Nouvelles

SSL continues to grow its small form-factor spacecraft business, leveraging the power of Maxar's broad space systems expertise PALO ALTO, CA, Jan. 10, 2019 /CNW/ - SSL, a Maxar Technologies company (NYSE: MAXR) (TSX:MAXR), and a leading provider of innovative satellites and spacecraft systems, announced today that it is leveraging Maxar's combined capabilities for a contract to define requirements for a small form-factor satellite that will monitor and measure methane emissions from oil and gas facilities around the world. The satellite, named MethaneSAT, will enable Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to change the way we detect and analyze methane emissions and understand and combat climate change. Following design development, EDF anticipates awarding a contract in 2019 for the final design and manufacturing of the satellite. MethaneSAT will provide global, high-resolution detection of methane emissions from regions that account for over 80 percent of global oil and gas production on a weekly basis. The satellite's high precision will enable it to detect and quantify both high- and low-emission sources and accurately attribute them to relevant oil and gas infrastructure. To enhance its solution, SSL is working together with Maxar's DigitalGlobe, which is the global leader in commercial high-resolution satellite imagery. DigitalGlobe will provide technical input on the satellite payload design and guidance on the overall mission plan. "SSL's decades of experience in developing reliable spacecraft systems, combined with the full suite of space capabilities offered by Maxar Technologies, uniquely positions us to provide solutions for advanced missions, such as MethaneSAT," said Richard White, president of SSL Government Systems. "We're honored to lead the charge in accelerating innovation for missions that reveal critical insights about our changing planet and help to build a better world." SSL is building momentum in its small form-factor and low Earth orbiting spacecraft business with competitive solutions for government and commercial customers. In addition to designing MethaneSAT, the company is: Building DigitalGlobe's next-generation, high-resolution WorldView Legion constellation, which will more than double DigitalGlobe's capacity in important regions; Continuing to provide Earth observation satellites to Planet, with 13 SSL-built SkySats currently operating on orbit; And developing small to medium satellite solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense under the Small Spacecraft Prototyping Engineering Development and Integration (SSPEDI) award. See other ways that Maxar Technologies provides technologies and applications that Build a Better World. About SSL SSL, based in Palo Alto, California, is a leading provider of advanced spacecraft systems, with broad expertise to support commercial and government satellite operators and innovative space missions. The company designs and manufactures spacecraft for services such as direct-to-home television, video content distribution, broadband internet, mobile communications, in-orbit servicing, space exploration, and Earth observation. As a Silicon Valley innovator for 60 years, SSL's advanced product line includes state-of-the-art small satellites, and sophisticated robotics and autonomous solutions for remote operations. SSL is a Maxar Technologies company (NYSE: MAXR) (TSX: MAXR). For more information, visit www.sslmda.com. About Environmental Defense Fund Environmental Defense Fund (edf.org), a leading international nonprofit organization, creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems. EDF links science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships. Connect with us on EDF Voices, Twitter and Facebook. About Maxar Technologies As a global leader of advanced space technology solutions, Maxar Technologies is at the nexus of the new space economy, developing and sustaining the infrastructure and delivering the information, services, systems that unlock the promise of space for commercial and government markets. As a trusted partner, Maxar Technologies provides vertically integrated capabilities and expertise including satellites, Earth imagery, robotics, geospatial data and analytics to help customers anticipate and address their most complex mission-critical challenges with confidence. With more than 6,500 employees in over 30 global locations, the Maxar Technologies portfolio of commercial space brands includes MDA, SSL, DigitalGlobe and Radiant Solutions. Every day, billions of people rely on Maxar to communicate, share information and data, and deliver insights that Build a Better World. Maxar trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange as MAXR. For more information, visit www.maxar.com. https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/maxar-s-ssl-selected-to-define-small-satellite-requirements-for-environmental-defense-fund-848303493.html

GD Land Systems now scheduled to modernize more than three brigades of tanks. January 8, 2019 STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. – The U.S. Army has signed a $714 million delivery order for General Dynamics Land Systems to upgrade an additional 174 M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks to the state-of-the-art M1A2 System Enhancement Package Version 3 (SEPv3) configuration. This brings the total of M1A2 SEPv3 tanks ordered by the Army in 2018 to 274 (more than three brigades of tanks). The M1A2 SEPv3 configuration features technological advancements in communications, reliability, sustainment and fuel efficiency, plus upgraded armor. The delivery order is part of an Army Requirements Contract signed in December 2017 through which the Army can upgrade up to 435 M1A1 Abrams tanks to the M1A2 SEPv3 configuration. “We're proud to help the Army provide world-class combat capability to Armored Brigade Combat Teams,” says Don Kotchman, Vice President and General Manager of General Dynamics Land Systems U.S. Market. “This delivery order, along with our previous orders, means our production line will be rolling at a steady rate through 2021.” Work on this delivery order will be performed at Land Systems locations in Scranton, Pa., and Tallahassee, Fla., and at the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center in Lima, Ohio, the only operational tank plant in the country. Land Systems is a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD). General Dynamics Land Systems provides innovative design, engineering, technology, production and full life-cycle support for land combat vehicles around the globe. The company's extensive experience, customer-first focus and seasoned supply chain network provide unmatched capabilities to the U.S. military and its allies. https://www.gd.com/news/press-releases/2019/01/us-army-awards-general-dynamics-delivery-order-upgrade-174-abrams-main

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., January 9, 2019 – The U.S. Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) the GPS Control Segment Sustainment II (GCS II) contract to continue to sustain and further modernize the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite constellation's ground control system through 2025. This is the follow-on contract to Lockheed Martin's current GCS contract awarded in 2013. Under the GCS II contract, the continued upgrade of the GPS Architecture Evolution Plan Operational Control Segment (AEP OCS) will allow GPS' legacy ground control system to support GPS III satellite on-orbit operations, developed under the GPS III Contingency Operations (COps) program. COps will enable the AEP OCS to support the positioning, navigation and timing missions of the Air Force's new GPS III satellites, which began launching in 2018. In addition, GCS II will sustain the operational M-code capability being deployed in 2020 that is in development under the M-code Early Use (MCEU) contract. Operational M-code is a critical warfighter capability to support missions in contested environments. Under the GCS contract, Lockheed Martin executed numerous engineering modifications to the OCS, including the COTS Upgrade 3(CUP3)/Ground Antenna Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN) Interface Technology Refresh (GAITR) upgrade, the Remote Site COTS Network (RSCN) project, the GPS Information Protection Reinforcement (GIPR) project, the COTS Upgrade #2 (CUP2) project, and Red Dragon Cybersecurity Suite (RDCSS). These projects modernized the infrastructure, improved the cyber posture and added mission capability. The GCS II contract continues that commitment to evolving the OCS to address today's mission needs. Under GCS II, LM will continue to manage the technical baselines for the OCS and GPS Information Network (GIN) and regularly procure, develop, fabricate, integrate, test, and install software and hardware modifications into the GPS operational baseline. Focus areas will be performing a technical refresh of the GIN and increasing the resiliency of the OCS. “Lockheed Martin's experience integrating GCS projects as well as the system engineering and software integration performed on GPS III Contingency Operations (COps) and M-Code Early Use (MCEU) position us well to deliver GCS II,” says Maria Demaree, VP/GM Mission Solutions for Lockheed Martin Space. “We look forward to supporting the Air Force as it deploys the next generation GPS III satellites and their new capabilities for our warfighters.” For additional GPS Ground Control System information, photos and video visit: https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/gps.html. About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 100,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. https://news.lockheedmartin.com/news-releases?item=128657

By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — As the U.S. Army's Multi-Domain Operations concept continues to evolve and be tested, the service is finding three key areas to focus on ahead of any major conflict. Lt. Gen. Eric Wesley, the head of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, told reporters Dec. 9 that as his office continues to experiment with the MDO concept and war game it out, a focus on the “competition space” — the time before a conflict breaks out between two sides — will put the Army in a strong position to dictate the flow of how a conflict will play out. “Leveraging the competition space, we found, is the most important aspect of getting the conflict portion right. That's something that we have to expand our capabilities in, and we're not completely postured to do right now,” Wesley said. The first focus area is on countering information warfare and unconventional warfare, Wesley said, in what will not come as a surprise to those who have paid attention to what Russia has done in recent years. The second area of focus Wesley calls “conducting the intelligence preparation of the battlefield.” At its core, this involves studying the enemy order of battle and understanding how a conflict may flow. And if that seems like a classic tenet of combat to you, Wesley wouldn't disagree. “That's something we used to do all the time in western Europe in the 1980s, and since we've withdrawn from the continent, we don't do that to the degree we used to,” he said. “Plus, there are aspects to doing that, which are virtual, that we didn't do in the ‘80s that we have to do now.” The third aspect is about posturing your forces to be agile enough to quickly enter a conflict if needed. Doing so, Wesley believes, “precludes protracted conflict. If you can transition rapidly and force your opponent to recalculate, that can preclude the need for protracted conflict.” Wesley's team has had a busy year, developing and testing their ideas while publishing MDO 1.5 and switching from being under Training and Doctrine Command to the Army's new Futures Command. Despite that move on the organizational chart, ARCIC has stayed at Fort Eustis, Virginia, and remains geolocated with TRADOC, which has helped mitigate unnecessary duplication of overhead. By having TRADOC continue to manage basic administrative issues such as personnel, travel and orders assistance, ARCIC is able to focus on using its limited staffing where it's most needed. As part of the move to Futures Command, ARCIC is in the process of standing up three new groups: an internal Red Team, an Operational Environment section, and a 3/5/7 office modeled on the service's operations and planning general staff position. “We're not just moving deck chairs,” Wesley said. “Instead, we're also having to evolve our culture and change our organization so that its sufficiently nested” within Futures Command. Asked if he was worried about people in ARCIC having too many bosses, Wesley waved those concerns away as unrealistic. Sometimes “having one boss is a luxury that is impractical. And particularly when you're talking about [the need to] modernize across the entire enterprise — not just material modernization but doctrine, organization, training, leader development, policy, facilities, personnel,” he said. “So those dotted lines are healthy because they force integration, which is indispensable to do this concept.” https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/01/09/the-armys-three-focus-areas-to-avoid-protracted-combat/

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY W & G Machine Company Inc.,* Hamden, Connecticut, has been awarded a maximum $27,604,800 firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for aviation flutter dampeners. This was a competitive small business set-aside acquisition with two offers received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Connecticut, with a June 23, 2025, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2024 Army working capital funds. The contracting activity is Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (SPRRA1-19-D-0049). Federal Prison Industries Inc.,** Washington, D.C, has been awarded a maximum $27,189,820 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for extreme cold/wet weather jackets. This is an 18-month base contract, with one one-year option period. Locations of performance are Kentucky, Georgia, and Washington, D.C, with a July 8, 2020, performance completion date. Using military services are Army and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2020 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-19-D-F019). Medical Place Inc.,*** Montgomery, Alabama, has been awarded a maximum $15,000,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for hospital equipment and accessories for the Defense Logistics Agency electronic catalog. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. This was a competitive acquisition with 68 responses received; 18 contracts have been awarded to date. Using customers are Department of Defense and other federal organizations. Location of performance is Alabama, with a Jan. 8, 2024, performance completion date. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2024 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2DH-19-D-0009). NAVY Dakota Creek Industries Inc., Anacortes, Washington, is awarded a $26,710,222 firm-fixed-price modification to previously-awarded firm-fixed-price contract N00024-18-C-2205 to exercise options for the detail design and construction (DD&C) of two yard tug 808-class harbor tugboats (YT 812 and YT 813) and accessory items to include 50-man inflatable buoyant apparatus and Navy Mk-7 life raft, as well as packaging and delivery to final destination. The base contract award was for the DD&C of four tugboats including YT 808, YT 809, YT 810 and YT 811. The contract includes options for accessory items (hoisting system, life rafts, special towing lights and electronic navigation charts), packaging and delivery, crew familiarization and provisioned item orders. Work will be performed in Anacortes, Washington, and is expected to be completed by August 2021. Fiscal 2018 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $13,339,017; and fiscal 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $13,371,205 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, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Integral Aerospace, Santa Ana, California, is awarded $14,315,721 for modification P00001 to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-18-C-1036). This modification provides for external fuel tank testing and exercises option year one for the production and delivery of 114 external fuel tanks in support of the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G aircraft. Work will be performed in Santa Ana, California, and is expected to be completed in May 2020. Fiscal 2017 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $14,315,721 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. Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded a $9,276,687 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-13-C-6402 for the Air Launch Accessory (ALA) and ALA shipping container for the ALA of the High Altitude Anti-Submarine Warfare Weapon Capability in support of the P-8A integration efforts. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be completed by May 2020. Fiscal 2019 weapons procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $9,276,687 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, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Raytheon Co., McKinney, Texas, is awarded $7,124,695 for firm-fixed-price delivery order N00383-19-F-G000 under previously awarded basic ordering agreement N00383-14-G-005D for the repair of the APY-10 radar system used in support of the P-8A aircraft. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, Florida (66 percent); and McKinney, Texas (34 percent). Work is expected to be completed by January 2021. Fiscal 2019 working capital funds (Navy) in the full amount of $7,124,695 will be obligated at time of award and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One source was solicited for this non-competitive requirement in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1, with one offer received. Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity. WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS SERVICES Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, has been awarded an $8,565,000 cost-plus fixed-fee contract to provide assessments and alternatives of offensive capabilities within the domains of air, land, sea, space and cyberspace, missions and warfare areas that asymmetrically mitigate threat effectiveness, impose cost, and/or create ambiguity in adversary decision-making. Work performance will take place in the National Capital Region, including Arlington, Virginia; and Alexandria, Virginia. Fiscal 2018 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $100,000; fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $8,115,000; and fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $350,000 are being obligated on this award. The expected completion date is Dec. 29, 2019. Washington Headquarters Services, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HQ0034-13-D-0003). ARMY Navistar Defense LLC, Lisle, Illinois, was awarded an $8,069,336 fixed-firm-price Foreign Military Sales (Iraq) contract for Navistar transport and cargo vehicles. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work will be performed in Lisle, Illinois, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 8, 2019. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance Army funds in the amount of $8,069,336 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-19-F-0168). *Woman-owned small business **Mandatory Source ***Service-disabled, veteran-owned small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1727817/source/GovDelivery/

By: Mark Pomerleau California-based Parsons Corp. announced Jan. 8 it has acquired OGSystems, which provides advanced technologies in geospatial intelligence, big data analytics and threat mitigation. According to a press release, the move follows “a series of strategic investments” and is the third acquisition by Parsons in the last 14 months. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. OGSystems' main customers include the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, and Special Operations Command. The company's VIPER Labs and Immersive Engineering techniques were the catalysts for deployment of geospatial systems and software, embedded system threat analytics and cloud engineering solutions, the release stated. “OGSystems will expand our position in critical markets, including space operations, cybersecurity, critical infrastructure, and beyond,” Carey Smith, Parsons' chief operating officer, said. “Parsons' existing artificial intelligence and cloud computing expertise will augment OGSystems' support for customers demanding more efficiency in analyzing overwhelming volumes of geographic imagery and data.” Parsons' last major acquisition, in May 2018, was Polaris Alpha, which provides innovative mission solutions for complex defense, intelligence, security customers and other U.S. federal government customers. Parsons noted at the time that its artificial intelligence, signals intelligence and data analytics expertise supporting defensive and offensive cybersecurity missions will be expanded by integrating Polaris Alpha's machine learning, data, video, multi-source analytics and automated reasoning technologies. Moreover, Polaris Alpha's portfolio of electromagnetic warfare, signals intelligence, space situational awareness and multidomain command and control technologies will “significantly increase the scale and scope of Parsons' capabilities and customer relationships.” “Parsons' strategy is focused on disruptive, differentiated technologies demanded in high-growth, mission-oriented programs in the defense, intelligence, and critical infrastructure sectors,” Chuck Harrington, Parsons' chairman and CEO, said following the acquisition of OGSystems. “The actionable intelligence that geospatial imagery and data analytics brings to Parsons' portfolio through OGSystems is a game changer. Whether informing our national security customers' mission planning or designing tomorrow's resilient smart city, Parsons now brings deeper intelligence expertise to the challenge.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/industry/2019/01/09/parsons-acquires-geospatial-intelligence-provider-ogsystems

By: Todd South A recent Army and Marine war game that included engineers, academics and other defense representatives evaluated how troops could use experimental technologies to fight in dense urban areas and underground. The U.S. Army Subterranean and Dense Urban Environment Materiel Developer Community of Practice is a working group that has conducted three prior workshops that set the challenges of fighting in those environments. “Fighting in dense urban environments and the unique challenges it presents is still not totally understood, and this study was the front-end look at identifying and defining those materiel challenges to drive where investments need to be for this operational environment,” said Bob Hesse, technical lead coordinator for the Community of Practice. The most recent “tabletop” exercise looked at the gear troops might need to get through those intense battle scenarios, according to an Army release. Soldiers and Marines worked as friendly and enemy forces during the exercise, evaluating 48 experimental future technologies. One such piece of tech would be using sensors that attach to the exterior building wall to help troops visualize the interior layout. And every advantage in these terrains can help. “Everything that Marine formations or Army formations have to do is more difficult when you take it into an urban environment,” explained Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Christian Wortman, commanding general of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, and vice chief of Naval Research. The Marines recently launched Project Metropolis II, a five-year effort to better prepare Marines for likely future urban battles. “Across the warfighting functions — whether it's intelligence, surveillance or reconnaissance, collections, maneuver, force protection, command and control, logistics and sustainment — all of those things are complicated and challenged by the compartmentalized terrain that's present in the urban environment and the three-dimensional nature of the urban environment,” Wortman said. And that multi-dimension challenge grows with the subterranean. For both above ground and underground, robotics will play a major role. The Squad X project by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, for example, is blending robots into dismounted formations. Soldiers with the 10th Mountain Division and 101st Airborne Division along with Marines at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, are experimenting with four submissions for the Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport gear mule that will carry fuel, water, ammunition and equipment for a squad through rough terrain over 60 miles on a 72-hour mission. Lt. Col. Calvin Kroeger, battalion commander for the 35th Engineering Battalion, ran one of the blue teams during the tabletop exercise. Participants ran scenarios such as a high-intensity fight, a traditional counter-insurgency and a security force-assisted mission, all under the conditions of a megacity. But the wargaming went beyond simply clearing buildings and attacking objectives. Teams countered enemy social media campaigns, communicated underground, and assessed the second- and third-order effects of engaging the enemy with lethal munitions, which could impact local power, gas and water networks. “How we employ our capabilities changes as you move from a high-rise platform to urban cannons,” Kroeger explained. “But you're also looking at everything under the ground as well, where you can't use a conventional means like a mortar system to shape the battlefield, so that the enemy doesn't shape it for you.” As team members fix on what materiel needs might best serve troops, Hesse said the subject matter experts will assess how well the tech will meet military goals. For example, if there is an aerial technology that might help troops locate enemy forces, even though the troops can't see them because of the skyline, his team would then analyze that technology and determine how well it meets Army standards and if it needs to be modified. “We will now transition from the workshop learning to live experiments and replicate the unique conditions in real venues. We're taking the materiel campaign of learning and now transforming that into action,” Hesse said. https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2019/01/09/the-army-and-marine-corps-are-looking-at-what-troops-will-need-to-fight-in-megacities-underground/

By ELIANA JOHNSON and DAVID BROWN Concerns about Patrick Shanahan's Boeing ties have re-emerged since President Donald Trump said he may be running the Pentagon ‘for a long time.' Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan's private remarks during his 18 months at the Pentagon have spurred accusations that he is boosting his former employer Boeing, people who have witnessed the exchanges told POLITICO — fueling questions about whether he harbors an unfair bias against other big military contractors. Shanahan, who spent 31 years at Boeing before joining the Pentagon in mid-2017, has signed an ethics agreement recusing him from weighing in on matters involving the mammoth defense contractor. But that hasn't stopped him from praising Boeing and trashing competitors such as Lockheed Martin during internal meetings, two former government officials who have heard him make the accusations told POLITICO. The remarks raise questions among ethics experts about whether Shanahan, intentionally or not, is putting his finger on the scale when it comes to Pentagon priorities. They also call new attention to a recent decision by the Pentagon to request new Boeing fighters that the Air Force has said it does not want — a request that Bloomberg has reported came after "prodding" from Shanahan. Concerns about Shanahan's ties to his former employer first surfaced during his confirmation hearing to be deputy secretary, but they have re-emerged since President Donald Trump said last month he may be running the Pentagon “for a long time.” In high-level Pentagon meetings, Shanahan has heavily criticized Lockheed Martin's handling of the production of the F-35 fighter jet, which is expected to cost more than $1 trillion over the life of the program, according to one of the two sources, a former senior Defense Department official who was present. Shanahan, this official said, called the plane “f---ed up” and argued that Lockheed — which edged out Boeing to win the competition to build the plane in October 2001 — “doesn't know how to run a program.” “If it had gone to Boeing, it would be done much better,” Shanahan said, according to the former official. As the Pentagon's No. 2, Shanahan repeatedly "dumped" on the F-35 in meetings, calling the program "unsustainable," and slammed Lockheed Martin's CEO, Marillyn Hewson, according to the second source, a former Trump administration official. "'The cost, the out-years, it's just too expensive, we're not gonna be able to sustain it,'" this person said, quoting Shanahan. The former Trump official said Shanahan "kind of went off" about the F-35 at a retreat for Republican lawmakers last year at the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia. This angered several members of the delegation who had home-district interests in the F-35 program, the former official said. "He would complain about Lockheed's timing and their inability to deliver, and from a Boeing point of view, say things like, 'We would never do that,'" this former official said. Shanahan is the first Pentagon chief to come purely from the private sector since the 1950s and has virtually no government or policy experience. He became the acting Defense secretary Jan. 1, following former Secretary Jim Mattis' resignation over Trump's abrupt decision to pull U.S. troops from Syria and begin drawing down from Afghanistan. He has signed an ethics agreement barring him from weighing in on any matters involving his former employer, the Pentagon's fifth-largest contractor in 2017. Shanahan's experience at Boeing is “his only reference point," the former Trump administration official said. "He doesn't have a lot of other experiences to draw on. He owns it in a powerful way because he doesn't have the military experience, he doesn't have the experience in government. So when he talks about those things, he's very forceful." His remarks about the F-35 stand in stark contrast to those of the president, who regularly praises the stealth fighter despite initially slamming its high costs. The F-35 program, while experiencing a number of setbacks, technical delays and groundings throughout the years, is generally considered to be on the mend. The Air Force and Marine Corps variants have been declared ready to deploy, and the Navy version is expected to reach that point as early as next month. And unit costs have come down for all three variants as the plane matures. Trump has praised Shanahan's ability to cut costs, calling him a “great buyer.” He is now among the candidates the president is considering as a permanent replacement for Mattis. Asked for comment, Shanahan's office released a statement saying he is committed to his agreement to stay out of matters involving Boeing. “Under his ethics agreement, Mr. Shanahan has recused himself for the duration of his service in the Department of Defense from participating personally and substantially in matters in which the Boeing Company is a party,” his office said. Full article: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/09/defense-patrick-shanahan-boeing-pentagon-1064203

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY McRae Industries Inc.,* Mt. Gilead, North Carolina, has been awarded a maximum $9,934,688 modification (P00014) exercising the fourth one-year option period of one-year base contract (SPE1C1-15-D-1023) with four one-year option periods for hot-weather flame resistant combat boots. This is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. Location of performance is North Carolina, with a Jan. 8, 2020, performance completion date. Using customer is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1726571/source/GovDelivery/