23 juin 2022 | International, Aérospatial
Près de 5 G$ pour moderniser le NORAD : la part de la base de Bagotville connue plus tard
Ottawa va investir 4,9 milliards sur six ans pour moderniser et augmenter les capacités de défense du NORAD.
9 avril 2018 | International, Aérospatial
How stealthy is Boeing’s new Super Hornet?
By: Valerie Insinna
WASHINGTON — The Block III Super Hornet is getting a marginal increase in stealth capability, but if you're expecting the invisible aircraft of President Donald Trump's dreams, think again.
Building a “stealthy” Super Hornet has been one of Trump's talking points since he was elected to the presidency. During a March trip to Boeing's plant in St. Louis, he claimed the U.S. military would buy Super Hornets with “the latest and the greatest stealth and a lot of things on that plane that people don't even know about.”
Trump was referring to one of the Super Hornet's Block III upgrades slated to be incorporated on jets rolling off the production line in 2020: the application of radar absorbent materials or RAM, also known as stealth coating.
But far from being “the latest and greatest,” the company has already used the exact same materials on the on the Block II Super Hornet to help decrease the chances of radar detection, said Dan Gillian, who manages Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and E/A-18G Growler programs.
Block III jets will get “a little more” of that coating applied to them, “and in a few different areas to buy a little bit more performance,” Gillian told Defense News in a March interview.
All in all, those improvements will reduce the aircraft's radar cross section by about 10 percent, and with very low risk, he said.
Although the general public tends to think of stealth like the invisibility cloak from Harry Potter or Wonder Woman's invisible plane, stealth is more of a continuum that is enabled and affected by many factors, experts told Defense News.
“It's not a Romulan cloaking device,” said Richard Aboulafia, a Teal Group aviation analyst, referencing a technology from Star Trek that allowed spaceships to be invisible to the naked eye and electro-optical sensors.
“It's about reducing the likelihood that an adversary will see you first. And seconds count, so if it buys a little extra time, then it helps.”
The most important contributors to low observability are the aircraft's shape and the use of LO coatings, with airframe shape commonly seen as twice as important as the coatings, he said.
Stealth fighters from the oddly angled F-117 to the F-22 and F-35, with their rounded edges, were all designed to bounce radar waves away from an aircraft, sometimes at the expense of aerodynamic performance or other attributes, said Brian Laslie, an Air Force historian and author.
That being said, the Super Hornet, with it's external stores and pylons, is not going to replicate the low observability of the joint strike fighter, which was designed from the beginning with stealth in mind.
“But just because it's not a pure LO aircraft doesn't mean that the designers weren't concerned with the radar return,” said Laslie, who added that it's “reasonable” to expect a 10 percent decrease to the aircraft's signature by augmenting Block III jets with additional RAM coating.
Shining a spotlight on the Super Hornet's low observable attributes may have helped sell Trump on future orders, Aboulafia speculated.
“It might be useful in the real world too, but in a much more marginal way,” he said.
One of those benefits, according to Laslie, is that the LO performance upgrade could also enable the Navy to be more flexible in its mission planning. An aircraft can be more or less easily detected by radar depending on how it is positioned or the route used by the plane, so having more radar-absorbing materials on the Super Hornet could give the pilot more options.
“I think what the Navy is doing is trying to maybe reduce enough of the cross section of the F-18 in high intensity combat scenarios,” Laslie said.
“I don't think they're trying to make the F/A-18 a stealth aircraft,” he continued. “But if they can reduce the radar cross section enough that in certain scenarios it is more difficult to pick the Super Hornet up, that would be of benefit to the Navy.”
While the president has done much to focus public attention on the Super Hornet's upcoming LO upgrade, the Block III actually offers a relatively modest increase in stealth compared to earlier concepts floated by Boeing.
In 2013, when the company began evaluating how to attract future sales from the Navy as production slowed, it started promoting an “Advanced Super Hornet” configuration that would have improved the aircraft's signature by 50 percent. That version of the jet included structural enhancements and an enclosed weapons pod, but Boeing ultimately stepped away from that concept.
“Those big compromises you have to make to get the higher levels of stealth like putting your weapons in a bay, we don't think that's a necessary part of the Block III story for the Super Hornet,” Gillian said.
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20 juin 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité, Autre défense
Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - June 19, 2019
MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY DTechLogic LLC, a joint venture** Huntsville, Alabama, is being awarded a competitive cost-plus-award-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and cost-reimbursable contract. The total value of this contract is $255,909,986. The contractor will provide the infrastructure and cybersecurity engineering necessary to support ballistic missile defense system (BMDS) hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) and related ground testing in a continuous integration/continuous agile testing (CI/CAT) environment. The work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama. The performance period is from June 2019 through June 2024. This award is the result of a competitively awarded acquisition in which four offers were received. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $100,000 are being obligated on this award. The Missile Defense Agency, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (HQ0147-19-C-0012). AIR FORCE ArmorWorks Enterprises, Chandler, Arizona, has been awarded a $206,073,316 firm-fixed-price contract for delivery of payload transporters. This contract provides for replacement of aging payload transporters. Work will be performed in Chandler, Arizona, and is expected to be complete by July 30, 2024. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2018 procurement funds in the amount of $31,322,624 are being obligated at the time of award. The Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Contracting Division, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (FA8204-19-C-0005). DEFENSE HEALTH AGENCY Dell Federal Systems, Round Rock, Texas, was awarded a firm fixed order for $82,895,710 (Base-plus-2) and FAR 52.217-8 six months extension in the estimated amount of $13,815,951 with an estimated total of $96,711,662, using fiscal 19 O&M funds (HT0015-19-F-0087). This is an enterprise-level blanket purchase agreement (BPA) call for Microsoft software and support against the Enterprise Software Initiative (ESI) BPA for Microsoft. This procurement is to renew Microsoft licenses for 72 customers within Defense Health Agency (DHA), Air Force, Army, and Navy. These licenses are required for products including VISIO Professional, Windows Server Standard, Project Standard, and SQL Server Enterprise. The requirement was competitively solicited among all awardees under the ESI multi-award BPA for Microsoft, and the proposals were evaluated on the lowest-price-technically-acceptable (LPTA) basis. The amount of $27,631,903 for the base year is obligated at the time of the award. The DHA Health Information Technology Contracting Division (HIT-CD), located in San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity (HT0015). (Awarded June 10, 2019) NAVY Lockheed Martin Corp., Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded a $76,670,049 cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-18-C-5103 to exercise options for AEGIS development and test sites operation and maintenance at the Combat Systems Engineering Development Site, SPY-1A Test Facility and Naval Systems Computing Center. This option exercise is for continued technical engineering, configuration management, associated equipment/supplies, quality assurance, information assurance and other operation and maintenance efforts required for the AEGIS development and test sites. This option exercise also provides for the continuing site maintenance and planned improvements of the sites for AEGIS Combat System and Aegis Weapon System upgrades to CG-47 and DDG-51 class ships through the completion of Advanced Capability Build 20 and Technology Insertion 16, in addition to AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense and FMS requirements. This contract modification combines purchases for the U.S. Navy (34.7%), Missile Defense Agency (MDA) (22.7%) and the governments of Japan (34.4%), Australia (4.7%), South Korea (2.1%), and Norway (1.4%) under the foreign military sales program. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey, and is expected to be complete by June 2020. Foreign military sales (Japan, Australia, South Korea, Norway); fiscal 2014 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (MDA); fiscal 2019 operation and maintenance (MDA); fiscal 2019 operation and maintenance (Navy); fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $29,746,093 will be obligated at time of award, and funding in the amount of $4,617,194 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Data Intelligence LLC,* Marlton, New Jersey, is awarded a $12,584,840 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide cybersecurity and security engineering-related services to the Department of Defense, National Guard Bureau and Department of Homeland Security. This two-year contract includes one, three-year option period which, if exercised, would bring the potential value of this contract to an estimated $31,832,280. Work will be performed in Marlton, New Jersey (25%) and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (75%), and work is expected to be completed June 18, 2021. If the option is exercised, work will continue through June 18, 2024. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders are issued using operations and maintenance (Navy and Army); other procurement (Navy); research and development (Air Force); research, development, test and evaluation (Navy), and acquisition, contracts and improvements (Coast Guard). This contract was competitively procured via Request for Proposal N66001-17-R-0066 and publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website and NAVWAR e-Commerce Central website. Nine offers were received, and one was selected for award. The Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-19-D-0076). Ultralife Corp., Newark, New York, is awarded a $9,985,687 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract procures Universal Vehicle Adapter radio battery chargers, MRC-UVA-V1, in support of the Family of Special Operations Vehicles Ground Mobility Vehicle and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected platforms. Work will be performed in Newark, New York, and is expected to be completed in June 2024. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was a limited competition in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 3.02-1(c) via an electronic request for proposal posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website, with one offer received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (N68335-19-D-0132). ARMY B.L. Harbert International LLC, Birmingham, Alabama, was awarded a $67,147,000 firm-fixed-price contract for a general purpose warehouse at Red River Army Depot, Texas. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work will be performed in Texarkana, Texas, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 22, 2023. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 military construction and operations and maintenance Army funds in the combined amount of $67,147,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth, Texas, is the contracting activity (W9126G-19-C-0029). General Dynamics Mission Systems, Taunton, Massachusetts, was awarded a $20,576,456 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for system engineering and program management support for the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical Increment 2 systems and equipment. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Taunton, Massachusetts, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 13, 2020. Fiscal 2019 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $17,582,214 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W15P7T-10-D-C007). Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Connecticut, was awarded a $14,991,526 modification (P00005) to foreign military sales (Saudi Arabia) contract W58RGZ-17-C-0009 to procure the Post Green DD250 aircraft support, storage and maintenance for UH-60M aircraft for the Saudi Arabian Ministry of the National Guard. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2022. Fiscal 2019 foreign military sales funds in the amount of $14,991,526 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Pine Bluff Sand and Gravel Co., White Hall, Arkansas, was awarded a $9,925,269 modification (P00009) to contract W912EQ-16-C-0008 for the rental of the dustpan hydraulic pipeline dredge for up to six month to perform maintenance dredging within the Mississippi River and tributaries to authorized channel dimensions. Work will be performed in New Orleans, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 23, 2019. Fiscal 2019 Mississippi River and tributaries civil funds in the amount of $9,925,269 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Memphis, Tennessee, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Pama Inc.,* Elgin, Illinois, has been awarded a maximum $7,102,814 firm-fixed-price contract for horizontal boring mills. This is a one-year contract with no option periods. This was a sole source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. Locations of performance are Illinois and Italy, with an Oct. 30, 2020, performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Richmond, Virginia (SPE4A8-19-C-0002). *Small business **Woman Owned Small Business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1881299/source/GovDelivery/
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30 octobre 2019 | International, C4ISR
Army’s plan to field its network could collapse under an extended continuing resolution
By: Jen Judson ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. — Critical fielding plans for major elements of the Army's revamped network could fall apart if Congress does not reach a budget deal soon, according to service leaders in charge of network modernization. Should Congress opt to extend the current continuing resolution, which funds the government at fiscal 2019 budget levels, past the Nov. 21 deadline, the Army will struggle to get more capable radios and other elements of its new and improved network to units. While a shorter extension would be less painful, a yearlong continuing resolution, or CR, would derail the efforts. “The whole fielding plan will collapse without a budget,” Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said during a recent trip to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, where he was briefed on the service's efforts to deliver a modernized network to the force. “The longer [the CR] goes, I think it can definitely impact the schedule. If it bleeds into the next calendar year, you can look at a day-for-day slip” until a budget is passed, he said, adding that the longer a CR exists, the more likely the Army will have to reformulate its fielding plan because the units originally intended to receive the equipment won't be available to test the new capabilities and train with them. The Army is scheduled to conduct three major test events next year of its network. The 1st Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division will assess the first capability set of the new Integrated Tactical Network, or ITN, in February. The manpack and leader radio operational test, which is part of the Handheld, Manpack, and Small Form Fit radio program, is scheduled for the third quarter of FY20. Furthermore, at next year's Defender Europe military exercise, the Army will use the Command Post Computing Environment, the Tactical Server Infrastructure and a number of ITN's initial capabilities to assess interoperability with partners and allies. If a CR extends past the first quarter of the fiscal year, the Army will be unable to test radios with a new waveform, known as TSM, as part of its HMS radio program. The current plan is for the 1st Brigade of the 82nd to test the radios in the third quarter of FY20. The TSM waveform is critical to a modernized network because it provides greater capability than what is currently fielded. The radios with the TSM waveform are more secure, can connect a larger number of radios on a single network, can easily tie into coalition partners' communications, and can more effectively push voice and data. If the Army is faced with a yearlong CR, the HMS radio program would be limited to a $3.7 million budget out of $35.6 million requested in FY20. Without the funding, the manpack and leader radio operational test won't happen until FY21, and the Army will likely have to shift to a different unit to conduct the test because of the operational tempo of the 82nd, according to Maj. Gen. Peter Gallagher, who is in charge of the Army's network modernization. Additionally, if testing can't begin until FY21, the Army's full-rate production schedule will slip. “We're confident that our radios will support the waveform, but we're talking about maybe a situation where we couldn't ramp up production to meet the capability set fieldings without essentially ordering stuff in the absence of that operational test, which is not exactly a best practice,” Gallagher said. The Army is planning to field the radios to four units in 2021: the 1st Brigade of the 82nd; the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team; the 3rd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division; and the 2nd Brigade of the 82nd. A long-term CR would also prevent the procurement of critical ITN communication enhancement equipment that will also be delivered to the four planned brigade combat teams in FY21. Without the equipment, the Army would have to delay communication patches for light infantry formations. A yearlong CR would affect the fielding of the Tactical Server Infrastructure, or TSI, which is also facing a potential FY20 budget cut. The Senate Appropriations Committee's Defense Subcommittee cut its procurement line by more than half, and it's unclear whether that decrement will survive conference committee. The TSI would only have 26 percent of its funding under a yearlong CR, which means the procurement of TSI servers, both small and large versions, will be delayed. A $45.86 million reduction in FY20 would prevent the fielding of 101 large variant servers and 184 small variants, which means two corps, three divisions and 10 brigade combat teams — including units like the 18th Airborne Corps, the 1st Cavalry Division, the 101st Airborne Division, III Corps and 4th Infantry Division — wouldn't get the updated server hardware needed to run the Command Post Computing Environment, Gallagher said during a briefing with McCarthy. And because the servers used to run the Command Post Computing Environment will be delayed, so will the rollout of the CPCE itself. Units like the 10th Mountain Division and the 335th Theater Signal Command have requested accelerated fielding of the CPSE and TSI capability. Currently fielded servers are cumbersome to initialize and are not appropriately protected to deal with emerging cyberthreats. The Tactical Defensive Cyber Operations Infrastructure capability, which protects the servers, will also be delayed. As the Army's first capability set due for fielding in 2021 would be delayed under a CR, its next capability set slated for 2023 would also be pushed back. The Army wouldn't have the funds to conduct experimentation and soldier evaluation because those are considered new start programs with no funding lines in FY19. Those efforts include experiments with low-Earth and medium-Earth orbit constellations, data management, new waveforms, command post mobility, and network management tools. This early research and development is meant to inform preliminary design and further larger-scale experimentation leading up to 2023. https://www.c4isrnet.com/2019/10/29/army-network-fielding-plan-could-collapse-under-extended-continuing-resolution/