9 août 2023 | International, Aérospatial

Amentum Awarded $818M Contract to Modernize U.S. Navy F-16 Adversary Fleet

Chantilly, Va., August 2, 2023 – Amentum was awarded an $818 million contract for adversary aircraft sustainment and modernization of the U.S. Navy F-16 fleet. Amentum will manage all aspects...

https://www.epicos.com/article/770112/amentum-awarded-818m-contract-modernize-us-navy-f-16-adversary-fleet

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  • Army Buys 9,000 Mini-Drones, Rethinks Ground Robots

    18 juin 2019 | International, Aérospatial

    Army Buys 9,000 Mini-Drones, Rethinks Ground Robots

    By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR. WASHINGTON: This summer, Army soldiers will deploy to Afghanistan with air support literally in the palm of their hands: the 1.16-ounce Black Hornetmini-drone. New ground robots are entering service too, next year — not to fight but to haul supplies, at least at first — but field tests have convinced the Army to issue these often-cumbersome mechanical mules to specialists and only loan them to frontline troops as needed. By contrast, soldiers are so consistently and unequivocally enthused about the mini-drones that the Army is buying 9,000 systems — each with two drones — over three years to issue to its smallest and historically most vulnerable units, nine-man infantry squads. The mini-drone and larger robots are all part of a wider revolution in the long-suffering infantry, a revolution sparked in large measure by former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. The Marines, Mattis's old service, have issued upgraded 5.56 mm rifles and are adding a specialized drone operator to every rifle squad. The Army is going much farther, developing new 6.8 mm rifles, high-tech targeting goggles, virtual-reality training, and, of course, robots. Now, none of these unmanned systems is truly autonomous, so they require a human to run them by remote control, which in turn requires a functioning battlefield network that hasn't been shut down by enemy jamming. The FLIR Black Hornet has a lot of automated functions and only flies short missions, so you don't need a soldier babysitting it all the time. Ground robots, however, require much more oversight, because they have to avoid rocks, bogs, tree stumps, and other obstacles that no unmanned air vehicle has to worry about and that artificial-vision software still struggles to spot. The Army is eager to improve the technology so that, instead of one soldier remote-controlling one robot, they can have one soldier overseeing a largely autonomous swarm. But even today's limited autonomy allows for big changes on the battlefield. The palmtop Black Hornet — dubbed Soldier-Borne Sensor (SBS) by the Army — is already in the hands (literally) of a brigade of the elite 82nd Airborne that's about to deploy to Afghanistan. The second unit scheduled to get the mini-drone, starting this fall, is the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade, which has already served in Afghanistan. For the first time, a squad leader will have the ability to scout ahead by air before exposing human soldiers on the ground. The SBS has sensor options for both night and day, and it can fly about 20 minutes before needing to recharge. But the squad-level mini-drone is just the entry model. Larger units will get larger, more capable, but also more expensive and more maintenance-hungry drones. “Our vision is every echelon has unmanned aerial systems,” said Don Sando, civilian deputy to the commander of the Army's infantry and armor centerat Fort Benning, Ga. “The question is, how many?” While squads get the Black Hornet SBS, platoons will get the slightly larger Short-Range Reconnaissance (SRR) drone, Sando and other Army officials told reporters in a conference call last week. A series of tests this month, September, and January will whittle six SRR competitors down to one that will enter service in April 2020. The winner must weigh three pounds or less, fly for 30 minutes, and be able to “perch and stare,” landing in a vantage point overlooking a target area so it can keep watch without burning through its flight time. Companies will stick with the current RQ-11 Raven, which is still small enough that soldiers launch it by picking it up and throwing it. Battalions currently use the Raven as well, but the Army plans to develop a new Long-Range Reconnaissance drone for them to use. The LRR isn't an official program yet, however. Brigades currently have the RQ-7 Shadow, but that aging system needs a catapult to launch and a runway to land. It will be replaced by the Future Tactical Unmanned Aerial System (FTUAS), which takes off and lands vertically like a mini-helicopter, starting in 2021. Divisions currently use the Grey Eagle, a variant of the venerable Predator, but the Army is experimenting with potential Advanced UAS drones to replace it too. Ground Bots For Some The Army is also fielding ground robots, but these machines are still much clumsier and harder to work with than aerial drones, so they're being issued only to specialist units. That includes what was formerly called the SquadMultipurpose Equipment Transport but is now renamed the Small Multipurpose Equipment Transport, because it's not going to belong to an individual squad. The SMET, by either name, is still a small unmanned ground vehicle, about the size of a golf cart, designed to trundle along with the foot troops, hauling supplies and gear like an old-fashioned pack mule. It must carry 1,000 pounds of supplies and gear over 60 miles in 72 hours, trundling along with foot troops, and provide three kilowatts of power to recharge batteries for night vision goggles, radios, and other electronics. Four competitors remain in contention: the Polaris MRZR, Howe & Howe Grizzly, HDT Wolf, and General Dynamics MUTT. “They're all viable candidates. They all met the standards of range, offloading power, silent watch capability, payload carrying,” Sando said. “Soldier feedback on all of them was very comparable with regard to what missions they're good for — and what conditions they're not appropriate for.” The Army plans to field the winner starting next year to selected training centers, combat brigades, and support companies — but not infantry squads. “We found out in the operational tech demonstration [that] it can best be supported now at the battalion level,” Sando said, which is the lowest echelon of an infantry unit to include technical specialists such as a heavy weapons company. The Army's objective is to incorporate the new technologies without adding personnel to take care of them. The issue with SMET is not just the maintenance the robots require — though that can be a large burden for a squad of nine — but also their limited mobility. “There are places where we ask our soldiers to go where nothing else can go... jungle terrain, steep embankments, water, and dense urban environments,” Sando said. “There are areas soldiers can walk and crawl and climb that we just couldn't put a vehicle of this size with them.” The SMET remains very useful for long marches with heavy loads, the bane of infantry soldiers increasingly overburdened by body armor, ammunition, and electronics. Being able to recharge gear from the robot instead of carrying several days' worth of batteries for every item of equipment is itself a significant reduction in weight. Future SMET variants, Sando said, might carry long-range sensors, communications relays, or even weapons. But when foot troops have to go places you can only go on foot, they need to be able to leave the robot vehicles behind and let someone else take care of them. By contrast, Sando said, “the Soldier-Borne Sensor is smaller than a pack of cigarettes, [so] I can use it when I need it, I can put it back.” https://breakingdefense.com/2019/06/army-buys-9000-mini-drones-for-squads-rethinks-ground-robots-for-2020/

  • Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - February 5, 2019

    6 février 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité, Autre défense

    Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - February 5, 2019

    NAVY Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $90,345,180 modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N00019-17-C-0001). This modification provides for the identification and execution of cost reduction initiatives to reduce the cost of the F-35 Lightning II Air System. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in June 2022. Fiscal 2017 aircraft procurement (Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $90,345,180 will be obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This modification combines purchases for the Air Force ($44,929,818; 50 percent); Navy ($26,000,000; 29 percent); and the Marine Corps ($19,415,362; 21 percent). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Q.E.D. Systems Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia, was awarded an $11,503,892 cost modification to previously-awarded contract N00024-15-C-4400 for third party advanced planning services in support of Chief of Naval Operations availabilities, Continuous Maintenance Availabilities (CMAVs), inactivation CMAVs, sustainment availabilities, phased modernization availabilities, re-commissioning availabilities, continuous maintenance and emergent maintenance windows of opportunity for Navy surface combatant ship classes (CG 47/DDG 51). Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia (53 percent); San Diego, California (36 percent); and Everett, Washington (11 percent), and is expected to be completed by February 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy); and fiscal 2019 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $6,282,400 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Feb. 1,2019) ARMY CACI-ISS Inc., Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a $37,234,235 modification (P00048) to contract W15QKN-15-C-0049 for the Integrated Personnel and Pay System. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of May 31, 2019. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $35,387,111 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, New Jersey, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY SOPAKCO Inc., Mullins, South Carolina, has been awarded a maximum $26,214,300 firm-fixed-price contract for religious and halal Meal Ready to Eat. This was a competitive acquisition with three responses received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is South Carolina, with a Feb. 4, 2024, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2024 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE3S1-19-DZ117). UPDATE: Hoist Liftruck Manufacturing,* East Chicago, Indiana (SPE8EC-19-D-0038), has been added as an awardee to the multiple-award contract for commercial trucks and trailers, issued against solicitation SPE8EC-17-R-0008, announced April 20, 2017. DEFENSE HEALTH AGENCY Bluewater Federal Solutions Inc., Chantilly, Virginia, was awarded a firm-fixed-price contract for $8,194,502 on Jan. 22, 2019. The contract has an effective date of Feb. 1, 2019 and was awarded following a competitive solicitation conducted amongst small businesses in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 8.405, using General Services Administration eBuy Schedule 70, Special Item Number 132-56. This award provides for non-personal information technology services in support of mobile application development, web design, web development, and necessary support (to include testing, information assurance compliance and risk mitigation in accordance with Department of Defense standards) for Military Health System internet, intranet, and extranet websites, web applications, and mobile applications. The contractor place of performance is Falls Church, Virginia. In addition, this contract provides for four option periods, if exercised. This contract is funded with fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance appropriations in the amount of $8,194,502. The Defense Health Agency, Contracting Office – Health Information Technology, San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity (HT0015-19-F-0022). *Small Business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1749121/source/GovDelivery/

  • Ukraine will get F-16 fighter jets from Dutch, Danes after US agrees

    20 août 2023 | International, Aérospatial, Sécurité

    Ukraine will get F-16 fighter jets from Dutch, Danes after US agrees

    It was not immediately clear when the first F-16s might enter the conflict as Ukrainian pilots will also have to undertake at least six months’ training.

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