4 mars 2024 | International, Aérospatial
23 novembre 2024 | International, Aérospatial
Fort Worth, TEXAS – November 21, 2024 – Elbit Systems of America (Elbit America) received a firm Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contract from the United States Air Force (USAF) to...
27 juin 2019 | International, Aérospatial
Par Stefan Barensky Le missilier franco-britannique MBDA se prépare à la mise au point des drones et des missiles qui constitueront l'armement de ce système de systèmes en marge des annonces des avionneurs et des motoristes sur les études et le développement du Scaf. L‘aviation de combat s'apprête à connaître une révolution avec l'apparition d'un nouveau type d'appareils dans nos cieux. Dans un avenir proche, les appareils pilotés accompliront leurs missions accompagnés d'appareils robotisés. Aux États-Unis, on parle de drones collaboratifs, sur lesquels l'US Air Force et l'industrie ont lancé de nombreuses études. En Europe, on les appelle « remote carriers » ou en français « effecteurs déportés ». Ainsi, dans le Système de combat aérien futur (Scaf), le NGF (Next Generation Fighter) ne constitue que l'élément central du NGWS (Next Generation Weapon System). L'appareil, lui-même « dronisable », devra être armé et surtout accompagné de ces drones multirôles, capables d'évoluer autour de lui en mode collaboratif et connecté. Trois tailles sont prévues pour ces effecteurs déportés : un gros modèle, pesant potentiellement plus d'une tonne, était présenté en maquette sur le statique d'Airbus, et deux de plus petite taille sur celui de MBDA. https://www.aerospatium.info/bourget-2019-mbda-scaf/
14 septembre 2018 | International, C4ISR
By Lauren C. Williams The Defense Department's newest combatant command is nearly a decade old but still doesn't steer its own acquisitions. That could change in fiscal 2019, however, as U.S. Cyber Command staffs up its contracting office and seeks a bigger acquisition budget. "Acquisition authority is limited at the moment. It's capped at $75 million and has a sunset date, currently, of 2021," said Stephen Schanberger, command acquisition executive for U.S. Cyber Command during a panel at the Billington Cybersecurity Summit Sept. 6. "So the command is actively pursuing getting that increased on the ceiling amount as well as the sunset date." Cyber Command has only had acquisition authority for two fiscal years, but Congress extended that authority through 2025 in the fiscal year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act. That advances the authority four years from the original sunset date of 2021. Cyber Command awarded only one contract in fiscal 2017, Schanberger said, partly because it lacked a contract writing system and technical personnel to get things done. Things improved this year with $40 million in contract awards and Schanberger expects to reach the $75 million cap sometime in 2019. "We are really hamstrung at the moment in relying on the current [contracting] vehicles out there from others," he said. "And in some cases we've had to adjust our scope to match up to the contract versus waiting for them to put another whole contract vehicle or task order onto a contract." Schanberger seeks to more than triple Cyber Command's acquisition to $250 million to allow for multi-year contracts. Congressional scrutiny has been the main impediment to securing additional acquisition funds because the command needs to prove its contracting abilities, but Schanberger said increasing staff and getting things right will help. "Congress would like us to show that we actually can use our authority the way it's supposed to be and start to stand on the backbone of what it takes to be a contracting organization," particularly regarding contract types, use other transaction authorities, competitive bids versus sole source, and partnering with small businesses, he said. Schanberger told FCW he wasn't concerned about additional congressional scrutiny surrounding the Defense Department's use of other transaction authorities because "our efforts are nowhere near the big efforts that they're looking for." But overall, Cyber Command's contracting office is growing. Schanberger now leads a team of about five people, including himself, consisting of a contracting officer, specialist, and supporting contractors. He hopes to double the team's capacity by year's end. "We are in our infancy from an acquisition perspective, we are putting down the foundation of the personnel and the skills," he said, with the goal "to be able to activate, put together solicitation packages, plan our contracting strategy for [multiple] years, and be able to effectively implement and put out RFPs on the street without making a mess out it." Schanberger said they are looking at capabilities that can benefit all of the service components, such as analytic development. Cyber Command released a request for proposals for an analytic support program dubbed Rainfire on Sept. 4. "Once we get the skills in place, I think we'll be able to demonstrate to everyone around us that we can execute the authorities we have and grow them responsibly," he said. https://fcw.com/articles/2018/09/13/cybercom-aquisition-williams.aspx