16 octobre 2020 | International, Terrestre
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army is preparing a soldier vehicle assessment of two different light tank prototypes for infantry brigade combat teams that will start in January 2021 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
The assessment will run through June 2021, according to the service.
BAE Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems were chosen in December 2018 to each build 12 prototypes of the Army's future mobile protected firepower, or MPF, vehicle identified in the service's ground combat vehicle strategy published in 2015. The service had found the capability one the service lacks.
GDLS is building a vehicle that takes the United Kingdom's AJAX chassis and combines it with an M1 Abrams tank turret.
BAE Systems' design is an updated M8 Buford armored gun system with new capabilities and components.
“I just had my deep dive today on the SVA [soldier vehicle assessment] with the 82nd [Airborne],” Maj. Gen. Brian Cummings, the Army's program executive officer for ground combat systems, told Defense News in a recent interview.
Work is ongoing to prepare ranges and roads for the arrival of the prototypes, he said.
The MPF is going to be critical for the infantry because it provides infantry brigade combat teams with an organic capability to take care of impediments to forward progression such as gunfire from a machine gun nest or another enemy vehicle.
The Army is expected to choose a winner in 2022. The first units will get MPF in fiscal 2025. The Army plans to initially build 26 vehicles, with an option to build 28 more and retrofit eight prototypes.
GDLS told Defense News in an interview ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference that it has delivered three vehicles to the Army. One is at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, going through characterization and mobility testing and preparing for firing. Another is at Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona, undergoing desert testing and preparing for soldier training.
Five more prototypes are in “some form of checkout, getting ready for their final inspection report to deliver to the government,” a GDLS spokesperson said, and the company is on track to deliver all of the vehicles this year.
BAE is looking forward to the assessment because the two prototypes are so different from one another, said Jim Miller, the company's senior business development director for combat vehicles.
The BAE's offering is smaller — fitting in between the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle and a Stryker in terms of size — while GDLS' vehicle is bigger, as it's based on the M1 Abrams chassis.
The BAE's MPF prototype can be transported via a C-130 aircraft. Three can fit on a C-17 aircraft. And even though it is small, it has the survivability of BAE's Armored Multipurpose Vehicle, Miller said.
The Army is requiring the vehicle be C-17 transportable.
Soldier assessments for other recent competitions have weighed heavily into decisions, Miller added. “I think the soldier vehicle assessment is going to be really important,” he said. “Did we get this right? Now which one is closer to the mark?”
6 décembre 2021 | International, Terrestre
Durant l'été dernier, 32 Véhicules blindés multi-rôles [VBMR] Griffon ont été acheminés à Gao [Mali] en vue de la "projection" de trois compagnies [dont deux de combat] du 3e Régiment d'Infanterie de Marine [RIMa], appelées à former l'ossature du Groupement tactique désert [
22 septembre 2020 | International, Terrestre, C4ISR
Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army is preparing to enter into programs of record for light- and medium-class robotic combat vehicles in a few years, with plans to award separate contracts for a lead systems integrator for each program, according to the service's robotic combat vehicles product manager. The service wants to field a light, medium and heavy robotic combat vehicle, and it is experimenting with technology and how the vehicles might fit into future formations through the Army's Next-Generation Combat Vehicle modernization office. Developing NGCV capability is the second-highest priority for the Army. The plan is to make a decision to move the Army's RCV-Light out of technical maturation and into the engineering and manufacturing development phase in the second quarter of fiscal 2023. The service would do the same with the RCV-Medium program in FY24, Lt. Col. Chris Orlowski said Sept. 10 during a conference hosted by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. Orlowski noted that the potential RCV-Heavy program of record would fall behind the start of the medium and light programs by “a pretty significant margin.” At the same conference during a separate keynote presentation, Bruce Jette, the Army's acquisition chief, said decisions were made that “put pieces in place that will establish a formal program for robotic systems with the [program manager], not just following the tech base but in fact being the centerpiece for building light and medium systems inside of an architecture that fits within the entire operational vehicle architecture. In fact, it will leap over into the aircraft as well. It will be everything from driving to operations of the vehicle to visual sensing to probably a broader array of technical capabilities that you may not have even thought possible.” The Army plans to award a contract to a lead systems integrator that will combine the RCV's control station, network, platform, software and payloads, Orlowski said. Anticipated government-furnished equipment for the programs would include autonomy software, radios, war-fighter machine interface software, aided target recognition software and lethality payloads “minus the turret,” according to Orlowski. Other potential government-furnished equipment could be a tethered drone; assured position, navigation and timing technology; hostile fire detection; and other vehicle protection systems, he said. As the Army ventures into developing robotic vehicles that don't just do the dull, dirty and dangerous work, “the biggest thing is going to be software development, improving autonomous and automation software,” he added. “Teleoperation is nice; it works OK if you've got the right radios and the right environments, but long term, when those environments become tested, I think teleoperation will be less viable and we will have to really push the automation and autonomy on these platforms. But also, that being said, there is always going to have to be some soldier interaction with the platforms. How do we improve that interaction for the soldiers, reducing that cognitive burden?" he said. “I know everybody likes cool, big, awesome robots, but it's really a software thing that is going to make these things go, so anything that is kind of tied to software I think is a critical technology in my view,” he added. The Army's rough acquisition strategy for the robots calls for a first unit to receive RCV-Light vehicles in FY28 and a first unit to receive RCV-Medium in FY30, according to a slide from Orlowski's conference presentation. The Army recently wrapped up its first phase of experimentation with RCV-Heavy surrogates fashioned out of M113 armored personnel carriers at Camp Red Devil on Fort Carson, Colorado, which added complexity to an ongoing evaluation of the government-developed platforms. The Army also awarded contracts to a Textron and Howe & Howe team to build an RCV-Medium prototype, and to a QinetiQ North America and Pratt & Miller team to build the lighter version late last year and early this year. Those are being built now. Orlowski stressed those prototypes are being built “primarily to support future planned experimentation” in FY22 and FY24 and “in support of defining and informing requirements for the RCV program of record.” He added there is no plan to transition any of those systems into any type of limited fielding. “They are not designed for that. They are designed for a campaign of learning,” he said. Now that the first major experiment is done, the Army plans to build up to a company-level operation in the first quarter of FY22 at Fort Hood, Texas, with four RCV-Medium and four RCV-Light prototypes. While the experimentation at Fort Carson with RCV-Heavy was focused on cavalry operations where the robots served more in a scout mission and proved they could be effective in a reconnaissance and security role, the experiment in FY22 will move the robots into more of an attack-and-defend role. While the Army has to officially complete a critical technology assessment from the Fort Carson experimentation, Orlowski said the autonomy software “needs to improve.” The experimentation in FY22 will focus on improvements and the Army will work with industry partners to “improve that tether,” he said. “It needs to be robust in contested environments, which we haven't fully explored yet.” The service will also need to look at some alternate communications pathways between the control vehicle and the robots. Aided target recognition needs more maturity, Orlowski explained, “especially on the move to support the platforms.” Anything that reduces the soldier interaction with the platforms will also be incorporated, “and there are other things that soldiers asked for, which when we are ready to release we will. [The ideas from the feedback] were pretty perceptive," he said. "So how critical that becomes, we will see.” https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/09/21/laying-the-groundwork-us-army-unveils-rough-plan-to-formalize-robotic-combat-vehicles-effort/
14 décembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Michelin North America Inc., Greenville, South Carolina, has been awarded a maximum $51,004,943 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity, requirements contract to provide tire support for the global tires program. This was a competitive acquisition with seven responses received. This is a three-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is South Carolina, with a Dec. 10, 2021, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2018 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Columbus, Ohio (SPE7L1-19-D-0006). Practicon Inc., Greenville, North Carolina, has been awarded a maximum $40,000,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for dental consumable items. This is a one-year base contract with four one-year option periods. Maximum dollar amount is for the life of the contract, including options. This was a competitive acquisition with 25 offers received. Location of performance is North Carolina, with a Dec. 10, 2023, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2DE-19-D-0001). Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio, has been awarded a maximum $31,242,109 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity, requirements contract to provide tire support for the global tires program. This was a competitive acquisition with seven responses received. This is a three-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Ohio, with a Dec. 10, 2021, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2018 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Columbus, Ohio (SPE7L1-19-D-0005). NAVY Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a Lockheed Martin Co., Stratford, Connecticut, is awarded $38,170,404 for cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order N0001919F2503, against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-19-G-0029). This delivery order provides for the development and delivery of a provisioning parts database of technical information to include 2D drawings that support all organizational, intermediate and depot levels in support of initial operational capability for the CH-53K program. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut, and is expected to be completed in November 2023. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,600,000, will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Connecticut, is awarded a $24,770,301 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously-awarded contract N00024-18-C-2101, to exercise an option for engineering and technical design effort to support research and development concept formulation of undersea technology for current and future submarine platforms. This contract procures advanced submarine research and development, including studies to support manufacturability, maintainability, producibility, electronic obsolescence, reliability, manning, survivability, hull integrity, performance, structural, weight/margin, stability, arrangements, main and auxiliary machinery systems, fluid systems, acoustics, non-acoustics, hydrodynamics, ship control, logistics, human factors, materials, stowage, submarine safety, automation and affordability. Work will be performed in Groton, Connecticut (99 percent); and Newport, Rhode Island (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by October 2019. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $1,310,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin, Mission Systems and Training, Baltimore, Maryland, is awarded $16,158,990 for cost-plus-award-fee order N6278619F0001, against previously awarded basic ordering agreement (N00024-15-G-2303), to provide engineering and management services for LCS-13 post shakedown availability. Lockheed Martin will provide engineering and management services in support of 65,000 man-hours level of effort, and to provide the work specification, pre-fabrication, and material. Work will be performed in Baltimore, Maryland (33 percent); New York, New York (60 percent); and Marinette, Wisconsin (7 percent), and is expected to be completed by February 2020. Fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $15,087,040 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end at the end of the current fiscal year. The Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion, and Repair, Bath, Maine, is the contracting activity. Bluestone-Ch2m JV ,* Berwyn, Pennsylvania, is awarded a maximum amount $10,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity architect-engineering contract for professional hazardous material and waste management environmental compliance, and engineering services in the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southeast (SE) area of responsibility (AOR). Initial task order is being awarded at $163,789 to prepare a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act-compliant closure of Building 257 at Naval Air Station, Corpus Christi, Texas. Work for this task order is expected to be completed by December 2019. All work on this contract will be performed at various Navy and Marine Corps installations in the NAVFAC SE AOR. The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months with an expected completion date of December 2023. Fiscal 2018 military construction (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $163,789 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the 2021 fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by operations and maintenance (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with seven offers received. Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity (N69450-19-D-0105). ARMY World Wide Technology, Maryland Heights, Missouri, was awarded a $26,232,882 modification (P00003), to contract W15QKN-18-C-0108, for Army End Point Management Solutions-as-a-Service. Work will be performed in Maryland Heights, Missouri, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 26, 2019. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $26,232,882, were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, New Jersey, is the contracting activity. Rockwell Collins Inc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was awarded a $15,123,120 firm-fixed-price contract for small mission computer hardware and software. One bids was solicited with one bid received. Work will be performed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with an estimated completion date of July 11, 2021. Fiscal 2017 and 2018 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $15,123,120 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W911QY-19-C-0014). Raytheon Lockheed Martin Javelin JV, Tucson, Arizona, was awarded a $12,055,715 cost contract for Javelin engineering services. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 30, 2019. Fiscal 2018 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $12,055,715, were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-19-C-0038). The Protective Group, A Point Blank Co.,* Miami Lakes, Florida, was awarded an $11,924,240 firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of enhanced ballistic armor protection system kits. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 10, 2022. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-19-D-0013). Construction Co. Inc.,* Dayton, Ohio, was awarded a $9,429,000 firm-fixed-price contract for design and interior renovation and repair (Building 20) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Bids were solicited with three received. Work will be performed in Dayton, Ohio, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 24, 2020. Fiscal 2018 military construction funds in the amount of $9,429,000, were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville, Kentucky, is the contracting activity (W912QR-19-C-0007). AIR FORCE The Boeing Co., El Segundo, California, has been awarded a $22,772,840 modification (P00028) to contract FA8819-15-C-0007, to exercise Option Four for Space Based Space Surveillance Block 10 sustainment. This modification provides for the exercise of an option for the sustainment and required development necessary for Air Force operations and maintenance of the Space Based Space Surveillance system and Red Local Area Network. This effort includes systems engineering, operations, operations support, and contractor logistics support. Work will be performed in El Segundo, California; and Colorado Springs, Colorado, and is expected to be completed by June 20, 2022. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $14,943,930 are being obligated at the time of award. Space Superiority Systems Directorate, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1710661/