23 juillet 2020 | International, Naval
By: David B. Larter
WASHINGTON – The shipyard presiding over the renovations on the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard when it caught fire July 12 was awarded a $10 million contract modification for their efforts with firefighting and follow-on clean up.
The contract with General Dynamics NASSCO San Diego was among those announced Wednesday in the Defense Department's daily roundup.
The work includes “USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) emergency firefighting support, dewatering, safety and initial clean-up efforts,” the announcement reads, and will be completed by November of this year.
The fire, which broke out July 12, began in the lower vehicle storage area amidships and damaged 11 of the Bonhomme Richard's 14 decks, according to a letter to all Navy flag officers and master chiefs obtained by Defense News. The Navy has said there was no known welding or other “hot work” going on at the time of the fire, and it is unclear what caused the blaze.
The Navy is conducting a safety investigation, which are not usually releasable to the public to encourage witnesses to speak freely, and a more formal administrative investigation accompanied by accountability recommendations that can be released.
The Navy's top officer Adm. Michael Gilday told Defense News in a July 16 interview he was committed to transparency in the investigation.
This is a very, very serious incident that I think will force the Navy to stand back and reevaluate itself,” Gilday said. “We've got to follow the facts, we've got to be honest with ourselves and we've got to get after it. My intention, once the investigations are done, is to make this available for the public to debate, including what we need to do to get after any systemic problems that we might have.”
26 octobre 2023 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR
Northrop Grumman officials cautioned that the B-21 Raider won't be profitable at first, though they see it driving future growth.
30 juin 2020 | International, Terrestre
By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — The Army has awarded GM Defense a $214.3 million contract to produce the service's new Infantry Squad Vehicle. The contract covers the cost of the first 649 vehicles, with work to be completed by June 24, 2028. The service hopes to eventually procure 2,065 of the ISVs. "Winning this Army award is well-deserved recognition for the hard work and dedication of our GM Defense team and their production of a fantastic vehicle. We are confident the GMD ISV will meet and exceed all of our customers' requirements," David Albritton, president of GM Defense, said in a statement. "It's indeed an honor to leverage our parent company's experience as one of the world's largest automotive manufacturers to design, build and deliver the best technologies available to the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces and our allies." The ISV, designed to carry a nine soldier squad, was specifically put together to be light enough to be sling loaded from a UH-60 Blackhawk and small enough to fit inside a C4-47 Chinook, to provide maximum flexibility for deployment. GM's design is based off the company's 2020 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 midsize truck and use 90 percent commercial parts, according to the company, including a 186-horsepower, 2.8L Duramax turbo-diesel engine. The attempt to procure a light infantry vehicle goes back to 2015, but nothing truly materialized until Congress forced the Army to launch the competition as part of the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. Last August, the Army awarded $1 million contracts to three teams — GM Defense, a team-up of Oshkosh Defense and Flyer Defense LLC, and a SAIC and Polaris team-up — to develop their offerings for the ISV program. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/06/29/gm-defense-wins-infantry-squad-vehicle-production-contract/
10 mai 2019 | International, Aérospatial
By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department has cleared a potential foreign military sale deal of 24 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters, in a deal that could be worth up to $3 billion. The proposed sale would double Qatar's previous procurement of AH-64Es, which are used for “close air support, armed reconnaissance, and anti-tank warfare missions,” according to a notice posted on the Defense Security Cooperation Agency's website Thursday. “The helicopters will provide a long-term defensive and offensive capability to the Qatar peninsula as well as enhance the protection of key oil and gas infrastructure and platforms.” The notification is not a guarantee of a final sale. Congress can still weigh in, and once cleared by the Hill, negotiations between customer and supplier often lead to different prices or quantities. Included in the sale are the 24 helicopter bodies, 52 T700-GE-701D engines; 26 AN/ASQ-170 Modernized Target Acquisition and Designation Sight (MTADS); 26 AN/AAQ-11 Modernized Pilot Night Vision Sensors; 2,500 AGM-114R Hellfire missiles; 28 M230 30mm automatic chain guns, as well as other equipment and training. Primary work will be done at Boeing's Mesa, Ariz., facility, Lockheed Martin's Orlando, Fla,, location and General Electric's Cincinnati, OH facility, as well as other locations. There are no known industrial offsets in the deal. https://www.defensenews.com/global/mideast-africa/2019/05/09/us-clears-3-billion-apache-sale-for-qatar