US Army eyes new ways to evaluate autonomous vehicles

Sur le même sujet

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  10 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - July 09, 2020

  NAVY Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $56,100,000 not-to-exceed, undefinitized contract modification (P00018) to previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract N00019-19-C-0010. This modification provides systems integration engineering support and procures long lead material to ensure the ASQ-239 electronic warfare/countermeasures production capability remains on track to meet Lot 17 deliveries. This modification provides for the continuation of Block 4 electronic warfare development without creating a gap in engineering resources in support of the Navy, Air Force and non-Department of Defense (DOD) participants. Work will be performed in Nashua, New Hampshire (85%); and Fort Worth, Texas (15%), and is expected to be completed by December 2020. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $6,986,000; fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Air Force) funds in the amount of $6,986,000; and non-DOD participant funds in the amount of $3,026,680, will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Liberty JV,* Yuma, Arizona, is awarded a $40,000,000 maximum amount, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity architect-engineering contract for environmental restoration projects at various locations in the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Northwest area of responsibility (AOR). No task orders are being issued at this time. Work will be performed at various government installations within the NAVFAC AOR including, but not limited to, Washington (75%); Alaska (22%); Idaho (1%); Montana (1%); and Oregon (1%). The work to be performed provides for environmental restoration services under the Defense Department's Environmental Restoration Program, which includes the Installation Restoration Program and Munitions Response Program, complies with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, and supports the Navy and Marine Corps base realignment and closure effort and similarly complex local and state environmental investigations. The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months and work is expected to be completed by July 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $1,000 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by environmental restoration (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website and four proposals were received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Northwest, Silverdale, Washington, is the contracting activity (N44255-20-D-5006). Jacobs-EwingCole JV, Pasadena, California, is awarded a $29,944,543 firm-fixed-price task order (N62473-20-F-4714) under an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for post-award design services (PADS) and post-construction award services (PCAS) to support multiple construction projects related to the fiscal 2020 and 2021 military construction (MILCON) earthquake recovery and repair program at Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS), China Lake, California. The task order also contains one unexercised option, which if exercised, will increase cumulative task order value to $36,456,778. Work will be performed in Ridgecrest, California. The work to be performed provides for PADS and PCAS for various fiscal 2020 and 2021 MILCON and repair projects; 18 MILCON projects; and 25 repair projects will be constructed at NAWS China Lake as a part of the earthquake recovery program. The contractor will provide architect-engineer services to address any post-award design and construction related issues for the MILCON and repair projects. The contractor will also provide assistance to the government during the development of responses and requests for information from the contractors performing the construction effort for the projects. Work is expected to be completed by April 2024. Fiscal 2020 MILCON (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $29,944,543 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One proposal was received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N62473-18-D-5801). Salient CRGT Inc., Fairfax, Virginia, is awarded a $21,984,298 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, single award contract to provide support with program management, program planning and execution, Joint Staff actions process training, Actions Division customer service help desk services, strategic planning and analysis assistance, correspondence management and communications and editorial functions in support of the Joint Staff Actions Division. The contract will include a 60-month base ordering period, with no option period. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia (85%); Fairfax, Virginia (10%); and Suffolk, Virginia (5%). The ordering period will be completed by July 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (O&M) (Defense-wide) (DW) funds in the amount of $10,000 will be obligated to fund the contract's minimum amount and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Subsequent task orders will be funded with the appropriate fiscal year O&M, DW funds. This contract was competitively procured with the solicitation posted through Navy Electronic Commerce Online and beta.SAM.gov website and 15 offers were received. The Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00189-20-D-Z023). Lockheed Martin, Baltimore, Maryland, is awarded a $16,345,048 firm-fixed-price contract for the refurbishment of rocket motors and thrust vector control used on vertical launch assemblies for anti-submarine rocket assisted torpedoes. If the option is exercised, the work will be completed by July 2023, bringing the total value of the contract to $30,630,048. Work will be performed in Baltimore, Maryland (44%); Dulles, Virginia (29%); and Owego, New York (27%). The base period of this contract is expected to be completed by October 2022. Weapons procurement funds (Navy) in the full amount of $16,345,048 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One company was solicited for this sole-source requirement pursuant to the authority set forth in 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-C-K045). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY AM General LLC, South Bend, Indiana, has been awarded a maximum $44,095,015 firm-fixed-price requirements contract for High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicle diesel engines with containers. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition regulation 6.302-1. This is a three-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Indiana, with a July 8, 2023, ordering period end date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2023 Army working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Warren, Michigan (SPRDL1-20-D-0118). Marlex Pharmaceuticals Inc., New Castle, Delaware, has been awarded a maximum $9,274,712 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for various pharmaceutical products. This was a competitive acquisition with one response received. This is a one-year base contract with nine one-year option periods. Location of performance is Delaware, with a July 8, 2021, ordering period end date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2021 Warstopper funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2D0-20-D-0008). ARMY VS2 LLC, Alexandria, Virginia, was awarded a $36,672,648 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for logistics support services (maintenance, supply and transportation) at Fort Benning, Georgia. Bids were solicited via the internet with nine received. Work will be performed in Chattahoochee, Georgia, with an estimated completion date of July 8, 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $2,077,440 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W52P1J-20-F-0305). Manson Construction Co., Seattle, Washington, was awarded an $8,330,800 firm-fixed-price contract for dredge work in the Mississippi River. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Venice, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 30, 2021. Fiscal 2020 civil operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $8,330,800 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-20-C-0030). DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY IT Concepts Inc., Vienna, Virginia, was awarded a $26,308,755 labor-hour contract (HHM402-20-C-0038) to develop, update, sustain, operate and enhance a software tool capability to be used by members of the acquisition, requirements, operational and intelligence communities to support and aid in the identification of intelligence requirements, management of priorities, planning and production of intelligence products, enterprise data analytics, communication and other associated processes. Work will be conducted in Vienna and Charlottesville, Virginia, with an expected completion date of June 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and management funds in the amount of $1,023,586 are being obligated at time of award. This contract was awarded through an 8(a) set-aside and five offers were received. The Virginia Contracting Activity, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE Innovative Scientific Solutions Inc., Dayton, Ohio, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $20,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity modification (P00005) to contract FA8650-13-D-2343 for advanced propulsion concepts and cycles research and development. Work will be performed in Dayton, Ohio, and is expected to be completed June 18, 2022. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $1,750,000 are being obligated at the time of award under task order FA8650-17-F-2009. Total cumulative face value of the contract is not-to-exceed $64,560,000. Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Beavercreek, Ohio, has been awarded a $7,687,489 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for Infrared Radiation Effects Laboratory (IRREL) operation and improvements program. The objective of this effort is to provide radiometric and radiation characterizations of focal plane arrays (FPAs) and associated devices. The effort includes developing innovative techniques to advance the state of the art in the characterization of infrared and visible FPAs and associated devices. These innovative techniques include the development of characterization and analytical techniques, test hardware and operational and test procedures that advance the experimental capabilities of the IRREL. Work will be performed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is expected to be completed Oct. 10, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition with one offer received. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $150,000 are being obligated at time of award. The Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, is the contracting activity (FA9453-20-C-0015). *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2269384/source/GovDelivery/

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  11 décembre 2023 | International, Aérospatial

  Stratolaunch’s Roc set to launch Talon-A on first hypersonic flight

  The Talon-A could provide DoD with a reusable, more affordable platform to test and validate high-speed components, subsystems and other technologies.

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  4 septembre 2019 | International, Terrestre

  Textron Preps For Mass Production Of New Army Rifle

  By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR. WASHINGTON: Textron has partnered with global gun-maker Heckler & Koch to mass-produce new rifles for the Army and with ammunition giant Olin Winchester to churn out the high-powered yet lightweight 6.8 millimeter rounds. Textron still has to beat both General Dynamics and Sig Sauer for the right to build the Next Generation Squad Weapons (NSGW). All three companies won awards last Thursday to build prototypes for troops to test, starting this coming spring and continuing through late 2021. No follow-on production contract is guaranteed. But Textron is watching the Army's urgent push to modernize across the force, from assault rifles to hypersonic missiles and wants to be ready to sprint to mass production if it wins. Textron could do everything in house, senior VP Wayne Prender said. But, he told reporters this morning, by working with Olin Winchester and H&K, which are experienced with largescale manufacture of ammo and weapons respectively, “we are preparing ourselves for a high rate of production.” The Army wants to start fielding two variants of NGSW to tens of thousands of close combat troops — infantry, scouts, special operators, and so on — in 2022. Support troops and vehicle crews will stick with the current M4 carbine for the indefinite future. But frontline ground combatants will get more than just a gun. Linked wirelessly with electronics all over the soldier's body, including Microsoft HoloLens-derived targeting goggles called IVAS, the Next Generation Squad Weapon is meant to be just one lethal component of a larger, high-tech system. It's like the Hellfire missiles on an Apache helicopter or the 120 mm Rheinmetall smoothbore cannon on an M1 tank, except this “weapons platform” moves on foot. This approach is part of a wider push, begun by former Defense Secretary (and Marine Corps rifleman) Jim Mattis, to improve the Close Combat Lethality of the military's most exposed members. The American grunt has accumulated more and more high tech over the last two decades. Designing a new weapon from scratch is a chance to streamline the scopes, cables, batteries, and other impedimenta festooning modern foot troops. “All of those are now part of an integrated weapon system, versus a rifle that then has something else strapped onto it with wires hanging off,” Prender told reporters. “We can make some smart decisions early in the design process that enable it to be cleaner.” That should make the new weapon easier to use, lighter, and even better balanced, since the center of gravity is now calculated with installing add-ons in mind. Three Contenders, 27 Months While troops will test the first prototypes this spring, each contender has 27 months to deliver a total of 53 NGSW assault rifles — potential replacements for the M16/M4 family in service since Vietnam — and 43 automatic rifles — replacing the M249 SAW — along with 850,000 rounds of 6.8 mm ammunition. Like the M16, M4, and M249 with the 5.56 mm cartridge, the new NGSW family will all share a common 6.8 mm round, which is supposed to deliver longer range and greater body-armor-penetrating power without increasing weight much. Each competitor has their own spin on how to deliver the new rifle bullet. Sig Sauer, which already builds the Army's standard 9mm pistol and a host of other limited-issue weapons, has taken what seems to be the most conservative approach. It offers what the company calls a “hybrid” cartridge, which is still made of metal like traditional brass casings, but significantly lighter. General Dynamics's Ordnance & Tactical Systems (OTS) division has partnered with a Texan firm, True Velocity, to build “composite” rounds out of polymers. In layman's words, the bullet is packaged, not in brass, but rugged plastic. Again, the goal is to save weight. Textron's approach is arguably the most radical, to the point it doesn't even look like a bullet, just a cylinder that's equally blunt on both ends. That's because it's a cased telescoped round, sheathing the entire bullet in a polymer shell, surrounded by its propellant instead of sitting on top of it. (The resulting case looks like a folded-up telescope, hence the name). Textron says this method cuts weight per shot by 40 percent, a potential boon for overburdened foot troops. The Army's new modernization strategy — after decades of cancelled programs and incremental changes to aging weapons — is to try such great leaps forward but then test prototypes ASAP with real troops in the field. The service has been “opening the doors of the Army to the contractors to get that feedback early and often,” Prender said approvingly. Each round of user feedback is meant to help the contractors improve their product, and the military to refine their specifications, until the service can confidently choose a refined design. Now, the Army isn't locking itself in. Whoever does best in testing, the Army hasn't promised the winner a production contract. But Textron is betting they can convince an eagerly modernizing Army that their product is not only superior but ready to field without further R&D. “Whether [to] move right into an initial Low-Rate Initial Production, followed by fielding and first unit equipped, or [to do] additional prototyping and maturation of the weapon system... all that will be determined by the Army,” Prender told reporters. “We have high confidence that our weapon system will meet all of the requirements that the Army has laid out... so we're looking forward to at the end of those 27 months to move into production.” https://breakingdefense.com/2019/09/textron-readies-for-mass-production-of-new-army-rifle