Switzerland names contenders in $8 billion ‘Air 2030’ program

Sur le même sujet

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  30 janvier 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité, Autre défense

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - January 29, 2019

  AIR FORCE Honeywell International Aerospace, Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been awarded an $85,676,969 contract for C‐5 Honeywell software and engineering support services. This contract provides hardware and software support for the C-5 aircraft. Work will be performed at the following locations: Warner Robins, Georgia; Phoenix, Arizona; Aguadilla, Puerto Rico; Redmond, Washington; and Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is expected to be completed Jan. 30, 2025. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. A combination of fiscal 2019 Transportation Working Capital funds; and operations and maintenance funds in the amount $9,359,960 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity (FA8525‐19‐D‐0002). Diligent Consulting Inc., San Antonio, Texas, has been awarded a $17,490,000 cost-plus-incentive-fee, firm-fixed-price and cost-reimbursable modification (P00003) to contract FA8770-18-F-1009 for undefinitized contract action against the maintenance, repair and overhaul initiative task order. The modification will better align capabilities with user needs by realigning the fielding strategy to match the needs of individual units through the use of agile methods, and incorporate two financial processes necessary to be compliant with Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness and the Federal Information System Controls Audit Manual. Work will be performed in at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; and San Antonio, Texas, and is expected to be completed Jan. 28, 2023. This contract is being funded with fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds, and total cumulative face value of the contract is $49,257,000. Air Force Life Cycle Management center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE HEALTH AGENCY SeKON Enterprise Inc., Arlington, Virginia, is being awarded a $32,696,823 modification to previously awarded cost-reimbursable task order HT0011-14-F-0030 to exercise an option for engineering, cybersecurity, and configuration management support services. The cumulative maximum value of the task order is $144,344,198. HT0011-14-F-0030 provides services in support of the Program Executive Office (PEO) - Defense Healthcare Management Systems (DHMS) in its efforts to provide systems engineering processes, cybersecurity processes, data management and governance, synthetic test data, process and software tool support, and enterprise solutions architecture for PEO DHMS programs. The period of performance for the option is 12 months with an estimated completion date of Jan. 28, 2020. Work location is at the contractor's facility in Arlington, Virginia. The modification is funded with fiscal 2018 and 2019 research, development, test, and evaluation funds; and fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds. The original task order was issued on a competitive basis, with fair opportunity being provided to contract holders under the National Institutes of Health Chief Information Officer – Solutions And Partners 3 (CIO-SP3) Small Business Government-Wide Acquisition Contract. The Defense Health Agency - Contracting Office - Defense Healthcare Management Systems, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity. MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems Division, Moorestown, New Jersey, has been awarded a $13,113,482 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification (P00314) under contract HQ0276-10-C-0001. This modification increases the total cumulative contract value from $2,917,816,118 to $2,930,929,600. Under this modification, the contractor will provide installation; test and training; logistics and material planning; and additional program planning, technical coordination and scheduling for Aegis BMD 4.x aboard AEGIS destroyers for the AEGIS BMD program office. The work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey, with an expected completion date of June 30, 2021. Fiscal 2019 defense wide procurement funds in the amount of $7,127,611 are being obligated at the time of award. This contract modification is the result of a sole-source acquisition. The Missile Defense Agency, Dahlgren, Virginia, is the contracting activity. NAVY General Dynamics Mission Systems, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is awarded $13,067,576 for contract modification P00006 to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee, firm-fixed-price contract (N00030-18-C-0005) for sustainment of the U.S. and United Kingdom SSBN Fire Control System; and the U.S. SSGN Attack Weapon Control System, including training and support equipment and research and development. The work will be performed in Pittsfield, Massachusetts (97.50 percent); and other various locations less than one percent each (2.50 percent), with an expected completion date of December 2020. Fiscal 2019 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $10,004,025; United Kingdom funds in the amount of $2,240,000; and fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $823,551 are obligated on this award. Funds in the amount of $823,551 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. ARMY MedTrust LLC, San Antonio, Texas, was awarded a $12,939,322 firm-fixed-price contract for registered nursing services. One bid was solicited via the internet with one bid received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of May 31, 2019. U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, is the contracting activity (W81K04-19-D-0009). https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1743253/source/GovDelivery/

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  27 avril 2020 | International, C4ISR

  Recalculating: GPS, L-band and the Pentagon’s untenable position on 5G

  Daniel S. Goldin Last week, Ajit Pai, the chairman of the Federal Communication Commission, submitted the L-band Ligado spectrum proposal for approval, which, he said, will “make more efficient use of underused spectrum and promote the deployment of 5G” with “stringent conditions to prevent harmful [GPS] interference.” All five FCC commissioners voted to affirm the proposal, which was formally published in a 70-page report. L-band is a critical piece of spectrum that will help accelerate the deployment of U.S. 5G so we can compete and ultimately win against China. The Department of Defense argues that use of the L-band (as Ligado proposes) will interfere with GPS, which is essential to our military and economy. The FCC's final order concludes that the testing upon which the DoD and other opponents based their GPS interference claims was invalid. L-band opponents' interference measurement (termed 1dB C/No) is “inappropriate” and “there is no connection presented in the technical studies” that prove this measure of interference “relates to performance-based metrics” of a GPS receiver. In short, the FCC said there is no harmful GPS interference, and opponents have been using a flawed methodology and an invalid test with which the FCC “strongly disagree[s].” The FCC's recent report is not the first time the Ligado proposal was determined to cause no GPS interference. In early 2019, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration under David Redl reviewed the Ligado proposal carefully — along with the 20 government agencies that comprise the review body — and determined there is no interference. The NTIA then wrote a recommendation for approval and, before it could get to the FCC, it was blocked, eventually leading to Redl's dismissal. Further, over 5,000 hours of testing, including 1,500 hours at a high-tech U.S./DoD-sponsored and designed facility (performed by the world-recognized standard-in-testing National Institute of Standards and Technology scientists and engineers), proved no harmful GPS interference. Afterward, a DoD expert who monitored and confirmed the testing results told me “there is no interference problem, only a bureaucracy problem.” Yet DoD has continued to blitz the executive and legislative branches, galvanizing opposition with a compelling plea: Ligado hurts GPS, which endangers military operations and will harm the economy. Powerful. But factually wrong. And if wrong, why is Defense Secretary Mark Esper continuing to lobby against the FCC? The FCC is an independent agency. The Communications Act of 1934 charged the FCC with regulating communications for important reasons, including “for the purpose of national defense.” So why is the DoD employing principles of war — offensive operations to mass upon and seize the objective — toward the demise of Ligado's proposal and, perhaps implicitly, Ligado itself? Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the House Armed Services Committee are weighing in on the DoD's behalf. They have been presented partial, one-sided information. Mr. Esper is a capable, reform-minded defense secretary who has brought much-needed change to the Pentagon. But he has also been advancing one-sided recommendations from his senior staff for GPS issues, some with longstanding connections to the highly influential Position, Navigation, and Timing Advisory Board — which enjoys a level of influence akin to a special interest group within the U.S. government. A reading of the defense secretary's November 2019 letter to the NTIA reveals that even the DoD was never really sure about its own GPS interference claims, stating merely there are “too many unknowns,” the “risks are far too great,” testing shows “potential for” disruption and the Ligado system “could have a significant negative impact.” Yet, once the Ligado proposal was presented for approval on April 15 — with no new testing or analysis since November — DoD leadership tweeted that Ligado's signal “would needlessly imperil” DoD capabilities that use GPS, and risk “crippling our GPS networks.” If taken at face value, this means the DoD has spent over $50 billion over 45 years on a military GPS system that is so fragile it can be rendered useless by a 10-watt transmitter (a refrigerator light bulb) operating 23 MHz away. If true, this would represent one of the most egregious mismanagements of taxpayer dollars in federal procurement history. The pandemic has shown that China is coercing nations in need of medical assistance to adopt Chinese 5G infrastructure. Coercion from Chinese dominance in 5G would be worse. Agencies like the FCC and NTIA are in the national security arena now. As Attorney General William Barr stated in February, “we have to move decisively to auction the C-band and bring resolution on the L-band. Our economic future is at stake. We have to bear in mind in making these spectrum decisions that, given the narrow window we face, the risk of losing the 5G struggle with China should vastly outweigh all other considerations.” It is time for bold, forward-looking leadership and a wartime mindset. Chairman Pai deserves credit for setting this example. His courageous decision, coupled with support from the FCC commissioners and the strong statements of support from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Barr, signals a new determination to win the 5G race. L-band spectrum will enable other key elements of the U.S. 5G strategy and private sector innovation faster than any other option. It also demonstrates that a science-based approach to technology and policy is critical, otherwise we will grind to a near halt on every major decision — like this one — to China's benefit. America is truly “exceptional,” and the envy of every political system the world over, because our system is anchored on the rule of law and institutions that allow stakeholders' competing interests to be adjudicated. All parties have had many years to make their cases. The FCC's world-class scientists and engineers have come to a conclusion. The DoD has no new information; it just does not like the result. After all the internal policy battles are fought, there is only one constituency that matters: the American people and their national and economic security, consistent with U.S. policy objectives grounded in facts. This is why we must embrace this scientifically sound and strategically wise decision by the FCC and move forward, guided by another more apt principle of war: unity of effort. https://www.c4isrnet.com/opinion/2020/04/24/recalculating-gps-l-band-and-the-pentagons-untenable-position-on-5g/

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  27 janvier 2021 | International, Terrestre

  Raytheon Expects Biden to Block $500M Bomb Sale to Saudi Arabia

  Yet industry executives believe foreign arms sales will remain a priority of the new administration. BY MARCUS WEISGERBER GLOBAL BUSINESS EDITOR JANUARY 26, 2021 02:51 PM ET Raytheon Technologies executives told investors Tuesday that it expects the Biden administration to block at least one arms deal to a Middle Eastern ally as the U.S. shifts its weapons export policy. Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes, speaking on the company's quarterly earnings call, said Raytheon has removed from its books a $519 million projected sale of an “offensive weapon system” to a “customer in the Middle East...we can't talk about.” On the same call, CFO Toby O'Brien said the sale involves an “offensive munition.” The scale of the deal indicates that the execs were referring to the planned sale of some 7,500 Paveway bombs to Saudi Arabia. Last April, Raytheon said in a regulatory filing that its arms sales could be hurt by lawmakers' concerns about Riyadh's role in Yemen's civil war and about the Saudi crown prince's involvement in the murder of a U.S.-based Saudi journalist. Still, in December, Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration was moving ahead with the sale. “We had assumed that we were going to get a license to provide these offensive weapon systems to our customer,” Hayes said. “With the change in administration, it becomes less likely that we're going to be able to get a license for this. And so we appropriately decided that we could no longer support the booking of that contract.” During his Senate confirmation hearing last week, now-confirmed Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the Biden administration would “end our support for the military campaign led by Saudi Arabia in Yemen.” Still, Hayes said the company does not anticipate issues selling defensive weapons, like Patriot missile interceptors, and other types of arms in the region. “Look...peace is not going to break out in the Middle East anytime soon,” Hayes said. “I think it remains an area where we'll continue to see solid growth.” Similarly, Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet expected foreign arms sales to remain a priority in the Biden administration. “As far as international business, including foreign military sales, the tendency of the people in the Biden administration [and] in the president's own statements, reiterate his view that alliances are important that they need to be cultivated, and that they have real value in deterrence and national defense,” Taiclet said. “I do think that we'll have a more open environment for [foreign military sales] and direct commercial sales to our international partners.” Taiclet said foreign weapon sales are a way to generate American jobs and stimulate the U.S. economy. “If jobs and the economy are important, the promotion of international defense sales, one would surmise, would also be important,” Taiclet said Tuesday morning on Lockheed's quarterly earnings call. While arms sales create jobs growth, a 2019 Center for International Policy report said those claims, particularly during the Trump administration, were greatly exaggerated. Still Taiclet, a former U.S. Air Force pilot, said arms sales are a way to deepen relationships with an ally. “I can tell you that there's no better way to get a tighter bond with an ally than sell them jet fighter aircraft,” he said. “All the way back in the mid-[19]80s, when I was in pilot training, we had Saudis in our class, for example.” https://www.defenseone.com/business/2021/01/raytheon-expects-biden-block-500m-bomb-sale-saudi-arabia/171645/