Pentagon Poised For New Round Of Acquisition Reform

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  26 juin 2018 | International, C4ISR

  Team Dedrone Wins USSOCOM ‘Game of Drones’ Competition

  Dedrone announced that its team of Echodyne Corporation, Squarehead Technologies and Battelle, won first place at ThunderDrone's “Game of Drones” outdoor demonstration at Nellis Air Force Base and AFWERX enclave, June 18-20. Hosted by AFWERX, Team Dedrone bested five other teams in the last of three ThunderDrone rapid prototyping events focusing on countering small, unmanned aerial drones. Team Dedrone successfully demonstrated the capabilities of a layered detection, tracking, classification and mitigation solution that defends protected airspace against aerial drone threats. Initially 93 counter-drone technology companies formed teams and were narrowed down through a series of three rapid prototyping events. The Dedrone platform is a fully automatic counter-drone solution, designed to detect, classify and mitigate drone-based threats. Dedrone's software, DroneTracker, gathers intelligence from Dedrone's RF sensors, Echodyne's MESA radar and Squarehead Discovair acoustic sensor. Once DroneTracker makes a positive identification of a drone, Battelle's non-kinetic defense system, DroneDefender™, is automatically triggered to defeat the drone and eliminate the threat. The Dedrone platform combines hardware sensors and machine-learning software, providing early warning, classification of and mitigation against all drone threats. Based in San Francisco, Dedrone was founded in 2014. ThunderDrone is a U.S. Special Operations Command and SOFWERX initiative dedicated to drone prototyping, which focuses on exploring drone technologies through idea formation, testing and demonstrating efforts that are being conducted collaboratively with the Department of Defense's Strategic Capabilities Office. SOFWERX leads collaboration between special operations warfighters and select contributors from industry and academia on technology and innovation efforts to bring drones, tactical swarms and their associated data science applications to the special operations community. Team Dedrone Quotes: “Dedrone's open platform and architecture allows customers to combine the best in drone detection and mitigation technology, such as with RF sensors from Dedrone, radar from Echodyne, acoustic sensors from Squarehead, and jammers from Battelle,” shares Joerg Lamprecht, CEO and co-founder of Dedrone. “This multi-layered sensor platform ensures that all organizations, including those under USSOCOM, are provided complete airspace security that is safe from all drone threats.” “ThunderDrone provided us with our first opportunity to simultaneously engage against multiple UAVs with two DroneDefender V2 systems,” shares Alex Morrow, Technical Director of cUAS Programs at Battelle. “Battelle is pleased with another successful demonstration of our DroneDefender V2.” “Echodyne's compact solid-state radar repeatedly demonstrates an unparalleled combination of range, tracking accuracy and value in countering UAS threats,” notes Eben Frankenberg, Echodyne CEO. “We're pleased that our beam steering radar once again contributed its indispensable capabilities as part of the award-winning Team Dedrone solution.” “Discovair's directional acoustics add a near unspoofable layer of super hearing. The ability to deal with drones hinges on detection. In cluttered areas and up against any drone system, even passive ones – Discovair acoustic sensor has proven to shine,” shares Stig Nyvold, CEO of Squarehead Technology. “Discovair's importance as part in the systems of systems has once again been proved. We are very excited to be part of this team and look forward to the future.” https://www.uasvision.com/2018/06/26/team-dedrone-wins-ussocom-game-of-drones-competition/

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  14 avril 2023 | International, C4ISR

  Space domain awareness, protection requires more space-based systems

  Space-based surveillance has become increasingly affordable.

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  1 octobre 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Lockheed, Pentagon agree on $70.6M settlement over F-35 parts problems

  Ed Adamczyk Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Lockheed Martin will invest nearly $71 million to correct an ongoing problem with spare parts for the F-35 fighter plane, an agreement the Pentagon states. The agreement, announced on Tuesday, will be formalized within two weeks, a Defense Contract Management Agency spokesman said. The deal refers to over 15,000 F-35 spare parts delivered to the U.S. military without "electric equipment logs," which permit the parts to the identified and absorbed into logistics systems. Incorrect or unavailable information delays the uploading of data, and the dispute centered on at least $183 million in Defense Department expenses owing to the problem. The parts in question were rejected for installation only because of the lack of tracking data -- no flaws in safety or manufacturing were inferred, officials said. The action was initiated after the Pentagon's inspector general discovered the problem in a 2019 audit, and recommended that the Defense Department should seek $303 million in refunds. Instead of a direct payment from Lockheed, the defense contractor will "compensate the government with Lockheed Martin investments" to ensure that future spare parts are delivered with accurate EELs, company spokesman Brett Ashworth said. RELATED Lockheed, Boeing and Saab bid on Canada's fighter jet contract The House Oversight and Reform Committee was critical of Lockheed during a July hearing, but on Wednesday, committee members Rep. Carolyn Mahoney, D-N.Y., and Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., applauded the resolution of the dispute. "We applaud the Department of Defense for its efforts to hold Lockheed Martin accountable for failing to meet its F-35contract requirements," Mahoney and Lynch said in a joint statement. "While we believe Lockheed should have reimbursed American taxpayers for a greater share of the funds DOD spent to address the inefficiencies uncovered by our committee's investigation, this is a step in the right direction. We look forward to seeing the final signed agreement that codifies Lockheed Martin's commitment to improving the F-35 program," they said in the joint statement. https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2020/09/30/Lockheed-Pentagon-agree-on-706M-settlement-over-F-35-parts-problems/5021601494979/