Royal Australian Navy cleared to buy 12 more MH-60R submarine-hunting helicopters

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  1 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR

  Space Force awards contracts worth as much as $1B for new modems

  Mike Gruss The Space Force awarded L3 Technologies and Raytheon's Space and Airborne Systems contracts worth as much as $1 billion for the development and production of new modems that would help with protected satellite communications. The indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts, each worth as much as $500 million, are part of the Air Force and Army Anti-Jam Modem program, which is also known as A3M. The modems would be capable of handling the new Protected Tactical Waveform, which provides anti-jamming communications for warfighters on the battlefield. The program is led by the Army's Program Executive Office Command Control Communications – Tactical and the Space Force's Space and Missile Systems Center. Space Force officials emphasized that they awarded the contract about four months ahead of schedule. In a request for information from 2018, military officials said the modem would be used in the Air Force Ground Multiband Terminal and Army Space Transportable Terminal. The contracts are also expected to include terminals or terminal components to work with the new Protected Tactical SATCOM system, commercial satellites and the Air Force's Wideband Global SATCOM satellites. “We are very excited to be partnering with Raytheon and L3 Technologies Inc. to bring Protected Tactical Waveform anti-jam capability to both Department of the Air Force and Army users,” said Shannon Pallone, senior materiel leader, Tactical SATCOM Division, said in a release. “This was a joint team from the start, a partnership between the Space Force and the Army, and included support from the [National Security Agency].” https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/04/01/space-force-awards-contracts-worth-as-much-as-1b-for-new-modems

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  21 octobre 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Sécurité

  Navy Hires Boeing To Develop A Very Fast And Long-Range Strike Missile Demonstrator

  The Navy will use the new high-speed demonstrator to help refine its requirements for future stand-off anti-ship and land-attack missiles. oeing has received a contract to help develop a ramjet-powered high-speed missile demonstrator for the U.S. Navy. The company says that the design will aid the service in identifying requirements for future air-launched missiles, possibly ones able to reach hypersonic speeds, that its F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and other combat aircraft within its carrier air wings will be able to employ against targets on land or at sea. The company's Defense, Space & Security division announced that the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD), part of Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), had awarded it this contract, worth approximately $30 million, on Oct. 20, 2020. The work will be conducted under what is officially called the Supersonic Propulsion Enabled Advanced Ramjet (SPEAR) program. The goal is to conduct the first flight of the demonstrator in late 2022. "We have a talented team of engineers to meet the challenging technical demands and schedule timeline that the SPEAR program requires," Steve Mercer, the Program Manager at Boeing for the SPEAR effort, said in a statement. "We look forward to working with Navy experts to advance technologies for the Navy's future capabilities." It's not entirely clear what kind of missile demonstrator the Navy is looking for exactly for the SPEAR program. The acronym includes the word "supersonic," but Boeing's press release cites its prior work on the X-51A Waverider, an experimental air-breathing hypersonic vehicle that featured a scramjet engine. Hypersonic speed is generally defined as anything above Mach 5. At the same time, Boeing also highlighted its work on "the Variable Flow Ducted Rocket propulsion system under the Triple Target Terminator program in 2014." The Triple Target Terminator program, or T-3, which the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) led, explored concepts for very-long-range air-launched missiles that would be able to engage hostile aircraft, cruise missiles, and air defense threats on the ground, hence the name. A Variable Flow Ducted Rocket propulsion system is a kind of rocket ramjet, a relatively well-established concept at its core, in which gas produced by burning a source of solid fuel is mixed with compressed air fed into a combustion chamber via a duct or air intake to produce thrust. Advanced designs that allow for varying the flow of gas into the combustion chamber make it possible to throttle the thrust and adjust the speed of the vehicle the ramjet is powering. With this in mind, it's worth noting that NAWCWD issued a request for information regarding "Solid Fuel Ramjet Propulsion Manufacture/Test" in March, though it is unclear if that contracting notice is related in any way to SPEAR. In addition, Boeing's press release says that it will "co-develop" the SPEAR demonstrator, but it's unclear if this means another company is involved in the effort or that the Navy's own engineers and scientists will be directly assisting with the work. The website of the Naval Aviation Systems Consortium (NASC) lists a contract award to the company relating to the SPEAR program on Aug. 31, valued at just over $32 million, but for the demonstrator's airframe only. NASC "has been formed to support the technology needs of the Naval Air Warfare Centers (NAWCs) and the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) through the use of Other Transaction (OT) Authority," according to the site. There is no mention of this award in the Pentagon's daily contracting announcement for Aug. 31, which is supposed to include any deal valued at more than $7 million. The SPEAR contract that Boeing has just announced also does not appear in today's notice, so it's unclear when the Navy formally awarded these two contracts and whether or not they are, in fact, the same one. The War Zone has already reached out to Boeing for more information about its involvement in the SPEAR effort. Whatever the company's role in the project is or isn't, the press release certainly indicates that it will be a stepping stone to the development of future anti-ship and land-attack missiles that will be integrated onto aircraft in the Navy's carrier air wings. This includes the services F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, another Boeing product, a significant number of which eventually slated to go through the Block III upgrade program, which will add a host of advanced features that you can read about in more detail in this past War Zone piece. At the same time, the clear indication is that any operational weapons that follow-on from the SPEAR effort could be added to the arsenal of the service's F-35C Joint Strike Fighters, as well. An F/A-18E Super Hornet, at left, and an F-35C Joint Strike Fighter, at right, share space on the flight deck of the Nimitz class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during tests in 2018. "The contract award comes after the Department of Defense requested information from the defense industry to help the Navy determine technical requirements of future carrier-based land and sea strike weapons systems," Boeing's press release said. "The SPEAR flight demonstrator will provide the F/A-18 Super Hornet and carrier strike group with significant improvements in range and survivability against advanced threat defensive systems," Mercer, the firm's SPEAR program manager, added. Very-long-range, high-speed strike weapons could be very valuable for the Navy's carrier air wings, especially as potential near-peer adversaries, such as China and Russia, continue to develop and field increasingly longer-range and otherwise more capable surface-to-air missile systems and associated radars and other sensors. Aircraft carriers and their associated strike groups and air wings are also increasingly at risk from various anti-access and area-denial capabilities, further underscoring the need for weapons with greater range and that are able to prosecute targets faster to help ensure their survival. At present, the primary air-launched stand-off anti-ship and land-attack missiles available to them are the AGM-84D Harpoon anti-ship cruise missile, the AGM-84H/K Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER), and the AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), all of which are subsonic. The service is in the process of developing the AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile-Extended Range (AARGM-ER), which will have at some surface strike capabilities and will also serve as the basis for a Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW) for the U.S. Air Force. However, the exact speed and range of this weapon are unclear. The Navy is also developing a powered cruise missile derivative of its AGM-154 Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW) glide bomb. Boeing's SPEAR announcement comes as the U.S. military as a whole is pursuing a wide array of new hypersonic strike weapons, including unpowered boost-glide vehicles and air-breathing missiles. The Air Force is working toward its own "Expendable Hypersonic Multi-Mission Air-Breathing Demonstrator" as part of a program called Mayhem, which is linked to work on advanced turbine-based combined cycle engines. That service is also working closely with DARPA on the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) project and its own Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) effort. Lockheed Martin, which is leading the development of the HAWC missile, has proposed a follow-on design for use by the Navy in the past. In August, the Air Force had said it was looking at designs from Boeing, as well as Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, to meet a requirement for "a solid-rocket boosted, air-breathing, hypersonic conventional cruise missile, air-launched from existing fighter/bomber aircraft." It's not clear if that announcement was related to HACM or not, but the following month, Boeing released a computer-generated promotional video featuring a B-1 bomber firing what the company described as a notional hypersonic missile. The company has subsequently released a more detailed still rendering featuring this conceptual missile that, at least visually, appears to be an air-breathing design. All told, it's hardly surprising that the Navy is also in the process of pursuing its own high-speed strike missiles to arm its carrier aircraft. There's no reason to believe that the weapons that emerge from SPEAR won't be suitable for integration onto land-based platforms, such as the service's P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, as well. Whatever SPEAR's final design looks like, it's an important step forward for the Navy in providing this capability to its combat aircraft fleets in the future. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/37170/navy-hires-boeing-to-develop-a-very-fast-and-long-range-strike-missile-demonstrator

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  26 novembre 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - November 25, 2019

  ARMY General Electric Co. - GE Aviation, Lynn, Massachusetts, was awarded a $1,336,809,577 modification (P00021) to contract W58RGZ-15-D-0048 for T700 engine deliveries in support of the Army H-60 and AH-64 programs, Navy H-60 programs, Air Force programs, Foreign Military Sales and other government agencies. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2024. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. AXXIS,* Fort Worth, Texas (W912DY-20-F-0001); Chinook Systems Inc.,* Cocoa Beach, Florida (W912DY-20-F-0002); Dewberry Design-Builders Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina (W912DY-20-F-0003); EPC Service Inc.,* Aiea, Hawaii (W912DY-20-F-0004); Honeywell International Inc., Morris Plains, New Jersey (W912DY-20-F-0005); Johnson Controls Building Automation Systems Inc., Huntsville, Alabama (W912DY-20-F-0006); KBRwyle Technology Solutions LLC, Columbia, Maryland (W912DY-20-F-0007); M. C. Dean, Tysons, Virginia (W912DY-20-F-0008); Parsons Technical Services Inc., Pasadena, California (W912DY-20-F-0009); Prime Mechanical of Wisconsin LLC,* Poynette, Wisconsin (W912DY-20-F-0010); SEI Group Inc.,* Huntsville, Alabama (W912DY-20-F-0011); Siemens Government Technologies Inc., Arlington, Virginia ( W912DY-20-F-0012); Spectrum Solutions Inc.,* Madison, Alabama (W912DY-20-F-0013); and Stewart Group Enterprises LLC,* Benson, North Carolina (W912DY-20-F-0014), will compete for each order of the $1,200,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for procurement and installation of utility monitoring and control systems and similar services such as heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems. Bids were solicited via the internet with 28 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 24, 2026. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Navistar Defense LLC, Lisle, Illinois, was awarded a $26,748,087 firm-fixed-price Foreign Military Sales (Somalia) contract for two commercial Medium Tactical Vehicle Variants -- the 6x6 General Transport Truck and the 6x6 Wrecker Vehicle Recovery Truck, and spare parts. 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 Nov. 25, 2022. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-20-D-0016). Detyens Shipyards Inc.,* North Charleston, South Carolina, was awarded an $11,991,749 firm-fixed-price contract for dry dock and repair of the Dredge Wheeler, labor, materials and equipment. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work will be performed in North Charleston, South Carolina, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 26, 2020. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, civil works funds in the amount of $11,991,749 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-20-C-0004). NAVY Raytheon Co., El Segundo, California, is awarded a $403,301,277 modification (P00062) to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N00019-16-C-0002). This modification increases the scope of the contract to procure an additional seven System Demonstration Test Articles (SDTA) shipsets, 60 SDTA pod subsystems, 27 pieces of peculiar support equipment, one fatigue test pod and one static test pod in support of the initial operational test and evaluation phase of the Next Generation Jammer Mid-Band Program. Work will be performed in Dallas, Texas (33%); Forest, Mississippi (33%); El Segundo, California (22%); Andover, Massachusetts (7%); and Fort Wayne, Indiana (5%), and is expected to be completed in December 2022. No funds are being obligated at time of award. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded a $172,233,232 modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-18-D-0001). This modification increases the ceiling of the contract to continue service life modifications to extend the operational service life from 6,000 flight hours to 10,000 flight hours of up to 23 F/A-18E/F aircraft. Work will be performed in San Antonio, Texas (59%); El Segundo, California (25%); and St. Louis, Missouri (16%), and is expected to be completed in May 2022. No funds are being obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Applied Physical Sciences Corp., Groton, Connecticut, is awarded a $23,225,953 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the multi-disciplinary tools, technologies and experimental methods in support of future Naval platform stealth and operations. Work will be performed in Groton, Connecticut (87%); and Cheswick, Pennsylvania (13%), with an expected completion date of October 2024. The total cumulative value of this contract including the base period is $23,225,953. This contract has no options. Fiscal 2019 research, development test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $146,749 are being obligated the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured under N00014-19-S-B001, "Long Range Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Navy and Marine Corps Science and Technology." Proposals will be received throughout the year under the long range BAA and the number of proposals received in response to the solicitation is unknown. The Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N00014- 20-C-0001). Marine Solutions Inc.,* Nicholasville, Kentucky, is awarded a maximum $10,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity architect-engineering for inspection, structural engineering, design and post-construction award services for bridge structures at Navy and Department of Defense installations worldwide. The work to be performed provides for architect-engineer services to include, but not limited to: topside and underwater bridge inspections; bridge load capacity analysis and load ratings; analysis of existing conditions and comparison to previous inspections reports; design of bridge repairs, inclusive of plans and specifications, report preparation and cost estimates for bridge rehabilitations, and the review of such documents produced by others in accordance with the Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center (NAVFAC EXWC) criteria and the National Bridge Inspection Standards. No task orders are being issued at this time. All work on this contract will be performed at various Navy and Marine Corps facilities and other government facilities predominantly in the U.S., but also worldwide. The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months with an expected completion date of November 2024. Fiscal 2020 operation and maintenance, Navy (O&M, N)) contract funds in the amount of $10,000 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by O&M, N funds. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website and Federal Business Opportunities website with seven proposals received. The NAVFAC EXWC, Port Hueneme, California, is the contracting activity (N39430-20-D-2206). Advanced Alliant Solutions Team, Fairfax, Virginia, is awarded a $9,038,301 modification (P00021) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00421-16-C-0068) to exercise an option for information assurance services in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division's Digital Networks Applications. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by November 2020. Fiscal 2020 working capital funds (Navy) in the amount of $8,007,190 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE Canyon Consulting, Los Angeles, California, has been awarded an $18,928,670 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract under the Small Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase-III program for the Advanced Global Positioning System technologies. This contract provides for wideband global positioning system digital payload and architecture. Work will be performed at Los Angeles, California, and is expected to be complete by Feb. 28, 2025. The total cumulative face value of the contract is $18,928,670. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $700,000 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Research Laboratory Geospace Technologies Branch, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, is the contracting activity. Sierra Nevada Corp., Sparks, Nevada, has been awarded a $13,720,071 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00029) to previously awarded contract FA8509-17-C-0002 for the permanent installation of the MC-130J Airborne Mission Networking program. This out-of-scope modification provides for the procurement of an additional trial kit install, travel and interim contractor support. Work will be performed at Centennial, Colorado, and is expected to be completed by Nov. 16, 2021. This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $86,000,000. Fiscal 2019 and 2020 research, development, testing and evaluation funds in the amount of $1,162,453 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Optim LLC, Sturbridge, Massachusetts, has been awarded a maximum $18,750,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for medical equipment. This was a competitive acquisition with 63 responses received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Massachusetts, with a Nov. 24, 2024, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2025 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2D1-20-D-0003). MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, has been awarded a $9,800,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00347) under contract HQ0276-10-C-0001. This modification increases the total cumulative contract value by $9,800,000 from $3,162,719,877 to $3,172,519,877. Under this modification, the contractor will perform engineering and design support services necessary for continuation of planning efforts executed under the Technical Assistance Case to support the Aegis Ashore Japan Foreign Military Sales Main Case. The work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey, with an expected completion date of July 31, 2020. Funds from the government of Japan in the amount of $9,800,000 are being obligated at the time of award. This contract modification is the result of a sole source acquisition. The Missile Defense Agency, Dahlgren, Virginia, is the contracting activity. U.S. TRANSPORTATION COMMAND Phoenix Air Group Inc., Cartersville, Georgia, has been awarded a task order (HTC711-20-F-R013) under contract HTC711-16-D-R001 in the amount of $8,832,188. The task order provides continued charter air transportation services to the Headquarters U.S. Africa Command. Work will be performed in Stuttgart Army Airfield, Germany, to various points throughout Africa and Europe. The period of performance is from Jan. 1, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2020. Fiscal 2020 Air Force operations and maintenance funds were obligated at award of the task order. This task order brings the total cumulative face value of the contract value to $56,982,110 from $48,149,922. U.S. Transportation Command, Directorate of Acquisition, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2026407/source/GovDelivery/