18 septembre 2020 | International, Terrestre
WASHINGTON — The Army is backing off a plan for the service to submit its own bid to the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle replacement competition after it indicated its intention to offer up its own design in a draft request for proposals posted in July.
The service tried once before to competitively solicit designs for its Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) but ended up with just one offering after its requirements proved too onerous to industry and included a requirement to deliver a working prototype to the Army by October 2019.
In a statement sent to Defense News Sept. 17 from Ashley John, an Army spokeswoman, she said “As a result of industry feedback and continuous dialogue between Army senior leaders, the government will not submit a proposal in response to the OMFV RFP. A revision to the draft OMFV RFP was made today and deletes paragraph A.3.1 Interested Government Offeror in its entirety."
The Army's intention to develop its own bid was met with scrutiny as industry officials questioned whether the service could play the game after service leaders had already seen industry's cards during an earlier iteration of the competition. The move, many in industry thought, would have easily teed up protests.
With pressure to get the competitive process right this time in a program where the service plans to spend $4.6 billion from fiscal 2022 through FY26, it is turning to industry input earlier and more than ever.
Congress questioned Army leaders earlier this year on why it seemed the service did not pay attention to the signs or listen to industry and make adjustments before having to cancel its previous competition. First, BAE Systems, which manufactures the Bradley, decided not to compete due to unachievable requirements set within a very short timeline. Then the Army had to disqualify a Raytheon and Rheinmetall team because they couldn't get a physical bid sample to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, in time.
The service, this time around, reviewed and analyzed over 500 industry comments in response to the draft RFP and will now spend several weeks providing responses to industry concerns, John said.
“As we continue to progress through the first-phase of our five-phased approach for the OMFV program, communication, inclusive feedback and innovative thinking from industry remains key,” John said.
The Army waded back into the OMFV effort with the release of a market survey in February that tapped industry for ideas on what a future vehicle might look like. The market survey itself asked companies to weigh in on what affected their decisions to participate in the previous OMFV competitive effort and how the Army might better engage with industry this time around.
Instead of providing a laundry list of requirements that when paired together became unachievable — especially when delivered over an ambitious fielding goal of 2026 — the Army will give industry roughly nine characteristics with which to work. The Army is also not requiring the delivery of physical bid samples in the first phase of competition.
The Army plans to release a final RFP in December, which will results in the award of up to five contracts in June 2021.
It appears likely that the Raytheon and Rheinmetall team and General Dynamics Land Systems will submit bids for the new competition. BAE Systems has not publicly said whether they plan to compete this time.
1 février 2023 | International, Aérospatial
The system performed as predicted travelling more than 300 nautical miles and reaching altitudes above 60,000 feet
9 novembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial
by Julian Kerr Additional funding has been endorsed, although not yet approved, to confirm the supersonic performance of the Australian-developed Evader autonomous aerial target missile system, sources close to the programme have disclosed. An application for a grant of AUD2.85 million (USD2.02 million) from the government's Defence Innovation Hub has been endorsed by both the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and the Australian Army to fund a second series of flight trials for the low-cost, air-launched system, said the sources. A decision is expected shortly. Initial flight trials, funded by the Innovation Hub and carried out in 2018 at South Australia's Woomera range, validated the Evader's design, autonomous control system and stainless steel ramjet, and proved the parachute-recoverable, 4.2 m-long target missile could be re-used up to 10 times. Endurance of the 90 kg missile is about 30 minutes. While the initial trials were subsonic, the second series of trials will be low-supersonic following relocation of the variable air intake from the top to the bottom of the missile's fuselage. Speeds of up to Mach 2 are anticipated in subsequent trials, with future variants intended to reach Mach 3. https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/more-funding-endorsed-for-evader-aerial-target-missile-system
28 novembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial
Helen Chachaty « Nous allons avoir un hackathon permanent sur le Système de combat aérien futur », a déclaré le chef d'état-major de l'armée de l'air lors de son intervention au Forum Innovation Défense, qui s'est tenu à la Cité de la mode et du design du 22 au 24 novembre dernier. Un système futur qu'il souhaite « ouvert », afin de pouvoir y intégrer les dernières innovations disponibles en la matière. « Il faut que le SCAF se mette en place au fil de l'air, on ne va pas attendre 2040 pour avoir un objet figé. » A titre d'exemple, il cite notamment le prochain standard F4 du Rafale - dont la mise en service est prévue à l'horizon 2025 - et dont certaines briques d'innovations pourront être intégrée au SCAF par la suite. « Nous devons tout le temps nous remettre en question, et nous le faisons tout le temps sur le Système de combat aérien futur », a-t-il indiqué, plaçant l'intelligence artificielle au coeur de ce programme, notamment pour intégrer les éléments de « combat collaboratif » : il s'agira ainsi de pouvoir agréger les informations de tous les capteurs, de les afficher et de les présenter en fonction du besoin. « Nous avons besoin de renseignement en temps réel, nous avons besoin de l'intelligence artificielle pour trier les informations », a poursuivi le CEMAA. « Il faut absolument de l'intelligence artificielle pour se focaliser sur l'analyse et non pas la recherche. » Autre bénéfice de l'intelligence artificielle, selon le général Lavigne, la possibilité de « diriger des essaims de drones » à partir de la plateforme de combat, « afin de pouvoir tester la défense anti-missiles ». Le travail engagé sur le SCAF en termes d'innovations implique notamment le Centre d'expertise aérienne militaire, un « laboratoire d'idées et d'idées opérationnelles, dont les grands industriels sont friands ». En parallèle ont également été montées des équipes projet, avec l'objectif de mener un travail en plateau entre industriels, forces armées et DGA. https://www.journal-aviation.com/actualites/41477-le-scaf-passe-aussi-par-l-innovation