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  5 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial

  Drones Cleared For Take-Off As Govt Launches GARUD Portal To Ease Norms

  Waking up to the use of drones in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, the ministry of civil aviation and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have launched the GARUD portal. The platform will provide fast track exemptions to government agencies for using drones in their operations against the pandemic. GARUD or ‘Government Authorisation for Relief Using Drones' was developed by the National Informatics Centre in eight days. Providing exemptions to government agencies by changing Rule 160 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, for easy and fast approvals for drone usage, any government department can apply for these exemptions on the GARUD platform. However, the government has also put restrictions on these exemptions. For instance, the government will provide permission to only battery-operated drones or remotely piloted aircraft (RPAs). Permission won't be granted to autonomous and fixed-wing RPAs. The order also makes the organisation responsible for ensuring safe operations of RPAs. Operations involving RPAs are to be conducted under the supervision of authorised entity while not risking lives, property, or any other aircraft. Moreover, the government has allowed all the government agencies to use either their own drones or use ones offered by third-party providers which are mostly startups. According to the rules, all the drones should have a valid unique identification number (UIN) or drone acknowledgement number (DAN) issued by the DGCA. The agency using the RPAs will have to update the details of the drone on DGCA's Digital Sky platform. Moreover, the drones shouldn't be weighing more than 25 KG and cannot pick up, drop or spray any substance. This provision leaves authorities to use these drones for surveillance. Other restrictions include no flight before sunrise and after sunset. The government also imposed a height limit of up to 200 metres for the drones. Besides surveillance, many drone startups in India are also looking to support the delivery of essentials. They are also being used to back on-ground medical staff. Pune and Silicon Valley-based FlytBase is offering drone services free to government officials until May 2020. Moreover, Hyderabad-based Marut Drones is delivering medicines and collecting blood samples. It has also been deployed to spray sanitizer in the city. Recently, the DGCA also allowed hyperlocal delivery provider Dunzo and Bengaluru-based drone maker Throttle Aerospace Systems to test their long-range drone delivery solutions. These startups are also expected to deliver grocery via drones in the near future. https://inc42.com/buzz/drones-cleared-for-take-off-as-govt-launches-garud-portal-to-simplify-norms/

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  6 octobre 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité, Autre défense

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense – October 05, 2020

  ARMY Science Applications International Corp., Reston, Virginia (W9128Z-21-D-0001); General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., Fairfax, Virginia (W9128Z-21-D-0020); and NCI Information Systems Inc., Reston, Virginia (W9128Z-21-D-0003), will compete for each order of the $800,000,000 hybrid (cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price) contract for engineering related activities in support U.S. Army Information Systems Engineering Command. Bids were solicited via the internet with 11 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 4, 2023. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity. General Dynamics Land Systems, Sterling Heights, Michigan, was awarded an $11,949,962 modification (P00118) to contract W56HZV-17-C-0067 for Abrams systems technical support. Work will be performed in Sterling Heights, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2022. Fiscal 2019 weapons and tracked combat vehicle procurement (Army) funds; and 2010 Foreign Military Sales (Morocco) funds in the amount of $11,949,962 were obligated at the time of the award. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity. SPACE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY L3Harris Technologies Inc., Melbourne, Florida, is awarded a $193,599,342 firm-fixed-price contract for the Space Development Agency Tracking Layer Tranche 0, Wide Field of View program. The proposal was received and evaluated under request for proposal HQ0850-20-R-0003. The work to be performed under this contract will include on-time delivery of space vehicles and optical wide field of view payloads. Work will be performed in various locations in the continental U.S. (99.2%); and Canada (0.8%). Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds (defense-wide) will be obligated at the time of award. The Space Development Agency, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (HQ0850-21-C-0002). Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Hawthorne, California, is awarded a $149,175,246 firm-fixed-price contract for the Space Development Agency Tracking Layer Tranche 0, Wide Field of View program. The proposal was received and evaluated under request for proposal HQ0850-20-R-0003. The work to be performed under this contract will include on-time delivery of space vehicles and optical wide field of view payloads. Work will be performed in various locations in the continental U.S. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds (defense-wide) will be obligated at the time of award. The Space Development Agency, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (HQ0850-21-C-0001). NAVY Upcavage, Bauer and Crane Inc.,* Tampa, Florida, was awarded a $48,292,758 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides for the production, test and delivery of up to a maximum of 500 Steerable Antenna Systems (SAS) for electronic warfare/electronic attack pods AN/ALQ-167, AN/AST-9, AN/DLQ-9, and sub-scale targets BQM-34, BQM-74, BQM-167 and BQM-177 in support of U.S. weapon system testing supported by the Airborne Threat Simulation Organization. Additionally, this contract provides sustainment engineering to include teardown, evaluation and repair and modification services. Work will be performed in Tampa, Florida, and is expected to be completed in September 2025. 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 via an electronic request for proposal; one offer was received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, California, is the contracting activity (N68936-21-D-0001). Systems Application and Technologies Inc.,* Oxnard, California, was awarded a $26,540,541 modification (P00035) to previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable contract N68936-18-C-0046. This modification exercises options to provide operational and intermediate level maintenance for both aerial and seaborne assets. This includes air and sea vehicles and vessels used for manned and unmanned training and test events. Aerial assets include subsonic and supersonic aerial targets. Seaborne assets include a combination of target and training support vessels. Work will be performed in Port Hueneme, California (57%); Point Mugu, California (35%); Ridgecrest, California (2%); Las Cruces, New Mexico (2%); Kauai, Hawaii (1%); Salt Lake City, Utah (1%); Lompoc, California (1%); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (1%), and is expected to be completed in September 2021. Working capital funds (Navy) funds in the amount of $14,155,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division, China Lake, California, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Baltimore, Maryland, is awarded a $12,078,333 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-11-C-2300 to exercise an option for post-delivery support for the Littoral Combat Ship USS Cooperstown (LCS 23). Work will be performed in Marinette, Wisconsin (57%); Hampton, Virginia (14%); Moorestown, New Jersey (11%); San Diego, California (11%); and Washington, D.C. (7%), and is expected to be completed by February 2022. Fiscal 2016 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $8,200,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. Offshore Service Vessels LLC, Cut Off, Louisiana (N32205-19-C-3514), is awarded a $10,756,185 option under a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract to fund the first one-year option period. The option will continue to provide for the U.S. flag Jones Act, West Coast based service support vessel Motor Vessel Alyssa Chouest which will be utilized to launch and recover Navy submersibles, divers and small craft. The previously awarded contract includes a 12-month firm period of performance, three 12-month option periods, and one 11-month option period, which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $54,238,356. Work will be performed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and at sea, and is expected to be completed, if all options are exercised, by Sept. 6, 2024. Working capital funds (Navy) in the amount of $10,756,185 will be obligated for fiscal 2021 and will expire at the end of fiscal 2021. The contract was competitively procured with proposals solicited via the Federal Business Opportunities website and six offers were received. The Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N32205-19-C-3514). TestVonics Inc.,* Peterborough, New Hampshire, is awarded a $10,139,475 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for air data calibrator systems to support the Naval Air Systems Command, Metrology and Calibration Program. The air data calibrator systems are used at intermediate level calibration laboratories afloat and ashore, as well as the depot level calibration laboratories to control and measure altitude and airspeed pressure in automated test applications. Work will be performed in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and is expected to be completed by October 2025. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $307,455 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1); only one source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Corona Division, Corona, California, is the contracting activity (N64267-21-D-0048). Huntington Ingalls Industries, Pascagoula, Mississippi, is awarded a $9,485,744 not-to-exceed, fixed-price incentive modification to previously-awarded contract N00024-13-C-2307 for Engineering Change Proposal 51-2006, replacement of the distributed integrated power node centers with Mark C. Pope ADV 180 on Arleigh Burke Class guided missile destroyer DDG 121. This effort encompasses all of the manpower, support services, material, peripheral impacts and associated technical data and documentation required to prepare for and accomplish Engineer Change Proposal 51-2006. Work will be performed in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and is expected to be completed April 2022. Fiscal 2016 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding is being in the amount of $3,962,729 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10.U.S. Code 2304 (c) (3). The Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, Gulf Coast, Pascagoula, Mississippi, is the contracting activity. CH2M Hill Constructors Inc., Englewood, Colorado, was awarded an $8,247,534 firm-fixed-price task order modification (N69450-20-F-0078) under previously-awarded multiple-award construction contract N62470-19-D-8024 for Hurricane Sally recovery at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. Work will be performed in Pensacola, Florida, and is expected to be completed by December 2020. This modification brings the total cumulative task order value to $14,247,534. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $7,998,716 (97%); and fiscal 2020 Defense Health Program funding in the amount of $248,818 (3%), was obligated at time of award and expired at the end of the fiscal 2020. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Sept. 30, 2020) Huntington Ingalls Industries, Pascagoula, Mississippi, is awarded an $8,202,768 not-to-exceed, fixed-price incentive modification to previously-awarded contract N00024-13-C-2307 for Engineering Change Proposal 51-2006, replacement of the distributed integrated power node centers with Mark C. Pope ADV 180 on Arleigh Burke Class guided missile destroyer DDG 123. This effort encompasses all of the manpower, support services, material, peripheral impacts and associated technical data and documentation required to prepare for and accomplish Engineer Change Proposal 51-2006. Work will be performed in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and is expected to be completed April 2022. Fiscal 2016 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $3,172,302 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10.U.S. Code 2304 (c) (3). The Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair Gulf Coast, Pascagoula, Mississippi, is the contracting activity. U.S. TRANSPORTATION COMMAND Amerijet International Inc., Miami, Florida, has been awarded task order HTC711-21-F-W003 under contract HTC711-19-D-W005 in the estimated amount of $13,419,759. The contract provides international, commercial, door-to-door, cargo transportation services. Multiple or single modes (e.g. airlift, sealift, linehaul) of transportation may be used in any combination to move cargo globally. The task order period of performance is from Oct. 7, 2020, to Nov. 1, 2020. Fiscal 2021 transportation working capital funds were obligated at award. The U.S. Transportation Command, Directorate of Acquisition, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity. Air Transport International Inc., Wilmington, Ohio, has been awarded task order HTC711-21-F-W002 under contract HTC711-19-D-W002 in the estimated amount of $10,805,358. The contract provides international, commercial, door to door, cargo transportation services. Multiple or single modes (e.g. airlift, sealift, linehaul) of transportation may be used in any combination to move cargo globally. The task order period of performance is from Oct. 9, 2020, to Dec. 2, 2020. Fiscal 2021 transportation working capital funds were obligated at award. The U.S. Transportation Command, Directorate of Acquisition, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE Cherokee Insights LLC, Tulsa, Oklahoma, has been awarded a $10,012,035 firm-fixed-price contract for analytics evaluation supporting insight to readiness for the base and two options. The purpose of this contract is to provide analytic studies to assist senior leaders at the Air Force Medical Readiness Agency with strategic and operational decision making to ensure a medically-ready force. Work will be performed in Falls Church, Virginia, and is expected to be completed Oct. 4, 2023. Fiscal 2021 operations and maintenance funds in the amount $3,257,017 are being obligated at the time of award. The 773rd Enterprise Sourcing Squadron, Air Force Installation Contracting Center, Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity (FA8052-21-C-0001). * Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2372482/source/GovDelivery/

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  2 avril 2020 | International, Naval

  Navy Rushes Shipbuilding Deals To Keep Yards Going In Pandemic

  “We're gonna have to brave the storm together, especially some of the smaller suppliers,” said Lucas Hicks, vice president of new construction aircraft carrier programs. By PAUL MCLEARY WASHINGTON: The Navy is rushing to award several major shipbuilding contracts several months early to keep shipbuilders on the job and save smaller suppliers in danger of going out of business amid the wider manufacturing halt cause by the coronavirus crisis. The biggest is a contract to build the next San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship, (LPD 31) which serves as a jumping-off point for Marines heading ashore. The push to accelerate work is part of a wide-ranging effort to buttress the shipbuilding industry and the thousands of small suppliers that make parts for the Navy. The Navy's top acquisition official, James Geurts, told reporters Wednesday morning the Navy is worried about the effect the state and local shutdowns could have on its shipbuilding and repair efforts. “It's a national emergency and this is critical national infrastructure,” so the issue is, “how do we orient quickly to get at this aggressively and try not to be reactive in nature.” Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi is currently building the USS Richard M. McCool (LPD 29) and Harrisburg (LPD 30), and would be in line to start work on the next ship in the class. The Navy is also pushing to move forward the award for a landing craft program that was slated to kick off later this year. Funding for the new LPD was approved in the 2020 NDAA defense policy bill which authorized $525 million for the LPD Flight II program. Any breaks in the build and repair schedule would throw the Navy's planned deployments out of whack but also could be devastating to the thousands of small businesses across the country that literally provide the nuts and bolts that make the complex machinery that powers the fleet. “Nobody right now is in the position to float gaps,” Geurts said. His staff has done a detailed analysis of the Navy's industrial base. They are looking for ways to help the smaller companies not only through moving forward orders, but also finding money for research and development that would help small, innovative companies. “I hear stories of second-, third- and fourth-tier suppliers that were worried about going out of business, worried about how they would keep paying their salaries, and our ability to move and accelerate work into the defense base and then have that be pushed out to the suppliers is absolutely critical, because if they're not there it won't matter when we're ready to recover,” Geurts said. Geurts is gathering all of the large shipbuilders and shipyard owners several times a week to check on the status of the workforce and what problems they see coming if the current crisis continues. At the center of these worries is the nation's largest shipbuilder, Huntington Ingalls, which is the only company that builds both Nimitz and Ford-class aircraft carriers, in addition to sharing work on Virginia-class submarines with Electric Boat. The company has taken steps to attempt to apply social distancing at its shipyards, and has staggered shifts to accommodate workers who might now need to work different hours, company officials say. In an interview earlier this week, several Huntington executives told me they've reached out to over 2,000 suppliers in 48 of the 50 US states, and are working to speed up and push contracts as far down the supply chain as possible to keep these small businesses running. “We're gonna have to brave the storm together and especially some of the smaller suppliers,” said Lucas Hicks, vice president of new construction aircraft carrier programs. “We need their products today, but we also need them in 90 days, so we want to help them brave the storm,” he added. “We've actually changed some payment terms on some of our supplier contracts to try to make sure that we can front them what they need to stay afloat. We're doing some creative stuff to try and help them be able to weather the storm.” The company hasn't seen any reduction in parts received yet, but acknowledges that the situation changes on a daily basis, as different parts of the country feel the pain of local shutdowns in different ways. Lucas said Huntington does not anticipate it will stop work, but is allowing employees the option of working from home and providing liberal leave to others. Eventually all of this “will have an impact,” especially if the shutdowns are prolonged. “At some point, if it extends for months and months at the rate we're on, it would have an impact but it's too early to tell.” Geurts appears to see things the same way. The crisis and its downstream effects is “going to have both a time dimension and geography dimension, and so it will remain a fluid situation,” when it comes to how much the defense industry, and the navy, are affected, Geurts said. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/04/navy-rushes-shipbuilding-deals-to-keep-yards-going-in-panddemic