20 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Sécurité

PAE awarded ten-year contract to provide aircraft maintenance to the U.S Customs and Border Protection Agency

May 19, 2020 - Falls Church, Va. – PAE (NASDAQ: PAE, PAEWW), a global leader in delivering smart solutions to the U.S. government and its allies, was awarded the National Aviation Maintenance and Logistics Services contract by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The contract has a one-year base period of performance with nine one-year options, a potential three-month extension and an estimated total value of more than $1.26 billion.

PAE President and CEO John Heller said the award recognizes PAE's dependability and specialized expertise for aircraft maintenance.

“With our long track record serving CBP's aircraft maintenance needs, PAE has proven to be a trusted partner in supporting U.S. national security,” Heller said. “We look forward to continuing our support to this critical national security customer as we apply our innovative solutions supporting the CBP mission and fleet of over 200 aircraft.”

“This is truly a team win and a tribute to the more than 650 dedicated men and women on this program,” said PAE Vice President of CBP Program Management Rob Ulses. “These hard-working individuals have established a real partnership with CBP that allows us not only to support day-to-day operations, but to adapt and react to special missions.”

PAE will continue to provide safe and ready aircraft to ensure the U.S. government meets operational commitments to safeguard America's borders. PAE will provide this essential support from aviation operational sites at military bases, civilian airfields and alternate locations across the United States. The broad scope of work extends from scheduled and unscheduled aircraft maintenance and repair to managing fueling, logistics and supplies.

About PAE

For 65 years, PAE has tackled the world's toughest challenges to deliver agile and steadfast solutions to the U.S. government and its allies. With a global workforce of about 20,000 on all seven continents and in approximately 60 countries, PAE delivers a broad range of operational support services to meet the critical needs of our clients. Our headquarters is in Falls Church, Virginia. Find us online at pae.com, on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain a number of “forward-looking statements” as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about PAE's possible or assumed future results of operations, financial results, backlog, estimation of resources for contracts, strategy for and management of growth, needs for additional capital, risks related to U.S. government contracting generally, including congressional approval of appropriations, and contract delays or cancellations caused by competitors' bid protests of contract awards received by us. These forward-looking statements are based on PAE's management's current expectations, estimates, projections and beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions concerning future events.

These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, conditions or results, and involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are outside PAE's management's control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements included in this release speak only as of the date of this release. PAE does not undertake any obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release except as may be required by the federal securities laws.

For media inquiries regarding PAE, contact:
Terrence Nowlin
Senior Communications Manager
PAE
703-656-7423
terrence.nowlin@pae.com

For investor inquiries regarding PAE, contact:
Mark Zindler
Vice President, Investor Relations
PAE
703-717-6017
mark.zindler@pae.com

View source version on PAE: https://www.pae.com/news/pae-awarded-ten-year-contract-provide-aircraft-maintenance-us-customs-and-border-protection

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  • Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - August 12, 2020

    13 août 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - August 12, 2020

    ARMY Moderna TX Inc.,* Cambridge, Massachusetts, was awarded a $1,525,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for 100 million filled drug production doses of a SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-1273 vaccine. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2022. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Army) funds in the amount of $1,525,000,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W911QY-20-C-0100). (Awarded Aug. 11, 2020) Messer Construction Co., Dayton, Ohio, was awarded a $126,324,295 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center Intelligence Production Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 29, 2023. Fiscal 2020 military construction, defense-wide funds in the amount of $126,324,295 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville, Kentucky, is the contracting activity (W912QR-20-C-0030). HGL-APTIM JV,* Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $110,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for environmental construction activities in support of the Welsbach General Gas Mantle Superfund Site in Camden and Gloucester City, Camden County, New Jersey. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 11, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City, Missouri, is the contracting activity (W912DQ-20-D-3003). Total Technology Inc.,* Cherry Hill, New Jersey (W15QKN-18-D-0073, P00001); Logisys Technical Services Inc.,* Huntsville, Alabama (W15QKN-18-D-0077, P00001); and Pioneering Decisive Solutions Inc.,* California, Maryland (W15QKN-18-D-0078, P00002), will compete for each order of a $92,992,323 modification for an automated test system testing/diagnostics and netcentric support program. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of May 20, 2023. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Newark, New Jersey, is the contracting activity. The Boeing Co., Mesa, Arizona, was awarded an $11,701,146 modification (P00063) to contract W58RGZ-16-C-0023 for remanufactured Apache AH-64E aircraft. Work will be performed in Mesa, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2023. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $11,701,146 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Rolling Meadows, Illinois, was awarded a $10,008,657 modification (PZ0005) to contract W58RGZ-20-C-0018 for the re-manufacturing and delivery of the APR-39C(V)1 radar data processor. Work will be performed in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 11, 2023. Fiscal 2020 Foreign Military Sales (Saudi Arabia, United Emirates and Qatar) funds in the amount of $10,008,657 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. APC Construction LLC,* Harvey, Louisiana, was awarded an $8,942,389 firm-fixed-price contract for clearing and grubbing; structural excavation and backfill, excavation and embankments; placement of steel sheet and H-piling; construction of reinforced concrete floodwalls and deployable floodwalls; concrete scour protection, asphaltic pavement; chain link fences; concrete curbs and gutters; pavement markings; miscellaneous metal work, painting, turf establishment; and other related incidental work. Bids were solicited via the internet with 11 received. Work will be performed in New Orleans, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 6, 2022. Fiscal 2020 military construction (Army) funds in the amount of $8,942,389 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-20-C-0039). NAVY Amentum Services Inc., Germantown, Maryland, is awarded a $430,016,852 cost-plus-award-fee, cost reimbursement and firm-fixed-price contract for the operation and maintenance of the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC). AUTEC is the Navy's large-area, deep-water, undersea test and evaluation range. Underwater research, testing and evaluation of anti-submarine weapons, sonar tracking and communications are the predominant activities conducted at AUTEC. The contractor performs AUTEC range operations support services and maintenance of facilities and range systems. In addition, the contractor is responsible for operating a self-sufficient one square mile Navy outpost. Work will be performed on Andros Island, Commonwealth of the Bahamas (64%); and West Palm Beach, Florida (36%), and is expected to be complete by August 2025. With all options exercised, work will continue through August 2030. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $1,000,000 will be obligated at time of award and not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured using full and open competition via the Federal Business Opportunities website with six offers received in response to Solicitation No. N66604-18-R-0881. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Newport Division, Newport, Rhode Island, is the contracting activity (N66604-20-C-0881). Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., Greenbelt, Maryland, is awarded a $149,115,855 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of Hurricane Florence Recovery Package 1 located in Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point. The contract also contains 21 planned modifications and six unexercised options, which if exercised, would increase cumulative contract value to $161,250,305. This project provides replacements for various buildings damaged during Hurricane Florence. The proposed replacements are divided into five separate projects: (1) construction of a 23,000 square foot, two-story security building and a 15,000 square foot, two-story headquarters and headquarters squadron (H&HS) and Marine wing headquarters squadron (MWHS-2) facility. The new security facility will be comprised of the following areas: a command staff, operations division, accident investigation section, special reaction team, Naval Criminal Investigation Service, provost marshal office supply, traffic court, services/administrative division, weapons storage, emergency dispatch center, motor transport, animal control, training, physical security, detention cells, exercise/fitness room, galley/breakroom, and male and female lockers/shower area and bunk rooms. The H&HS and MWHS-2 headquarters facility will consist of administration space for both squadron's personnel and for the safety and standardization department. Site improvements include demolition, paved roads, parking, and fencing. (2) Construction of a 36,000 square foot vehicle maintenance shop. The new facility will include a vehicle maintenance shop, tool rooms, communication maintenance shop, storage areas, a classroom, exterior elevated vehicle wash rack with associated oil/water separator, enclosed battery storage and administrative offices. Site improvements include roads, parking, utilities, and fencing. (3) Fire stations replacement involving construction of a 32,000 square foot main fire station with five bays and a 12,000 square foot satellite fire station with two bays. Construction will include a fire hose drying rack, storage room, dayroom, training area, dining room, kitchen, exercise room, medical supply storage area, boat storage, administrative space, dispatch center, workroom, laundry, fire extinguisher maintenance room, self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) room, toilets and shower rooms for male and females and individual sleeping quarters with personnel lockers. Built-in equipment includes a compressed air system for vehicle maintenance, firefighter gear lockers, overhead vehicle doors, equipment racks, raised flooring, fire pump, vehicle bay radiant heating, grease trap, overhead hose reels, gear washer/dryer/extractor, cascade system for SCBA room testing, public address system, built-in work benches, vehicle exhaust system and emergency generator. Site improvements include utilities, parking, roadway and intersection improvements. (4) Range operations center (ROC) replacement involving construction of a 15,000 square foot ROC to support range management activities at Bombing Target 11. This facility will house the range operations and support center, weapons impact scoring system, electronics maintenance shop, public works maintenance shop, general purpose warehouse and appropriate support spaces. Site improvements include utilities and roadway. The site is only accessible by boat. (5) Station academic facility/auditorium involving construction of a 21,000 square foot general-purpose auditorium to provide an assembly area for instruction, training, and movies. The new facility will include adequate space for instruction/training, entrance and support spaces. Built-in equipment includes a stage, overhead doors, projector, screen, sound system, noise attenuation, seats and retail kitchenette. Site improvements include demolition, utilities and a parking lot. Work will be performed in Cherry Point, North Carolina, and is expected to be completed by August 2025. Fiscal 2019 military construction (MILCON), Marine Corps (MC) contract funds in the amount of $132,325,843; and fiscal 2020 MILCON, MC contract funds in the amount of $16,790,012, are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the beta.SAM.gov website with 11 proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40085-20-C-0055). DZSP 21 LLC, Marlton, New Jersey, is awarded a $48,586,983 cost-plus-award-fee contract for base operating support services at Joint Region Marianas. The maximum dollar value, including the mobilization, base period, six 12-month option periods, nine-month full performance, three-month demobilization and a six-month services extension period, is $545,318,090. The work to be performed provides for facility support and base operating support for the following services: management and administration, port operations, facilities management, facilities investment, utilities management, electrical, wastewater, steam, water and base support vehicles and equipment. Work will be performed at various locations on the island of Guam and is expected to be completed by April 2028. Fiscal 2020 working capital funds (WCF) (Defense); fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (O&M) (Navy (N), Defense); fiscal 2020 family housing O&M, N; fiscal 2020 O&M (Army National Guard); fiscal 2020 Defense Health Program funds; fiscal 2020 General Fund (formerly Navy WCF); fiscal 2020 Defense Commissary Agency; and fiscal 2020 Medical Facilities (Veterans Affairs) contract funds in the amount of $48,586,983, of which $8,975,667 will be obligated on this award and all will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunity website with five proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, is the contracting activity (N62742-20-C-1199). The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded $15,620,949 firm-fixed-price order N00019-20-F-0402 against previously issued basic ordering agreement N00019-16-G-0001. This order provides for the production and delivery of 25 Harpoon Block II+ captive air training missiles and 24 tactical missiles. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri (65.2%); Galena, Kansas (8.5%); Lititz, Pennsylvania (3.99%); McAlester, Oklahoma (2.76%); Anniston, Alabama (2.58%); Chatsworth, California (2.15%); Minneapolis, Minnesota (2.06%); Chandler, Arizona (2.03%); Cedar Rapids, Iowa (1.53%); and various locations within the continental U.S. (9.2%), and is expected to be completed in August 2023. Fiscal 2020 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $15,620,949 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Capco LLC, Grand Junction, Colorado, is awarded a $13,296,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the manufacture of M943 impulse cartridges used on B-1B and B-52H aircraft during the ejection sequence. The contract includes a five-year ordering period with no options. All work will be performed in Grand Junction, Colorado, and the ordering period is expected to be completed by August 2025. Fiscal 2020 ammunition procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $837,900 will be obligated for delivery order N00104-20-F-UF01 that will be awarded concurrently with the contract and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Annual fiscal ammunition procurement (Army) funds will be obligated to fund delivery orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured, with three offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00104-20-D-VF01). The Boeing Co., Seattle, Washington, is awarded a $12,825,294 modification (P00178) to previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract N00019-14-C-0067. This modification provides non-recurring and recurring engineering for development and integration of a modified Nose Radome into the P-8A aircraft in support of Lot 10 full rate production VI for the Navy and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in Meza, Arizona (59%); Seattle, Washington (40%); and Patuxent River, Maryland (1%), and is expected to be completed in March 2022. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $7,306,274; and FMS funds in the amount of $5,519,020, will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Great Eastern Group Inc., Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is awarded a modification to exercise and fund an option in the amount of $9,108,903. This is the first 12-month option and is part of a firm-fixed-price contract with reimbursable elements for Offshore Support Vessel Hercules. This vessel will be utilized to support refueling and resupply of the special mission ship SBX-1. This contract includes a 12-month base period, three 12-month option periods, and one 11-month option period. Work will be performed in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command's area of responsibility and is expected to be completed, if all options are exercised, by July 15, 2024. The option is funded by fiscal 2020 and 2021 research, development, test and evaluation funds. The Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N32205-19-C-3500). JOINT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CENTER Deloitte Consulting LLC, Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a Systems Engineering, Technology, and Innovation prime integrator task order (HC102820F2000) for an estimated $106,352,518 to design and build the Joint Common Foundation artificial intelligence development environment for the Department of Defense Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. The period of performance is a one-year base period from Aug. 17, 2020, through Aug. 16, 2021, valued at approximately $31,000,000, with three one-year option periods through August 16, 2024. Work will be performed in the greater Washington, D.C., area. The contracting activity is the Defense Information Systems Activity/Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. AIR FORCE The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, has been awarded a $95,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00005) to contract FA8681-19-D-0005 for Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) technical support and integration. Boeing will provide JDAM support for studies and analysis; product improvement and upgrades; integration including, but not limited to, software integration and aircraft integration; and associated hardware and testing. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be completed March 31, 2024. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity. Net-centric Design Professionals LLC, Boulder, Colorado, has been awarded a $28,613,576 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for Tools, Applications and Processing Laboratory and Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) Battlespace Awareness Center (OBAC) support services. This contract provides for an unrestricted research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) innovation environment for enhancing and/or developing new operational capabilities, while also providing an environment accessible to other Department of Defense, civil and commercial users to find new innovative uses of remote sensing data. The acquisition will also support the OPIR OBAC co-located with the Space Based Infrared System Mission Control Station, Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado. Work will be performed in Boulder and Aurora, Colorado, and is expected to be completed Aug. 31, 2022. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and five offers were received. Fiscal 2020 RDT&E funds in the amount of $3,033,587 are being obligated at the time of award. Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, California, is the contracting activity (FA8810-20-C-0002). CAE USA Inc., Tampa, Florida, has been awarded a $16,093,432 firm-fixed-price modification (P00160) to contract FA8223‐10‐C‐0013 for an option to extend the KC‐135 aircraft training system contract six months. Work will be performed at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base, Ohio; Grissom Air Reserve Base (ARB), Indiana; Scott AFB, Illinois; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Fairchild AFB, Washington; Altus AFB, Oklahoma; March ARB, California; Hickam AFB, Hawaii; Kadena Air Base (AB), Japan; Ramstein AB, Germany; and Royal Air Force Mildenhall, England, and is expected to be completed by March 31, 2021. This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $526,978,402. Fiscal 2021 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $16,482,440 will be obligated once funding has been appropriated. This contract action is being awarded under the Availability of Funds Clause. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, has been awarded a $14,756,832 cost-per-fixed-fee contract for the research and development of a prototype semantic forensic system that automatically detects, attributes and characterizes falsified, multi-modal media assets to defend against large-scale, automated disinformation attacks and supports a variety of potential transition partners. The scope of this effort is to design, develop, evaluate and refine a semantic forensics system capable of implementation on a number of local and cloud computing architectures for a variety of end users. Work will be performed in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and is expected to be completed October 2024. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and 37 offers were received. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $2,576,175 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Rome, New York, is the contracting activity (FA8750-20-C-1540). DEFENSE FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING SERVICE CACI Inc.-Federal, Chantilly, Virginia, is being awarded a maximum $59,296,656 labor-hour contract for comptroller mission systems support. Work will be performed in Chantilly, Virginia; and Arlington, Virginia, with an expected completion date of June 15, 2021. The contract has a 10-month base period with three individual one-year option periods. This contract is the result of a competitive acquisition for which one quote was received. Fiscal 2020 defense-wide operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $9,830,074 are being obligated at the time of the award. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Contract Services Directorate, Columbus, Ohio, is the contracting activity (HQ0423-20-F-0099). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Raytheon Technologies Corp., doing business as Pratt & Whitney Military Engines Division, East Hartford, Connecticut, has been awarded an estimated $30,143,455 modification (P00065) to a five-year contract (SPE4AX-15-D-9436) with one five-year option period for TF-33 aircraft engine spare-components. Location of performance is Connecticut, with a Sept. 26, 2023, ordering period end date. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2310984/source/GovDelivery/

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  • Destroyers Maxed Out, Navy Looks To New Hulls: Power For Radars & Lasers

    12 juillet 2018 | International, Naval

    Destroyers Maxed Out, Navy Looks To New Hulls: Power For Radars & Lasers

    By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR. ARLINGTON: The Navy has crammed as much electronics as it can into its new DDG-51 Flight III destroyers now beginning construction, Rear Adm. William Galinis said this morning. That drives the service towards a new Large Surface Combatant that can comfortably accommodate the same high-powered radars, as well as future weapons such as lasers, on either a modified DDG-51 hull or an entirely new design. “It's going to be more of an evolutionary approach as we migrate from the DDG-51 Flight IIIs to the Large Surface Combatant,” said Galinis, the Navy's Program Executive Officer for Ships. (LSC evolved from the Future Surface Combatant concept and will serve along a new frigate and unmanned surface vessels). “(We) start with a DDG-51 flight III combat system and we build off of that, probably bringing in a new HME (Hull, Mechanical, & Engineering) infrastructure, a new power architecture, to support that system as it then evolves going forward.” “Before the end of the year, we'll start reaching out to industry to start sharing some of the thoughts we have and where we think we're going,” Galinis told a Navy League breakfast audience. “We'll bring industry into this at the right point, but we're still kind of working a lot of the technology pieces and what the requirements are right now.” Evolution, Not Revolution This evolutionary approach is similar to how the current Aegis combat system entered service on the CG-47 Ticonderoga cruisers in 1983 but came into its own on the DDG-51 Arleigh Burke destroyers. (Despite the difference in names, the two classes are virtually the same size). The DDG-51 is now the single most common type in the fleet, a vital part of the hoped-for 355-ship Navy, with some ships expected to serve into the 2070s: There are now 64 Arleigh Burkes of various sub-types in service; nine of the latest Flight IIA variant are in various stages of construction; and work is beginning on the new Flight IIIs in Mississippi (Huntington Ingalls Industries) and Maine (General Dynamics-owned Bath Iron Works). The Navy is doubling down on long-standing programs to keep its older warships up to date and on par with the newest versions. But the current destroyers just won't be able to keep up with the Flight III, which will have a slightly modified hull and higher-voltage electricity to accommodate Raytheon's massive new Air & Missile Defense Radar. A stripped down version of the AMDR, the Enterprise Air Search Radar (EASR, also by Raytheon) is already going on amphibious ships and might just fit on older Burkes as well, however. But it's tight. On the Flight III, even with the hull modifications, “you kind of get to the naval architectural limits of the DDG-51 hullform,” Galinis told a Navy League breakfast this morning. “That's going to bring a lot of incredible capabilities to the fleet but there's also a fair amount of technical risk.” The Navy is laboring mightily to reduce that risk on Flight III with simulations and land-based testing, including a full prototype of the new power plant being built in Philadelphia. But it's clear the combat system is out of room to grow within the limits of the current hull. So how different does the next ship need to be? “How much more combat capability can we squeeze into the current hullform?” Galinis said. “Do we use the DDG-51 hullform and maybe expand that? Do we build a new hullform?” “We're looking at all the options, Sydney,” he said when reporters clustered around him after his talk. “(It's in) very, very early stages... to say it'll be one system over another or one power architecture over another, it's way too early.” “We're still working through what that power architecture looks like,” Galinis told the breakfast. “Do we stay with a more traditional (gas-driven) system... or do we really make that transition to an integrated electric plant — and at some point, probably, bring in energy storage magazines...to support directed energy weapons and things like that?” The admiral's referring here to anti-missile lasers, railguns, and other high-tech but electricity-hungry systems. Having field-tested a rather jury-rigged 30 kilowatt laseron the converted amphibious ship Ponce, the Navy's next step is a more permanent, properly integrated installation next year on an amphibious ship, LPD-27 Portland. (Subsequent LPDs won't have the laser under current plans). But Portland is part of the relatively roomy LPD-17 San Antonio class, which has plenty of space, weight capacity, power, and cooling capacity (SWAP-C) available, in large part because the Navy never installed a planned 16 Vertical Launch System (VLS) tubes in the bow. By contrast, while the Navy's studying how to fit a laser on the Arleigh Burkes, the space and electricity available are much tighter. The DDG-1000 Digression The larger DDG-1000 Zumwalt class does have integrated electric drive that's performing well in sea trials, Galinis said. (That said, the brand-new DDG-1001, Michael Monsoor, has had glitches with the harmonic filter that manages the power and, more recently, with its turbine engine blades). “We've learned a lot from DDG-1000” that the Navy's now applying both to its highest priority program, the Columbia-class nuclear missile submarine, and potentially to the future Large Surface Combatant as well. In other ways, DDG-1000 is a dead end, too large and expensive for the Navy to afford in quantity. The Navy truncated the class to just three ships and restarted Arleigh Burke production, which it had halted on the assumption the Zumwalts would be built in bulk. Today, the Zumwalt‘s very mission is in doubt. The ship was designed around a 155 mm gun with revolutionary rocket-boosted shells, but ammunition technology hasn't reached the ranges the Navy wanted for the original mission of bombarding targets ashore. With the resurgence of the Russian fleet and the rise of China's, the Navy now wants to turn the DDG-1000s into ship-killers, which requires even longer ranges because modern naval battle is a duel of missiles. The gun's place in ship-to-ship combat is “probably not a significant role, at least not at the ranges we're interested in,” Galinis told reporters. While the Navy could invest in long-range cannon ammunition, he said, it's paused work on several potential shells it test-fired last summer, awaiting the final mission review. If the Zumwalts do move to the anti-ship mission, which Galinis said they would be well suited for with minor modifications, their guns will be less relevant than their 80 Advanced VLS missile tubes or future weapons such as railguns drawing on their prodigious electric power. That power plant might evolve into the electric heart of the future Large Surface Combatant — or it might not. “We're going to have the requirements discussion with Navy leadership and then we're going to want to engage industry as we start thinking about what options might be available,” Galinis said. “Frankly industry's probably best suited to try to help us with the technology piece, especially if we start thinking (that) we want an innovative electric plant.....We'd go to probably the big power electronics/power system vendors, who really work in that field and have the best information on where technology's going.” https://breakingdefense.com/2018/07/destroyers-maxed-out-navy-looks-to-new-hulls-power-for-radars-lasers/

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