22 mai 2019 | International, Terrestre

US Army’s jumping to the next level in virtual training

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has been building a virtual world in which to train soldiers for war, and it's expected to award contracts in June for reconfigurable virtual air and ground trainers and for a common synthetic environment that includes complex and real-life terrain.

Maj. Gen. Maria Gervais, who leads the Synthetic Training Environment Cross-Functional Team, which is part of Army Futures Command, told reporters during a recent media roundtable that she's “encouraged” to see what her team accomplished since it formed roughly 18 months ago.

While the service, at a time, led the charge when it came to developing virtual environments, it has clung to relics of the '80s and '90s — stove-piped training systems lacking in realism.

As the Army shifts its focus to fighting in a multidomain environment, the service wants a new system that enables collective training across air, ground, sea, cyber and space with greater fidelity that can be used not only as a trainer but also as a mission-planning tool.

Before the synthetic training environment, or STE, was prioritized through the establishment of Army Futures Command, it wasn't going to be ready until 2030, but Gervais shrunk that timeline through new approaches in development and acquisition by involving industry and soldiers in a collaborative and agile manner.

What is the STE?

Over the last 18 months, the components of the STE have taken shape and will consist of One World Terrain — which compiles realistic and accurate virtual maps of territory — training simulation software, a training management tool and virtual collective trainers. All of this will make up the soldier/squad virtual trainer and the reconfigurable virtual collective trainer.

The idea is to be able to click on any place on a virtual globe and go there. Soldiers can then train virtually in an exact environment in which they can expect to operate in reality. Just a few years ago, building One World Terrain was painstaking, tedious and expensive, but through new technology applications, what used to take nine months to build can now take eight hours.

The training simulation software will support training simultaneously across many locations and training platforms.

The training management tool allows users to build training scenarios through simulation databases.

The virtual trainers are being designed for dismounted, air and ground formations to train from a squad level through battalion, and ultimately at higher echelons. The trainer for the soldier and squad will support individual and collective task at the smallest formation.

The reconfigurable virtual collective trainers, or RVCT, will represent Army and Marine Corps air and ground systems for training at the unit level and will be used for mission rehearsals at every echelon.

Ready player one

The Army plans to award contracts next month to build both an RVCT for aircraft and an RVCT for ground vehicles that are reconfigurable based on changes to platform inventories.

The STE conducted an initial user assessment of what had been developed in March 2018, Gervais said.

Since then, the Army has conducted more than 20 “touch points” with industry partners, which led to a user assessment in Orlando, Florida — where the STE cross-functional team is based — of One World Terrain, the training management tool as well as the training simulation software.

Meanwhile, Gervais said, the team is in the middle of a user assessment of an RVCT—Air prototype at Fort Carson, Colorado, which began in April and is supported by soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division.

The service completed its assessment of a ground simulation platform that went to Fort Riley, Kansas. Crew members for Abrams tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Stryker combat vehicles of the 1st Infantry Division supported that effort.

One World Terrain is already in use and under evaluation by a Marine battalion as well as three divisions in the Army and Naval Special Warfare Command. It's also used at the National Training Center and by the 3rd and 7th special forces groups.

All of the users are providing feedback, according to Gervais.

A contract was awarded in September 2018 to build the squad advanced marksmanship trainer, which is a product of the Close Combat Lethality Task Force initiative to improve soldier lethality and survivability, and the capability is already fielded to the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York.

The new trainer takes what was a tethered system and — while it still uses projectors and screens — allows users to move around a base with more flexibility, which is more operationally realistic.

Ultimately, the projectors and screens could be replaced by a headset, which is in keeping with the service's requirement to bring trainers to an operational unit in the field or at home station. This means the system must be easy to set up and transport.

“We will continue to field that out to the Army the rest of this [fiscal year],” Gervais said.

Taking it to the next level

The Army plans to use the other transaction authority, or OTA, contracting mechanism to award contracts next month to move quicker and more agile than the standard and often lengthy acquisition process.

The service previously used OTAs for STE development. “What the existing OTAs have done for us is they have actually allowed us to get a quick look from industry on where they were with the capabilities,” Col. Marcus Varnadore, the project manager for the STE CFT, said during the media roundtable.

“It was very important for us right up front to identify where industry really was with respect to the technology, which allowed us to then make some decisions about what path to go forward with, and it also allowed us, with that first OTA, to kind of get an idea of how we needed to structure our follow-on OTAs,” he added.

With the upcoming OTA contract awards, “we are kind of taking that and moving it to the next level using OTAs to bridge our gap here to get to the [initial operational capability] ... before we transition ultimately into a production [full-operational capability] environment,” said Brian Serra, the branch chief of Army Contracting Command—Orlando.

“We are using the flexibility of OTAs,” he added, “to adjust as we go so we are not married to a 100-page specification.” That translates to the CFT taking a two-year process and shrinking it to six months max.

The incremental process has also allowed the STE CFT to track industry's progress in this arena. Gervais noted that in some cases, companies might have overstated a specific technology's capabilities, and in turn the serve may need to bolster funding for internal science and technology efforts to improve that specific tech.

Alternatively, the Army might notice it's been developing technology that is already well-developed in the commercial world.

“I'm very confident and comfortable that our efforts to date are going to keep us on track to meet an initial operational capability of fourth-quarter FY21,” Gervais said.

To reach initial operational capability, Gervais expects to field a battalion set of the RVCT—Air and RVCT—Ground — running on the common synthetic environment made up of One World Terrain, the training management tools and the training simulation software — to at least four installations.

Over the next two years following initial operational capability, the Army will expand that fielding to include all installations where the capability is required in order to reach full operational capability by FY23.

https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/05/17/us-armys-jumping-to-next-level-in-virtual-training-world/

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  • Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - November 08, 2019

    8 novembre 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - November 08, 2019

    DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Cardinal Health 200 LLC, Waukegan, Illinois, has been awarded a maximum $2,250,000,000 modification (P00023) exercising the first 30-month option period of a 30-month base contract (SPE2DV-17-D-0001) with three 30-month option periods for worldwide ordering and distribution of consumable, commercial, brand name and generic medical surgical supplies. This is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. Locations of performance are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington, with a June 6, 2022, performance completion date. Using customers are Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Owens and Minor Distribution Inc., Mechanicsville, Virginia, has been awarded a maximum $1,125,000,000 modification (P00018) exercising the first 30-month option period of a 30-month base contract (SPE2DV-17-D-0002) with three 30-month option periods for worldwide ordering and distribution of consumable, commercial, brand name and generic medical surgical supplies. This is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. Locations of performance are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington, with a June 6, 2022, performance completion date. Using customers are Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, Portsmouth, Rhode Island, has been awarded a maximum $24,942,879, firm-fixed-price contract for receiver transmitters. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S.C. 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a three-year, two-month contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Rhode Island, with a Jan. 31, 2023, performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2023 Navy working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPRPA1-20-F-LY00). Mayfield Dairy Farms LLC, Marietta, Georgia, has been awarded a maximum $19,057,500 firm-fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for milk and dairy products. This was a competitive acquisition with one response received. This is a 36-month contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Georgia, with a Nov. 19, 2022, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-20-D V350). Peck and Hale LLC, W. Sayville, New York, has been awarded a maximum $13,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the production of spare parts in support of the MK-2551 A/U grounding kit. This was a competitive acquisition with one response received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is New York, with a Nov. 6, 2024, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2024 Army working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland (SPRBL1-20-D-0009). NAVY Ameresco Select Inc., Framingham, Massachusetts, is awarded firm-fixed-price task order (N3943020F9904) at $170,993,668, under a multiple award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, energy savings performance contract at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The work to be performed provides for the construction, operations, and maintenance of energy conservations to improve energy efficiency and reliability, which includes compressed air upgrades, motor and pump replacements, micro-grid for energy security, power plant improvements and steam traps. Work will be performed at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine, and is expected to be completed in 23 years and four months by January 2044. No funds will be obligated with this award, as private financing obtained by the contractor will be used for the 28-month construction/implementation phase of the project. Two proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center, Port Hueneme, California, is the contracting activity for the task order. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Golden, Colorado, is the contracting activity for the basic contract (DE-AM36-09GO29029). J.F. Taylor Inc.,* Lexington Park, Maryland, is awarded a $109,433,818 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides for development of simulation systems and software to support training activities as well as acquisition development and lifecycle support for the Integrated Battlespace Simulation and Test Department, Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division 5.4.3, Simulation Division. Work will be performed in Lexington Park, Maryland (75%); and Patuxent River, Maryland (25%), and is expected to be completed in November 2024. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured, as a small business set-aside, via an electronic request for proposal; one offer was received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-20-D-0008). Bell-Boeing Joint Project Office, Amarillo, Texas, is awarded a $68,189,550 cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price order (N0001920F0315) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-17-G-0002). This order provides non-recurring and recurring engineering associated with the development, qualification test, integration, airworthiness substantiation, flight test demonstration and validation/verification of the government of Japan unique configuration into MV-22B Block C aircraft and the MV-22 Containerized Flight Training Device. This effort also includes logistics and training efforts, to include post-delivery reach-back support, aircraft preservation and de-preservation, storage, aircraft transit support as well as the remaining unique kits and installs in support of the government of Japan. Work will be performed in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania (50.8%); Fort Worth, Texas (27.2%); Hyogo, Japan (6.9%); Chantilly, Virginia (6.7%); Huntsville, Alabama (2.2%); Olathe, Kansas (0.8%); Red Oak, Texas (0.7%); Bangalore, Indiana (0.6%); various locations within the continental U.S. (3%); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (1.1%), and is expected to be completed in August 2024. Foreign Military Sales funds for $68,189,550 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. KBR Diego Garcia LLC, Houston, Texas, is awarded a $60,635,283 modification for the exercise of the option two under an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for base operations support services at U.S. Navy Support Facility Diego Garcia. After award of this option, the total cumulative contract value will be $178,629,215. The work to be performed provides for general management and administration services; command and staff (information technology services, information technology support and management, telephone services, telecommunication services, antenna maintenance); public safety (fire protection and emergency services); air operations (ground electronics, airfield facilities, and passenger terminal and cargo handling); port operations; supply (supply services and petroleum, oil and lubricant management and operations, and ship's store service activities); morale, welfare and recreation support; galley; bachelor quarters; facilities support (facility management, facility investment sustainment, restoration and modernization, custodial, pest control, integrated solid waste management, grounds maintenance, and pavement clearance); utilities (electrical, compressed gases, wastewater, steam, hot water and demineralized water, and potable water); base support vehicles and equipment; and environmental to provide integrated base operating services. 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  • Lockheed Martin sells Indago 3 UAV to Switzerland

    31 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial

    Lockheed Martin sells Indago 3 UAV to Switzerland

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