HYDEF project reaches next milestone

Sur le même sujet

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  18 décembre 2024 | International, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Cyber Physical Future: Trends, Challenges and Opportunities for 2025

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  21 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR

  Epirus, a venture-backed startup, inks deal with Northrop for counter-drone tech

  By: Joe Gould WASHINGTON ― Epirus, a venture-backed startup offering a counter-drone capability, launched quietly enough two years ago, but it's making noise by bringing together key veterans of Microsoft, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon ― and by landing its first deal with a name-brand defense prime contractor. Epirus chief executive Leigh Madden was general manager for Microsoft's national security business before he joined the Hawthorne, Calif.,-based firm two months ago, and its chief financial officer, Ken Bedingfield, is a former chief financial officer at Northrop. The former chairman of Epirus is Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of the Silicon Valley data-analytics company Palantir Technologies. Epirus, this week, is expected to announce a previously undisclosed strategic supplier agreement with Northrop to provide exclusive access to Epirus' software-defined electromagnetic pulse system, called Leonidas. The dollar value of the deal isn't being disclosed. Northrop said Leonidas would augment its own kinetic and non-kinetic solutions to counter small drones. The Army recently selected Northrop's Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control software, or FAAD-C2, as the interim C2 system to counter small drones. (DoD's FY21 budget request included $18.7 million for counter-drone enhancements for the system.) “UAS threats are proliferating across the modern battlespace,” said Kenn Todorov, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman's Combat Systems and Mission Readiness division. “By integrating the Epirus EMP weapon system into our C-UAS portfolio, we continue maturing our robust, integrated, layered approach to addressing and defeating these evolving threats.” Many companies have jumped into the $2 billion counter-UAS market, anticipating a boom as commercial drones have grown cheaper and more commonplace, posing an asymmetric threat on the battlefield as well as a threat to airports, sports stadiums, government buildings and urban areas. So many companies are in the field the Pentagon has been working to streamline the number of systems available across the department. Epirus executives said the company's technology is unique because its use of solid-state commercial semiconductor technology makes it lighter and smaller ― and because it can have narrow effects or be “adjusted to sanitize a volume of terrain or sky, creating a forcefield effect.” The company's systems involve a combination of high-power microwave technology and, for enhanced targeting, artificial intelligence. Epirus Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Bo Marr was a radio frequency engineer and technical lead on Raytheon's next-generation jammer program, under development by the U.S. Navy. Madden, a former U.S. Navy SEAL who spent eight years at Microsoft, and Bedingfield, who spent five years as Northrop's CFO, both said they joined Epirus because they were impressed by the technology and its potential. “Northrop and Microsoft are both multibillion-dollar defense businesses, and I think we bring a knowledge of how to operate around some of the larger opportunities and to make outsized impacts in the market,” Madden said. “We're taking that experience to a smaller, innovative company. I think that will allow us to really accelerate the pace of growth and have a more rapid and greater impact for our customers.” The Pentagon has attempted to shift toward working with smaller, more innovative companies to supplement its work with larger firms, which continue to dominate the marketplace. Flexible, non-traditional contact vehicles called “other transaction authorities” have grown more popular as the Pentagon has turned to Silicon Valley for cutting edge technologies. “One of the things that attracted me to come to Epirus is the ability to work in an agile enterprise that is trying to take some of the approaches of Silicon Valley and apply them to the defense world―to iterate quicker and to field faster, and to be able to respond to the urgent needs of the customer,” Bedingfield said. Bedingfield said the company is growing fast and generating revenue from working with customers on studies and technology demonstrations, but it's as yet unclear when it will begin to deliver products. The coronavirus pandemic has slowed its hiring, but the firm is looking to double in the next year, adding more than 50 employees in Hawthorne, and a planned office in Northern Virgina. Formed in 2018 and named after the magical bow of the Greek hero Theseus, Epirus was raising $17.8 million in new funding last November, according to its public filings. With Lonsdale and Marr, its co-founders include its previous CEO; current Vice Chairman John Tenet, from venture capitol firm 8VC; Chief Operating Officer Max Mednik, a Google veteran; UnitedHealthcare Chief Digital Officer Grant Verstandig is the current chairman. Palantir, which Lonsdale founded with billionaire Peter Thiel in 2005, appeared as an upstart when the Defense Department hadn't opened its arms as wide to Silicon Valley. Last year, Palantir beat Raytheon in a head-to-head competition to provide the Army a new version of its intelligence analysis system ― after a years long saga in which the Army rejected Palantir's offering and Palantir sued. In September, Epirus won a Small Business Innovation Research contract from the U.S. Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center as part of its AFWERX technology accelerator. The contract was for the company's novel architecture for using commercial off-the-shelf field programmable gate arrays, which are semiconductor devices commonly used in electronic circuits, as ultra-wideband radio frequency transceivers. While traditional systems use large vacuum tubes, Madden said Leonidas is based in microchips and software. “We believe there is no other solution on the market that allows for fully software defined precision targeting at digital speeds, enabling both precision targeting as well as large-area, counter-swarm targeting of many drones at the same time,” he said. Northrop and Epirus are expected to announce their partnership this week. “We're not just solving today's swarm threat, we're also looking to the future to understand how asymmetric threats will evolve,” Marr said in a statement. “Epirus is an agile startup, Northrop Grumman has defense prime contractor resources, and through this partnership we intend to deliver the best technology to the warfighter as fast as possible.” https://www.defensenews.com/2020/07/20/epirus-venture-backed-startup-inks-deal-with-northrop-for-counter-drone-tech

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  9 février 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - February 08, 2021

  NAVY Raytheon Technologies Corp., Pratt and Whitney, Pratt and Whitney Engines, East Hartford, Connecticut, is awarded a $49,195,531 fixed-price-incentive-firm-target modification (P00025) to a previously awarded contract (N0001918C1021). This contract provides for one conventional take-off and landing and two short take-off/vertical landing F135 engines to support F-35 Lightning II Block Four developmental testing program for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and non-U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will be performed in East Hartford, Connecticut (33%); Kent, Washington (15%); El Cajon, California (15%); Whitehall, Michigan (8%); West Palm Beach, Florida (6%); Dover, New Jersey (5%); East Lake, Ohio (3%); Rockford, Illinois (3%); Houston, Texas (3%); Portland, Oregon (3%); North Berwick, Maine (3%); and Milford, New Hampshire (3%), and is expected to be completed in January 2023. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Air Force) funds in the amount of $3,690,000; fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,500,000; and non-U.S. DOD participant funds in the amount of $1,083,021 will be obligated at the time of award, $6,190,000 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Feb. 5, 2021) Bell Boeing Joint Project Office, Amarillo, Texas, is awarded a $17,852,939 modification (P00012) to a firm-fixed-priced order (N0001919F0305) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001917G0002). This modification exercises an option to procure 60 MV-22 and 10 CV-22 proprotor hub spring and drive link retrofit kits; and six CV-22 modification spares kits, in support of the Marine Corps MV-22 aircraft and Air Force CV-22 aircraft. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in February 2023. Fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $14,675,618; and fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement (Air Force) funds in the amount of $3,177,321, will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Feb. 5, 2021) BAE Systems Platforms & Services, Minneapolis, Minnesota, is awarded a $17,576,524 fixed-price incentive (firm target) contract for Virginia-class submarine propulsors (delivery order N00024-21-F-2100 under basic ordering agreement N00024-20-G-4107). Work will be performed in Louisville, Kentucky (90%); and Minneapolis, Minnesota (10%), and is expected to be completed by October 2024. Fiscal 2020 advanced procurement shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $17,576,524 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) (only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements). The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Awarded Feb. 5, 2021) American Petroleum Tankers LLC, Blue Bay, Pennsylvania (N3220517C3502), is awarded a $16,479,750 option (P00021) for the fixed-price portion of a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract with reimbursable elements to exercise a one-year option in support of the Department of Defense Logistics Agency Energy aboard the M/V Evergreen State. This contract includes a one-year-firm period of the performance, three one-year options periods, and one 11-month option period, which if exercised would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $81,048,250. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia, and is expected to be completed, if all options are exercised, by Jan. 8, 2023. Working capital funds (Navy) in the amount of $10,565,100 are obligated for fiscal 2021, and will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. Funds in the amount of $5,914,650 for the remainder of Option Three are to be provided for fiscal 2022 and are subject to availability of funds in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.232-18, availability of funds. This procurement was released under full and open competition, with an unlimited number of companies solicited via the Beta.SAM.Gov website with three offers received. The Navy's Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Feb. 5, 2021) Bell Boeing Joint Project Office, Amarillo, Texas, is awarded a $12,273,267 cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price order (N0001921F0090) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001917G0002). This order provides non-recurring engineering services for the conversion area harness aircraft modification. Additionally, this order procures 72 conversion area harness base retrofit kits, 63 conversion area harness supplemental retrofit kits, and interim spares in support of the Marine Corps MV-22 aircraft, the Air Force CV-22 aircraft, the Navy CMV-22 aircraft, and the government of Japan V-22 aircraft. Work will be performed in Simpsonville, South Carolina (80%); Fort Worth, Texas (10%); Long Beach, California (7%); Austin, Texas (1%); Dallas, Texas (1%); and various locations within the continental U.S. (1%), and is expected to be completed in January 2026. Fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,626,985; fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement (Air Force) funds in the amount of $1,787,911; fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount $480,888; and Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $1,377,483 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Feb. 5, 2021) CORRECTION: The contracts announced on Feb. 5, 2021, to Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. (N00019-14-C-0050 P00102); and Opal Soft Inc. (N00253-21-C-0004), were actually awarded today, Feb. 8, 2021. ARMY Birdi Systems Inc.,* Pasadena, California (W912DY-21-D-0037); 3 Territory Solutions LLC,* Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (W912DY-21-D-0053 ); Comprehensive Professional & Proposal Services,* Fredericksburg, Virginia (W912DY-21-D-0050); Futron Inc.,* Woodbridge, Virginia (W912DY-21-D-0051); Evergreen Fire Alarms LLC, Tacoma, Washington (W912DY-21-D-0052); EXP Federal Inc., Chicago, Illinois (W912DY-21-D-0053); M.C. Dean Inc., Tysons, Virginia (W912DY-21-D-0054); Spectrum Solutions Inc.,* Madison, Alabama (W912DY-21-D-0055); Shearer & Associates Inc.,* Huntsville, Alabama (W912DY-21-D-0056); and Chinook Systems Inc.,* Cocoa Beach, Florida (W912DY-21-D-0057), will compete for each order of the $49,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide technical and programmatic support services. Bids were solicited via the internet with 13 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 7, 2024. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Pride Industries, Roseville, California, was awarded a $17,621,657 firm-fixed-price contract for base operations support. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed at Fort Rucker, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2021. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $3,085,875 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Field Directorate Office, Fort Eustis, Virginia, is the contracting activity (W9124G-18-C-0005). The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, was awarded a $10,579,798 modification (P00004) to contract W58RGZ19F0045 to integrate, test, upgrade and field functional hardware and software technology improvements and cybersecurity controls, to the Longbow Crew Trainer Generation Four and Generation Five fleets. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri, with an estimated completion date of April 2, 2022. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $10,579,798 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Iron Mountain Solutions Inc.*, Huntsville, Alabama, was awarded an $8,233,165 hybrid (firm-fixed-price, time-and-materials) contract for technical support for the Utility Helicopters Project Office. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 7, 2026. Fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $8,233,165 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-21-F-B001). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia (SPE8EG-21-D-0128); FFI Aerospace and Defense, Westminster, Maryland (SPE8EG-21-D-0129); and Araiza Co. LLC, Tullahoma, Tennessee (SPE8EG-21-D-0130), are sharing a maximum $12,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract under solicitation SPE8EG-20-R-0017 for ram assemblies used on military vessels. This was a competitive acquisition with three responses received. These are two-year base contracts with three one-year option periods. Locations of performance are Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Tennessee, with a Feb. 7, 2023, ordering period end date. Using customer is Defense Department. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency, Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. OFD Foods LLC,* Albany, Oregon, has been awarded a maximum $10,545,930 firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for dehydrated meat and gravy items. This was a competitive acquisition with one response received. This is five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Oregon, with a Feb. 7, 2026, ordering period end date. Using military service is Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through fiscal 2026 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency, Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE3S1-21-D-Z232). U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND Technology Service Corp., Arlington, Virginia, received a ceiling increase modification in the amount of $12,000,000 on a Small Business Innovative Research, Phase III contract (H92408-19-D-0001) for the Long Endurance Aircraft (LEA) program. The LEA program provides aircraft, turrets and spare parts required to support an increased multi-intelligence capability for U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). This modification raises the contract ceiling to $75,000,000 to accommodate a longer performance period. The contract is funded at the task order level with operation and maintenance funding and procurement funding. USSOCOM, Tampa, Florida, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2497472/source/GovDelivery/