Opinion: How New ‘Predators’ Are Reshaping Aerospace Landscape

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  10 juillet 2018 | International, Terrestre

  Army Anti-Aircraft Stryker Can Kill Tanks Too

  By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR. With its eyes firmly on Russia, the US Army is racing to field 8×8 Strykers with an array of weapons that can down enemy aircraft — from drones to helicopters to jets — and incidentally make enemy tanks think twice. The first prototypes will be delivered next year, with up to 144 (four battalions) by 2022, although the contract details are still being negotiated. With the IM-SHORAD (Initial Maneuver Short Range Air Defense) Stryker, “you'll have more combat power, more lethality, than the Bradley fighting vehicle,” says Ed House, the retired Army infantry colonel who runs the program for Leonardo DRS. Now, before everyone gets too excited, this doesn't mean the new Stryker is a substitute for the Bradley as an infantry assault vehicle. The Stryker's got lighter armor, and wheels instead of tracks, so it can't handle all the threats or terrain a Bradley can. Plus, this variant's interior volume will be largely filled with spare missiles, leaving little room to carry troops. But it does raise intriguing tactical possibilities for IM-SHORAD Strykers to take up positions right behind the frontline forces — ideally on hills with good fields of fire — to provide both air defense and long-range shots against enemy armor. It's similar to how the German's famous 88mm high-velocity cannon of World War II did double duty as flak gun and tank killer. Rolling Arsenal Put together by Leonardo DRS and then installed on the Stryker by the vehicle's original manufacturer, General Dynamics Land Systems, the package includes an intimidating arsenal of weapon — and the flexibility to add more: Two Hellfire missiles, capable of hitting both air and ground targets. Hellfire has not only a larger warhead than the Army's standard Stinger anti-aircraft missile (18-20 pounds vs. 6.6) but a long range than the TOW anti-tank missiles on its M2 Bradleys and ATGM Strykers (5 miles vs. at most 2.8). Four Stinger missiles for less well-armored aircraft targets, in a new quad launcher put together by Raytheon. A 30mm automatic cannon, an upgraded model (M230LF) of the gun on the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter and considerably more powerful than the Bradley's 25 mm. A standard 7.62mm machinegun as backup and to kill targets that don't merit a 30 mm round, such as slow-moving drones and infantry in the open. An electronic warfare package to jam drones' control links without having to shoot them. A Rada multi-mission radar to track both air and ground targets. What's more, the weapons are all mounted on a multipurpose unmanned turret, Moog's Reconfigurable Integrated-weapons Platform (RIwP, pronounced “rip”), which House said could take a wide range of alternative layouts as technology, tactics, and threats evolve. It could also be adapted to other vehicles, with Leonardo having tried a counter-drone version on an M-ATV truck. “It takes us about four hours to put the RIwP turret on an M-ATV,” House told me. While they've haven't put one on a Stryker yet, once General Dynamics preps a Stryker — which includes cutting the appropriate hole in the top armor — “it won't be any harder to mount it on the Stryker.” The loaded turret weighs less than the TOW missile turret already installed on the Stryker's anti-tank variant, he said. (By contrast, a rival proposal from General Dynamics and Boeing involved a much larger turret that would have required cutting off the back half of the Stryker's cargo bay). With the turret installed and loaded, the vehicle has two Hellfires and four Stingers ready to fire and more would be carried in the hull. The three-man crew should be able reload the Stingers and the 30mm without leaving the vehicle, although they'd be partially exposed in an open hatch. The Hellfires, however, are simply too big and heavy to fit through the hatches, so the crew would have to get out and clamber on top of the vehicle to reload those. That's an awkward operation under fire and another reason the IM-SHORAD Stryker shouldn't hang out in range of enemy machineguns alongside the Bradleys. If fewer or no reloads are needed for a particular mission, House said, some or all of the Stryker's cargo/passenger area would be available for supplies or troops. But with Short-Range Air Defense identified as one of the Army's glaring shortfallsagainst a modern adversary like Russia or China, the IM-SHORAD Stryker probably won't have much time for odd jobs. Rushing vs. Russia The Army is rushing to fill multiple gaps in Europe, not just air defense. It's developing a new scout helicopter and adding Trophy Active Protection Systems(APS) to its M1 Abrams heavy tanks to protect them from Russian anti-tank missiles. But while armored brigades of M1 tanks and M2 Bradleys regularly deploy to Europe, the heaviest force stationed there permanently is mounted on Strykers. So the Army is rushing to upgun these relatively lightweight armored vehicles with anti-armor weapons from 30 mm cannon to Javelin anti-tank missiles, as well as the effectively dual-purpose IM-SHORAD package. How fast is that schedule? September 2017: The Army conducts a SHORAD “shoot off” of potential systems. February 2018: Army issues a Directed Requirement for what they call an “initial material solution” for SHORAD. April: The Army holds an industry day with interested companies. May: An Army panel evaluates companies' White Paper proposals and selects Leonardo DRS for the weapons, turret, and electronics (the Mission Equipment Package); Raytheon for the upgraded Stinger Launcher (which the government then provides to Leonardo); and General Dynamics to integrate everything on the Stryker. August 31: The Army's target date to award contracts. Mid-2019 (3Q FY19): First prototype to be delivered. 2020: First IM-SHORAD battery deployed. 2022: Up to four IM-SHORAD battalions fielded. At this point the Army may either keep upgrading IM-SHORAD — note it's called the “initial” solution, not the “interim” one as is sometimes reported — or choose another system. Different missiles, improved electronic warfare, and entirely new weapons such as lasers are all options, with 50 kilowatt lasers planned for 2023. https://breakingdefense.com/2018/07/army-anti-aircraft-stryker-can-kill-tanks-too/

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  1 octobre 2020 | International, Terrestre, C4ISR

  How new network tools can help find paratroopers faster and improve situational awareness

  Andrew Eversden FORT BRAGG, N.C. — When paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division's First Brigade Combat Team landed in the drop zone during a night jump last week, it took leaders 45 minutes after hitting the ground to locate about 90 percent of their formation. For contrast, at an exercise early last year, the commander of that brigade didn't achieve 75 percent accountability of formation until the second day of the exercise. That's one of the major improvements that's coming to three more Army brigades as part of Capability Set '21, a new set of network tools that will be fully fielded to the First Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd in December. The exercise at Ft. Bragg provided a soldier touch point opportunity for the Army's integrated tactical network (ITN) team, made up of Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications-Tactical and the Network Cross-Functional Team, to hear what soldiers thought about Capability Set '21. And leaders from the Army's tactical network modernization team received some important feedback: the technology works, but the training needs improvement. “It does what we thought it would do, which is increase situational awareness up and down,” Col. Andrew Saslav, commander of the 82nd Airborne's First Brigade Combat Team, said in an interview with C4ISRNET. “That's the critical thing ... we don't know where people are on the battlefield unless we can talk with them. Now, I can see them and that just speeds up processing.” That's good news for the Army as it's set to deploy Capability Set '21 to three more infantry brigades in fiscal 2021. The exercise, originally scheduled for January, was delayed after the deployment of the brigade to Kuwait in January and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Army's tactical network modernization effort is working to provide a resilient tactical network to enable faster communications and data transfer to enable multi-domain operations (MDO) or Joint All-Domain Command and Control. “Our obligation is very simple: we have to make this work,” said Maj. Gen. Chris Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, said at a meeting Sept. 24. “And if it doesn't, MDO, all-domain and everything else, is a pipe dream.” Lessons learned While a high-profile Army experiment in the Yuma, Ariz. desert tested various future networking capabilities, this lesser known event in North Carolina found that the network tools fielded to brigades significantly improve communications, but that soldiers need improved training with the batteries and additional cables. A major difference maker is Capability Set '21′s End User Device, a Samsung Galaxy smartphone that works in tandem with the soldier's radio to broadcast their location to all other users across the formation, as well as provides mapping capabilities. On average, the new “revolutionary” capability allows Saslav to see his formation 45 minutes to two hours, he said, a far cry from last year and a “game changer” when it comes to fighting battles. “My job is to resource those companies, troops and batteries in the fight and I do that mainly through fires, whether that's Army indirect fires, or its joint aircraft. If I can't see them, if I don't have a real-time data on where they are, then I can't support them. And so now I can support them faster more quickly, I can bring everything in closer to get that into the fight,” Saslav told C4ISRNET. The devices also allow soldiers to mark enemy positions and broadcast that information back through the rest of the formation. Shared understanding and increased situational awareness across the formation will save lives, and the EUDs increase both by an “untold variable,” Saslav said, because the capability eliminates the game of “telephone” played between the brigade commander and soldiers spread throughout the field. Another Capability Set '21 technology, known as the Variable Height Antenna, a tethered drone flying a TSM radio, successfully extended communications by several kilometers further than a standard, ground-based antenna would reach, the exercise found. These capabilities are a critical component of the Army's work evolving its network into a mesh network that gets away from line-of-sight communications and uses individual radios as nodes that extend the range of the network to allow soldiers to talk to each other beyond line-of-sight, across the battlespace. “I can always talk to the lowest radio to the highest radio because we have this mesh network and in ITN terms, that's game changing for us,” Saslav said. “It is moving us beyond line of sight, so for the first time, and that beyond line of sight is movable and fixable.” While the devices provide greater situational awareness, Saslav said during the exercise the location data wasn't coming in with specific identifiers for what dots representing locations meant. But, in a way that highlighted the DevOps approach that the Army is taking to the modernization of its tactical network, the software was updated during the exercise because the vendor was in the field, Saslav said. In addition, the Army discovered some linkage challenges between the radio and device, finding that the radio and device would lose the link between them if they were switched off. Leaders in the field want the devices to connect automatically so soldiers don't have to connect them together themselves. A new approach to training But one major challenge Army tactical network officials learned from talking to soldiers using the equipment on the ground was that the training process for teaching soldiers how to use the equipment needed to improve. The radio and EUD are connected together to broadcast location information, but soldiers were trained to use the devices separately. But since the devices need to be used as a system, leaders learned that the soldiers needed to be trained on how the system works. “What needs to happen is soldiers need to be trained with the equipment as they are worn and functions as an overall network because everything affects everything else,” said Capt. Brian Delgado, S6 of the 82nd Airborne Division's first Brigade Combat Team. And that network can be affected differently depending on the terrain. So while classroom training on the devices is important for the soldiers to learn the technology, they also need to learn how to use the technology in the field and how the terrain can affect it. Capt. Matthew Kane, S6 of the first brigade's 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, told C4ISRNET that his big takeaway was adjustments to training. “It needs to be as hands on as possible,” Kane said. “You need to get in the terrain and actually test the radio. The classroom won't cut it just because it's no longer programming the radio and walking away.” These new capabilities also mean soldiers must carry more batteries and more cables with them. Col. Garth Winterle, project manager for tactical radios at PEO C3T, said that the team identified a couple issues with battery life, one that requires training soldiers different configurations to optimize battery life. The other battery life problem was addressed through a firmware update by the vendor. Several Army personnel in the field also noted that soldiers needed to be taught best practices for cable management. Soldiers “weren't experts on how it's powered or how to manage cables and that's not a fault of the paratroopers,” Delgado said. “That's a fault with the way that we were addressing training.” As the Army perfects Capability Set '21 and moves forward with Capability Set '23, its next iteration of network tools, it will continue to rely on the feedback of soldiers to ensure that technology works, while being simple and intuitive enough for the user. “The beauty of it is that feedback we're going to get because [which] soldier right now has a really good idea that's going to make this better? And that's the feedback we're really looking for,” said Col. Rob Ryan, deputy director of the Network-CFT. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/it-networks/2020/09/29/how-new-network-tools-can-help-find-paratroopers-faster-and-improve-situational-awareness/

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  4 juillet 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité, Autre défense

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - July 3, 2019

  AIR FORCE DynCorp International, Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a $308,616,183 firm-fixed-price contract for aviation command and control operations and maintenance services. This contract provides for air traffic control, airfield management and associated maintenance support. Work will be performed in the Air Force Central Command's area of responsibility and is expected to be completed by July 31, 2024. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition with four offers received. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $379,576 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Combat Command's Acquisitions management and integration center, Langley Air Force Base, Hampton, Virginia, is the contracting activity (FA4890-19-C-A013). AAR Supply Chain Inc., doing business as AAR Defense Systems & Logistics, Wood Dale, Illinois, has been awarded a $209,986,676 ceiling indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for C-130H contractor logistics support for the Afghanistan Air Force. This contract will provide the Afghanistan Air Force with full C-130H contractor logistics support to include maintenance and repair, as well as on the job training for local Afghan nationals. Work will be performed Kabul, Afghanistan, and is expected to be completed by Jan. 29, 2025. This contract involves foreign military sales to Afghanistan. Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $12,011 are being obligated at the time of award. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and one offer was received. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity (FA8553-19-D-0006). The University of Dayton Research Institute, Dayton, Ohio, has been awarded a $28,527,970 firm-fixed price, labor hour and cost reimbursement-no-fee contract for F-15 sustainment engineering studies. This contract provides for systems/structural engineering field and programmed depot maintenance support, reliability and maintainability analysis and aircraft structural integrity program capability development and sustainment. Work will be performed at Dayton, Ohio; and Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, and is expected to be completed by June 28, 2029. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and three offers were received. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $2,464,648 are being obligated at the time of award. The contracting activity is Air Force Life Cycle Management System, Robins AFB, Georgia (FA8505-19-D-0003). The Rockhill Group Inc., Moline, Florida, has been awarded a $12,211,850 firm-fixed-price contract for Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) aircrew instruction instructor support required by the 492 Special Operations Wing and operational wings. This contract provides for critical flying training unit support instruction (platform, simulator and flight) to all students going through AFSOC's initial and mission qualification school and continuation training for combat aircrews. Work will be performed at Hurlburt Field, Florida; Duke Field, Florida; Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico; and Royal Air Force Mildenhall, United Kingdom, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2019. This award is the result of sole source acquisition. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $12,211,850 are being obligated at the time of award. The 765th Specialized Contracting Flight, Air Force Installation Contracting Center, Hurlburt Field, Florida, is the contracting activity (FA0021-19-C-A003). NAVY Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Florida, is awarded an undefinitized contract action established under delivery order (N00019-19-F-4037) with a not-to-exceed value of $174,970,959. This delivery order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-19-G-0011) provides for engineering, testing, product support and ancillary support to update the current Long Range Anti-Ship Missile components and systems required to achieve objective requirements in the Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare Increment 1 Capability Description Document. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida (58%); Wayne, New Jersey (20%); Nashua, New Hampshire (15%); Troy, Alabama (6%); and Ocala, Florida (1%), and is expected to be completed in November 2022. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $40,000,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Construction Development Services Inc.,* Norfolk, Virginia (N40085-16-D-6348); Cram Roofing Co.,* San Antonio, Texas (N40085-16-D-6349); Gallaher Management Group Inc.,* Greenville, North Carolina (N40085-16-D-6350); Industrial Contract Service Corp.,* Wilmington, North Carolina (N40085-16-D-6351); Quality Roofers & Guttering, Inc.,* Jacksonville, North Carolina (N40085-16-D-6352); and Service Disabled Contracting Group, Inc.,* Norfolk, Virginia (N40085-16-D-6353), are awarded a combined amount $50,000,000 firm-fixed-price modification to increase the maximum dollar value of indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award construction contracts for roofing construction services within the Marine Corps installations east area of responsibility. The work to be performed provides for replacement and installation of roofs and associated materials. Projects include roof repair and replacement of new and existing roofs. Projects may require new construction, design, alteration or maintenance and repair of existing roofs. Roofs may be sloped or flat. After award of this modification, the total maximum dollar value for all six contracts combined will be $95,000,000. Work will be performed at Navy and Marine Corps installations at various locations including, but not limited to, North Carolina (90%); Georgia (3%); South Carolina (3%); Virginia (3%); and other areas of the U.S. (1%), and is expected to be completed by February 2021. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. Future task orders will be primarily funded by operation and maintenance (Marine Corps); and military construction funds. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity. Heffler Contracting Group Inc.,* El Cajon, California, is awarded a maximum amount $25,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for other specialty trade contractors construction alterations, renovations and repair projects at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Marine Corps Logistics Base, Barstow, and Mountain Warfare Training Center, Bridgeport. Projects will be primarily design-bid-build (fully designed) task orders or task order with minimal design effort (e.g. shop drawings). Projects may include, but are not limited to, alterations, repairs and construction of electrical, mechanical, painting, engineering/design, paving (asphaltic and concrete), flooring (tile work/carpeting), roofing, structural repair, fencing, heating, ventilation, air and cooling and fire suppression/protection system installation projects. Work will be performed in Twentynine Palms, California (36%); Barstow, California (36%); and Bridgeport, California (28%). The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months with an expected completion date of July 2024. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $5,000 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by operations and maintenance (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with seven proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N62473-19-D-2631). Elite Pacific Construction Inc.,* Kaneohe, Hawaii, is awarded $12,665,000 for firm-fixed-price task order N62478-19-F-4158 under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract (N62478-18-D-4022) to overhaul the Drydock No. 2 intermediate caisson to maintain its 10-year certification at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPHH). The work to be performed provides for 10-year ultrasonic testing of the caisson structural members and plating in accordance with Military Standard 1625D including, but not limited to, plating of the entire hull, top deck (weather deck), machinery deck, internal strength decks, bulkheads including breast hooks, ballast tank and machinery deck internal structural members such as stiffeners, truss frame members and seachests/ballast piping seaward of the first closure valve. Other repair scope items include sandblasting and preserving interior and exterior surfaces of the caisson, including the weather deck; cleaning, priming and painting all interior and exterior surfaces of the caisson; removing existing non-skid coating from the weather deck; and installing industrial strength adhesive-type non-skid surface material on the weather deck and machinery deck. Work will be performed in Oahu, Hawaii, and is expected to be completed by October 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $12,665,000 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Three proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Hawaii, JBPHH, Hawaii, is the contracting activity. Raytheon Co., McKinney, Texas, is awarded an $8,044,102 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification under previously-awarded basic ordering agreement N00164-17-G-JQ02-0004 to extend the period of performance for depot support services in support of life-cycle sustainment of the Multi-Spectral Targeting System for U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force and special operations forces platforms. Work will be performed in McKinney, Texas, and is expected to be completed by September 2021. Fiscal 2019 working capital funds in the amount of $275,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Crane, Indiana, is the contracting activity. Tompco Inc.,* Seabeck, Washington, is awarded $8,209,449 for firm-fixed-price task order N44255-19-F-4274 under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract (N44255-17-D-4014). The work will convert the Perch-Pickerel Housing area from family housing to unaccompanied housing consisting of 24 buildings with 18 eight-unit buildings and six four-unit buildings at Naval Base Kitsap, Bangor. The work to be performed includes: replace and install new carpet where required; add exterior lighting to all buildings; change thermostats in each unit; install building and unit number placards at each building and unit; remove existing playgrounds; install two picnic shelters and BBQs; replace entry doors to each unit; remove existing mailboxes; and provide fire protection. The task order also contains two unexercised options, which if exercised, would increase cumulative task order value to $12,689,449. Work will be performed in Silverdale, Washington, and is expected to be completed by Aug. 4, 2020. Fiscal 2019 Commander Navy Installation Command contract funds in the amount of $8,209,449 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Two proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Northwest, Silverdale, Washington, is the contracting activity. ARMY Patton-Tully Marine Inc.,* Memphis, Tennessee (W912EQ-19-D-0002); Luhr Bros. Inc., Columbia, Illinois (W912EQ-19-D-0001); Pine Bluff Sand and Gravel Whitehall, Arizona (W912EQ-19-D-0003); Bertucci Contracting Co.,* Jefferson, Louisiana (W912EQ-19-D-0004); and Choctaw Transportation Co. Inc.,* Dyersburg, Tennessee (W912EQ-19-D-0005), will compete for each order of the $150,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for maintaining the Mississippi River and tributaries channel improvement project. Bids were solicited via the internet with five received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of July 3, 2024. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Memphis, Tennessee, is the contracting activity. NCI Information Systems, Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $27,956,232 modification (P00005) to contract W91RUS-18-C-0017 for information technology services for cyber network operations and security support. Work will be performed in Fort Huachuca, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2020. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $10,251,101 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity. RSCI, Boise, Idaho, was awarded a $21,623,000 firm-fixed-price contract to design and construct a 42,000 square foot Red Flag 5th Generation facility addition. Bids were solicited via the internet with eight received. Work will be performed in Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, with an estimated completion date of June 22, 2021. Fiscal 2019 defense military construction funds in the amount of $21,623,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles, California, is the contracting activity (W912PL-19-C-0023). LGC Global Inc., Detroit, Michigan, was awarded an $11,311,046 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a physical fitness center at Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, New York. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work will be performed in Niagara Falls, New York, with an estimated completion date of July 15, 2021. Fiscal 2019 Air Force Reserve military construction funds in the amount of $11,311,046 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville, Kentucky, is the contracting activity (W912QR-19-C-0021). AECOM Management Services Inc., Germantown, Maryland, was awarded a $9,866,058 modification (P00144) to contract W58RGZ-16-C-0001 for aviation maintenance services and limited depot support. Work will be performed in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 29, 2019. Fiscal 2017, 2018 and 2019 operations and maintenance, Army; operations and maintenance, Army Reserve; and other procurement, Army funds in the combined amount of $9,866,058 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1896502/source/GovDelivery/