Defense Spending In China Will Rise By 6.6%

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  19 février 2021 | International, Aérospatial

  USAF receives first Beechcraft AT-6E Wolverine - Skies Mag

  New light attack aircraft will support the Continued Light Attack Experiment.

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  17 août 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - August 14, 2020

  AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a $62,000,000,000 ten-year, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ), fixed-price-incentive contract for new production of F-16 Foreign Military Sale (FMS) aircraft. The total value for the initial delivery order is $4,941,105,246 and will be awarded on the same date. The initial delivery order is for 90 aircraft, including both the pre-priced recurring core configuration costs at $2,862,797,674 and the engineering change proposal/undefinitized contract action for the non-recurring costs not-to-exceed $2,078,307,572 obligated at approximately $1,018,370,710. Work will be primarily performed in Greenville, South Carolina; and Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed Dec. 31, 2026. This contract involves 100% FMS to FMS partner nations and is the result of a sole-source acquisition. FMS funds in the amount of $3,881,168,384 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (Basic IDIQ: FA8615-20-D-6052; initial delivery order: FA8615-20-F-0001). General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $188,866,819 undefinitized contract action for Belgium MQ-9B SkyGuardian procurement. This contract provides for four MQ-9B unmanned air vehicles, two Certifiable Ground Control Stations, spares and support equipment. Work will be performed in Poway, California, and is expected to be completed March 31, 2024. This contract involves Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to Belgium and is the result of a sole-source acquisition. FMS funds in the amount of $94,341,260 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8689-20-C-2013). Consortium Management Group Inc., Washington, D.C., has been awarded a $98,567,402 other transaction agreement for resilient embedded Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System prototype development. This agreement provides for rapid prototyping activity that includes development of detailed design prototypes, production representative prototypes, non-recurring engineering, contractor travel and the development of a technical data package. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C.; and Huntsville, Alabama, and is expected to be completed March 30, 2023. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and three offers were received. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $30,000,000 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity (FA8576-20-9-0001). Kaman Precision Products, Inc., Orlando, Florida, has been awarded a $57,334,714 firm-fixed-price contract for joint programmable fuze-152s. This contract provides a cockpit-selectable bomb fuze employed in MK-80 series warheads (both guided and unguided variations). Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, and is expected to be completed by July 2024. This contract involves Foreign Military Sales for 25 countries. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2018 ammunition procurement funds and special Defense acquisition funds in the amount of $57,334,714 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (FA8213-20-C-0005). Bowhead Professional and Technical Solutions LLC,* Springfield, Virginia, has been awarded a $16,362,847, firm-fixed-price contract for flying training operations support. This contract provides air education and training command fighter training and special operations forces, as well as personnel recovery training units, aircrew training support and standardization and evaluation support. Work will be performed at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington; Eglin AFB, Florida; Holloman AFB, New Mexico; Luke AFB, Arizona; Kirtland AFB, New Mexico; and Kingsley Field Air National Guard Base, Oregon, and is expected to be completed August 2025. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $3,270,680 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Installation Contracting Center, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, is the contracting activity (FA3002-20-C-0019). Textron Aviation Defense LLC, Wichita, Kansas, has been awarded an $11,312,199, multiple-contract-type, firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00079) to contract FA8617-17-C-6211 for the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System T-6, Sustaining Engineering and Program Management, Enhanced Onboard Oxygen Generating System. Work will be performed in Wichita, Kansas, and is expected to be completed Aug. 11, 2021. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $11,312,199 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity (FA8617-17-C-6211). Cromulence LLC, Melbourne, Florida, has been awarded a $9,912,581 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for software and hardware deliverables. This contract provides for research, design, development, testing, demonstration, integration and delivery of integrated software and hardware cyber capabilities that will raise awareness of cyber risks of space systems. A "Space Security Challenge 2020: Hack-a-Sat" competition will be held to bridge the security knowledge gap between space and cyber security communities. Work will be performed in Melbourne, Florida, and is expected to be completed Aug. 14, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and two offers were received. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $1,200,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Rome, New York, is the contracting activity (FA8750-20-C-1528). AJ Commercial Services Inc., San Antonio, Texas has been awarded a ceiling $7,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for exterior and interior painting. This contract has a five-year ordering period and includes the, furnishing all plant, materials, labor, equipment and all operations in connection with the exterior and interior painting. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and is expected to be completed Aug. 13, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and 11 offers were received. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $1,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Test Center, Eglin AFB, Florida, is the contracting activity (FA2823-20-D-0007). CORRECTION: The contract announced on Aug. 7, 2020, for Space Exploration Technologies, Corp., Hawthorne, California, for $316,000,000, was announced with an incorrect contract number. The correct contract number is FA8811-20-D-0002. NAVY Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Connecticut, is awarded a $125,819,311 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the labor and material efforts required to plan the USS Hartford (SSN 768) engineered overhaul (EOH) availability. The contracting approach will include advance planning, engineering, design efforts, prefabrication and shipyard execution work, including growth work and new work, necessary to prepare for and accomplish the maintenance and modernization work as defined in the USS Hartford EOH availability work package. Work will be performed in Groton, Connecticut, and is expected to be complete by February 2022. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) (91%); 2020 other procurement (Navy) (9%); and 2019 other procurement (Navy) funding (less than 1%), in the combined amount of $113,789,457 will be obligated at time of award, of which funding in the amount of $103,424,052 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website. This procurement was awarded under authority permitting other than full and open competition under 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(3) to maintain a facility, producer, manufacturer or other supplier available for furnishing property or services in case of national emergency or to achieve industrial mobilization. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-20-C-4312). Science Applications International Corp., Reston, Virginia, is awarded a firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and cost only $84,823,556 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-16-C-6425 to Option Year Four of the MK 48 Mod 7 Heavyweight torpedo production program to supply All Up Round torpedo equipment and support. This modification combines purchases for the Navy (93 %); and the governments of Australia (6%) and Taiwan (1%), under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. Work will be performed in Bedford, Indiana (50%); Marion, Massachusetts (29%); Middletown, Rhode Island (16%); and Indianapolis, Indiana (5%), and is expected to be completed by April 2023. Fiscal 2020 weapons procurement (Navy, 82%); fiscal 2019 weapons procurement (WPN) (Navy, 7%); fiscal 2018 weapons procurement (Navy); and FMS in the amount of $84,823,556, will be obligated at time of award and funding in the amount of $3,493,621 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year (FMS/Armaments Cooperative Program (7%); and fiscal 2018 WPN (4%)). The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C. is the contracting activity (N00024-16-C-6425). J.F. Taylor Inc., Lexington Park, Maryland, is awarded a $23,155,111 firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides for the production and delivery of a maximum quantity of six first article test external quick-disconnect umbilical cable assemblies and a maximum quantity of 2,500 external quick-disconnect umbilical cable assemblies in support of advanced anti-radiation guided missile production. Additionally, this contract procures a maximum quantity of six first article test external quick-disconnect umbilical cable assemblies and a maximum quantity of 5,000 production representative external quick-disconnect umbilical cable assemblies for various military standard 1760 compliant weapons for the F/A-18 series and EA-18G aircraft. Work will be performed in Lexington Park, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in July 2025. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal and three offers were received. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-20-D-0110). Serco-IPS Corp., Herndon, Virginia, is awarded a $22,617,450 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-only modification to previously awarded contract N00174-18-C-0015 to exercise options for professional support services for the Naval Sea System Command's Deputy Commander for Surface Ship Maintenance and Modernization. Services to be provided are in the areas of program management, administrative support, surface ship modernization, inactive ships, surface ships readiness, surface training systems, business and financial management, records management and information technology. This contract will ensure that the fleet undergoes a multitude of upgrades that will provide for the continuation of system capabilities and readiness. The contract will ensure the Chief of Naval Operations surface training master plan and the Navy training system plan requirements are fulfilled for validating all surface training systems procured and managed by participating acquisition resource managers. This contract also ensures that budgeting, financial management and business processes are executed to provide support and respond to fleet life cycle requirements for in-service mine warfare, surface combatant, amphibious, auxiliary and command ship classes of ships. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C. (56%); Norfolk, Virginia (19%); San Diego, California (17%); Mayport, Florida (2%); Yokosuka, Japan (2%); Pascagoula, Mississippi (1%); Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (1%); Manama, Bahrain (1%); and Sasebo, Japan (1%), and is expected to be complete by January 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy, 43%); 2020 other procurement (Navy, 21%); 2019 other procurement (Navy, 21%); and 2018 other procurement (Navy, 15%), funding in the amount of $12,172,964 will be obligated at time of award, of which funding in the amount of $6,975,964 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C. is the contracting activity. Marotta Controls Inc.,* Montville, New Jersey, is awarded a $22,190,510 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price contract for motor operated pilot valve supplies in support of the Navy's in-service engineering agent for damage control equipment and systems, fire protection systems and equipment and damage and fire recoverability. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's Damage Control, Recoverability and Chemical Biological Defense Branch (Code 336) has multiple requirements for the design, construction and procurement to replace the existing solenoid-operated pilot valves (SOPV) with the motor operated pilot valves for use aboard Navy ships. The purpose of the contract is to replace the SOPVs due to reliability issues noted in service. Work will be performed in Montville, New Jersey, and is expected to be complete by August 2026. Fiscal 2019 other procurement (Navy) funding in the total amount of $132,670 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was a total small business set-aside, competitively procured via the contract opportunities website at beta.sam.gov with two offers received. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N64498-20-D-4027). HII Mission Driven Innovative Solutions Inc., Huntsville, Alabama, is awarded a $15,933,605 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to exercise Option Period Three under previously awarded contract M95494-17-F-0021. The work to be performed provides Headquarters Marine Corps, Plans, Policies and Operations, Marine Corps Installations Command (MCICOM) and Commander Navy Installations Command with technical and engineering support for the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and High-Yield Explosive Consequence Management program. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C. (52%); Lejeune, North Carolina (10%); San Diego, California (10%); Quantico, Virginia (10%); Okinawa Prefecture, Japan (5%); Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan (5%); Seoul, Republic of Korea (4%); and Sicily, Italy (4%). Work is expected to be completed in August 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps and Navy) funds in the amount of $3,004,247 will be obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. MCICOM Headquarters, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity. Gryphon Technologies LC, Washington, D.C., is awarded a $14,620,466 cost-plus-fixed-fee, level of effort contract for technical and engineering services to perform ship checks to collect data and develop ship installation drawings for landing helicopter dock platforms. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia (88%); and San Diego, California (12%), and is expected to be complete by April 2021. Fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $162,615 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via beta.SAM.gov website, with four offers received. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N42158-20-C-N001). Collins-Elbit Vision Systems LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $12,915,360 firm-fixed-price contract. This contract provides for the production, delivery and support of the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) Night Vision Cueing and Display (NVCD) System. This contract procures 60 JHMCS night vision devices, 60 JHMCS night display adapters and 30 JHMCS helmet mounted display test sets (HMDTS) for the Navy; 16 JHMCS HMDTS for the government of Canada; five JHMCS HMDTS for the government of Kuwait; and two JHMCS HMDTS for the government of Malaysia, as well as two Hoffman adapter kits for the Government of Australia and one Hoffman adapter kit for the government of Switzerland. Additionally, this contract provides new and modified associated support equipment, interim repairs, non-recurring engineering, testing, technical data and all other supplies and services necessary to perform installation and testing of NVCD systems that are fully compatible with the F/A-18 series and EA-18G JHMCS. Work will be performed in Merrimack, New Hampshire (79%); Wilsonville, Oregon (15%); Atlanta, Georgia (4%); and Fort Worth, Texas (2%), and is expected to be completed in July 2022. Fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $10,736,298; fiscal 2019 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,534,402; and Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $644,660 will be obligated at 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 Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-20-C-0013). ARMY Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. LLC, Oak Brook, Illinois, was awarded a $44,851,000 firm-fixed-price contract for dredging the Mississippi River. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Venice, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2021. Fiscal 2019 civil operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $44,851,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-20-C-0044). Choctaw Transportation Co. Inc.,* Dyersburg, Tennessee, was awarded a $30,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide stone repairs to revetments and dikes along the Mississippi River. Bids were solicited via the internet with five received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2021. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg, Mississippi, is the contracting activity (W912EE-20-D-0015). Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. LLC, Oak Brook, Illinois, was awarded a $14,602,000 firm-fixed-price contract for maintenance dredging of Wilmington Harbor Inner Ocean Bar. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Wilmington, North Carolina, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2021. Fiscal 2018, 2019 and 2020 civil operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $14,602,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wilmington, North Carolina, is the contracting activity (W912PM-20-C-0021). MorseCorp Inc.,* Cambridge, Massachusetts, was awarded a $14,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to develop a variety of technologies to support military airdrop of cargo and personnel, including both hardware and software. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 13, 2025. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Army) funds in the amount of $2,600,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W911QY-20-C-0088). Morrish-Walace Construction Inc.,* Cheboygan, Michigan, was awarded a $7,276,650 firm-fixed-price contract to replace the mechanical drive system, excluding the motor, used to operate the four filling and emptying tainter valves on the MacArthur Lock. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work will be performed in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2022. Fiscal 2020 civil construction funds in the amount of $7,276,650 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W911XK-20-C-0020). MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY ITC Defense Corp of Arlington, Virginia is being awarded a competitive cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. The total value of this contract is $28,567,455. Under this new contract, the Contractor will provide the Missile Defense Agency with system support to include Maintenance and Supply Support; Packaging, Handling, Storage, and Transportation; Forward Stationing for Theater Support; Training and Training Support; and limited Missile Support to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Weapon system. Additionally, the Contractor will also be responsible for providing supply support, maintenance, material and personnel necessary to support THAAD peculiar equipment. The work will be performed in Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Sill, Oklahoma; and locations in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) with a performance period from August 2020 – August 2025. This contract was competitively procured via publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website with eight proposals received. Fiscal Year 2020 Operations and Maintenance funds in the amount of $1.395M are being obligated on this award. The Missile Defense Agency, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (HQ0853-20-C-0002). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Lakota Solutions, LLC,* Warner Robins, Georgia, has been awarded a maximum $22,937,145 hybrid firm-fixed-price, time and material, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for material handling equipment maintenance. This was a competitive acquisition with two responses received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are inside and outside the continental United States, with an Aug. 13, 2025, ordering period end date. Using customer is Defense Logistics Agency Distribution. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2025 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Distribution, New Cumberland, Pennsylvania (SP3300-20-D-0018). Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Mission Systems, Rolling Meadows, Illinois, has been awarded a maximum $19,689,152 firm-fixed-priced delivery order (SPRPA1-20-F-KF0F) against a five-year basic ordering agreement (SPE4A1-16-G-0005) for guardian laser transmitter assemblies, countermeasure transmitters in support of the Common Avionics program. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S.C. 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a two-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Illinois, with an Aug. 14, 2022, performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2022 Navy working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2313931/source/GovDelivery/

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  4 novembre 2020 | International, C4ISR

  Joint Artificial Intelligence Center Keeps Branching Out

  By Yasmin Tadjdeh When the Pentagon's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center was stood up in 2018, it was established to bring together the Defense Department's various AI programs and projects. Two years later, JAIC is pivoting to new mission sets, expanding its portfolio and more closely working with industry. The organization is currently working on 30 different projects across six different areas including joint warfighting operations, warfighter health, business process transformation, threat reduction and protection, joint logistics and joint information warfare. The center is built “around getting a spark going or getting a prototype or making a market in some way, and then handing it off for transition and scaling right to a customer,” said Nand Mulchandani, JAIC chief technology officer. “We're now starting to demonstrate great and exciting success across those products.” The joint warfighting mission initiative is the organization's flagship product and is looking at means to transform the way the United States will go to war, Mulchandani said during an exclusive interview with National Defense on his first day back as chief technology officer after serving as the acting head of JAIC. In late September, Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Michael Groen was confirmed by the Senate to serve as its director. “Our early products ... were really focused on kind of starter AI projects when it came to things like predictive maintenance and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,” Mulchandani said. “The algorithms were not that hard. ... [However,] joint warfighting is the hardest problem at the DoD for us to take on.” The center is starting with technology such as human-machine teaming and decision support, Mulchandani said. “There are different ways of displaying information, about communicating information, about absorbing information,” he said. “We're spending time with our commanders, with training and education, etc., on how to absorb AI-enabled systems. And we want to do that in a very systematic, deliberate way where we start out with human-machine teaming, decision support, etc., and then work our way toward things like autonomy and others.” Joint warfighting will contribute to many Pentagon efforts such as joint all-domain command-and-control and the Air Force's Advanced Battle Management System program, he said. In May, the center awarded the joint warfighting operations initiative's prime contract to Booz Allen Hamilton. The contract has an $806 million ceiling. However, the center would likely not spend all of the funding because the entire budget of the JAIC over a couple of years is around $800 million, Mulchandani said during a recent briefing with reporters. Despite the center being gung-ho about the initiative, a continuing resolution for fiscal year 2021 — which began Oct. 1 — could have an outsized effect on joint warfighting programs, he noted. “What this really impacts ... is new starts, our ability to start a bigger new project that we have been potentially forecasting for starting with new FY ‘21 money,” he said. That will require some programs to be delayed. However, JAIC “will be receiving some money as part of the CR that will allow us to kick-start some of these new projects and things along the way, and then scale them ... when we get out of the CR mode” after a full-year appropriations bill is passed by Congress, he added. JAIC had been planning for a continuing resolution for some time, Mulchandani noted. “Many of our projects and products ... have actually been pre-funded through much of the money that we got in FY ‘20,” he said. “We have contracts and vendors and other things working months and months out into the new fiscal year. ... We're not in a crisis mode at all.” Meanwhile, JAIC's relationship with industry has continued to improve over the past two years, Mulchandani said. When it was first stood up, much attention was put on what some perceived to be a reluctance from Silicon Valley to work with the Pentagon. “A lot of people ask us [about] the whole thing with Google and Project Maven and whether that's still” a strained relationship, he said, referring to a 2018 incident where thousands of Google employees signed a letter objecting to the company's work with the Defense Department's Project Maven, a pathfinder AI effort to better analyze drone footage. Google subsequently backed out of the program. However, JAIC collaborates closely with the tech giant now, he said. “We're working with Google on a number of projects directly ... whether it be health or other types ... of products there,” he said. “We have contracts with Google that we're working on, but all the other bigger vendors as well.” Mulchandani said JAIC is working with all of the largest technology companies in Silicon Valley. “Name an AI vendor and we either have work going on with them, or they're involved in some way in some of the newer projects that we're doing,” he said. As the organization continues to work with industry, it is setting up initiatives to better take advantage of rapid acquisition, Mulchandani said. It currently has partnerships with a number of contracting vehicle organizations such as the General Services Administration, the Defense Innovation Unit and the Defense Information Systems Agency. Additionally, legislation is currently in front of Congress that could grant JAIC direct acquisition authority. “We obviously are very excited about that, [but] it's not done yet,” he said. “When the final vote happens and we do get it, we'll be very pleased and happy, and if we don't get it, well, we'll still be obviously continuing business with the partners that we have.” The center is also working on an acquisition effort called Project Tradewind which is a way for JAIC and the Defense Department writ large to better reach out to small companies, he said. Contract vehicles will be created that any organization across the department will be able to use to gain access to “teensy weensy, little companies that normally would hate to work with — or wouldn't know how to work with — the DoD,” Mulchandani said. “They can use Project Tradewind's acquisition frameworks to be able to interact with us in a very low overhead way.” During remarks at the Defense Department's Artificial Intelligence Symposium and Exposition, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper touted the work JAIC has done since its inception. “We have come a long way since establishing the JAIC two years ago,” he said. “Today, more than 200 talented civil service and military professionals work diligently to accelerate AI solutions and deliver these capabilities to the warfighter. From helping the Joint Force organize, fight and win at machine speed, to enhancing wildfire and flood responses through computer vision technology, the JAIC is utilizing every aspect of AI as a transformative instrument at home and abroad.” The center is lowering technical barriers to AI adoption by building a cloud-based platform to allow Defense Department components to test, validate and field capabilities with greater speed and at greater scale, he said. “The goal is to make AI tools and data accessible across the force, which will help synchronize projects and reduce redundancy, among many other benefits,” he said. JAIC is also working on ways to better train the Defense Department's acquisition workforce to buy AI products, Esper noted. The organization, in partnership with the Defense Acquisition University and the Naval Postgraduate School, was slated to launch an intensive six-week pilot course in October to train over 80 defense acquisition professionals of all ranks and grades. The trainees will learn how to apply AI and data science skills to operations, Esper said. The Defense Department plans to request additional funding from Congress for the services to grow the effort over time, he said. Dana Deasy, the Pentagon's chief information officer, noted JAIC's journey is still evolving. Meanwhile, the military is “generating positive momentum from our early days as AI pioneers toward a mature organization of AI practitioners,” he said. The center is now starting to deliver real AI solutions to the warfighter while leading the Defense Department in AI ethics and governance, he noted. Its budget is also growing. It went from $89 million in fiscal year 2019 to $268 million in fiscal year 2020, and the Pentagon plans to spend more than $1.6 billion over the next few years thanks to strong bipartisan support from Congress and Defense Department leadership, Deasy said. The organization is already generating early returns on investment in its mission initiatives, from predictive maintenance to business process transformation, Deasy noted. The center recently delivered an innovative engine health model predictive maintenance capability that is being utilized by Black Hawk helicopter maintainers from the U.S. Army's Special Operations Aviation Regiment, he said. Additionally, JAIC — via its business process transformation initiative — is delivering language-processing AI applications to the Washington Headquarters Service and the Pentagon's administrative and financial management teams, Deasy said. “These capabilities are automating the review of thousands of documents and memos for consistency, accuracy and compliance, thus increasing speed and efficiency while reducing manual, laborious processes,” he said. The center is also laying down the foundations for the Joint Common Foundation, an AI development environment that will broaden opportunities for developers across the Pentagon to build and deliver artificial intelligence capabilities in a secure DevSecOps infrastructure, he said. According to the General Services Administration, DevSecOps promotes a cohesive collaboration between development, security and operations teams as they work toward continuous integration and delivery of products. However, “while we develop and deliver these important near-term projects, we have to be ready for the contingencies of a changing and unpredictable operating environment,” Deasy said. “This is why I believe the true long-term success of the JAIC will depend on how the organization adapts and delivers real-world solutions when the strategic landscape and priorities change.” The organization is already proving it can adapt via its Project Salus effort — which is named after the Roman goddess of health and well-being — that has helped with the federal government's COVID-19 response, he said. “Working alongside a team of private industry partners, the JAIC developed a predictive-logistics AI dashboard platform for the U.S. Northern Command that enabled National Guard teams to assist states and municipalities with mitigating panic buying and managing supply chains,” he said. “That project went from concept to code in a matter of weeks. More importantly, it demonstrated the JAIC's ability to support the emergent needs of a combatant commander and deliver real AI solutions during a national emergency.” https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2020/11/3/joint-artificial-intelligence-center-keeps-branching-out