23 août 2023 | International, Naval

The US submarine force should be silent no more

Instead of being the silent service, the U.S. undersea force will need to generate noise and hide in the resulting chaos.

https://www.c4isrnet.com/opinion/2023/08/23/the-us-submarine-force-should-be-silent-no-more/

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  • Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - June 10, 2020

    11 juin 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - June 10, 2020

    ARMY General Dynamics Land Systems, Sterling Heights, Michigan, was awarded a $2,477,329,768 fixed-price-incentive contract for the production of Stryker Double V-Hull A1 engineering change proposal vehicles. 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 April 30, 2027. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-20-D-0005). Lockheed Martin Corp., Grand Prairie, Texas, was awarded a $1,042,250,000 modification (P00001) to contract W31P4Q-20-C-0023 for incidental services, hardware, facilities, equipment, and all technical, planning, management, manufacturing, and testing efforts to produce Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target Advanced Capability-3 missiles. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama; Camden, Arkansas; Chelmsford, Massachusetts; Grand Prairie, Texas; and Lufkin, Texas, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 31, 2024. Fiscal 2020 missile procurement, Army; and Foreign Military Sales (Bahrain, Germany, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Republic of Korea, United Arab Emirates) funds in the amount of $1,042,250,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Richard Group LLC,* Glenview, Illinois (W912QR-20-D-0026); Iron Mike Construction,* Centennial, Colorado (W912QR-20-D-0027); and AMI & LGC JV LLC,* Andover, Kansas (W912QR-20-D-0028), will compete for each order of the $45,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for construction services for the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division mission boundaries. Bids were solicited via the internet with 15 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of June 9, 2023. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville, Kentucky, is the contracting activity. Seres-Arcadis SB JV LLC,* Charleston, South Carolina, was awarded a $9,625,000 firm-fixed-price contract to perform optimized remediation for the Air Force. Bids were solicited via the internet with six received. Work will be performed at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, with an estimated completion date of June 9, 2029. Fiscal 2020-2029 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $9,625,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W912DR-20-C-0011). NAVY General Dynamics Mission Systems, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is awarded a $104,214,429 cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and cost-no-fee contract (N00030-20-C-0003) for fiscal 2020-2023 Columbia (US01) and Dreadnought ballistic missile submarine class development, production and installation requirement. Work will be performed in Pittsfield, Massachusetts (90%); the United Kingdom (6%); Quonset Point, Rhode Island (3%); and Groton, Connecticut (1%). Work is expected to be complete by November 2024. Fiscal 2020 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $26,390,000; United Kingdom funds in the amount of $10,727,082; and fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,210,541 are obligated on this award, and no funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract is being awarded to the contractor on a sole-source basis under 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) and four were previously synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities website. Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. BAE Systems, Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc., Greenlawn, New York, is awarded a $58,738,453 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides for the manufacture, test and delivery of 239 Mode 5 capable RT-1763C/D AN/APX-111(V) combined interrogator transponders and 397 spare shop replaceable assemblies for the F/A-18 Super Hornet series and Boeing EA-18G Growler warfare aircraft for the Navy and the government of Canada. Work will be performed in Greenlawn, New York (84%); and Austin, Texas (16%), and is expected to be complete by December 2025. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-20-D-0002). Cardno – Amec Foster Wheeler JV, Charlottesville, Virginia, is awarded $50,000,000 for a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, architect-engineering contract with a maximum amount of $50,000,000 for Marine Corps (USMC) facility assessments utilizing the BUILDER Sustainment Management System at various USMC installations worldwide. No task orders are being issued at this time. Work will be performed at various USMC facilities worldwide: North Carolina (31%); Japan (25%); California (22%); Hawaii (7%); Virginia (5%); South Carolina (4%); Georgia (3%); Arizona (2%); and Republic of Korea (1%). The work to be performed provides for condition assessments of facilities approximately 20 million square feet and greater annually and BUILDER is utilized for major building component systems, data input, data analysis and interpretation, remote entry database and web-based BUILDER. It is also used for assessment and management training; other knowledge-based sustainment management system facility assessments and training; other specialized engineering assessments and studies for site facilities; conventional or deficiency-based facility assessments and training; life-cycle, space utilization and functionality assessments; and short and long range maintenance planning. Work is expected to be complete by June 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps) (O&M, MC) contract funds in the amount of $5,000 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by O&M, MC. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website and four proposals were received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N62473-20-D-0615). Communications and Power Industries, Palo Alto, California, is awarded a $43,798,135 firm-fixed-price requirements contract for the repair of continuous wave illuminator traveling wave tubes in support of the Aegis Combat System. Work will be performed in Palo Alto, California, and is expected to be complete by June 2025. The contract includes a five-year base period with no options. Annual working capital funds (Navy) will be obligated as individual task orders are issued and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One company was solicited for this sole-source requirement under authority 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), and one offer was received. The Naval Supply Systems Command, Weapon Systems Support, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00104-20-D-VD01). Machine Tools USA Inc.,* Mathews, Virginia (N68936-20-D-0014); Machine Tool Marketing Inc.,* Bixby, Oklahoma (N68936-20-D-0015); and Pacific IC Source,* Yucaipa, California (N68936-20-D-0016), are awarded $25,000,000 for indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division. Work will be performed at the contractor's locations. These contracts provide various types of plant and laboratory tools, analytical and diagnostic equipment, work holding devices and peripheral equipment for conventional and computer numerically controlled equipment in support of advanced technology products for the Energetics Department. The estimated aggregate ceiling for all contracts is $25,000,000, with the companies having an opportunity to compete for individual orders. Work is expected to be completed in June 2025. No funds are being obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. These contracts were competitively procured via an electronic request for proposals and three offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, California, is the contracting activity. ETM-Electromatic Inc.,* Newark, California, is awarded a $9,500,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a ceiling of $9,500,000 for the procurement of supplies and engineering services required for the modulator procurement, other spare parts and services for repairs and upgrades for ETM High Power Modulators. Work will be performed in Newark, California (75%); Crane, Indiana (8.4%); Palo Alto, California (8.3%); and Rancho Cordova, California (8.3%). These modulators are used to simulate operating conditions so microwave devices can be evaluated outside of their normal systems. These modulators allow the operator to safely and accurately evaluate a microwave device in a lab-controlled environment. The use of the microwave devices is critical in maintaining the radars aboard Navy ships in operational status. Work is expected to be complete by June 2025. Fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $30,662 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 via the Federal Business Opportunities website in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). This contract was not competitively procured and 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 (N00164-20-D-WP60). UPDATE: An indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award design-build/design-bid-build construction contract announced on Jan. 31, 2020, with a combined value of $990,000,000, has added HHM Laulima Constructors JV, Honolulu, Hawaii (N62478-20-D-4013); Nan Inc., Honolulu, Hawaii (N62478-20-D-4014); and TNT Constructors, Bremerton, Washington (N62478-20-D-4015), as three of 10 awardees to design-build and design-bid-build construction projects located within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Hawaii area of operations. DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY Blue Canyon Technologies Inc.,* Boulder, Colorado, has been awarded a $14,183,250 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Blackjack Track B (Bus) Phases 2 and 3 program. Work will be performed in Boulder, Colorado, with an estimated completion date of June 2021. Fiscal 2020 research and development funds in the amount of $10,282,600 are being obligated at the time of award. This contract is a competitive acquisition in accordance with the original broad agency announcement HR0011-18-S-0032. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HR0011-20-C-0094). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Sea Box Inc.,* Cinnaminson, New Jersey, has been awarded a maximum $7,799,220 firm-fixed-price contract for commercial shipping and storage containers. This was a competitive acquisition with 15 responses received. This is a one-year contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are New Jersey and Republic of Korea, with a March 15, 2021, performance completion date. Using customer is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE8ED-20-C-0006). *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2215443/source/GovDelivery/

  • Short-range air defense is making a comeback

    21 septembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR, Sécurité

    Short-range air defense is making a comeback

    Brig. Gen. Shachar Shohat (ret.) Recent events in the Middle East have led some to wonder how countries, including Israel, can protect their own strategic installations. Israel's adversaries, such as Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, have threatened to strike sensitive Israeli targets. Saudi Arabia absorbed a painful strike in September 2019 when an Iranian drone swarm combined with cruise missiles struck oil fields, causing heavy damage. The attack on Saudi Arabia is the latest tangible example of the evolving threat: precision-guided, sophisticated enemy air attacks. Each country designates its own strategic sites for special defense. They range from nuclear power plants to air force bases to Olympic stadiums. And the hardening of defenses around strategic sites was especially prominent until around three decades ago. At that time, attackers using close-range munitions had to approach a given site in order to attack it. Visual contact was often required, and simple air-to-ground munitions would suffice for an attack. Defense systems of that time were similarly simplistic. Air force bases might be protected by a 40mm anti-aircraft cannon, for example, in order to prevent a direct attack on a runway. That same concept would be applied to any sites deemed critical by a state. In addition to being limited in range, though, such defenses required many munitions and high numbers of personnel. The 1980s and 1990s witnessed a revolution in the world of weaponry. Precision, long-range (standoff) munitions entered the battle arenas, and close-range air defenses became largely obsolete. Once attackers no longer needed proximity to their targets, close-range defenses could neither hit the longer-range munitions nor their launchers. But over the past decade, we have seen the addition of GPS-guidance systems to those munitions. The advent of this technology, combined with the overall revolution of the '80s and '90s, has heightened the need for states to return to close-range air defenses — but in a new configuration. Additional systems are now in the pipeline. Small, affordable interceptor missiles and laser beam defenses are the answers to the new categories of close-range threats seen around the world, including gliding bombs, cruise missiles and drones. In 2019, the Iranians proved that if they have intelligence on their target and the ability to send munitions to the “blind spot” of radars, attacks can be successful. That attack should serve as a “wake-up call” for countries around the world. If states want to protect strategic sites, radars that look in every direction, 360 degrees, 24 hours a day, are needed. Effective new defense systems must now be multidirectional in their detection of incoming threats, a response to the enemy's ability to turn, steer and evade radar coverage and detection. That coverage must be combined with multiple layers of defense, including defense mechanisms very close to the asset being defended. Examples of what is now needed for strategic sites' defenses are already evident in the realm of military vehicles. The Israel Defense Forces installed the Trophy defense system on a growing number of tanks and armored personnel carriers as a result of a series of incidents in Lebanon and Gaza. Airframes also need such systems, as the downing of an Israeli transport helicopter by Hezbollah in the Second Lebanon War demonstrated, as do ships — and so too do strategic assets. The age-old military axiom asserts that lines of defense will always be breached. As such, we must develop the maximum number of opportunities for interception possible. Longer-range air defense systems, such as the Patriot, David's Sling or the S-400 can intercept threats at tens or hundreds of kilometers away. But today, because state enemies can bypass long-range defenses, countries must always have the ability to directly intercept the actual munitions. Without close-defense capabilities forming part of a country's multilayer defense systems, strategic sites are simply not adequately protected. In the context of multilayer defense development and deployment around strategic sites and sensitive targets, Israel has taken on the role of global leader. In 2020, short-range air defenses are making a comeback, and this time they are set to remain as a permanent fixture. Retired Brig. Gen. Shachar Shohat served as a chief commander of the Israel Air Defense Forces and a publishing expert at The MirYam Institute. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/09/18/short-range-air-defense-is-making-a-comeback/

  • Jump-starting Europe’s work on military artificial intelligence

    10 septembre 2019 | International, C4ISR

    Jump-starting Europe’s work on military artificial intelligence

    By: Heiko Borchert und Christian Brandlhuber As the United States, China and Russia are accelerating their use of artificial intelligence in military settings, Europe risks falling behind unless leaders on the continent take steps to bundle their efforts. Estonia, Finland, France, Germany and the Netherlands presented a food-for-thought paper in May 2019, posing a series of questions aimed at boosting defense-relevant AI research in Europe. Our suggestion: Create a data mobility framework that would guide future concepts, models, algorithms, data sharing, access to elastic computing power, and sophisticated testing and training. Key challenges have yet to be addressed. Among them is a solid conceptual framework to help underline the benefits for armed forces. Second, AI solutions need to be integrated into a complex web of legacy systems, which puts a premium on interoperability. Third, defense AI solutions must comply with legal requirements. Finally, Europe lacks a common, trusted defense data pool. European leaders should take a lesson from the military mobility project, which simplifies and standardizes cross-border military transport procedures to ease the movement of personnel and equipment. Europe needs to match physical mobility with digital mobility. Data needs to travel, too. To stimulate defense AI solutions, the continent needs a platform economy that emerges around a portfolio of relevant infrastructure elements and services that a new “Center for Defense AI” could build. For the platform to become attractive, the data acquisition strategy must focus on the need to share. Readiness to share must be incentivized by a data pool that offers true, added value. Therefore, the center would offer access to data on anything from missile defense to combat aircraft maintenance under strict, government-controlled regulation, enabling users to build novel use cases for military scenarios. Mission-critical systems cannot rely on a single machine-learning technology but require a combined approach to data fusion that increases reliability and reflects the specific requirements of the different domains like land, sea, air, space and cyberspace. In addition, data must be validated to avoid manipulation. This data pool would become enormously attractive if the center managed to establish arrangements with the European Union and NATO to share data collected in international operations. This would provide an unprecedented opportunity to develop future concepts, models and algorithms based on real-life data reflecting mission requirements, environmental conditions in different theaters of operation and adversarial behavior. In addition, the European Defence Agency and NATO's Science and Technology Organization should make use of the joint data pool for their defense AI projects, thus expanding the data pool as well as the concepts and models used for data curation and solutions development. With the help of the European Defence Fund, the center could establish the first European defense data pool spanning across military services, missions and domains. This will drastically reduce data-handling costs, as data curation activities required for every single defense AI project can be pooled. While hugely important, data is only a means to develop capabilities-based AI solutions. That's why the center would offer complementary services addressing two current shortfalls: First, commonly available computing capacity required for large-scale learning is somewhat novel to the defense industry. A new defense AI cloud would significantly enhance data mobility by offering elastic computing capacity up to supercomputer levels, and dedicated data fusion capabilities currently unavailable to train very large-scale, AI-based data fusion models. Second, the center could provide a sophisticated simulation environment to run AI operations in a realistic battlefield environment. Based on its trusted data sources, the center and defense AI developers could join forces to build a defense AI app store. Apps could capture different sensor and effector characteristics or emulate particular patterns of adversarial behavior. Defense contractors and defense procurement agencies could use these apps to verify and validate new AI systems as if they had access to the respective algorithms, but without exposing the original vendor to the risk of being reverse engineered. In addition, the simulation environment would be instrumental to assess the ethical, legal and societal impact of AI solutions, thus providing a sound basis to decide on the use of AI systems and to enhance live, virtual, constructive training solutions. Europe should take bold steps toward channeling its collaborative defense AI activities, building on the strengths of each partner: The center would offer joint services; defense AI developers could concentrate on designing and producing intelligent sensors, effectors and decision-making solutions, while military end-users would contribute capabilities-based thinking and operational experience. Heiko Borchert runs Borchert Consulting & Research, a strategic affairs consultancy based in Lucerne, Switzerland. Christian Brandlhuber is senior adviser at Reply, a European IT systems integrator, and coordinates the company's AI strategy and activities. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/2019/09/09/jump-starting-europes-work-on-military-artificial-intelligence/

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