22 juin 2018 | International, Naval, Terrestre
By: Jen Judson
WASHINGTON — BAE Systems has won a contract to build the Marine Corps' new amphibious combat vehicle following a competitive evaluation period where BAE's vehicle was pitted against an offering from SAIC.
The contract allows for the company to enter into low-rate initial production with 30 vehicles expected to be delivered by fall of 2019, valued at $198 million.
The Marines plan to field 204 of the vehicles. The total value of the contract with all options exercised is expected to amount to about $1.2 billion.
The awarding of the contract gets the Corps “one step closer to delivering this capability to the Marines,” John Garner, Program Executive Officer, Land Systems Marine Corps, said during a media round table held Tuesday.
But the Corps isn't quite done refining its new ACV. The vehicle is expected to undergo incremental changes with added new requirements and modernization.
The Corps is already working on the requirements for ACV 1.2, which will include a lethality upgrade for the amphibous vehicle.
BAE's ACV vehicle will eventually replace the Corps' legacy amphibious vehicle, but through a phased approach. The Assault Amphibious Vehicle is currently undergoing survivability upgrades to keep the Cold War era vehicle ticking into 2035.
BAE Systems and SAIC were both awarded roughly $100 million each in November 2015 to deliver 16 prototypes to the Marine Corps for evaluation in anticipation of a down select to one vendor in 2018.
[BAE, SAIC Named as Finalists in Marines ACV Competition]
All government testing of the prototypes concluded the first week of December 2017 and the Marine Corps issued its request for proposals the first week in January 2018. Operational tests also began concurrently.
Government testing included land reliability testing, survivability and blast testing and water testing — both ship launch and recovery as well as surf transit.
Operational evaluations included seven prototypes each from both SAIC and BAE Systems, six participated and one spare was kept for backup.
BAE Systems' partnered with Italian company Iveco Defense Vehicles to build its ACV offering.
[BAE Systems completes Amphibious Combat Vehicle shipboard testing]
Some of the features BAE believed were particularly attractive for a new ACV is that it has space for 13 embarked Marines and a crew of three, which keeps the rifle squad together. The engine's strength is 690 horsepower over the old engine's 560 horsepower, and it runs extremely quietly. The vehicle has a V-shaped hull to protect against underbody blasts, and the seat structure is completely suspended.
SAIC's vehicle, which was built in Charleston, South Carolina, offered improved traction through a central tire-inflation system to automatically increase or decrease tire pressure. It also had a V-hull certified during tests at the Nevada Automotive Test Center — where all prototypes were tested by the Marine Corps — and had blast-mitigating seats to protect occupants.
The 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division out of Camp Pendleton, California, is expected to receive the first ACV 1.1 vehicles.
Marine Corps Times reporter Shawn Snow contributed to this report.
12 septembre 2023 | International, Aérospatial
The Swedish government is considering donating Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine to help it fight Russia, Swedish public radio (SR) reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.
16 août 2019 | International, Aérospatial
Program Will Restore The Pave Hawk Operational Loss Replacement Fleet To Its Authorized Size The first Operational Loss Replacement HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter has been delivered to the U.S. Air Force by the U.S. Army by Alaska Air National Guard Maj. Paul Rauenhorst and Capt. Seth Peterson pilots on Aug. 5, 2019, to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Defense Blog reports that the aircraft is a rebuilt low-hour U.S. Army UH-60L Black Hawk aircraft. “It's a much younger airframe,” Rauenhorst said. “These airframes are from 2001 to 2004 models, where ours sitting on the ramp are 1992 models. These are Army Limas rebuilt to be Golf models.” The HH-60 is the primary SAR helicopter deployed by the Department of Defense. Multiple aircraft have been lost in nearly 18 years deployed in combat operations, and the OLR program is designed to bring the Pave Hawk fleet back to its authorized size, according to the report. Chief Master Sgt. Eric Chester, 176th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron superintendent, said that the OLRs will significantly increase the availability for the fleet, as they are lower-time aircraft that will require less maintenance. “The impact of the OLR coming into our wing is huge,” Chester said. “It's a big opportunity for everyone here to be able to take advantage of these new aircraft and reset across the board.” http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=ee00b374-5f9e-4eeb-8664-300e8851226e
16 juillet 2018 | International, C4ISR
By: Daniel Cebul ASHINGTON ― L3 Technologies on Wednesday acquired two information security companies, Azimuth Security and Linchpin Labs. The acquisitions are expected to strengthen L3′s C4ISR, cyber defense and combat systems businesses. The acquired companies, which will become L3 Trenchant, were purchased for approximately $200 million. But “the purchase price is subject to an upward adjustment of up to AUD$43 million (approximately USD$32 million), payable in L3 common stock," according to an L3 news release. This depends on post-acquisition sales from June 30, 2019, to 2021. The acquisition follows L3′s $540 million sale of Vertex in May. “These acquisitions sharpen our capabilities, heighten our responsiveness and advance L3's prime position as a C6ISR solutions provider,” said Christopher E. Kubasik, L3's chairman, president and CEO. “We are making targeted investments in cutting-edge technologies and integrating them with existing capabilities to support our domestic and international customers in strategically important business areas.” In a previous interview with Defense News, Kubasik said the company's acquisition strategy is based on addressing strategic needs and capability gaps. “In several cases after discussions with our customers and looking at the National Defense Strategy, we're looking for different technologies and capabilities” he said. " We look at our strategy, we go out and find things to fill the gaps." Some of the gaps L3 is looking to fill in the U.S. and overseas are related to underwater unmanned vehicles as well as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms. Kubasik said he hopes to capitalize on increased interest in sensor and communication technologies. “Internationally, we visited customers in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,” he said. “There is a lot of entrants, especially in the Mideast for ISR platform[s]. ... And of course that's in our sweet spot.” Canada-based Linchpin Labs specializes in custom software development and brings experience working with government clients on computer network operations, cross-platform and low-level systems development, and information technology services. Based in Sydney, Australia, Azimuth Security is an information security consultancy firm that focuses on in-depth software analysis, including threat modeling and design, configuration, and source-code review. “These pioneering intelligence solutions — the ‘I' in ISR — give our customers an intelligence advantage through next-generation network security and threat mitigation,” said Jeff Miller, L3's senior vice president and head of the firm's sensor systems unit. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2018/07/12/l3-acquires-two-information-security-firms-with-eye-toward-multiple-markets/