Nouvelles

By: Kelsey D. Atherton To understand the future of Russia's drone program, we have to grasp its present and immediate past. While the modern era of unmanned aircraft is perhaps best typified by American Reaper drones flying missions with Hellfire missiles slung under wing, the overall picture of drones in combat has evolved and changed. The Pentagon's primacy in aerial robotics is no longer a sure thing, in part because of the waning unipolar moment and in part because building a drone capability is cheaper today than it was two decades ago. To sort out what the past year means, to see if any of the battlefield experience from the multiple irregular wars Russia is part of has factored into drone design or force planning, C4ISRNET spoke with Samuel Bendett, an adviser at the Center for Naval Analyses and a Fellow in Russia Studies at the American Foreign Policy Council. C4ISRNET: Bottom line up front: What's the single sentence takeaway for next year in Russian drones? BENDETT: As Russia develops its lineup of long-range UCAVs [unmanned combat aerial vehicles], it will challenge American dominance with such technologies that Washington held for the past 17-18 years. C4ISRNET: That's ambitious, to say the least. How is the Ministry of Defence preparing to make that challenge, and did Russia learn anything from fighting in Syria that might lead to changes in how it uses drones in 2019? BENDETT: [The week of Dec. 17] marked a series of key announcements from the Russian Ministry of Defence about the country's growing unmanned aerial systems capabilities. Going into Syria in 2015, Russia was lacking a key combat element — the ability to hit targets quickly following their identification, one of the key functions of UCAVs around the world today. Moscow's experience in Syria underscored that point — despite fielding a large number of ISR drones that enabled Russian to be more precise in combat, the majority of targets were hit by manned aviation or manned artillery forces. Hence, the push today to field an entire lineup of strike UAVs for a diverse range of missions. Public statements by the Russian government and the military establishment also highlight the importance of unmanned systems for the country's military and its ability to wage war. Just recently, President Putin stated key propriety areas for his military in 2019 — among them was an emphasis on unmanned and robotic systems development. C4ISRNET: What sort of drones are we seeing in that push? BENDETT: The Ministry of Defence mentioned work on a strike version of Forpost mid-range drone. The Forpost UAV is a license copy of an Israeli “Searcher,” itself a design that is decades old at this point. Capable of distances up to 250 kilometers, it is currently Russia's longest-ranged drone. Under the earlier license agreement with Israel, this UAV could only be assembled as an ISR version. Russian military valued this particular unmanned vehicle and has long wanted to turn into something more than an extra pair of eyes in the sky. Today, UZGA Defence enterprise is claiming that the “Russified” version of that UAV is full of Russian-made components, so that no further cooperation with Israel would be necessary. Putting a strike package on Forpost would give Russian an immediate ability to hit targets within a 250 kilometer range — in other words, giving it the ability to strike most adversary targets in Syria where Russian forces are still conducting operations. Given that Forpost itself is an older UAV model, it's likely that the Russian military will use it as a test bed to further refine its UAV manufacturing abilities, as well as to test indigenous munitions for UAV missions. It's likely that out of all UAVs listed by the MOD, this particular one will reach the Russian forces sooner than others. C4ISRNET: What about the Orion? BENDETT: The Ministry also named Orion UAV as another unmanned vehicle to fully see the light of day in 2019. Orion has similar characteristics to Forpost, such as range, at least as advertised at international arms expos [250 kilometers]. It is possible that its range could be extended further — current Orion versions are showcased as ISR models, but there were discussions that it could be offered for export as armed version. This particular UAV has similar design features to the ever-growing family of unmanned aerial vehicles all over the world — it bears close resemblance to the American RQ-9 Reaper, Chinese CH-4 and Ch-5 drones, as well as to the Iranian Shahed and Turkish Anka UAVs. Unlike Forpost, Orion was only recently tested, although there were rumors that it was seen in Syria, with observers possibly confusing it with the Iranian Shahed. C4ISRNET: Are there other large drones in the works for the Ministry of Defence in 2019? BENDETT: The Ohotnik UCAV is the most intriguing and interesting project of its kind in Russia. Originally started around 2011-2012, this UAV has also been delayed by a number of years. This fall, MOD carried out the first “taxing” test, when Ohotnik prototype was accelerated on the runway to test the engine. Next year, the Russian defense establishment is promising a test that will include a short-duration “jump”— the UCAV will rise ever so briefly above the tarmac to test its launching and landing capabilities. At this point, it is going to be heaviest and fastest UAV if and when fielded, but additional testing and evaluation will have to take place in order for this unmanned system to be fully functional. Its speed — up to 1000 km/hr — and weight — up to 20 tonnes — means that a host of aerodynamic, electronic and hi-tech issues need to be worked out. C4ISRNET: Should we hold our breath waiting for the Ohotnik test flights? BENDETT: Given the delays experienced with “Altius,” MOD would probably be more conservative with Ohotnik estimates. However, the very appearance of Ohotnik rising in the air — a stealthy blended-wing design — will be a powerful PR coup for the country that has lagged behind other nations like the United States, Israel and China in actual UCAV examples and combat use. C4ISRNET: What was the Altius, and what happened with it? BENDETT: The Altius was one of the most ambitious UAV projects in Russia — to build an indigenous drone capable of carrying up to 2.5 tonnes of cargo/equipment/weapons to a distance of 10,000 kilometers. Earlier estimates that this UAV would be fully operational by 2018 did not pan out. Delays in production, a lack of key expertise and hi-tech components meant the entire scheduled pushed “to the right” by many years. [The week of Dec. 17] MOD promised that Altius will take to the skies next year — given the fact that Simonov actually produced a prototype that has already flown, that promise may indeed materialize. The real issue will be the quality of that test flight — whether Altius will fly as intended and with the right amount of key equipment. C4ISRNET: How will these drones change the way Russia plans and conducts war? BENDETT: All these UAVs — if and when fielded as planned and as advertised — will give Russia the capability to strike targets at a range anywhere form 250 kilometers and up to several thousand kilometers. This is a flexibility the Russian military has long sought — its Syrian actions depended on manned airborne assets conducting deep-strike against designated targets, which in turn depended on an extensive logistics and infrastructure to support such missions. Having the ability to launch long-range UCAVs from Russian [or Russian-allied] territory would exponentially increase MOD's ability to conduct missions in the near abroad and possibly around the world. Of course, that would depend largely on the domestic defense sector actually delivering what was initially promised, something that some UAV projects have greatly struggled with. C4ISRNET: Russian forces have used small drones quite a bit. Is any of that transferable to using these new, larger drones? BENDETT: While the Russian military has gained extensive experience operating a wide range of close and short-range UAVs, and has commenced force-wide training and usage of these unmanned systems, operating the large and heavy UAVs would be a different story. This kind of technology requires different training, as well as different logistical and infrastructure support. Getting these UCAVs into the military will require a change to existing CONOPS and TTPs, something that will take time as the Russian military will need to become familiar with a different set of technological sophistication. Still, these UAVs are finally moving past the prototype stage — with the Ministry of Defence paying very close attention to these projects, the likely 2019 appearance is guaranteed for these designs. Their eventual acquisition is still years away. Russian UCAV plans will have important implications for the way Moscow thinks about, designs, tests and eventually conducts warfare. C4ISRNET: Describe, let's say, what Russia drone use looks like in 2030 based on these trends. BENDETT: With the influx of high-precision munitions, development of high-tech weapons and the development of various types of UAVs, future conflicts where Russia will be involved will no longer feature Russian military as a “blunt instrument” — the way Russian tech was used in Chechen wars, in Georgia and even in the early stages of the Syrian conflict. If Russia fields the weapons it is currently designing, then it to will join the ranks of high-tech military powers aiming to strike its adversaries with precision. These UCAVs will have a pivotal role in such a construct. C4ISRNET: What are constraints on Russia achieving this vision? BENDETT: Major constraints for Russia to achieve its vision is lack of experience with hi-tech systems — sensors, key electronics, navigation, cameras, etc. Russians have been able to overcome such problems with simpler, smaller drones, but larger MALE/HALE classes are a different story. This led to production and delivery delays, and despite MOD oversight, there was no silver bullet to deal with these issues. Another constraint has been the effect of Western sanctions and Russian ability to import hi-tech systems and components — today's import-substitution effort by Moscow in hi-tech will take time. C4ISRNET: Any last thoughts? BENDETT: As Russia pursues its own version of the “multidomain battle,” unmanned and robotic systems will form key parts of the Russian way of warfare in 2030 and beyond. However, that will depend on the actual capability of the Russian defense sector to field certain unmanned systems. That vision may change based on the reality of producing such systems, given how many T&E and delivery schedules have already been pushed “to the right.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/newsletters/unmanned-systems/2018/12/26/what-does-2019-hold-for-russias-drones

By: Justin Lynch Silicon Valley is the home to the transistor and the birthplace of the IT industry. Boston is the home of prominent universities and technology companies such as Raytheon and Boston Scientific. So where will the country's hub of cybersecurity innovation reside? A new paper argues that a nucleus of new cybersecurity technologies may struggle to form in the United States. Because the Department of Defense's research facilities are dispersed throughout the country and located in smaller metropolitan regions, the Army is in danger of stagnating when it comes to technology innovation, a Dec. 18 paper in the Army's Cyber Defense Review argued. “Without immediate, bold action, the Army will miss its best opportunity to seize the initiative in the current Cyber Cold War,” wrote Col. Stoney Trent, an Army official who now works for the Pentagon's top IT officer in the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. “The Secretary of Defense fully understands the need for dramatic improvement, and fifteen years of Army acquisition failures have created the crisis necessary for change.” Trent took aim at the Army's decision to move its cyber headquarters to Fort Gordon, Georgia, saying it “lacks most of the characteristics that have attracted technologists to other innovation regions.” “Limited public infrastructure and services, sparse employment options, a humid subtropical climate, a lack of a private research university, and distance from urban centers will likely delay the emergence of innovative technologists in Augusta-Richmond County,” he wrote. The state of Georgia, which is partnering with the Army on innovation near Fort Gordon, opened the first phase of a planned a $100 million dollar center earlier this year. But while Trent argued that the Army has “limited input over the location of its installations and major activities,” because basing decisions are made by Congress, the dispersed locations are not ideal for improving the Pentagon's cyber prowess. “Due to the location of Army research activities, very few scientists and engineers have access to the operators and analysts who will have to use the technologies under development,” he wrote. On the contrary, large cities are engines of innovation because they have more local resources, a higher degree of subject area experts and a larger local workforce, Trent argued. “This exponential increase in innovation is related to social networks and access to ideas, resources, and expertise in more populated urban settings.” That makes locations like Moffett Air Field in Santa Clara County near Silicon Valley, Fort Devens near Boston, and Fort Hamilton in New York City as potential hubs that “have been left fallow,” Trent argued. “Decades of studies indicate the importance of a culture of experimentation. While our adversaries are experimenting, we must not dither.” https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/2018/12/26/why-the-pentagons-cyber-innovation-could-fall-behind

by Sandra Erwin The Air Force is developing software and ground equipment to boost the protection of the Wideband Global satcom system. First in line for the upgrade are naval carrier strike groups. The Navy will get the new technology in 2022, about 18 months sooner than previously planned. WASHINGTON — The Air Force is cyber hardening military satellite communications equipment amid worries that foreign hackers could infiltrate U.S. networks. “Adversaries are getting better and more able to penetrate our unclassified or barely protected systems,” said Col. Tim Mckenzie chief of the advanced development division for military satellite communications at the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. The bulk of military satcom services are provided by the Air Force Wideband Global Satcom, or WGS, satellites and by commercial operators. All these systems require additional protection from cyber attacks, Mckenzie told SpaceNews in a recent interview. “Commercial satcom as well as our own purpose-built Wideband satellites were never designed to provide protection against some of the things we expect our adversaries to do in the near future,” he said. In response, the Air Force is developing software and satcom ground equipment to boost the protection of WGS networks in the near term, and commercial systems at a later time. First in line for these upgrades are the Navy's aircraft carrier strike groups in the Pacific, Mckenzie said. The Air Force will have this technology available for carrier strike groups in 2022, about 18 months sooner than previously planned. The central piece of the cyber security upgrade is anti-jam communications software — called the Protected Tactical Waveform (PTW). A ground system, the Protected Tactical Enterprise Service (PTES) will manage the transmission of the waveform over WGS satellites and terminals. Boeing, which manufactures the WGS satellites, was awarded a seven-year, $383 million contract in November to develop the PTES. “We are doing agile software development to enable early use of the PTW capability,” said Mckenzie. The anti-jam software and ground system only will work initially with WGS networks, said Mckenzie. If a commercial provider opted to use the PTW waveform, the ground system could be updated to interoperate with that vendor's network. Military satcom users will need to upgrade their satellite terminals with new modems to operate the PTW waveform. The Air Force two years ago awarded three contracts — $39 million to Raytheon, $38 million to L3 and $33 million to Viasat — to develop prototype modems. The Army, Navy and Air Force will run separate competitions to decide which modems they will acquire for their specific terminals. For carrier strike groups, the Navy will have to buy PTW-capable modems to upgrade its satellite terminals aboard ships. In the long term, the plan is to add a new space component — either newly designed spacecraft or military communications payloads hosted on commercial buses. “Our goal is to have some protected tactical satcom prototype payloads on orbit in the fiscal year 2025 time frame,” said Mckenzie. Whatever new hardware makes up the space segment, it will be compatible with the PTES ground equipment, he said. Mckenzie noted that the Air Force has been criticized for deploying satellites before the ground equipment is available. The PTW and PTES efforts reverse that trend. “We have learned lessons from being out of sync with terminals on the ground,” Mckenzie said. “We've been working for the last several years to develop modem upgrades that can be put into our existing terminals so we have terminals that can use PTW.” To get fresh thinking on how to develop a secure satcom system, the Air Force Space Enterprise Consortium is funding four design and prototyping projects. These are four areas “where we're trying o reduce risk,” said McKenzie. The consortium was stood up in 2017 and given authorities to kick start projects with far less red tape than traditional Pentagon contracting. Mckenzie said the Air Force is interested in new ideas for constellation architectures, payload hosting concepts, advanced space processing and antenna designs. McKenzie expects contracts for the development of protected tactical satcom payloads will be awarded in fiscal year 2020, with a goal to start launching new systems into orbit by 2025. Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and X-Band LLC have entered into cost-sharing agreements with the Air Force — contracts known as Other Transactions Authority — to map out constellation sizes, layouts, design lives, and concepts such as hosting of military payloads as a commercial service. Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and SSL have signed OTA agreements to develop phased arrays and array fed reflectors antennas. BAE Systems, L3 and SEAKR Engineering received OTA deals to investigate requirements for secure satcom applications such as geo-location, waveform processing, and anti-jam. Boeing and Southwest Research Institute are studying hosting concepts, such as identifying interface commonalities between commercial and military bus providers and recommends ways to simplify the integration. Tom Becht, military satcom director at the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, said the protected tactical satcom effort has been underway for more than eight years and now is being accelerated as the Air Force seeks to respond to military commanders' needs in a more timely fashion. “The demand for protected satcom has significantly increased,” Becht said in an interview. After the PTW, PTES and the new space segment are deployed, the next step will be to modernize the military's nuclear-hardened strategic satcom system, the Advanced Extremely High Frequency constellation. Most of the users of the AEHF system are tactical operators and the Pentagon eventually wants to have a dedicated strategic satcom constellation for nuclear command and control. “Tactical users will transition to the Protected Tactical Satcom system,” said Becht. That transition could take decades, he said. “The aggregated [tactical and strategic] AEHF will be around until the mid 2030s or a bit longer.” https://spacenews.com/air-force-to-accelerate-deployment-of-anti-jam-satellite-communications-equipment

NAVY Oceaneering International Inc., Chesapeake, Virginia (N64498-19-D-0001); Huntington Ingalls Inc., Newport News, Virginia (N64498-19-D-0002); and General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Connecticut (N64498-19-D-0003), are being awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite quantity multiple award contracts with firm-fixed-priced ordering provisions for Submarine Safety (SUBSAFE) and Level I engineering and technical services in the amounts of $827,674,072; $874,341,811; and $1,110,350,671, respectively. This requirement is for management and technical services for the support installation, troubleshooting, repair, and maintenance of main and auxiliary weapons, as well as hull, mechanical and electrical equipment for various Submarine, SUBSAFE and Level I Material work onboard SSN 21 Class (Seawolf Class); SSN 688 Class (Los Angeles Class); SSBN/SSGN 726 Class (Ohio Class); and SSN 774 Class (Virginia Class) submarines. These contracts will primarily support large submarine maintenance and modernization programs and/or critical-path ship changes/alterations that are accomplished in Navy Chief of Naval Operation availabilities, dry-dock selected restricted availabilities, engineered refueling overhauls, depot modernization periods, and continuous maintenance availabilities. Work is expected to be performed at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia; Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington; and Naval Submarine Base King's Bay, King's Bay, Georgia. The work under this contract will contain a five-year ordering period and is expected to be completed by December 2023. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the total amount of $300,000 ($100,000 per contract) will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This funding represents the guaranteed contract minimum for each contract award. These contracts were competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with four offers received. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is the contracting activity. Huang-Gaghan JV Two, * Alexandria, Virginia (N40080-19-D-0001); LLB Enterprises LLC, * Stafford, Virginia (N40080-19-D-0002); Argus-CJW JV LLC, * Leesburg, Virginia (N40080-19-D-0003); Signature-Renovations LLC, * Capital Heights, Maryland (N40080-19-D-0004); Snodgrass JV, * Annapolis, Maryland (N40080-19-D-0005); and JCMCS,* Washington, District of Columbia (N40080-19-D-0006), are each awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award construction contracts for mechanical - construction projects located primarily within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Washington area of responsibility (AOR). The maximum dollar value including the base year and four option years for all six contracts combined is $99,000,000. The work to be performed provides for construction services. The contractor shall provide all labor, supervision, engineering, materials, equipment, tools, parts, supplies and transportation to perform all work described in the specifications. Huang-Gaghan JV Two is being awarded task order 0001 at $2,942,286 for the seed project A-59 new mechanical room and central hot water system, at Naval Research Laboratory Washington, District of Columbia. Work for this task order is expected to be completed by January 2019. All work on this contract will be performed primarily within the NAVFAC Washington AOR to include District of Columbia (40 percent); Virginia (40 percent); and Maryland (20 percent). The term of the contract is not to exceed 24 months, with an expected completion date of January 2020. Fiscal 2019 supervision, inspection, and overhead; and fiscal 2019 Navy working capital funds in the amount of $2,942,286 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by military construction (Navy); operations and maintenance (Navy and Defense Logistics Agency); and Navy working capital fund. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with 18 proposals received. These six contractors may compete for task orders under the terms and conditions of the awarded contract. Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Raytheon Co., Integrated Defense Systems, Marlborough, Massachusetts, was awarded a $72,463,134 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-only undefinitized contract action for the production of Aegis Weapon System fire control system MK 99 equipment, Aegis Modernization production requirements, and associated engineering services. Work will be performed in Andover, Massachusetts (66 percent); Marlborough, Massachusetts (16 percent); Chesapeake, Virginia (13 percent); Portsmouth, Rhode Island (3 percent); San Diego, California (1 percent); and Burlington, Massachusetts (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by April 2022. Fiscal 2018 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); fiscal 2018 other procurement (Navy); and fiscal 2018 defense wide procurement funding in the amount of $22,975,534 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). The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-19-C-5112). (Awarded Dec. 21, 2018) KBE Building Corp., Farmington, Connecticut, is awarded a $30,188,219 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a medical and dental clinic at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The work to be performed provides for the construction of a new free-standing medical and dental clinic consisting of two occupied stories with a shared two-story waiting area. The facility will replace the existing clinic, and will encompass Medical Homeport, optometry, undersea medicine, dental, and mental health, as well as pharmacy, radiology, ancillaries, support and administrative space. Supporting facilities construction will include all site utilities, site preparation, site improvements, paving (parking and roadways) and access roads. Work will be performed in Kittery, Maine, and is expected to be completed by January 2021. Fiscal 2017 defense military construction, medical funds in the amount of $30,188,219 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website with two proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N4008519C9072). General Dynamics Mission Systems, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is awarded $28,957,961 for contract modification P00030 to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00030-16-C-0005) for sustainment of the U.S. and United Kingdom (UK) SSBN fire control system, the U.S. SSGN Attack Weapon Control System, including training and support equipment. Also included is the missile fire control for the U.S. Columbia-class and UK Dreadnought-class Common Missile Compartment program development, through first unit UK production, and Strategic Weapon Interface Simulator. Work will be performed in Pittsfield Massachusetts (90.5 percent); Bremerton, Washington, (3.6 percent); Kings Bay, Georgia (2.7 percent); Dahlgren, Virginia (1 percent); Cape Canaveral, Florida (0.9 percent); Portsmouth, Virginia (0.9 percent); and the United Kingdom (0.4 percent), with an expected completion date of Sept. 30, 2023. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $20,139,048; and United Kingdom funds in the amount of $2,726,000 are being obligated on this award. Funds in the amount of $20,139,048 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,183,913; and United Kingdom funds in the amount of $909,000 will be obligated. Funds in the amount of $5,183,913 will expire at the end the current fiscal year. Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, is awarded a $26,448,121 cost-plus-award-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost, and firm-fixed-price contract for planning yard efforts such as engineering, technical, planning, ship configuration, data and logistics efforts for DDG 1000-class destroyers post-delivery and in-service life cycle support, and shock qualification test and analysis. The planning yard will provide DDG 1000 class technical, engineering and support, including emergent technical problem investigation and resolution; shock qualification test and analysis; maintenance and modernization planning; integrated logistics support; configuration data management; maintenance, repair and/or overhaul availability planning and scheduling; modernization planning and scheduling; industrial yard/facility planning and scheduling and material orders; and fabrication and kitting. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $86,703,677. Work will be performed in Bath, Maine (92 percent); Gardena, California (1 percent); Atlanta, Georgia (1 percent); Muscatine, Iowa (1 percent); Patterson, New Jersey (1 percent); Saratoga Springs, New York (1 percent); and other locations below one percent (3 percent); and is expected to be completed by December 2023. Fiscal 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); and fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $25,611,651 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was procured via a limited competition under the authority of 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1), with two offers received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-19-C-2322). Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, is awarded a $17,011,832 modification to previously awarded contract N00024‑17-C-5420 to exercise an option for providing Zumwalt capability and design agent support to the STANDARD Missile-2. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona (47 percent); Andover, Massachusetts (33 percent); Mountain View, California (12 percent); San Diego, California, (3 percent); Chandler, Arizona (2 percent); Hudson, New Hampshire (2 percent); Redmond, Washington (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by March 2022. Fiscal 2017 and 2018 weapons procurement (Navy); and foreign military sales funding in the amount of $16,951,832 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. CORRECTION: A contract modification awarded Dec. 20, 2018, to Ameresco Select Inc., Framingham, Massachusetts, for $17,961,208 (N4740899F4117), was announced with an incorrect cumulative value. The correct total cumulative value after award of the modification is $121,374,022. ARMY SOS International LLC, Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $191,225,021 firm-fixed-price contract for base life support and security services. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work will be performed in Taji, Iraq, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2023. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance; and military personnel appropriations funds in the amount of $83,044,481 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W52P1J-19-C-0010). The Boeing Co., Mesa, Arizona, was awarded a $49,210,651 firm-fixe-price Foreign Military Sales (Qatar) contract for Maintenance Augmentation Team services for the Qatari Air Force AH-64E aircraft. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work will be performed in Mesa, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of July 31, 2024. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance Army funds in the amount of $49,210,651 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-19-C-0008). AIR FORCE Alliant Techsystems Inc., Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a $36,570,512 firm-fixed-price modification (P00045) to contract FA8106-16-C-0004 that exercises Option Year Three for contractor logistic support. This contract provides the Iraqi Air Force's Cessna 208 fleet and the 208/172 Trainer fleet with contractor logistic support. Work will be performed in Iraq and is expected to be completed Dec. 31, 2019. This contract involves 100 percent foreign military sales to Iraq and is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity. U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND Rockwell Collins Inc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been awarded a $35,000,000 contract modification for an existing non-competitive single award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (H92241-15-D-0001) to provide post-deployment software support for the Common Avionics Architecture System. This modification increases the contract ceiling amount from $107,328,000 to $142,328,000. Each individual task order will be funded with procurement; research, development, testing and evaluation; and operations and maintenance appropriations, as appropriate, from the correct fiscal year at the time of obligation. This contract is not multiyear. Ordering periods will end on Nov. 30, 2019. This contract was awarded through noncompetitive procedures in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. U.S. Special Operations Command, Tampa, Florida, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1721253/

By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON — The U.S. surface fleet has a big year in store for 2019, and we're going to start getting more details very soon on what the future has in store for surface warriors. But surface leadership has been dropping clues on where things are going. Here's a handy reference guide for heading into January's Surface Navy Association annual symposium and for what the fleet has up its sleeve for the coming months. Robot wars The Chief of Naval Operations' Surface Navy Director Rear Adm. Ron Boxall forecast what was on his mind at a recent training and simulation conference in Orlando. The focus for Boxall and the N96 shop will be to get more sensors and weapons into the battlespace, distributed and networked, so that a smaller number of larger warships can act as command and control for smaller units. “If you think about what we are trying to do with the surface force, we have large and small surface combatants that will [ultimately make up part of the 355-ship Navy] but we have no requirement for unmanned surface vessels right now, which I see as an absolutely critical part of distributed lethality, distributed maritime operations environment that we are moving into,” Boxall said. “Ultimately I need more nodes out there.” N96 is looking closely at what might be needed for a large unmanned surface vessel, much like the Sea Hunter drone developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. “I think these are what you need to go in the water and carry large things and be more places at less cost,” Boxall said. “So, in that nodal structure, we are looking at them becoming large sensors or large shooters, but we are still working out the requirement.” Developing unmanned vessels for military use was a key component of a recent agreement with NATO forged during the July summit. Future frigate Next year is the crucial year for FFG(X), the year when the Navy finalizes its requirements and puts the first hull out to bid for a 2020 detailed design and construction award. Look for news to creep out on this ship throughout the year but Boxall had some remarks on how it will fit into the fleet now in development. Boxall hinted that the planned 20 hulls may be a low-ball figure, and that he's looking to maybe keep the program going beyond that. “It will be a very capable ship, but it won't have a lot of capacity,” he said. “But it will be able to both sense and shoot and do command and control at a smaller level. It will be a much less expensive platform and I can have more of them.” Training Training is a major focus of Surface Navy boss Vice Adm. Richard Brown, and some ongoing efforts will start to bear fruit in 2019. Earlier in 2018, the Navy reprogrammed $24 million to build a Maritime Skills Training Program, which will be heavily reliant on simulators to bring together officer and enlisted watchstanders from both the bridge and the combat information center to train on equipment and work as a unit. “We've secured the funding for the maritime skills training centers, which is going to do two things: individual officer training through the [officer of the deck training],” Brown said earlier this year. “So that, in conjunction with building out the navigation, seamanship and ship-handling trainers in the fleet concentration areas, will give us integrated bridge and [combat information center] training at the high end. That's my No. 1 priority.” Those facilities will be ready for use by the waterfront in the 2021 time frame, Brown said. Upgrades to existing simulators are being rolled out this month. DDG-1000 Look for news on the future of DDG-1000. The first of the class, the Zumwalt, is wrapping up its combat systems installation in San Diego and will start the process of integrating the three-ship class into the fleet. We're going to find out more about its new mission – surface strike – and how the Navy plans to employ its behemoth new surface combatant. The Navy has pivoted away from its long odyssey to find a use for its advanced gun system, with requirements boss Vice Adm. William Merz saying in testimony in April that the Sisyphean task of getting a working gun on Zumwalt was holding the ship back. “Even at the high cost, we still weren't really getting what we had asked for,” he said. “So what we've elected to do is to separate the gun effort from the ship effort because we really got to the point where now we're holding up the ship.” Instead, efforts are going to focus on getting Zumwalt into the fleet and on the hunt for ships to kill. Large surface combatant Last up, the Large Surface Combatant should start getting some meat on its bones in 2019. Boxall and company are aiming to put the fleet on a course to buy its cruiser and destroyer replacement in 2023 or 2024, which means a request for information from industry could be in the near future. What we know is that, like the small surface combatant, the Navy wants commonality with other nodes in the network. That means a similar radar as on FFG(X), the same combat system and as much overlapping equipment as the fleet can manage to tamp down on compatibility issues and on how much specialized training sailors need to be on one platform or another. https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2018/12/26/the-us-navys-surface-fleet-heres-whats-ahead-in-2019/

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): A consignment of armored vehicles has left Canada for Saudi Arabia despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's declaration that Ottawa was ready to halt a $13 billion arms deal with Riyadh. Military manufacturer General Dynamic Land Systems Canada has been contracted to deliver 742 armored vehicles to the kingdom whose war on Yemen has recently come under increased scrutiny. Canada has been exporting arms to Saudi Arabia based on the 2014 contract won by the Canadian unit of US weapons maker General Dynamics Corp. On Sunday, a cargo ship loaded with armored vehicles left the port of Saint John for Saudi Arabia, a day after protesters gathered in the rain and fog to condemn the shipment, Canada's leading daily the Globe and Mail reported. The protesters held signs and passed out pamphlets detailing concerns about the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis, the paper said. The cargo was apparently delayed for a day after longshoremen refused to cross the protest line, forfeiting their day's wages, it added. The longshoremen, the paper said, could face repercussions from their employer for their decision not to cross the protest, even though the combat vehicles were eventually transported. The shipment came even though Trudeau said in October that Canada was ready to halt the arms deal with Saudi Arabia if it concluded the weapons had been misused. "We strongly demand and expect that Canadian exports are used in a way that fully respects human rights," Trudeau said in the parliament. "We have frozen export permits before when we had concerns about their potential misuse and we will not hesitate to do so again," he added. His remarks, however, drew a warning from General Dynamics Corp which warned Canada against stopping the sales. "Were Canada to unilaterally terminate the contract, Canada would incur billions of dollars of liability to General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada," it said. David Perry, defense analyst at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, called the warning “unusual” at the time. He said General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada would normally keep a very low profile. "I can't imagine they are anything other than extremely worried," he said. Trudeau, himself, had previously acknowledged that there would be “huge penalties” if Ottawa turned its back on the deal. The Canadian premier, known for trying to portray himself as a human rights advocate, has been under pressure to scrap the deal inked by the previous government. Besides killing tens of thousands of people, the Saudi war has brought the impoverished country close to the edge of a nationwide famine. http://en.abna24.com/news//saudi-arabia-gets-arms-despite-canadas-pledge-to-halt-deal_921936.html

Germany is taking the first steps toward being a more reliable defense partner. After years of paring down the country's defense budget, sorely impacting capability and equipment availability, Berlin's lawmakers have begun increasing funding to the military, with billions of euros being allocated to new equipment programs. Germany is increasing defense spending by 12% in 2019, enabling investment in new equipment Berlin wants to replace Tornado aircraft by 2030 It has not ... Full article: http://aviationweek.com/defense/budget-hikes-bring-about-germany-s-military-modernization

By Stephen Feller Dec. 24 (UPI) -- General Atomics and Raytheon have each been awarded contracts for support of the MQ-9 Reaper, one for sensors and the other for overall program support, that come to a total of more than $350 million. The contracts, announced Friday by the Department of Defense, cover separate areas of sustainment for the unmanned aerial system used for surveillance and support of ground troops, though they have also been used for emergency search and rescue and other missions. Full article: https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2018/12/24/General-Atomics-Raytheon-contracted-for-Reaper-drone-support/8251545664925/

By: Lolita C. Baldor, The Associated Press WASHINGTON — The sooner-than-expected departure of Defense Secretary Jim Mattisshifts the focus to President Donald Trump's appointment of an acting Pentagon chief and plans for a permanent replacement. Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan will take over as acting secretary on Jan. 1, Trump announced in a tweet Sunday. He had worked for more than three decades at Boeing Co. and was a senior vice president when he became Pentagon deputy in July 2017. In the new year Trump wants to focus on streamlining purchases at the Pentagon, an issue on which Shanahan has already been working, a White House official said. The official asked not to be identified publicly discussing personnel matters. U.S. officials said they didn't know if Shanahan would be Trump's nominee to replace Mattis. During a lunch with conservative lawmakers Saturday at the White House, Trump discussed his options. They were "not all military," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who was among those attending. Shanahan's biography on the Pentagon's website does not list military experience for the longtime Boeing executive. He earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Washington, then a master's degree in mechanical engineering as well as an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition to work in Boeing's commercial airplanes programs, Shanahan was vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems and of Boeing Rotorcraft Systems. In a March 2016 report, the Puget Sound Business Journal called Shanahan a Boeing "fix-it" man who was central to getting the 787 Dreamliner on track after production problems in the program's early years. An acting defense secretary is highly unusual. Historically when a secretary has resigned, he has stayed on until a successor is confirmed. For example, when Chuck Hagel was told to resign in November 2014, he stayed in office until Ash Carter was confirmed the following February. Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general, had been expected to retain his position as Pentagon chief through February. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, not the president, notified Mattis of Trump's decision to put in place Shanahan, said a senior administration official who insisted on anonymity to discuss personnel issues. The sudden change stripped Mattis of any chance to further frame national security policy or smooth rattled relations with allies over the next two months. But U.S. officials said the reaction to Mattis' decision to leave — it sparked shock and dismay on Capitol Hill — annoyed Trump and likely led to pushing Mattis out. "When President Obama ingloriously fired Jim Mattis, I gave him a second chance. Some thought I shouldn't, I thought I should," Trump tweeted Saturday, foreshadowing his displeasure and the Sunday announcement. He also fumed over the media coverage of his Syria withdrawal order, suggesting he should be popular for bringing troops home. "With me, hit hard instead by the Fake News Media. Crazy!" Trump tweeted. A White House official said Trump decided Mattis should leave the administration earlier than planned to avoid a drawn-out transition when someone on hand whom they consider a qualified deputy capable of running the Pentagon in an acting capacity. The official asked not to be identified publicly discussing personnel matters. While Mattis' resignation followed Trump's announcement that he would soon pull all of the approximately 2,000 U.S. troops out of Syria, officials said that the decision was the result of an accumulation of disagreements. In a stunning resignation letter, Mattis made clear he did not see eye to eye with a president who has expressed disdain for NATO and doubts about keeping troops in Asia. Mattis was also unhappy with Trump's order to develop plans to pull out up to half of the 14,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Earlier Sunday, Trump's acting chief of staff said that Trump had known for "quite some time now" that he and Mattis "did not share some of the same philosophies ... have the same world view." Mick Mulvaney told ABC's "This Week" that the president and his defense chief "just could never get on the same page" on Syria, adding that Trump had said since his presidential campaign that "he wanted to get out of Syria." Mulvaney said the president "is entitled to have a secretary of defense who is committed to that same end." Asked whether Trump wanted a Pentagon leader willing to challenge him or someone in lock step with his views, Mulvaney said "a little bit of both." "I've encouraged him to find people who have some overlap with him but don't see the world in lockstep with him," Mulvaney said. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., joined leading Republicans on foreign affairs in urging Trump to reconsider his decision to withdraw American forces from Syria and called it "a premature and costly mistake." They asked Trump to withhold a final decision for 90 days to allow time to study the impact of the decision, but Mulvaney told ABC that Trump wouldn't change his mind. Just after tweeting the announcement about Shanahan, Trump said he had had "a long and productive call" with Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Trump said they discussed IS, "our mutual involvement in Syria, & the slow & highly coordinated pullout of U.S. troops from the area. After many years they are coming home." Associated Press writers Robert Burns, Darlene Superville and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/12/24/fix-it-man-shanahan-working-to-streamline-defense-spending