Army: Individual Soldiers Will One Day Control Swarms of Robots

Sur le même sujet

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  2 février 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - February 01, 2021

  NAVY Raytheon Technologies Corp., Pratt and Whitney, Pratt and Whitney Military Engines, East Hartford, Connecticut, is awarded a $290,704,534 cost-plus-incentive-fee, fixed-price incentive (firm target) contract. This contract provides material and support equipment for depot maintenance facilities, program administrative labor for non-recurring sustainment activities, mockup engines and modules for test cells, as well as supplies, services, and planning for depot activations in support of the F-35 Lightning II Program Lot 13 propulsion system for the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, non-Department of Defense (DOD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (30%); East Hartford, Connecticut (22%); Cherry Point, North Carolina (10%); Indianapolis, Indiana (6.75%); Windsor, Connecticut (3.25%); Yuma, Arizona (1.25%); Norfolk, United Kingdom (1%); Leeuwarden, Netherlands (1%); various locations within the continental U.S. (3.75%); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (21%), and is expected to be completed in January 2024. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $89,468,714; fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Air Force) funds in the amount of $84,152,318; non-DOD participant funds in the amount of $45,225,342; and FMS funds in the amount of $15,886,074, will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-21-C-0006). Crowley Government Services Inc., Jacksonville, Florida (N62387-15-C-2505) is awarded a $25,484,291 modification under a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract to exercise a six month option period (P00128) for the operation and maintenance of five Navy ocean surveillance ships USNS Victorious (T-AGOS 19); USNS Able (T-AGOS 20); USNS Effective (T-AGOS 21); USNS Loyal (T-AGOS 22); and USNS Impeccable (T-AGOS 23), and missile range instrumentation ships USNS Invincible (T-AGM 24); and USNS Howard Lorenzen (T-AGM 25). This modification provides for the exercises of a six-month option period to the bridge contract that was awarded on July 22, 2020. Work will be performed at sea, world-wide beginning Feb. 1, 2021, and is expected to be completed by July 31, 2021. Working capital funds (Navy) in the amount of $25,484,291 are obligated for fiscal 2021 and will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. This bridge was not competitively procured and was prepared in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1 and 10 U.S. Code § 2304(c)(1). The Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin, Mission Systems and Training, Baltimore, Maryland, is awarded a $14,184,813 cost-plus award-fee order N62786-21-F-0004, against previously awarded basic ordering agreement N00024-19-G-2313 to provide engineering and management services for LCS-21 post shakedown availability. Work will be performed in Mayport, Florida (37%); Moorestown, New Jersey (29%); Virginia Beach, Virginia (18%); Washington, D.C. (15%); and Baltimore, Maryland (1%), and is expected to be completed by July 2022. Fiscal 2015 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) $5,339,694 funding will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion, and Repair, Bath, Maine, is the contracting activity. ARMY Ellume USA LLC, Valencia, California, was awarded a $250,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to procure reliable home use testing without prescription requirements to meet the demand to respond to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Valencia, California, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 1, 2022. Fiscal 2021 special funds in the amount of $250,000,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W911NF-21-9-0003). NIKA Technologies,* Rockville, Maryland (W912DY-21-D-0017); Health Facilities Solutions, San Antonio, Texas (W912DY-21-D-0021); Polu Kai Tidewater,* Falls Church, Virginia (W912DY-21-D-0020); Vali Cooper International, Covington, Louisiana (W912DY-21-D-0018); VW International Inc., Alexandria, Virginia (W912DY-20-D-0019); and The Outfit Inc., New Braunfels, Texas (W912DY-21-D-0016), will compete for each order of the $50,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide medical project support services, facility support services, quantity verification and analysis services, project development support services and commissioning support services. Bids were solicited via the internet with 15 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2026. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE Rolls-Royce Corp., Indianapolis, Indiana, has been awarded a $96,932,957 delivery order (FA8504-21-F-0022) to contract FA8504-17-D-0002 for C-130J propulsion long-term sustainment. This order provides funding for Option IV. Work will be performed at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, and is expected to be completed Jan. 31, 2022. Fiscal 2021 Special Operations Command operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $7,109,327; fiscal 2021 Air National Guard operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $22,126,544; fiscal 2021 Air Force Reserve operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $12,187,542; fiscal 2021 Air Force operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $54,486,354; and fiscal 2021 Special Operations Command research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $1,023,191 are being obligated at the time of award. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $66,684,503. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins AFB, Georgia, is the contracting activity. Innovative Scientific Solutions Inc., Dayton, Ohio, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $44,195,532 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Technology for Sustained Supersonic Combustion (TSSC). This is for the Technical Area 2 portion of TSSC. The mission of this TSSC effort focuses on development and evaluation of advanced aero propulsion systems and components, airframe structures, internal/external aerodynamics including integration into air vehicles, weapons and launch components with an emphasis on decreasing weigh and evaluating the effect of engine scale to determine operability, durability and performance. Work will be performed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and is expected to be completed February 2028. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and four offers were received. The first task order will be incrementally funded with fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $20,000 at time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8650-21-D-2401). Cyber Systems and Services Solutions, Bellevue, Nebraska, has been awarded a $17,765,741 firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P0010) to contract FA8773-18-D-0002 to exercise Option Three for defensive cyber realization, integration and operational support services. Work will be performed at Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA)-Lackland, Texas, and is expected to be completed Feb. 28, 2022. This modification is the result of a competitive acquisition and seven offers were received. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $8,764,731 are being obligated at the time of award. The 38th Contracting Squadron, JBSA-Lackland, Texas, is the contracting activity. University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, has been awarded a $12,500,000 cost-reimbursement contract for “Photovoltaic Sheets for High-Specific-Power Space-Based Energy Harvesting (PVS-EH)”. This contract is to provide, develop and demonstrate the concept of PV “sheets” (PVS), consisting of modular, interconnect able, high-efficiency PV power sources fabricated on low-weight flexible substrates using scalable processing. Under this program, the contractor will further the effort to study and develop advanced materials, interfaces and electrical contacts for high efficiency and high specific power tandem thin film photovoltaic technologies to achieve lightweight solar sheet technologies that enable specific powers to exceed 1000 W/kg onboard spacecraft self- sensing, attribution and autonomy. Work will be performed in Toledo, Ohio, and is expected to be completed February 2026. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $3,000,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, is the contracting activity (FA9453-21-C-0056). Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Herndon, Virginia, has been awarded a $7,763,422 firm-fixed-price task order under the ground subsystems sustainment contract (FA8214-15-D-0001) for the Minuteman III Launch Control Center Block Upgrade production for the exercise of Option Year One of Malmstrom Wing I. Work will be performed in Ogden, Utah, and is expected to be completed Aug. 15, 2022. Fiscal 2021 missile procurement funds in the full amount are being obligated at the time of award. Total value of the task order after exercise of the previously mentioned option is $26,428,083. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (FA8204-20-F-0071). CORRECTION: The contract modification (P00014) awarded to Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Georgia, Jan. 27, 2021, had an incorrect obligation amount. The operation and maintenance funds being obligated at the time of award should be $50,418,022, not $44,482,293 (FA8106-18-D-0002). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Stryker Corp., Portage, Michigan, has been awarded a maximum $89,644,767 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for cranial and maxillofacial procedural packages and ancillary items. 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 contract with four one-year option periods. Location of performance is Michigan, with a Jan. 31, 2022, ordering period end date. Using military services are Army, Navy and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2022 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2DE-21-D-0011). Exxel Outdoors LLC,* Broomfield, Colorado, has been awarded a maximum $55,760,612 firm-fixed-priced, indefinite-delivery/definite-quantity contract for three-season sleep systems and components. This was a competitive acquisition with three responses received. This is a one-year base contract with four one-year option periods. Location of performance is Colorado, with a Jan. 28, 2022, ordering period end date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2022 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency, Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-21-D-1439). SNC Manufacturing LLC,** Orocovis, Puerto Rico, has been awarded a maximum $41,007,805 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for trousers. This was a competitive acquisition with eight responses received. This is a one-year contract with four one-year option periods. Location of performance is Puerto Rico, with a Jan. 31, 2022, ordering period end date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2022 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency, Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-21-D-1413). *Small business **Small disadvantaged business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2489417/source/GovDelivery/

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  19 février 2019 | International, C4ISR

  FLIR set to add Endeavor Robotics to its unmanned future

  By: Kelsey D. Atherton A camera is never just a camera anymore. For FLIR — the company whose bread and butter may be lenses and images but whose product is best thought of as an intelligence add-on more than any pedestrian photography — was never just about the camera. FLIR's cameras and sensors have been incorporated into vehicles for decades, a platform on platforms. But in the past two years, FLIR has moved to acquire robotics companies of its own. A new deal, announced Feb. 11, 2019, is set to have FLIR acquire Endeavor Robotics. In November 2016, FLIR acquired Prox Dynamics, maker of the sparrow-sized Black Hornet micro-drone. It was FLIR's first foray into its own unmanned vehicles. In January 2019, FLIR acquired drone-maker Aeryon Labs, which produces vehicles that weigh less than 20 pounds for a number of militaries across the globe. “Now with Endeavor, we've started down that path of executing our inorganic phase of our growth strategy for unmanned,” said David Ray, president of the Government and Defense Business Unit at FLIR. “What that does is it allows us to have a platform to move the customer's vision forward for this whole notion of manned-unmanned teaming. It's driving an open architecture, an environment where you can have both manned vehicles and unmanned really cooperating and delivering missions like never before.” Endeavor Robotics is the largest get by FLIR of the lot. FLIR is set to buy Endeavor for $385 million — almost twice as much as FLIR paid for Aeryon Labs, and nearly three times as much as it spent on Prox Dynamics. With Endeavor Robotics comes a whole host of tracked unmanned ground vehicles, including the infantry-deployable (and -tossable) FirstLook, and the larger and heavier PackBot and Kobra. These robots can incorporate a variety of sensors from FLIR, for everything from video and infrared to chemical detection. Being in-house means FLIR can experiment and explore more fusion of its various platforms. “With our Black Hornet we can have a reconnaissance system that is connected to a vehicle,” Ray said, “a tank or whatever it may be, where you could actually launch Black Hornet aircraft from another vehicle. As we enhance our sensors across both, we're able to bring that power to bear in terms of layered surveillance.” While FLIR is still relatively new to robotics, it's used to working across sectors. FLIR sensors have been used by the military, government, law enforcement and in the security space, and have had to stay competitive with commercial companies. Lessons learned from an application in nuclear reactor security might be applicable to a sensor on an explosive ordnance disposal robot. Those updates and lessons have stayed fixed to the specific sensor. With the new robotics companies acquired by FLIR, it can adapt its vehicles and sensors in a more holistic way. “Our latest Black Hornet III is able to operate in GPS-denied environments,” Ray said. “And so the beauty of Endeavor being part FLIR is we can go look at how we take an investment and enhancements we've made and see what it takes to go transfer that into a vehicle. The ultimate goal is being able to build world-class R&D and generate world-class capability, and then be able to expand that across multiple platforms.” FLIR's past, present and future remain very much about the core business of providing sensors for others to incorporate. Also in that future we can anticipate FLIR adapting and designing its own vehicles around its sensors. That means looking at the way the data collected by those sensors can be turned into everything from useful navigational information for an autonomous system on the vehicle, to vital information relayed by tablet to soldiers commanding the robot nearby. https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2019/02/15/flir-set-to-add-endeavor-robotics-to-its-unmanned-future

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  17 juillet 2018 | International, Aérospatial

  Helicopter drone loses weight, lengthens endurance, but will the change attract customers?

  By: Beth Stevenson FARNBOROUGH, England — UMS Skeldar has launched a new version of its flagship unmanned helicopter that has a longer-endurance capability, as the company continues its aggressive campaign to promote the system for a number of ongoing international naval requirements. The Skeldar V-200B has a five-hour endurance due to a 10-kilogram weight reduction in the aircraft, something the company claims will up its appeal because of the increased performance and reliability. The new model is now the baseline offering that UMS Skeldar will pitch to customers. UMS Skeldar is a joint venture between Saab and UMS that formed in 2015 to primarily promote the V-200, a UAV that had previously struggled to secure customers despite years of development and marketing by Saab. “It [the V-200B] is almost a completely new aircraft — a new build since the Saab days,” David Willems, head of business development at the company, told Defense News. The "B" model is the result of work carried out under the partnership, he added, and features new GPS antennas and software in addition to the weight decrease, as well as better fuel consumption due to engine modifications. Endurance can be increased, or an extra 10 kilograms of payload can be carried by Skeldar, Willems said. Notably, the way the V-200B has been developed will allow for the drone's industrialization, moving from one-off manufacture, as was the case with the previous variant, to serial production. The Asia-Pacific region is the most active market for Skeldar, Willems says. The company is seeing potential in South Korea, and it has been specifically targeting Australia for some time now, where it is expanding its industrial base to potentially support work transfer. “It is a very interesting time there, and we are building a small Australia ecosystem,” he said. Australia is acquiring a number of types of unmanned systems under ongoing programs, seeking systems such as ship-based UAVs under its Project Sea 129 Phase 5 effort, supporting its aim to operate a comprehensive fleet of unmanned aircraft that includes the Insitu ScanEagle and Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton. Skeldar is most often pitched against Schiebel's unmanned Camcopter helo, a system that has seen more commercial success in both the military and civil markets, although UMS Skeldar has been demonstrably active in marketing its system since the joint venture was formed. A heavy-fuel variant of Camcopter has been undergoing trials in Australia under work that will act as risk-reduction efforts for the Project Sea 129 Phase 5 program. UMS is also active in Germany where it is teaming with ESG to pitch to the Navy for similar requirements to Australia. The company has delivered Skeldar to Indonesia, which has used it to assess operating a UAV of this type, although little news on the outcome of that work has been revealed by either the Indonesian government or the company. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/farnborough/2018/07/16/helicopter-drone-loses-weight-lengthens-endurance-but-will-the-change-attract-customers/