25 juillet 2018 | International, Aérospatial
By: Valerie Insinna
LONDON — The Air Force scored a major win in the 2019 defense authorization bill: Not only will it be able to cancel the JSTARS recap program, it is getting additional funds for its alternative effort called Advanced Battle Management System.
However, the service will have to make some concessions in terms of its plans to retire the existing E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System fleet, which is used for ground surveillance and command and control missions.
The Air Force had planned to retire three E-8Cs in 2019 that had become “hangar queens” cannibalized for spare parts for the rest of the fleet, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said earlier this year.
However, according to the new defense policy bill unveiled Monday, it will not be able to retire any of the 17 planes until “increment 2” of the ABMS system is declared operational, although Congress will allow the Air Force secretary to phase out planes on a case-by-case basis if an aircraft is no longer mission capable.
While the Air Force has not spelled out to the public exactly what comprises its ABMS plan, it involves a host of different upgrades for existing platforms —for instance the MQ-9 Reaper and E-3 AWACS early warning aircraft — that will allow them to network together in new ways.
A congressional aide told Defense News on July 24 that the Air Force have three ABMS increments in a series of classified briefings to members of Congress' defense committees.
Phase one, which lasts from now until about 2023, involves upgrades to datalinks and some space-based technologies, as well as linking sensors from several stealth platforms and drones together, the aide said.
Increments 2 and 3 quickly get into more classified territory, said the aide, who declined to provide greater specifics.
The defense authorization bill would accelerate ABMS by adding $120 million for six MQ-9 Reapers, which the aide said could be used to help boost the architecture's ability to prosecute targets during a low-end conflict. It also included $30 million to continue development of the ground moving target indicator radar developed by Northrop Grumman for the JSTARS recap program.
In addition, Congress levied a number of other restrictions and reporting requirements on the Air Force as part of the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act, including:
The end of the JSTARS recap program is bad news for Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman, who were each vying for the prime contractor spot and the $6.9 billion contract for engineering, manufacturing and development. A total of 17 new planes were planned to be built throughout the program.
Over the past year, Air Force leaders grew disenchanted with JSTARS recap, saying that new battle management planes would not be survivable in future, contested battlespaces.
But while the Senate defense committees leaned in to support ABMS, House lawmakers sought to force the service to keep going with JSTARS recap.
Will Roper, the Air Force's top acquisition official, told Defense News on July 17 that he was hopeful that Congress would move forward with ABMS. However, he still acknowledged that the Air Force had never modernized a “system of systems” like ABMS before.
“It definitely needs to be a program where we embrace failure up front and prototype, because there's going to be a lot of learning to do about how do you make things work together as a team,” Roper said. “We get a sense of how commercial industry is solving it and I imagine we can use a lot of their lessons learned, but probably not all of them.”
Infighting in Georgia
What was once a disagreement between the House and Senate seems to have turned into a fight among the members of the Georgia delegation.
In a surprising move, Republican Rep. Austin Scott pointed the finger at Sen. David Perdue, a fellow Georgia Republican, for allowing the recap program to be cancelled. Georgia's Robins Air Force Base is home to the 461st Air Control Wing, the joint Air Force-Army unit that operates JSTARS.
“When Senator Perdue [...] withdrew his support of this program which the Georgia Congressional Delegation – including Senator Perdue – has overwhelmingly supported throughout the last seven years, it effectively ended the program,” said Scott.
“Unfortunately [...] the replacement aircraft will not be fielded, forcing a higher risk to our men and women in uniform by continuing to fly the 48 year old legacy JSTARS aircraft which are in need of recapitalization.”
Perdue hit back in his own statement, saying that ABMS is a better long term solution for Robins.
“The Advanced Battlefield Management System will give us the capability to access both restricted and non-restricted airspace. This is a necessity in supporting our troops in harm's way as well as our overall intelligence gathering,” Perdue said. “With the solution I support, we save JSTARS jobs, maintain the JSTARS fleet into the next decade, accelerate the implementation of ABMS, and gain a new mission for Robins. All of this guarantees a very bright future for my hometown base.”
https://www.defensenews.com/air/2018/07/24/jstars-recap-is-officially-dead/
21 avril 2024 | International, C4ISR
Within the scope of the agreement, Mercury will provide a field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based common signal acquisition and digital beamforming solution for BlueHalo’s BADGER system,
13 octobre 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité, Autre défense
NAVY Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Connecticut, is awarded a $327,822,562 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-20-C-2120 for lead yard support and development studies and design efforts related to Virginia class submarines. Work will be performed in Groton, Connecticut (92%); Newport News, Virginia (7%); and Newport and Quonset Point, Rhode Island (1%), and is expected to be completed by April 2021. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and engineering (Navy) (41%); and fiscal 2020 (25%); 2019 (12%); 2014 (9%); 2017 (7%); 2015 (3%); and 2018 (3%) shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $134,585,918 will be obligated at time of award. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and engineering (Navy) funds in the amount of $55,000,000; and fiscal 2014 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $11,792,469 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The statutory authority for this sole-source award is in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii); 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. D Square LLC & AU Authum KI,* Tucson, Arizona (N62478-17-D-4018); Hawk-Niking LLC,* Wahiawa, Hawaii (N62478-17-D-4019); MACNAK-BCP JV,* Lakewood, Washington (N62478-17-D-4020); and Tokunaga Elite JV LLC,* Pearl City, Hawaii (N62478-17-D-4021), are each awarded an $80,000,000 firm-fixed-price modification to their respective previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple-award, design-build/design-bid-build construction contracts for construction projects located primarily within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC), Hawaii area of responsibility (AOR). The work to be performed provides for, but is not limited to, labor, supervision, tools, materials and equipment necessary to perform new construction, repair, alteration and related demolition of existing infrastructure based on design-build or design-bid-build (full plans and specifications) for infrastructure within the state of Hawaii. This modification increases the total cumulative value of the combined contracts to $178,000,000. No task orders are being awarded at this time. Work will be performed at various Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and miscellaneous federal and other facilities in the NAVFAC Hawaii AOR and is expected to be completed by July 2022. No funds will be obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. Task orders will be primarily funded by operations and maintenance (Navy); and Navy working capital funds. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Hawaii, is the contracting activity. Tekla Research Inc.,* Fredericksburg, Virginia, is awarded a $24,405,000 commercial firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide test and evaluation support services for Commander, Operational Test and Evaluation Force Expeditionary Warfare Division. The contract will include a 60-month base ordering period with an additional six-month ordering period option pursuant of Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.217-8 – to extend services, which if exercised, will bring the total value to $27,000,000. The base ordering period is expected to begin November 2020, and be completed by November 2025; if the option is exercised, the ordering period will be completed by May 2026. All work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,500 will be obligated to fund the contract's minimum amount and funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Individual task orders will be subsequently funded with appropriate fiscal year appropriations at the time of their issuance. This contract was competitively procured with the solicitation posted on beta.SAM.gov as a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business set-aside using commercial items procedures, with two offers received. The Naval Supply Systems Command, Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N00189-21-D-0001). ARMY SKE Support Services Gmbh, Goldbach, Germany (W912GB-21-D-0001); Sociedad Espanola De Montajes Industriales, Madrid, Spain (W912GB-21--D-0002); RCI Gulbene SIA, Gulbene, Latvia (W912GB-21-D-0003); Relyant Global LLC, Maryville, Tennessee (W912GB-21-D-0004); Tartu Bryan JV, Colorado Springs, Colorado (W912GB-21-D-0005); Infes UAB, Vilnius, Lithuania (W912GB-21-D-0006); and Mitnija UAB, Kaunas, Lithuania (W912GB-21-D-0007), will compete for each order of the $49,950,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide design-build and design-bid-build construction services in Latvia and Lithuania. Bids were solicited via the internet with 24 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 8, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Europe District, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Bren-Tronics Inc.,* Commack, New York (SPE7LX-21-D-0009, $14,817,852); and Mathews Associates Inc.,** Sanford, Florida (SPE7LX-21-D-0010, $9,758,182), have each been awarded a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contract under solicitation SPE7MX-20-R-0106 for lithium-ion batteries used in multiple communications platforms. These were competitive acquisitions with five responses received. These are three-year base contracts with two one-year option periods. Locations of performance are New York and Florida, with an Oct. 8, 2023, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2024 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Columbus, Ohio. Belleville Shoe Co.,* Belleville, Illinois, has been awarded a maximum $9,939,099 modification (P00004) exercising the first one-year option period of one-year base contract (SPE1C1-20-D-1208) with three one-year option periods for temperate weather men's and women's coyote boots. This is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. Location of performance is Illinois, with an Oct. 10, 2021, ordering period end date. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2022 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND Arcticom LLC, Anchorage, Alaska, was awarded a $9,950,000 maximum single award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (H92240-21-D-0002) with an ordering period of up to five years for contractor-provided non-personal services for Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training support. Fiscal 2021 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $2,500 are being obligated at the time of award. The work will be performed in various locations inside and outside the U.S. and may continue through fiscal 2025 depending on timing of orders placed by Naval Special Warfare Command (NSWC). The contract was awarded competitively with four proposals received. NSWC, Coronado, California, is the contracting activity. * Small business **Woman-owned small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2378667/source/GovDelivery/
25 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial
Nathan Strout In a new proposal, the U.S. Space Force is asking Congress to overhaul the tools it uses to acquire new space systems, allowing the new service to move with more agility and keep pace with near-peer adversaries. “Our nation requires a bold Alternative Space Acquisition System that not only matches the pace of change but also manages unpredictability and regularly disrupts our adversaries' threat cadence," the Department of the U.S. Air Force report concludes. “The features outlined in this report will create a new space acquisition approach for the USSF that is the envy of all other services and ultimately enables the USSF to rapidly leverage industry innovation to outpace space threats.” When Congress passed legislation establishing the Space Force as the nation's sixth branch of the armed services in December, it included a provision requiring the Secretary of the Air Force to provide a report by the end of March on whether the military should adopt an alternative space acquisition system. While the Pentagon did deliver a report to Congress in March, it largely kicked the can down the road on any specific acquisitions reforms. Space Force leadership have touted this more detailed acquisitions report as “groundbreaking” in recent appearances. The new report, which was first reported by Bloomberg Government, includes nine specific proposals to improve Space Force contracting, although it doesn't make any suggestions towards unifying the various organizations involved in purchasing space platforms and systems, such as the Space Development Agency, the Space Rapid Capabilities Office, the Space and Missile Systems Center, or the National Reconnaissance Office, which purchases satellites for the intelligence community. Instead, the report's recommendations include changes to the contracting tools and reporting requirements the Space Force will use to acquire new systems, with a focus on increasing flexibility and delegating authority. Three of the suggestions require legislative action, while the remaining proposals will simply require internal Department of Defense adjustments. Perhaps the most important recommendation in the report, according to the Air Force, is the consolidation of budget line items along mission portfolios, such as missile warning or communications, instead of by platform. While this has been done on a limited basis in the past for the Space Rapid Capabilities Office and some classified efforts, it marks a change from standard DoD budgeting practices. Theoretically, this would allow the Space Force to move funding between missile warning systems without having to submit reprogramming requests to Congress, something it did several times last year in order to move up the delivery date for the first Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared satellite. The Air Force's repeated reprogramming requests rankled some members of Congress, leading to a fight between lawmakers and the White House over the program's funding for fiscal 2020. The Air Force claims this fix is needed to give program managers the flexibility to adapt to growing threats. According to the report, transparency at the program level would be preserved in future budget documents. This change would not require legislation. Beyond that, the Air Force is asking Congress for permission to push milestone decision authority down the chain of command, similar to what's been demonstrated by the Missile Defense Agency and National Reconnaissance Office. This change would speed up decision making for space programs. The third major change the Air Force is pursuing is authority for the Space Force to use incremental funding for space systems and programs. This “Efficient Space Procurement” coding was used to acquire the fifth and sixth satellites in the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites at the same time as well as the fifth and sixth Space-Based Infrared System satellites, resulting in significant savings. The department claims full funding each space vehicle has lead to affordability issues in the past, and can “lead to production breaks, obsolescence, and industrial base impacts.” Instead, the department wants to spread out funding for satellites over multiple years to help keep costs in check and avoid funding spikes. Other changes include streamlining requirements validation and reporting requirements. “Under these reforms, our Nation's newest military service will have unprecedented agility to build resilient, defendable, and affordable space capabilities through streamlined processes and closer partnerships with one of America's decisive advantages—its innovative and rapidly changing commercial space industry,” Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett wrote in the introduction to the report. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/05/21/space-force-lays-out-acquisitions-reforms-in-new-report/