USAF receives first Beechcraft AT-6E Wolverine - Skies Mag

Sur le même sujet

• 

  12 août 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - August 11, 2020

  NAVY Continental Tide Defense Systems Inc. (Tide),* Reading, Pennsylvania (N64498-20-D-4030); Gibbs & Cox Inc. (G&C), New York, New York (N64498-20-D-4031); McKean Defense Group LLC (McKean), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (N64498-20-D-4032); NDI Engineering Co. (NDI),* Thorofare, New Jersey (N64498-20-D-4033); and Q.E.D. Systems Inc. (Q.E.D.), Virginia Beach, Virginia (N64498-20-R-4029), are each awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contracts with firm-fixed-price task order provisions for a combined, not-to-exceed $165,092,379 to provide engineering, technical, logistics and program management services to perform the functions for Navy and Army surface ships, submarines, and assault craft. Functions include engineering, technical and logistics support for in-service ship systems and equipment, refurbishment and testing of electrical and electrical control equipment, program management, programmatic, engineering and implementation coordination support for equipment upgrades and ship modernization initiatives and direct fleet support for afloat units at the waterfront. Contractor support is required to provide the necessary technical expertise, technical personnel mix and support for all of these efforts. The contract awarded to Tide is not to exceed $31,764,960; the contract awarded to G&C is not to exceed $33,491,813; the contract awarded to McKean is not to exceed $31,531,799; the contract awarded to NDI is not to exceed $33,667,355; and the contract awarded to Q.E.D. is not to exceed $30,420,902. The contract awards listed above are not to exceed a program value and combined total of $34,636,452. Work will be completed at the contractors' facilities (86%); and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (14%). Work is expected to be completed by July 2026. Fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy) (91%); and operations and maintenance (Navy) (9%) funding in the total amount of $500,000 ($100,000 minimum guarantee per contract) will be obligated at time of award via individual task orders, of which operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $44,800 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. These contracts were competitively procured using full and open competition via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with 10 offers received. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia Division, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a Lockheed Martin Co., Stratford, Connecticut, is awarded a $25,127,577 cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order (N00019-20-F-0863) against basic ordering agreement N00019-19-G-0029. This order provides non-recurring engineering for the development of logistics support products for the Maintenance Task Analysis Phase II, a provisioning database of technical information to include 2D drawings that supports all operational, intermediate, and depot level maintenance for the CH-53K helicopter. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut (63%); Jupiter, Florida (11%); Chesterfield, Missouri (6%); St. Marcel, France (5%); Rockmart, Georgia (2%); Titchfield, England (2%); Rome, New York (2%); Springfield, New Jersey (2%); Orange, Connecticut (1%); Westbury, New York (1%); Avon, Ohio (1%); and various locations within the continental U.S. (4%), and is expected to be completed in August 2024. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,043,000 will be obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Kiliuda Consulting LLC,* Anchorage, Alaska, is awarded an $18,883,593 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with firm-fixed-price task orders that will be issued to provide business support services for the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division corporate operations. The services under this contract will provide facilities support (workspace design and physical reconfiguration); visual information support (illustration and photography/videography); security support (excluding law enforcement); Manager's Internal Control program support; material and equipment property management support; travel accounting, management and program analysis; and quality office and office clerical support. Work will be performed in Panama City, Florida, and is expected to be complete by October 2021, and if all options are exercised, would be complete by October 2025. No funding will be obligated by this action. Task orders will primarily be funded with Navy working capital funds. Navy working capital funds will be obligated on task orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured as a Section 8(a) small business set-aside with 10 offers received. Offers were solicited via the beta.SAM.gov contract opportunities website. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, Panama City, Florida, is the contracting activity (N61331-20-D-0016). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY US Foods, Manassas, Virginia, has been awarded a maximum $51,600,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-quantity contract for full-line food distribution. This was a competitive acquisition with one response received. This is a four-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Virginia, with an Aug. 11, 2024, ordering period end date. Using customers are Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2024 defense working capital funds. The contracting agency is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-20-D-3274). Claflin Service Co., Warwick, Rhode Island, has been awarded a maximum $49,500,000 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 127 responses received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Rhode Island, with an Aug. 10, 2025, ordering period end date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2025 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2DH-20-D-0046). Telephonics Corp., Farmingdale, New York, has been awarded a maximum $44,999,380 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery requirements contract for communication interface units. This was a limited source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1 (a)(2). This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is New York, with an Aug. 31, 2025, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2025 Army working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (SPRRA1-20-D-0060). Dominion Privatization Texas LLC, Richmond, Virginia, has been awarded a $42,075,122 modification (P00040) to a 50-year contract (SP0600-16-C-8312) with no option periods for additional utility services for the electric and natural gas utility systems at Fort Hood, Texas. This modification increases the obligated value from $68,019,912 to $69,377,704. This is a firm-fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract. Locations of performance are Virginia and Texas, with a June 30, 2066, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2017 through 2067 Army operations and maintenance funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Sysco Central Alabama Inc., Calera, Alabama, has been awarded a maximum $13,586,862 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-quantity contract for full-line food distribution. 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 132-day bridge contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are Alabama and Florida, with a Dec. 19, 2020, ordering period end date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal year 2020 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting agency is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-20-D-3282). (Awarded Aug. 7, 2020) ARMY Liqid Inc.,* Broomfield, Colorado, was awarded a $31,850,000 firm-fixed-price contract for high-performance computing modernization programs. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 6, 2026. Fiscal 2020 other procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $25,480,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W912DY-20-F-0508). DigiFlight Inc.,* Columbia, Maryland, was awarded a $15,304,730 modification (P00033) to contract W31P4Q-19-F-E002 for logistic support services for the Apache Attack Helicopter Project Manager's Office. Work will be performed in Columbia, Maryland, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 10, 2021. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement appropriations funds in the amount of $15,304,730 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2309332/source/GovDelivery/

• 

  20 avril 2018 | International, Aérospatial, Naval

  Major players pitch solutions for Navy’s next training helicopter

  By: Jen Judson NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Several major players in the helicopter industry pitched possible solutions at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space conference for the Navy's next initial-entry, rotary-wing training helicopter as the service signals stronger intentions to replace its aging TH-57 Sea Ranger fleet. The Navy has announced during recent congressional hearings that it plans to buy a new training helicopter in fiscal 2020. For years, the service has put out requests for information asking industry for training helicopter options with the latest coming out in October 2017. That RFI left some requirements open-ended such as whether the aircraft should have one or two engines, but has asked for the helicopter to be Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) certified, an obvious requirement when flying over sea or in reduced visibility environments. It's also assumed the Navy wants a commercial off-the-shelf aircraft. The TH-57 is more than reaching the end of its life, having first been fielded to the Navy's training fleet in the 1970s. So three companies — Airbus, Bell and Leonardo — all brought examples of possible training helicopters to the Navy's biggest trade show. Airbus H135 Airbus is keeping all of its options on the table for a Navy trainer because the service has yet to define all of its requirements, according to John Roth, senior director of business development for Airbus Helicopters Inc. “We have a broad product range that goes from light, single-engine into light, twin-engine to medium and heavy twin-engine platforms,” Roth told Defense News at Sea-Air-Space. “Our approach is we will evaluate those requirements and offer based on those requirements. However, given the nature of training and how the complexity of training has evolved over time, we do have recommendations for the Navy as it relates to having the best possible solution to accomplish all of their missions.” And one recommendation is the H135 light, twin-engine helicopter Airbus had on display at the show. “We believe this is certainly a very capable potential solution that meets all the Navy requirements as a commercial off-the-shelf product,” Roth said. The H135 is similar to the EC-145 helicopter that the Army now uses for its trainer, replacing its TH-67 Creek helicopters with LUH-72A Lakota light utility helicopters already in the service's inventory beginning in 2014. The Army's decision to retire the TH-67s and replace them with Lakotas was met with much debate as to whether it made sense to teach helicopter pilots basic skills in a more complex digital glass cockpit helicopter with twin engines. And the decision was even met with a lawsuit. Leonardo — then known as AgustaWestland — sued the Army over its decision not to compete for a new trainer but to instead sole-source a helicopter already fielded by the service. Leonardo initially won the lawsuit but the decision was overturned in the appellate court. The Army is still filling out its Lakota training fleet, but, Roth said, “from a qualitative perspective, we've got some very positive feedback that talks to capability of the aviators when they complete the training and having them more prepared for the advanced aircraft once they arrive at their advanced training stations.” The fact that both the Lakota and the H135 have advanced digital glass cockpits, four-axis autopilot and twin-engine capability with Full Authority Digital Engine (FADEC) controls “all prepared them for the type of vehicle that they are going to get in when they get into their advanced training,” Roth said. The Army has taken tasks normally taught in the more expensive advanced aircraft and brought those down to basic training, he added. “There has been a lot of advantages realized from that decision that we think the Navy will be able to take advantage of as well,” Roth said. The H135s, if purchased by the Navy, would be built at its Columbus, Mississippi, production line where commercial EC135s and Lakotas are built. The helicopter pitched to the Navy is also used by approximately a dozen countries with nearly 130 aircraft serving as a primary trainer worldwide, Roth said. Bell 407 GXi Bell would be the incumbent in a competition for a new Navy trainer, being the current manufacturer of the TH-57. The company plans to offer up its 407 GXi, according to Steve Mathias, Bell's vice president for Global Military Business Development. Bell has already built and sold 1,500 407s worldwide which have flown over 4.75 million hours, he said, so the helicopter is “very reliable, sustainable, maintainable glass cockpit, just a great overall aircraft,” Mathias said. And from a programmatic perspective, he said, choosing Bell's trainer offers “a lot less risk because it's very similar to the TH-57 that the Navy currently has, so a transition from a Bell product to a Bell product would be a lower risk, I would think, to the customer.” Bell also provides many of the helicopters the Navy and Marine Corps fly today such as the UH-1Y Venom, the AH-1Z Viper and the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor and therefore has a high level of experience working with the services on a day-to-day basis “so we very closely understand what the Navy requirements are,” Mathias argued. The company is hoping the Navy chooses to go with a single-engine aircraft because it would “be less costly to operate” and less complex to train, according to Mathias. He added that he believes the choice would offer the best value to the service. Leonardo TH-119 Italian company Leonardo is making a play for the trainer with plans to submit its TH-119, which puts them, like Bell, into the single-engine camp, according to Andrew Gappy, who is in charge of the company's government sales and programs. The helicopter is a variant of the AW119Kx, a single-engine, full-spectrum training aircraft and can be used for training from the basics like learning how to hover above the ground all the way to advanced tactics. And while Leonardo is a foreign company, all of the 119s worldwide are manufactured in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 119 is also IFR certified to meet that Navy requirement. The helicopter is known for its significant power, which means the aircraft's training mission sets can grow and change over time without affecting its performance, Gappy said. It's important for the Navy to buy a new trainer now because, Gappy said, he trained on the TH-57 “a long time ago.” The aircraft averages roughly 70,000 flight hours a year and will become more and more costly to operate as it continues to age. “When I went through, the TH-57 had a lot in common with combat aircraft, how the aircraft flew and instrumentation training was really relevant,” he said. “It's so disparate now with glass cockpits and all of them are multi-bladed rotor systems that fly differently than the twin rotor system, so it's really resetting the baseline,” which allows the service to incorporate more advanced training into the basic courses that has migrated away from that training due to the loss in power margin, Gappy said. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/navy-league/2018/04/11/major-players-pitch-solutions-for-navys-next-training-helicopter/

• 

  10 janvier 2022 | International, Aérospatial

  USAF Chief Scientist Urges Focus On Autonomy Deployment

  Following the revelation in December that the U.S. Air Force plans to launch two new unmanned combat air vehicle programs, the service's chief scientist says tactical autonomy and the use of manned-unmanned teaming “will become the next step in the evolution of the Department of the Air Force.”