19 mai 2024 | International, C4ISR
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12 octobre 2018 | International, Aérospatial
To up fighter readiness levels, Pentagon looks to retire older planes and fix supply chains
By: Aaron Mehta
WASHINGTON — With Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis issuing new guidancedemanding readiness for tactical air assets increase in just one year, the Pentagon is openly acknowledging that older planes will have to be retired and cannibalized for parts to make it happen.
The department will also look to overhaul how it handles its supply chain, according to the department's No. 2 official.
In a September memo, first reported by Defense News, Mattis ordered the Air Force, Navy and Marines to get the Pentagon's fleets of F-16, F-18, F-22 and F-35 fighters to a minimum of 80 percent mission ready. That would represent a major jump in readiness over a short period of time, raising skepticism amongst analysts.
From a pure numbers-on-paper standpoint, the easiest way for getting readiness rates up on the fleet would involve retiring older, less ready aircraft — essentially increasing the percentage of good-to-go planes by reducing the overall size of the fleets.
Such a move may not be popular on the Hill, which routinely complains about the size of the military compared with previous eras. But it's a logical step being endorsed by both Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and Gen. Robert Neller, the Marine Corps chief of staff.
“You gotta get rid of airplanes. At some point, you gotta get rid of the old ones,” Neller told reporters Wednesday at a Defense Writer's Group event, when asked how he would hit that 80 percent mark.
Neller added that such a move has to be part of a broader spectrum of moves, including better quality parts from vendors, being more efficient with maintainers, and adjusting the flying hours for pilots to make sure the wings aren't being worn off on jets.
“It's not going to be a single thing, so we've got to do our part,” he added.
Speaking to reporters at the AUSA conference the same day, Shanahan seemed to zero in on the oldest Navy jets as ones that could be retired.
“Well, when you look at the size of the fleet of the F-18s, you got [F-18A models] out there, then you look at what it would take to restore them to a certain level of readiness, you might say it's much easier just to retire those,” he said. “So, I mean, there's a mix of answers.”
“It probably doesn't make sense to generate a lot of activity to make something that is older more reliable, but when you think about the joint strike fighter and the hundreds of those that we're going to take, 80 percent should be the minimum, OK? It shouldn't be some aspirational goal, it should be the minimum.”
However, he pushed back at the idea that anyone will “game the system” to get those readiness percentages up.
Commercial practices
In the memo, Mattis specifically notes the commercial aviation industry is able to maintain higher readiness rates and directs the service to look that way for inspiration.
“I am confident in our department's ability to generate additional capacity from our current aircraft inventory, alongside the commercial aviation industry's sustainment of high availability rates,” Mattis wrote. “As we seek to achieve our goals, we can learn from industry's benchmarks for measuring speed, cost and mission capability, as well as its best practices for implementing a sustainable, Department-wide system.”
Shanahan, who will be the overall leader of the readiness rate improvement efforts, is a longtime Boeing executive who worked directly on a number of commercial jet production programs. And to him, there are absolutely lessons that can be drawn from passenger aviation.
“A jet engine is a jet engine; no one will convince me otherwise,” he said. “I've lived in both worlds, I've been on more airplanes than anybody in the United States, I know these things, OK?”
The deputy said his focus was on helping the service develop “methods, systems and practices” that will lead to systemic changes in how maintenance is done and provide dividends for years to come.
“When you look at the F-18s, this is the same size of fleet as Southwest has. It's not a super-large fleet, they're all basically the same,” Shanahan noted. “So how do we put in place, you know, the support practices and the parts so that people aren't working as hard?”
The need to keep part quality and quantity up were on display just a day after Shanahan and Neller's comments. On Thursday, the Pentagon ordered a temporary stop to flying the F-35 as it investigated a fuel tube inside the engines of the fleet. That same day, an F-22 crashed on its side following a landing gear malfunction.
During his talk with reporters, the Navy was singled out as already having committed to improving their methodologies. And he called out the need to “restructure” how both the Navy and Air Force handle their supply chains — something he said will ultimately bleed over into maintenance beyond the four selected jet fleets.
“The real end game to me is as a department, how do we end up with a single sustainment system? And what was good about this is that once you get the F-18 right, it spills over into the P-8, because they're side-by-side, so [the P-8 maintainers] going to be like, ‘Those guys, they're working a lot less hard than we are and they're getting much better results, why don't we just do it that way?'
“And then as people see the methods they apply to shipbuilding or ship maintenance,” he added.
Shawn Snow of Marine Corps Times contributed to this report.
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16 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - July 15, 2020
ARMY General Dynamics Land Systems, Sterling Heights, Michigan, was awarded a $249,000,000 hybrid (cost-no-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed price) contract for Increment I of the Small Multipurpose Equipment Transport. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of July 14, 2025. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-20-F-0382). Hensel Phelps, Phoenix, Arizona, was awarded a $91,819,195 firm-fixed-price contract for a ground based strategic deterrent mission integration facility at Hill Air Force Base. Bids were solicited via the internet with nine received. Work will be performed at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, with an estimated completion date of March 16, 2023. Fiscal 2020 military construction, defense-wide funds in the amount of $35,747,184 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento, California, is the contracting activity (W91238-20-C-0012). Burns and McDonnell Engineering Co. Inc., Kansas City, Missouri (W912HP-20-D-5000); Cromwell Architects Engineers Inc., Little Rock, Arkansas (W912HP-20-D-5001); and Exp Federal Inc., Chicago, Illinois (W912HP-20-D-5002), will compete for each order of the $49,900,000 firm-fixed-price contract for multidiscipline architect-engineer services. Bids were solicited via the internet with 19 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of July 14, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston, South Carolina, is the contracting activity. TeamGOV Inc.,* Hyattsville, Maryland, was awarded a $7,531,979 modification (P00003) to contract W912DY-19-F-1336 to maintain complete and functional access control point control systems. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Killeen and Fort Bliss, Texas; McAlester and Fort Sill, Oklahoma; Fort Polk, Louisiana; White Hall, Arkansas; Camp Roberts and Fort Irwin, California; Dugway Proving Ground, Utah; Fort Huachuca, Arizona; and White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, with an estimated completion date of July 14, 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $3,183,862 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity. A Finkl and Sons Finkl Steel-Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, was awarded a $7,181,165 firm-fixed-price contract for procurement of hollow preform forgings for Watervliet Arsenal, New York. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Chicago, Illinois, with an estimated completion date of July 15, 2024. Fiscal 2020 revolving funds in the amount of $7,181,165 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W911PT-20-C-0022). NAVY Raytheon Technologies, Portsmouth, Rhode Island, is awarded an $88,050,510 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-16-C-6423 for the production of the MK54 Lightweight Torpedo MOD 0 and MOD 1 common part kits and spare torpedo components. This modification combines purchases for the Navy (18%); and the governments of Canada (72%); Republic of Korea (5%); Denmark (3%); Australia (1%); and Spain (1%), under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. Work will be performed in Portsmouth, Rhode Island (95%); and Keyport, Washington (5%), and is expected to be completed by May 2023. FMS funding in the amount of $71,687,560; and fiscal 2020 and 2018 weapons procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $16,145,556 and $217,394 respectively, will be obligated at time of award, of which $217,394 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. ERAPSCO JV, Sparton and USSI, Columbia City, Indiana, is awarded a $71,801,600 modification (P00005) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This modification increases the ceiling of the contract to provide for the production and delivery of a maximum quantity of 20,000 AN/SSQ-125 Sonobuoys production. Sonobuoys are air launched expendable, electro-mechanical anti-submarine warfare acoustic sensors designed to relay underwater sounds associated with ships and submarines. Work will be performed in De Leon Spring, Florida (51%); and Columbia City, Indiana (49%), and is expected to be completed by July 2022. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Raytheon Missiles and Defense, Marlborough, Massachusetts, is awarded a $26,463,116 cost-plus-fixed fee and cost only modification to previously awarded contract N00024-19-C-5501 to exercise options and realign level of effort ceiling for Air and Missile Defense Radar AN/SPY-6(V) integration and production support efforts. Work will be performed in Marlborough, Massachusetts (64%); Kauai, Hawaii (12%); Fair Lakes, Virginia (10%); Moorestown, New Jersey (8%); Portsmouth, Rhode Island (6%); and San Diego, California (less than 1%). This option exercise is for performance of the integration and production support for continued combat system integration and test, engineering, training, software, depot maintenance and field engineering in support of the Air and Missile Defense Radar AN/SPY-6(V). Work is expected to be completed by November 2020. Fiscal 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); and fiscal 2019 and 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $35,960,832 will be obligated at time of award. Funds in the amount of $15,410 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was procured under the statutory authority of 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1), only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Navy Yard, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded $12,201,000 for ceiling-priced delivery order N00383-20-F-A341 under previously awarded basic ordering agreement N00383-17-G-A301 for the procurement of multiple flight control surfaces in support of the Boeing F/A-18 E-G Super Hornet aircraft. All work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be completed by May 2026. Kuwait funds in the amount of $5,978,490 will be obligated at the time of award, and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Kuwait (100%) funds will be used under the Foreign Military Sales program. 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, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity. SJC-BVIL*, Montrose, Colorado, is awarded a $9,592,555 firm-fixed-price task order (N40084-20-F-4464) under a design-bid-build, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity, unrestricted multiple awarded construction contract for commercial and institutional building construction contract to convert the overhead power and telephone lines to underground from wood power poles. The work is located from the Navy ammunition area to the Air Force ammunition area along DG1. The work will be performed at U.S. Naval Support Facility, Diego Garcia. All work will be performed in British Indian Ocean Territory. The work to be performed will replace the existing overhead feeder lines from technical feeder wood power poles (WPP) 26 to 82 and from non-technical feeder (WPP) 1013 to 1041 with underground loop-feed type system including conduits and conductors, pad-mounted transformer and switch, grounding system and related system appurtenances. End result is all referenced power and communication lines be underground and on the ocean side of the road. Work is expected to be completed by September 2022. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $9,592,555 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Three proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Far East, Yokosuka, Japan, is the contracting activity (N40084-18-D-0068). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Boeing Distribution Services Defense, O'Fallon, Missouri, has been awarded a maximum $81,000,000 modification (P00067) exercising the first three-year option period of a four-year base contract (SPE5EY-16-D-0547) with two, three-year option periods for broad supply chain management of industrial hardware relating to maintenance, repair and overhaul missions. This is a firm-fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-quantity contract. Locations of performance are Missouri and Texas, with a July 31, 2023, ordering period end date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Grasmick Produce Co.,* Boise, Idaho, has been awarded a maximum $20,304,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-quantity contract for fresh fruit and vegetables. This was a competitive acquisition with three responses received. This is a four-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Idaho, with a July 14, 2024, performance completion date. Using military services are Air Force, Army, Marine Corps and Department of Agriculture schools and reservations. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2024 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-20-D-P357). AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., McLean, Virginia, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $35,964,710 firm-fixed-price, undefinitized contract for repair of 174 B-52 Engine Nose Cowls for the B-52 Stratofortress Bomber jet. Work will be performed in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and is expected to be completed July 2021. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2020 working capital funds in the full amount are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Sustainment Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity (FA8119-20-C-0004). *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2275570/source/GovDelivery/
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22 juillet 2020 | International, Terrestre, C4ISR
General Atomics Selected for the Army’s Digital Guided Missile Program
San Diego, CA, (July 20, 2020) - General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced today that it has been selected as a prime contractor for the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Aviation and Missile Center's (AvMC) Digital Guided Missile (DGM) prototype program under the Aviation and Missile Technology Consortium (AMTC). GA-EMS will develop advanced missile conceptual designs in direct support of the Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) for the Army Modernization Campaign. “We are excited to be chosen to help frame the next generation of weapon systems for the U.S. Army,” stated Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS. “GA-EMS has more than a decade's worth of experience developing and advancing hypersonic weapons technologies for the joint service. We develop missile designs that have a digital model grounded with vetted modeling and simulation infrastructures. We are eager to leverage that expertise to develop competitive new ideas that better equip our men and women across a multi-domain battlespace.” GA-EMS will conduct required analysis and design to develop new missile system prototype concepts for the Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF), Next Generation Combat Vehicle (NGCV), Future Vertical Lift (FVL), and Air and Missile Defense (AMD) Cross Functional Teams (CFTs) and their high priority missions. The DGM prototype program intends to augment critical warfighter capabilities that have potential to provide increased lethality and overmatch by 2028. “GA-EMS has organic capabilities for the development of missile systems,” stated Nick Bucci, vice president of Missile Defense and Space Systems at GA-EMS. “Our key technical personnel with decades of experience in weapons design and manufacturing, along with our flight technologies and space and air systems engineering groups located in Huntsville, AL, bring the missile development knowledge and capability needed to support the U.S. Army's critical MDOs in the 2028 timeline.” The Aviation and Missile Technology Consortium (AMTC), Other Transactional Agreement (OTA) effort, will be executed for AvMC through Advanced Technology Incorporated (ATI). About General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) Group is a global leader in the research, design, and manufacture of first-of-a-kind electromagnetic and electric power generation systems. GA-EMS' history of research, development, and technology innovation has led to an expanding portfolio of specialized products and integrated system solutions supporting aviation, space systems and satellites, missile defense, power and energy, and processing and monitoring applications for critical defense, industrial, and commercial customers worldwide. For further information contact: EMS-MediaRelations@ga.com Effort sponsored by the U.S. Government under Other Transaction number W9124P-19-9-0001 between AMTC and the Government. The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Governmental purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation thereon. The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Government. View source version on General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems: https://www.ga.com/general-atomics-selected-for-the-army-s-digital-guided-missile-program