Here’s how to help solve Ukraine’s drone shortage problem

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  19 avril 2021 | International, Aérospatial

  Airbus signs major integrated support contract with Egypt for C295

  The contract includes the provision of material services, on-site technical support as well as on-wing maintenance

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  12 novembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - November 12, 2020

  DEFENSE MICROELECTRONICS ACTIVITY Globalfoundries U.S. 2 LLC, Hopewell Junction, New York, has been awarded a ceiling increase of $400,000,000 under modification P00068 to previously awarded contract HQ0727-16-C-0001 for access to leading edge, current and legacy microelectronics and trusted processes for the Department of Defense and other federal agencies. Increase in interest for leading edge technology and lifetime orders for end of life technology initiated the need for this ceiling increase. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $1,114,632,911 from $714,632,911. Work will be performed at Burlington, Vermont; East Fishkill, New York; and Malta, New York, with an expected completion date of March 31, 2021. The contract is being incrementally funded and no funds are being obligated at time of award. The Defense Microelectronics Activity, McClellan, California, is the contracting activity. NAVY AgustaWestland Philadelphia Corp., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is awarded a $171,047,763 modification (P00006) to previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract N61340-20-C-0007. This modification exercises options for the production and delivery of 36 TH-73A aircraft in support of the Advanced Helicopter Training System program. Work will be performed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (87%); Mineral Wells, Texas (5%); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (8%), and is expected to be completed in December 2022. Fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $171,047,763 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. J. Walter Thompson U.S.A. LLC, doing business as Wunderman Thompson, Atlanta, Georgia, is awarded an $80,056,529 modification to previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract M95494-19-C-0020. This modification exercises Option Period One to furnish supplies and services to enhance the Marine Corps' recruiting efforts. These services include a full range of services from the development of a tactical advertising strategy to the production of a wide-range of advertising formats (e.g., television, radio, print media, internet and direct marketing). Work will be performed in Atlanta, Georgia, with an expected completion date of December 2021. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $80,056,529 are obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Marine Corps Installations Command Contracting Office, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity. Honeywell International Inc., Tempe, Arizona, is awarded a $72,944,708 for a long-term, firm-fixed-priced requirements contract for the repair of six weapon repairable assemblies in support of the V-22 aircraft. This contract includes a five-year base period with no options. Work will be performed in Torrance, California (44%); Tucson, Arizona (35%); San Diego, California (15%); and Tempe, Arizona (6%). Work is expected to be completed by November 2025. Annual working capital funds (Navy) will be obligated as individual task orders are issued and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One firm was solicited for this non-competitive requirement under authority 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), with one offer received. The Naval Supply Systems Command, Weapon Systems Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00383-21-D-XP01). Raytheon Co., El Segundo, California, is awarded a $53,440,000 modification (P00004) to previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-fee contract N00019-20-C-0001. This modification exercises an option to procure 16 AN/APG-79(V)4 radar systems. Additionally, this modification includes software, obsolescence management, engineering support and associated technical, financial and administrative data necessary for retrofit integration into the F/A-18C/D aircraft for the Marine Corps. Work will be performed in Forest, Mississippi (41.1%); El Segundo, California (32.6%); Andover, Massachusetts (18.3%); and Dallas, Texas (8%), and is expected to be completed in June 2022. Fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $53,440,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Vigor Marine LLC, Portland, Oregon, is awarded a $24,049,402 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-19-C-4447 to support USS Chosin (CG 65) extended dry-docking selected restricted availability. Work will be performed in Seattle, Washington, and is expected to be complete by October 2021. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $24,049,402 will be obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, Everett, Washington, is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, has been awarded an $81,866,402 cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price modification (P00014) to contract FA8620-18-C-2009 for the U.K. MQ-9B Protector program. This modification provides for the design, development, integration and component-level testing of additional capabilities being added to the baseline program. Work will be performed in Poway, California, and is expected to be completed Aug. 31, 2021. Total cumulative face value of the contract is not-to-exceed $174,889,865. Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $71,563,692 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity. L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, Greenville, Texas, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $24,500,078 cost-plus-fixed-fee undefinitized contract action for procurement of Group B material and the Ground System Integration Lab. Work will be performed in Greenville, Texas, and is expected to be completed March 2024. This contract involves 100% Foreign Military Sales (FMS). This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. FMS funds in the amount of $14,006,934 are being obligated at the time of award. The 645th Aeronautical Systems Group, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8620-19-F-4872 P00005). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Baxter Healthcare Corp., Deerfield, Illinois, has been awarded a maximum $40,000,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for infusion pumps and accessories. This was a competitive acquisition with 105 offers received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Illinois, with a Nov. 11, 2025, ordering period end date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2026 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2D1-21-D-0001). Cummins Inc., Commercial and Government Entity, Memphis, Tennessee, has been awarded an estimated $24,869,181 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment for multiple weapon systems program support. 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 two-year base contract with four two-year option periods. Location of performance is Tennessee, with a Nov. 11, 2022, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Columbus, Ohio (SPE7LX-21-D-0007). ARMY Tutor Perini Corp., Sylmar, California, was awarded a $25,998,795 firm-fixed-price contract for renovation of the Cadet Field House at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Bids were solicited via the internet with five received. Work will be performed in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 24, 2022. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Air Force) funds in the amount of $25,998,795 were obligated at the time of the award. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, Nebraska, is the contracting activity (W9128F-21-C-0004). *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2413459/

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  29 avril 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  Australia Makes Moves to Grow its Defense Industry

  By Stew Magnuson GEELONG, Australia — Very little excites the aerospace industry and the media that covers it more than the announcement of a new jet fighter program. So when the curtain went up in a Boeing tent at Avalon — The Australian Air Show revealing a full-size model of a new robotic jet fighter, the camera flashes popped off as if it were a star on a Hollywood red carpet. “It is a red letter day,” Australian Minister of Defence Christopher Pyne said while standing in front of the Airpower Teaming System, Boeing's name for the loyal wingman jet fighter, an unmanned aircraft intended to fly in formation with the nation's F-35A joint strike fighters and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. It was also an auspicious day because the unmanned system would be the first indigenously developed aircraft Australia produced since the CAC Boomerang fighter during World War II. The program makes a statement to the world that Australia is no longer content to be merely a buyer of military equipment, but has ambitions to be a developer and exporter as well, said Pyne. “This is all testament to the fact that we are undergoing our largest buildup of our military capability in our peacetime history — $200 billion over the next 10 years.” While Australia is still buying pricey F-35s from the United States, attack-class submarines from France and armored fighting vehicles from a European consortium, it wants a significant portion of that $200 billion to stay in the country and help it create aerospace and defense sector jobs, officials said. The nation last year released the 2018 Defense Industrial Capability Plan spelling out how it would build a “broader and deeper defense industrial base” over the next decade. “The government's goal by 2028 is to achieve an Australian defense industry that has the capability, posture and resilience to help meet Australia's defense needs,” the plan stated. One of its main goals is to turn the nation into an exporter of military goods rather than just an importer. The day before the airshow, U.S. and other foreign contractors gathered in nearby Melbourne to hear from State of Victoria and Defence Ministry officials about the new ways of doing business in Australia. Damien Chifley, executive director of the defense industry branch in the Australian Department of Defence, said the approach now is to partner. The country's defense contractors are predominantly medium to small companies who can't go it alone. They need help bringing their innovative ideas to prime contractors. If a U.S. or other foreign company wants to vie for an Australian contract it must now submit an “industry capability plan,” which spells out exactly how they will work with local firms to bring the project to fruition, Chifley said. “The idea is they go out the main gate with Australian industry,” he said. These plans are not offsets, which is the mechanism used by some nations to make contractors invest a certain amount of dollars in the local economy as a condition of winning a contract. However, these industry capability plans will be weighed by the contracting authority when selecting a winning proposal, he noted. Claire S. Willette, CEO of the Australian Defence Alliance, said in an interview that the nation's effort to bolster its aerospace and defense sector should be seen in light of its losses in manufacturing jobs — particularly the automotive industry — rather than security concerns. Australia wants a “sovereign capability to support itself” in the defense industrial sector, she said. “From a long-term sustainable economic perspective, you need to build something. You need to have a growth area,” said Willette, an American who served in the Pentagon for 20 years before moving to Australia. “Because we did have this burgeoning defense industry and because we have some really niche, high-tech areas of excellence, I think that [the government] saw that this was a natural fit and something they could grow off of,” she said. Australian government officials and locally based U.S. contractors at the airshow were eager to promote the nation as a spot where they can find the talent to develop programs. Boeing, by far, has the largest and longest presence with more than 90 years experience doing business in the country and some 5,000 employees in its defense and commercial sectors. It features two large research facilities — Boeing Research and Technology-Australia and Boeing Phantom Works International in Brisbane — where work on the robotic jet fighter will take place. The company invested $62 million in research and development in Australia in 2018, company officials said. “We're going to prove that we can do big, audacious programs like this here in Australia,” said Darren Edwards, vice president and managing director of Boeing Defence Australia. Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin and local officials touted the country's success in winning F-35 sustainment contracts. As a partner nation in the program, Australian contractors can compete globally with other F-35 customers for component maintenance contracts. They received 343 out of a possible 388 such contracts in the latest round, building on the 64 they had received in the first round. Australian contractors have received a total of $1.3 billion in F-35-related contracts so far, said Royal Australian Air Force Air Vice-Marshal Leigh Gordon, head of the joint strike fighter division. “That is a really great example of the strength of Australian industry and its competitiveness in the global sphere,” Gordon said. Going hand in hand with Australia's ambitions in the defense realm is its renewed focus on space. In July 2018, it established the Australian Space Agency, which brought together about 11 different agencies spread out within the government at various ministries, said Kim Gina Ellis, senior lecturer on space industry engagement, governance and law at Swinburne University of Technology in Victoria. The government wants a central point to coordinate and bring all the civilian activities together, she said. Again, the long-term goal is job creation, she told National Defense. The government wants to add about 20,000 to the approximately 10,000 space sector jobs already in Australia, she said. Meanwhile, as is the case in the United States, the nation has a growing private sector launch industry with a handful of companies building small rockets and launch facilities for small satellites, she said. Along with telescopes and communications systems that have been positioned on the continent since the beginning of the space age, Australia features a favorable geographic location for inserting spacecraft into polar orbits, Ellis noted. The new agency will “help build the industry and show the rest of the world that we have these amazing capabilities and that we support most of the major space exploration programs,” Ellis said. Jeff Shockey, vice president of global sales and marketing for Boeing Defense, Space and Security, said in an interview that Australia is growing very close to investing 2 percent of its GDP in defense. “They are doing the right things. There is a lot going on down here in this region and they are at the forefront.” Boeing has ambitions to export the Airpower Teaming System to the other “five-eye” partners: the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand. Shockey said Boeing is an international company and Australia is an enduring ally and partner. Building a new jet fighter outside the United States should not be seen as “off-shoring” work, he said. “We're a global company and we're doing work throughout the enterprise on this project and others, both domestically and abroad,” he said. “There is a great high-tech talent base here,” he added. And the wide-open spaces will be a perfect proving ground for unmanned aircraft, Shockey and other company executives said. Willette said: “We're never going to have the assembly lines for an F-18, an F-16 or a JSF, but we do have the componentry, the systems and the systems integration and the skilled engineering. Designing and fabrication and machining — and the professional services that back all that up — those are huge strengths for this country.” The government has several new programs to spark innovation that would be recognizable to the U.S. defense industry. It is setting up grand challenges, cooperative research centers, university research networks and small business research grants. It has what would be called in the U.S. “broad agency announcements” with pots of money dedicated over the next 10 years for organizations with ideas in fields such as intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance, electronic warfare, cybersecurity, amphibious warfare, maritime and anti-submarine warfare, and air and sealift. The 2018 Defense Industrial Capability Plan was just one building block in a larger plan, said Willette. The Australian government is continuing to produce more policies surrounding manufacturing skills and science, technology engineering and math education. “Having a level of sovereignty, and integrity and resiliency in your supply chain is incredibly important from a national security perspective,” Willette added. The ideas for the new programs are based on long-established U.S. or U.K. acquisition programs, said a government official who was not authorized to speak on the record. The Australian government is keen to partner with U.S. universities and has established the Australia-U.S. Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative Program to help Australian schools establish themselves with the Pentagon's Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative. It will provide Australian colleges with grants of up to 1 million Australian dollars per year if they can team with U.S. counterparts in the MURI program. Willette said: “The message very clearly coming from Australia is: ‘partner with us.'” http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2019/4/29/australia-makes-moves-to-grow-its-defense-industry