27 janvier 2023 | International, Terrestre
Four teams will now build prototypes to better inform the U.S. Army's future Common Tactical Truck.
25 avril 2024 | International, Aérospatial
Bombardier is now the second large Canadian corporation known to have been granted an exemption from federal government sanctions on Russian titanium.
9 octobre 2020 | International, C4ISR, Sécurité
Nathan Strout WASHINGTON — Now that the Space Development Agency has selected four contractors to build its first 28 satellites, the organization is looking for a launch provider to ferry them into orbit. According to a solicitation posted Oct. 6, the agency plans to select one company to provide launch services for all 28 satellites, with the first launch taking place in September 2022. Those 28 satellites will comprise tranche 0 of SDA's National Defense Space Architecture, a new proliferated constellation providing a whole host of services primarily from low Earth orbit. Among other things, the NDSA is anticipated to provide beyond-line-of-site targeting, hypersonic missile warning and tracking, and a space-based mesh network that will connect all of the services as part of the Pentagon's new Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) approach. The constellation will ultimately include hundreds of satellites, but SDA isn't putting them all up at once. Rather, the agency has adopted a spiral development approach, where the most mature and ready technology is added to the constellation in two year tranches. This launch solicitation covers the first tranche, otherwise known as tranche 0. Slated to go into orbit in fall 2022, tranche 0 is what SDA calls its “war fighter immersion tranche.” “Its goal is to provide the data in a format that the war fighters are used to seeing on tactical timelines that they can be expected to see once we actually become operational,” SDA Director Derek Tournear told C4ISRNET. “The whole purpose of tranche 0 is to allow the war fighters to start to train and develop tactics, techniques and procedures so that they can create operational plans for a battle where they would actually incorporate these data.” With just 28 satellites, tranche 0 will not provide global, persistent coverage. Instead, it will provide periodic, regional capabilities. Tranche 0 will feature the inaugural satellites in the transport and tracking layers. The 20 transport layer satellites will form the base of a space-based mesh network, passing data from satellites to weapon systems along a high-speed, on-orbit corridor. Tournear has previously stated that the transport layer will serve as the space component of CJADC2, the Pentagon's effort to connect sensors to shooters across domains and services. The inaugural tracking layer will be made up of eight satellites. The tracking layer will be used to detect and track hypersonic threats, working with the transport layer to pass tracking data and custody from satellite to satellite—collaborating to keep an eye on globe-traversing missiles that can evade current missile warning capabilities. SDA has selected Lockheed Martin and York Space Systems to each build 10 of the transport layer satellites, while SpaceX and L3 Harris will split the eight tracking layer satellites. Because the SDA has given vendors flexibility in the designs of their satellites, there is some variety to the weight of the space vehicles being launched into orbit. While all 20 transport layer satellites will weigh approximately 200 kilograms, give or take 20 kilograms, there is a significant difference in the size of the eight tracking layer satellites. One vendor—either SpaceX or L3 Harris—will be contributing four tracking layer space vehicles weighing approximately 1,068 kg each. The other vendor's space vehicles will be significantly lighter at just 249 kg. In total, SDA is looking to put as much as 10,164 kg of hardware into orbit. The agency wants all 28 satellites delivered to two circular, 950 km near-polar orbits, with the tranche divided evenly into two planes of 14 satellites. The launch provider has until March 31, 2023, to put all payloads on orbit and has discretion as to how many launches it will use to do that. The goal is to have as many satellites up as close to September 2022 as possible. Proposals are due by Nov. 5 at 4 p.m. EST. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/10/08/space-development-agency-wants-someone-to-launch-their-first-28-satellites/
19 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
t's harder to win business amid a pandemic, said one-third of industry respondents in a Defense One reader survey. Federal contractors and private-sector workers say the coronavirus pandemic is hurting business and their ability to compete for government work, a new survey of Defense One readers has found. More than 75 percent said COVID-19 had a moderate, major, or extreme impact on their company's day-to-day operations. About 22 percent said the virus had a minimal impact; 2 percent, no impact. Nearly 60 percent of the respondents said coronavirus has forced them to slow or pause production. Nearly 40 percent said their business has seen disruptions to its cash flow. Defense One commissioned the survey, which was conducted by Government Business Council, a division of Defense One's parent company, Government Executive Media Group. The survey was conducted May 8-14 and received 677 responses, yielding a 5 percent margin of error. Of those, 313 self-identified as a government contractor or private sector employee. Related: 62% Disapprove of Trump's Coronavirus Response, Reader Survey Finds In March, the Pentagon began paying its contractors more money up front so these large firms could send more money to the smaller companies that make up their vast and diverse supply chains. Collectively, companies have sent or pledged to send billions of dollars to their suppliers in a quicker fashion. Still, Ellen Lord, defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, said last month that she was expecting a three-month slowdown in weapons deliveries as companies faced shutdowns and modified their processes and procedures to comply with social distancing and other guidelines. About 30 percent of contractors and private sector workers said their business has experienced supply-chain disruptions. While more than one-third of respondents said social distancing has hurt their company's ability to compete for government contracts, more than half said social distancing has made no difference in their company's ability to win contracts and 12 percent said restrictions have helped their company's competitive advantage. More than 17 percent said their business has had to lay off employees; 18 percent said their companies have furloughed workers. One-quarter of respondents said lack of access to senior officials and decision makers and the inability to attend networking events has affected their business. With conferences, trade shows and other in-person events on hold indefinitely, trade associations and event organizers have looked for virtual ways to replicate not only speaker presentations, but the sideline discussions and other types of networking that many consider essential to doing business in the defense sector. “Your ability to pull somebody off the stage coming off a panel, the ability to ask a question in the question-and-answer period in this environment, is a little bit challenging,” Hawk Carlisle, a retired Air Force general who is CEO of National Defense Industrial Association, said in an interview late last month. “It is having an effect and I do believe the longer this goes on it will continue to have an effect.” This week, NDIA, which represents 1,700 large and small companies and has 70,000 individual members, became the first to transform a large conference and trade show into a fully virtual conference. Typically, its SOFIC event is held in Tampa, near the U.S. Special Operations Command headquarters. This year, the speeches and panel discussions were broadcast online. What's more, the organization facilitated meetings between companies and government officials. NDIA, which usually hosts dozens of events around the country each year, is considering new ways to hold its gatherings, including hosting hybrid events, with some people in attendance and others attending virtually, Carlisle said. https://www.defenseone.com/business/2020/05/coronavirus-hampering-defense-contractor-operations-reader-survey-finds