NFAC Tests Next-Generation Military Helicopter

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  13 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - May 12, 2020

  ARMY Raytheon/Lockheed Martin Javelin JV, Tucson, Arizona, was awarded a $121,764,089 modification (P00018) to contract W31P4Q-19-C-0076 for the Javelin weapon system. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2023. Fiscal 2019 and 2020 missile procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $121,764,089 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Construcciones Jose Carro SE, Coto Laurel, Puerto Rico, was awarded a $9,469,023 firm-fixed-price contract to construct channel scour protection and toe key revetment. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Dorado, Puerto Rico, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 28, 2021. Fiscal 2020 civil construction funds in the amount of $9,469,023 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity (W912EP-20-C-0005). NAVY Airborne Tactical Advantage Co. LLC, Newport News, Virginia, is awarded a $34,553,773 modification (P00023) to previously awarded firm-fixed-price, cost-reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract N00019-15-D-0026. This modification extends the period of performance for contractor-owned and operated Type III high subsonic and Type IV supersonic aircraft. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia (44%); Point Mugu, California (37%); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (19%). Work will provide airborne threat simulation capabilities and updates to the government furnished property list in support of the Contracted Air Services Program. Work is expected to be complete by November 2020. Funds will be obligated on individual delivery orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Lockheed Martin Co., Stratford, Connecticut, is awarded a $29,940,372 modification (P00039) to previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, fixed-price-incentive-firm-target and firm-fixed-price contract N00019-16-C-0048. This modification provides for rate tooling, physical configuration audits, associated systems engineering and program management in support of CH-53K aircraft production. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut (28.7%); Salt Lake City, Utah (21.88%); Macomb, Michigan (11.01%); Wichita, Kansas (6.04%); Redmond, Washington (5.89%); Rome, New York (5.16%); North Haven, Connecticut (4.42%); Quebec, Connecticut (3.4%); Shelby Township, Michigan (3.36%); Newington, Connecticut (2.07%); Fort Plain, New York (1.44%); Minden, Nebraska (1.2%); Lenexa, Kansas (1.1%); various locations within the continental U.S. (3.71%); and various location outside the continental U.S. (0.62%). Work is expected to be complete by December 2023. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds for $29,940,372 will be obligated at the 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. United Technologies Corp., Pratt and Whitney Engines, East Hartford, Connecticut, is awarded a $10,648,976 modification (P00022) to previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm contract N00019-17-C-0020. This modification procures one low rate initial production Lot 11 afloat spares package kit for the Marine Corps in support of the F-35 Lightning II combat aircraft program. Work will be performed in East Hartford, Connecticut (20%); Indianapolis, Indiana (17%); Windsor Lock, Connecticut (16%); North Berwick, Maine (14%); Midland, Georgia (7%); Middleton, Connecticut (7%); Rockford, Illinois (7%); Phoenix, Arizona (6%); Bristol, United Kingdom (5%); and Santa Isabel, Israel (1%). Work is expected to be complete by September 2021. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds for $10,648,976 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. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Serco Inc., Herndon, Virginia, has been awarded a maximum $29,002,941 modification (P00021) exercising the third one-year option period of a one-year base contract (SP3300-17-C-5003) with four one-year option periods for chemical management services. This is a firm-fixed-price with cost-reimbursement and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. Locations of performance are Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and California, with a May 15, 2021, performance completion date. Using customer is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is Defense Logistics Agency Distribution, New Cumberland, Pennsylvania. AIR FORCE The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, has been awarded a $25,439,155 firm-fixed-price delivery order to contract FA8621-15-D-6266 to provide C-17 training devices and spares for the NATO Airlift Management Program located at Papa Air Base, Hungary. The training system will consist of one C-17 Weapon System Trainer (composed of an air vehicle station with an instructor operator station (IOS) and a loadmaster station with an IOS, a learning center complete with computer-based training systems, core integrated processor task trainer, courseware and initial spares to support these items for two years. Work will be performed at Papa AB, Hungary, and is expected to be completed June 1, 2022. This award is a sole-source acquisition. Foreign Military Sales funds to NATO in the full amount will be obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity. (Awarded May 8, 2020) DEFENSE HEALTH AGENCY American Systems, Chantilly, Virginia, was awarded a cost-plus-fixed-fee task order with a value of $11,636,887. HT0038-20-F-0006 provides transformation planning of the Theater Medical Information Program-Joint into a modular and portable software suite with a unified architecture. This task order has a period of performance from May 13, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2020. The estimated completion date is Sept. 30, 2020. Work will primarily occur in Chantilly, Virginia. This award will be funded by fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds; and research and development funds. This task order is a Small Business Innovation Research Phase III award. The contracting activity is the Defense Health Agency, Falls Church, Virginia. DEFENSE COUNTERINTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY AGENCY Verato Inc., McLean, Virginia, was awarded a firm-fixed-price delivery order (HS0021-20-F-0010) under HS0021-19-A-0005, for an estimated $8,735,669 for the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA). The delivery order provides for tri-merge credit reports and credit monitoring in support of the background investigation process. Work will be performed in McLean, Virginia. This delivery order is funded with fiscal 2020 DCSA working capital funds, with $2,183,917 obligated at time of award. The anticipated delivery period is from May 17, 2020, through May 16, 2021. DCSA Acquisition and Contracting, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity. *Small business

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  17 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  The case for robust defense spending

  By: Rep. Rob Wittman President John Adams once wrote: “National defense is one of the cardinal duties of a Statesman.” These words are as true now as they were when they were written in 1815. However, unlike in 1815, the weight of these words seems lost on some in Congress. As Congress moves forward with the National Defense Authorization Act and the passage of the defense appropriations bill, there are irresponsible calls for blanket cuts to defense spending that are either misguided or willfully ignorant of the role the U.S. military plays in maintaining global stability. In a time where China continues its unprecedented aggressive actions, such as pushing into contested territory in India, attempting to subdue Hong Kong and continuing to antagonize partner nations in the South China Sea; where Russia advances its malign global state-building agenda through overt means while simultaneously using paramilitary mercenaries such as the Wagner Group to do the Kremlin's more insidious bidding; where Iran continues to terrorize the Middle East; and where North Korea remains a global nuclear threat, our response cannot be to cut our defense budget by nearly 50 percent, as suggested by some members of Congress. Simply put, there is no shortage of global powers who wish to see the United States, our partners and allies falter and fail. Ultimately, national defense is not just about protecting the homeland — it is about preventing conflicts from escalating, eliminating future threats and deterring those who have malicious intent toward the American people. Unfortunately, the world is not a benevolent place. The United States isn't fighting terrorism in Syria and Iraq for fun, we aren't protecting shipping lanes in the Pacific Ocean because we have nothing else to do, and we aren't working to bring the structural change needed to protect human rights against oppression across the African continent because of boredom. The United States military engages in these operations because no one else will, and we take up the mantle to bring stability to this dangerous world because we support peace and democratic institutions. Bringing stability to the globe and protecting our homeland comes at a price — it requires strong, robust funding of the Department of Defense. This does not mean to suggest there isn't waste, excess or duplicative programs within the Department of Defense. However, we are fortunate right now to have Pentagon leadership in Secretary Mark Esper and Deputy Secretary David Norquist who are tackling this problem head-on through their departmentwide review that has already yielded at least $5.7 billion to be reallocated for higher priorities. On top of this, every year the congressional Armed Services committees continue to work to refine, streamline and root out waste in the Pentagon through reformative NDAA provisions. For example, I led the aircraft carrier block-buy contract that saved nearly $4 billion for the taxpayers, and I have a bill out right now to do multiyear procurement on amphibious ships that would save at least $1 billion. While these are just two examples, one can imagine the type of savings that are to be found if we continue to extrapolate these types of actions out to our defense acquisitions at large. Additionally, Congress must work with the department to examine the audit and eliminate and reduce functions that are redundant or deemed no longer mission-critical, which will save the taxpayers billions of dollars. This is how Congress must address the defense budget — to make it streamlined and effective, and to find the mechanisms and authorities needed to make sure our dollar works harder than the yuan or the ruble. While this anti-defense spending rhetoric may play well for a certain form of politics, we must remember blanket cuts don't cut out the waste, it eliminates the programs that are easiest to cut, necessary training exercises, and emerging programs that are going to make the difference between life and death on the battlefield for our service members. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/07/16/the-case-for-robust-defense-spending/

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  6 août 2020 | International, C4ISR, Sécurité

  New England guardsmen test their skills in Cyber Yankee 2020

  Mark Pomerleau Members of the National Guard from New England states concluded a two-week cyber exercise that sought to test the cyber skills of guardsmen and critical infrastructure operators. Cyber Yankee 2020, which took place July 21-31 in New Hampshire, involved more than 200 National Guard members and their civilian counterparts from across New England states, along with some active-duty partners and participants from local, state and federal agencies. In its sixth year, there was less attendance than previous years due to the coronavirus pandemic, but several were able to participate remotely. “Cyber Yankee is primarily a hands-on keyboard cyber incident response exercise for National Guard soldiers and airmen in FEMA Region 1, which are the six New England states,” said Lt. Col. Woody Groton, a member of the New Hampshire National Guard and the director for Cyber Yankee, according to a Facebook post by the New Hampshire Air National Guard. Groton said in a video that the exercise is primarily focused on the electrical and water sector. The exercise is “a great training opportunity for us to work with those people who would actually own the network that we would potentially respond on and for our soldiers and airmen to get that experience and for the engineers from those various entities, they get the training in working with us,” he said. The Guard units within the various states are a critical resource to defend against cyberattacks when they overwhelm localities. “If a large-scale attack happened against a power company, water company, or any other critical department around the state, we would be able to get activated and help them mitigate the threat,” Capt. Frederick Bond, 103rd Air Control Squadron cyberspace operator and exercise Team 3 lead from the Connecticut National Guard, said in a release. “It's similar to when a storm comes and we help remove fallen trees or shovel snow from roofs to help get critical infrastructure going again.” The friendly blue team had to deal with simulated attacks from an opposing red team. Social media posts were used to simulate a real internet environment, where forces must sift through the noise and discern what information is needed to make decisions and identify threat actors. In one case, these actors defaced a public website. “We found some discrepancies including website, it looks like it may have been defaced. The team is digging into finding the source of that defacement and then making steps to correct it,” Master Sgt. Eric Lewis, a blue team member in the New Hampshire Air National Guard, said in a video. Other actions tested included protecting computer files from being stolen or manipulated. “We received intel that potential threat actors may be using a certain capability to transfer files,” said Senior Airman Stephen LaLuna, 103rd Communications Flight cyber systems operations specialist with the Connecticut National Guard. “We see the traffic that's using it, that sets off a flag on our end to look deeper into that. If we determine it is malicious, we send it up the chain with our findings and recommendations to block it.” Officials explained that one of the most critical aspects of these training events is the partnerships built between Guard units, critical infrastructure operators and government entities so that when a crisis breaks out, everyone is acquainted. “We have built enduring partnerships with state government and the critical infrastructure sector. Something that if we did have a major cyberattack against one of those, we would be ready to respond and already know each other,” Groton said. Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified Lt. Col. Woody Groton. He is with the Army National Guard. https://www.c4isrnet.com/cyber/2020/08/03/new-england-guardsmen-test-their-skills-in-cyber-yankee-2020