Space Force mulls refueling as industry calls for funding, standards

Sur le même sujet

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  25 avril 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  SUISSE LE TEST DES FUTURS AVIONS DE COMBAT A COMMENCÉ

  Les tests des cinq avions de combat en lice pour remplacer les Tiger et les F/A-18 de l'armée suisse ont débuté. L'Eurofighter d'Airbus a ouvert le bal vendredi sur la base aérienne de Payerne (VD). Outre l'Eurofighter, quatre autres concurrents sont en lice: le Gripen E suédois (Saab), le Rafale français (Dassault) ainsi que les deux avions américains, le successeur du F/A-18, le Super Hornet de Boeing, et le F-35A de Lockheed-Martin. L'ordre de passage des candidats a été fixé par ordre alphabétique des constructeurs. Quatre jours de tests sont prévus pour chacun. Tous les candidats ont les mêmes chances. Aucun choix préalable n'a été effectué et pour l'instant, les avions ne seront pas comparés entre eux. Cette phase interviendra lors du deuxième appel d'offres, avait indiqué lundi Christian Catrina, délégué de la cheffe du Département fédéral de la défense pour le projet d'achat des avions de combat. Vérifier les capacités L'objectif de ces tests est de vérifier les capacités des avions et les données des offres déposées par les différents constructeurs. Les essais incluent huit missions comportant des t'ches spécifiques. Effectuées par un ou deux avions de combat, ces missions consisteront en 17 décollages et atterrissage. Elles seront axées sur les aspects opérationnels, les aspects techniques et les caractéristiques particulières. Un vol d'introduction aura lieu avant les essais en vol et au sol pour permettre aux pilotes étrangers de se familiariser avec l'espace aérien suisse. Les missions seront effectuées en solo par un pilote étranger pour le F-35A et le Gripen E qui sont des monoplaces, avait précisé armasuisse. Un ingénieur suisse accompagnera les autres vols. Les évaluations se feront ensuite gr'ce aux enregistrements à bord. La procédure garantit un traitement objectif et identique de tous les candidats. Le choix du modèle se fera sur des bases équitables. Les tests concernent aussi les audits de support produits, les essais en simulateur et les essais au sol en Suisse. https://www.lematin.ch/suisse/test-futurs-avions-combat-commence/story/14127523

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  21 décembre 2020 | International, Terrestre

  Solicitation for Bradley replacement offers flexibility for foreign participation

  By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The request for proposals from industry for the U.S. Army's optionally manned fighting vehicle, or OMFV, intended to replace the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle, has hit the street and allows for greater flexibility for foreign companies to compete. In the service's second stab at holding a competition for OMFV, the Army is driving as much flexibility as it can across the board, from avoiding stringent requirements in favor of loose characteristics and creating a phase for industry to design concepts without much company investment that will form requirements along the way. The Army's previous attempt required the delivery of physical bid samples, which hamstrung foreign competitor Rheinmetall of Germany and drove Bradley-maker BAE Systems to avoid the competition. Ultimately, the service received just one bid sample from General Dynamics Land Systems, which forced the Army to rethink the effort and come back with a new approach. The OMFV competition has foreign industry jumping to join in with new and modernized platforms, and the Army appears to be ditching much of the restrictions that would typically keep them out. Rheinmetall has already partnered with American firms Raytheon and Textron to solidify its participation in the competition, but many other companies are poised to submit bids to design concepts. The pool needs to be deep because the Army anticipates awarding up to five contracts to design platforms. “The challenges we've typically had in getting foreign participation is we often have a lot of classified material that we release up front, and we have some detailed specification that has very detailed performance requirements that's classified,” Brig. Gen. Glenn Dean, the new Army program executive officer for ground combat systems, said in a Dec. 18 press briefing. Foreign competitors “have to have clearances in place to be able to take that information,” Dean said. This means foreign companies must either be partnered with a prime contractor in the United States, have a subsidiary stateside, or have other clearances that take time to get through the approval process in order to exchange the classified information. Working through consortiums, which the Army regularly does, also makes it hard for foreign contractors to come through the door, Dean said. This time, the Army isn't working with a consortium and is using a more traditional federal acquisition regulation-based contract, according to Dean. Furthermore, he said, classified reports will not be required in order to submit a bid or receive an initial design contract award. “We've eliminated the limitation on primes and, because we don't have classified information we are providing at the front end, that allows us to share more broadly and gives those companies time if they're going to continue to play as lead, to establish their facilities, clearances and have the necessary structures in place to receive classified information when we get to that point,” he said. Dean expects more classified requirements to kick in toward the end of the concept design phase where requirements begin to take shape, which translates to specifications. “Obviously, every company is going to make their own determination about what strengths and partners may bring to the table, whether they want to come in as a sub, whether they want to be prime with a bunch of U.S. subs,” Dean said, “but the response has been very promising.” He also said there is strong interest from abroad. “I would say that we at least heard from or have participation ... from all the major companies in the West capable of doing a full combat vehicle. Companies from Israel, South Korea, Singapore, Germany, in addition to companies both you're familiar with in the U.S. who've [supplied] combat vehicles, but also some companies that operate in the defense space but haven't traditionally been combat vehicle suppliers,” he said. “We will see how many of them ultimately decide they want to throw their hat in the ring and participate. I think we've done what we need to do to make it as open at an initial point.” Sources following the competition are expecting to see participation from South Korea's Hanwha, which is in a head-to-head competition in Australia with Rheinmetall to produce a new infantry fighting vehicle. Germany-based Krauss-Maffei Wegmann has also touted an infantry fighting vehicle option, most recently at the last in-person Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference in Washington, D.C., in 2019. Belgium's CMI Defense is also rumored to be forging a partnership with a U.S. prime to participate in the competition. Now that the solicitation has been posted to Beta.Sam.Gov, companies have until April 16, 2021, to submit a conceptual bid. The Army will award contracts in July, according to Dean, which will kick off 15 months of funded work. During the phase, industry will work on designs without bending metal that will inform an abbreviated capabilities development document — or an initial set of requirements. Once the design phase ends, the Army will take a pause and then open the competition back up for a more detailed design effort ahead of prototyping, where up to three bids will be selected to proceed. The detailed design phase will be executed over the course of fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2024. The prototyping phase will begin in FY25, according to slides presented at the OMFV industry day. Vehicle testing will begin in FY26 and wrap up in FY27, with a production decision planned for the fourth quarter of FY27. Full-rate production is expected to begin in the second quarter of FY30. In parallel to the concept design phase, the Army will develop an open architecture for OMFV. An open architecture has risen to the top of the OMFV planner's list of required capability, particularly after seeing the need to be networked with other capabilities across the battlefield and at the forward edge at Project Convergence at Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona, over the summer. The Army will establish a voluntary consortium beginning in January 2021 that will represent industry, government and academia in order to develop such an open architecture, according to the statement. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/12/18/bradley-replacement-request-for-proposals-hits-street-with-flexibility-for-foreign-participation/

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  9 septembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - September 08, 2020

  AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Roy, Utah, has been awarded a $13,293,562,839 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for a tested and fully qualified design of the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD). The GBSD will replace the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Weapon system. This contract will provide for the engineering and manufacturing of the GBSD. Work will be performed in Roy, Utah, and multiple other locations nationwide, and is expected to be completed February 2029. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and one offer was received. Fiscal Year 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $85,000,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (FA8219-20-C-0006). NAVY Raytheon Technologies Corp., Pratt and Whitney Military Engines, East Hartford, Connecticut, is awarded a $174,221,174 modification (P00022) to previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm, cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost contract N00019-18-C-1021. This modification exercises an option for the production and delivery of 14 F135-PW-100 low rate initial production Lot 14 propulsion systems for the Air Force in support of the F-35A conventional take-off and landing aircraft. Work will be performed in Middletown, Connecticut (46%); East Hartford, Connecticut (22%); Windsor Locks, Connecticut (16%); North Berwick, Maine (11%); Phoenix, Arizona (3%); and Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico (2%), and is expected to be completed in June 2022. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Air Force) funds in the amount of $174,221,174 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. RDA Inc.,* Doylestown, Pennsylvania, is awarded a $19,983,378 cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N68335-20-F-0360) against previously issued basic ordering agreement N68335-20-G-3039. This order provides for continued advanced technology research and development efforts for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) products for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and under-sea warfare (USW) systems under SBIR topic N98-035 titled “Signal Processing and System Concepts to Exploit Passive Signals in Airborne Active ASW Missions; topic N04-247 titled “Littoral Environment Parameter Estimation from Bistatic and Multistatic Fleet Air ASW Acoustic Reverberation Data;” and topic N06-011 titled “Multi-Sensor Data Fusion for Littoral Undersea Warfare.” Further development and research efforts will include engineering, technical, managerial, analysis, prototyping, maintenance, quality control, training and test participation. Additionally, this order provides operational software development, acoustic capability enhancements and technical engineering for further development and transition of technologies and system performance improvements, providing on-going fleet training and maintenance products for deployed systems. Work will be performed in Warrenton, Virginia (45%); Patuxent River, Maryland (35%); and Doylestown, Pennsylvania (20%), and is expected to be completed in September 2025. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $852,759 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. Aeronautics Systems, San Diego, California, is awarded an $11,635,599 cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N00019-20-F-0103) against previously issued basic ordering agreement N00019-20-G-0005. This order provides non-recurring engineering for qualification testing and integration of the Redundancy unmanned air vehicle common automatic recovery systems and multi-platform anti-jam Global Positioning System navigation antenna integrated upgrades into the MQ-8C Fire Scout aircraft. Work will be performed in San Diego, California (90%); and Moss Point, Mississippi (10%), and is expected to be completed in January 2023. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $11,635,599 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 INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY Qwest Government Solutions Inc., doing business as CenturyLink QGS, Herndon, Virginia, was awarded a $70,250,013 modification (P00004) against non-competitive firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract HC1013-19-D-0002 to increase the current contract ceiling. This modification allows for the continued operations and maintenance support for dark fiber and commercial facilities in the continental U.S. to support the Department of Defense. Funding will be obligated at the individual task orders. The total contract ceiling value has increased from $126,895,698 to $197,145,711. The period of performance is Nov. 30, 2018, through Nov. 29, 2023. The Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity. ARMY Amentum Services Inc., Germantown, Maryland, was awarded a $29,034,547 hybrid (cost-no-fee, labor-hours) contract for contractor labor support services at Anniston Army Depot and Watervliet Arsenal. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed at Anniston Army Depot, Alabama; and Watervliet Arsenal, New York, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 15, 2023. Fiscal 2020 Army working capital funds in the amount of $29,034,547 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-20-F-0396). Manson Construction, Seattle, Washington, was awarded a $26,493,750 firm-fixed-price contract for maintenance dredging. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work will be performed in Plaquemines, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of June 20, 2021. Fiscal 2020 civil operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $26,493,750 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-20-C-0061). Kallidus Technologies Inc.,* Lowell, Massachusetts, was awarded a $15,478,911 firm-fixed-price contract to construct a new security forces and communications training facility. Bids were solicited via the internet with six received. Work will be performed in Westhampton Beach, New York, with an estimated completion date of April 1, 2022. Fiscal 2020 military construction (Army National Guard) funds in the amount of $15,478,911 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Property and Fiscal Office, New York, is the contracting activity (W50S8E-20-C-0005). Bell Textron Inc., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $13,500,000 order-dependent contract to conduct design studies, analyses, simulation, testing, integration and fabrication activities in order to mitigate risks, investigate operational usage and conduct maturation activities at the technology, subsystem and system-level maturation for the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft and its variants. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 7, 2025. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W911W6-20-D-0006). Enviremedial Services Inc.,* Oceanside, California, was awarded a $9,455,140 firm-fixed-price contract for a vehicle wash system, preventive maintenance and inspections, labor, management, supervision, tools, materials and equipment to perform facility support services at Marine Corps Reserve centers. 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 March 28, 2026. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston, South Carolina, is the contracting activity (W912HP-20-D-3000). DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY HRL Laboratories LLC, Malibu, California, was awarded a modification to incorporate sole-source additional scope totaling $8,390,427 to previously awarded contract HR0011-19-C-0006 for a Phase 2 Millimeter-wave GaN Maturation (MGM) project. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $18,789,575 from $10,399,148. Work will be performed in Malibu, California, with an expected completion date of September 2022. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $1,950,000 are being obligated at time of award. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity. Kryptowire LLC, McLean, Virginia, was awarded a $7,337,148 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for a research project under the Open, Programmable, Secure 5G (OPS-5G) program. The OPS-5G program will create open source software and systems enabling secure 5G and subsequent secure mobile networks such as 6G. Work will be performed in McLean, Virginia; Blacksburg, Virginia; and Fairfax, Virginia, with an expected completion date of September 2024. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funding in the amount of $883,977 is being obligated at time of award. This contract was a competitive acquisition under an open broad agency announcement and 40 offers were received. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HR0011-20-C-0154). *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2340084/source/GovDelivery/