13 août 2020 | International, Naval
By PAUL MCLEARYon August 12, 2020 at 4:04 PM
WASHINGTON: A top Navy official today tried to clarify a Pentagon information paper leaked last week which warned that “at least one” of the seven shipyards that churns out ships for the Navy could close unless Congress handed over billions more to the service.
As part of an $11 billion package the Pentagon is requesting from Congress to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the defense industry, the Navy is requesting $4.7 billion in part to ward off the chances “at least one” of the big seven shipyards shutting down. The paper, which has been delivered to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, also warned of over 100,000 lost jobs across shipyards and factories that make aircraft and other weapons for the military.
But the Navy's top acquisition executive told reporters today that the wording continued in the paper might leave too much out.
“The words could be taken out of context,” James Geurts said. “There probably should be the word ‘temporarily' in there.” If a shipyard started to see a significant portion of its workforce test positive for COVID, “we might have to temporarily close down the shipyard for a period of time until we got it under control. Not that we would have to shut down a shipyard permanently.”
The memo contains no such caveats, however. It flatly states a shipyard could close unless the Navy gets the funding boost.
Asked where the paper came from, and who it was intended for, DoD spokesman Christopher Sherwood told me via email the department “provided informational material to our oversight committees when asked about the impacts COVID-19 has had on the Defense Industrial Base and our suppliers.”
The Navy has gone to great lengths to help its shipyards weather the COVID storm, pumping $130 billion into its supplier base this year in upfront payments, spending that is 25% higher than at this point last year.
But some yards have experienced pain keeping to schedule, with uncertain futures ahead as the Navy looks to change its fleet mix in the coming years to better compete with China and Russia.
Mark Cancian, a defense expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, acknowledged that all Navy shipyards “have a backlog of work, including Bath Iron Works, which was the subject of speculation about closing.” Bath, already six months behind on building seven destroyers in dock, is stumbling to the conclusion of a six-week strike by 4,300 shipbuilders which will likely make those delays even longer.
Likewise, the Mississippi-based Austal is looking at the end of the road for its contract to build dozens of aluminum Littoral Combat Ships in a few years, which would likely mark the end of the Navy's interest in buying aluminum hulls. That shipyard “would be at more risk” Cancian said.
Neither shipyard is any worse off than the others due to COVID-related shutdowns, however, making the Pentagon's point that yards could shut and require COVID relief funds to keep going, an argument that finds few adherents.
There's little doubt COVID is slowing down both ship construction and repair, “but that doesn't mean the Navy doesn't need the ships anymore,” said Bryan Clark of the Hudson Institute. “It just means everything takes longer, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the shipyards are going to close.”
Clark noted that while Bath is in a bad spot with delays to its destroyer work that will be compounded by the strike, the Navy still needs it to build destroyers in the future, since relying on Huntington Ingalls as the nation's only shipyard that can build the ships is too risky.
Add to that the likelihood that the Navy will move toward buying more numerous small cruisers, unmanned ships, and smaller platforms for Marines and away from small numbers of large destroyers and amphibious ships in the future, means there will be more contracts, and work to go around later this decade.
The service is still on track to deliver its much-delayed 30 year shipbuilding plan and force structure assessment this fall, in which several options like a new class of destroyers, a new class of smaller frigates, and smaller hospital ships will all likely find their way into the plans.
14 avril 2023 | International, Terrestre
For Rheinmetall, the total value of the order comes to ?129 million?if Norway exercises the option to procure additional Leopard 2 tanks, the order will be worth an additional ?44...
16 février 2022 | International, Aérospatial
13 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
ARMY Raytheon/Lockheed Martin Javelin JV, Tucson, Arizona, was awarded a $121,764,089 modification (P00018) to contract W31P4Q-19-C-0076 for the Javelin weapon system. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2023. Fiscal 2019 and 2020 missile procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $121,764,089 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Construcciones Jose Carro SE, Coto Laurel, Puerto Rico, was awarded a $9,469,023 firm-fixed-price contract to construct channel scour protection and toe key revetment. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Dorado, Puerto Rico, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 28, 2021. Fiscal 2020 civil construction funds in the amount of $9,469,023 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity (W912EP-20-C-0005). NAVY Airborne Tactical Advantage Co. LLC, Newport News, Virginia, is awarded a $34,553,773 modification (P00023) to previously awarded firm-fixed-price, cost-reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract N00019-15-D-0026. This modification extends the period of performance for contractor-owned and operated Type III high subsonic and Type IV supersonic aircraft. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia (44%); Point Mugu, California (37%); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (19%). Work will provide airborne threat simulation capabilities and updates to the government furnished property list in support of the Contracted Air Services Program. Work is expected to be complete by November 2020. Funds will be obligated on individual delivery orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Lockheed Martin Co., Stratford, Connecticut, is awarded a $29,940,372 modification (P00039) to previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, fixed-price-incentive-firm-target and firm-fixed-price contract N00019-16-C-0048. This modification provides for rate tooling, physical configuration audits, associated systems engineering and program management in support of CH-53K aircraft production. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut (28.7%); Salt Lake City, Utah (21.88%); Macomb, Michigan (11.01%); Wichita, Kansas (6.04%); Redmond, Washington (5.89%); Rome, New York (5.16%); North Haven, Connecticut (4.42%); Quebec, Connecticut (3.4%); Shelby Township, Michigan (3.36%); Newington, Connecticut (2.07%); Fort Plain, New York (1.44%); Minden, Nebraska (1.2%); Lenexa, Kansas (1.1%); various locations within the continental U.S. (3.71%); and various location outside the continental U.S. (0.62%). Work is expected to be complete by December 2023. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds for $29,940,372 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. United Technologies Corp., Pratt and Whitney Engines, East Hartford, Connecticut, is awarded a $10,648,976 modification (P00022) to previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm contract N00019-17-C-0020. This modification procures one low rate initial production Lot 11 afloat spares package kit for the Marine Corps in support of the F-35 Lightning II combat aircraft program. Work will be performed in East Hartford, Connecticut (20%); Indianapolis, Indiana (17%); Windsor Lock, Connecticut (16%); North Berwick, Maine (14%); Midland, Georgia (7%); Middleton, Connecticut (7%); Rockford, Illinois (7%); Phoenix, Arizona (6%); Bristol, United Kingdom (5%); and Santa Isabel, Israel (1%). Work is expected to be complete by September 2021. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds for $10,648,976 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Serco Inc., Herndon, Virginia, has been awarded a maximum $29,002,941 modification (P00021) exercising the third one-year option period of a one-year base contract (SP3300-17-C-5003) with four one-year option periods for chemical management services. This is a firm-fixed-price with cost-reimbursement and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. Locations of performance are Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and California, with a May 15, 2021, performance completion date. Using customer is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is Defense Logistics Agency Distribution, New Cumberland, Pennsylvania. AIR FORCE The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, has been awarded a $25,439,155 firm-fixed-price delivery order to contract FA8621-15-D-6266 to provide C-17 training devices and spares for the NATO Airlift Management Program located at Papa Air Base, Hungary. The training system will consist of one C-17 Weapon System Trainer (composed of an air vehicle station with an instructor operator station (IOS) and a loadmaster station with an IOS, a learning center complete with computer-based training systems, core integrated processor task trainer, courseware and initial spares to support these items for two years. Work will be performed at Papa AB, Hungary, and is expected to be completed June 1, 2022. This award is a sole-source acquisition. Foreign Military Sales funds to NATO in the full amount will be obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity. (Awarded May 8, 2020) DEFENSE HEALTH AGENCY American Systems, Chantilly, Virginia, was awarded a cost-plus-fixed-fee task order with a value of $11,636,887. HT0038-20-F-0006 provides transformation planning of the Theater Medical Information Program-Joint into a modular and portable software suite with a unified architecture. This task order has a period of performance from May 13, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2020. The estimated completion date is Sept. 30, 2020. Work will primarily occur in Chantilly, Virginia. This award will be funded by fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds; and research and development funds. This task order is a Small Business Innovation Research Phase III award. The contracting activity is the Defense Health Agency, Falls Church, Virginia. DEFENSE COUNTERINTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY AGENCY Verato Inc., McLean, Virginia, was awarded a firm-fixed-price delivery order (HS0021-20-F-0010) under HS0021-19-A-0005, for an estimated $8,735,669 for the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA). The delivery order provides for tri-merge credit reports and credit monitoring in support of the background investigation process. Work will be performed in McLean, Virginia. This delivery order is funded with fiscal 2020 DCSA working capital funds, with $2,183,917 obligated at time of award. The anticipated delivery period is from May 17, 2020, through May 16, 2021. DCSA Acquisition and Contracting, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity. *Small business