Nouvelles

By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — The German Defence Ministry will leave planned air defense investments and other high-profile programs involving U.S. vendors unresolved in the final months of the Merkel government, officials have told lawmakers. A Feb. 3 list of “important” but unfunded programs, as officials wrote, includes several trans-Atlantic defense efforts that have been simmering for some time. As a result, American contractor behemoths Lockheed Martin and Boeing are left to wait until a new government re-litigates Germany's defense acquisition posture sometime after the Sept. 26 election. Lockheed Martin, along with MBDA Deutschland, has been gunning for a contract on the TLVS missile defense program following more than a year of negotiations and several years of German-American co-development. The program's prospects turned dimmer last fall, as new requirements drove up costs. Unsurprisingly, TLVS now officially appears on the to-do list for the next chancellor. Notably, a project aimed at defending against short-range aerial threats, like drones or mortar fire, is also lacking a budget, defense officials wrote to lawmakers. Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer late last year reframed Germany's air defense requirements as needing greater focus on drone threats, as evidenced by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. She said a wholesale evaluation of the entire weapons portfolio would determine the way ahead, including what systems the Bundeswehr needs to counter threats of different sizes from various distances. Whatever happened with the review, it appears it did not spur an appetite to start something new soon. That leaves Germany's fleet of Patriot systems, along with a limited order of counter-drone systems made by Kongsberg and Hensoldt aimed at fulfilling Germany's commitment to NATO for 2023, as the baseline equipment for the time being. Lockheed also must wait for what happens next in the Bundeswehr's heavy transport helicopter program, which is meant to replace the fleet of CH-53G models. The Defence Ministry effectively halted the acquisition process last fall after Lockheed and Boeing went over budget with their custom offers of the CH-53K King Stallion and the CH-47 Chinook, respectively. German defense officials recently requested information from the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency about buying more standard, and presumably cheaper, versions of the desired aircraft instead. In response, Lockheed launched a formal protest, which is now on the docket of the Federal Cartel Office, as newspaper Die Welt first reported. Company officials said they want to get a ruling of whether Berlin walking away from the purchase altogether was in line with fair-competition rules. German acquisition laws make it difficult for companies to protest when the government chooses not to award any contract at the end of a competition, said Christian Scherer, a public procurement expert with the law firm CMS Germany in Cologne. “Generally speaking, you can't force the government to buy anything,” he said. “But bidders might have compensation claims.” Judging offers as economically unfeasible, for example, could qualify as a valid reason for the government to withdraw, Scherer told Defense News. At the same time, there is a legal path if companies suspect abusive implementation of the rules, especially if the government's requirements remain the same, he added. Those rules exist to protect offerers against favoritism and other forms of manipulation. “You can't go ahead and compete the same thing with the intention to award the contract to your preferred bidder.” Finally, Germany's long-term campaign of replacing its fleet of Tornado combat aircraft will remain untouched during the final months of the Merkel era, according to the Defence Ministry. Defense officials last spring settled on a mixed fleet of mostly Eurofighters plus a smaller number of Boeing-made Super Hornets for electronic warfare and nuclear missions. The decision has morphed into something more akin to a mere recommendation that would require years to play out, leading Eurofighter maker Airbus to hold out hope that U.S. manufacturers can be entirely kept out of the business when all is said and done. Tobias Lindner, a Green Party member of the Budget and Appropriations committees in the Bundestag, said the list of unfunded programs is “almost more interesting” than the acquisitions considered doable by the time the Bundestag session ends in late June. With so many big-ticket programs in limbo (15 overall), Kramp-Karrenbauer could move to set priorities and cut needless projects. “Unrealistic announcements and promises weaken trust within the armed forces and with our allies,” Lindner said. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2021/02/05/german-defense-ministry-punts-key-us-defense-cooperation-projects-to-the-next-government/

Levon Sevunts, Radio Canada International The modernization of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) will dominate the agenda of Canada-U.S. defence relations as the Biden administration gears up to repair relations with old allies and face emerging threats from resurgent Russia and ascending China, Canadian defence experts say. The continued modernization of the binational command created in 1957 was on the agenda of the first phone call between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month, and during the first calls of Canadiand and U.S. defence ministers, said Andrea Charron, head of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba. “This is at the highest levels. When the U.S. is concerned about the homeland defence and they feel vulnerable, it's something that Canada has to take very-very seriously and I think that is what's happening,” Charron told Eye on the Arctic. Canadian defence expert Nancy Teeple said she expects the Biden administration to ask Canada to contribute more to continental defence. “It opens up the question of whether Canada will participate in missile defence, it's going to push Canada towards that new fighter capability,” said Teeple, who teaches at the Royal Military College of Canada and is Postdoctoral Fellow at the North American Defence and Security Network (NAADSN). The need for NORAD modernization is driven by changes in the strategic and the global geopolitical environment, Charron said. “Where as before the primary threat during the Cold War was one peer competitor, who wasn't using greyzone tactics, or at least not to the same extent as now, we now have two peer competitors to the U.S. – China and Russia – and they are using greyzone tactics, and they're developing more sophisticated weapons like hypersonic glide vehicle weapons,” Charron said. A new generation of threats The urgency of the NORAD modernization and the paths towards that goal were outlined last fall in a paper written for the Wilson Center's Canada Institute by the former U.S. NORAD commander, retired Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy, and U.S. Air Force Brig.-Gen. Peter Fesler, the current deputy director of operations at the U.S. air defence headquarters. In the paper, titled Hardening the Shield: A Credible Deterrent & Capable Defense for North America, O'Shaughnessy and Fesler argue that “with innovations in long range missiles and foreign missile defense systems as well as a changing Arctic landscape, threats to U.S. national security are closer and less deterred than ever from attacking the U.S. Homeland.” O'Shaughnessy and Fesler argue that both China and Russia have developed capabilities to target North America with a new generation of long-range and high-precision conventional weapons. They say that while the U.S. has invested billions of dollars into building ballistic missile defences to protect against strikes by rogue nations such as North Korea, Washington and Ottawa have neglected investments and upgrades of the continental defensive systems “designed to defend against the range of threats presented by peer competitors.” Moreover, the various systems in place in many cases simply can't automatically share information, they say. “The radars used by NORAD to warn of Russian or Chinese ballistic missile attack, for example, are not integrated with those used by Northern Command to engage missiles launched by North Korea,” O'Shaughnessy and Fesler write. “Even if the ballistic missile defense architecture were to detect a launch from China, it would not directly share that information with NORAD's missile warning systems. “The watch standers in the consolidated NORAD and Northern Command headquarters are forced to verbally pass information displayed on independent systems.” Putting up a SHIELD O'Shaughnessy and Fesler call for a “more holistic modernization effort” for NORAD. Northern Command and NORAD have collectively developed a modernization strategy for defence referred to as the Strategic Homeland Integrated Ecosystem for Layered Defence, or SHIELD, they write. “SHIELD is not a system, or even a system of systems, it is an ecosystem,” O'Shaughnessy and Fesler write. “It is a fundamentally new approach to defending North America.” SHIELD takes advantage of the data provided by traditional and non-traditional sources to provide a layered ability to detect any threat approaching the continent, from the seafloor to on orbit, in what NORAD and Northern Command refer to as “all domain awareness,” they write. “It pools this data and fuses it into a common operational picture. Then, using the latest advances in machine learning and data analysis, it scans the data for patterns that are not visible to human eyes, helping decision-makers understand adversary potential courses of action before they are executed.” ‘It's many things and they are already happening' Experts say figuring out Canada's role in this new “ecosystem” will be tricky politically and likely to come at a steep financial cost just as both Ottawa and Washington are deep in the red because of the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It's everything from, for example, the runways at Inuvik being extended because right now only the CF-18 Hornets can land there and we need to make it longer,” Charron said. “It's things like better communication in the Arctic because there seems to be the potential for more activity there.” Or it could be something like coming up with a new Combined Forces Air Component Commander to change the command and control structure and allow the NORAD commander to think more strategically rather than to be bogged down by the day-to-day tasks, Charron said. In addition, upgrades to NORAD capabilities also have to be guided by the need for information dominance, Charron said. “So it's many things and they are already happening,” Charron said. “For example there is a new program called Pathfinder, which is helping feeds from the North Warning System through artificial intelligence to glean more information that the North Warning System is actually picking up but current algorithms and analysts aren't able to see.” Teeple said Canada can also benefit from Washington's interest in developing continental defence, including the Arctic by developing infrastructure that has dual military-civilian use. “This provides incredible benefits if Canada can collaborate,” Teeple said. “And those benefits would be obviously involving collaboration, involving input from Northern Indigenous communities and developing systems that can enhance things like communications and other types of infrastructure in the North that would enhance their quality of life.” Canadian policy-makers should also think about some of the niche areas where Canada can contribute to the NORAD modernization and the continental defence, Teeple said. “So enhancing its sensor capabilities for early warning, obviously that involves the upgrading of the North Warning System,” Teeple said. Other roles for Canada could include non-kinetic disruptive capabilities, such as cyber capabilities, Teeple said. This could give Canada a more offensive role in the new SHIELD ecosystem that would be more palatable politically than hosting ballistic missile interceptors on its territory, she added. https://www.rcinet.ca/eye-on-the-arctic/2021/02/05/norad-modernization-to-dominate-agenda-of-canada-u-s-defence-relations-experts-say/

Steven Grundman The COVID-19 pandemic has accustomed us to living in the virtual world and hearing speculation about the ways in which our actual lives may never resume as before. Microsoft founder Bill Gates recently said he believes “over 50% of business travel and over 30% of days in the office will go away.” Explaining why the pandemic-induced surge in virtual house calls is likely to endure, Harvard's Dr. Thomas Delbanco concedes: “There are times when doctors, nurses or therapists really need to see you—no question about it. But there are also times when they really don't.” It was against the backdrop of such head-turning New Year's predictions that I spent the holidays reading about the Cold War and forming a nostalgic rebuttal to those prophesies of Zoom. At the start of my professional life, I led a surveillance platoon of the U.S. 1st Armored Division (1st AD), which was deployed to defend the “Frontier of Freedom” in the towns surrounding Nuremberg, West Germany. So it was that after cracking open Fulda Gap: Battlefield of the Cold War Alliances, I quickly thumbed forward to Chapter 7, “A Personal Perspective from Platoon Leader to Army Group” by Gen. (ret.) Crosbie Saint, who had commanded the 1st AD during my service in it. Saint's reflections transported me back to 1984 and the pastoral beauty of the Bavarian Oberpfalz, where we were actively preparing to fight a third world war. Prominent among the preparations Saint recounts was the terrain walk, a compulsory practice of every officer leading a maneuver unit regularly to traverse the ground where his troops would deploy, battle book in hand, mastering the contours of the landscape and envisioning his squads' movements in the General Defense Plan. Saint writes ardently about how “repetitive terrain walks at multiple command levels to analyze and become expert in exploiting the terrain for tactical purposes” gave the U.S. a decisive advantage over the vast armies of the Warsaw Pact. The still-clear memory of then-Lt. Grundman's own terrain walks along the monikered kill zones in my battle book—The Kemnath Bowl, Erbendorf Fire Trap, et al.—prompted me to wonder if the marvels of a virtual reality simulation would leave as indelible a mark. I doubt it. While the adoption of videoconferencing for commodity conversation is no doubt here to stay, the premium work of enterprise leadership must remain incarnate. Just as the experience of looking out from a ridgeline engages all the senses, strategic vision flows from an intuitive integration of time and space that no telemediation can fully activate. Beyond the battlefield lay other terrain walks affirming my conviction. In April 1993, just three weeks on the job as chief executive of an IBM teetering on insolvency, Lou Gerstner launched Operation Bear Hug, which directed each of the company's 250 most senior executives to visit at least five key customers over the following three months to learn why IBM had lost their trust. Years later, Gerstner wrote that Bear Hug made manifest what came to be the motive force of IBM's acclaimed transformation: “[W]e were going to build a company from the outside in and . . . the customer was going to drive everything we did in the company.” Gerstner invested this practice of deep listening to customers with the same strategic importance Saint attributed to a lieutenant's intimacy with the sight lines of his firing positions. Operation Bear Hug was a terrain walk. One of the trade secrets of my career as a business consultant to the aerospace industry is never to pass up an invitation to take a plant tour. No matter how near it is to your next flight's departure, when asked “Wanna see the shop?” the right answer is always “Of course.” When, a decade ago, I toured SpaceX's Hawthorne, California, headquarters and observed Elon Musk sitting at his desk among the busy cubicles of 30-something engineers gutting out their work in T-shirts, I instantly understood how the company's garage-shop culture could revolutionize the staid business of space launch. Years earlier, the clinical attention to workers' safety I saw at the bustling CFM56 jet engine plant in Villaroche, France, told me more about the success of the GE-Safran joint venture than even its impressive financials. So, too, did I need actually to feel the cavernous quietude in an antique defense factory to appreciate the true meaning of the sunk-cost fallacy. The aerospace plant tour is often a terrain walk. To all you leaders who, like me, find the progressively virtual world unsettling (and with apologies to a certain light lager's ad campaign), I say, “Find your terrain walk.” Once we again are free to move about, go physically to the crucible of what creates value for your enterprise and open your senses. Only from that vantage will you see truly into its future. The views expressed are not necessarily those of Aviation Week. https://aviationweek.com/aerospace/manufacturing-supply-chain/opinion-why-future-will-not-be-virtual

NAVY Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a Lockheed Martin Co., Stratford, Connecticut, is awarded a $478,605,019 firm-fixed-price modification (P00102) to a previously awarded contract (N0001914C0050). This modification exercises options for the procurement of five Lot Three low rate initial production Presidential Helicopters Replacement Program (VH-92A) aircraft, and associated interim contractor support, two cabin interior reconfiguration kits, support equipment, initial spares, and system parts replenishment. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut (50%); Coatesville, Pennsylvania (36%); Owego, New York (10%); Patuxent River, Maryland (2%); Phoenix, Arizona (1%); and Quantico, Virginia (1%), and is expected to be completed in December 2023. Fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount $478,605,019 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Invicta Global LLC,* Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $14,600,550 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity modification for the exercise of Option Three under a contract for base operating support services at various installations in the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Washington area of operations (AO). After award of this option, the total cumulative contract value will be $39,316,621. The work to be performed is all labor, material, equipment, management and administration for utilities, transportation and facility support services to include fire protection services, facilities management and investment, base support vehicles and equipment, urgent, emergency and routine services for facility support services. Work will be performed in NAVFAC Washington AO, including but not limited to Bethesda, Maryland (40%); Washington, D.C. (40%); Indian Head, Maryland (10%); and Dahlgren, Virginia (10%). This option period is from Feb. 1, 2021, to Jan. 31, 2022. No funds were obligated at time of award. Operation and maintenance, (Navy); and fiscal 2021 Navy working capital funds in the amount of $6,488,840 for recurring work will be obligated on individual task orders issued during the option period. NAVFAC Washington, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N40080-19-D-0311). (Awarded: Jan. 29, 2021) Opal Soft, Inc., Sunnyvale, California, is awarded an $11,979,099 cost-plus-fixed-fee bridge contract for software support services in support of Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport. Work will be performed in Keyport, Washington, and is expected to be completed by September 2021. This contract includes an option which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $19,049,565. Work is expected to be completed by December 2021. Fiscal 2021 service cost center (Navy) $3,154,151 (82.12%); 2015 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) $246,982 (6.43%); 2017 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) $246,982 (6.43%); 2021 defense working capital fund (Navy) $84,895 (2.21%); 2021 other procurement (Navy) $42,474 (1.11%) 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) $37,996 (0.99%); and 2018 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) $27,092.45 (0.71%) funding will be obligated at award. No contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c) (1) (only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements). The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport, Keyport, Washington, is the contracting activity. (N0025321C0004) DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY US Foods, La Mirada, California, has been awarded a maximum $114,700,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for full-line food distribution. This was a competitive acquisition with two responses received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are California and Alaska, with a Feb. 4, 2026, ordering period end date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2026 defense working capital funds. The contracting agency is the Defense Logistics Agency, Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-21-D-3307). ARMY Oshkosh Defense LLC, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was awarded a $61,002,554 firm-fixed-price contract for 1,081 Underbody Armor Kit upgrade kits for the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2022. Fiscal 2019, 2020 and 2021 European reassurance initiative funds in the amount of $61,002,554 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-21-C-0084). Dyncorp International LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $42,000,000 modification (P00121) to contract W58RGZ-19-C-0025 for aviation maintenance services. Work will be performed in Afghanistan and Iraq, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2021. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $42,000,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Coastal Contractors Inc.,* Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was awarded a $9,450,839 firm-fixed-price contract for flood control of the Comite River. Bids were solicited via the internet with eight received. Work will be performed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of Apr. 8, 2022. Fiscal 2021 civil construction funds in the amount of $9,450,839 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-21-C-0005). Escal Institute of Advanced Technologies Inc., North Bethesda, Maryland, was awarded a $9,443,000 modification (P00004) to contract W911S0-19-D-0009 to provide training and certifications as required to verify and validate student proficiency in cybersecurity roles. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 5, 2022. U.S. Army Field Directorate Office, Fort Eustis, Virginia, is the contracting activity. Cottrell Contracting Corp., Chesapeake, Virginia, was awarded a $9,416,500 firm-fixed-price contract for maintenance dredging of Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Camden County, Georgia. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work will be performed in Kings Bay, Georgia, with an estimated completion date of April 25, 2022. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (defense-wide funds) in the amount of $9,416,500 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity (W912EP-21-C-0008). WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS SERVICES Systems Planning and Analysis Inc., Alexandria, Virginia (HQ0034-21-F-0089), has been awarded a firm-fixed-price and time and materials contract in the amount of $34,891,509. This contract is to provide support to the Office of Industrial Policy in carrying out its mission to ensure robust, secure, resilient and innovative industrial capabilities within the Department of Defense. The contractor will provide program support for the Defense Production Act Titles I and III, Industrial Base Assessments, Industry Engagement/Outreach and Strategic Communications and Business Intelligence and Analytics. Work performance will take place at the Mark Center, Alexandria, Virginia; and the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. Appropriate fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance funds will be obligated at the award. The expected completion date is Feb. 6, 2026. Washington Headquarters Services, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2495622/source/GovDelivery/

By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — With defense budgets around the globe expected to fall, simulation and training firm CAE is moving to diversify its defense and security portfolio, with an emphasis on space and cyber capabilities. Dan Gelston, who took over CAE's defense and security business unit in August 2020, told Defense News that his team is also looking to partner with defense primes during the early stages of new competitions, a shift which could require CAE investing in research and engineering efforts. Over the last two decades, CAE was “very focused” on traditional platforms, particularly planes and unmanned aerial vehicles, Gelston said. Now, he expects the future of the company to involve “a real focus on space and cyber, not only for that customer, but also for CAE. And those are areas that we need to augment our capabilities to make sure that we're providing the best product, the best service to help our customers.” The full interview will air as part of CAE's OneWorld event Feb. 9. CAE reported just over $1 billion in defense revenues in 2019, which made it the highest-ranked Canadian company on the annual Defense News Top 100 list. Currently, Gelston's unit makes up about 40 percent of the company's overall business, but he sees a chance to hit a “much larger” market going forward. Gelston's plan includes increasing the “security” part of the company's “defense and security” portfolio by aggressively pursuing contracts for government agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security and Transportation Security Administration. This would competing for what he describes as a “multi-hundred-million dollar opportunity with TSA here in the next few months” for training security forces for airports. “With space assets ability to target, with cyber assets ability to attack anywhere and everywhere, it's not just the Pentagon, it's critical infrastructure, it's a lot of what we traditionally have separated into DHS. So that security element is crucial,” he said. “We could really bring a lot of our research and development, our capabilities in machine learning and AI and virtual reality and augmented learning management systems” to DHS, which “you could categorize a little more of a traditional time phased approach to training.” As the company seeks to expand into the non-defense security realm, Gelston said the company is keeping an eye out for potential merger and acquisition options, saying “I certainly would like to think in the next 18 to 24 months a property would come along, that's particularly attractive to me.” 2020 was a rocky year for CAE, which was hit particularly hard given its ties to the commercial aviation space. But the company worked quickly to shave costs, and toward the end of the year issued a public offering, with the goal of raising roughly $2 billion Canadian ($1.56 bn American). The plan, as Gelston said, was to have enough “dry powder to make sure that we're coming out leaning forward out of the COVID crisis. We don't want to be hunkering down just trying to survive. We want to take advantage of this.” While not discussing specifics, Gelston emphasized that “I'd love to get a little more robust training capability in the cyber realm... that's an area that that I can certainly see augmenting with potential acquisition here in the next 18 to 24 months if the right property comes along, I think we would be positioned to potentially pursue that.” Teaming with defense manufacturers That focus on new areas doesn't mean the company is turning away from traditional defense projects, but it does come with a greater focus on teaming up with prime contractors early in the process to offer the DoD and other customers a package solution from the start, as opposed to bidding on training and simulation contracts after a design has been selected. He pointed to the surprise rapid test-flight of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) demonstrator from last September as an example of how defense acquisition is speeding up. “Our defense acquisition officials are really looking for skin in the game from industry” early on, he said. “We don't have the time for the classic cost-plus development work, years and years and multiple phases” of a project. “No company, even the big OEMs, have unlimited research and development budgets. No company, even Lockheed Martin, has unlimited engineering assets,” he continued. “So if I can partner with these OEMs on these major next generation platforms now and start co developing as they develop the platform, I'm codeveloping the training in the simulation experience, and sharing some of that burden, adding skin into the game for research and development engineering — It's not just money, it's also time, and time, arguably right now is our is our biggest enemy — I can really help those OEMs and give them a true discriminator in their offering.” “And certainly at the end, that international or us customer is going to be much better off as they've got a fully baked, fully integrated training and simulation solution with that new platform.” In addition to looking into NGAD, Gelston said the company plans to pursue nearer-term contracts related to the F-35 joint strike fighter, MQ-9B drone, and the Army's Future Vertical Lift competition, while also continuing ongoing efforts like its C-130H business, which was awarded in 2018. https://www.defensenews.com/training-sim/2021/02/08/for-cae-the-future-means-expansion-in-cyber-space-and-more-defense-acquisitions

AIR FORCE Scientific Research Corp., Atlanta, Georgia, has been awarded a $95,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Full Spectrum Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Operational Non-Appropriated Funds Support (FUSIONS). This contract will deliver a key decisional advantage to the 16th Air Force/Component Commander and Joint Force Air Component Commander by delivering timely and relevant intelligence data/products to the war fighter. The FUSIONS contract will enable critical support functions in all major work centers of the operations center and will further enable the 16th Air Force/Component Commander to exercise both command and control authorities as well as service cryptologic element roles. The majority of work will be performed at Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA)-Lackland, Texas, and is expected to be completed Feb. 28, 2026. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and seven offers were received. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $3,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Acquisition Management and Integration Center, JBSA-Lackland, Texas, is the contracting activity (FA7037-21-D-0001). NAVY L3Harris Technologies Inc., Clifton, New Jersey, is awarded a $45,888,334 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursement, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides engineering maintenance and repair support services for Advanced Self-Protection Jammer AN/ALQ-165, Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures AN/ALQ-214, and aircraft self-protection optimization software in support of F/A-18 series aircraft for the Navy and Foreign Military Sales customers. Work will be performed in Clifton, New Jersey, and is expected to be completed in February 2026. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). The Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division, Point Mugu, California, is the contracting activity (N68936-21-D-0006). DSC Inc.,* Dunn, North Carolina, is awarded a $10,214,389 firm-fixed-price contract for Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River facility support services. The work to be performed provides for the facility support services work consisting of scheduled custodial services to ensure the cleanliness of working environments (trash removal, recycling, cleaning kitchenettes, lunch and breakrooms, windows/window treatments, drinking fountains, clean/disinfect restrooms, sweeping /mopping /vacuuming floors, etc.). Pest control services includes the prevention and control of unwanted vegetation and invasive plants, nuisance, structure damaging, lawn, turf and ornamental and disease vector and health arthropod and invertebrate pests. Grounds maintenance and landscaping includes lawn maintenance (mowing and trimming, edging, irrigation systems maintenance), vegetation removal and debris removal within installation grounds parcels designated as improved, semi-improved and unimproved areas. Pavement clearance includes snow removal, sweeping to remove winter abrasives and other debris, improve the appearance of paved areas, improve the safety of paved areas, reduce maintenance costs by keeping the drainage systems clean and reduce pollutants entering the storm drain system. Transportation services consists of vehicles and equipment maintenance and repairs; vehicle and equipment operations to include dispatch services. Weight handling equipment/material handling equipment services to include provision of a crane, liquid movements, people movements, operator licensing, testing and training, vehicle/equipment inspection and certification and specified administrative program management. Work will be performed in St. Mary's County, Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the Patuxent River, and is expected to be completed by March 31, 2021. Fiscal 2021 Navy operation and maintenance (O&M,N) contract funds in the amount of $0 are obligated on this award and will be used for the base period. The base contract is incrementally funded with the first increment of $0 being allocated Feb. 4, 2021. The base year will commence April 1, 2021, and end March 31, 2022. The second increment will be funded in fiscal 2021 on or before March 31, 2021, at $852,199, and the remainder of the funds will be funded no less than monthly on the last day of each month until the continuous resolution is lifted and/or the contract is fully funded. The contract also contains five unexercised options, which if exercised, would increase cumulative contract value to $66,099,485. Funds will expire at the end of fiscal 2021. This contract was competitively procured via the beta.SAM.gov electronic solicitation with four proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, Washington, Washington, D.C., is the contract activity (N40080-21-D-0006). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Mercy Medical Equipment Co., San Antonio, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $20,000,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for medical equipment and accessories for the Defense Logistics Agency electronic catalog. This was a competitive acquisition with 139 responses received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Texas, with a Feb. 3, 2026, ordering period end date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2026 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2DH-21-D-0057). Chevron U.S.A. Inc., Richmond, California, has been awarded an estimated $8,308,580 indefinite-delivery requirements contract for lubricants. This was a competitive acquisition with 10 responses received. This is a two-year contract with a 30-day carry-over period. Locations of performance are California, Texas, Oregon and South Carolina, with an April 30, 2023, performance completion date. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through fiscal 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency, Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SPE602-21-D-0757). ARMY Akima Support Operations, Colorado Springs, Colorado, was awarded a $12,380,479 modification (P00024) to contract W52P1J-20-F-0137 for support for the Enhanced Army Global Logistics Enterprise at Fort Hood. Work will be performed in Fort Hood, Texas, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 7, 2022. Fiscal 2010 operation and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $ 2,397,562 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2493842/source/GovDelivery/

Agnes Helou BEIRUT — A Qatari cyber research center has selected Leonardo to provide a cyber range and training system to support security operations, the Italian firm announced Feb. 3. The Qatar Computing Research Institute, or QCRI, was established by the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development. The training platform ordered by the QCRI is capable of simulating cyberattacks so users can assess the resilience of digital infrastructure. “The training is completely to be performed in Qatar, and it is expected, through an approach oriented to ‘train the trainers,' to provide courses to a significant number of operators involved in the cybersecurity framework,” Tommaso Profeta, managing director of Leonardo's Cyber Security Division, told Defense News. He noted that training and exercise scenarios can be customized using a drag-and-drop graphical interface. The platform can also analyze and classify the results of simulated attacks based on data collected during real-world offensive campaigns. Scenarios can be used for individual training or classroom experiences, and they provide practice for security operations centers and incident response activities. This training tool “will allow the QCRI to deliver a complete cyber training process, from the design of the learning path to specific training sessions. Users will be able to practice their skills in simulated attack and defense scenarios, employing both information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT). The training will produce qualified teams of operators equipped with up-to-date knowledge and techniques, ready to face ever-evolving cyber threats,” according to a company statement. “The best cyber training/testing environments are in theory real production systems. But in practice for such environments, institutions, enterprises and organizations cannot easily experience critical situations without paying high, sometime unaffordable prices,” Profeta said. “Training and testing are therefore the two essential, human-driven processes that can effectively support the overall cyber ‘protection' loop, but only if they can cope with real threats and highly realistic systems in highly realistic situations.” Cyber ranges provide a controlled environment where cybersecurity experts can practice their technical and soft skills in emulated complex networks and infrastructures to learn how to respond to real-world cyberattacks. In these environments, cyber tools can be stressed to reveal their limits and vulnerabilities before deployment into cyberspace. Leonardo's platform challenges such assets and provides digital twin environments for predeployment testing. Asked whether other Gulf countries have expressed interest in this training system, Profeta said it “has already been presented to other high-level Middle East stakeholders, and a significant level of interest has been registered for the platform.” What scenarios are available? Those using the cyber range will try to defend against simulated but realistic cyberattacks. According to Profeta, these include: Man-in-the-middle attacks. Botnets. Exploitation of client and server vulnerabilities with lateral movements in search of sensitive data. Distributed denial-of-service attacks (HTTP flooding or domain name system reflection) designed to disrupt connections to a targeted server. Ransomware via multiple vectors, such as spear-phishing via email or drive-by downloads, relying on DNS-based covert channels. Data exfiltration of personally identifiable information and intellectual property. Though it's difficult to measure the potential effectiveness of this platform for Qatar, the company official predicted the system will reduce the cost of and improve the user experience in cyber training. Leonardo also supplies the NATO Computer Incident Response Capability, a cyber defense product. https://www.c4isrnet.com/cyber/2021/02/03/qatari-research-center-chooses-leonardo-for-cyber-range

NAVY Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Herndon, Virginia, is awarded a $329,891,030 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-17-C-6327 to exercise options for Joint Counter Radio-Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare Increment One Block One (I1B1) dismounted systems, mounted systems, mounted auxiliary kits, operational level spares, depot level spares and engineering support services. This contract involves Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to the government of Australia. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be complete by December 2022. FMS (Australia) funding in the amount of $116,491,337 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a Lockheed Martin Co., Stratford, Connecticut, is awarded a $19,429,150 modification (P00005) to cost-plus-fixed-fee order N00019-19-F-2972 against previously issued basic ordering agreement N00019-19-G-0029. This order provides for non-recurring engineering, engineering change order, logistics and programmatic support of the Data Transfer Unit and Defensive Electronic Countermeasure System Replacement and ARC-210 program, to replace existing subsystems within the CH-53K production aircraft. Work will be performed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (55.82%); Stratford, Connecticut (35.7%); and Fort Worth, Texas (8.48%), and is expected to be completed in August 2021. Fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $19,429,150 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. ARMY Dean Marine & Excavating Inc.,* Mount Clemens, Michigan (W911XK-21-D-0001); Geo. Gradel Co.,* Toledo, Ohio (W911XK-21-D-0002); Great Lakes Dock and Materials LLC,* Muskegon, Michigan (W911XK-21-D-0003); The King Co. Inc.,* Holland, Michigan (W911XK-21-D-0004); Luedtke Engineering Co.,* Frankfort, Michigan (W911XK-21-D-0005); MCM Marine Inc.,* Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan (W911XK-21-D-0006); Morrish-Wallace Construction Inc., doing business as RYBA Marine Construction,* Cheboygan, Michigan (W911XK-21-D-0007); and Roen Salvage Co.,* Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin (W911XK-21-D-0008), will compete for each order of the $130,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for dredging/construction services within the Great Lakes and Ohio River division. 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 Feb. 2, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit, Michigan, is the contracting activity. Wilson Perumal & Co.,* Dallas, Texas, was awarded a $25,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to support Army Materiel Command to evaluate the readiness and efficiency of depot/arsenal operations. Bids were solicited via the internet with 10 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 4, 2026. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W52P1J-21-D-0019). Pine Bluff Sand and Gravel Co., White Hall, Arkansas, was awarded a $16,620,400 modification (P00003) to contract W912P8-20-C-0002 for maintenance dredging. Work will be performed in New Orleans, Louisiana; and Black Hawk, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 5, 2022. Fiscal 2021 civil construction funds in the amount of $16,620,400 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE Invictus International Consulting LLC, Alexandria, Virginia, has been awarded a $97,943,684 cost-reimbursement contract for Operational Simulated Cyber Environment Resiliency Software prototype/hardware. This contract provides for research and development of capabilities in modeling, simulation and testing cyber technologies across the full spectrum of cyber operations to aid the Air Force and the Department of Defense (DOD). Research and further development will provide the Air Force and DOD with next generation cyber tools and technologies that enhance cyber resiliency and can be rapidly transitioned and integrated to support Cyber Mission Forces. Work will be performed in Alexandria, Virginia, and is expected to be completed Feb. 3, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and two offers were received. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $967,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Rome, New York, is the contracting activity (FA8750-21-C-1504). Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, has been awarded a $68,600,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with cost-plus-fixed-fee task orders for the Threat Assessment and Aircraft Protection Defensive Electronic Warfare program. This program will conduct innovative research and development to design expendable (ordinance) and directed-energy (signal) countermeasure concepts, in electro-optical and multi-spectrum electro-optical/radio-frequency domains, in response to an ever-changing missile threat landscape using threat exploitation; modeling and simulation evaluation; and hardware and field testing. Work will be performed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and is expected to be completed Jan. 29, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and one offer was received. Fiscal 2020 and 2021 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $1,431,071 will be obligated at the time of award on the first task order. Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8650-21-D-1014). *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2492400/source/GovDelivery/

Ben Kassel and Bruce Kaplan While many Pentagon initiatives face a change of course under new Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, its digital engineering strategy deserves a push forward. The strategy, issued in 2018 by then-Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin, aimed to help military services harness modern sustainment methods like additive manufacturing, digital twin and augmented reality. For the Department of Defense, enterprisewide implementation of these techniques would lower costs, increase weapon systems' mission-capable rates and afford flexibility in fleet modernization. But digital engineering requires digital, 3D data — and the DoD doesn't have enough. Modern sustainment practices hinge on the availability of what's known as the model-based definition, 3D models and digitized descriptive information for a system or component. Using computer-aided design programs, engineers can manipulate the data to enable practices like condition-based maintenance, eliminating weapon systems' unnecessary downtime. Digital data can facilitate seamless transit from original equipment manufacturers, or OEM, to procurers and sustainers in the field and at maintenance depots worldwide. However, the technical data for most weapons systems remains elusive to the services and their program management offices, or PMO, or the datasets are available only in 2D documentation, such as blueprints. Meanwhile, readiness suffers. Of 46 weapons systems reviewed by the Government Accountability Office, only three achieved annual mission-capable targets at least five times between 2011 and 2019. More than half (24) failed to meet their goal even once, according to GAO's November 2020 report. The KC-13OJ Super Hercules air refueler and the MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor were among the programs to miss their target all nine years. GAO cited inaccessible technical data as a contributing factor for both programs. Of the Super Hercules, the report says: “The Navy and Marine Corps were unable to obtain the technical data of the aircraft ... the lack of the technical data compromises [their] ability to analyze and resolve sustainment issues.” Similar concerns were raised about the P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine aircraft, saying “technical data needed for maintenance has not been readily available to the Navy.” Dozens of systems, including the F-35 fighter jet, face similar obstacles. Notably, the GAO report referred not to 3D, model-based data but rather legacy incarnations: blueprints and documents that may have been converted “digitally” into PDFs. This is a far cry from the machine-readable formats required to use digital engineering technologies across the enterprise. The GAO cited the production of 170 “structural repair manuals” as a means of narrowing the Osprey's technical data gaps. The labor-intensive replication of physical documents — the PMO projected five years to deliver all of them — is a piecemeal solution, at best. Troublingly, modern sustainment methods seem beyond the reasonable expectation of not just PMOs but even forward-looking organizations like the GAO. To foster its DoD-wide implementation, the digital engineering strategy needs reinforcement, which could take the following forms: Champion the availability of model-based technical data in policy. Modern sustainment requires a shift from decadesold practices. Paper data that supports secondhand manuals and haphazard 2D-to-3D conversion should no longer be the norm. Services cannot lead this transition on their own, however. Federal guidance on the acquisition, creation, use and management of authentic, model-based technical data would jump-start the movement toward digital sustainment. Educate PMOs to acquire technical data rights strategically. Policy must be partnered by the right mindset. One reason PMOs don't have technical data is that sometimes they never asked for it. An afterthought at the time of procurement, technical data is often overlooked until maintenance is needed. Then it's too late — or too expensive — to acquire the needed rights. Leadership can encourage PMOs to identify potential sustainment solutions — and the technical data rights needed to execute them — at the time of acquisition. Assert the government's rights to model-based technical data. A sea change in sustainment depends on building unprecedented trust between OEMs and PMOs. OEMs understandably need to protect intellectual property, but their grip on model-based technical data must loosen for digital sustainment to flourish at scale. This can be accomplished without OEMs surrendering their competitive advantage. In many cases, OEMs need not transfer custody of the data itself for sustainment activities. Limited-rights agreements and trusted third-party arrangements can be tailored to enable data availability only when needed or to execute specific solutions. Giving OEMs confidence in these approaches will entail extensive dialogue and commitment by DoD leaders. Given the GAO's assessment, seeking a breakthrough is worth the attempt. Operationalizing the DoD strategy requires work in other areas as well, particularly in removing intra- and inter-organizational stovepipes, and securing the data's transmission and storage. But the first step toward a model-based sustainment enterprise is ensuring the availability of modern technical data. This need will only grow more crucial. Today's sustainment practices too closely resemble those of 30 years ago, not what they should be 30 years from now. We're already playing catch up. It's time to view sustainment with 3D glasses. Ben Kassel is a senior consultant at LMI. He previously worked with the U.S. government on defining and exchanging technical data used for naval architecture, marine and mechanical engineering, and manufacturing. Bruce Kaplan is a fellow at LMI. He previously served as technical director of logistics for research and development at the Defense Logistics Agency. https://www.c4isrnet.com/opinion/2021/02/03/as-mission-capable-rates-languish-pentagon-should-embrace-digital-engineering/