5 décembre 2023 | International, Aérospatial

Replicator offers use case for defense budget reform, panel says

Members of a select panel created to propose reforms to the defense programming and budgeting process say Replicator may benefit from its recommendations.

https://www.c4isrnet.com/home/2023/12/05/replicator-offers-use-case-for-defense-budget-reform-panel-says/

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  • L'Allemagne et la Suède se joignent à la future initiative européenne pour le développement d’un avion de transport européen de nouvelle génération

    9 juillet 2022 | International, Aérospatial

    L'Allemagne et la Suède se joignent à la future initiative européenne pour le développement d’un avion de transport européen de nouvelle génération

    DÉFENSE L'Allemagne et la Suède se joignent à la future initiative européenne pour le développement d'un avion de transport européen de nouvelle génération L'Allemagne et la Suède ont rejoint la France pour étudier le développement futur d'un avion de transport européen de nouvelle génération qui pourrait remplacer des types tels que le Lockheed C-130 Hercules et le CASA CN235. Selon un communiqué de presse de l'armée de l'Air et de l'Espace, les 3 pays ont signé un accord pour travailler sur la définition d'un futur cargo tactique de taille moyenne (FMTC), qui pourrait conduire au développement d'un nouvel avion de transport européen d'ici 2040. Le document a été signé lors d'un événement à Orléans, où l'armée de l'Air et de l'Espace et l'Agence Européenne de Défense ont organisé un séminaire sur le déploiement de la boussole stratégique de l'Union européenne dans le domaine aérien. Le FMTC est l'une des nombreuses initiatives de transport aérien étudiées dans le cadre de l'initiative de coopération structurée permanente (PESCO) de l'Union européenne visant à encourager une plus grande coopération en matière de marchés publics de Défense entre les États membres. Outre les 3 nations partenaires, d'autres pays pourraient encore se joindre au projet, selon les responsables. Un tel avion pourrait incorporer de nombreux éléments de l'A400M, tels que les moteurs, afin de réduire les coûts de développement de la plateforme et de bénéficier d'une approche familiale de la conception. La capacité de la future plateforme serait de 18 à 20 tonnes de fret, contre environ 35 tonnes pour l'A400M. Les futures études de faisabilité industrielle pourraient permettre de lancer le développement d'un tel avion en 2026-2027. Aviation Week du 7 juillet

  • Air Force aims to move startups from pitch to contract award in 24 hours

    17 septembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial

    Air Force aims to move startups from pitch to contract award in 24 hours

    By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — A fledgling five-person software start-up has just wrapped up their pitch to what could be a key investor. The pressure has been intense, but the customer decides to bite, sliding a credit card through a Square reader to award money to the company's Paypal account. This isn't an episode of Shark Tank, or a successful bid to get investment dollars from a Silicon Valley angel investor. The customer in this scenario is the Air Force — or at least, its acquisition executive would like it to be. During the Air Force Association's annual conference, Will Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, will announce a series of “Startup Days” targeted toward involving startup companies in Air Force acquisition by rapidly awarding contracts in less than 24 hours. “From the company's view, it will be a single day. From our view, we could probably turn it as quickly as a few days to a week — we put a call out, someone submits their idea, we analyze their idea, we check their company profile, we then invite a subset that have met the criteria,” he told Defense News in an exclusive Sept. 7 interview. “But then, when they come in to pitch their idea, they have a reasonable expectation of leaving with funding. We're ready to go or not go on a single day,” he continued. “And the contract length? One page.” When Defense News spoke with Roper, he had just gotten the green light to move ahead with this new way of awarding contracts. The effort remains in its early stages, and dates for Startup Day have not been chosen, although Roper believes the service could hold a series of Startup Days as soon as the end of this year or early 2019. The exact format is still being worked out as well: Program managers will be able to suggest precise technical problems that they'd like to see solutions for, but he'd also like to give companies the latitude to pitch their products for requirements the Air Force doesn't even know it has. Companies will submit proposals, which will be evaluated by Air Force program and contacting officials who will also analyze the company's profile — its number of employees, business type, product maturity and potential impact. But the goal is to have the actual events structured like a meeting with an angel investor, not the typical PowerPoint-laden gatherings of military officials and defense primes. “We've got to make this look more like Kickstarter than a defense industry day,” Roper said. “We may even put them on contract swiping a Square reader. We have government purchase cards that we're able to use for small purchases — up to $150k per transaction. That may be the mechanism we use because most companies that are startups, I'm going to guess, have a Paypal account.” An industry day geared specifically for start-up companies is just the latest way the Air Force is trying to harness a commercial technology boom where innovation has often been led by startups. Last year, the service announced the creation of a new organization called AFWERX that it began to help engage elements of the private sector that don't usually work with the government. However, even with AFWERX in operation, it takes the Air Force six to eight weeks to award a contract at its very fastest. And that's still too slow of a pace to enable it to work effectively with startup companies, Roper said. “There's this artificial ceiling that small companies can't reach to work with the government simply because they're too small to wait for a paycheck. If they're not on contract with us now, they've got to work with an investor fast enough to fund cash flow rates that startups need to grow,” he said. Roper doesn't expect all investments to bear fruit, but efforts like Startup Day have other advantages, he said. It gets Air Force contracting officers more comfortable with executing rapid contracts, potentially gives program managers a more effective way of spending their small business dollars and allows the service to have a voice in the kinds of technologies that cutting-edge companies develop. “I hope that will mean that every year when we do this — if it's successful, we'll do it every year—companies will have us on their radar screen and think, ‘The Air Force is a great way for us to get from being a company of five to a company of 50...and then we'll go off and become billionaires working with Amazon and Google,'” he said. “But this way they'll know us and their products and projects will have been influenced by us, hopefully for the betterment of the Air Force.” https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/air-force-association/2018/09/17/air-force-aims-to-move-startups-from-pitch-to-contract-award-in-24-hours

  • Marines want a ruggedized robot mule to patrol with and resupply a squad

    2 novembre 2018 | International, Terrestre

    Marines want a ruggedized robot mule to patrol with and resupply a squad

    By: Todd South The Marines want an unmanned vehicle capable of keeping up with its rifle squad and conducting squad resupply to unburden the grunt. A Request For Information recently posted on the Federal Business Opportunitieswebsite keeps options open, telling interested industry partners that the mode could be a “robotic applique” on existing systems, a remote-controlled vehicle or a fully autonomous transport. The system must carry between 500 and 1,000 pounds to outfit up to a 15-Marine unit. While the main objective is for the vehicle to move with the squad through inconsistent terrain, a nice bonus would be if it could manage intra-squad resupply, according to the posting. It must run on rough roads and off road, go for between eight hours and three days, fit inside an MV-22 Osprey when fully loaded, and fit on a light tactical trailer in ground transport. The system also must push out 1- to 3-kW of power to recharge and run squad systems. The Marine Corps Rapid Capabilities Office wants information from industry by Nov. 13. Marines participating in the Advanced Naval Technologies Exercise at Camp Pendleton, California, in May saw vehicles that might fit some of the requirements in operation during urban training sessions. As far back as 2016, Marines were testing a tracked version of the Multi-Utility Tactical Transport, which could carry weapons systems or gear but at a lower rate than this current request. At the time, the MUTT could haul 600 pounds on land and 300 pounds while running amphibious for about 15 miles before power ran down. This latest posting falls closely in line with an existing program in the Army known as Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport, or SMET. The SMET program has accepted four submissions of similarly capable vehicles for testing by the 10th Mountain Division, 101st Airborne Division and an unidentified Marine unit at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. All four of those submissions are standalone vehicles that use either wheeled or tracked methods of movement. The Army expects to pick the contract winner by 2020 after extensive field tests. https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2018/10/31/marines-want-a-ruggedized-robot-mule-to-patrol-with-and-resupply-a-squad

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