DOD must accelerate AI adoption amid growing threats: PrimerAI CEO

Sur le même sujet

• 

  7 août 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - August 6, 2019

  NAVY Lockheed Martin Space, Littleton, Colorado, is awarded a maximum amount $405,770,000 un-priced letter contract modification PH0006 to a previously awarded and announced un-priced letter contract (N00030-19-C-0025) for the design, development, build and integration of large diameter rocket motors, associated missile body flight articles, and related support equipment for Army Intermediate Range Conventional Prompt Strike Weapon System flight test demonstrations. Work will be performed at Littleton, Colorado, with an expected completion date of Jan. 1, 2024. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test, and evaluation funds in the amount of $33,000,000 are being obligated on this award, which will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Brantley Construction Co. LLC,* Charleston, South Carolina (N69450-19-D-0916); CCI Group LLC,* Shalimar, Florida (N69450-19-D-0917); The Clement Group,* Montgomery, Alabama (N69450-19-D-0918); EG Designbuild LLC,* Germantown, Maryland (N69450-19-D-0919); GCB JV1,* Pensacola, Florida (N69450-19-D-0920); U-SMC DeMaria JV1 LLC,* Jacksonville, Florida (N69450-19-D-0921); and Windamir Development Inc.,* McDonough, Georgia (N69450-19-D-0922), are each awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award, design-build and design-bid-build construction contract for construction projects located within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast area of operations in north Florida/south Georgia. The maximum dollar value for the five-year ordering period for all seven contracts combined is $195,000,000. The work to be performed provides for, but is not limited to, general building type projects (new construction, renovation, alteration, demolition and repair work) including aviation and aircraft facilities; marine facilities; barracks and personnel housing facilities; administrative facilities; warehouses and supply facilities; training facilities; personnel support and service facilities, and security level facilities. These seven contractors may compete for task orders under the terms and conditions of the awarded contract. Windamir Development Inc. is awarded the initial task order at $10,576,432 for P643 Reserve Training Building at Fort Benning. Work for this task order is expected to be completed by September 2021. All work on this contract will be performed in Florida (50%); and Georgia (50%). The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months, with an expected completion date of August 2024. Fiscal 2019 military construction (MILCON); and fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $10,582,432 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by MILCON (Navy); operations and maintenance (Navy); and Navy working capital funds. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website with 40 proposals received. Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Corp., Marietta, Georgia, is awarded $16,465,887 for modification P00005 to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-19-D-0014). This modification increases the ceiling of the contract to procure consumable parts and material, technical publications and engineering services in support of the C/KC-130J aircraft. Work will be performed in Marietta, Georgia (84.5%); Miramar, California (2.5%); Cherry Point, North Carolina (2.5%); Elizabeth City, North Carolina (2.5%); Fort Worth, Texas (2.5%); Abdullah Al-Mubarak Air Base, Kuwait (2.5%); Iwakuni, Japan (2.5%); and Greenville, South Carolina (0.5%), and is expected to be completed in December 2019. No funds are being obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Hydroid Inc., Pocasset, Massachusetts, is awarded a $15,826,493 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for engineering support and training services for the MK 18 Family of Systems– Unmanned Underwater Vehicle systems. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $84,024,996. Work will be performed in Pocasset, Massachusetts, and is expected to be complete by August 2020. If options are exercised, work will continue through August 2024. No funds are being obligated at this time. This contract is awarded on a sole-source basis in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1(a)(2) – only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division, Indian Head, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00174-19-D-0010). King Nutronics Corp.,* Woodland Hills, California, is awarded an $11,865,150 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for precision pressure standard systems to support the Naval Air Systems Command, Metrology and Calibration Program. The Naval Air Systems Command, Metrology and Calibration Program provides support to Navy depot level and intermediate calibration laboratories. The precision pressure standards systems provide the Naval Air Systems Command, Metrology and Calibration Program with the capability of providing inter-service calibration workload for the Air Force and Marine Corps. The precision pressure standards systems are used at intermediate level calibration laboratories afloat and ashore, as well as the depot level calibration laboratories to verify the accuracy and precision of test instruments such as dial pressure gauges and digital pressure measurement devices. Work will be performed in Woodland Hills, California, and is expected to be completed by August 2024. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $263,670 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 source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Corona Division, Corona, California, is the contracting activity (N64267-19-D-0003). Raytheon Co., Keyport, Washington, is awarded $11,738,000 for firm-fixed-priced undefinitized delivery order N00024-19-F-6308 under indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract N61331-17-D-0001for deploy and retrieve systems in support of the AN/AQS-20 program. The highly specialized equipment under this contract will deploy, tow and retrieve the AN/AQS-20 sonar in support of mine hunting operations. The AN/AQS-20 is an advanced mine hunting sonar for the Littoral Combat Ship's Mine Countermeasures Mission package. Work will be performed in Keyport, Washington (90%); and Portsmouth, Rhode Island (10%), and is expected to be complete by October 2020. Fiscal 2019 other-procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,751,620 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. ARMY ECS Federal LLC, Fairfax, Virginia, was awarded a $78,725,114 modification (P00003) to contract W911QX-18-C-0037 for machine learning and computer vision engineering. Work will be performed in Fairfax, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of July 16, 2022. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $35,847,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Hyman Brickle & Son,* doing business as Northwest Woolen Mills, Woonsocket, Rhode Island, has been awarded a maximum of $8,198,835 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for trousers. This was a competitive acquisition with two responses received. This is a one-year base contract with two one-year option periods. Locations of performance are Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, with an Aug. 5, 2020, performance completion date. Using military services are Army and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2020 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-19-D-1180). Raytheon Co., Marlborough, Massachusetts, has been awarded a maximum $7,756,450 firm-fixed-price contract for multiple radio equipment components. 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-time procurement contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are Virginia and Massachusetts, with a Nov. 17, 2021, performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 Navy working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency, Land and Maritime, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania (SPRMM1-19-F-DK0Q). CORRECTION: The $49,019,871 contract announced on Aug. 1, 2019, for Sysco Raleigh LLC, Selma, North Carolina (SPE300-19-D-3230), included an incorrect award date. The correct award date is Aug. 2, 2019. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/1927732/

• 

  18 août 2023 | International, Terrestre

  Challenger 2 tank was spotted with DIY 'cope cage' of the turret

  A recent image shared on the social media platform, Twitter, depicts a British Challenger 2 tank outfitted with a makeshift 'cope cage' covering its turret.

• 

  20 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  DoD Needs Supply Chain Strategy To Survive Future Crises: Roper

  "We were in a very frenzied state," Air Force acquisition head Will Roper says of DoD efforts to stave off the collapse of key suppliers during the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis. By THERESA HITCHENSon July 17, 2020 at 4:38 PM WASHINGTON: Air Force acquisition head Will Roper says DoD needs to develop a new supply chain strategy that incentivizes industry to build a more diverse, responsive and resilient supply chain. “What I hope sticks on the other side of COVID-19 is a strategic focus on the supply chain,” he told a webinar co-sponsored by Government Matters and the Farnborough International Association today, on the even of the virtual air show. “Government has to have a strategy. We have to explain to industry what we consider good supply chain management practices to be, and not to be. And we need to write that in plain English, which the government has a tough time doing frequently.” That strategy also has to be followed up with incentives for industry to do the right thing, he said. “We have to put our money where our mouth is,” Roper said. For example, he said, it should include incentivizing contractors, big and small, to use digital manufacturing technologies that allow companies to quickly pivot to different missions in times of need. “That's a strategic capability for the nation. We need to encourage that,” he said. Roper noted that the Air Force is attempting to do just that with its centerpiece Advanced Battle Management Program (ABMS), being designed as a technology foundation for running future all-domain wars via the Joint All-Domain Command and Control System (JADC2). “We've got a pretty cool program called the Advanced Battle Management System. It's not a cool name — it's kind of like Castle Anthrax in Monty Python: ‘it's not a good name but it's the one we've got',” he joked. “That's a program where adaptability is king.” He explained that the service is working with industry to both explain, and reward, technology initiatives that will give operators the ability to rapidly upgrade or switch out old capabilities for new ones. As Breaking D readers knows, ABMS is attempting to iterate technologies developed under the program on a four-month cycle. Roper said the first three weeks of the COVID-19 crisis threw DoD into a maelstrom as acquisition authorities tried to cope with the potential of supplier collapse. “We were in a very frenzied state,” he said. The Air Force is the executive agent for all DoD use of Defense Production Act Title III contracts to support industry suffering from the coronavirus pandemic. However, the Defense Industrial Base Sector Coordinating Council under the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) actually chooses which companies to support based on service requests — including for the Air Force. While Roper sees ongoing problems from COVID-19 impacts on suppliers, especially small firms for whom cash-flow is highly important, he said that the Air Force and DoD are in a much better place now to handle them as they arise. “I don't think we'll see something as frenzied as what we went through during the first three weeks of COVID,” he said. “I think if this continues in future, we will have to take aggressive actions when there are hotspots that fire up in the country. Smaller companies are always going to be at risk by a few number of COVID-19 cases — they're going to have to shut down their facilities, they're going to have to clean, they're gonna have to be work force quarantining — and for companies of that size, having cash on hand to make payroll, to make invoicing, is critically important. Cash flow and liquidity is everything during a crisis. But we're more ready for that.” This is in part because leaders have a better grasp on what companies are likely to be at risk, Roper explained. “Now, we know who those critical suppliers are we have insight into our supply chain that we have ever had,” he said. For example, the small launch industry is one sector that Roper continues to keep a close eye on. “Small launch is still a big need for our industrial base for the Space Force and we want to try to try to do whatever we can to keep that market healthy,” he told reporters on July 14. Roper expressed some disappointment about OSD's July 1 decision to rescind a June-announced award of $116 million for six small launch companies: Aevum, Astra, X-Bow, Rocket Lab, Space Vector and VOX Space. He explained that OSD determined there “were some additional small business needs” that came up, because the small launch package was one of the last DPA approved actions, it was “the first to be put back in the batter's box.” “My hope is that whenever there's new Title III funding, or when resources free up due to other efforts not executing as planned, that those are the first to go back into the hopper. If I were asked today to put in one new Title III initiative, it's small launch,” he added. As Paul reported, Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord on June 22 said she is seeking approval for a funding package request in the “lower double digit billions” from the White House to cover COVID-19 related costs, including paying for industry claims of supply chain and workforce reductions. And a group of CEOs from major defense primes, in a letter obtained by Breaking D, are asking for DoD help in seeking yet more COVID-19 stimulus funds from Congress. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/07/dod-needs-supply-chain-strategy-to-survive-future-crises-roper