11 janvier 2023 | International, Aérospatial
Colombian Air Force to buy more T-6C training aircraft
The negotiations are part of an effort to acquire up to 24 of the trainers, unveiled by the Defense Ministry in December.
29 octobre 2018 | International, C4ISR
Microsoft, Amazon pledge to work with Pentagon following anonymous online rebukes
By Aaron Gregg
Microsoft executives launched a spirited defense of their work with the U.S. military on Friday in a blog post written by company president Brad Smith, who pledged to work with Pentagon as it embarks on a multibillion-dollar effort to build advanced artificial intelligence capabilities into its operations. Amazon.com founder and chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos offered a similar statement last week at a conference in San Francisco hosted by Wired Magazine.
“If big tech companies are going to turn their back on the Department of Defense, this country is going to be in trouble,” Bezos said at the conference. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
The two companies are responding to a broader wave of discontent that has complicated the efforts of Silicon Valley tech companies to work with the military. Search giant Google recently announced it would disallow its advanced algorithms to be used in weapons systems, and separately said it would decline to bid on a $10 billion opportunity to build the Pentagon's departmentwide cloud computing infrastructure.
That contract, known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or “JEDI” for short, is designed to give the Pentagon access to new weapons capabilities that are enabled by artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Amazon, Microsoft, IBM and Oracle submitted bids by the Oct. 12 deadline, company spokespeople confirmed this week, and the Defense Department is expected to award a contract next year. Amazon is seen as a front-runner because of its earlier work handling classified data for the CIA.
The retorts by the executives followed a pair of anonymously written posts on the website Medium over the past month — both of which the site said had been verified by its editorial staff — in which self-described employees of Amazon and Microsoft raised concerns over the tech companies' relationship with the Defense Department.
The Post could not independently verify the authenticity of the two Medium posts. A Microsoft spokeswoman said the company could not verify the Medium post's authenticity, and an Amazon spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In a blog post titled “Technology and the U.S. military” that was published Friday on Microsoft's website, Smith wrote that the company would continue to work with the U.S. military while looking for ways to ensure its technology is used responsibly.
“To withdraw from this market is to reduce our opportunity to engage in the public debate about how new technologies can best be used in a responsible way,” Smith wrote. "We are not going to withdraw from the future.”
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19 juillet 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité, Autre défense
Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - July 16, 2019
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Seqirus Inc., Summit, New Jersey, has been awarded a maximum $68,777,956 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contract for the injectable influenza vaccine. This was a competitive acquisition with two offers received. This is a one-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is New Jersey, with a performance completion date of July 15, 2020. Using customers are Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2020 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2DP-19-D-0002). Bell Helicopter Textron Inc., Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $27,515,180 modification (P00018) against a five-year contract (SPE4AX-17-D-9410) adding five national stock numbers for stabilizer bar assemblies, pylon mast assemblies, trans case assemblies, quill assemblies and rotary wing blades in support of UH-1N and TH-1H helicopters. This is a fixed-price, requirements contract. Location of performance is Texas, with a Sep. 30, 2023, performance completion date. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. CORRECTION: The contract announced on June 28, 2019, for Valley Apparel LLC, Knoxville, Tennessee (SPE1C1-19-D-1172) for $10,794,000 was announced with an incorrect award date. The correct award date is July 15, 2019. NAVY Raytheon Co., Integrated Defense Systems, Marlborough, Massachusetts, is awarded a $40,211,517 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-16-C-5370 to exercise an option for fiscal 2019 production long lead material in support of the production of two AN/SPY-6(V) configuration variants – the SPY-6(V)2 Rotator Radar and the SPY-6(V)3 Fixed Face Radar. Work will be performed in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and is expected to be complete by June 2020. Fiscal 2018 and 2017 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $40,211,517 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE Agile Defense Inc., Reston, Virginia, has been awarded a $21,044,844 firm-fixed-price contract for combined air operations center communication services. This contract provides for operations and maintenance of all air operations center communication systems. Work will be performed in the Air Force Central Command's area of responsibility and is expected to be complete by June 2, 2020. This award is the result of a sole source acquisition. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $8,627,758 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Combat Command Acquisition Management and Integration Center, Langley Air Force Base, Hampton, Virginia, is the contracting activity (FA4890-19-F-A050). ARMY Relyant Global LLC,* Maryville, Tennessee, was awarded a $15,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for repair or replacement of historic windows and doors at Fort Riley, Kansas. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of July 14, 2024. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City, Missouri, is the contracting activity (W912DQ-19-D-4012). *Small Business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1906928/source/GovDelivery/
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2 novembre 2023 | International, Aérospatial
HYDEF project reaches next milestone
The HYDEF project is based on the successful signing of the contract in July 2022, when the European Commission announced the HYDEF project as the winner of the tender