Northrop Grumman charges on with XM913 50 mm cannon deliveries to US Army

Sur le même sujet

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  25 septembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR

  Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) looks to investment in South Africa

  Helmoed-Römer Heitman, Pretoria Saudi Arabia is considering investing in the defence industries of South Africa, the chief executive of Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) confirmed during the African Aerospace and Defence (AAD) exhibition. Dr Andreas Schwer's comments were made following an earlier vist by SAMI representatives to South Africa to discuss investment in national defence organisation Denel. SAMI's interest has centred on munitions, guided weapons, artillery systems, and optronics and the state-owned organisation has indicated that it would consider establishing a research and development centre in South Africa. SAMI's expression of interest coincided with comments from Denel acting chief executive Mike Kgobe who indicated that his company is actively seeking equity partners. https://www.janes.com/article/83303/sami-looks-to-investment-in-south-africa

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  28 janvier 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  US Air Force receives new KC-46 aircraft, an event decades in the making

  By: Valerie Insinna and Jeff Martin EVERETT, Wash., and MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. — On the chilly morning of Jan. 25, just as the sun was beginning to rise, two KC-46 refueling tankers took offfrom Boeing's Everett, Washington, delivery center and began flying toward McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas. Later that day, it touched down, to cheers from airmen assigned to the base's 22nd Air Refueling Wing. It took only minutes for the aircraft to taxi and take to the skies — a welcome lack of drama for a program that has seen prolonged challenges: a virulent competition between two companies, two years of schedule delays and more than $3 billion in cost overrunsthat manufacturer Boeing had to pay out of pocket. The delivery of the first two KC-46 Pegasus planes was almost two decades in the making. As such, the event was treated as a momentous celebration by Boeing officials, who held a ceremony Thursday marking the occasion with its Air Force customer. On Friday, Air Force leadership, congressional representatives and Boeing executives witnessed the aircraft's arrival at McConnell for yet another event. “To me, its personal to bring on this capability,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said after arriving on base. “This is a big day for us.” “I think we all know the journey over the last several years,” Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said Thursday. “It hasn't been easy. In fact, it's been hard. But this team stuck to it. This team worked together.” At the Everett ceremony, Boeing brought in a band to play classic rock songs by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin before the ceremony, dispersed cookies and chocolate lollipops featuring the KC-46, and had a tanker-themed “selfie station” where visitors could take photos of themselves with the Pegasus on display. Over the KC-46 flight test program, the aircraft clocked 3,800 hours in the sky and pumped more than 4 billion pounds of fuel, Muilenburg said. Leanne Caret, who heads Boeing's defense business, said the delivery solidifies the firm's legacy as “the tanker company for the U.S. and the world.” “We're looking at delivering not only great capability that works today, but we're looking at staying on that leading edge of technology going forward, and we will continue to lean in throughout this process,” she told reporters after the event. But numerous obstacles remain. Boeing needs to correct the KC-46's deficient remote vision system — the series of cameras and sensors that are the sole source of situational awareness for boom operators trying to move fuel from the tanker to a receiver aircraft. The company is redesigning that system at its own expense, and Caret declined to comment on the projected costs of the upgrades. In order to hit a contractually obligated milestone, it also needs to move forward with getting wing aerial-refueling pods certified by the Federal Aviation Administration, an event that Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson confirmed will not happen until 2020. Despite those problems, Air Force officials sounded an optimistic note about the current status of the program. Wilson, who previously criticized Boeing for seemingly not paying enough attention to the tanker's problems, touted the new capabilities the KC-46 will bring to the tanker force, such as infrared countermeasures, protection against electromagnetic pulses and armor that will make it more survivable in the field. “This aircraft is able to defend itself in ways that the KC-135 can't. It also has some other capabilities that allow us to refuel completely in the dark,” she said. “So there are things about this aircraft that we're really keen to get into the hands of our airmen.” Full article: https://www.defensenews.com/air/2019/01/25/the-air-force-gets-its-first-new-kc-46s-an-event-decades-in-the-making

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

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - July 20, 2020

  NAVY Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded an $861,731,778 modification (P00040) to previously-awarded fixed-price incentive (firm target), firm-fixed-price contract N00019-17-C-0001. This modification exercises options to procure eight Lot 14 F-35A Lightning II repositioned aircraft as a result of the Republic of Turkey's removal from the F-35 program, and six Lot 14 F-35A aircraft for the Air Force. Additionally, this modification establishes undefinitized line items that provides recurring engineering in support of the modification of the eight Lot 14 F-35A Lightning II repositioned aircraft to a full operationally capable F-35A Air Force configuration. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (63%); El Segundo, California (14%); Warton, United Kingdom (9%); Orlando, Florida (4%); Nashua, New Hampshire (3%); Baltimore, Maryland (3%); San Diego, California (2%); various locations within the continental U.S. (1.3%); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (0.7%). Work is expected to be completed by May 2026. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Air Force) funds for $848,881,778 will be obligated at time of award. No funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Undersea Signal Systems Inc., Columbia City, Indiana, is awarded a $28,323,687 cost-plus-fixed-fee-contract to develop a prototype sonobuoy, known as Extended Range Directional Frequency Analysis and Recording (ER-DIFAR), to address new and quiet threat submarine targets. Work will be performed in Columbia City, Indiana, and is expected to be completed by July 2024. The total cumulative value of this contract is $28,323,687. This is a three-year base contract with one one-year option period. The base period is $24,128,769 and the option year is $4,194,918. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $50,000; and fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $4,061,000 are obligated at time of award. Funds in the amount of $50,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured under N00014-19-S-B001, “Long Range Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Navy and Marine Corps Science and Technology.” Since proposals are received throughout the year under the long range BAA, the number of proposals received in response to the solicitation is unknown. The Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N00014- 20-C-2015). General Dynamics Missions Systems Inc., McLeansville, North Carolina, is awarded a $13,553,807 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-only modification to previously-awarded contract N61331-11-C-0017 to exercise an option for engineering support for ongoing development, test and production of the Surface Mine Countermeasure Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (SMCM UUV) program, also known as Knifefish. Work will be performed in Quincy, Massachusetts (52%); McLeansville, North Carolina (27%); Braintree, Massachusetts (10%); Hanover, Maryland (5%); Reston, Virginia (5%); and Ann Arbor, Michigan (1%). The Knifefish program will provide persistent volume and bottom mine hunting capability in a contested environment. This option exercise is for engineering support hours to support a number of efforts, including test and evaluation, engineering change proposal development and upgrade initiatives. Work is expected to be completed by September 2021. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); and fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $12,500,000 will be obligated at time of award. Funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. Navatek LLC,* Honolulu, Hawaii, is awarded a $9,170,852 cost-plus-fixed-fee completion contract with no option periods for the talent and technology for Navy Power and Energy Systems. Work will be performed in Honolulu, Hawaii (50%); and Columbia, South Carolina (50%). The work to be performed will advance the state-of-the-art autonomous command and control of shipboard power systems, to include next-generation integrated power and energy systems, in order to harness the full energy available in the Navy's ships to meet critical mission needs. Work is expected to be completed by July 2023. The total cumulative value of this contract is $9,170,852. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $9,170,852 are obligated at time of award. Funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured under N00014-19-S-B001, “Long Range Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Navy and Marine Corps Science and Technology.” Since proposals are received throughout the year under the long range BAA, the number of proposals received in response to the solicitation is unknown. The Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N00014-20-C-1106). AIR FORCE BAE Systems Technology Solutions and Services Inc., Rockville, Maryland, has been awarded a $495,482,136 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-reimbursable indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the Instrumentation Range Support Program. This contract provides for serviceable components and subsystems for instrumentation tracking systems, worldwide for both foreign and domestic government agencies to include radars, telemetry and optical range mission systems, flight termination systems, data acquisition systems and Global Positioning Systems. Work will be performed on participating ranges in the program, including Air Force, Army, Navy, NASA, Department of Energy, as well as foreign ranges in the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Republic of Korea and Switzerland. Work is expected to be completed Sept. 30, 2027. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and three offers were received. Fiscal year 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $116,235 are being obligated, on a delivery order, at the time of award. This contract has a ceiling amount of $945,234,462. The 45th Contracting Squadron, Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity (FA2521-20-D-0005). National Native American Construction Inc., Coeur D Alene, Idaho (FA4620-20-D0005); Northcon Inc., Hayden, Idaho (FA4620-20-D-0006); Alutiiq General Contractors LLC, Tacoma, Washington (FA4620-20-0008); RORE Inc., San Diego, California (FA4620-20-0009); M.J. Takisaki Inc., Seattle, Washington (FA4620-20-D-0010); and WHH Nisqually-Garco JV 2, Olympia, Washington (FA4620-20-D-0012), have been awarded a not-to-exceed $95,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for design-build construction efforts at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington. Work will be performed at Fairchild AFB, Washington, and is expected to be completed June 30, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition, and 10 offers were received. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $500 are being obligated to each at the time of award. The 92nd Contracting Squadron, Fairchild AFB, Washington, is the contracting activity. Richland Industries LLC, Pulaski, Tennessee, has been awarded a $24,800,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price contract for simplified acquisition of base engineering requirements. This contract will provide for a streamlined means to complete minor construction projects that encompass a broad range of sustainment, maintenance and repair and research development testing and evaluation projects on real property at Arnold Engineering Development Complex, Arnold Air Force Base, Tennessee. Work will be performed at Arnold AFB, Tennessee, and is expected to be completed July 19, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive service-disabled, veteran-owned, small-business, set-aside acquisition with 10 offers received. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $123,731 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Test Center, Arnold Air Force Base, Tennessee, is the contracting activity (FA9101-20-D-0001). Vanguard Pacific LLC, Foley, Alabama, has been awarded a $7,304,129 firm-fixed-price contract for protective coating and sign maintenance. This contract provides for airfield rubber removal, striping of airfield, streets and parking lots, protective coating and sign maintenance. Work will be performed at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, and Davidsonville and Brandywine communications sites, and is expected to be completed Aug. 4, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive service disabled veteran owned small business set aside acquisition and one offer was received. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $3,776 are being obligated at the time of award. The 316th Wing, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, is the contracting activity (FA2860-20-D-0003). ARMY DRS Sustainment Systems Inc., St. Louis, Missouri, was awarded an $189,828,895 hybrid (cost-no-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price) contract for development, production, deployment and support of the Mobile-Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aircraft System Integrated Defeat System. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of July 30, 2025. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-20-D-0031). Russell Construction Co. Inc., Davenport, Iowa, was awarded a $10,284,300 firm-fixed-price contract to construct a Special Operations Forces assessment and selection training complex. Bids were solicited via the internet with 10 received. Work will be performed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 17, 2022. Fiscal 2020 military construction, defense-wide funds in the amount of $10,284,300 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wilmington, North Carolina, is the contracting activity (W912PM-20-C-0018). *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2280473/source/GovDelivery/