20 décembre 2023 | International, Terrestre
8 novembre 2019 | International, Aérospatial
How the Air Force plans to find ‘defense unicorns’
By: Nathan Strout
Dozens of space companies descended on San Francisco, California Nov. 5 for a unique opportunity: the chance to walk away with a same day contract with the Air Force.
Opportunities like that don't happen every day for smaller businesses and start-ups, but at the first Air Force Space Pitch Days, 30 companies presented ideas to Air Force acquisition leaders who were authorized to hand out contracts on the spot. At the end of the first day, the Air Force had issued $9 million in contracts to 12 companies, with more companies slated to pitch their ideas on day two.
While the “Shark Tank”-inspired event may seem like a gimmick, it's part of an effort by the Air Force to engage with businesses that don't have the resources or know-how to compete with large, established defense contractors for military projects, but may have innovative solutions that the military needs.
“This is part of a broader vision we have to return Air Force to its innovation roots,” said Will Roper, the Air Force's assistant secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics during a Nov. 6 media availability. “We want to be where innovation is happening. We want to partner with commercial companies that have aspirations to make the world a better place with their technologies, but make it clear that there is a way to work with the Air Force to achieve that objective ... Innovation is going to be its own competitive domain, almost a battlefield. And we've got to win the innovation battle."
Not every company that presents at pitch days will succeed, but through events like this Roper hopes to give smaller businesses a chance and hopefully discover what he calls defense unicorns, non-traditional companies that have innovative solutions but lack the resources to bring them to market and connect to military customers.
“How do we do that, where we can start making defense unicorns?” said Roper. “That must happen if we're going to compete against countries like China long term. If the unicorns in defense are only started by billionaires, then we'll ultimately lose. We need companies that have ambitions without that huge billionaire backing up front to find a way to stardom through us.”
With pitch days, the Air Force is using Small Business Innovative Research awards to reach these companies early in the design process and then foster them through to production in three phases.
“By the time we get to Space Pitch Day next year, we should have the three-fold approach continually in cycle. Phase 1, get you in the door, very small contract, help you understand your Air Force customer, get you mentored to come to a pitch event like this. Phase 2 you're pitching to the customer and the war fighter, show your product actually has a match to our mission, get you on a bigger contract where you can prototype, develop and test. Then Phase 3, you're productizing. Your getting your product ready to sell to us, ready to use by us, and hopefully that's on a path to selling to the world,” said Roper.
“What I expect will happen in an ad hoc way is that a lot of our investment in these companies will be matched by private investors,” he added.
The Air Force first introduced the pitch day concept at an event in March, where they doled out $8.75 million between 51 companies. Since then the Air Force has held several other events, with individual days devoted to fields such as hypersonic weapons or intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems.
“Whether it's data analytics or some sort of software sensing methodology; whether its hardware, advanced rocket designs or better rocket fuel; whether its small sats or new ground sensors–those kind of innovations are the things that we are entertaining this week and will continue to entertain,” said Lt. Gen. John ‘JT' Thompson, commander of the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center. “Maybe not all of them, but many of them could become game changers in our efforts to maintain the United States Air Force's superiority in space.”
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10 juillet 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR
Four companies awarded $72.8M for special projects for Navy, DHS, CBP
By Allen Cone July 9 (UPI) -- Four companies have been awarded contracts worth $72.8 million for unspecified special projects and electronic systems for the U.S. Navy, Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection and other government agencies. The three-year contracts include two two-year option periods, which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of all four contracts to an estimated $176.4 million, the Department of Defense announced Monday. Awarded contracts were Deloitte Consulting for $21.7 million, Serco Inc. for $18.2 million, McKean Defense Group for $17.6 million and Alutiiq Information Management for $15.3 million in the execution of sustainment and technical support for special projects and electronic systems for experimental, demonstration and developmental technology. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Pacific Special Projects and Electronics Systems Branch last June posted a proposal for management, hardware engineering, software engineering, configuration management and logistics support that includes experimental, demonstration and developmental technology for the U.S. Navy, Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection and other government activities. Among the Naval units involved with the developmental efforts are the Mine and Anti-Submarine Warfare Command, Naval Information Warfare Systems Command Program Executive Offices, Commander Third Fleet, Sea Systems Command and Facilities Command, in addition to non-Navy units. All four companies will compete for task orders under the contracts, which run through July 7, 2022. If all contract options are exercised, the period of performance extends through July 7, 2026. All work under the contracts will be performed in San Diego. The U.S. Navy in June removed "space" from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, or SPAWARS, and added "information" in a rebranding effort that emphasizes information warfare. The agency's new name is the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command. This past February, the two echelon III commands -- formerly "systems centers" -- also changed names. In Charleston, S.C., the command became the Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic and in San Diego it was changed to Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific. https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2019/07/09/Four-companies-awarded-728M-for-special-projects-for-Navy-DHS-CBP/4101562677362/
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6 novembre 2019 | International, Terrestre
Here’s the robotic vehicle that will carry equipment for US troops
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. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/10/31/heres-the-robotic-vehicle-that-will-carry-equipment-for-us-troops