3 mars 2021 | International, Aérospatial
This first order, from an undisclosed international customer, marks a further validation of the wide appeal of the CAMM air defence family on the global marketplace and paves the way...
https://www.epicos.com/article/688135/mbda-awarded-first-contract-its-new-albatros-ng-system
18 février 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
The International Defence Exhibition and Conference is opening its doors to trade exhibitors and visitors Feb. 21-25, with more than 1,300 vendors as well as five countries participating for the first time.
19 septembre 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
AIR FORCE Altamira Technologies Corp., McLean, Virginia (FA7146-19-D-0700); Booz Allen Hamilton, McLean, Virginia (FA7146-19-D-0710); Deloitte Consulting LLP, Arlington, Virginia (FA7146-19-D-0720); Fulcrum IT Services, Centreville, Virginia (FA7146-19-D-0730); ManTech Advanced Systems International Inc., Herndon, Virginia (FA7146-19-D-0740); MCR Federal LLC, McLean, Virginia (FA7146-19-D-0750); Novetta Inc., McLean, Virginia (FA7146-19-D-0760); and SAIC, Reston, Virginia (FA7146-19-D-0770), have been awarded a not-to-exceed $950,000,000 multiple award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for analytical and technical services. This contract vehicle provides for analytical and technical services for the Secretary of the Air Force's Concepts, Development, and Management Office. Work will be performed as indicated in each order and is expected to be completed by September 2029. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and 10 offers received. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $5,000 are being obligated to each of the eight initial task orders. The Secretary of the Air Force's Concepts, Development, and Management Office, Fairfax, Virginia, is the contracting activity. Range Generation Next LLC, Sterling, Virginia, has been awarded a $122,345,824 fixed-price-incentive-firm target modification (P00262) for the previously awarded contract FA8806-15-C-0001 in support of operations, maintenance and sustainment on the Launch and Test Range System. The modification exercises the fifth option period effective Oct. 1, 2019. Work will be performed at the Western Range, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California; and the Eastern Range, Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2020. No funds are being obligated at time of award. The Space and Missile Systems Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, is the contracting activity. Thales Air Traffic Management Inc., Clarksburg, Maryland, was awarded a $21,818,801 modification (P00012) to contract FA8730-18-C-0034 for the purchase of six additional deployable instrumental landing systems. Work will be performed in Clarksburg, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by June 30, 2022. This sole source award is the result of a priced option of the contract previously mentioned. Fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2019 other production funds in the amount of $21,818,801 are being obligated at the time of the award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity. L3Harris Technologies Inc., Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded a $12,880,167 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract modification (P01000) to a previously awarded contract F19628-02-C-0010 for fiscal 2020 Eglin sustainment support. This modification provides sustainment support for the Eglin AN/FPS (Army, Navy/Fixed Ground Detecting/Range and Bearing Search)-85 Radar. The Eglin AN/FPS-85 Radar is a computer-controlled, phased-array radar set operating as a functional entity in the Air Force Space Command Space Surveillance Network. The radar set concurrently performs the functions of detection, target recognition, acquisition and track of many space objects. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and is expected to be completed by June 30, 2020. Total cumulative face value is $12,880,167. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds are being used and no funds are being obligated at time of award. The Space and Missile Systems Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, is the contracting activity. M1 Support Services, Denton, Texas, has been awarded a $12,366,227 modification (A00038) to contract FA3002-15-C-0006 for Trainer Maintenance Services. This action is to exercise Option Period Five. Work will be performed at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas; and satellite site at Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2020. The total cumulative face value of the contract is $76,725,152. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds will be used and no funds are being obligated at the time of the award. The 82d Contracting Squadron, Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, is the contracting activity. ARMY BAE Systems Land & Armaments L.P., York, Pennsylvania, was awarded a $148,271,911 modification (P00018) to contract W56HZV-17-C-0242 for M88A2 Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lift and Evacuation System vehicles. Work will be performed in York, Pennsylvania, with an estimated completion date of May 31, 2022. Fiscal 2019 procurement of weapons and tracked combat vehicles, Army funds in the amount of $148,271,911 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity. Knight Construction & Supply Inc.,* Deer Park, Washington, was awarded an $18,326,100 firm-fixed-price contract for Dalles 480 ton Intake Gantry Crane replacement. Bids were solicited via the internet with five received. Work will be performed in Dalles, Oregon, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2023. Fiscal 2019 Bonneville Power Administration; and operations and maintenance, civil funds in the amount of $517,800 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland, Oregon, is the contracting activity (W9127N-19-C-0024). Affolter Contracting Co. Inc.,* La Marque, Texas, was awarded a $9,089,400 firm-fixed-price contract for Peggy Lake Placement Area dewatering and dike raise. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Houston, Texas, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 21, 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, civil funds in the amount of $9,089,400 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston, Texas, is the contracting activity (W912HY-19-C-0017). NAVY J. Walter Thompson U.S.A. LLC, doing business as Wunderman Thompson, of Atlanta, Georgia, is being awarded a $79,169,854 firm-fixed-price, one year contract for full service advertising agency support to furnish supplies and services to enhance the Marine Corps' recruiting efforts. This contract includes four one-year option periods which, if exercised, could bring the cumulative value of this contract to $529,904,636. Work will be performed in Atlanta, Georgia, and is expected to be completed December 2020. If all options are exercised, work will continue through December 2024. This award is subject to the availability of funds. Fiscal 2020 operation and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $79,169,854 will be obligated when funding becomes available and will expire Sept. 30, 2020. This contract was competitively procured via solicitation on the Federal Business Opportunities website, with three proposals received. The Marine Corps Installations Command Contracting Office, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M95494-19-C-0020). The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is being awarded a $30,880,590 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to establish organic depot and intermediate level maintenance repair capability of the Consolidated Automated Support System Operational Test Program Sets for Stores Management System components in support of the P-8A Poseidon Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri (80%); and Grand Rapids, Michigan (20%), and is expected to be completed in September 2024. Fiscal 2017 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $30,880,590 will be obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (N68335-19-C-0543). Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, is being awarded a $25,493,505 cost-plus-fixed fee contract for critical design review of the Tomahawk Weapons System Military Code, to include studies, analysis, design, development, integration and test of hardware and software solutions. In addition, this contract provides for identification of the kit bill of materials, fabrication, assembly, integration, test and documentation of an AGR5 kit. Work will be performed in El Segundo, California (55.6%); and Tucson, Arizona (44.4%), and is expected to be completed in March 2021. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $7,558,963 will be obligated at time of award, $1,883,848 of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Forcepoint Federal LLC, Salt Lake City, Utah, is being awarded an estimated $13,462,622 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price and time and materials contract for the purchase of software and associated technical support services. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and at contractor facilities in northern Virginia. Work is expected to be completed by 2024. The contract includes a single five year ordering period. No funding is being placed on contract at time of award. Contract funds will be obligated on individual delivery orders. Fiscal 2019 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $414,895 will be obligated on the first delivery order. Funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured because it is a sole-source acquisition pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) – only one responsible source, and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements (Federal Acquisition Regulation subpart 6.302-1(a)). The Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N00039-19-D-0034). SCI Technology Inc., Huntsville, Alabama, is being awarded a $13,345,676 firm-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Tactical Operation Center Network (TOCNET) Generation 4 Ground Mobility Vehicle 1.1 kits and TOCNET G4 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) kits. These kits are in support of the U.S. Special Operations Command family of operations vehicles production sparing efforts for the GMV 1.1 and MRAP system variants. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, and is expected to be completed in September 2023. No funds will be obligated at 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 Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (N68335-19-D-0151). Alliant Techsystems Operations LLC (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Inc.), Northridge, California, is being awarded a $10,640,798 modification (P00001) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price (N00019-19-C-0049) for the full rate production Lot 8 Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM). This modification provides for conversion of government-provided AGM-88B High Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARMs) into 4 AGM-88E AARGM all up rounds (AURs) for the Navy; and 11 AGM-88E AARGM AURs for the government of Italy, to include related supplies and services necessary for their manufacture, sparing, and fleet deployment. Work will be performed in Northridge, California (80%); Ridgecrest, California (10%); and Sanguinetto, Italy (10%), and is expected to be completed in March 2022. Fiscal 2017 weapons procurement (Navy) funds; and cooperate partner funds in the amount of $10,640,798 will be obligated at time of award, $2,334,813 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchase for the Navy ($2,334,813; 22%); and the government of Italy ($8,305,985; 78%) under a cooperative agreement. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. MBF Architects PA,* New Bern, North Carolina, is being awarded a maximum amount $10,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity architect-engineering (A-E) contract for a multi-discipline A-E services for Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS), Cherry Point, North Carolina in Naval Facilities Engineering Command Mid-Atlantic area of responsibility. The work to be performed provides for comprehensive A-E services required for planning, design and construction services in support of new construction, repair, replacement, demolition, alteration and/or improvement of military and other governmental facilities. Facility types may include, but are not limited to, personnel housing facilities (bachelor enlisted quarters and bachelor officers' quarters, hospitality); office facilities (medical, training, secure facilities); training facilities (operational, maintenance and classroom); industrial maintenance facilities (vehicle maintenance shops, shore intermediate maintenance activities, aircraft maintenance hangars, public works shops and warehouses); and related utilities (steam, natural gas, potable water industrial wastewater, sanitary sewer, storm water, compressed air, fire suppression and alarm systems, electrical distribution, control systems, lighting, energy management and communications). Projects may involve single or multiple disciplines, including, but not limited to, architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, civil, landscape design, fire protection and interior design. Task order 0001 is being issued in the amount of $5,000 for the minimum guarantee. All work on this contract will be performed at MCAS, Cherry Point, North Carolina. The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months with an expected completion date of September 2024. Supervision, inspection and overhead 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 military construction, (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website with 15 proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40085-19-D-9247). Bell Helicopter Textron Inc., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $9,179,045 cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order (N00019-19-F-2789) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-12-G-0012) in support of the H-1 Upgrade helicopter. This order provides for five aircraft wiring and integration remote terminal/cockpit wiring and integration remote terminal/flight control computer/flight controller computer refreshed test stations. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in May 2022. Fiscal 2017 and 2018 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $9,179,045 will be obligated at time of award, $7,631,175 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Weldin Construction LLC,* Palmer, Alaska , is being awarded an $8,374,300 firm-fixed-price task order N44255-19-F-4422 under a multiple award construction contract for a special project to install new oily wastewater treatment system and associated utilities at Naval Base Kitsap, Bremerton, Washington. Work will be performed in Bremerton, Washington, and is expected to be completed by October 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $8,374,300 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Four proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Northwest, Silverdale, Washington, is the contracting activity (N44255-17-D-4008). Frawner Corp.,* Anchorage, Alaska, is being awarded an $8,114,000 firm-fixed-price task order N62473-19-F-5330 at under a multiple award construction contract for repair of Zone one (3rd Street) high temperature hot water at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. This project is for the removal, replacement and new high temperature hot water piping, valves, insulation and incidental related work including, but not limited to, modifications and expansion of associated pipe. This project will provide for the installation of a new high temperature hot water supply and return lines in the existing underground utility corridor. Work will be performed in Twentynine Palms, California, and is expected to be completed by March 2021. Fiscal 2019 operation and maintenance, (Marine Corps) contract funds in the amount of $8,114,000 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Three proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest, Facilities Engineering Acquisition Division, Twentynine Palms, California, is the contracting activity (N62473-19-D-1202). Meggitt Defense Systems Inc., Irvine, California, is being awarded an $8,089,578 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for nine liquid palletized system units in support of Lot 8 full rate production P-8A aircraft. Work will be performed in Irvine, California (78%); Sumner, Washington (8%); Niagara, New York (4%); and various locations within the continental U.S. (10%), and is expected to be completed in April 2024. Fiscal 2017 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,089,578 will be obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. 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 (N00019-19-D-0039). WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS SERVICES John Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, Laurel, Maryland, has been awarded a $11,442,418 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. This contract is to support the government with development of prototypes, test plans, rapid fielding, operational experiments and changes in existing acquisition programs with a focus on identification and reduction of programmatic and technical risk provides for applied research. Work performance will take place primarily in Laurel, Maryland. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $607,000; fiscal 2019 research, development, test, and evaluation funds in the amount of $8,835,418; and fiscal 2019 procurement funds in the amount of $2,000,000 are being obligated on this award. The expected completion date is May 30, 2024. Washington Headquarters Services, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HQ0034-19-D0006). *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/1964752/source/GovDelivery/
21 janvier 2020 | International, C4ISR
By: Charles Romine Artificial Intelligence (AI) promises to grow the economy and improve our lives, but with these benefits, it also brings new risks that society is grappling with. How can we be sure this new technology is not just innovative and helpful, but also trustworthy, unbiased, and resilient in the face of attack? We sat down with NIST Information Technology Lab Director Chuck Romine to learn how measurement science can help provide answers. How would you define artificial intelligence? How is it different from regular computing? One of the challenges with defining artificial intelligence is that if you put 10 people in a room, you get 11 different definitions. It's a moving target. We haven't converged yet on exactly what the definition is, but I think NIST can play an important role here. What we can't do, and what we never do, is go off in a room and think deep thoughts and say we have the definition. We engage the community. That said, we're using a narrow working definition specifically for the satisfaction of the Executive Order on Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence, which makes us responsible for providing guidance to the federal government on how it should engage in the standards arena for AI. We acknowledge that there are multiple definitions out there, but from our perspective, an AI system is one that exhibits reasoning and performs some sort of automated decision-making without the interference of a human. There's a lot of talk at NIST about “trustworthy” AI. What is trustworthy AI? Why do we need AI systems to be trustworthy? AI systems will need to exhibit characteristics like resilience, security and privacy if they're going to be useful and people can adopt them without fear. That's what we mean by trustworthy. Our aim is to help ensure these desirable characteristics. We want systems that are capable of either combating cybersecurity attacks, or, perhaps more importantly, at least recognizing when they are being attacked. We need to protect people's privacy. If systems are going to operate in life-or-death type of environments, whether it's in medicine or transportation, people need to be able to trust AI will make the right decisions and not jeopardize their health or well-being. Resilience is important. An artificial intelligence system needs to be able to fail gracefully. For example, let's say you train an artificial intelligence system to operate in a certain environment. Well, what if the system is taken out of its comfort zone, so to speak? One very real possibility is catastrophic failure. That's clearly not desirable, especially if you have the AI deployed in systems that operate critical infrastructure or our transportation systems. So, if the AI is outside of the boundaries of its nominal operating environment, can it fail in such a way that it doesn't cause a disaster, and can it recover from that in a way that allows it to continue to operate? These are the characteristics that we're looking for in a trustworthy artificial intelligence system. NIST is supposed to be helping industry before they even know they needed us to. What are we thinking about in this area that is beyond the present state of development of AI? Industry has a remarkable ability to innovate and to provide new capabilities that people don't even realize that they need or want. And they're doing that now in the AI consumer space. What they don't often do is to combine that push to market with deep thought about how to measure characteristics that are going to be important in the future. And we're talking about, again, privacy, security and resilience ... trustworthiness. Those things are critically important, but many companies that are developing and marketing new AI capabilities and products may not have taken those characteristics into consideration. Ultimately, I think there's a risk of a consumer backlash where people may start saying these things are too easy to compromise and they're betraying too much of my personal information, so get them out of my house. What we can do to help, and the reason that we've prioritized trustworthy AI, is we can provide that foundational work that people in the consumer space need to manage those risks overall. And I think that the drumbeat for that will get increasingly louder as AI systems begin to be marketed for more than entertainment. Especially at the point when they start to operate critical infrastructure, we're going to need a little more assurance. That's where NIST can come together with industry to think about those things, and we've already had some conversations with industry about what trustworthy AI means and how we can get there. I'm often asked, how is it even possible to influence a trillion-dollar, multitrillion-dollar industry on a budget of $150 million? And the answer is, if we were sitting in our offices doing our own work independent of industry, we would never be able to. But that's not what we do. We can work in partnership with industry, and we do that routinely. And they trust us, they're thrilled when we show up, and they're eager to work with us. AI is a scary idea for some people. They've seen “I, Robot,” or “The Matrix,” or “The Terminator.” What would you say to help them allay these fears? I think some of this has been overhyped. At the same time, I think it's important to acknowledge that risks are there, and that they can be pretty high if they're not managed ahead of time. For the foreseeable future, however, these systems are going to be too fragile and too dependent on us to worry about them taking over. I think the biggest revolution is not AI taking over, but AI augmenting human intelligence. We're seeing examples of that now, for instance, in the area of face recognition. The algorithms for face recognition have improved at an astonishing rate over the last seven years. We're now at the point where, under controlled circumstances, the best artificial intelligence algorithms perform on par with the best human face recognizers. A fascinating thing we learned recently, and published in a report, is that if you take two trained human face recognizers and put them together, the dual system doesn't perform appreciably better than either one of them alone. If you take two top-performing algorithms, the combination of the two doesn't really perform much better than either one of them alone. But if you put the best algorithm together with a trained recognizer, that system performs substantially better than either one of them alone. So, I think, human augmentation by AI is going to be the revolution. What's next? I think one of the things that is going to be necessary for us is pulling out the desirable characteristics like usability, interoperability, resilience, security, privacy and all the things that will require a certain amount of care to build into the systems, and get innovators to start incorporating them. Guidance and standards can help to do that. Last year, we published our plan for how the federal government should engage in the AI standards development process. I think there's general agreement that guidance will be needed for interoperability, security, reliability, robustness, these characteristics that we want AI systems to exhibit if they're going to be trusted. https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-measure/trustworthy-ai-conversation-nists-chuck-romine