vehicles, localization systems, monitoring and navigation tele-sonar subsea modems. This contract includes options, which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $22,222,593. Work will be performed in North Falmouth, Massachusetts (90%); and Keyport, Washington (10%), and is expected to be complete by December 2024. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $4,281,649; and fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $1,070,412 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was procured as a Small Business Innovation Research Phase III award without further competition. The awardee satisfied competition requirements during Phase I and Phase II under Topic N02-082. A justification and approval document pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(5) was approved by the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport, Competition Advocate in January 2017. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport, in Keyport, Washington, is the contracting activity (N00253-19-D-0005). DEFENSE HEALTH AGENCY AMYX Inc., Reston, Virginia, was awarded a fixed-price contract with an estimated value of $56,818,861. The contract provides contracting and program management support to the Defense Health Agency (DHA). Services include, but are not limited to, acquisition and contract management, program management support, and other related workload requirements associated with the award and administration of DHA contracts. The contract was awarded as a competitive 100% small business acquisition. There is a base period of eight months, and four one-year option periods. The places of contract performance are: Falls Church, Virginia; Rosslyn, Virginia; San Antonio, Texas; and Aurora, Colorado. The period of performance begins on Sept. 25, 2019, and the completion date is May 31, 2024. The base period is funded with fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funding in the amount of $7,208,836. The Defense Health Agency, Enterprise Medical Services, Contracting Division, Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity (HT0050-19-F-0001). AMYX Inc., Reston, Virginia, was awarded a fixed-price contract with an estimated value of $47,926,649. The program and acquisition support services include, but are not limited to, program management support and other related workload requirements associated with acquisition and business processes. The contractor shall accomplish a variety of acquisition and other related administrative services to complement the government's workplace capabilities. The contract was a competitive 100% small business acquisition. There is a base period of nine months, and four one-year option periods. This contract provides support to San Antonio, Texas; Aurora, Colorado; Falls Church, Virginia; and Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, with a completion date of June 17, 2024. The base period is funded with fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funding in the amount of $6,077,590. The Defense Health Agency, Enterprise Medical Services, Contracting Division, Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity (HT0050-19-F-0002). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Sysco Alabama, Calera, Alabama, has been awarded a maximum $37,893,960 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-quantity contract for full line food distribution. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a one-year bridge contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are Central Alabama and Florida Panhandle regions, with an Aug. 8, 2020, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 defense working capital funds. The contracting agency is Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-19-D-3234). Arizona Industries for the Blind, Phoenix, Arizona, has been awarded an estimated $8,600,000 firm-fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for warehousing, storage, logistics and distribution functions. This is a two-year base contract with three one-year option periods. Location of performance is Arizona, with an Aug. 16, 2021, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and National Guard and Reserves. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-19-D-B065). U.S. TRANSPORTATION COMMAND Trident Technologies LLC, Huntsville, Alabama, has been awarded a contract modification (P00013) on contract HTC711-14-D-D003 in the amount of $13,616,300. The contract modification executed Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.217-8 Option to Extend Services for the Enterprise Architecture, Data, and Engineering (EADE) indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity to continue vital support services. The EADE contract acquires enterprise architecture, data, and information technology engineering services for the U.S. Transportation Command, Air Mobility Command/A6, and the Surface Deployment and Distribution Command. Period of performance is Oct. 1, 2019, to March 31, 2020. The location of performance is Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. Operations and maintenance; transportation working capital funds; and research, development, test and evaluation funds will be obligated at the individual task order level. This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract from $125,752,500 to $139,368,800. U.S. Transportation Command, Directorate of Acquisition, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is contracting activity. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/1935785/source/GovDelivery/

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  14 mars 2024 | International, Terrestre

  Revamped KC-46 vision system slipping into 2026, nearly two years late

  RVS 2.0 will provide KC-46 boom operators a vastly improved 4k, 3D image of aircraft refueling — but its schedule has slid repeatedly.

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  25 octobre 2018 | International, Naval

  To combat Russian subs, NATO allies are teaming up to develop unmanned systems at sea

  By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON — The U.S. and its NATO allies are teaming up to more closely cooperate on the development and fielding of unmanned maritime systems, according to an agreement signed by the defense heads of 13 NATO allies. During the July summit, the powers signed onto a plan to jointly pursue technologies aimed at mine and sub hunting, according to an October news release making the agreement public. “The use of unmanned systems is a potentially game changing leap forward in maritime technology,” the release read. “Working alongside traditional naval assets, these unmanned systems will increase both our situational awareness and our control of the seas.” The release, while short on details, seems to open up the possibility that development of underwater and surface drones could be even more lucrative for companies involved, as it hints at the alliance seeking common, interoperable systems. That means a proven drone might be competing for business in 13 markets simultaneously instead of just one. “Through this initiative, Allies will also be able to exploit economies of scale to reduce costs, allowing increasing defence budgets to go even further,” the release said. The countries involved in the agreement are Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. For NATO watchers, the agreement is the latest sign of just how seriously the alliance is taking the threat from Russian submarines. “NATO members are alarmed by the growing threat from Russian submarines, and are investing more resources to deal with it,” said Jorge Benitez, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who previously served as the lead on NATO issues for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. “Under [President Vladimir] Putin, Russia has deployed new, stealthier submarines in the north Atlantic that are much harder for NATO navies to track. “This new multinational cooperation in undersea drones is the most recent example that NATO is taking the Russian threat in the north Atlantic much more seriously than it has in the past quarter century.” Expanding role The agreement also reflects the ever-expanding role of unmanned systems in the underwater domain, which countries are banking on to offset the ever-quieter and more advanced submarines. As the U.S. submarine fleet has dipped to 56 attack and guided-missile boats, and the Navy projects that number is slated to further drop to 42 by 2028 and hold below 48 boats through 2032, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report. The Navy's 2019 30-year shipbuilding plan shows the number of attack submarines dropping precipitously in the mid-2020s, something CRS has warned about for years as the Los Angeles-class boats begin to retire in numbers. That shortfall is prompting an all-out push on developing unmanned systems that can perform some functions to free up the big hunters for missions where they are more needed. When it comes to cooperating in development of drones, monitoring the littorals in and around the Baltic — and in the Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom gap — is an area where this kind of cooperation could be helpful, said Bryan Clark, a retired submariner and analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. The Battle of the Atlantic The renewed threat from Russian submarines has triggered what the U.S. Navy's Europe commander, Adm. James Foggo, has dubbed “The Fourth Battle of the Atlantic,” harkening back to the fight with German U-boats in World War I, World War II and the standoff with Russia in the Cold War. But with the expansion of NATO to former Soviet satellite states, the Battle of the Atlantic will sprawl from the Eastern Seaboard all the way to the Baltic and Black seas, areas that Russia has fortified with anti-access, area denial weapons and other capabilities in recent years. That battlespace, however, extends not only to the undersea domain but all the way to the ocean floor, which is home to everything from pop-up mines to undersea internet cables that transmit the vast majority of the world's data. That means the alliance will need to know more than ever about what's on the sea floor, a job that simply can't be done with the declining number of attack submarines needed to shadow nuclear missile subs and conduct high-risk intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions around the globe. In that arena, experts say that underwater systems — be it drones or stationary systems — will be necessary to monitor crucial chokepoints. "We don't have to know everything everywhere,” retired Vice Adm. Michael Connor, former head of American's submarine forces, told the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee in a 2015 hearing. “But there are places where you would like to have very good knowledge. We have critical things we want to protect, like some of the undersea infrastructure that is so critical to our economy. “There may be places we decide we want to have some volume of systems and that relatively small area around that infrastructure where you would have sufficient vehicles to obtain perfect knowledge.” Pawns Developing and using autonomous underwater unmanned vehicles has proven to be a challenge. The issues are multifarious, but they boil down to three core problems: communications, navigation and endurance. Communicating underwater is a challenge in the best of circumstances, and surveillance drones aren't worth much if they can't tell others what they find. To that end, they must either have a home base to which they can navigate and upload data, or they need to surface and transmit, said Clark, the CSBA analyst. A second challenge is navigating around obstacles. Fish, which know quite a bit about navigating underwater, have trouble avoiding commercial fishing nets that are common in sea lanes. Likewise, drones have issues finding and avoiding them, and that's just one example. Endurance is another challenge. Some of the best underwater drones in the U.S. Navy's inventory, under ideal usage conditions, last a day underwater, Clark said. “UUVs can only go a few knots, and that's of limited duration,” he said. Underwater drones are showing promise in the areas of mine hunting and mine sweeping, but perhaps even more promising — in terms of becoming an adequate stand-in for an attack boat — are some of the surface drones in development. Clark said programs such as the Sea Hunter, a medium-displacement unmanned surface vessel, could be a huge leap forward for monitoring chokepoints. Developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel, or ACTUV, was designed to track enemy subs while avoiding collisions and abiding by the rules of the road. The first Sea Hunter was christened in 2016, and in January the project transitioned to the Office of Naval Research for further development. The idea behind Sea Hunter is that one can field a multitude to cover a lot of area at a fraction of the cost of a frigate of destroyer. “ACTUV represents a new vision of naval surface warfare that trades small numbers of very capable, high-value assets for large numbers of commoditized, simpler platforms that are more capable in the aggregate,” Fred Kennedy, head of DARPA's Tactical Technology Office, said in a January news release. “The U.S. military has talked about the strategic importance of replacing ‘king' and ‘queen' pieces on the maritime chessboard with lots of ‘pawns,' and ACTUV is a first step toward doing exactly that.” Other technologies have also shown promise. Liquid Robotics' Wave Glider, which uses ocean current and solar panels to power itself, can stay at sea for months at a time and provide persistent surveillance for anywhere from $250,000 to $300,000 a unit, a company representative told Defense News last year. The agreement reached by 13 NATO powers is just the latest indication of how countries see unmanned systems impacting the future of warfare. “It's an important statement that NATO allies and partners are thinking seriously about these emerging capabilities — and they need to think about them,” said Michael Horowitz, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania whose research has centered on unmanned systems. “It's a reflection of how they see these systems impacting the maritime domain.” https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2018/10/21/to-combat-russian-subs-nato-allies-are-teaming-up-to-develop-unmanned-systems-at-sea/