Retour aux nouvelles

29 août 2019 | International, Terrestre

US Army picks 3 teams to build Infantry Squad Vehicle prototypes

By: Jen Judson

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has picked an Oshkosh Defense and Flyer Defense LLC team, an SAIC and Polaris team, and GM Defense to competitively build Infantry Squad Vehicles intended to provide ground mobility for infantry brigade combat teams.

Each industrial choice was awarded an OTA, or other transaction authority, task assignment under the National Advanced Mobility Consortium to deliver and test two prototypes each, said Steve Herrick, ground mobility vehicle product lead with the Army's Program Executive Office Combat Support & Combat Service Support, in a statement sent to Defense News.

OTA is a congressionally authorized contracting mechanism meant to expedite prototyping efforts.

The three received $1 million to build the vehicles and it's expected that the Army will take delivery of the prototypes on Nov. 13 at Aberdeen Test Center, Maryland.

The prototypes will be evaluated in various performance, operational and characteristics tests through the end of the year and will then be transported to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in January to be assessed by soldiers, Herrick said.

Each industrial choice is expected to simultaneously deliver information to the Army on price, production and logistics.

The Army will choose one vehicle for production in the second quarter of fiscal 2020 based on soldier feedback and response to a formal request for proposals leading to production.

The Army Requirements Oversight Council approved an Army procurement object for 649 Infantry Squad Vehicles with an objective requirement of 2,065 ISVs in February.

The ISV is intended to supplement and potentially replace vehicles the Army procured as version 1.1 of the Ground Mobility Vehicle.

The ISV “is additive” to infantry brigade combat teams “and currently not planned as a replacement for current vehicles in the formation,” according to Herrick.

Oshkosh and Flyer, in a way, represent the incumbent, as Flyer produced the GMV 1.1. vehicle currently fielded. Flyer Defense “is the design authority” and will lead the team in building the prototypes, according to a statement from the team.

GM Defense's ISV is based on its Chevrolet Colorado midsize truck and its ZR2 and ZR2 Bison variants, according to a company statement, “supplemented with both custom and commercially available parts proven by Chevy performance engineering in more than 10,000 miles of punishing off-road development and desert racing in the Best of the Desert Racing series.”

The SAIC-Polaris team is submitting the DAGOR vehicle, which “delivers off-road mobility while meeting the squad's payload demands, all within the weight and size restrictions that maximize tactical air transportability,” according to Jed Leonard, vice president of Polaris Government and Defense.

The DAGOR ISV “will leverage and further enhance the already proven, production-ready solution that has been tested, certified and fielded to operational units in the U.S. Military and its Allies since 2015,” Leonard added.

The prototype competition is a significant step toward a solution after years of uncertainty; the Army seemed geared toward holding a rapid competition to buy a GMV in 2016, but the plan was delayed without much explanation in favor of buying an interim vehicle already in use by special operations forces.

Buying the GMV was a top priority following the fall 2015 release of the Army's Combat Vehicle Modernization Strategy, which called for such a vehicle in future and current operations.

But when a competition never materialized, rumors swirled that the Army might buy more of U.S. Special Operations Command's GMVs — General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems' Flyer 72 — even after the service had spent several years testing a wide variety of commercial off-the-shelf options.

The Army bought quantities of the command's vehicle for five airborne infantry brigade combat teams.

Congress spurred the effort in its FY18 defense policy bill, mandating the Army hold a competition and move forward with a program.

PEO CS&CSS' product lead for the GMV stated on its website that the Army planned to pursue a competition for the GMV — calling it an ISV — as a formal program of record late last year.

The office also released a market survey asking for a vehicle that provides mobility for a nine-soldier infantry squad as well as associated equipment to “move around the close battle area.” The vehicle should be lightweight, highly mobile and transportable “by all means” to include CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopters, UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters, and via low-velocity airdrop.

https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/08/28/us-army-picks-3-teams-to-build-infantry-squad-vehicle-prototypes

Sur le même sujet

  • The Navy aims to install cyber baselines aboard 180 ships

    6 juillet 2020 | International, Naval, C4ISR

    The Navy aims to install cyber baselines aboard 180 ships

    Andrew Eversden Naval Information Warfare Systems Command plans to deploy technology that will certify a ship's compliance with cybersecurity requirements to 180 vessels by fiscal 2022. The cyber baseline system — deployed by FRD 300, which is short for the Cybersecurity Office of the command's Fleet Readiness Directorate — is a web-based application. It allows the directorate to ensure a ship's systems comply with cybersecurity requirements set by the departments of Defense and the Navy prior to departure, according to a June 29 news release from NAVWAR. A baseline “offers a searchable, easy-to-use, platform-specific record of all Navy networks, including hosted and connected, afloat and ashore systems, enabling the ability to independently manage and maintain a ship's information technology capabilities,” the release said. Cyber baselines have been deployed aboard 40 ships in fiscal 2019, the release said. The program, which started in January 2018, has implemented cyber baselines on 80 Navy ships as of June 2020, according to the release. “Delivering cyber baselines allows us to identify capability risks during a ship's availability or scheduled modernization, assuring a cyber-ready platform prior to departure,” FRD 300 Director Duane Phillips said. “We are using an end-to-end approach, ensuring that all hosted and connected systems, including the Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) and Integrated Shipboard Network System (ISNS), comply with DoD and DoN requirements and are approved to meet cyber security technical authority standards.” The tool is delivered and installed in coordination with NAVWAR Headquarters, Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific and Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic. According to the release, FRD 300 supports 10 to 15 platforms at any given time. It is currently working on ships in Bahrain, Japan, California, Washington “and more,” the release said. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, FRD 300 is providing both distance and in-person training on the system. “Despite today's current circumstances, our Navy and our nation are continuing to experience an unprecedented degree of competition in the maritime environment,” FRD 300 Executive Director Mike Spencer said. “As the technical leader for Navy cybersecurity we must continue to drive implementation of cyber standards, creating a secure, defensible information domain. By delivering, installing and managing cyber baselines, we are able to provide a validated end-to-end cyber compliant network improving cyber readiness across the fleet.” NAVWAR is also working with NIWC Pacific and Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence and Space Systems to create a C4I certification by the end of fiscal 2021 that assess a system's cyber readiness. According to the release, the certification process will confirm “all warfighter tools and capabilities are cyber secure through consistent and pervasive implementation of cybersecurity specifications and standards.” The efforts come as the Navy continues to work to improve its cybersecurity after an assessment last year found the service lacked effective cyber hygiene and recommended that it restructure its cybersecurity governance. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/it-networks/2020/06/30/the-navy-aims-to-install-cyber-baselines-aboard-180-ships/

  • France-Parly satisfaite des nouvelles fonctionnalités de l'A400M

    7 septembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial

    France-Parly satisfaite des nouvelles fonctionnalités de l'A400M

    PARIS, 6 septembre (Reuters) - La ministre française de la Défense Florence Parly s'est déclarée jeudi satisfaite des nouvelles fonctionnalités en cours de test sur l'avion de transport militaire A400M d'Airbus. “Nous sommes dans une phase extrêmement positive”, a-t-elle observé lors d'une rencontre avec l'Association des journalistes professionnels de l'aéronautique et de l'espace (AJPAE), disant attendre l'intégralité des fonctionnalités en 2021. Les retards successifs du programme A400M ont conduit les pays clients, comme la France, à réceptionner des appareils n'ayant pas toutes les fonctionnalités contractuelles, comme le largage de parachutistes par les portes latérales, des équipements électroniques de défense et le ravitaillement en vol d'hélicoptères. En mars, Reuters avait révélé que l'armée allemande avait dit dans un rapport confidentiel voir un “risque important” que l'A400M n'ait pas toutes les capacités tactiques requises après 2021, au moment du retrait de sa flotte de C-160 Transall. “Chaque étape que nous passons est une étape qui se franchit avec succès et donc ceci aide chacun à être un peu patient”, a ajouté Florence Parly. L'armée française avait annoncé au printemps la réception de son 14e A400M, avec un objectif de 25 unités en 2025 et une cible de 50 à terme. Le président exécutif d'Airbus Tom Enders a fait état fin juillet d'avancées dans les négociations avec les pays clients de l'A400M pour parvenir à un amendement du contrat d'ici la fin 2018. https://fr.reuters.com/article/frEuroRpt/idFRL5N1VS3VA

  • Canada concludes negotiations on use of US space launch technology

    3 août 2024 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR

    Canada concludes negotiations on use of US space launch technology

Toutes les nouvelles