10 décembre 2020 | International, Terrestre

Despite progress, industry faces ‘very tough roadmap’ to field FCAS by 2040

GA is building a prototype 300-kW missile defense laser for the Pentagon and a 250-kW airborne version with Boeing.

By on December 09, 2020 at 3:04 PM

WASHINGTON: General Atomics is so confident in a unique technology they say solves the heat and weight problems found in rival laser designs that they're making it the core of two distinctly different projects.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense is funding General Atomics and two competitors to build experimental lasers able to blast out some 300 kilowatts of power – enough to burn cruise missiles out of the sky. This project is about scaling up laser power output and testing alternative technologies for the services to pick up for separate follow-on programs.

Meanwhile, Boeing and General Atomics are jointly developing a smaller laser weapon – starting at about 100 kilowatts but capable of growing to 250 kW. Unlike OSD's, this 250 kW weapon is being built at the companies' own expense, essentially on spec. (The technical term is IRAD, Independent Research And Development).

Like OSD, Boeing and GA are hoping to demonstrate technology that'll be picked up by the services for a wide range of ground- and ship-based applications: The company says they're targeting the Army's Stryker-mounted M-SHORAD and its larger truck-borne IFPC, as well as Navy shipborne models. But for the pilot project, they've set themselves a very specific and demanding technical challenge: make their laser fit aboard an airplane – and make it fire accurately from that plane in flight. (Breaking D readers will remember the Airborne Laser, a huge chemical laser on a modified 747, as well as plans to arm the Next Generation Air Dominance planes with lasers.)

Call in the “New York, New York” school of engineering: If you can make your laser work on a plane, you can make it work anywhere.

“The idea is, if we can do it for an aircraft, then it truly could be able to go on any ground or sea platform,” said GA's VP for lasers, Michael Perry. “An aircraft...has the largest constraints on size, weight, and power.”

Now, that doesn't mean getting lasers to work on ships or Army vehicles is easy. In some ways, surface platforms have a harder time: Their lasers have to penetrate the thickest, most moisture-laden layers of the atmosphere. And, Perry told me, while an aircraft in flight is constantly vibrating, you can account for that with sophisticated beam control software and high-quality aiming mirrors: That tech is tricky to build, but not bulky to install once you've built it. By contrast, a laser installed on a surface platform has to handle sudden, massive jolts as the warship crashes over a wave or the truck drives over a ditch, and that requires shock absorption systems, which are bulky and heavy.

(While General Atomics and Boeing haven't said what aircraft they're planning to test the laser aboard, given the fact that Perry thinks extensive shock-absorption will be unnecessary, that suggests it isn't going to be a fighter jet or anything that makes violent high-gee maneuvers. That's in line with Air Force Special Operations Command's longstanding interest in putting a laser cannon aboard their AC-130 turboprop gunship).

So GA's major focus in this project seems to be proving how compact their technology can be. Smaller size is a big advantage of the GA approach, Perry said, which they refer to as scalable distributed gain.

Fibers, Slabs, & Distributed Gain

What is a “distributed gain” laser, anyway? In the Wild West days of Reagan's Star Wars program, the Pentagon looked into lots of ways of powering lasers, from literal nuclear explosions – an idea called Project Excalibur – to massive vats of toxic chemicals, like the ones that filled the converted Boeing 747 that became the Airborne Laser. The real progress, however, has come with so-called solid state lasers: They pump light into a crystalline “gain medium,” which then amplifies the power of that light (hence “gain”), until it's released as a laser beam. But there are two main ways of building a solid-state laser:

  • A slab laser, as its name implies, uses a single big chunk of crystal as the gain medium. This gives you a single coherent beam of laser light. The problem with slab lasers is heat buildup. The bigger you make the slab, the further the distance from its core to the edges, which means it takes longer to disperse waste heat, which can build up and damage the system. (You may recognize this from high school physics as a manifestation of the square-cube law). So slab lasers tend to require cooling systems, which are bulky and heavy.
  • A fiber laser, by contrast, uses lots and lots of fiber-optic cables as gain media. Each individual fiber is very thin, and you can leave space between them, so it's easy for them to disperse waste heat. The problem with fiber lasers is the act of combining the beams. The bigger you make the laser, the more fibers you need – a 250-kW weapon might take 100 fibers, Perry said – and each fiber produces its own, weak laser beam, which you then have to combine into a single, powerful beam. Beam combination systems tend to be expensive and complex, not to mention (surprise!) bulky and heavy.

General Atomics' distributed gain laser tries to strike a balance. Instead of a single big slab, you have several smaller slabs, each of them thin enough to disperse heat quickly. But instead of each of these slabs producing its own beam in parallel, which you then have to combine, you connect them in serial. The initial light source goes into the first slab, which magnifies it and shoots it into the second slab, which magnifies it still more. In theory you could have a third slab as well, even a fourth and fifth, though that's not what GA is building here. (They don't have to be lined up end to end, because you can use high-quality mirrors to bounce the light around a corner).

“It is a series of slabs,” Perry told me. “The single beam passes through them all, as opposed to being separate lasers.”

The advantage of distributed gain for high-power lasers is that you need neither the extensive cooling systems of a slab laser, nor the exquisite beam-combination systems of a fiber laser. “It's pretty compact,” Perry told me. “If you came out to see if you would be surprised at how short it is.”

That said, there is a minimum length for a given amount of power output. That's why General Atomics couldn't fit the same 300-kW weapon they're building for OSD onto Boeing's aircraft (again, they're not saying what that aircraft is), which is why that version had to be scaled down to 250 inches.

“The problem we have is, the 300-kw architecture is about 18 inches longer then the 250,” Perry said ruefully. “Believe it or not, as painful as it is and as frustrated as I am, I cannot eke out another 18 inches of length... The platform can't even give us another 12 inches.”

It may be frustrating for Perry and his team to build two different versions of their lasers, rather than build two identical copies of the same thing – but the exercise could help prove to potential customers just how adaptable the basic design can be.

https://breakingdefense.com/2020/12/general-atomics-new-compact-high-powered-lasers/

Sur le même sujet

  • Destroyers Maxed Out, Navy Looks To New Hulls: Power For Radars & Lasers

    12 juillet 2018 | International, Naval

    Destroyers Maxed Out, Navy Looks To New Hulls: Power For Radars & Lasers

    By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR. ARLINGTON: The Navy has crammed as much electronics as it can into its new DDG-51 Flight III destroyers now beginning construction, Rear Adm. William Galinis said this morning. That drives the service towards a new Large Surface Combatant that can comfortably accommodate the same high-powered radars, as well as future weapons such as lasers, on either a modified DDG-51 hull or an entirely new design. “It's going to be more of an evolutionary approach as we migrate from the DDG-51 Flight IIIs to the Large Surface Combatant,” said Galinis, the Navy's Program Executive Officer for Ships. (LSC evolved from the Future Surface Combatant concept and will serve along a new frigate and unmanned surface vessels). “(We) start with a DDG-51 flight III combat system and we build off of that, probably bringing in a new HME (Hull, Mechanical, & Engineering) infrastructure, a new power architecture, to support that system as it then evolves going forward.” “Before the end of the year, we'll start reaching out to industry to start sharing some of the thoughts we have and where we think we're going,” Galinis told a Navy League breakfast audience. “We'll bring industry into this at the right point, but we're still kind of working a lot of the technology pieces and what the requirements are right now.” Evolution, Not Revolution This evolutionary approach is similar to how the current Aegis combat system entered service on the CG-47 Ticonderoga cruisers in 1983 but came into its own on the DDG-51 Arleigh Burke destroyers. (Despite the difference in names, the two classes are virtually the same size). The DDG-51 is now the single most common type in the fleet, a vital part of the hoped-for 355-ship Navy, with some ships expected to serve into the 2070s: There are now 64 Arleigh Burkes of various sub-types in service; nine of the latest Flight IIA variant are in various stages of construction; and work is beginning on the new Flight IIIs in Mississippi (Huntington Ingalls Industries) and Maine (General Dynamics-owned Bath Iron Works). The Navy is doubling down on long-standing programs to keep its older warships up to date and on par with the newest versions. But the current destroyers just won't be able to keep up with the Flight III, which will have a slightly modified hull and higher-voltage electricity to accommodate Raytheon's massive new Air & Missile Defense Radar. A stripped down version of the AMDR, the Enterprise Air Search Radar (EASR, also by Raytheon) is already going on amphibious ships and might just fit on older Burkes as well, however. But it's tight. On the Flight III, even with the hull modifications, “you kind of get to the naval architectural limits of the DDG-51 hullform,” Galinis told a Navy League breakfast this morning. “That's going to bring a lot of incredible capabilities to the fleet but there's also a fair amount of technical risk.” The Navy is laboring mightily to reduce that risk on Flight III with simulations and land-based testing, including a full prototype of the new power plant being built in Philadelphia. But it's clear the combat system is out of room to grow within the limits of the current hull. So how different does the next ship need to be? “How much more combat capability can we squeeze into the current hullform?” Galinis said. “Do we use the DDG-51 hullform and maybe expand that? Do we build a new hullform?” “We're looking at all the options, Sydney,” he said when reporters clustered around him after his talk. “(It's in) very, very early stages... to say it'll be one system over another or one power architecture over another, it's way too early.” “We're still working through what that power architecture looks like,” Galinis told the breakfast. “Do we stay with a more traditional (gas-driven) system... or do we really make that transition to an integrated electric plant — and at some point, probably, bring in energy storage magazines...to support directed energy weapons and things like that?” The admiral's referring here to anti-missile lasers, railguns, and other high-tech but electricity-hungry systems. Having field-tested a rather jury-rigged 30 kilowatt laseron the converted amphibious ship Ponce, the Navy's next step is a more permanent, properly integrated installation next year on an amphibious ship, LPD-27 Portland. (Subsequent LPDs won't have the laser under current plans). But Portland is part of the relatively roomy LPD-17 San Antonio class, which has plenty of space, weight capacity, power, and cooling capacity (SWAP-C) available, in large part because the Navy never installed a planned 16 Vertical Launch System (VLS) tubes in the bow. By contrast, while the Navy's studying how to fit a laser on the Arleigh Burkes, the space and electricity available are much tighter. The DDG-1000 Digression The larger DDG-1000 Zumwalt class does have integrated electric drive that's performing well in sea trials, Galinis said. (That said, the brand-new DDG-1001, Michael Monsoor, has had glitches with the harmonic filter that manages the power and, more recently, with its turbine engine blades). “We've learned a lot from DDG-1000” that the Navy's now applying both to its highest priority program, the Columbia-class nuclear missile submarine, and potentially to the future Large Surface Combatant as well. In other ways, DDG-1000 is a dead end, too large and expensive for the Navy to afford in quantity. The Navy truncated the class to just three ships and restarted Arleigh Burke production, which it had halted on the assumption the Zumwalts would be built in bulk. Today, the Zumwalt‘s very mission is in doubt. The ship was designed around a 155 mm gun with revolutionary rocket-boosted shells, but ammunition technology hasn't reached the ranges the Navy wanted for the original mission of bombarding targets ashore. With the resurgence of the Russian fleet and the rise of China's, the Navy now wants to turn the DDG-1000s into ship-killers, which requires even longer ranges because modern naval battle is a duel of missiles. The gun's place in ship-to-ship combat is “probably not a significant role, at least not at the ranges we're interested in,” Galinis told reporters. While the Navy could invest in long-range cannon ammunition, he said, it's paused work on several potential shells it test-fired last summer, awaiting the final mission review. If the Zumwalts do move to the anti-ship mission, which Galinis said they would be well suited for with minor modifications, their guns will be less relevant than their 80 Advanced VLS missile tubes or future weapons such as railguns drawing on their prodigious electric power. That power plant might evolve into the electric heart of the future Large Surface Combatant — or it might not. “We're going to have the requirements discussion with Navy leadership and then we're going to want to engage industry as we start thinking about what options might be available,” Galinis said. “Frankly industry's probably best suited to try to help us with the technology piece, especially if we start thinking (that) we want an innovative electric plant.....We'd go to probably the big power electronics/power system vendors, who really work in that field and have the best information on where technology's going.” https://breakingdefense.com/2018/07/destroyers-maxed-out-navy-looks-to-new-hulls-power-for-radars-lasers/

  • Allies target early AUKUS milestones to keep 20-year plan on track

    7 septembre 2023 | International, Naval, Sécurité

    Allies target early AUKUS milestones to keep 20-year plan on track

    Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. have been hard at work since March to get the decades-long AUKUS submarine collaboration plan off to a strong start.

  • Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - May 23, 2019

    24 mai 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité, Autre défense

    Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - May 23, 2019

    AIR FORCE Raytheon Co., Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a $355,493,640 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for AGM-88B High Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM)/Replacement Exchange In-Kind (REIK) for HARM Control Section Modification (HCSM). This contract provides for the refurbishment of live AGM-88Bs and conversion of AGM-88B into Captive Air Training Missiles (CATM-88B) for approved Foreign Military Sales countries. Work will be performed in Tuscon, Arizona, and is expected to be complete by 2027. This contract involves foreign military sales to Qatar, Taiwan, and Bahrain. Additional countries may be added after contract award. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2019 Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $76,074,315 is being obligated on a delivery order at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Warner Robins, Georgia, is the contracting activity (FA8520-19-D-0002). Pride Industries, Roseville, California, has been awarded a $19,902,284 firm-fixed-price modification to previously awarded contract FA4484-17-D-0005 for base operations services. This modification provides for the exercise of the second option period out of four. Work will be performed at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, and is expected to be complete by May 31, 2020. This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $59,441,361, and fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds are being obligated on individual task orders. The 87th Contracting Squadron, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a $16,387,853 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00061) to previously awarded contract FA8615-12-C-6016 for a variety of support to the Taiwan F-16 Peace Phoenix Rising program. This contract modification provides for miscellaneous support work identified during performance of the in-country aircraft modification program, use and maintenance of product support aircraft, and additional support necessary for the successful completion of modification installs. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas; and Taiwan, and is expected to be complete by May 31, 2023. This modification involves 100 percent foreign military sales to Taiwan, and Foreign Military Sales funds in the full amount are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity. Central Coast Water Authority, Buellton, California, has been awarded a $7,929,102 delivery order (FA4610-19-FA038) under previously awarded contract F04684-92-D-0013 for California State Water. This delivery order provides Vandenberg Air Force Base and outlying municipalities with potable water. Work will be performed at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and is expected to be complete by 2032. This delivery order brings the total cumulate face value of the contract to $157,514,286. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the full amount are being obligated at the time of award. The 30th Contracting Squadron, Vandenberg AFB, California, is the contracting activity. NAVY BAE Systems Technology Solutions and Services Inc., Rockville, Maryland, is awarded an $84,341,597 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for up to 898,320 man-hours of direct labor engineering services. These services are in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division's Special Communications Mission Solutions Division to perform projects for Special Operations Forces command, control, communications, computers, combat systems, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems. Services include requirements definition, solution definition, integration, installation verification and validation, and operation and sustainment. Work will be performed in California, Maryland (70 percent); St. Inigoes, Maryland (13 percent); Fayetteville, North Carolina (6 percent); Little Creek, Virginia (5 percent); Coronado, California (4 percent); and Tampa, Florida (2 percent), and is expected to be completed in May 2024. No funds are being obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposals; three offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-19-D-0055). Deloitte Consulting LLP, Arlington, Virginia, is awarded $63,701,527 for a cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with firm-fixed-price ordering provisions for business and technology management support services required to facilitate the overall Transformation Management Support Services effort in support of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Manpower, Personnel, Training and Education (MPTE), OPNAV N1, and subordinate commands. The contract is a five-year base ordering period with no options. All work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia. The ordering period is expected to be completed by May 2024. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds (Navy) in the amount of $10,000 will be obligated to fund the contract's minimum amount, and funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with the solicitation posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website, with four offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00189-19-D-Z023). C.E.R. Inc.,* Baltimore, Maryland (N40080-18-D-0016); EGI HSU JV LLC,* Gaithersburg, Maryland (N40080-18-D-0017); G-W Management Services LLC,* Rockville, Maryland (N40080-18-D-0018); Huang-Gaghan JV Inc.,* Alexandria, Virginia (N40080-18-D-0019); Kunj Construction Corp.,* Mechanicsville, Virginia (N40080-18-D-0020); Ocean Construction Services Inc.,* Virginia Beach, Virginia (N40080-18-D-0021), are awarded Option One under a previously awarded, firm-fixed-price, multiple award construction contract for construction projects located primarily within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Washington, District of Columbia, area of operations (AO). The combined total value of all six contractors is $49,500,000. After award of this option, the total cumulative contract value will be $99,000,000. Work will be performed at various administrative facilities within the NAVFAC Washington, District of Columbia AO, including but not limited to, Maryland; Washington, District of Columbia; and Virginia, and is expected to be completed May 29, 2020. No funds will be obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. Task orders will be primarily funded by military construction (Navy); operations and maintenance (Navy and Marine Corps); and Navy working capital funds. NAVFAC Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors LLC,* Lockport, Louisiana, is awarded an $11,638,510 firm-fixed-price contract for the purchase and conversion of one existing offshore supply vessel into an Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center range support vessel (ARSV). The ARSV will perform ocean engineering and range support in the launch, recovery and deep ocean mooring installation and maintenance of remote operated vehicles, unmanned underwater vehicles, and autonomous underwater vehicles. The ARSV will be operated for multiple days at sea, which will permit researchers onboard to remain on station at remote locations for multiple days to collect data, deploy scientific equipment, and perform scientific calculations. Work will be performed in Lockport, Louisiana, and is expected to be completed by January 2020. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $11,638,510 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 the Federal Business Opportunities website, with one offer received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-19-C-2205). Diversified Maintenance Systems Inc.,* Sandy, Utah, is awarded a maximum amount $10,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite quantity contract for other specialty trade contractors construction alterations, renovations, and repair projects at Naval Air Facility El Centro. Projects will be primarily design-bid-build (fully designed) task orders or task order with minimal design effort (e.g. shop drawings). Projects may include, but are not limited to, alterations, repairs, and construction of electrical, mechanical, painting, engineering/design, paving (asphaltic and concrete), flooring (tile work/carpeting), roofing, structural repair, fencing, HVAC, and fire suppression/protection system installation projects. Work will be performed in El Centro, California. The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months with an expected completion date of May 2024. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $5,000 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by operations and maintenance (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with seven proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N62473-19-D-2623). Detyens Shipyards Inc., North Charleston, South Carolina, is awarded an $8,929,671 firm-fixed-price contract for a 50-calendar day shipyard availability for the mid-term availability of USNS Lenthall (T-AO 189). Work will include general services, diesel fuel marine contaminated tank bottom replacement, vent plenum steel replacement and preservation, main engine intercooler cleaning, switchboard and motor control center cleaning, recondition air conditioning motors, cable bulkhead collar magna rock replacement, diesel fuel marine cargo piping repairs, armory air conditioning replacement, constant tension winch No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 overhaul, fire and aqueous film forming foam piping replacement, fire damper inspection and repairs, steel replacement and recoating. The contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the total contract value to $9,004,671. Funds will be obligated on May 23, 2019. Work will be performed in Charleston, South Carolina, and is expected to begin on July 15, 2019, and be completed by Sept. 2, 2019. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $8,929,671, are obligated at the time of award. Funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with proposals solicited via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with three offers received. The Navy's Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N3220519C4014). BAE Systems Land and Armaments L.P., Minneapolis, Minnesota, is awarded an $8,924,330 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for engineering services and waterfront services in support of the MK 45gun mount providing engineering, technical, logistics services and technical data to support the MK 45 5” Gun system design, development, fabrication, production, operation and integration. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $35,058,494. Work will be performed in Navy fleet concentration areas (various locations) (70 percent); Minneapolis, Minnesota (15 percent); and Louisville, Kentucky (15 percent), and is expected to be completed by May 2020. If all options are exercised, work will continue through September 2022. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy); fiscal 2019 weapons procurement (Navy); and fiscal 2013 and 2014 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $3,178,794 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured, in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1), only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-19-C-5301). ARMY Aura Technologies LLC,* Raleigh, North Carolina, was awarded a $49,997,256 hybrid (cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price) contract for Small Business Innovation Research in support of advanced manufacturing environments. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of May 22, 2024. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W911NF-19-D-0004). B.L. Harbert International LLC, Birmingham, Alabama, was awarded an $18,481,835 firm-fixed-price contract for to construct Secure Compartmental Information Facility at Camp Humphreys, Republic of Korea. Bids were solicited via the internet with six received. Work will be performed in Pyongtaek, Republic of Korea, with an estimated completion date of July 30, 2021. Fiscal 2018 host nation (Korea) funds in the amount of $18,481,835 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Camp Humphreys, Republic of Korea, is the contracting activity (W912UM-19-C-0002). Tribalco LLC, Bethesda, Maryland, was awarded a $14,425,217 firm-fixed-price Foreign Military Sales (Iraq) contract for computer hardware, services and MEMEX software. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work will be performed in Bethesda, Maryland, with an estimated completion date of May 22, 2020. Fiscal 2019 Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $14,425,217 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W91CRB-19-C-5024). IDSC Holdings LLC, Snap-On Industrial, a division of IDSC Holdings LLC, Kenosha, Wisconsin, was awarded an $11,434,752 firm-fixed-price contract for the General Mechanic's Tool Kit. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Kenosha, Wisconsin, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 30, 2019. Fiscal 2019 Army working capital funds in the amount of $11,434,752 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-18-D-0079). Howard W. Pence Inc.,* Elizabethtown, Kentucky, was awarded an $8,825,159 firm-fixed-price contract for the construction of a Special Operations Forces air-and-ground integration urban live fire range. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work will be performed in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 18, 2020. Fiscal 2019 military construction funds in the amount of $8,825,159 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville, Kentucky, is the contracting activity (W91Q2R-19-C-0017). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY General Dynamics, Williston, Vermont, has been awarded a maximum $42,443,476 firm-fixed-price contract for gun barrels. 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 three-year contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are Vermont and Maine, with a May 22, 2022, performance completion date. Using military services are Air Force and Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2022 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Columbus, Ohio (SPE7LX-19-D-0133). Real-Time Laboratories LLC, Boca Raton, Florida, has been awarded a maximum $10,776,057 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for linear direct valves. 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 a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Florida, with a May 29, 2024, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2024 Army working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Warren, Michigan (SPRDL1-19-D-0074). *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1856970/source/GovDelivery/

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