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  12 mars 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité, Autre défense

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - March 8, 2019

  ARMY Unit-ASRC Construction LLC, Anchorage, Alaska, was awarded a $128,657,500 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of Long Range Discrimination Radar power plant at Clear Air Force Station, Alaska. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Anderson, Alaska, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2021. Fiscal 2019 military construction; and research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $128,657,500 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Anchorage, Alaska, is the contracting activity (W911KB-19-C-0001). Carothers Construction Inc., Oxford, Mississippi, was awarded a $22,821,540 firm-fixed-price contract for the construction a standard-design, general-purpose storage building with loading dock. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work will be performed in El Paso, Texas, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 7, 2020. Fiscal 2015 and 2019 military construction funds in the amount of $22,821,540 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth, Texas, is the contracting activity (W9126G-19-C-0020). DynCorp International LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $19,502,855 modification (P00207) to domestic and foreign military sales (Netherlands and Kuwait) contract W58RGZ-13-C-0040 for aviation field maintenance services. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas; Germany; and Kuwait, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2019. Fiscal 2010 and 2019 foreign military sales; and operations and maintenance, Army funds in the combined amount of $19,502,855 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Metova Federal,* Cabot, Arizona, was awarded a $16,706,404 hybrid (cost and firm-fixed-price) contract for Security Force Assistance Brigade support. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Fort Benning, Georgia, with an estimated completion date of April 14, 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $6,922,987 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command, Fort Benning, Georgia, is the contracting activity (W911SF-19-F-0014). NAVY Bell Boeing Joint Project Office, Amarillo, Texas, is awarded $85,718,447 for modification P00017 to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, fixed-price-incentive-firm target contract (N00019-17-C-0015). This modification provides for the upgrade of four MV-22 aircraft from the Block B to the Block C configuration in support of the Common Configuration Readiness and Modernization Program (CC-RAM). In addition, this modification provides for the planned maintenance interval effort for one of the CC-RAM aircraft. Work will be performed in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania (93 percent); and Fort Worth, Texas (7 percent), and is expected to be completed in March 2021. Fiscal 2017, 2018, and 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy); and 2019 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $85,718,447 will be obligated at time of award, $22,314,593 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. General Dynamics Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Connecticut, is awarded a $41,835,268 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously-awarded contract N00024-18-C-4301 to staff, operate and accomplish the efforts associated with supporting a nuclear regional maintenance department at Naval Submarine Base New London, Groton, Connecticut, in support of returning mission-ready submarines to the fleet. Work will be performed in Groton, Connecticut, and is expected to be completed by March 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $17,400,000 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, Groton, Connecticut, is the contracting activity. SRI International, Menlo Park, California, is awarded an $11,312,731 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for low frequency high power satellite calibration research and development. This contract contains options, which if exercised, will bring the contract value to a total of $63,482,059. The places of performance will be at the contractor's facility located in Menlo Park, California (65 percent); and at the Bluestar Antenna Facility in Stanford, California (35 percent). Work is expected to be completed March 7, 2020. If all options are exercised, work will continue through March 2024. Fiscal 2019 Navy Working Capital funds in the amount of $50,000 will be obligated at the time of award, and no funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was procured using sole-source procedures under request for proposal N00173-18-R-WR07. The Naval Research Laboratory, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N00173-19-C-6000). Cabrillo Enterprises* (doing business as R.W. Little*), National City, California (N55236-16-D-0005); South Bay Sand Blasting and Tank Cleaning Inc.,* San Diego, California (N55236-16-D-0006); and Surface Technologies Corp.,* Atlantic Beach, Florida (N55236-16-D-0007), are awarded a combined $10,000,000 for modifications under previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple-award contracts to exercise Option Year Three for deck covering removal and non-skid installation services on board Navy ships. Each contractor shall provide all management, administrative services, materials, tools, equipment, labor, rigging, scaffolding, utilities (i.e. air, water and electricity, etc.) and required services/support to accomplish deck covering removal and non-skid installation on board Navy ships within a 50-mile radius of San Diego, which may include Oceanside, California. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, which may include Oceanside, California, and is expected to be complete by April 2020. No funding is being obligated at the time of award. The Southwest Regional Maintenance Center, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity. ALLTRACK, Inc.,* Pendleton, Indiana, is awarded a maximum amount $10,000,000 requirements contract for railroad maintenance and repair services at the Naval Support Activity, Crane. The work to be performed provides for maintenance and repairs on railroad trackage. Services include, but are not limited to, replacement of rails, ties, crossings and accessories, surfacing, alignment, dressing of ballast, ditch maintenance, and incidental related work. No task orders are being issued at this time. All work will be performed in Crane, Indiana, and the term of the contract is not to exceed 48 months, with an expected completion date of March 2023. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as future task orders will be primarily funded by working capital (Army) and working capital (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with four proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40085-19-D-7701). Web Business Solutions Inc.,** Fredericksburg, Virginia, is awarded a $9,595,573 task order (M67854-19-F-7822) under previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (M67854-18-D-7821) for support services to the Command and Control Training and Education Center of Excellence (C2TECOE). The C2TECOE main effort is to provide a continuum of standards-based C2 systems instruction and home station training. Work will be performed at Camp Pendleton, California (27 percent); Quantico, Virginia (23 percent); Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (17 percent); Okinawa, Japan (16 percent); Twentynine Palms, California (10 percent); and Marine Corps Base Hawaii (7 percent), and is expected to be completed by March 10, 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $9,595,573 will be obligated at the time of award and funds will expire the end of the current fiscal year. The base contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website with four offers received. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contract activity. AIR FORCE Sierra Nevada Corp., Sparks, Nevada, has been awarded a $23,702,941 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P-00021) to previously awarded contract FA8509-17-C-0002 for the permanent installation of the MC-130J Airborne Mission Networking (AbMN) Program. This modification provides for the procurement of additional hardware and labor necessary to support the AbMN program through flight test. Work will be performed in Sparks, Nevada, and is expected to be complete by Nov. 16, 2021. Fiscal year 2018 procurement funds in the amount of $12,293,268; and fiscal year 2019 procurement funds in the amount of $11,409,673 are being obligated at the time of award. This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $67,977,580. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity. S&K Engineering & Research, St. Ignatius, Montana, has been awarded an $18,581,032 indefinitely-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability Logistics Engineering Support System for Pods and Integrated Systems program. This contract provides for RAMPOD, which supports the collection of maintenance and inventory data for all Air Force pods, support equipment and specialized avionics. The services to be provided are continuous operations, system engineering, and software sustainment support for RAMPOD program, servers, applications and users. Work will be performed in St. Ignatius, Montana, and is expected to be complete by March 31, 2022. Fiscal 2022 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $6,408,000 are being obligated (on the first task order) at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity (FA8523-19-D-0003). Peerless Technologies, Fairborn, Ohio, has been awarded an $18,470,211 task order under the General Services Administration One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for engineering and technical support services to the gravity systems program. This task order provides for efforts to transition from procurement to sustainment require a diverse staff to formulate a solid framework for systems engineering, testing, sustainment, and operational support for integration of the B61-12 All Up Round and legacy gravity systems. Work will be performed at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, and is expected to be complete by March 7, 2024. This award is the result of a competitive and four offers were received. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test, and evaluation funds in the amount of $4,300,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Foreign Military Sales funds will also be used during the task order period of performance. The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, is the contracting activity (FA9422-19-F-5003). DEFENSE FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING SERVICE Guidehouse LLP, McLean, Virginia, is being awarded a maximum $12,473,349 labor hour contract modification to previously awarded contract HQ042318F0055 to exercise an option for audit finding remediation support services. Work will be performed in McLean, Virginia, with an expected completion date of March 31, 2020. Fiscal 2019 Defense-wide operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $12,473,349 are being obligated at the time of this option award. This award brings the total cumulative value of the contract to $24,537,771. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Contract Services Directorate, Columbus, Ohio, is the contracting activity (HQ0423-18-F-0055). DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY Galois Inc., Portland, Oregon, was awarded a $9,925,508 modification to previously awarded contract HR0011-18-C-0013 for the System Security Integrated Through Hardware and firmware (SSITH) program. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $16,553,298 from $6,627,790. Work will be performed in Portland, Oregon (88 percent); Menlo Park, California (7 percent); Framingham, Massachusetts (4 percent); and San Francisco, California (1 percent), with an expected completion date of March 2020. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $2,949,500 are being obligated at time of award. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity. *Small business **Service disabled veteran-owned small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1780721/

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  7 mai 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  Here's the Air Force's plan to revolutionize the way it trains pilots

  Oriana Pawlyk, Military.com When Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson visited AFWERX's Pilot Training Next program in Austin, Texas, last year, she watched as trainees took flight from the seats in front of her — through the use of virtual reality. It piqued her interest enough to ask service officials to explore waysthat similar flight simulator programs could be introduced to high schools to get young students involved in the nation's endeavors to create more pilots. Officials with Air Education and Training Command (AETC) are now gearing up to present Wilson's successor with a business case for more widespread use of the system, within the force. The move provides a glimpse into Air Force leaders' thinking as they overhaul the pilot training curriculum, introducing one that augments time airborne in the cockpit with simulators and technology on the ground. It comes as the Air Force readies itself for the possibility of complex conflict with a peer-level adversary equipped with long-range missiles and advanced combat aircraft. It's a future that may represent a strong contrast to recent decades, in which the Air Force has flown in largely uncontested airspace supporting ground troops. The service is attempting to boost its pilot ranks amid a longterm pilot shortage, even as its trainer fleet ages. Air Force officials say they want to move away from the service's old-fashioned, "industrial" approach to training — having pilots sit in classrooms for weeks then moving on to a trainer. This means using virtual reality earlier and more frequently in the training pipeline. As the service prepares to bring its latest trainer, known as the T-X, into the fold, it is proposing a more "concentrated dose" of training to seamlessly transition from virtual reality to the trainer and, finally, to the Formal Training Unit, or FTU. The system is well poised to reform in a few ways, said Gen. Mike Holmes, commander of Air Combat Command (ACC). Using the low-cost immersive environment of virtual reality, together with "competency-based learning," and moving skillset testing at the graduate level to an earlier place in the model, "would experience our pilots much faster," he said. "Those are two things that are poised to make a revolutionary changein how well we train pilots and in how long it takes us to train pilots," Holmes said Tuesday in an interview with Military.com. "I want to see how fast and well I can produce experienced pilots." Pilots end up leaving the service if they feel dissatisfied and lack a sense of purpose, added Lt. Gen. Steven Kwast, AETC commander. "You have to fly a lot to be good at what you do, and we don't have the money, and we don't have the weather, and we don't have the range space ... [because of] sequestration. And all these things that are politically driven oftentimes are frustrating the force," Kwast said in a separate interview. Airline hiring efforts are the biggest factor that drives pilot retention and production problem in the services, officials have said. Old learning mechanisms also bog down the system, often adding to pilots' frustration, Kwast said. "We would [add] layers of things over time" through the course of a pilot's service, "basically assuming, 'You can't handle the truth!' or 'You're not smart enough to be able to learn this holistically, we have to give it to you piecemeal and then you'd put it together in your brain over time.' That's why it would take seven years to make a great mission commander pilot." But now, he said "We're breaking that paradigm." Trainer fleet in trouble? The service still relies heavily on its trainer fleet for training, even though virtual reality is the new frontier, Holmes said. "There's still no substitute for being in a real airplane," he said. "I think we'll always want a mix of learning our skills cheaply, but also build on decision-making in a real airplane." The T-38 Talon has been the backbone of the Air Force's undergraduate pilot training, or UPT, program for decades. But last year, the trainer fleet was plagued with a series of crashes, two of which were fatal. Those selected to fly bombers and fighters typically receive their advanced pilot training in the T-38. The T-1A Jayhawk, meanwhile, is used in advanced training for students who are slated to go into cargo or tanker aircraft. The T-6 Texan II, used for instrument familiarization and low-level and formation flying, also has had its share of problems. Last year, the Air Force ordered an operational pause for the T-6 fleet after pilots suffered a series of unexplained physiological episodes, or UPEs. As a result, AETC on Feb. 1 ordered an indefinite operational pause for all T-6 aircraft at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi; Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma; and Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. That pause was lifted Feb. 28. A team of experts determined that the T-6's On-Board Oxygen Generating System (OBOGS) filter and drain valvesfailed at higher rates than expected. The discovery led to repairs and increased inspections, but pilotscontinued to suffer from UPEs. A T-6 trainer from Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, crashed just last week. The Air Force is preparing to receive new trainer jets to replace its current Northrop Grumman-made T-38s, some of which date to the mid-1960s. In September, the service awarded Boeing Co. a $9.2 billion contract to build its next aircraft for training pilots, known as the T-X program. The first T-X aircraft and simulators are scheduled to arrive at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, in 2023. The service has committed to buying 351 T-X jets, 46 simulators and associated ground equipment. The pay ment structure, officials have said, also allows for an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity option to give the Air Force the opportunity to purchase up to 475 aircraft and 120 simulators. Delays to this program or other unforeseen challenges could have catastrophic consequences, said retired Gen. T. Michael "Buzz" Moseley, former Air Force chief of staff. "My anxiety over this when I was the chief [is that] we are one sortie away from this older inventory having a problem," Moseley, an F-15 Eagle pilot, said in a recent interview with Military.com. "Here we are in 2019, and we're going to fly these airplanes until 2024 before T-X starts coming in." Kwast and Holmes agreed that the T-38 fleet will continue to undergo any upgrades necessary to keep them flying as long as it makes sense. "You can make anything last longer; it just takes more money to sustain," Kwast said. "I guarantee that the T-1, the T-38 and the T-6 all can last as long as we need them to last, depending on the business case and the amount of money you want to spend. But will the T-38 or the T-1 become too expensive, and [therefore], we have to jump to a different technology? Then we would look at other options." Boeing said it stands ready to produce the T-X. "Our T-X program, including engineering, manufacturing and test, is located in long-established Boeing St. Louis facilities," wrote Rachelle Lockhart, spokeswoman for the company's T-X program, in an email. "In fact, we built and assembled our first two T-X aircraft in St. Louis prior to contract award to prove the maturity of our design, repeatability in manufacturing and performance. We're now on contract, executing on schedule as planned, as are our suppliers." She added the trainer's production schedule could be advanced at the Air Force's request. "The US Air Force plan calls for a full production rate of 48 jets a year, and we will meet the customer need," Lockhart said. "Should the Air Force request a higher rate of production, we are well positioned to accommodate it." Full article: https://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-plan-to-revolutionize-pilot-training-2019-5

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  19 mai 2023 | International, Aérospatial

  A Shift by Biden Brings F-16s Closer for Ukraine

  U.S. officials said the president was prepared to let other countries train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s and also send the U.S.-made warplanes to Kyiv. President Zelensky was expected to attend a G7 meeting in Japan.