Nouvelles

By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The Army is calling for ready-to-fly future tactical unmanned aircraft systems that it can demonstrate with a select group of brigade combat teams in an effort to ultimately replace its Shadow UAS with something that better meets the needs of units in the field, according to Brig. Gen. Thomas Todd, the program executive officer for Army Aviation. The service dropped a solicitation to industry on Sept. 28 stating its desire to procure up to two non-developmental UAS that would fit either into the category of 21- to 55-pound drones or weigh under 1,320 pounds (UAS group 2 or 3), according to the document posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website. The Army has been looking for UAS that could operate independently from a runway and perform better in austere conditions than its current system at the tactical level. Earlier this year, the outgoing director of Army aviation in the Army's Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for operations, planning and training, told Defense News that the Army sees a potential “quick win” when it comes to replacing Shadow. And the Army's Future Vertical Lift Cross-Functional Team — part of Army Futures Command — has already begun examining the possibility of new capabilities for both manned and unmanned future flight. The Army has acknowledged there are likely quite a few ready-to-go options when it comes to a new tactical UAS. So, it will take the approach of “buy, try, decide” to get after the possible replacement of Shadow, Todd told Defense News in an interview shortly after the solicitation was released. The plan is to assess what is offered and choose three vendors to supply 12 UAS to six BCTs that will evaluate them for a period of time in realistic environments. Each BCT will be given two UAS from each of the three chosen vendors, Todd said. Full article: https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2018/10/10/army-seeks-new-tactical-unmanned-aircraft-for-demo-testing-in-brigade-combat-teams

By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The Army has entered the final stages of hashing out requirements for ramping up Stryker combat vehicle lethality and will make a decision in January on what it wants in order to increase its battlefield effectiveness. The service in January will hold an Army Requirements Oversight Council meeting, with Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, to cement requirements on how it will improve the Stryker fleet's lethality, according to Lt. Gen. James Pasquarette, the service's new G-8 lead, in charge of program development and justification. The AROC will produce a “kind of ‘Y in the road' of what we think we are going to want to look at,” when it comes to making the Stryker more lethal, Pasquarette told Defense News in an interview ahead of the Association of the United States Army's annual meeting. The Army conducted a test fire of one of its 30mm cannon solutions on Stryker at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, as recently as last month, he noted. “We know we believe the Stryker has to have capability to defeat light armor,” Pasquarette said. “We are developing the concept more to validate that on the front-end.” The Army is looking at roughly three different caliber weapons systems, he said. They include a couple of Common Remotely Operated Weapon Stations with different caliber weapons, as well as a 30mm cannon like what was outfitted on Strykers that went to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Germany earlier this year. “We want to make sure the concept is tight, about what we think we need based on threat and capability we want to have, then we will have to see what direction we go,” which could include competitions to upgun the fleet — or parts of the fleet — in the future, Pasquarette said. “We are still determining balance. Does everyone need to have this, or is it just parts of the fleet?” Pasquarette asked. “How do we want to fight Stryker units, if we have this capability in there?” Full article: https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2018/10/10/army-in-final-stages-of-hashing-out-stryker-lethality-requirements

By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The Army's future tank may not be a tank, Brig. Gen. Ross Coffman, who is in charge of combat vehicle modernization, told Defense News in an interview at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual show. While the M1 Abrams tank still has life in it yet, the Army is starting to begin the thinking and planning process for a future tank, “which is really exciting because it might not be a tank,” Coffman said. “It is decisive lethality and what that decisive lethality is will be determined by academia, our science and technology community within the Army and industry.” The Army will choose a path in 2023 on how it plans to replace the Abrams and some of the ideas cropping up in discussions have been “everything from a ray gun to a Star Wars-like four-legged creature that shoots lasers,” Coffman said, “but the reality is that everything is on the table. “We have to get away from these paradigms that we created that decisive lethality must come from a tank,” Coffman said. “It may be a tank in the end and that would be great, but we need choices for our soldiers, so we can really move into a position of lethal advantage over the enemy.” Coffman is spearheading that effort along with some more near-term plans to replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle with an Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle and bring online the Army's Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) and a light tank called the Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) system. The one-star is in charge of the Next-Generation Combat Vehicle Cross-Functional Team housed under the Army Futures Command tasked to modernize the force. Full article: https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2018/10/09/the-armys-future-tank-may-not-be-a-tank

AIR FORCE Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Florida, has been awarded a $390,792,959 firm-fixed-price, fixed-price-incentive-fee contract for Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) lot 16 production for 360 JASSM-extended range, three foreign military sales (FMS) separation text vehicles, one FMS flight test vehicle-live fire and tooling and test equipment. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, and is expected to be completed by Oct. 31, 2021. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. This award uses fiscal 2018 missile procurement funds and FMS funds. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity (FA8682-19-C-0009). Applied Defense Solutions Inc., Columbia, Maryland, has been awarded a $7,526,650 fixed-price and cost-reimbursement modification (P00015) to contract FA255017C8002 for non-governmental space situational awareness services. This modification provides for the exercise of an option for an additional quantity of 12 months of services under the basic contract. Work will be performed at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, and is expected to be completed by Oct. 18, 2019. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $26,458,756. The 50th Contracting Squadron, Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Oct. 4, 2018). CORRECTION: The contract announced on Oct. 4, 2018, to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, (FA8620-18-F-2365) for $19,446,593 has not awarded. ARMY General Dynamics Land Systems, Sterling Heights, Michigan, was awarded a $366,852,050 modification (0002 04) to contract W56HZV-17-D-B020 for upgrade of Stryker flat-bottom vehicles to the Double V-Hull Engineering Change Proposal 1 configuration. Work will be performed in Sterling Heights, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2021. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 procurement of weapons and tracked vehicle funds in the amount of $366,852,050 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity. The Boeing Co., Mesa, Arizona, was awarded a $242,109,170 modification (P00021) to foreign military sales (United Arab Emirates) contract W58RGZ-16-C-0023 for the remanufacture of eight, and procurement of nine new-build Apache AH-64E aircraft. Work will be performed in Mesa, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 28, 2023. Fiscal 2010 foreign military sales funds in the amount of $242,109,170 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Federal Contracting Inc., doing business as Bryan Construction, Colorado Springs, Colorado, was awarded a $52,812,678 firm-fixed-price contract for design and construction of a squadron operations facility and associated operational training facilities at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico. Bids were solicited via the internet with 15 received. Work will be performed in Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico, with an estimated completion date of April 1, 2021. Fiscal 2015 and 2016 military construction funds in the amount of $52,812,678 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque, New Mexico, is the contracting activity (W912PP-19-C-0001). General Dynamics Land Systems, Sterling Heights, Michigan, was awarded a $24,957,920 modification (0001 19) to contract W56HZV-17-D-B020 for upgrade of Stryker flat-bottom vehicles to the Double V-Hull Engineering Change Proposal 1 configuration. Work will be performed in Sterling Heights, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2021. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 procurement of weapons and tracked vehicle funds in the amount of $24,957,920 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity. M.R. Pittman Group LLC,* Saint Rose, Louisiana, was awarded a $17,255,645 firm-fixed-price contract for interim closure structure demolition. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in New Orleans, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of May 8, 2020. Fiscal 2014 other procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $17,255,645 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-19-C-0001). Short-Elliott-Hendrickson Inc., Lacrosse, Wisconsin, was awarded a $19,500,000 firm-fixed-price contract for architect and engineering services for the Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, Department of Public Works. Bids were solicited via the internet with nine received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 5, 2023. U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command, Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, is the contracting activity (W911SA-19-D-2001). Keysight Technologies, Englewood, Colorado, was awarded an $8,977,287 firm-fixed-price contract for Oscilloscopes 307/U. Two bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 28, 2023. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-18-D-0081). NAVY Donjon Marine Co. Inc., Hillside, New Jersey, was awarded a maximum value $215,000,000 cost-plus-award-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for salvage related towing, harbor clearance, ocean engineering project and point-to-point towing services. The primary purpose of this contract is to provide services to assist in the performance of salvage of ships, craft, cargo, and other items as tasked (e.g., aircraft, weaponry, equipment); salvage related towing, harbor clearance; and point-to-point towing; and ocean engineering projects in support of the Supervisor of Salvage. Work will be performed along the North and South American East Coast, and is expected to be completed by September 2023. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $50,000 was obligated at the time of award and expired at the end of the fiscal 2018. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with four offers received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-18-D-4307). (Awarded Sept. 28, 2018) SMIT Salvage Americas LLC, Houston, Texas, was awarded a maximum value $215,000,000 cost-plus-award-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for salvage related towing, harbor clearance, ocean engineering project and point-to-point towing services. The primary purpose of this contract is to provide services to assist in the performance of salvage of ships, craft, cargo, and other items as tasked (e.g., aircraft, weaponry, equipment); salvage related towing, harbor clearance; and point-to-point towing; and ocean engineering projects in support of the Supervisor of Salvage, SEA. Work will be performed along the North and South American West Coast, and is expected to be completed by September 2023. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $5,000 was obligated at the time of award and expired at the end of the fiscal 2018. This contract was competitively procured via Federal Business Opportunities website, with one offer received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-18-D-4308). (Awarded Sept. 28, 2018) SMIT Singapore PTE LTD, Singapore, was awarded a maximum value $215,000,000 cost-plus-award-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for salvage related towing, harbor clearance, ocean engineering project and point-to-point towing services. The primary purpose of this contract is to provide services to assist in the performance of salvage of ships, craft, cargo, and other items as tasked (e.g., aircraft, weaponry, equipment); salvage related towing, harbor clearance; and point-to-point towing; and ocean engineering projects in support of the Supervisor of Salvage. Work will be performed across the Western Pacific region, and is expected to be completed by September 2023. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $5,000 was obligated at the time of award and expired at the end of the fiscal 2018. This contract was competitively procured via Federal Business Opportunities website, with two offers received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-18-D-4309). (Awarded Sept. 28, 2018) PAE Applied Technologies LLC, Arlington, Virginia, is awarded a $24,292,143 cost-plus-award-fee modification to previously-awarded contract (N66604-05-C-1277), increasing the cumulative total value of the contract for operation and maintenance services for the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC). AUTEC is the U.S. Navy's large-area, deep-water, undersea test and evaluation range. Underwater research, testing and evaluation of anti-submarine weapons, sonar tracking and communications are the predominant activities conducted at AUTEC. The contractor performs services required to perform AUTEC range operations and maintenance of facilities and range systems. In addition, the contractor is responsible for operating a self-sufficient one-square-mile Navy outpost. This modification increases the total value of the contract to $788,075,722. Work will be performed on Andros Island, Commonwealth of the Bahamas (82 percent); West Palm Beach, Florida (18 percent); and is expected to be completed by September 2019. No contract funds are being obligated at this time. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Newport Division, Newport, Rhode Island, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Corp., Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded $8,020,809 for cost-plus-fixed-fee order N6339419F0003 under a previously awarded basic ordering agreement (N6339417G0001) for engineering services in support of land-based test site maintenance, inventory control, diminishing material source efforts, and program management for the Mk 92 fire control system. This order includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this order to $9,276,806. The order combines purchases for the Navy (16 percent); and the governments of Philippines (40 percent); Egypt (20 percent); Saudi Arabia (16 percent); Poland (4 percent); and Taiwan (2 percent). Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama (26 percent); Philippines (20 percent); Egypt (17 percent); Moorestown, New Jersey (13 percent); Saudi Arabia (13 percent); Port Hueneme, California (4 percent); Poland (3 percent); Taiwan (2 percent); and Nigeria (2 percent); and is expected to be completed by September 2022. Foreign military sales (other defense agencies) funding in the amount of $2,579,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme, California, is the contracting activity. U.S. TRANSPORTATION COMMAND Jacobs Technology Inc., Tampa, Florida, has been awarded a contract modification P00017 on contract HTC711-17-C-D001 in the amount of $18,940,678. This modification provides continued Information Technology Service Management Enterprise support to the U.S. Transportation Command (US TRANSCOM). Work will be performed primarily on-site at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, and other locations: DISA DECC, St Louis, Missouri; USTRANSCOM Office, Washington District of Columbia; JECC, Norfolk, Virginia; and the Pentagon. The option period of performance is from Oct. 1, 2018, to Sept. 30, 2019. Fiscal 2019 transportation working capital funds operations, operations and maintenance and Defense Health Program funds were obligated at award. This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $48,981,052 from $30,040,374. U.S. Transportation Command, Directorate of Acquisition, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Airtronics Inc.,* Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a maximum $13,644,800 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contract for aviation cable assemblies. This was a competitive acquisition with three offers received. This is a two-year base contract with a one-year option period. Location of performance is Arizona, with an Oct. 16, 2021, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Richmond, Virginia (SPE4A619D0001). DCX-CHOL Enterprises, Inc.,* Chatsworth, California, has been awarded a maximum $12,960,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contract for aviation cable assemblies. This was a competitive acquisition with three offers received. This is a two-year base contract with a one-year option period. Location of performance is California, with an Oct. 16, 2021, performance completion date. Using military service Army. The type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Richmond, Virginia (SPE4A619D0002). *Small Business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1656310/source/GovDelivery/

By: Kelsey Atherton Simple subtraction explains the impetus for self-driven supply convoys: For every autonomously driven vehicle, that's one fewer human driver needed, and likely one or two fewer human escorts in the vehicle itself. Fewer humans means fewer injuries and deaths whenever the convoy encounters violence, like an ambush or an improvised explosive device. Then there is multiplication: Take the driver and the escorts out of each truck in a seven-truck convoy, and that's suddenly 14 to 21 soldiers that can do other tasks, like escorting the convoys in other, better-armored vehicles, ones that can withstand IEDs or provide more protection from small arms fire. In June, the U.S. Army awarded Oshkosh Defense $49 million to integrate autonomous technology with the Palletized Load System vehicles in order to put robotics in the driver's seat. “It actually drives very, very human,” says John Beck, senior chief engineer for unmanned systems at Oshkosh. “The motion control algorithms that are done both on the by-wire side and on the autonomy side drive this vehicle much like a person does.” Full article: https://www.c4isrnet.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2018/10/07/oshkosh-robot-trucks-could-roll-out-to-the-army-by-2020/

By: Kyle Rempfer The Air Force has officially named the hypersonic flight research vehicle it is testing. The vehicle, dubbed X-60A, is being developed by Generation Orbit Launch Services Inc., under contract to the Air Force Research Laboratory's Aerospace Systems Directorate and High Speed Systems Division. X-60A is an air-dropped liquid rocket, purpose-built for hypersonic flight research. This is the first Air Force Small Business Innovative Research program to receive an experimental “X” designation, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base's public affairs office announced in a press release Thursday. The Air Force Research Laboratory hopes the X-60A program will increase the frequency of flight testing while also lowering the cost of developing hypersonic technologies. “The X-60A is like a flying wind tunnel to capture data that complements our current ground test capability,” said Col. Colin Tucker, military deputy, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for science, technology, and engineering. “We've long needed this type of test vehicle to better understand how materials and other technologies behave while flying at more than 5 times the speed of sound," Tucker added. "It enables faster development of both our current hypersonic weapon rapid prototypes and evolving future systems.” X-60A is envisioned as a way to provide the Air Force, other U.S. Government agencies and private industry with a platform to more rapidly develop technologies. Rather than relying simply on ground test facilities to simulate hypersonic flight, an actual flight research vehicle will provide real conditions for researchers to gauge. The testing will likely help in the Air Force's quest for hypersonic missiles. The service has already issued two contracts to Lockheed Martin to develop hypersonic weapons: the Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon and the Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon program. Full article: https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2018/10/08/air-force-introduces-hypersonic-flight-research-vehicle

By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — Lt. Gen. Eric Wesley is the new Army Capabilities Integration Center director and the first director to guide the center's efforts under the purview of the brand-new Army Futures Command, as opposed to Training and Doctrine Command, where the center lived since its inception. ARCIC will be responsible for the development of future operational and war-fighting concepts that align and inform the service's major modernization priorities that Futures Command is tasked to develop in a new and rapid way. In an unprecedented method, concept and capability development will be formed in parallel. In a wide-ranging interview with Defense News, Wesley discussed how the Army is evolving its major operational concept — Multidomain Operations 1.5 — and how ARCIC will continue to align modernization strategy with the concept as the Army heads toward a fully modernized force by 2028 — one that can provide overmatch against peer adversaries. When are you coming out with the new version of the Army's Multidomain Operations concept (MDO 1.5)? Will it be at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference? We're teasing it out. What we're going to do is deliver all of the principles and tenets of this new concept, and then you'll see the signed version within 30 days of that. Why is getting the MDO concept right so critical? I'll say upfront this is the most fundamental rewrite of an operational concept since AirLand Battle that was published in 1982. Concepts are critical, particularly at a point in time when you see the world's dynamics fundamentally shift in a way that you've got to, in many ways, reconfigure or redesign and modernize your army. What has changed in the world that requires multidomain operations? I'd say there are a number of things. But if there's a word that you want to remember in terms of identifying the challenges we face within the pacing threats, it is the word “standoff.” And what [our adversaries] have invested in are things that mitigate against the United States and our partners and allies' strengths. We're very good at close combat, and they've watched us over the last 30 years or so. And when you give the United States and our coalition partners and allies time to build up against it, usually the outcome is preordained based on ability to get into position and conduct operations the way we like to conduct them. So recognizing that, they've invested in what we oftentimes refer to as anti-access, area denial capabilities, which serendipitously came parallel with our withdrawal from the continent of Europe and the Korean Peninsula over the last 30 years. Fll article: https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2018/10/08/us-army-capabilities-integration-chief-talks-multidomain-ops

By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The Lynx 41 infantry fighting vehicle made its public debut in the springtime drizzle at a Parisian land warfare exposition in June this year. German defense company Rheinmetall took pains to show its vehicle on scene was not a mock-up, but a real vehicle that came with available footage of its rigorous test campaigns. Ben Hudson, the head of the company's vehicle systems division, told Defense News at the expo that Rheinmetall was “highly interested” in the U.S. Army's Next-Generation Combat Vehicle program, and said to stay tuned on how Lynx might break into the U.S. market as a serious competitor for NGCV. Fast-forward four months, and Rheinmetall has found a high-profile partner in Raytheon to bring Lynx to the U.S. They will participate in what is shaping up to be a competitive prototyping effort with the NGCV program, to replace the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle with an Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle. Developing a family of next-generation combat vehicles is a top priority of the U.S. Army as part of its modernization strategy focused on multi-domain operations. In fact, it's the second highest priority, underneath bringing Long-Range Precision Fires into the force. “We knew we wouldn't be able to compete for a program as prestigious and large in the U.S. without a strong U.S. partner,” Hudson told Defense News in an interview leading up to the Association of the United States Army's annual conference. “Since Eurosatory, we have been working through that.” The partnership gets after “essentially the best of both of our companies,” Hudson said. It “brings together the world's leading infantry fighting vehicle technology, the vehicle and turret from Rheinmetall,” with Raytheon's capabilities from a systems integration standpoint, he said. “A lot of the gaps that we had in our business to really create that next-generation solution are easily covered by the strengths and capabilities Raytheon has, and some of those things are electronic warfare, signals intelligences, missiles capabilities ... and sensor systems like the third-generation FLIR that are a key plan of the Army going forward,” Hudson said. To bring on Raytheon's technology, the vehicle won't have to be changed much because it was designed from day one to be modular and adaptable. In fact, the company switched configurations at Eurosatory to a hybrid command variant in a matter of hours. The vehicle will be “a U.S. product, U.S. made and, ultimately, we will move to a U.S. engineered platform,” Hudson said. The fact that the Army is ready to dive head first into replacing the Bradley, with plans to have companies compete for a chance to rapidly build prototypes for the OMFV program, makes the partnership with Rheinmetall attractive, said Kim Ernzen, Raytheon's vice president of land warfare systems. Because Lynx already “exists, that is one of the most compelling pieces to this relationship,” she said. But Raytheon and Rheinmetall also share the same philosophies when it comes to company culture and innovation and “how we look at technology that comes to play not only today but, more importantly, has that growth path for the future,” Ernzen said. This aligns with the Army's path to get a next-gen combat vehicle to the field quickly but continue to evolve its technical capabilities to keep pace with evolving threats. This isn't the first time Raytheon and Rheinmetall have partnered on programs. Most recently, the pair unveiled an integrated suite of air-defense capabilities they think could meet the entire portfolio of German air-defense needs, going up against Germany's current development plans to buy a missile defense system from Lockheed Martin. And the duo has also worked to integrate Raytheon's Patriot air-and-missile defense system on Rheinmetall trucks for an unnamed Scandinavian country, among several other efforts. The impact of emerging threats and new requirements drove Rheinmetall to build Lynx to fill a gap in the market. Defeating today's and tomorrow's threats means having a vehicle that weighs well above 50,000 kilos — or more than 110,200 pounds — or one that is rapidly reconfigurable to support different missions. The Lynx KF41 with a Lance 2.0 turret “rebalances the key requirements in the areas of survivability, mobility, lethality, capacity, adaptability and transportability,” Hudson said in June, and is reconfigurable using open-architecture systems and a modular and open mechanical architecture. The vehicle design is “highly scalable,” Hudson said, with more than 18,000 kilos, or more than 39,000 pounds, of reconfigurable payload and an internal volume that allows for the turret and up to nine seats in the back. The new vehicle is fitted with an 850-kilowatt power pack that uses the Liebherr engine and Renk transmission. Additionally, in order to power the digital backbone and all the other weapons systems, more than 20 kilowatts of electrical power is stored on board. The turret also has two flexible mission pods on either side, to allow customizable subsystems such as anti-tank guided missiles, non-line-of-sight loitering munitions, UAVs or an electronic warfare package. Raytheon will provide the third-generation FLIR, fielded on Abrams tanks and also meant for the Bradley A5 upgrade, which has since been canceled to make way for the OMFV. The company also plans to provide other sensor suites, particularly an active protection system that is already being developed and built to be compliant with the Army's future APS system. While Rheinmetall has its own APS — the Active Defense System — that it's been trying to break into the U.S. market as an interim solution for combat vehicles now, the company sees Raytheon's APS offering as “unparalleled” and the plan is to incorporate the capability into the offering. Raytheon and Rheinmetall plan to submit a proposal when the Army's draft request for proposals drops — potentially as soon as this month, but it could slip to November or December, according to Ernzen. Proposals are due in May. The Army plans to follow a similar procurement route as it did with the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle and downselect to two competitors who will build 14 prototypes in an engineering and manufacturing development phase in the first quarter of fiscal 2020. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2018/10/08/raytheon-rheinmetall-partner-to-offer-new-lynx-fighting-vehicle-to-us-army

By: Daniel Cebul WASHINGTON — Even as Army leadership points to the great progress made toward interoperability of missile systems, the future could take that vision one step further. During a Monday panel hosted by Defense News at the Association of the United States Army annual meeting, Col. John Rafferty, director of the Long-Range Precision Fires Cross-Functional Team, said the Army aspires to have “an integrated network, rather than interoperability, which is the work around" in the meantime. "When we get into operational strategic fires we want to extend the systems approach across the fires warfighting function, offensive and defense,” Rafferty added. Tom Karako, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Missile Defense Project, stressed that a more aggressive approach to integrating offensive and defense fires is required to defeat current and future near-peer threats. One area Karako has his eye on “is the degree of integration between Maneuver SHORAD, and frankly the whole rest of ARMY AMD, as well as offensive fires. Making sure that interoperability or integration is common as opposed to being another stovepipe of excellence.” The Integrated Air and Missile Battle Command System (IBCS) is one Army program that will be key to achieving integrated fires. The brains behind the Army's future air and missile defense command-and-control system, IBCS will improve the operational capabilities of current AMD systems like THAAD and Patriot by connecting the former disparate systems. When integrated, the Army can leverage THAAD's AN/TYP-2 radar to extend Patriot's effective range and provide a clearer picture of incoming threats. Discussing the importance of integrated air and missile defenses, Karako said, “just as there is that full spectrum of air and missile threats, we're going to need to have a full spectrum and integration of air and missile defense.” Rafferty and his team have not overlooked the significant investment being made in long-range precision fires. “I definitely feel like we are the number one modernization priority for the Army,” Rafferty said. “I also realize that with the investment comes a sense of cost consciousness because we know that hard choices were made ... across the Army to resource this number one priority.” And while Rafferty's cross functional team is receiving significant funding, the Army knows it has to work as a team to achieve its goals. As explained by Brig. Gen. Alfred Abramson, the program executive officer with PEO Ammunition, the Army has to put their heads together to figure out “where's the juice worth the squeeze in terms of investment." "Can we build a better mouse trap so to speak with some limited dollars, because you can't spread it across everything,” said Abramson, adding that his organization has seen a significant spike of about $2.5 billion for fiscal years 2017 to 2022 funding for ammunition and armament systems products. "At the same time we have a conversation with Col Rafferty's organization about what direction should we be heading. So it really is a discussion across these organizations to make sure everybody is focused on the same thing.” https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2018/10/08/army-looks-to-a-future-of-integrated-fire