Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - January 23, 2020

Sur le même sujet

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  23 juillet 2018 | International, Aérospatial

  La bataille du futur avion de chasse de l'armée suisse a démarré

  La Suisse a lancé début juillet l'appel d'offres pour les nouveaux avions de combat. Les constructeurs Boeing, Airbus, Dassault, Saab et Lockheed Martin redoublent déjà d'efforts pour convaincre la Confédération. Cinq jets doivent être évalués: le Gripen E suédois (Saab), le Rafale français (Dassault), l'Eurofighter allemand (Airbus), et côté américain, le successeur du FA-18, le Super Hornet de Boeing, et le F-35A de Lockheed-Martin. Les constructeurs pourront soumettre leur offre à Armasuisse d'ici la fin janvier 2019. En Suède, l'opération de séduction a démarré à Linköping, petite ville de 150'000 habitants et capitale du Gripen. La localité est habituée aux rugissements du chasseur et au secret défense. Alors qu'il n'était qu'un projet en 2014, le Gripen E de Saab a désormais 30 heures de vols à son compteur. "Le Gripen E mûrit très vite", explique Rustan Nicander, responsable du marché suisse chez Saab. "Le Brésil et la Suède sont déjà clients, avant que la Suisse ne décide d'acheter l'appareil. Ce sera donc un appareil très mûr quand la Suisse fera son choix." Convaincre les politiques et l'industrie Pour remporter à nouveau l'appel d'offres, le constructeur suédois tente de rassurer, tout en misant sur son réseau. "Nous avions déjà remporté la dernière évaluation il y a quelques années", rappelle Jonas Hjelm, responsable des affaires aéronautiques. "Je pense que nous apportons cette fois un ensemble encore plus cohérent." Les performances du futur appareil ne constitueront pas le seul critère pour la Suisse. L'ultra-moderne F-35A américain n'a par exemple plus grand chose à prouver. L'entreprise américaine sait donc qu'elle doit aussi convaincre la politique et l'industrie. "Tous les pays qui ont acheté le F-35 ont eu un retour économique et industriel", affirme Yung A. Le, responsable de l'Europe du Nord chez Lockheed Martin. "Ce ne sera pas différent pour la Suisse. Nous avons des collaborateurs qui rencontrent l'industrie en Suisse romande, chez les Alémaniques et les italophones afin de mieux comprendre le tissu industriel." Après le travail de l'industrie, celui de la diplomatie Les entreprises étrangères avec lesquelles des contrats seront signés devront compenser 100% de la valeur des contrats par des affaires en Suisse. Discrète, la filiale allemande d'Airbus privilégie depuis son bureau bernois les coulisses aux grandes campagnes de communication pour vendre son Eurofighter. "Nous ne sommes pas nouveaux en Suisse, nous y avons déjà des contrats avec l'industrie, mais il faut que nous les développions davantage pour atteindre les besoins demandés", indique le Dr. Alexander-Long Vinh, responsable de cette campagne chez Airbus. Après le travail de l'industrie viendra celui de la diplomatie. Ce sera au gouvernement de chaque constructeur de transmettre une offre à la Suisse. Des tests au sol et en vol seront menés dans le pays entre mai et juillet 2019. Un deuxième appel d'offre pour les jets sera mené en novembre 2019 et les réponses sont attendues pour fin mai 2020. Le choix des modèles devrait tomber vers fin 2020. Le Parlement puis le peuple devraient pouvoir se prononcer sur la facture. Loïs Siggen-Lopez/tmun https://www.rts.ch/info/suisse/9717782-la-bataille-du-futur-avion-de-chasse-de-l-armee-suisse-a-demarre.html

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  26 juin 2020 | International, Naval

  Rolls-Royce secures U.S. Navy contracts totalling $115.6 Million

  June 24, 2020 - Rolls-Royce has secured recent agreements with the U.S. Navy for ship engines, propulsion components and services valued at up to $115.6 million. Leo Martins, Rolls-Royce Defense, Program Director, U.S. Naval & Coast Guard Platforms, said, “Rolls-Royce is proud to support the U.S. Navy through an extensive portfolio... https://www.epicos.com/article/594682/rolls-royce-secures-us-navy-contracts-totalling-1156-million

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  24 avril 2020 | International, Terrestre

  US Army confident any tech schedule slips are recoverable

  By: Joe Gould WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army is girding for modernization program delays and a rise in acquisition costs as the coronavirus pandemic ripples across its installations and through its network of suppliers. Army leaders told reporters Thursday they are confident the service can juggle schedules to make up for any emerging delays and would ask Congress to help address future cost growth. While some larger prime contractors have adapted quickly, officials said, they warned that lower-tier companies with less slack in their workforces remain vulnerable. The Army's Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System had several major tests and evaluations scheduled, including a long-awaited limited-user test, or LUT. However, Army Futures Command chief Gen. Mike Murray said in a call with reporters that the testing schedule “will slide a little bit, but we will be on time” for the program's other milestone decisions. “I am very confident we will get the LUT done this summer or early fall,” he said. The Army is in the third year of an ambitious modernization overhaul, which depends in part on “soldier touchpoints,” or user evaluations of new equipment. The modernization efforts are now in question as commanders apply physical distancing measures to protect their soldiers. For example, a touchpoint at Fort Riley, Kansas, for a future replacement of the RQ-7 Shadow unmanned aircraft system is going ahead, but the commander at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, decided to postpone one there. Whether wider program delays are coming, “we're still watching very closely, and what I am very much focused on is there may be some slips in key decisions and soldier touchpoints,” Murray said. “The current estimate is we will deliver that [UAS] capability to our soldiers by the time we said we would.” The Army will also push a critical touchpoint for the Integrated Visual Augmentation System from the summer to the fall after Microsoft — a subcontractor for the prime — temporarily closed. The device is a set of goggles meant to provide soldiers next-level night and thermal vision as well as enhance navigation and targeting. “Not only for that program but for all our programs, input from the soldiers that were actually asked to use this equipment has been critical,” Murray said. “That has been impacted.” The comments came as the Pentagon expects a broader three-month delay for major acquisition programs and speeds progress payments to primes that should trickle to small businesses. Army acquisitions officials have worked to help get second- and third-tier suppliers access to small business loans as well as facilitate cash flow to them. “The supply chain does have some challenges, and that's probably where the vast majority of any slips would occur that are tied to individual companies,” said Bruce Jette, the Army's acquisition chief. “These companies are small, and if one person gets COVID in the company, the next thing you know you've lost 14 days with the company because everybody that didn't get it is in quarantine.” BAE Systems coordinated a temporary closure with the Army and plans to scrap a planned summer break to make up the time. Boeing's closure in Philadelphia also came and went. “It's like that down [the] chain for the primes: They tend to be coming back online,” Jette said. “The ones where we end up with two or three weeks are the ones where we've got small individual companies of maybe 20 to 30 people who were suppliers of cables, or connectors and things like that. “There's something there that tends to have a bigger impact or take a little bit longer time. And with them, we try to execute those portions of the program which aren't dependent upon those components, and then we'll come back and clean up the battlespace.” Some big agenda items for the Army don't appear to have been knocked off balance. For example, the Army is still planning on another flight test of Lockheed Martin's Precision Strike Munition, or PrSM, by April 30, which will deliver a new long-range precision fires capability to the battlefield. The capability is the Army's No. 1 modernization priority. “I'm confident enough that we're going to do the next test flight [of] PrSM that I scheduled a military aircraft to go out and see it, so I'm very confident,” Murray said. The Army's latest “night court” review — used to divest the service of unneeded programs — proceeded virtually, as much of the Pentagon shifted to remote work. As part of the review, Army leaders recently received the final brief concerning equipment. “A lot of the recommendations are pretty much close to being finalized,” Murray said. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/04/23/us-army-confident-any-tech-schedule-slips-are-recoverable/