Retour aux nouvelles

27 janvier 2021 | International, Terrestre

Newest Bradley fielding delayed as Army works to fix battery problem

By:

WASHINGTON — The Army is testing a solution to address overheating and toxic gas production in the newest version of the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle's turret battery, but its release has been delayed by almost a year, the service's program office told Defense News.

The problem was discovered during the Army Test and Evaluation Command-run Full Operational Test and Evaluation at Fort Hood, Texas, where the Bradley A4 batteries were hooked directly into test equipment placing additional strain on them. The Bradley A4 design features a new charger but not new batteries. The new charger did not come with a voltage regulator, which caused the older batteries to overheat and produce the toxic gas during testing.

The command suspended the maneuver portion of the test due to safety concerns related to the batteries overheating in all six test articles, according to a report recently released from the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation.

“All six test article turret batteries overheated and discharged toxic fumes into the turret and crew compartment,” the report states. “This is a safety hazard to soldiers. The program manager was present during test and observed the turret battery issue. He supported the recommendation to suspend the remaining maneuver missions.”

According to the program office, the service is partnered with several vendors that developed Bradley A4 — BAE Systems is the prime contractor — to design and test a solution after determining the problem during the testing process.

The program office now expects to receive a materiel release by January 2022 with field maintenance new equipment training and operator new equipment training beginning at the same time. The original materiel release decision was expected in third quarter of fiscal 2021, the DOT&E report stated.

The first Armored Brigade Combat Team is scheduled to get its new Bradley A4s in September 2022, the Bradley program office said.

The Bradley A4 is an engineering change proposal program that brings in new suspension and track upgrades and upgrades the electrical system and power train to restore lost mobility and integrate new technologies.

The current Bradley, for example, struggled to take on the power needed to run an active protection system. The Bradley won't receive an APS system until A4 is up and running.

The Army reduced its Bradley modifications further in its FY21 budget request after cutting future upgrades beyond its A4 variant in FY20. The service is working to replace the Bradley down the road with an Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle program. But the Bradley and its fire support vehicle will remain in ABCT formations until the 2050s.

The FY21 appropriations bill slashed the Bradley program by $161 million due to production delays.

https://www.defensenews.com/land/2021/01/25/newest-bradley-fielding-delayed-as-army-works-to-fix-battery-problem/

Sur le même sujet

  • Drones Deployed for Maritime Surveillance off France

    8 octobre 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, C4ISR, Sécurité

    Drones Deployed for Maritime Surveillance off France

    Aiming to test the use of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) in enhancing the maritime awareness picture in the French Mediterranean Sea, Secrétariat Général de la Mer requested the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) set up a multipurpose maritime surveillance operation, having the Navy (Marine Nationale) and customs (Douanes) as the operation's strategic and tactical leaders. Operational missions started on September 23 for an initial period of three months. The RPAS service will consist of general maritime surveillance over waters under French sovereignty and jurisdiction in the Mediterranean Sea, encompassing maritime monitoring and surveillance in support of coast-guard functions. This includes maritime safety and security, supporting further maritime domain situational awareness, fisheries control and law enforcement. The operation will also focus on maritime environmental protection, namely oil spill detection and characterization, identification of targets possibly connected and where needed offering support to oil spill response. Marine Nationale and Douanes will command and monitor the missions remotely from Toulon and Marseille respectively and the RPAS will be operated from the French Air Force Base (BA125) of Istres. The contractor operating the RPAS is the consortium REACT (with partners CLS and TEKEVER) and the aircraft to be used is the AR-5 unmanned fixed wing aircraft. This asset has a payload comprising a maritime radar, electro-optical and infra-red cameras, AIS receiver and EPIRB antenna. It is ready to fly under SATCOM and can perform night and day operations. https://www.marinelink.com/news/drones-deployed-maritime-surveillance-off-482264

  • US Army refreshes competition for short-range laser

    1 avril 2024 | International, Terrestre

    US Army refreshes competition for short-range laser

    The Army will begin a directed-energy test campaign to find the sweet spot for laser weapons when it comes to lethality, reliability and cost.

  • Coast Guard to Re-Compete Multi-Billion Dollar Offshore Patrol Cutter Contract

    6 décembre 2019 | International, Naval

    Coast Guard to Re-Compete Multi-Billion Dollar Offshore Patrol Cutter Contract

    By: Ben Werner This post was updated to accurately reflect the size of the Offshore Patrol Cutter contract the Coast Guard is re-competing. An earlier version of this post included an incorrect number of hulls included in the re-compete. The Coast Guard is recompeting its potentially $10.5 billion Offshore Patrol Cutter contract because the program risks falling fatally behind schedule due to hurricane damage to the shipyard initially awarded the contract. The program has already slipped nearly a year behind schedule and could cost an additional $659 million to finish just the first four OPCs contracted to Eastern Shipbuilding Group as part of a nine-hull deal awarded in 2016, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report. To reign-in costs and try getting the program back on schedule, the Coast Guard is now taking the extraordinary measure of recompeting the entire contract for OPC hulls five through 25. The 25-hull OPC fleet is intended to replace the Coast Guard's current fleet of 29 medium-endurance cutters, some of which were built during the Vietnam War. The Coast Guard previously set a target cost of $310 million per cutter. The service is asking potential bidders to provide analysis comparing their anticipated costs with this target for building the six OPCs Friday is the deadline for contractors to provide comments on an OPC industry studies statement of work. The study, along with an industry day scheduled for next Wednesday, is intended to give the Coast Guard an assessment of the technical effort, cost risks and schedule risks associated with recompeting the OPC contract. “These activities will provide fresh insight into the current state of the shipbuilding industrial base and inform the Coast Guard's way forward on a re-compete strategy to complete the OPC program of record,” Brian Olexy, the communication manager for the Coast Guard Acquisition Directorate, told USNI News in an email. The Coast Guard intends to purchase up to 25 OPCs making this the service's largest acquisition program. However, the current prime contractor, Panama City, Fla.-based Eastern Shipbuilding Group, is having a hard time fulfilling the contract due to damage caused in 2018 by Hurricane Michael. Eastern Shipbuilding officials could not be reached for comment at the time of this post. In September 2016, the Coast Guard awarded Eastern Shipbuilding Group a contract to build the future USCGC Argus (WMSM-915) with options to build up to nine OPCs. Eastern beat General Dynamics Bath Iron Works and Bollinger Shipyards to land the design and construction contract. The average purchase cost for OPCs is about $421 million per ship, according to the CRS report. The first OPC, Argus, was funded in Fiscal Year 2018. The second OPC, the future USCGC Chase (WMSM-916) and long-lead-time materials for the third OPC were funded in the FY 2019. Eastern Shipbuilding was just about to start building Argus and was gathering materials to start building Chase when Hurricane Michael hit the Florida panhandle, USNI News reported in October 2018. Workers evacuated from the area and were slow to return. When they did, many took jobs rebuilding nearby Tyndall Air Force Base, which also suffered substantial damage from the hurricane, according to a statement released by Sen. Marco Rubio (R.-Fla.). Rubio supported a plan to modify Eastern Shipbuilding's contract with the Coast Guard. In October, the Coast Guard asked Congress for extraordinary relief from the contract, on behalf of Eastern Shipbuilding. The Coast Guard plan would allow Eastern Shipbuilding to continue building the first four OPCs but would move forward with seeking new bidders to build out the fleet, Adm. Karl Schultz, the commandant of the Coast Guard, said during an event co-hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the U.S. Naval Institute. Lawmakers, though, did not sound too receptive to the plan. Congressional leaders detailed their concerns in a bipartisan letter to the Coast Guard sent Nov. 25, from Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.); the chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; ranking member Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), chair of subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation; and ranking member Rep. Bob Gibbs, (R-Ohio). “We are skeptical that such truly extraordinary relief is justified given that this ‘crisis' was foreseeable and mostly avoidable. Further, we are concerned that this relief sets a damaging precedent that any current or future contract with the United States Coast Guard (Coast Guard or Service) could be renegotiated outside the Federal Acquisition Regulations,” their letter states. The lawmakers are concerned the Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security focused on “exploring options to resuscitate [Eastern Shipbuilding Group] and prevent it from defaulting on the OPC contract without first completing a transparent and objective alternative analysis.” The chief lobbyist for Eastern Shipbuilding is former commandant of the Coast Guard, retired Adm. Robert Papp, who joined the company shortly after being awarded the initial OPC contract. Papp is the first Washington lobbyist hired by Eastern Shipbuilding, according to a company statement. “The veil of secrecy regarding its analysis and the absence of any meaningful consultation by the Coast Guard and DHS with the Committee, provides us scant confidence that any revised OPC contract will not encounter a similar fate as the original contract,” the congressional letter states. https://news.usni.org/2019/12/05/coast-guard-to-re-compete-multi-billion-dollar-offshore-patrol-cutter-contract

Toutes les nouvelles