Nouvelles

AIR FORCE Vital Link Inc., Sealy, Texas, has been awarded a $228,843,057 indefinite-delivery requirements contract for the sustainment of Air Force noise suppressors. This contract provides for the repair, refurbishment and relocation of noise suppressors. Work will be performed at Air Force locations worldwide, and is expected to be complete by Nov. 5, 2029. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and one offer was received. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity (FA8534-19-D-0003). The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $35,800,000 delivery order for Radar Modernization Program (RMP) Common Configuration General Purpose Processors (GPP3) and Waveform Generators (WFG). This contract provides for 57 GPP3s and 11 WFGs to ensure a common configuration of the APG-82(v)1 radar, as well as 14 spares. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be complete by Oct. 31, 2023. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2019 procurement funds in the amount of $17,686,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Fighter/Bomber Directorate, F-15 Division, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8634-19-F-0009). Metis Solutions LLC, Arlington, Virginia, has been awarded a $10,301,762 fixed-price level-of-effort contract for financial services. This contract provides for counter-threat finance services to U.S. Central Command, U.S. Africa Command, and the U.S. European Command areas of responsibility. Work will be performed in several locations worldwide, and is expected to be complete by Oct. 20, 2019. This award is the result of a non‐competitive bridge acquisition and one offer was received. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the full amount are being obligated at the time of award. Headquarters Air Combat Command, Acquisition Management and Integration Center, Joint Base Langley‐Eustis, Virginia, is the contracting activity (FA4890‐19‐C-A007). (Awarded March 20, 2019) CORRECTION: The contract announced on May 2, 2019, for Engility Corp., Andover, Massachusetts (FA8650-19-C-6024), for research and development, included an incorrect award amount. The correct award amount is $57,296,527. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Shore Terminals LLC, doing business as NuStar, San Antonio, Texas, has been awarded a $227,733,110 firm-fixed-price contract to receive, store and ship various types of jet fuel. This was a competitive acquisition with one offer received. This is a four-year base contract with one five-year option period. Locations of performance are Texas and California, with a May 6, 2023, performance competition date. Using customers are Navy and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SPE603-19-C-5006). Point Blank Enterprises, Pompano Beach, Florida, has been awarded a maximum $92,881,740 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contract for enhanced small arms protective inserts. This contract was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a one-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Florida, with a March 31, 2021, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2020 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-19-D-1154). CORRECTION: The contract announced on May 2, 2019, for Raytheon Co., McKinney, Texas, was announced with an incorrect delivery order number and incorrect basic ordering agreement number. The correct delivery order number is SPRPA1-19-F-CB01 and correct basic ordering agreement number is SPRPA1-19-G-CB01. ARMY Eagle Eye - Enviroworks JV,* Anchorage, Alaska (W9128F-19-D-0034); Ahtna-CDM JV,* Irvine, California (W9128F-19-D-0035); IE- Weston Federal Services JVB LLC,* Pasco, Washington (W9128F-19-D-0036); and Relyant Global LLC,* Maryville, Tennessee (W9128F-19-D-0037), will compete for each order of the $95,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for rapid disaster infrastructure response. Bids were solicited via the internet with 19 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of May 5, 2024. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, Nebraska, is the contracting activity. Cray Inc., Seattle, Washington, was awarded a $22,549,000 firm-fixed-price contract for Department of Defense High Performance Computing Modernization Program's Technology Insertion. Four bids were solicited with four bids received. Work will be performed in Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 5, 2025. Fiscal 2018 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $22,549,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W912DY-19-F-0296). Cray Inc., Seattle, Washington, was awarded a $14,549,000 firm-fixed-price contract for Department of Defense High Performance Computing Modernization Program's Technology Insertion. Four bids were solicited with two bids received. Work will be performed in Vicksburg, Mississippi, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 5, 2025. Fiscal 2018 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $14,549,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W912DY-19-F-0298). AAI Corp., doing business as Textron Systems, Hunt Valley, Maryland, was awarded an $8,928,378 cost-plus-fixed-fee Foreign Military Sales (Australia) contract for logistics support. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 7, 2020. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-19-F-0407). U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND n~Ask Inc., Fairfax, Virginia, was awarded a $7,816,490 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (H92401-19-C-0014) for demonstration of a prototype, modular intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance small-satellite in support of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). Fiscal 2019 research and development funds in the amount of $2,000,000 were obligated at time of award. The work will be performed primarily at the n~Ask Colorado facility. The period of performance is scheduled to run through September 2020. USSOCOM headquarters, Tampa, Florida, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1838303/source/GovDelivery/

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Brittney Kinsey, Defense Media Activity Public Affairs NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. (NNS) -- Sea service chiefs and civilian defense leadership discussed myriad opportunities and challenges commanders face while operating on land, sea and air during the first day of the 54th annual Sea-Air-Space Exposition (SAS), May 6, 2019. Derived from the Chief of Naval Operations' (CNO) Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority 2.0 (Design 2.0), this year's exposition theme is “Sustainability, Agility, Superiority.” CNO Adm. John. M. Richardson, Commandant of the Marine Corps General Robert B. Neller, Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Karl Schultz and Administrator of the U.S. Maritime Administration retired Rear Adm. Mark H. Buzby each addressed during the sea service chiefs panel the specific obstacles their services contend with in the current maritime environment. Richardson explained that rapid changes in technology and maritime security requires a level of trust and confidence in leaders tasked with commanding maritime forces. “It's very important that our leaders are people of character and integrity so that when we put them in front of our Sailors to lead them, not only do they know their business in warfighting but also that we would be proud for our sons and daughters to follow them,” he said. “Whether at sea or near the sea, responding to any man-made or natural crisis, [they] are so much more than a maritime warrior, [they] are also diplomats and are securing our prosperity.” Richardson also stressed the importance of improving the logistical capabilities, stating that services will only maintain an upper hand in the maritime environment by becoming more agile. ‘'We have got to get capabilities into the hands of our soldiers, Sailors, airmen and Marines – more and faster,” he said. “It's important that as the pace quickens, as new technology enters the fray, as the security environment manifests itself in a really fast-changing world that we don't forget those fundamentals in terms of providing sustainable forces. ” During a panel on the Arctic, speakers explained why partnering with other services is also crucial to maintaining superiority, particularly in places like the Arctic Circle where there hasn't been a large naval presence. “When it comes to maritime readiness in the Arctic, we cannot and should not go alone,” said Rear Adm. John A. Okon, commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command. “Collaboration is key. Resources and access points are limited, so we must work with our maritime partners to be successful.” Richardson echoed Okon's comments during his keynote remarks at the Sea Services Luncheon. “The Arctic is a very dynamic situation,” he said. “There are seaways that are open that were not open before, continental shelves that are being exposed that weren't exposed before, so I think that merits a response from our maritime forces and there's tremendous value in partnering with our fellow services such as the Coast Guard.” Keeping the waters open for Indo-Pacific trade routes, which bolster global economic prosperity, also remains a top priority for the Navy. “A third of the world's trade flows through the South China Sea, 90% of the world's trade flows by the sea, tens of trillions of U.S. dollars flow through that body of water,” said Richardson. “It's extremely important that those lines of communication and sea lanes remain open, and that's why the United States Navy is there and that's why we're going to stay there.” Other scheduled keynote speakers and panelists include Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer, Undersecretary of the Navy Thomas Modly, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition James “Hondo” Geurts and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Russell Smith. Founded in 1965 and the largest maritime exposition in the United States, SAS brings together the U.S. defense industrial base, private sector U.S. companies and key military decision makers for an annual event to share the most current policies, programs, information and technology relevant to maritime service. SAS takes place May 6-8 and will include speaker and professional development sessions and dynamic maritime and defense exhibits on the latest technology and military equipment. https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=109502

By: Jeff Martin and Geoff Ziezulewicz From home port inspections to transiting the Taiwan Strait, down to Antarctica and through riverine waterways, the Coast Guard has arguably the most diverse mission set of the armed services. But despite these responsibilities, the Coast Guard remains a red-headed stepchild of sorts, a military branch that falls under the Department of Homeland Security. That designation resulted in a lack of payment for Coasties during the 35-day government shutdown of December 2018 and January 2019. But in a chat during the 2019 Sea-Air-Space conference, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz said his service is back on track, even as it grapples with the same readiness challenges faced by other services. He also opined on why the Arctic matters more than ever, as well as the difference between the current heavy icebreaker and the coming polar security cutter. The Coast Guard was hit hard during the government shutdown. What is the service doing to recover? The shutdown was a shutdown. Obviously going 35 days without pay was tough on our members. Not having appropriations challenged us from a readiness standpoint. I think we have recovered. Some of the things like boat maintenance periods, dry dock availabilities, we lost some calendar days on that. That's tough. But going forward, the Coast Guard's ready to do the nation's business. What's the main message you try to convey to lawmakers on Capitol Hill regarding the last shutdown's impact on the Coast Guard? I've been on the same message since I did my Hill visits before my confirmation hearing in April 2018. The Coast Guard's challenge is readiness. In a budgeting environment we've been flatlined for the good part of eight-plus years. The president rolled out a conversation about national security. It's fantastic and good for [the Department of Defense], they got a 12 percent [funding] bump in 2018. Being in DHS, we weren't part of that conversation. We are a capital-intensive organization like the other armed forces, and we've got some bills. We've got some maintenance we've been kicking the can on, so since before I even assumed the duties of commandant I've been having this conversation about the readiness of the Coast Guard and testified recently about being at a readiness tipping point. We just need to enhance the understanding, the fact that it's a readiness conversation. We need to take ownership of it, and I need to convince folks that this is important for the nation. Your predecessor hammered the need for icebreaker capacity. Where is the Coast Guard at regarding its next icebreaker? Two weeks ago today, we award the contract to [VT Halter Marine] down in Mississippi to build the first polar security cutter. We used to talk about heavy icebreakers, now we talk about a polar security cutter. We just rolled out in April what we call the Arctic Strategic Outlook. It's a refresh on what was our Arctic strategic plan in 2013. We talk about the Arctic through a different lens now. We talk about the Arctic as a competitive space. We've seen China, we see Russia investing extensively. China built icebreakers in the time since we updated our strategy. China's been operating off the Alaskan Arctic for a good part of the last six years on an annual basis. We're championing increased capabilities in the Arctic, we're championing better communications, better domain awareness, we're talking about innovation, we're talking about resiliency, we're talking about rule-based order. I want to see the Arctic remain a peaceful domain. China's a self-declared Arctic state. They're not one of the eight Arctic nations, so for me, for the service, its presence equals influence. Right now, with one 43-year-old heavy icebreaker, Polar Star, that ship is basically a one-trick pony. It goes down to [McMurdo Station, the U.S. scientific outpost in Antarctica] every year and does the breakout, so the National Science Foundation can maintain their operations down there. The first polar security cutter, which probably hits the waterfront late 2023, 2024, is going to be almost a one for one. It's when we get to the second or third polar security cutter that we start to have some capacity. And again, presence equals influence. I'd like to see us in the Arctic, I'm not saying a fully annual basis, but on a lot more persistent presence up there. That's where we need to be as a nation. What's the difference between today's heavy icebreaker and the future polar security cutter? It's a designation change, it's the lexicon of adding “security” to the title. We thought it was more artful to capture the reflecting reality in how we talk about that ship. I think that narrative helped raise the bar in understanding. https://www.defensenews.com/news/your-navy/2019/05/06/coast-guard-commandant-talks-domestic-challenges-and-threats-in-the-arctic

By: David B. Larter NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The U.S. Navy's growing and increasingly diverse portfolio of unmanned systems is creating a jumble of control systems, creating problems for a force that hopes robot ships, aircraft and submarines will help it regain a significant advantage over rivals China and Russia. One significant issue is having to train sailors on a number of different systems, which can prove time-consuming, inefficient and expensive. “From a manned-machine teaming and sailor-integration perspective, we need a portfolio of systems to do a wide variety of things,” said Capt. Pete Small, the head of unmanned maritime systems at Naval Sea Systems Command. “We can't bring a different interface for each platform to our sailors — from a training perspective but also from an integration perspective. “We might have a destroyer that needs to operate an [unmanned surface vessel] and an [unmanned underwater vehicle] and they all need to be linked back to a shore command center. So we've got to have common communications protocols to make that all happen, and we want to reduce the burden on sailors to go do that.” That's driving the Navy toward a goal of having one control system to run all the unmanned platforms in the service's portfolio: a goal that is a good ways away, Small said. “The end state is — future state nirvana — would be one set of software that you could do it all on,” he said. “I think that's a faraway vision. And the challenges are every unmanned system is a little bit different and has its own requirements. And each of the integration points — a destroyer, a shore base or a submarine — has slightly different integration requirements as well. “But the vision is that we can enjoy commonality as much as possible and share pieces of software wherever possible.” The effort mirrors a similar endeavor in the surface Navy to develop a single combat system that controls every ship's systems. The goal here is that if a sailor who is trained on a big-deck amphibious ship transfers to a destroyer, no extra training will be necessary to run the equipment on the destroyer. “That's an imperative going forward — we have to get to one, integrated combat system,” Rear Adm. Ron Boxall, the chief of naval operations' director of surface warfare, said in a December interview at the Pentagon with Defense News. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/navy-league/2019/05/06/the-us-navys-unmanned-dream-a-common-control-system

Military systems are increasingly using software to support functionality, new capabilities, and beyond. Before a new piece of software can be deployed within a system however, its functional safety and compliance with certain standards must be verified and ultimately receive certification. As the rapid rate of software usage continues to grow, it is becoming exceedingly difficult to assure that all software considered for military use is coded correctly and then tested, verified, and documented appropriately. “Software requires a certain level of certification – or approval that it will work as intended with minimal risks – before receiving approval for use within military systems and platforms,” said Dr. Ray Richards, a program manager in DARPA's Information Innovation Office (I2O). “However, the effort required to certify software is an impediment to expeditiously developing and fielding new capabilities within the defense community.” Today, the software certification process is largely manual and relies on human evaluators combing through piles of documentation, or assurance evidence, to determine whether the software meets certain certification criteria. The process is time consuming, costly, and can result in superficial or incomplete evaluations as reviewers bring their own sets of expertise, experiences, and biases to the process. A lack of a principled means of decomposing evaluations makes it difficult to create a balanced and trustworthy process that applies equally to all software. Further, each subsystem and component must be evaluated independently and re-evaluated before it can be used in a new system. “Just because a subsystem is certified for one system or platform does not mean it is unilaterally certified for all,” noted Richards. This creates additional time delays and review cycles. To help accelerate and scale the software certification process, DARPA developed the Automated Rapid Certification Of Software (ARCOS) program. The goal of ARCOS is to create tools and a process that would allow for the automated assessment of software evidence and provide justification for a software's level of assurance that is understandable. Taking advantage of recent advances in model-based design technology, “Big Code” analytics, mathematically rigorous analysis and verification, as well as assurance case languages, ARCOS seeks to develop a capability to automatically evaluate software assurance evidence to enable certifiers to rapidly determine that system risk is acceptable. “This approach to reengineering the software certification process is well timed as it aligns with the DoD Digital Engineering Strategy, which details how the department is looking to move away from document-based engineering processes and towards design models that are to be the authoritative source of truth for systems,” said Richards. To create this automated capability, ARCOS will explore techniques for automating the evidence generation process for new and legacy software; create a means of curating evidence while maintaining its provenance; and develop technologies for the automated construction of assurance cases, as well as technologies that can validate and assess the confidence of an assurance case argument. The evidence generation, curation, and assessment technologies will form the ARCOS tools and processes, working collectively to provide a scalable means of accelerating the pathway to certification. Throughout the program's expected three phases, evaluations and assessments will occur to gauge how the research is progressing. ARCOS researchers will tackle progressively more challenging sets of software systems and associated artifacts. The envisioned evaluation progression will move from a single software module to a set of interacting modules and finally to a realistic military software system. Interested proposers will have an opportunity to learn more during a Proposers Day on May 14, 2019, from 8:30AM to 3:30PM (EST) at the DARPA Conference Center, located at 675 N. Randolph Street, Arlington, Virginia, 22203. The purpose of the Proposers Day is to outline the ARCOS technical goals and challenges, and to promote an understanding of the BAA proposal requirements. For details about the event, including registration requirements, please visit: https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=6a8f03472cf43a3558456b807877f248&tab=core&_cview=0 Additional information will be available in the forthcoming Broad Agency Announcement, which will be posted to www.fbo.gov. https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2019-05-03

BY MARCUS WEISGERBER Even decades-old aircraft carriers are being mapped onto digital models at Newport News Shipbuilding. NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — When the USS George Washington took shape here in the late 1980s, endless paper blueprints guided the welders and shipfitters of Newport News Shipbuilding. Now, with the aircraft carrier back in a drydock for its midlife overhaul, shipyard workers are laser-scanning its spaces and bulkheads. They're compiling a digital model of the 104,000-ton carrier, which will allow subsequent Nimitz-class projects to be designed and planned on computers. That will help bring the shipyard's carrier-overhaul work in line with its digital design-and-manufacturing processes that are already speeding up construction and maintenance on newer vessels. Newport News executives say these digital shipbuilding concepts are revolutionizing the way ships are designed and built. “We want to leverage technology, learn by doing and really drive it to the deckplates,” Chris Miner, vice president of in-service carriers, said during a tour of the shipyard. This is the future. This isn't about if. This is where we need to go.” This storied shipyard, now a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, has been building warships for the U.S. Navy for more than 120 years. Some of its buildings are nearly that old, and some of its employees are fifth-generation shipbuilders. But the technology they use to design, build, and overhaul submarines and mammoth aircraft carriers is rapidly changing. Paper schematics are quickly becoming a thing of the past, being replaced by digital blueprints easily accessible to employees on handheld tablets. “The new shipbuilders coming in, they're not looking for you to hand them a 30-page or a 200-page drawing,” Miner said. “We're really transitioning how we train folks and how we do things as far as getting them proficient.” This digital data will “transform the business,” said Miner. The technology is spreading beyond the shipbuilding sector. Boeing used digital tools to design a new pilot training jet for the Air Force and an aerial refueling drone from the Navy. The Air Force is planning to evaluate new engines for its B-52 bombers, nearly six-decade-old planes, using digital tools. The technology is allowing companies to build weapons faster than traditional manufacturing techniques. Engineers here at Newport News Shipbuilding are already using digital blueprints to design ships, but they plan to expand the use of the technology into manufacturing in the coming years. “We want to be able to leverage off all that data and use it,” Miner said. “There's lots of things we can do with that [data].” The USS Gerald Ford — the Navy's newest aircraft carrier and first in its class — was designed using digital data. The Navy's new Columbia-class nuclear submarines are being digitally designed as well. Parts for the future USS Enterprise (CVN 80) — the third Ford-class carrier — are being built digitally. Data from the ship's computerized blueprints are being fed into machines that fabricate parts. “We're seeing over 20 percent improvement in performance,” Miner said. When the Navy announced it would buy two aircraft carriers at the same time, something not done since the 1980s, James Geurts, the head Navy acquisition, said digital design would contribute to “about an 82 percent learning from CVN79 through to CVN 81” — the second through fourth Ford ships. Geurts called the savings “a pretty remarkable accomplishment for the team.” In the future, even more of that data will be pumped directly into the manufacturing robots that cut and weld more and more of a ship's steel parts. “That's the future,” Miner said. “No drawings. They get a tablet. They can visualize it. They can manipulate it, see what it looks like before they even build it.” As shipyard workers here give the George Washington a thorough working-over, they are using laser scanners to create digital blueprints of the ship. These digital blueprints are creating a more efficient workforce and reducing cutting as many as six months from a three-year overhaul, Miner said. The top of its massive island — where sailors drive the ship and control aircraft — has been sliced off. It will be rebuilt in the coming months with a new design that will give the crew a better view of the flight deck. The island already sports a new, sturdier mast that can hold larger antennas and sensors. Shipyard workers lowered it into place in early March. The yard is also combining its digital ship designs with augmented reality gear to allow its designers and production crews to virtually “walk through” the Ford class's spaces. This helped the yard figure out, for example, whether the ship's sections were designed efficiently for maintenance. In addition to robots, the additive manufacturing techniques, like 3D printing, could speed shipbuilding even more and reduce the Navy's need for carrying spare parts on ships. The Navy is testing a valve 3D-printed here. Right now, at a time when the Navy is planning to drastically expand its fleet size, shipyards like Newport News are expanding, but not yet to the levels of the Reagan military buildup of the 1980s. Despite the technology advantages, Miner said people still play essential roles in the manufacturing process. “It's really not about reducing our workforce as much it is about doing more with the workforce we have,” he said. “We're still going to hire people. We still have to ramp up. There's still hands-on things that are always going to have to be done. But it definitely helps us with cycle time to be able to build things quicker” and “enable our workforce to be more efficient.” https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2019/05/robots-and-lasers-are-bringing-shipbuilding-digital-age/156763/

U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND Insitu Inc., Bingen, Washington, was awarded a maximum $23,000,000 modification (P00019) for an existing non-competitive, single award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (H92222-16-D-0031) for Mid-Endurance Unmanned Aircraft Systems (MEUAS) 1.5B intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) services. The $23,000,000 increase to a ceiling of $273,000,000 prevents gaps in ISR services until all task orders are transitioned to the current competitive MEUAS III contracts. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $7,354,530 are available for obligation at the task order level. U.S. Special Operations Command Headquarters, Tampa, Florida, is the contracting activity. NAVY Valiant Global Defense Services Inc., San Diego, California, is awarded $15,913,990 for firm-fixed-price task order M67854-19-F-7884 under previously award contract M67854-19-D-7876 to provide support services for the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Training Support Service (MTSS), MAGTF Staff Training Program (MSTP). Services will include pre-deployment training programs to Marine Corps operating forces, as well as command, control, communications, and computer mobile training team training at the functional and executive level to commanders and battle staffs, and technical training for operators and information managers. Work will be performed in Quantico, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by November 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $5,380,849 will be obligated at the time of award and these funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This order was competitively awarded under a multiple award task order contract. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contract activity. Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded $7,514,515 for modification P00015 to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-fee contract (N0001918C1048) to establish organic depot component repair capabilities for the F-35 Lightning II Air Interceptor System in support of the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy. Work will be performed in Rochester, Kent, United Kingdom (81.6 percent); and Fort Worth, Texas (18.4 percent), and is expected to be completed in March 2023. Fiscal 2017 aircraft procurement (Air Force); and fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy, Marine Corp. and Air Force) funds in the amount of $7,514,515 are being obligated at time of award, $3,757,257 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchases for the Air Force ($3,757,257; 50 percent); Marine Corps ($1,878,629; 25 percent); and Navy ($1,878,629; 25 percent). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. ARMY A4 Construction Company Inc.,* Sandy, Utah, was awarded a $12,309,817 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a Special Operation Forces Human Performance Training Center. Bids were solicited via the internet with eight received. Work will be performed in Fort Carson, Colorado, with an estimated completion date of May 6, 2021. Fiscal 2019 military construction funds in the amount of $12,309,817 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, Nebraska, is the contracting activity (W9128F-19-C-0018). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Federal Prison Industries, Inc.,** doing business as UNICOR, Washington, District of Columbia, has been awarded a maximum $9,558,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for parkas. This is a one-year base contract with two one-year option periods. Locations of performance are Washington, District of Columbia; and Kentucky, with a May 2, 2020, performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2020 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-19-D-F024). *Small business **Mandatory source https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1836925/source/GovDelivery/

by John S. Van Oudenaren From a shortage of ships to munitions and carrier-based fighters which lack range, the U.S. Navy is ill-equipped to contend with a new era of great-power conflict. In the decades after the Cold War, the U.S. Navy absorbed sustained budget cuts resulting in large force reductions. The total size of the fleet dwindled from nearly 600 active ships in 1987 to around 285 today. During this period, naval planners focused their substantial, yet shrinking, budgetary resources on large, costly, high-end platforms such as aircraft carriers at the expense of smaller surface warfare combatants such as frigates. This approach perhaps suited the range of global expeditionary missions that the navy was called upon to support in the 1990s (e.g. Bosnia, Iraq, Kosovo), a time when the United States faced no proximate military competitors. However, its lack of platforms currently leaves the sea service in a parlous state as it faces intensifying major power competition from China and Russia. At a recent Center for the National Interest event, two leading authorities on naval strategy, operations and force structure, explained how the navy can take steps to create a more balanced force that will adequately prepare the fleet for a new era of great power naval competition. According to Milan Vego, Professor of Operations at the U.S. Naval War College, “lack of understanding of naval theory” makes it difficult for the navy to develop “sound doctrine”, and as a result, to determine force requirements. For example, Vego notes that the navy has an ingrained offensive mindset, which contributes to neglect of the defensive elements of naval combat such as mine warfare and protecting maritime trade. At the strategic level, this conditions a preoccupation with sea control (offensive), as opposed to sea denial (defensive). However, per Vego, it is not inconceivable, especially as capable competitors emerge, that the U.S. Navy might be put on the defensive and forced to shift its focus from sea control to sea denial. For example, if “Russia and China combined in the Western Pacific,” the U.S. Navy would probably be on the defensive, a position it has not occupied since the early days (1941–1942) of the Pacific War against Japan. The challenge is that the navy faces different, conceivable scenarios that could require it to implement sea control or sea denial strategies. This makes planning difficult, because, per Vego, “in thinking about what kind of ships you have, what number of ships you have is all based on whether you are going to conduct sea control or sea denial; what focus will be on protection of shipping versus attack on shipping.” Furthermore, the efficacy of naval strategic planning is hampered by “a lack of joint approach to warfare at sea” said Vego, citing a need for working with “the other services to help the navy carry out its missions.” A repeated issue raised by both panelists is the imbalance in naval force structure between large, highly capable surface combatants, and smaller, cheaper platforms. This is the result of a series of budgetary and planning choices made in the two decades following the Cold War's end. During this period, the “navy was satisfied to ride its Cold War inventory of ships and weapons down, always believing that it could turn the spigot back on in a crisis. It also believed that if it had limited dollars, it should strategically spend them on high-capability ships rather than maintaining the previous Cold War balance of small numbers of high-capability ships and a larger capacity of less capable ships” observed Jerry Hendrix, a retired U.S. Navy Captain and vice president with the Telemus Group, a national-security consultancy. With regards to surface warfare combatants, this approach fostered an emphasis on cruisers and destroyers, while frigates were eliminated entirely from the fleet. The drastic reduction in ship numbers is only part of the navy's current problem. According to Hendrix, the navy employs many of the same missiles (with the same ranges and lethality, albeit with improved targeting technology) that it has used for over three decades. Furthermore, Hendrix lamented that the retirement of longer-range carrier wing aircraft such as the F-14 Tomcat and S-3 Viking, has, since 1988, slashed the “average unrefueled range of the air wing . . . from 900 miles to just under 500 nautical miles.” The static range of the navy's standoff munitions and reduced carrier wing range is particularly detrimental in the current strategic context. China and Russia have, notes Hendrix, “invested in a new generation of anti-access, air-denial weapons that have sought to push the U.S. and its allies farther from their shores, establishing sea-control from land, and redefining territorial sovereignty over the seas.” This combined with the limited ability of U.S. munitions and aircraft to strike targets in potential adversaries' homelands, means that in the event of a naval conflict with China or Russia, the United States will face tremendous difficulty projecting conventional firepower ashore into the enemy's homeland. As a result, the navy could be forced to fight a bloody battle at sea in order to get within range of its enemies (the closest historical analogy would be World War II in the Pacific where the United States fought ferociously to acquire territory from which its long-range bombers could strike the Japanese homeland). China and Russia have been so successful at creating anti-access, area denial bubbles that it has forced the U.S. Navy to alter how it thinks about the nature of sea warfare. According to Hendrix, naval strategic thought has shifted from focusing on “power projection and sea control to an ephemeral concept called ‘distributed lethality,' which roughly equates to a long campaign of attrition at sea rather than short power projection campaigns that had characterized modern strategic planning.” A major issue in re-orienting the force around distributed lethality, which calls for dispersing combat firepower across a host of platforms, is the shortage of ships in the navy. As Vego observes, the current “battle force is unbalanced” lacking “less capable, less costly platforms.” Hendrix too, calls for a “series of investments” that re-establish a “high-low mix in our day-to-day force with an emphasis on the new frigate to [undertake the role] to preserve the peace presence, and submarines to provide penetrating, high-end power projection.” The current unbalanced force structure could put the navy at a disadvantage in a conflict with China or Russia. “The need for smaller ships is always shown in any major conflict. That does not change. If you have to protect maritime trade for example, you need smaller ships, you need frigates and corvettes,” said Vego. Unfortunately, he observed, due to the potentially, short, intense, contracted nature of modern naval warfare, the United States will probably lack the luxury, which it enjoyed in World War II, of having time to retool its industrial base to build up an armada of smaller combatants. In addition to building frigates again (Hendrix calls for upping the current U.S. inventory from zero to between fifty to seventy hulls) and scaling up submarine production, the navy should be investing in “unmanned aerial, surface, and subsurface platforms” that can enhance the range and accuracy of naval weaponry. Finally, the navy requires a new generation of weapons that have “increased range, speed and lethality” and to ensure that surface warfare ships are capable of mounting these platforms. In recent years, increasing the fleet to 355 ships has become something of a totemic target for American navalists, who argue that the failure to make the right investments will result in the diminution, or even, elimination, of American naval preeminence. While 355 ships is no panacea, a move in that direction stemming from an increase both in ship numbers, and from restoring a more balanced mix between high and lower end surface combatants across the fleet, would certainly constitute a move in the right direction. As leading proponents of American sea power, such as former Virginia congressman Randy Forbes, have emphasizedrepeatedly, the purpose of naval preeminence is not ultimately to wage war, but to ensure the free flow of trade and commerce, safeguard the rule of law across the maritime commons, and most critically, to preserve peace through strength. John S. Van Oudenaren is assistant director at the Center for the National Interest. Previously, he was a program officer at the Asia Society Policy Institute and a research assistant at the U.S. National Defense University. https://nationalinterest.org/feature/us-navy-unbalanced-its-time-fix-it-55447

Le 3 mai 2019 - Halifax (N.-É.) - Défense nationale/Forces armées canadiennes Un autre jalon important de la Stratégie nationale de construction navale a été franchi aujourd'hui lorsque l'honorable Harjit S. Sajjan, ministre de la Défense nationale, a participé à une cérémonie au Chantier naval de Irving soulignant le début de la construction du quatrième NPEA, le futur NCSM William Hall. Il s'agit du quatrième des six navires de ce genre à être construits au chantier naval de Halifax pour la Marine royale canadienne (MRC), conformément à la politique de défense du Canada Protection, Sécurité, Engagement. La sécurité dans l'Arctique est compliquée par la géographie et le climat rigoureux de la région. Cette nouvelle classe de navires a été spécialement conçue pour patrouiller dans les eaux canadiennes et les régions nordiques. La polyvalence de ces navires leur permettra aussi de naviguer à l'étranger et contribuer aux opérations internationales. La classe Harry DeWolf améliorera considérablement les capacités et la présence des FAC dans l'Arctique, ce qui permettra à la MRC de mieux affirmer sa souveraineté dans l'Arctique pour les années à venir. Depuis le début de la construction du premier NPEA en 2015, le projet a bien progressé. Le premier navire devrait se joindre à la flotte de la MRC cet été. Citations « Nous réalisons d'importants progrès sur les navires de patrouille extracôtiers et de l'Arctique alors que les travailleurs canadiens entreprennent la construction du quatrième navire, ici, à Halifax. Ces navires constitueront des atouts essentiels pour la MRC, car ils amélioreront notre capacité dans l'Arctique et contribueront grandement au succès futur de nos opérations dans les régions les plus isolées du Canada. Comme nous l'avons indiqué dans Protection, Sécurité, Engagement, notre gouvernement fournit de l'équipement moderne et polyvalent à nos femmes et à nos hommes en uniforme afin qu'ils puissent accomplir avec succès le travail que nous leur confions. » L'honorable Harjit S. Sajjan Ministre de la Défense nationale « La cérémonie d'aujourd'hui pour le quatrième navire de patrouille extracôtier et de l'Arctique du Canada marque un jalon important. Elle est un témoignage que la Stratégie nationale de construction navale revitalise notre industrie maritime, appuie l'innovation technologique canadienne, crée des emplois stables et génère des retombées économiques partout au Canada. Nous demeurons fermement engagés envers la Stratégie et continuerons de travailler en étroite collaboration avec nos partenaires de la construction navale afin d'en assurer le succès, maintenant et à l'avenir. » L'honorable Carla Qualtrough, Ministre des Services publics et de l'Approvisionnement et de l'Accessibilité « Je suis ravie de constater tous les progrès accomplis cette année sur les navires de patrouille extracôtiers et de l'Arctique, et j'ai h'te de voir le reste du projet progresser dans les années à venir. Gr'ce à ce partenariat avec Irving Shipbuilding, nous allons conserver plus de 4 000 emplois hautement qualifiés et créer des occasions ici, à Halifax, et partout en Nouvelle-Écosse. » L'honorable Bernadette Jordan, Ministre du Développement économique rural Faits en bref Le projet des NPEA s'inscrit dans le cadre du regain d'intérêt du Canada pour la surveillance du territoire, en particulier dans les régions arctiques. À mesure que la dynamique de la sécurité dans l'Arctique évolue, en raison de facteurs tels que les changements climatiques, nous continuerons de travailler à sécuriser nos approches aériennes et maritimes dans le Nord, en coordination avec nos alliés et nos partenaires. William Hall a reçu la Croix de Victoria en 1859 pour son héroïsme et le soutien qu'il a apporté à l'Armée britannique lors de la libération de Lucknow (1857). Fils d'esclaves afro-américains affranchis vivant en Nouvelle-Écosse, il est la première personne noire, le premier Néo-Écossais et le troisième Canadien à avoir reçu cet honneur. Quatre NPEA sont actuellement en production, et la construction du cinquième navire devrait débuter plus tard en 2019. Le quatrième NPEA devrait rejoindre la flotte de la MRC en 2022. Les NPEA sont des plates-formes très polyvalentes qui peuvent être utilisées dans le cadre de diverses missions au pays et à l'étranger, comme la surveillance côtière, la recherche et le sauvetage, l'interception des drogues, le soutien aux partenaires internationaux, l'aide humanitaire et les secours en cas de catastrophe. Les travaux se poursuivent pour achever l'installation navale de Nanisivik, qui appuiera les opérations des nouveaux navires de patrouille extracôtiers et de l'Arctique et d'autres navires maritimes du gouvernement. Cette nouvelle installation devrait être terminée plus tard cette année. Liens connexes Protection, Sécurité, Engagement Navires de patrouille extracôtiers et de l'Arctique William Hall Stratégie nationale de construction navale Personnes-ressources Todd Lane Attaché de presse Cabinet du ministre de la Défense nationale Tél. : 613-996-3100 Relations avec les médias Ministère de la Défense nationale Tél. : 613-996-2353 Courriel : mlo-blm@forces.gc.ca https://www.canada.ca/fr/ministere-defense-nationale/nouvelles/2019/05/le-ministre-sajjan-marque-le-debut-de-la-construction-du-quatrieme-navire-de-patrouille-extracotier-et-de-larctique.html