17 septembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force will soon announce that the service can update an aircraft's software while in flight, the Air Force's chief software officer said Tuesday.
Nicolas Chaillan, the service's software czar, hinted at the announcement during a wide-ranging interview on a webcast hosted by C4ISRNET, but he declined to share which aircraft could handle the upgrade before the formal announcement is made. The update is part of a larger push by the Air Force to modernize its software practices.
However, Chaillan described the news as a “gamechanger” and offered insight into the challenges associated with updating software during flights.
“We need to decouple the flight controls, the [open mission systems], all the air worthiness piece of the software from the rest of the mission [and] capability of [that] software so we can update those more frequently without disrupting or putting lives at risk when it comes to the flying piece of the jet or the system,” Chaillan said.
A formal announcement could follow in coming days.
The Air Force is embracing agile development and DevSecOps in several of its programs to accelerate development time and deploy tools faster. Critical to this effort has been two Air Force environments — Cloud One and Platform One. Platform One, which was recently deemed an enterprise solution by the Department of Defense, is a software development platform that hosts a broad range of DoD components, including the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. The JAIC moved to the Air Force platform as it awaits the results of an ongoing court battle between Amazon Web Services and Microsoft over the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI cloud.
Chaillan said the F-35 program is also planning to move to Platform One soon. He added that he wants the platform to serve as a “software factory as a service.”
In the next 12 to 18 months, Chaillan said that he sees the service continuing to add artificial intelligence and machine learning into its systems at scale. Both Cloud One and Platform One will be critical to the development of those systems. Cloud One, a multi-cloud environment with Microsoft and AWS, will also be looking to add new vendors “down the road,” Chaillan said. The Air Force's decision to go the multi-award route over the single award structure like JEDI made sense because of the advancement of cloud technology taken by the Air Force, Chaillan said.
“When JEDI started, it did make sense to have a single award because cloud is very hard and very complex and it did makes sense to start there. Would I do that now? Probably not. I think technology changed,” Chaillan said.
21 novembre 2023 | International, Sécurité
There was a revelatory moment on the weekend as Defence Minister Bill Blair attempted to bridge the gap between rhetoric and reality over the Liberal government’s spending plans for his department and the Canadian military.
9 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial
Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — The Air Force is ramping up its efforts to test and field a suite of new hardware and software that will become the military's command and control backbone. Since February, the Air Force has published three separate broad area announcements seeking technologies that could be funneled inside the Advanced Battle Management System, the service's effort to seamlessly connect all of the Department of Defense's equipment and pool together its data to form a complete picture of the battlespace. Then, in May and July, it awarded the first two mega-batches of ABMS contracts, with 46 companies in total winning $1000 and a chance to compete for more money down the road. “We want a wide variety of companies, and we definitely want fresh blood in the ABMS competition,” Will Roper, the Air Force's acquisition executive, told reporters on May 14. “There is a lot that can be contributed from companies that are commercially focused, that know a lot about data, that know a lot about machine learning and AI and know a lot about analytics. Those are going to be the most important parts of the Advanced Battle Management System.” ABMS is the Air Force's piece of the military's fledgling Joint All Domain Command and Control concept. The vision involves networking every shooter and sensor to a cloud computing environment and using artificial intelligence to ensure that relevant information is immediately sent to whichever platform needs it. In practice, that could look like compiling data from a Global Hawk drone and a naval destroyer to help cue a fighter jet to lock its missile on a nearby target. While the Air Force has some big picture ideas of the products that will comprise ABMS — such as cloud computing tools, machine learning technologies and apps — it hasn't set firm requirements or laid out exactly what products it needs to build out the system. Through the BAAs, the government plans on bringing in companies using different styles of contracts and agreements, which Roper said will allow startups, commercial tech firms and other nontraditional players to “find their fit with this mission.” Those companies will then bring their products and technologies for week-long field tests, held three times a year. The next phase of experiments is planned to start on Aug. 31. While the service had already performed one experiment with technologies that could become part of ABMS and had put several dozen companies on contract prior to May, the Air Force sees the broad area announcements as vehicles to capture a wider array of technology firms that may not already do business with the government, Roper said. Each BAA has multiple rolling deadlines, with the Air Force hoping to award contracts anywhere from four to six weeks after a company submits a proposal. The first announcement seeks out proposals for traditional indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts. The second solicits ideas and technologies through a two-step process, where industry would submit information about the concept before being invited to submit a formal proposal, which the service says will allow participation from contractors “who are unsure about how they want to proceed but want to share their idea.” The third announcement invites companies with existing products to join ongoing ABMS technology demonstrations — at no cost to the government — through cooperative research and development agreements. The service also held a series of industry days, starting May 13, to help answer questions about the effort, especially from businesses that don't usually work with the Defense Department. “We had over a hundred companies just in the first day, and we are expecting more than 300 before the end of this first event,” Roper said. “Three hundred companies for the first industry day ... is a good start. That's certainly broader than the number of defense primes that we have or even the major suppliers.” Each of the announcements specify seven broad areas where the service is seeking new technologies or ideas: Digital architecture, standards and concepts: The Air Force is looking for digital modeling and simulation technologies, trade studies and other standards development tools and processes that it can use to map out the entire ABMS architecture virtually and test how it would work in practice. Sensor integration: In essence, the service wants any hardware or software that will allow different equipment to share data. “A key interest of ABMS is the compatibility and interoperability capabilities through the use of open interfaces to enable improved control of systems and the processing of their data,” the service said in the BAA. Data: The Air Force is also interested in “cloud-based data repositories” that could pass information across domains to the different services. These libraries of data points will be “meta tagged,” analyzed and then fused using AI algorithms to help inform military decision makers. Secure processing: The service needs technologies that will be able to move the appropriate data across technologies with different security levels, ensuring that classified information stays protected while sharing what is feasible. It also includes deployment, training and support services for all devices and processing environments. Connectivity: These tools include line-of-sight and beyond line-of-sight communications networks, as well as technologies that can turn a platform into a data node, reduce latency, provide improved anti-jamming capabilities or other functions that improve the speed and breadth of communications gear. Applications: iPhone analogies have become Defense Department clichés at this point, but the Air Force is hoping to commission the design and development of apps to process, fuse and help present data to different audiences across domains. Effects integration: These involve networked weapons that can be integrated with existing platforms for a greater combined effect. “This includes, but is not limited to smart munitions and low-cost autonomous platforms” that can carry out functions such as data relay. The Air Force is slated to spend $300 million on the Advanced Battle Management System through fiscal year 2021, according to the Government Accountability Office, which has also warned that the nontraditional structure of the program could put it “at greater risk for schedule delays, cost growth, and integration issues.” Preston Dunlap, the Air Force's chief architect charged with overseeing the ABMS effort, said the the price of technologies will undeniably be an important criteria, and the service will try to reduce costs by using affordable and readily available commercial products whenever possible. “That's one of the core principles that we have to manage costs,” he said during a May 7 event hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “We're able to take advantage of the commercial pressures and marketplace to keep the costs down. That's different. Normally it's flipped. If we're the primary customer here, we've got to be very concerned about cost growth associated with that. Right now, in some sense, we're the small buyer.” While the Air Force will better be able estimate the total cost of ABMS as experiments go on, the current focus of the effort is figuring out how to inject innovative commercial tech into the military system as quickly as it becomes available, Dunlap said. “I'm less worried at the moment about some of those cost issues because if we're in that cycle we're probably not doing it right,” he said. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/c2-comms/2020/07/08/us-air-force-ready-to-test-tech-for-new-battle-management-system/
5 août 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
NAVY Bethel-Tech Pacific JV,* Anchorage, Alaska (N62473-20-D-1113); ECC Environmental,* Burlingame, California (N62473-20-D-1114); and CAPE-Weston,* Irvine, California (N62473-20-D-1115), are awarded a $240,000,000 firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award contract for environmental remediation projects located primarily within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southwest area of responsibility (AOR). This includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and other locations nationwide. The maximum dollar value for all three contracts combined is $240,000,000. Bethel-Tech Pacific JV is being awarded an initial task order at $189,037 to evaluate land use controls at Marine Corps Logistic Base, Barstow, California. Work for this task order is expected to be completed by July 2023. All work on this contract will be performed primarily within the NAVFAC Southwest AOR which includes California (95%); Arizona (2%); Nevada (2%); and the remainder of the U.S. (1%). The work to be performed provides for environmental remediation actions; removal actions; remedial design; expedited and emergency response actions; pilot and treatability studies; remedial systems operation and maintenance; corrective actions; and groundwater monitoring and other related activities associated with returning sites to safe and acceptable levels of contamination. The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months. Work is expected to be completed by August 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance Navy (OM, N) contract funds in the amount of $189,037 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by OM, N funds. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website and18 proposals were received. These three contractors may compete for task orders under the terms and conditions of the awarded contract. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Corp., Owego, New York, is awarded an $181,744,524 modification (P00016) to previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract N00019-19-C-0013. This modification provides for the production, delivery and integration of 24 Airborne Low Frequency Sonars (ALFS) for the government of India; eight ALFS for the Navy and seven ALFS for the government of Denmark, into MH-60R Seahawk aircraft. Work will be performed in Brest, France (77%); Portsmouth, Rhode Island (15%); and Owego, New York (8%), and is expected to be completed by December 2024. Fiscal 2018 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $37,280,928 and Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $144,463,596 will be obligated at time of award, $37,280,928 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Krempp Construction Inc.,* Jasper, Indiana, is awarded an $35,000,000 maximum amount, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for magazine and inert building maintenance and repairs at the Naval Support Activity Crane, Indiana. No task orders are being issued at this time. All work on this contract will be performed in Crane, Indiana. The work to be performed provides for magazine and inert building maintenance, repairs and construction services including but not limited to, concrete installation and removal, replacement of entire or portions of concrete docks, wing walls, steel doors, lead paint removal, replacement of dead lights, dome repair, grounding, seeding, mulching, removal and installation of bumper blocks, excavation, backfilling and incidental related work. The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months and work is expected to be completed by August 2025. Fiscal 2020 working capital (Army) contract funds in the amount of $5,000 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by working capital (Army) and working capital (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via the Contract Opportunities website and three proposals were received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40085-20-D-0080). Bell Textron Inc., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $30,400,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N00019-20-F-0162) against previously issued basic ordering agreement N00019-16-G-0012. This order provides non-recurring engineering and integrated logistics support to produce and qualify the structural improvement and electrical power upgrade solution for the UH-1Y Venom and AH-1Z Viper aircraft. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (70.4%); Grand Rapids, Michigan (26.3%); and Phoenix, Arizona (3.3%). This order provides for the integration of structural improvements and power upgrades, as well as the development of technical data and supporting documentation as it pertains to reliability, maintainability, damage limits and tolerances. Additionally, this order provides for the manufacture and delivery of two drives system accessory power quills, one modified combining gearbox, one test stand upgrade, as well as associated component qualification testing. Work is expected to be completed by December 2022. Fiscal 2018 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $17,503,510; fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,659,045; and fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $4,237,445, will be obligated at time of award and $17,503,510 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Atlantic Diving Supply Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia (M67854-20-D-5127); and Vizocom Government Services, El Cajon, California (M67854-20-D-5128) are awarded a $17,000,000 maximum amount, multiple award, firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the purchase of soft wall shelters and shelter repair parts. Work will be performed in Virginia Beach, Virginia; and El Cajon, California, and is expected to be completed by July 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $151,483 will be obligated on the first delivery order immediately following contract award. Funds will expire the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was a competitively procured via beta.SAM.gov website and two offers were received. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting agency. Alliant Techsystems Operations LLC, Northridge, California, is awarded a $12,190,753 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides depot sustainment support, guidance section and control section repair and common munitions built-in test/reprogramming equipment box 4 and 5 test and inspection in support of the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile weapon system for the Navy; the governments of Italy and Australia; and Foreign Military Sales customers. Work will be performed in Northridge, California (62%); Ridgecrest, California (31%); and Fusaro, Italy (7%). Work is expected to be completed by August 2023. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-20-D-0106). United States Marine Inc.,* Gulfport, Mississippi, is awarded a $7,572,364 firm-fixed-price delivery order to previously awarded an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract N00024-16-D-2215 in support of the government of the Azerbaijan for 15 9-meter Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Multi-Use EOD Response Craft. Work will be performed in Gulfport, Mississippi, and is expected to be completed by April 2022. Foreign Military Sales funding in the amount of $7,572,364 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. ARMY Aecom Technical Services Inc., Los Angeles, California (W91278-20-D-0041); Arcadis U.S. Inc., Highlands Ranch, Colorado (W91278-20-D-0042); Atkins North America Inc., Dallas, Texas (W91278-20-D-0043); Cardno GS Inc., Charlottesville, Virginia (W91278-20-D-0044); HDR Environmental Operations and Construction Inc., Englewood, Colorado (W91278-20-D-0045); Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Dallas, Texas (W91278-20-D-0046); Leido Inc., Reston, Virginia (W91278-20-D-0047); WSP USA Solutions Inc., Washington, DC (W91278-20-D-0048); Tetra Tech Inc., Pasadena, California (W91278-20-D-0053); and Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions Inc., Blue Bell, Pennsylvania (W91278-20-D-0055), will compete for each order of the $209,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for architect and engineering services to support the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers South Atlantic Division. Bids were solicited via the internet with 28 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 3, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Alabama, is the contracting activity. AHTNA Construction,* Anchorage, Alaska (W912BV-20-D-0039); APC Construction LLC,* Harvey, Louisiana (W912BV-20-D-0040); Gideon Contracting LLC,* San Antonio, Texas (W912BV-20-D-0041); Pontchartrain Partners LLC,* New Orleans, Louisiana (W912BV-20-D-0042); and Southwind Construction,* Edmond, Oklahoma (W912BV-20-D-0043), will compete for each order of the $49,500,000 firm-fixed-price contract for civil works construction projects in support of various military and civil works projects within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Tulsa District's boundaries. Bids were solicited via the internet with 15 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 3, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Tulsa, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity. PHE-Baker JV2 LLC,* Rockville, Maryland (W91278-20-D-0050); Stell Environmental Enterprises Inc.,* Exton, Pennsylvania (W91278-20-D-0051); Swift River Vesar SB JV,* Anchorage, Alaska (W91278-20-D-0052); and Vernadero Group Inc.,* Phoenix, Arizona (W91278-20-D-0053), will compete for each order of the $40,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for architect and engineering services to support the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers South Atlantic Division Mobile District's planning and environmental division. Bids were solicited via the internet with 28 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 3, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Radiant Mission Solutions Inc., Chantilly, Virginia, was awarded a $12,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide the Army Geospatial Center with remote ground terminal systems. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 4, 2023. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alexandria, Virginia, is the contracting activity (W5J9CQ-20-D-0006). Lockheed Martin Global Missiles and Fire Control, Orlando, Florida, was awarded a $9,958,534 modification (P00019) to contract W31P4Q-17-C-0173 for field support technicians. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 28, 2021. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE Martin Baker, Uxbridge, United Kingdom, has been awarded a maximum $150,000,000 five-year, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for T-6 and T-38 Sustainment. This contract provides for T-6 and T-38 replenishment spares. Work will be performed in Uxbridge, United Kingdom, and is expected to be completed Dec. 31, 2026. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2020 munitions procurement funds; NASA funds; Army funds; and Foreign Military Sales funds, in the total amount of $13,316, 027 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (FA8213-20-D-0004). DEFENSE THREAT REDUCTION AGENCY Northrup Grumman Systems Corp. (HDTRA1-20-C-0063) is being awarded a single-award services contract for the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Program. The mission of the CTR Program is to partner with willing countries to reduce threat from Weapons of Mass Destruction and related materials, technologies, facilities and expertise. The maximum dollar ceiling including the base period and option period for the contract is $24,775,693. Work will be performed at various locations throughout the world. The base period for this contract is two years with three one-year option periods. $4,000,000 has been incrementally funded for the base period and the contract will continue to be incrementally funded with current funding. This requirement was solicited as a sole-source award with supporting justification and approval document via solicitation HDTRA1-20-R-0015 and was approved by the Head of Contracting Activity. The government received one timely offer. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), CTR Contracting Office/DTRA/AL-ACC, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, is the contracting activity. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2300395/source/GovDelivery/