3 juin 2020 | International, Aérospatial
By THERESA HITCHENSon June 02, 2020 at 8:01 AM
WASHINGTON: Given the fact that the global market for trainers is flat at best, and practically non-existent for light attack aircraft, the competition for Special Operations Command's upcoming Armed Overwatch buy is likely to be fierce.
“75 planes is a lot in this market,” Richard Aboulafia, aviation analyst at Teal Group, told Breaking D.
SOCOM has budgeted $106 million in 2021 to buy the first five of up to 75 Armed Overwatch aircraft to perform close air support for its troops on the ground, light attack and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. The planes would replace Air Force Special Operations Command's current fleet of U-28 Draco aircraft.
Indeed, Teal Group's January 2020 market analysis on trainers (not including supersonic aircraft) and light attack aircraft finds the total market worth only about $2 billion, compared to up to $30 billion for fighter jets.
“Having SOCOM do this with 75 planes to train with less capable allied forces almost makes sense, compared with the totally absurd idea of the Air Force buying hundreds as part of their force structure,” Aboulafia said.
He was referencing the Air Force's on-again, off-again romance with the concept of buying up to 300 so-called Light Attack Aircraft to use for training, for close air support by Air Force Special Operations Command, and as strike aircraft for US allies involved in insurgencies such as Afghanistan and Lebanon. After almost a decade of dithering, the service finally in February made a final determination to buy only two each of the Textron/Beechcraft AT-6 Wolverine and the Sierra Nevada-Embraer A-29 Tucanos for continued experimentation.
SOCOM officials have stressed that the commands requirements are slightly different than those of the Air Force, focused more on mission capabilities than aircraft design.
“Armed Overwatch addresses our requirement for a close air support and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability that can operate in austere, short take-off and landing environments with minimal manning, infrastructure and sustainment,” Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins, a SOCOM spokesperson, told Breaking D.
And while at least one vendor expressed concerns about speaking with the press due to guidance issued to industry by SOCOM, Hawkins said the guidance used standard language asking vendors not to speak about SOCOM's articulated needs with the goal of protecting ‘controlled unclassified' information.
The program is slated to hold a prototype demonstration in November or December — a date that may slip, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At least four aircraft manufacturing teams have confirmed participation in the contest: Sierra Nevada-Embraer; Textron Aviation Defense; Air Tractor; and Leidos.
In an May 18 interview with Breaking D, Textron Aviation Defense's Vice President of Defense Strategy and Sales Brett Pierson stressed the fact that the Beechcraft AT-6E has already shown that it can perform the multiple missions envisioned by SOCOM by virtue of its participation in the Air Force's Light Attack Experiment over the last several years.
“It already has the capability to do the kind of missions that SOCOM talks about,” he said.
The AT-6 has proven its chops in austere environments, Pierson said, both in landing on unprepared runways, and in the ability to rapidly refuel and re-arm.
“During Light Attack Experiment, one of the things we demonstrated was the ability to have pilots refuel the airplane, re-arm rockets, do a quick turnaround and take back off again,” he said.
In addition, Pierson pointed out, Textron Aviation Defense has customers all over the world , giving it an established supply chain, as well as manufacturing capability. According to a company fact sheet provided to Breaking D, the AT-6 has “85 percent parts commonality with the T-6” trainer, which “yields low risk, low cost sustainment, world-wide logistics, and low-footprint maintenance.”
On the other hand, newcomer to the competition Leidos argues that its new Bronco II has the advantage of being designed specifically with the SOCOM mission in mind. Leidos is partnering on Bronco II with the US arm of South African defense conglomerate Paramount Group (which manufactures the Mwari light reconnaissance aircraft), and aftermarket service provider Vertex Aerospace, based in Mississippi.
And the fact that the Bronco II is a prototype means its specifications can be altered more easily to fit exactly what the customer might desire, Richard Jackson, Leidos VP for Business Development & Strategy Airborne Solutions, Defense, told Breaking D in a May 19 interview.
“It allows SOCOM, from our perspective, to have greater flexibility in influencing the future of how the aircraft evolves,” he said.
The aircraft design is optimized to meet SOCOM's multi-mission profile, Jackson stressed, using modern, modular design approaches and open standards that ensure future subsystem upgrades are easily accomplished. It also has an “interchangeable conformal mission bay” that allows payloads to be rapidly swapped out by a couple of operators “in hours, not days.”
“Multi-mission is key word here,” he said. “It can do the surveillance and combat support and combat attack role simultaneously. That is something that SOCOM has touted and is not easily done.”
The Bronco II is built specifically to operate in austere environments, he said. For example, it can be rapidly broken down for transport — with one deconstructed aircraft fitting on a C-130 and two fitting in a C-17.
“It was designed from a clean sheet,” Jackson said, “purpose built for austere environments. That's something that no other company can say.”
Neither Sierra Nevada-Embraer or Air Tractor were available for comment.
The A-29 turboprop not only has been involved in the Air Force's Light Attack Experiment, but also used in combat by Afghanistan's air force in the fight against the Taliban. And on April 17, the Sierra Nevada/Embraer team announced that it has successfully flight tested the first of 12 A-29s being built for the Nigerian air force.
Air Tractor had offered, with partner L3, the AT-802L Longsword back in 2017 during Phase 1 of the Light Attack Aircraft experiment, but lost out to the AT-6 and A-29 — with Air Force officials citing lack of an ejection seat as a factor. (Air Tractor last November filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office that was subsequently dismissed.) Air Tractor's website now touts the multi-mission AT-802U, which the firm says can support ISR, signals intelligence, border/maritime patrol and remote supply/transport missions.
https://breakingdefense.com/2020/06/socom-multi-mission-plane-competition-heats-up
23 septembre 2022 | International, C4ISR
The COFFEE program aims to provide elemental-level protection for these systems against interferers that could adversely impact the operation in congested environments
15 janvier 2020 | International, Terrestre
By Matthew Cox The U.S. Army has announced that it plans to strike deals with QinetiQ North America and Textron Systems to build versions of the Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV). Army Combat Capability Development Command's Ground Vehicle Systems Center, along with the service's Next-Generation Combat Vehicles cross-functional team, intend to award Other Transaction Agreements (OTA) to QinetiQ North America to build four light versions of the RCV and to Textron to build four medium versions, according to a recent news release from the National Advanced Mobility Consortium. The Army often uses OTAs under its new acquisition reform strategy, so it can have prototypes built quickly for experimenting with new designs. If all goes well in upcoming negotiations, the service intends to award the final OTAs for both variants by mid-February, the release states. The prototype RCVs will be used as part of the Army's "Robotic Campaign of Learning" in an effort to "determine the feasibility of integrating unmanned vehicles into ground combat operations," the release adds. The RCV effort is part of the Army's sweeping modernization effort, launched in 2017. The service wants to develop light, medium and heavy version of the RCV to give commanders the option of sending unmanned vehicles into combat against enemy forces. "Robots have the potential to revolutionize the way we conduct ground combat operations," Brig. Gen. Ross Coffman, director of the Next-Generation Combat Vehicle cross-functional team, said in the release. "Whether that's giving increased firepower to a dismounted patrol, breaching an enemy fighting position, or providing [chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear] reconnaissance, we envision these vehicles providing commanders more time and space for decisions and reducing risk to soldiers." Following final OTA notices, QinetiQ North America and Textron's RCVs will be used in a platoon level experiment in March and a company-level experiment in late 2021, the release states. The results of the experiments, along with the findings from several virtual experiments, will "inform a decision by the Army on how to proceed" with robotic combat vehicles in 2023, according to the release. Textron, along with its subsidiaries Howe and Howe Technologies and FLiR Systems Inc., displayed the Ripsaw M5 unmanned tracked vehicle as its RCV in October at the Association of the United States Army's annual meeting. QinetiQ North America teamed up with Pratt and Miller Defense to enter its Expeditionary Modular Autonomous Vehicle (EMAV) at AUSA as well. Jeffrey Langhout, director of the Ground Vehicle Systems Center, applauded the selection of QinetiQ North America and Textron as a "testament to the dedication and passion of the Army to giving our soldiers the best capabilities possible." "This is a great day for our Army, as we make another important step in learning how we can employ robotic vehicles into our future formations," he said in the release. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/01/14/army-picks-2-firms-build-light-and-medium-robotic-combat-vehicles.html
18 octobre 2018 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
NAVY Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., doing business as Northrop Grumman Mission Systems Sector, Bethpage, New York, is awarded a $697,029,788 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for system upgrades for the EA-18G system configuration sets, Airborne Electronic Attack and Electronic Warfare systems and final upgrades for the EA-6B system for the Navy and the government of Australia under the Foreign Military Sales program. Work will be performed in Pt. Mugu, California (50 percent); Baltimore, Maryland (29 percent); Bethpage, New York (20 percent); and Rolling Meadows, Illinois (1 percent), and is expected to be completed in October 2023. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in amount of $996,902 are being obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, Point Mugu, California, is the contracting activity (N68936-19-D-0007). LGS Innovations LLC, Westminster, Colorado, is awarded a $15,528,008 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price contract for engineering services, materials, training, and testing to support integration and operation of information operations payloads into unmanned aerial vehicles used by the U.S. Special Operations Command and the Navy. This two-year contract includes a three-year option which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $34,996,905. Work will be performed across three geographic zones in the areas of Westminster, Colorado (40 percent); Florham Park, New Jersey (40 percent); and Jessup, Maryland (20 percent). The work is expected to be completed Oct. 16, 2020. If the option is exercised, the period of performance would extend through Oct. 16, 2023. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funding will be obligated via task/delivery orders using anticipated types of funding to include: operations and maintenance (Navy); other procurement (Navy); and research, development, test and evaluation (Navy). Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This sole-source procurement is issued using other than full and open competition in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 6.302-1 and 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) - only one responsible source. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-19-D-3401). Wiley Wilson Burns and McDonnell JV, Alexandria, Virginia, is awarded $15,000,000 firm-fixed-price modification under a previously awarded indefinite-quantity architect-engineering contract (N40080-15-D-0452) to exercise option four for engineering and design services for general and administrative facilities within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command. The total contract amount after exercise of this option will be is $75,000,000. No task orders are being issued at this time. Work will be performed at various administrative facilities within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Washington area of responsibility, including but not limited to, Maryland (45 percent); Washington, District of Columbia (30 percent); and Virginia (20 percent). Work may also be performed in the remainder of the U.S. (5 percent), and is expected to be completed in October 2019. No funds will be obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. Task orders will be primarily funded by fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy and Marine Corps); and fiscal 2019 Navy working capital funds. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Rockwell Collins Inc. Government Systems Division, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is awarded a $7,062,238 five-year long-term contract for repair of 22 various navigation and communication items that are a part of the KC-130J, H-1, E-2C, P-3, common systems and other aircraft. Work will be performed at contractor facilities in Atlanta, Georgia; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Calexico, California; and Wichita, Kansas. The percentage of work at each of those locations cannot be determined at this time, and work is expected to be completed by October 2023. Working capital (Navy) funds will be obligated as individual task orders are issued and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One firm was solicited for this non-competitive requirement under authority 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1) and Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. The requirement was posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website and the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with one offer received. Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00383-19-D-PS01). General Electric Co., Lynn, Massachusetts, was awarded $7,041,528 for modification P00012 to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-17-C-0047) for the procurement of 24 F414-GE-400 engine devices for Lot 42 F/A-18 aircraft. Work will be performed in Evendale, Ohio, and is expected to be completed in February 2019. Fiscal 2018 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount $7,041,528 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. (Awarded Oct. 15, 2018) AIR FORCE The Boeing Co., Layton, Utah, has been awarded a $55,567,613 undefinitized, firm-price incentive-fee contract, for Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Cryptography Upgrade Increment II production. This contract provides for the government's minimum requirement of the production of 75 message processor drawers; 8 digital components; and program management support. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama; and Huntington Beach, California, and is expected to be completed by Feb. 11, 2019. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition and one offer was received. Fiscal 2018 missile procurement funds in the amount of $17,864,050 are being obligated at the time of award. Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Contracting Division, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (FA8204-19-C-0001). ARMY TGS USA,* McLean, Virginia, was awarded a $39,543,009 firm-fixed-price Foreign Military Sales (Iraq) contract for Toyota Land Cruisers 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 Oct. 16, 2018. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-19-D-0010). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY UPDATE: US Eco Products Corp., Haverhill, Massachusetts (SPE8EC-19-D-0030), has been added as an awardee to the multiple-award contract for commercial snow removal equipment, issued against solicitation SPE8EC-17-R-0009, announced May 5, 2017. *Small Business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1664968/source/GovDelivery/