Snowbirds, CF-18 Demo Team wrap up spring training - Skies Mag

Sur le même sujet

• 

  29 juillet 2022 | International, Aérospatial

  Northrop Grumman CEO: We Can Build a Next-Generation Fighter

  Kathy Warden said the company’s B-21 stealth bomber positions it well to compete for the Next Generation Air Dominance warplane.

• 

  7 décembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - December 6, 2018

  AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Amherst Systems, Buffalo, New York, has been awarded a $450,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for U.S. agencies (Air Force, Navy, etc.); and Foreign Military Sales countries for Joint Threat Emitter production end-items, spares, support equipment, testing, training, etc. Work will be performed in Buffalo, New York, and various contiguous U.S. and outside the continental U.S. locations, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 5, 2025. This contract involves foreign military sales to U.S. partner countries. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and one offer was received. Fiscal 2018 other procurement funds in the amount of $9,150,318 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (FA8210-19-D-0001). The Boeing Co., Seattle, Washington, has been awarded a $158,950,309 firm-fixed-price modification (P00003) to contract FA8609-18-F-0006 for one KC-46A Japan aircraft. This modification provides for the exercise of an option for an additional quantity of one aircraft being produced under the basic contract. Work will be performed in Seattle and is expected to be completed by June 30, 2021. This modification involves foreign military sales to Japan. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $449,375,855. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity. The Boeing Co., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, has been awarded a sustainment order (FA8134-19-F-0001) with an estimated amount of $75,000,000 to previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract FA8106-16-D-0002 for E-4B sustainment support. The order will provide contractor logistic support services. Work will be performed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, and San Antonio, Texas, with an expected completion date of Nov. 30, 2019. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $57,188,079 are obligated at time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Nov. 30, 2018) Dayton Power and Light Co., Dayton, Ohio, has been awarded a $28,179,453 modification (P00001) to contract FA8601-18-C-0010 to exercise Option One for electricity services. Work will be performed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2019. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio is the contracting activity. Raytheon Co., Marlborough, Massachusetts, has been awarded a $10,722,437, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Force Element Terminal Risk Reduction effort. The contract will deliver risk reduction studies, analyses, and demonstrations related to Raytheon's Advanced Extremely High Frequency Airborne Military Satellite Communication product line. Work will be performed in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and is expected to be completed by Aug. 30, 2019. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $3,959,991 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hansom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity (FA8705-19-C-0005). The Boeing Co., El Segundo, California, has been awarded a $10,361,265 modification (P00034) to contract FA8823-15-C-0002 for services required to ensure continued Wideband Global Satellite Communication operations and logistics sustainment support. The contract modification is for the exercise of Option Period Four. Work will be performed at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado; El Segundo, California; and Colorado Springs, Colorado, and is expected to be completed Dec. 31, 2019. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $10,361,265 will be obligated at the time of award. Space and Missile Systems Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, is the contracting activity. Cloud Lake Technology, Herndon, Virginia, has been awarded an $8,875,620 modification (P00012) to contract FA8075-17-C-0002 for Information Analysis Center Program Management Office (IAC PMO) support. IAC PMO support services provides program management analysis, acquisition management, operations analysis, financial analysis, process improvement, strategic communications and performance measurement support. This modification provides for the exercise of an option for additional services under the basic contract, and brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $21,870,362. Work will be performed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by March 31, 2020. Fiscal 2019 and 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $2,904,150 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Installation Contracting Agency, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, is the contracting activity. CORRECTION: The Nov. 14, 2018, announcement that Kaman Precision Products Inc., Orlando, Florida; and Middletown, Connecticut, was awarded a $52,026,000 firm-fixed-price modification (P00009) to contract FA8681-18-C-0009 for Joint Programmable Fuzes was incorrect. The contract was actually awarded Dec. 3, 2018. ARMY General Dynamics - Ordnance and Tactical Systems, Garland, Texas, was awarded a $264,767,596 firm-fixed-price contract for MK80 and BLU-109 Tritonal bomb components. Bids were solicited with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 31, 2023. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W52P1J-19-D-0015). RIPTIDE Software Inc.,* Oviedo, Florida, was awarded a $103,221,000 hybrid (cost, cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-plus-incentive-fee, firm-fixed-price) contract for the OneSAF system. Bids were solicited with three received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 5, 2024. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity (W900KK-19-D-0003). L3 Communications Security and Detection Systems, Woburn, Massachusetts, was awarded an $83,942,786 firm-fixed-price contract for manufacturing, delivering and supporting the AN/PSS-14. 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 Nov. 20, 2023. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W909MY-19-D-0001). General Dynamics Land Systems Inc., Sterling Heights, Michigan, was awarded a $58,088,134 firm-fixed-price contract for procurement of expedited active protection systems mounting kits and ballast kits to support the Abrams M1A2 battle tank. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work will be performed in Sterling Heights, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2020. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $12,739,706 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-19-C-0038). Weeks Marine Inc., Covington, Louisiana, was awarded a $12,787,500 firm-fixed-price contract for dredging. Bids were solicited with one received. Work will be performed in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of May 26, 2019. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance Army funds in the amount of $12,787,500 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-19-C-0010). Tetra Tech-Maytag Aircraft Corp. J, Pasadena, California, was awarded a $9,043,009 modification (P00002) to contract W912DY-18-F-0056 for maintenance and repair of equipment. Work will be performed in Twenty Nine Palms, California; Bremerton, Washington; Barstow, California; Ridgecrest, California; El Centro, California; Fallon, Nevada; Lemoore, California; Port Orchard, Washington; Coronado, California; San Diego, California; Arlington, Washington; Everett, Washington; Bridgeport, California; Oceanside, California; Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California; Oak Harbor, Washington; San Clemente Island, California; San Nicholas Island, California; and Yuma, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 30, 2019. Fiscal 2019 Defense Working Capital funds in the amount of $9,043,009 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Broadway Electric Inc.,* Elk Grove Village, Illinois, was awarded a $7,173,000 firm-fixed-price contract for removing generators, paralleling switchgear, and replacing feeders. Bids were solicited with three received. Work will be performed in Battle Creek, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 18, 2019. Fiscal 2015, 2018 and 2019 Economy Act Reimbursable funds in the amount of $7,173,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W911XK-19-C-0002). Eastman Aggregate Enterprises LLC,* Lake Worth, Florida, was awarded a $7,864,771 firm-fixed-price contract for flood control and coastal emergency beach erosion control. Bids were solicited with two received. Work will be performed in Broward County, Florida, with an estimated completion date of April 29, 2019. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance Army funds in the amount of $7,864,771 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity (W912EP-19-C-0006). NAVY BAE Systems Land & Armaments LP, Sterling Heights, Michigan, is awarded a $140,354,780 modification to exercise options for the fixed-price-incentive (firm target) Contract Line Item Numbers (CLIN) 3001, 3002, and 3003 portions of a previously awarded contract (M67854-16-C-0006). This modification is for the purchase of 30 Amphibious Combat Vehicles and associated production, fielding and support costs. Work will be performed in York, Pennsylvania (85 percent); and Aiken, South Carolina (15 percent), and is expected to be completed in August 2020. Fiscal 2019 procurement (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $140,354,780 will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with proposals solicited via the Federal Business Opportunities website. The option CLINs were included within that contract and are being exercised in accordance with FAR 52.217-7 option for increased quantity-separately priced line item. The U.S. Marine Corps' Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M67854-16-C-0006). Emprise Corp. LLC, Ledyard, Connecticut, was awarded a $96,470,026 firm-fixed-price level of effort with a five-year ordering period for Shipboard Automated Maintenance Management Systems (SAMM). Engineering services in this contract will assist Military Sealift Command (MSC) afloat and ashore operations. The engineering maintenance management systems consist of both afloat and ashore systems with various modules and functions that work together to optimize MSC maintenance programs. SAMM is required for shipboard personnel to document maintenance performed on MSC vessels and record daily machinery operational data. The system also provides a consistent maintenance plan for the MSC fleet. This engineering system is a recurring requirement, which will allow MSC to continuously achieve interoperability and maintain and sustain fleet operations. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia, and work is expected to be completed Dec. 9, 2023. This contract will be funded with Fiscal 2018 working capital funds (Navy and U.S. Transportation Command) funds in the amount of $10,000,000 will be obligated at the time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with proposals solicited via the Federal Business Opportunities website, having one offer received. The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N3220519D1001). (Awarded Dec. 5, 2018) BAE Systems San Diego Ship Repair (BAE), San Diego, California, was awarded a $78,847,897 firm-fixed-price contract for the execution of the USS Shoup (DDG 86) fiscal 2019 Depot Modernization Period Availability (DMP). This availability will include a combination of maintenance, modernization and repair of USS Shoup. This is a Chief of Naval Operations-scheduled DMP. The purpose is to maintain, modernize and repair USS Shoup. This is a “long-term” availability and was competed on a coastwide (west coast) basis without limiting the place of performance to the vessel's homeport. BAE will provide the facilities and human resources capable of completing, coordinating and integrating multiple areas of ship maintenance, repair and modernization for USS Shoup. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $87,672,675. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed by February 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $59,836,401; and fiscal 2019 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $19,011,496 will be obligated at time of award, and $59,836,400 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured using full and open competition via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with two offers received in response to solicitation N00024-18-R-4407. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-19-C-4407). (Awarded Dec. 3, 2018) L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC., Madison, Mississippi, was awarded a $21,845,138 modification (P00035) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, cost-reimbursable, labor hour, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-13-D-0007). This modification increases the ceiling and extends the period of performance to provide contractor logistics services and materials for organizational and depot-level services required to support and maintain the TH-57 fleet. Work will be performed in Milton, Florida, and is expected to be completed in January 2019. No funds will be obligated at time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity. Teledyne Wireless LLC, a Teledyne Microwave Solutions Company, Rancho Cordova, California, is awarded an $8,243,062 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract in support of evaluation, minor repair and manufacture of 10kW traveling wave tubes; manufacture of 13kW traveling wave tubes; government-furnished equipment maintenance for traveling wave tubes; and incidental engineering services. Work will be performed in Rancho Cordova, California, and is expected to be completed by November 2023. This work is to support subcomponents of the Aegis Combat System. The traveling wave tube design was developed by Teledyne Wireless LLC, who has proprietary design rights for the 10kW and 13kW traveling wave tubes. Fiscal 2018 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $196,276 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured, in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1 (only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements). The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Crane, Indiana, is the contracting activity (N00164-19-D-WP83). Black Construction/Mace International JV, Harmon, Guam, is awarded firm-fixed-price task order N4008419F4086 for $27,350,842 under a multiple award construction contract for the design build repair of Unaccompanied Personnel Housing (UPH) -13 and UPH-17 at U.S. Navy Support Facility, Diego Garcia. The work to be performed provides for repairs to the building components and utility systems which are old and increasingly deteriorated. The work will also address life safety and energy deficiencies which have begun to generate intensive maintenance and reliability concerns. Work will be performed in Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory, and is expected to be completed by August 2023. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $27,350,842 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Two proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Far East, Yokosuka, Japan, is the contracting activity (N40084-18-D-0066). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Creation Gardens Inc.,* Louisville, Kentucky, has been awarded a maximum $49,500,000 firm-fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for fresh fruits and vegetables. This was a competitive acquisition with one response received. This is a 36-month contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are Kentucky and Indiana, with a Dec. 4, 2021, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Department of Agriculture schools. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2022 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-19-D-P344). Heart and Core LLC, Minnetonka, Minnesota, has been awarded a maximum $7,920,000 modification (P00011) exercising the second one-year option period of a one-year base contract (SPE1C1-17-D-1018) with four one-year option periods for moisture wicking T-shirts. This is an indefinite-delivery contract. Locations of performance are California and Minnesota, with a Dec. 15, 2019, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2020 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1707044/

• 

  10 décembre 2020 | International, Terrestre

  Despite progress, industry faces ‘very tough roadmap’ to field FCAS by 2040

  GA is building a prototype 300-kW missile defense laser for the Pentagon and a 250-kW airborne version with Boeing. By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.on December 09, 2020 at 3:04 PM WASHINGTON: General Atomics is so confident in a unique technology they say solves the heat and weight problems found in rival laser designs that they're making it the core of two distinctly different projects. The Office of the Secretary of Defense is funding General Atomics and two competitors to build experimental lasers able to blast out some 300 kilowatts of power – enough to burn cruise missiles out of the sky. This project is about scaling up laser power output and testing alternative technologies for the services to pick up for separate follow-on programs. Meanwhile, Boeing and General Atomics are jointly developing a smaller laser weapon – starting at about 100 kilowatts but capable of growing to 250 kW. Unlike OSD's, this 250 kW weapon is being built at the companies' own expense, essentially on spec. (The technical term is IRAD, Independent Research And Development). Like OSD, Boeing and GA are hoping to demonstrate technology that'll be picked up by the services for a wide range of ground- and ship-based applications: The company says they're targeting the Army's Stryker-mounted M-SHORAD and its larger truck-borne IFPC, as well as Navy shipborne models. But for the pilot project, they've set themselves a very specific and demanding technical challenge: make their laser fit aboard an airplane – and make it fire accurately from that plane in flight. (Breaking D readers will remember the Airborne Laser, a huge chemical laser on a modified 747, as well as plans to arm the Next Generation Air Dominance planes with lasers.) Call in the “New York, New York” school of engineering: If you can make your laser work on a plane, you can make it work anywhere. “The idea is, if we can do it for an aircraft, then it truly could be able to go on any ground or sea platform,” said GA's VP for lasers, Michael Perry. “An aircraft...has the largest constraints on size, weight, and power.” Now, that doesn't mean getting lasers to work on ships or Army vehicles is easy. In some ways, surface platforms have a harder time: Their lasers have to penetrate the thickest, most moisture-laden layers of the atmosphere. And, Perry told me, while an aircraft in flight is constantly vibrating, you can account for that with sophisticated beam control software and high-quality aiming mirrors: That tech is tricky to build, but not bulky to install once you've built it. By contrast, a laser installed on a surface platform has to handle sudden, massive jolts as the warship crashes over a wave or the truck drives over a ditch, and that requires shock absorption systems, which are bulky and heavy. (While General Atomics and Boeing haven't said what aircraft they're planning to test the laser aboard, given the fact that Perry thinks extensive shock-absorption will be unnecessary, that suggests it isn't going to be a fighter jet or anything that makes violent high-gee maneuvers. That's in line with Air Force Special Operations Command's longstanding interest in putting a laser cannon aboard their AC-130 turboprop gunship). So GA's major focus in this project seems to be proving how compact their technology can be. Smaller size is a big advantage of the GA approach, Perry said, which they refer to as scalable distributed gain. Fibers, Slabs, & Distributed Gain What is a “distributed gain” laser, anyway? In the Wild West days of Reagan's Star Wars program, the Pentagon looked into lots of ways of powering lasers, from literal nuclear explosions – an idea called Project Excalibur – to massive vats of toxic chemicals, like the ones that filled the converted Boeing 747 that became the Airborne Laser. The real progress, however, has come with so-called solid state lasers: They pump light into a crystalline “gain medium,” which then amplifies the power of that light (hence “gain”), until it's released as a laser beam. But there are two main ways of building a solid-state laser: A slab laser, as its name implies, uses a single big chunk of crystal as the gain medium. This gives you a single coherent beam of laser light. The problem with slab lasers is heat buildup. The bigger you make the slab, the further the distance from its core to the edges, which means it takes longer to disperse waste heat, which can build up and damage the system. (You may recognize this from high school physics as a manifestation of the square-cube law). So slab lasers tend to require cooling systems, which are bulky and heavy. A fiber laser, by contrast, uses lots and lots of fiber-optic cables as gain media. Each individual fiber is very thin, and you can leave space between them, so it's easy for them to disperse waste heat. The problem with fiber lasers is the act of combining the beams. The bigger you make the laser, the more fibers you need – a 250-kW weapon might take 100 fibers, Perry said – and each fiber produces its own, weak laser beam, which you then have to combine into a single, powerful beam. Beam combination systems tend to be expensive and complex, not to mention (surprise!) bulky and heavy. General Atomics' distributed gain laser tries to strike a balance. Instead of a single big slab, you have several smaller slabs, each of them thin enough to disperse heat quickly. But instead of each of these slabs producing its own beam in parallel, which you then have to combine, you connect them in serial. The initial light source goes into the first slab, which magnifies it and shoots it into the second slab, which magnifies it still more. In theory you could have a third slab as well, even a fourth and fifth, though that's not what GA is building here. (They don't have to be lined up end to end, because you can use high-quality mirrors to bounce the light around a corner). “It is a series of slabs,” Perry told me. “The single beam passes through them all, as opposed to being separate lasers.” The advantage of distributed gain for high-power lasers is that you need neither the extensive cooling systems of a slab laser, nor the exquisite beam-combination systems of a fiber laser. “It's pretty compact,” Perry told me. “If you came out to see if you would be surprised at how short it is.” That said, there is a minimum length for a given amount of power output. That's why General Atomics couldn't fit the same 300-kW weapon they're building for OSD onto Boeing's aircraft (again, they're not saying what that aircraft is), which is why that version had to be scaled down to 250 inches. “The problem we have is, the 300-kw architecture is about 18 inches longer then the 250,” Perry said ruefully. “Believe it or not, as painful as it is and as frustrated as I am, I cannot eke out another 18 inches of length... The platform can't even give us another 12 inches.” It may be frustrating for Perry and his team to build two different versions of their lasers, rather than build two identical copies of the same thing – but the exercise could help prove to potential customers just how adaptable the basic design can be. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/12/general-atomics-new-compact-high-powered-lasers/