This system could allow small Army teams to hit 1,000 targets per hour

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  30 juin 2020 | International, Terrestre

  GM Defense wins Infantry Squad Vehicle production contract

  By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — The Army has awarded GM Defense a $214.3 million contract to produce the service's new Infantry Squad Vehicle. The contract covers the cost of the first 649 vehicles, with work to be completed by June 24, 2028. The service hopes to eventually procure 2,065 of the ISVs. "Winning this Army award is well-deserved recognition for the hard work and dedication of our GM Defense team and their production of a fantastic vehicle. We are confident the GMD ISV will meet and exceed all of our customers' requirements," David Albritton, president of GM Defense, said in a statement. "It's indeed an honor to leverage our parent company's experience as one of the world's largest automotive manufacturers to design, build and deliver the best technologies available to the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces and our allies." The ISV, designed to carry a nine soldier squad, was specifically put together to be light enough to be sling loaded from a UH-60 Blackhawk and small enough to fit inside a C4-47 Chinook, to provide maximum flexibility for deployment. GM's design is based off the company's 2020 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 midsize truck and use 90 percent commercial parts, according to the company, including a 186-horsepower, 2.8L Duramax turbo-diesel engine. The attempt to procure a light infantry vehicle goes back to 2015, but nothing truly materialized until Congress forced the Army to launch the competition as part of the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. Last August, the Army awarded $1 million contracts to three teams — GM Defense, a team-up of Oshkosh Defense and Flyer Defense LLC, and a SAIC and Polaris team-up — to develop their offerings for the ISV program. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/06/29/gm-defense-wins-infantry-squad-vehicle-production-contract/

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  5 octobre 2018 | International, Terrestre

  Army testing more effective ghillie suits

  By David Vergun, Army News Service FORT BELVOIR, Va. -- The Army is looking for an improved ghillie suit to replace the flame-resistant, camouflage suit now worn by snipers to keep them from being seen by the enemy. The current ghillie suits are bulky, somewhat uncomfortable and hot in warm weather, said Debbie Williams, a systems acquisition expert with Program Executive Office Soldier, Product Manager Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment. The current suit is known as the Flame Resistant Ghillie System, or FRGS. The replacement the Army is looking for will be called the Improved Ghillie System, or IGS, Williams said. She added that although the term "flame resistant" is not in the new name, the IGS will still have flame-resistant properties. Soldiers will receive most of their protection from the base layer worn under the IGS, such as the Flame Resistant Combat Uniform, or FR ACU. The IGS will be a modular system, worn over the field uniform, she said. It will be modular in that it can be taken apart, with pieces added or subtracted as needed, such as sleeves, leggings, veil, cape and so on. Another change is that the IGS will not come with the accessory kit, like the one supplied with the FRGS, Williams said. It was found that Soldiers were not using a majority of the items in their accessory kit or preferred a different material. Williams said the cost of the IGS will be lower than the current $1,300 FRGS. Mary Armacost, a textile technologist with Product Manager Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment, said the IGS will be made of lighter, more breathable material than the FRGS. Also, the material for the skeins that accompany the IGS will be stiffer than that of the FRGS, thereby making the IGS more effective at camouflaging the Soldier. A request for proposal for the IGS went out Aug. 28 and closed Sept. 24, she said. Vendors must each provide three samples. About 3,500 suits are expected to be produced under the contract for approximately 3,300 snipers in all three Army components, as well as Soldiers in U.S. Special Operations Command, Williams said. After the samples are obtained, lab and field testing will begin at various locations in November, she said. For example, the Army's Night Vision Laboratory will do full-spectrum testing. It will also use night vision goggles to see how well the suits remain hidden in darkened conditions. Daytime testing for visual camouflage effectiveness will take place as well, with sniper-qualified Soldiers at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, Williams said. Additionally, acoustic testing will be done by the Army Research Laboratory to determine how much noise the IGS produces in field conditions. ARL will also test the effectiveness of the fabric regarding tear resistance and fire retardant effectiveness, she added. Following all of this, a limited user evaluation should commence next spring using instructors from the Sniper School at Fort Benning, Georgia. https://www.army.mil/article/211933

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  29 juin 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Lockheed paid suppliers $1.1 billion, added 8,300 jobs since pandemic

  By: Joe Gould WASHINGTON ― Lockheed Martin has sent $1.1 billion in accelerated payment to support its network of suppliers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the company announced Friday. The defense contracting giant has also hired 8,300 employees since the crisis began in March, with plans to hire 3,200 more before the end of the year. The hires mark a contrast with the rest of the U.S. economy, which saw the unemployment rate hit 13 percent this month and began a recession in February. “In this volatile environment, it is more important than ever before to maintain the operations of the defense industrial base and support our men and women in uniform,” Lockheed's new president and CEO, Jim Taiclet, said in a statement. Ever since the Pentagon announced it would speed progress payments to its suppliers to keep cash flowing in the defense-industrial base, it says it has made $3 billion in contract obligations. The Pentagon is working to support smaller firms in particular. Lockheed Martin said Friday it has “flowed all of the accelerated payments it has received from the Department of Defense to its supply chain, giving priority to small and vulnerable suppliers, as we continue our efforts to mitigate COVID-19 risks and promote a healthy Defense Industrial Base.” This wasn't the only good news for the sector this week. Ellen Lord, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said at a Monday news conference that nearly all of the defense firms closed by the pandemic have reopened. “We see an enormous amount of recovery in the defense-industrial base. It depends on location and what type of work is being performed, but there is enormous progress coming back,” Lord said. “Obviously for manufacturing we need people on the line, so we're doing things differently in terms of following [the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's] guidelines and so forth.” Still, the Pentagon expects to see “inefficiencies” across most programs as well as cost growth. “COVID-19 is shutting down defense manufacturing facilities and production lines, disrupting supply chains, and distressing the financial stability of the companies DoD relies on to protect the nation,” Lord said. Due to the effects of the pandemic, Lockheed said it would slow F-35 production, leaving it anywhere from 18 to 24 jets short of the 141 scheduled for delivery this year. https://www.defensenews.com/2020/06/26/lockheed-paid-suppliers-11b-added-8300-jobs-since-covid-19-hit/