Northrop Grumman lands $325M deal for Air Force JSTARS sustainment

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  25 novembre 2024 | International, Aérospatial

  US finalizes awards to BAE Systems, Rocket Lab for semiconductor chips

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  23 juin 2020 | International, Naval

  The US Navy and Marine Corps should acquire Army watercraft

  By: Capt. Walker D. Mills and Lt. Joseph Hanacek The Navy intends to acquire up to 30 new light amphibious warships, or LAW, to support new Marine Corps requirements. The vessels are needed to meet the challenges of “evolving threats in the global maritime environment,” according to the Navy program office, and are tied to the new operational concepts of Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations and Distributed Maritime Operations as well as the Marine Corps' Force Design 2030 effort. Once complete, the acquisition will have almost doubled the number of L-class amphibious ships already in naval service. Rather than accepting a new amphibious design built from the ground up, however, decision-makers should take advantage of the fact that many key requirements of the new vessels are very similar to the capabilities of vessels operated by U.S. Army Transportation Command. The Navy and Marine Corps should delay any new construction and immediately acquire some of these existing vessels to drive experimentation and better inform their requirements for the LAW program. The key requirements of the future LAW include having 8,000 square feet of cargo space, a range of 3,500 miles, a speed of up to 14 knots, accommodation for a crew of up to 40 Navy personnel and 75 embarked Marines, and up to 200 feet in length. The vessel also needs to have a roll-on/roll-off capability, preferably with a stern ramp. U.S. Army Transportation Command has over 100 vessels, and dozens have similar capabilities to those required of the LAW. The Army's LCU-2000s, also called the Runnymede-class large landing crafts, are smaller, with roughly half of the cargo space designed for the LAW and slightly slower, but they boast nearly double the range. The Runnymede-class vessels have nearly 4,000 square feet of cargo space and can travel 6,500 miles when loaded and at 12 knots; and they can unload at the beach with their bow ramp. The Army's General Frank S. Besson-class logistics support vessels are larger than the future LAW, at 273 feet in length but can claim 10,500 square feet of cargo space and a 6,500-mile range loaded to match the LCU-2000. These vessels also have both a bow and stern ramp for roll-on/roll-off capability at the beach or ship-to-ship docking at sea. The version built for the Phillipine military also has a helipad. Army Transportation Command has 32 Runnymede-class and eight General Frank S. Besson-class vessels in service. Mostly built in the 1990s, both classes of vessel have many years left in their life expectancy and more than meet the Navy's 10-year life expectancy for the LAW. These vessels are operable today and could be transferred from the Army to the Navy or Marine Corps tomorrow. In fact, the Army was attempting to divest itself of these watercraft less than a year ago, which underscores the importance of this opportunity even further. Congress is firmly set against the Army getting rid of valuable, seaworthy vessels and has quashed all of the Army's efforts to do so thus far, but transferring this equipment to the Navy is a reasonable course of action that should satisfy all parties involved. While acquiring “surplus” military equipment might lack the allure and promise of designing a new ship class from the ground up, the reality of the situation is that this overlapping of service needs couldn't come at a better time. By acquiring a watercraft that meets most of their requirements from the Army, the Navy and Marine Corps simultaneously fill current capability gaps and obtain an invaluable series of assets they can use to support the evaluation and experimentation of new designs and concepts. This will allow Navy and Marine leaders to give their units the maximum amount of time to evaluate and experiment with new designs to get a better idea of what they need both in future amphibious craft as well as operational and support equipment. The significance of so rapidly acquiring the Army's amphibious craft isn't just limited to developing a better amphibious force either. There is a very real capability gap that exists in the fleet today in the areas of surplus seagoing capacity, and acquiring these Army watercraft would go an extremely long way toward addressing it. Often overlooked, the availability of surplus vessels is absolutely critical to the process of developing new technologies, developing the tactics to employ them, conducting training, and providing decision-makers the requisite capacity to remain flexible in the face of unexpected challenges. The Navy and Marine Corps today are hurtling toward a new future of distributed operations and unprecedented levels of integration in the littorals. The Marine Corps commandant has clearly specified that force design is his No. 1 priority and that significant changes to the Marine Corps are in the works. At the same time, the Navy and Marine Corps continue to serve as the first responders for many of the nation's emerging challenges around the globe. They've long been in need of a boost in their amphibious capabilities so as to be better positioned to meet the demands of today and prepare for the challenges of tomorrow, and taking possession of the Army's Runnymede- and Frank S. Benson-class vessels is a solution on a silver platter. Capt. Walker D. Mills is a U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer serving in Cartagena, Colombia. Lt. Joseph Hanacek is a U.S. Navy surface warfare officer based in Dam Neck, Virginia. The views expressed here are theirs alone and do not necessarily represent the views of these military branches or the Defense Department. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/06/22/the-us-navy-and-marine-corps-should-acquire-army-watercraft/

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  8 décembre 2020 | International, Terrestre

  DoD SBIR/STTR Component BAA Open: Army SBIR BAA 21.4, Topic A214-001

  The DoD Small Business and Technology Partnerships Office announces the opening of the following Broad Agency Announcement (BAA): Army SBIR 21.4 • A214-001: Identifying and Enabling Emerging Technology Leaders IMPORTANT DATES: • December 8, 2020: BAA opens, begin submitting proposals in DSIP • December 23, 2020: Topic Q&A (formerly SITIS) closes to new questions at 12:00 p.m. ET • January 12, 2021: BAA closes, full proposals must be submitted in DSIP no later than 12:00 p.m. ET The instructions and topics for these BAAs are available on DSIP at https://www.dodsbirsttr.mil/submissions/login and at https://rt.cto.mil/rtl-small-business-resources/sbir-sttr/. Please be sure to submit your proposals as early as possible in order to avoid unexpected delays due to high volume of traffic during the final hours before BAA close. Report system difficulties to the DSIP Help Desk IMMEDIATELY and include screenshots of any error messages received [NEW!] DSIP Registration and Login Effective August 13, 2020: The DoD SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal (DSIP) is now integrated with Login.gov – a government-wide registration platform that provides a seamless login experience. ALL Small Business Concerns (SBCs) are required to register for a Login.gov account and link it to your DSIP account. If you already have a Login.gov account, simply link your existing account to DSIP. To set up your Login.gov account, click the “Login/Register” button on the DSIP homepage, here: https://www.dodsbirsttr.mil/submissions/login. NOTE: The email address you use for Login.gov should match the email address associated with your existing DSIP account. If you do not recall the email address associated with your DSIP account, or if you already have an existing Login.gov account using a different email address, you will need your Firm's DUNS number and your Firm PIN in order to link your Login.gov account with your DSIP account. If the email address associated with your existing DSIP account has been used for multiple DSIP accounts within your Firm, you will also need your Firm's DUNS number and your Firm PIN in order to link your Login.gov account with your DSIP account. The Firm PIN can be obtained from your Firm Admin. You can view the Firm Admin's contact information by entering your Firm's DUNS number when prompted. If you are the Firm Admin, please ensure that you contact all DSIP users in your Firm and provide them with the Firm PIN. Job Aids and Help Videos are in the Learning & Support section of DSIP, here: https://www.dodsbirsttr.mil/submissions/learning-support/training-materials. ALL SBCs MUST complete your Login.gov setup as soon as possible to avoid delays in submitting proposals in DSIP. After setting up your Login.gov account, take a few minutes to log in and become familiar with DSIP. • Returning users can log in from the DSIP homepage. • For new program participants, follow the steps for New User Registration to create your account in DSIP. Topic Q&A (formerly SITIS) Proposers may submit technical questions through Topic Q&A page at https://www.dodsbirsttr.mil/submissions/login. All questions and answers are posted electronically for general viewing. Topic Q&A will close to new questions on December 23, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. ET, but will remain active to view questions and answers related to the topics until the BAA close. Proposers are advised to monitor Topic Q&A during the BAA period for questions and answers and frequently monitor DSIP for updates and amendments to the topics. Learning & Support Visit the Learning & Support section for Job Aids and Help Videos to guide you through submitting and viewing questions and answers in the Topic Q&A, preparing and submitting your proposal in DSIP, and more: https://www.dodsbirsttr.mil/submissions/learning-support/training-materials DSIP Help Desk Contact Info • Phone Number: 703-214-1333 • Email: DoDSBIRSupport@reisystems.com • Non-Holiday Hours: Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET • Please refer to the DSIP homepage for Help Desk availability on holidays. Thank you for your interest in the DoD SBIR/STTR Program. DoD SBIR/STTR Support Team To sign up and receive upcoming emails, please follow this link: https://secure.campaigner.com/CSB/Public/Form.aspx?fid=667492&ac=g9gk https://rt.cto.mil/rtl-small-business-resources/sbir-sttr/