1 novembre 2019 | International, Terrestre
By: Jen Judson
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has selected General Dynamics Land Systems' Multi-Utility Tactical Transport, or MUTT, for its Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport unmanned ground system program of record.
The initial contract for the eight-wheel drive robotic vehicle totals $162.4 million and includes support hardware, user training and technical support. The contract will wrap up at the end of October 2024, according to an Oct. 30 Defense Department announcement.
GDLS will produce 624 systems for the Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport, or SMET, program under the contract and will begin delivery in the second quarter of fiscal 2021, an Army spokesperson confirmed to Defense News.
Four companies were chosen at the end of 2017 to compete to build the robotic vehicle that will help troops carry equipment on the battlefield.
A team of Applied Research Associates and Polaris Defense; General Dynamics Land Systems; HDT Expeditionary Systems and Howe & Howe were selected to build 20 platforms each that were issued to two infantry brigade combat teams for testing and analysis of utility in the field.
Polaris' MRZR X was evaluated as well as HDT's six-wheel drive Global Hunter WOLF, or Wheeled Offload Logistics Follower. Textron-owned Howe & Howe offered its Grizzly unmanned vehicle, which is powered by an electric engine.
HDT's Global Hunter WOLF was recently picked, along with three other teams to include Textron and QinetiQ North America, to compete to build vehicles for the Robotic Combat Vehicle-Light effort.
The Army selected those teams from an array of companies chosen to participate in a demonstration event in the fall of 2017 at Fort Benning, Georgia. Other companies that participated in that demonstration included American Robot Company; Lockheed Martin; AM General; Robo-Team NA; and QinetiQ North America.
For the SMET program, the Army was looking for a vehicle that can carry about 1,000 pounds worth of soldier equipment. This equates to lightening the load of nine soldiers across an infantry squad. The Army wanted the robots to be able to travel 60 miles over three days and to be able to provide a spare kilowatt hour of power while moving and at least 3 kilowatt hours while stationary.
4 avril 2023 | International, Aérospatial
BAE Systems has received $491 million in contracts from Lockheed Martin to produce Block 4?electronic warfare?systems for future Lot 17 F-35 Lightning II jets.
18 janvier 2019 | International, Naval
By: Ben Werner ARLINGTON, Va. – Balancing the desire to build the Navy the nation needs with the ability to fight with the fleet the nation has is at the core of the mission of U.S. Fleet Forces Command mission, its commander said on Thursday. The Navy's high-end warfare plan – dubbed Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO) – relies on fleet commanders considering future technologies, integrating new capabilities into existing systems and provided the right level of manning. In the meantime, commanders need to fight with the equipment and manning they currently have, a task complicated by uneven funding levels Fleet Forces commander Adm. Christopher Grady said at the Surface Navy Association Symposium. “Seventy five percent of the fighting force today will be what we fight with in 2030,” Grady said. “We must sustain what we have now to defend our interests in the future.” Grady said the demand for maintenance capability is outpacing the industrial base's growth rate. At risk, he said, is the industrial base's ability to build new ships while keeping current ships in operations. “Right now, the industrial base is optimized for cost efficiency,” Grady said. In an era of renewed great power competition the Navy and industrial base needs to rethink how to work some flexibility into how quickly shipbuilders and maintainers can adjust their operations, Grady said. “At issue is how do we grow our capacity for both maintenance and modernization,” Grady said. “This is challenging.” As an example, many of the critical parts the Navy relies on are from sole-source suppliers, Grady said. Then there are the firms that could bid on Navy projects but don't because of various barriers making it difficult or impossible to submit competitive bids. Since 2000 the entire defense industrial base lost more than 20,500 contractors, according to a Pentagon report released in September. The shipbuilding industry took a particularly hard hit and growing that sector is key to building the 355-ship fleet, the report said. “Expanding the number of companies involved in Navy shipbuilding is important to maintaining a healthy industrial base that can fulfill the 355-ship fleet and support the Navy's long-range shipbuilding plan,” the report said. Changing how the industrial base and Navy interact is a critical part of solving the building and maintenance capacity issues, Grady said. He wants the Navy's interaction with industry to seen as a partnership. One example he proposed was buying portable dry docks that could be moved and leased to shipyards. More shipyards could bid on work by removing what Grady said is a significant barrier to entry into the marketplace – the significant capital investment required to handle Navy maintenance work. “The ideal would be to come to the table and share notes,” Grady said. “What can we do for each other that's good for the nation.” https://news.usni.org/2019/01/17/navy-and-industry-must-balance-new-construction-with-maintaining-existing-platforms
31 octobre 2023 | International, Terrestre
The agreement, which was signed at the Norwegian ambassador’s residence in Washington DC in October, will lay the foundation to further enhance NASAMS’ already robust and combat-proven air defence capabilities.