7 septembre 2021 | International, Aérospatial

Top defense leaders kick off new phase for Europe's next-gen fighter

Top defense leaders from France, Germany and Spain have formalized plans to begin the preliminary development phase for a lead plane under the Future Combat Air System program, committing their governments to spending billions of euros in the coming years.

https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/dsei/2021/09/01/top-defense-leaders-kick-off-new-phase-for-europes-next-gen-fighter/

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  • Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - February 04, 2021

    5 février 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - February 04, 2021

    AIR FORCE Scientific Research Corp., Atlanta, Georgia, has been awarded a $95,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Full Spectrum Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Operational Non-Appropriated Funds Support (FUSIONS). This contract will deliver a key decisional advantage to the 16th Air Force/Component Commander and Joint Force Air Component Commander by delivering timely and relevant intelligence data/products to the war fighter. The FUSIONS contract will enable critical support functions in all major work centers of the operations center and will further enable the 16th Air Force/Component Commander to exercise both command and control authorities as well as service cryptologic element roles. The majority of work will be performed at Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA)-Lackland, Texas, and is expected to be completed Feb. 28, 2026. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and seven offers were received. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $3,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Acquisition Management and Integration Center, JBSA-Lackland, Texas, is the contracting activity (FA7037-21-D-0001). NAVY L3Harris Technologies Inc., Clifton, New Jersey, is awarded a $45,888,334 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursement, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides engineering maintenance and repair support services for Advanced Self-Protection Jammer AN/ALQ-165, Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures AN/ALQ-214, and aircraft self-protection optimization software in support of F/A-18 series aircraft for the Navy and Foreign Military Sales customers. Work will be performed in Clifton, New Jersey, and is expected to be completed in February 2026. 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 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). The Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division, Point Mugu, California, is the contracting activity (N68936-21-D-0006). DSC Inc.,* Dunn, North Carolina, is awarded a $10,214,389 firm-fixed-price contract for Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River facility support services. The work to be performed provides for the facility support services work consisting of scheduled custodial services to ensure the cleanliness of working environments (trash removal, recycling, cleaning kitchenettes, lunch and breakrooms, windows/window treatments, drinking fountains, clean/disinfect restrooms, sweeping /mopping /vacuuming floors, etc.). Pest control services includes the prevention and control of unwanted vegetation and invasive plants, nuisance, structure damaging, lawn, turf and ornamental and disease vector and health arthropod and invertebrate pests. Grounds maintenance and landscaping includes lawn maintenance (mowing and trimming, edging, irrigation systems maintenance), vegetation removal and debris removal within installation grounds parcels designated as improved, semi-improved and unimproved areas. Pavement clearance includes snow removal, sweeping to remove winter abrasives and other debris, improve the appearance of paved areas, improve the safety of paved areas, reduce maintenance costs by keeping the drainage systems clean and reduce pollutants entering the storm drain system. Transportation services consists of vehicles and equipment maintenance and repairs; vehicle and equipment operations to include dispatch services. Weight handling equipment/material handling equipment services to include provision of a crane, liquid movements, people movements, operator licensing, testing and training, vehicle/equipment inspection and certification and specified administrative program management. Work will be performed in St. Mary's County, Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the Patuxent River, and is expected to be completed by March 31, 2021. Fiscal 2021 Navy operation and maintenance (O&M,N) contract funds in the amount of $0 are obligated on this award and will be used for the base period. The base contract is incrementally funded with the first increment of $0 being allocated Feb. 4, 2021. The base year will commence April 1, 2021, and end March 31, 2022. The second increment will be funded in fiscal 2021 on or before March 31, 2021, at $852,199, and the remainder of the funds will be funded no less than monthly on the last day of each month until the continuous resolution is lifted and/or the contract is fully funded. The contract also contains five unexercised options, which if exercised, would increase cumulative contract value to $66,099,485. Funds will expire at the end of fiscal 2021. This contract was competitively procured via the beta.SAM.gov electronic solicitation with four proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, Washington, Washington, D.C., is the contract activity (N40080-21-D-0006). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Mercy Medical Equipment Co., San Antonio, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $20,000,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for medical equipment and accessories for the Defense Logistics Agency electronic catalog. This was a competitive acquisition with 139 responses received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Texas, with a Feb. 3, 2026, ordering period end date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2026 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2DH-21-D-0057). Chevron U.S.A. Inc., Richmond, California, has been awarded an estimated $8,308,580 indefinite-delivery requirements contract for lubricants. This was a competitive acquisition with 10 responses received. This is a two-year contract with a 30-day carry-over period. Locations of performance are California, Texas, Oregon and South Carolina, with an April 30, 2023, performance completion date. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through fiscal 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency, Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SPE602-21-D-0757). ARMY Akima Support Operations, Colorado Springs, Colorado, was awarded a $12,380,479 modification (P00024) to contract W52P1J-20-F-0137 for support for the Enhanced Army Global Logistics Enterprise at Fort Hood. Work will be performed in Fort Hood, Texas, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 7, 2022. Fiscal 2010 operation and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $ 2,397,562 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2493842/source/GovDelivery/

  • The Pentagon can now buy US-made small drones from these five companies

    21 août 2020 | International, Aérospatial

    The Pentagon can now buy US-made small drones from these five companies

    Nathan Strout WASHINGTON — Beginning in September, entities across the U.S. Department of Defense will be able to buy small, American-manufactured drones from five select companies, allowing users in the field to quickly and easily gain a bird's eye view of their environment. A spin-off of U.S. Army efforts to develop a rucksack-packable quadcopter with the Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR) program of record, the Defense Innovation Unit's Blue sUAS effort let's U.S. government customers purchase trusted small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) that can take off and land vertically. The new drones were developed to comply with Section 848 of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which prohibits the procurement of UAS built in China. Drone configurations will be available from five manufacturers: Altavian, Parrot, Skydio, Teal, and Vantage Robotics. “I think the fact that we started a program with a single requirement around an Army effort and were able to scale it across not only all of the services in DoD to include (U.S. Special Operations Command) and the combatant commands as well as the inter-agency federal government partners ― at least to me ― is super exciting,” Chris Bonzagni, a program manager within DIU's autonomy portfolio and an sUAS subject matter expert, told C4ISRNET. “As a former infantryman, having this capability when I was deployed to Iraq would have been a dream come true.” While Blue sUAS uses the same aerial vehicles as SRR, it offers a vendor-provided ground control system and radio configurations that can be used by customers across DoD and the federal government more broadly. Blue sUAS drones will be available on the GSA schedule starting in September 2020, though DoD entities can also pursue a production contract via Other Transaction Authority, DIU noted in their announcement. “Blue sUAS represents a tremendous first step toward building a robust and trusted UAS domestic industrial base that ensures sustained delivery of highly-capable, secure UAS to the warfighters that depend on it,” said Michael Kratsios, Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. “Blue sUAS showcases how we can both work with small, nontraditional companies and our allies and partners to quickly pilot cutting-edge technologies that support our mutual defense.” The path to Blue sUAS started about two years ago, according to Bonzagni. The Army approached DIU for help adopting commercial quadcopters for use by every platoon. DIU staff walked the Army through their Commercial Solutions Opening process, distilling about 60 pages of requirements to just a page and a half, making them more accessible to commercial companies looking to work with DoD. Those specifications were posted in November 2018, drawing 34 responses from industry. DIU accepted pitches from half of those companies, and ultimately downselected to just six companies five months later in April 2019. Of those six companies, four had never even worked with DoD before. “Blue sUAS is a great example of DoD acquisition reform by lowering the barrier to entry for non-traditional companies to rapidly iterate shoulder to shoulder with warfighters to deliver highly capable sUAS tailored to mission needs,” said Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord in a statement. Under those contracts, DIU worked with those six companies to modify their mature commercial products for broader DoD needs. Among other things, the companies had to incorporate a thermal camera, add a DoD data link, cyber test the drones and ruggedize them for field use. Midway through development, Congress passed a new requirement in the annual defense policy legislation, prohibiting the operation or procurement of UAS manufactured in China. That effort grounded significant numbers of government drones, said Bonzagni, and there were no suitable U.S.-manufactured alternatives available. While the Army continued to focus on developing a solution specifically for its soldiers through SRR, the new requirement opened up a much broader need across the federal government for U.S.-manufactured sUAS. DIU was able to leverage the Army's investment in SRR and make the technology available for all federal government customers — including organizations that use drones every day like the Bureau of Land Management or the U.S. Geological Survey — as Blue sUAS. Drones available through Blue sUAS can be assembled in two minutes or less and will have an operational range of over 3 kilometers, flight endurance greater than 30 minutes, and can fly through dust and rain. All products are three pounds or greater. According to Bonzagni, DIU is looking for a pricing range between $7,000 and $15,000 per unit, although the end price point will vary based on configuration. “While all these offerings were derived from essentially consumer-based [products] ― in some cases toys and some cases fun cameras in the sky — these are sUAS built for work,” explained Matthew Borowski, program manager within DIU's sUAS portfolio and an sUAS subject matter expert. “There really is no consumer offering that has the type of payload package that these drones have on them, including higher resolution thermal cameras [and cameras with seamless zoom].” https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2020/08/20/department-of-defense-can-now-buy-us-manufactured-small-drones-from-these-five-companies/

  • New strategy to quicken tech development amid digital transformation

    10 octobre 2022 | International, C4ISR

    New strategy to quicken tech development amid digital transformation

    One indicator of the strategy's implementation will be the volume of modern software practices embedded in requests for proposals, an Army official said.

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