Saab’s sPAD is a tablet for the battlefield

Sur le même sujet

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  3 décembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - December 02, 2020

  NAVY Lockheed Martin, Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded a $48,699,897 cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-13-C-5116 to exercise an option for AEGIS Combat System Engineering Agent efforts for the design, development, integration, test and delivery of Advanced Capability Build 20. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey, and is expected to be completed by December 2021. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy) $42,843,613 (88%); 2017 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) $5,656,326 (11%); and 2021 operation and maintenance (Navy) $199,958 (1%) funding will be obligated at time of award, of which, funding in the amount of $199,958 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. Rockwell Collins Inc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is awarded a $14,782,286 modification (P00005) to previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee order N00019-20-F-0460 against previously issued basic ordering agreement N00019-19-G-0031 in support of the E-6B Mercury aircraft. This modification exercises options to provide sustaining engineering support and diminishing manufacturing sources and material shortages management in support of the E-6B take charge and move out airborne command post aircraft. Work will be performed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (80%); Patuxent River, Maryland (10%); and Bellevue, Nebraska (10%), and is expected to be completed in November 2021. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $7,472,683, will be obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. CGI Federal Inc., Fairfax, Virginia, is awarded a $9,849,208 modification (P00055) to previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract M67004-16-C-0001 for plans and data support services. This modification extends services for a one-year period. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, Florida, with an expected completion date of Dec. 31, 2021. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $4,214,671 are being obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract modification was not competed under the authority of Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1; only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The Marine Corps, Blount Island Command, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity. ARMY BAE Systems Ordnance Systems, Kingsport, Tennessee, was awarded a $19,226,072 modification (P00733) to contract DAAA09-98-E-0006 to expand the landfill at Holston Army Ammunition Plant, Tennessee. Work will be performed in Kingsport, Tennessee, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 1, 2022. Fiscal 2021 procurement of ammunition (Army) funds in the amount of $19,226,072 were obligated at the time of the award. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2432887/source/GovDelivery/

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  16 novembre 2023 | International, Aérospatial

  Boeing chief strategy officer to depart in 2024 as part of restructuring | Reuters

  Marc Allen will step down as Boeing's chief strategy officer at the end of the year and leave the company in 2024 as the U.S. planemaker pares down its strategy arm.

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

  The defense industry remains in dire straits. Congress must pass another relief package.

  By: Mackenzie Eaglen House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, recently wrote in an op-ed on Defense News that Congress “cannot panic and hand out blank checks to defense contractors.” They were concerned with a “lack of detail” in the Pentagon's stimulus funding request. Pentagon officials have responded with said requested detail. It's clear the defense, shipbuilding and aerospace industrial base — an “essential” workforce as designated by the Department of Homeland Security — is indeed in need of help. These critical firms need financial support to the tune of about $11 billion to support more than 100,000 direct jobs. Nor should the military have to take it out of hide, as suggested by some. According to the Defense Department, the data from industry is showing 30-40 percent inefficiency across the defense industrial base, but certain sectors like shipbuilding are experiencing 50-60 percent inefficiency. At shipyards, for example, blue-collar worker attendance ranges from just half to 70 percent. Other short-term sectors at risk include textile manufacturers, body armor suppliers and small business electronics suppliers, who feed guidance systems and wiring harnesses in Army vehicles and aircraft. A sampling of specific reasons for inefficiency include: Confirmed cases or quarantines Government facility closure/standdown test delays Telework Closures due to travel restrictions Logistic implications caused by travel restrictions requiring commercial freight Availability of parts and supplies High absentee rates Local and state lockdowns Foreign government lockdowns Supplier shutdowns Pentagon leaders are worried about the near term, but also permanent damage. Officials are “concerned with a potential loss of critical labor skills,” such as welders. Shipbuilders are in dire straits given the “significant touch labor” required to build a ship and “greater facility impact from social distancing.” The potential shutdown of one of the “big seven” private shipyards is a real risk right now. The Virginia-class attack submarine is currently experiencing delays in its production line, as Newport News Shipbuilding has “prioritized its available workforce on supporting maintenance for in-service submarines and aircraft carriers.” If electricians, engineers and solderers shift from the Virginia assembly line elsewhere, the work is slowed and “the opportunity for the cost to come down on each successive submarine hull is diminished.” Congress has repeatedly supported this program above recent budget requests and presumably cares greatly about this unanticipated cost overrun through no fault of nor negligence by the contractor. The Air Force is experiencing major program delays due to the impact on the aerospace industrial base — both primes and suppliers. Programs impacted include the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and KC-46 tanker due to facility shutdowns in the U.S., England, Italy and Japan. These two aircraft programs will likely miss major milestones — therefore delaying the time when they become available to the war fighter. Aircraft engine-maker GE Aviation is a “fragility concern” across the armed forces. For the Air Force, the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile and the Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile are “being impacted by reduced workforce and facility availability.” The Small Diameter Bomb motor supplier is being pulled to support the Federal Emergency Management Agency with motors for hospital beds. Aerospace firms with commercial work are reporting problems given the massive decline in commercial demand, which affects defense. Contrary to the assertion that the Pentagon doesn't need more stimulus money to support contractors, the services are “concerned about large commercial companies, like Boeing and GE that are critical to our defense industrial base facing negative cash flow and other associated impacts from COVID-19.” Small businesses and subcontractors are particularly vulnerable as they have far less slack to respond to crises. Many live contract to contract, as indicated by a 2018 Pentagon report. According to the Defense Department, “small businesses ... have been the hit the hardest due to unfamiliarity that [the] defense industrial base is exempt from most local shelter-in-place orders.” The Pentagon's request for more stimulus money is not a case of pork for primes. This industry has “a notably high rate of subcontracted work flow and systems with high component volumes, driving job loss directly to program partners and the supply chain.” So while virtually all of the Pentagon's missiles are built by two primes, 98 percent of the subcontractors making parts for U.S. munitions are the only source for these items. If these unique businesses fail, there may not be any replacements. A study last year by George Mason University found “contractor workforce challenges have a direct impact on the government's ability to ramp up quickly.” Budget fluctuations are particularly hard on small companies that “do not have large enough portfolios to shift people between projects. The contractor workforce loses skills or move on.” These firms operate with “thin margins and low lines of credit.” The additional costs to respond to COVID-19 were not part of the original contracts the companies are currently performing, and warrant stimulus money. Hopefully, Chairman Smith and Sen. Durbin now agree. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/08/18/the-defense-industry-remains-in-dire-straits-congress-must-pass-another-relief-package/