Nouvelles

By: Grant Turnbull Senior British army officers have signaled their intent to accelerate the fielding of several unmanned — and increasingly autonomous systems — following successful army trials at the end of 2018, but much like other forces around the world the United Kingdom faces challenges from how to modify archaic acquisition processes, to overcoming technical issues. In December, the British army concluded its landmark experimentation exercise known as Autonomous Warrior, in which the service evaluated more than 50 unmanned systems from industry over a month-long period in the south of England. The exercise, which put the robotic systems through grueling trials in muddy fields and a purpose-built facility for urban fighting, was the first attempt by the British army, as well as industry, to determine how the technology will work in a combat environment. Much like other forces around the world, the service hopes to use robots to carry out the dangerous, and often tedious, elements of combat. Over 200 troops — made up of infantry, marines, engineers, airmen as well as U.S. Army personnel — were equipped with a variety of robotic and autonomous systems with the aim of improving areas such as combat mass, soldier lethality and overall information gathering. For example, in one scenario, soldiers used robotic engineering vehicles to clear an obstacle, while a small quadcopter flew overhead to provide infrared imagery before armored infantry rolled in to take an enemy position. Robotic systems with varying levels of autonomy were a key part of the exercise, ranging from radar-equipped drones for detecting buried IEDs, to small two-wheeled robots that are thrown into buildings to search for enemy fighters. The head of the British army, Gen. Mark Carleton-Smith, has directed the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to speed up the fielding of technology used during the exercise. “His direction to me is very clear,” said Maj. Gen. Chris Tickell, director of capability for the British army. “He wants to see some of this kit in the hands of the field army in 12 to 18 months. “Success or failure will absolutely hinge on what happens after the experiment,” he added. “And that is about the exploitation and proving to industry that we are as good as our word and we are going to take some of these ideas and put them into the hands of the user.” For Tickell, an equipment budget of £22 billion ($28 billion) over the next decade will allow the MoD to purchase new unmanned technologies, but the “trick is to turn the ideas that you see here into tangible capability.” This may require the MoD “to adjust and even devise new acquisition processes to enable rapid acquisition”, said Trevor Taylor, an expert in defense acquisition at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank. “How will requirements, business cases, competitive tendering or ‘partnering,' testing and safety cases be addressed?” A related challenge continues to be the British army's lack of experience using unmanned and autonomous systems, with commanders using the Autonomous Warrior exercise to better understand capability enhancements as well as the inevitable shortfalls. The officer responsible for coordinating the exercise, Lt Col Nick Serle, told C4ISRNET that while the British army has worked with industry on new technologies it had not previously focused on robots and autonomous systems. “That's why this year we decided to spend a month on Salisbury Plain just focusing on robotics and autonomous systems,” Serle said. He also commands the British army's experimentation unit, known as the Infantry Trials and Development Unit. “This is a real opportunity to bring stuff into the field and really see if it does what industry thinks it's going to do, but also to see if military users will use it the way [industry] thinks they will use it,” Serle said. “There's no one single piece of kit that will solve all our problems, it's a combination of something in the air such as a surveillance asset, something on the ground, perhaps with a weapon on it or just doing logistics, but then it all links through an information system where you can pass that data and make better decisions to generate tempo.” An issue highlighted by Serle was an increasingly crowded radiofrequency spectrum, especially as several unmanned systems jostle for space to beam back high-resolution data from onboard sensors. “The problem is when they start cutting each other out, we are dealing with physics here, if we want to have great high definition video passing across the battlefield we need to trade somewhere else.” Taylor noted that not only will there be a need to ensure that the control systems do not interfere with each other, but also that army leaders “will have to be convinced that new systems are not simply too vulnerable to jamming and other disruptive techniques by an adversary.” A promising development from the exercise is the ability to optionally man a standard vehicle using applique kits that can be fitted within a few hours. Several examples were on display when we visited the exercise in December, including a remote-controlled Warrior infantry fighting vehicle and a lightweight MRZR tactical vehicle. As part of the experimentation, troops used the vehicles in unintended ways. One U.S. Army soldier noting that the MRZR had been a helpful surveillance tool because of its onboard camera. Squads were also keen to use the UGVs to help in entering buildings and also as modern-day pack horses to carry supplies or people. “What we have found is that when troops are using these [UGVs], naturally they just want to jump on the vehicle because it goes faster than they can, and you can move groups very quickly on them,” Serle said. He added that for safety reasons the soldiers were not allowed to hop on board during the exercise. “Optionally manned is good, but whether it needs to be optionally manned with a steering wheel and a seat I don't know, I think you could do it more like a Segway. But there's no doubt people want to get on them.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/robotics/2019/01/11/why-the-british-army-tested-robots-in-muddy-fields/

By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — Textron's acquisition of robotics firm Howe & Howe Technologies stemmed from a late night channel surfing session, where a fortuitous viewing of “Jay Leno's Garage” turned into a big business deal. As its CEO Lisa Atherton watched the show at home with her husband, Howe & Howe's light tank drone wheeled across the screen. Textron had recently identified a gap in unmanned land vehicles, and this seemed to fit exactly the niche that the company was looking to fill. “I saw this tracked vehicle kind of flying through the woods and up and over the berms, and so I went and did a little research," Atherton told reporters on Jan. 10. Textron declared in October that it intended to purchase the Waterboro, Maine-based company. On Dec. 17, the deal was finalized, the company announced Thursday morning. The businesses have not disclosed the price or terms of the sale. Textron executives believe Howe & Howe, which specializes in innovative robotic ground vehicles, is a natural fit for their company, which is known for building unmanned systems — predominantly drones like the RQ-9 Shadow and maritime assets like the common unmanned surface vehicle that can deploy from a littoral combat ship to find mines. Meanwhile, Textron brings with it the ability to manufacture unmanned systems en masse and to support them in the field. Howe & Howe's senior vice president, Michael Howe, said his company's inventiveness, coupled with Textron's experience selling unmanned systems to the government, “makes for an extremely formidable combination.” Atherton said she is looking forward to getting Howe & Howe the investment dollars necessary to start work on new products and make existing ones more robust. “Mike and Geoff [Howe, the company's other founder] both have a ton of great ideas," she said. "They have ideas that they've sketched out in their books forever that they just haven't had the opportunity to do the investment for.” Several of Howe & Howe's robotic land vehicles have been evaluated by the U.S. Army. Its Ripsaw vehicle — the small unmanned tank seen on “Jay Leno's Garage” — has undergone testing at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey. But when sequestration slowed down funding of tests, the Howe brothers looked for other venues to promote it, landing the product a role in the 2015 classic “Mad Max: Fury Road.” “That speaks to their ingenuity, their ability to survive through sequestration as a small company,” Atherton said. Howe & Howe's RS2-H1 robot, invented to carry soldiers' gear, is competing against three other unmanned land vehicles for the Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport program contract. Two Army infantry brigade combat teams and an undisclosed Marine unit are currently assessing the four contenders ahead of a downselect, Army Times reported last year. Atherton named that opportunity as one of the four big programs she's hoping Textron can win in 2019. Updated on 1/10/19 at 1:10 p.m with quotes from Textron CEO Lisa Atherton. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2019/01/10/textron-finalizes-acquisition-of-robotics-company

By: Todd South In the last year, the Army has embarked on several major modernization goals, creating cross-functional teams for major priorities and the new four-star Army Futures Command, the first such effort in decades. Bruce Jette has served as the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, and during that time he helped shepherd the Army's efforts to modernize following almost two decades of war. On Thursday, Jette sat down with reporters at a Defense Writers Group meeting to discuss the Army's ongoing modernization work. Your office now coordinates with the recently created Army Futures Command and the cross-functional teams. What is a concrete example of how work in priority areas has changed with the addition of these new organizations? I'll give you a prime example. In the past, we looked at air defense as systems. The way you do air defense [is], okay, I've got this altitude, that altitude and that altitude. I need a system that works at those altitudes. Okay, you told me to develop and build a system that can deal with a threat at this altitude, that altitude or another altitude. They were standalone concepts. The integration of them in a battlespace was purely done at the operator level. So, when I deliver a system under that methodology, I give you the Patriot battery. [It] stands alone, all you've got to do is put fuel in the thing, a couple of soldiers, and the thing works. So, we've taken a look at the overall threat environment. The threat environment has become more complicated. It's not just tactical ballistic missiles or jets or helicopters. Now we've got UAVs, we've got swarms, we've got cruise missiles, we've got rockets, artillery, mortar. I've got to find a way to integrate all of this. So, using the cross-functional teams, the technical side has come back and said, “Listen, normally if you want to deal with some of the inbounds that are not missiles, things like rockets, artillery and mortars, the radars that come with the Patriot battery are not the same radars you need to see RAM. Oh, by the way, we were working on this thing for the air defense that's called Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System, delivering next December, systems that are deployable.” So, I don't deliver you a Patriot battery anymore — I deliver you missile systems; I deliver you radars; I deliver you a command-and-control architecture. They all integrate, and any of the C2 components can fire any of the sets, leverage any of the sensor systems to employ an effector against any of the threats. This has positioned us to put artificial intelligence in the backside to optimize against the threat that we see in the aggregate. What role does artificial intelligence play in the work that your office is doing, especially in Army technology? AI is critically important. You'll hear a theme inside of ASA(ALT), “Time is a weapon.” Undersecretary [of the Army] Ryan McCarthy has been active in positioning for being able to pick up on some of these critical new technology areas. AFC has responsibility to focus on AI for requirements and research. We've established a center at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for AI, and AFC has established a uniformed person and he's trying to put his arms around AI in an operational context and what has to go into the background. Meantime, the undersecretary and I and ASA(ALT) are going to be establishing for the Army a managerial approach to this. We're trying to structure an AI architecture that will become enduring and will facilitate our ability to allocate resources and conduct research and implementation of those AI capabilities throughout the force. There are AI efforts ongoing, it's just that we need to organize for combat, so to speak. So, here's one issue that we're going to run into. People get worried about whether a weapons system has AI controlling the weapon. And there are some constraints about what we're allowed to do with AI. Here's your problem: If I can't get AI involved with being able to properly manage weapons systems and firing sequences, then in the long run I lose the time window. An example is let's say you fire a bunch of artillery at me, and I need to fire at them, and you require a man in the loop for every one of those shots. There's not enough men to put in the loop to get them done fast enough. So, there's no way to counter those types of shots. So how do we put AI hardware and architecture but do proper policy? Those are some of the wrestling matches we're dealing with right now. Last year your office moved from an annual program review process to adding in monthly meetings to evaluate program progress. What's been the result of this change? Much less pain. We have System Acquisition Review reporting. We report to Congress on our Major Defense Acquisition Programs every year, and we have to tell them how it's going. At each level, we have certification requirements. In that process of doing those reports, we do these program reviews. I do basically a mini SAR review every six weeks with the entire Army staff senior leadership, with the secretary and chief present. If you figure out what's important and make a way to put metrics and reporting processes together, it makes it so much less painful. We report regularly, we report often, we report any change. If any change occurs that I need [the Army secretary] to know about, if it's a significant one, he gets an email that day, then an information paper comes to follow up, and then we'll update him at the next briefing. And then if it's an issue that's an ongoing one, then we go ahead and ensure things are done. In some cases, he gets in the plane and has flown up to meet with the CEO of the company. The [Army] secretary is very much about making us much more accessible to industry. Dinner every Monday night with a CEO of a company has been everything from a big defense contracting company to a second- or third-tier supplier. To know what did we do that we could do better, and what did we not ask for that we should be asking for? This much deeper involvement is making it much easier to keep on track. How are new approaches, such as ‘racking and stacking' groups of Army acquisitions and programs, being evaluated by senior leadership? We began something we call the deep dives. Funding is broken up into Program Element Groups, or PEGs, or groupings. Procurement is one of the PEGs. Money comes with different constraints on what we can and can't use it for. To manage those priorities and comply with the law, we have these PEGs. All procurement-style money gets managed through the equipping PEG. Last year, the secretary and the chief and I sat and went through every single program and said, “why are we doing this?” Because the truth of the matter is programs have momentum. So, why are we doing that? Because we did it last year. Do we need it? Is it the most important thing? Should we reallocate that funding against something else? We did this through all of the PEGs and prioritized all of the funding allocations for the Army. It was a very deliberate process we went through last year for the secretary and the chief to go through those things and prioritize where does the Army's operational effectiveness come from and are we properly funding and how much of that is just because of momentum and what should we do about it? We did that and a series of deep dive follow ups through the year. None of that stuff's been announced, and I'm not going to be the one to do it. That's the secretary's prerogative. He's got to go over and talk with Congress, tell them why we're doing things and sort through those pieces before he starts putting out details of what got cut and what got skinnied down or what got plussed up. https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2019/01/10/heres-how-the-army-acquisition-chief-plans-to-equip-soldiers-for-the-next-war

ARMY Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Linthicum Heights, Maryland, was awarded an $86,200,000 hybrid cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price contract for Starlite system support. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2023. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W56KGY-19-D-0002). Torch Technologies Inc., Huntsville, Alabama, was awarded a $9,102,000 modification (000044) to contract W31P4Q-09-A-0021 for strategic systems engineering, integration, test and analysis. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 6, 2019. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $9,102,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. U.S. TRANSPORTATION COMMAND Fourteen companies have been awarded Option Year 1 modifications under the following Category A III, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, fixed-price contracts: ABX Air Inc., Wilmington, Ohio (HTC711-18-D-C002); American Airlines, Fort Worth, Texas (HTC711-18-D-C003); Air Transportation International, Irving, Texas (HTC711-18-D-C004); Atlas Air of Purchase (HTC711-18-D-C005); Delta Air Lines Inc., Atlanta, Georgia (HTC711-18-D-C006); FedEx, Washington, D.C. (HTC711-18-D-C007); Hawaiian Airlines Inc., Honolulu, Hawaii (HTC711-18-D-C008); JetBlue Airways, Long Island City, New York (HTC711-18-D-C009); Miami Air International, Miami, Florida (HTC711-18-D-C010); National Air Cargo Inc., Orlando, Florida (HTC711-18-D-C011); Polar Air Cargo Worldwide Inc., Purchase, New York (HTC711-18-D-C012); United Parcel Service Co., Louisville, Kentucky (HTC711-18-D-C013); USA Jet Airlines, Belleville, Michigan (HTC711-18-D-C014); and Western Global Airlines, Estero, Florida (HTC711-18-D-C015). The companies are eligible to compete at the task order level for an option year estimated amount of $41,441,067. The program's cumulative value increased from $41,441,067 to $82,882,134 (estimated). This modification provides international commercial scheduled air cargo transportation services. Services encompass time-definite, door-to-door pick-up and delivery, transportation, in-transit visibility, government-approved third party payment system participation, and expedited customs processing and clearance of less than full planeloads for the movement of regular and recurring hazardous, refrigerated/cold chain (perishable), life and death, narcotics, and other regular recurring cargo shipments. Work will be performed world-wide. Option Year 1 period of performance is Feb. 1, 2019, to Jan. 31, 2020. U.S. Transportation Command, Directorate of Acquisition, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity. MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY Lockheed Martin Overseas LLC, Moorestown, New Jersey, is being awarded a $23,023,786 sole-source, fixed-price incentive and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00020) under contract HQ0276-16-C-0001, inclusive of all options. The total cumulative face value of the contract will increase from $53,809,908 to $76,833,694. Under Contract Line Item Numbers (CLIN) 0001, 0101, 0102, 0103, and 0105, the contractor will provide Poland Aegis Ashore Engineering Agent (AAEA) engineering and security support, AAEA test and site updates, risk mitigation support, and continued completion effort for the Aegis Ashore Poland site. The work will be performed in Redzikowo, Poland, with an expected completion date of December 2020. Fiscal 2018 defense-wide procurement funds in the amount of $17,637,800 are being obligated at the time of award. The Missile Defense Agency, Dahlgren, Virginia, is the contracting activity. NAVY MA Federal Inc.,* doing business as iGov, Reston, Virginia, is awarded a $22,238,503 firm-fixed-price task order from a previously awarded contract for the purchase of Small Form Factor suite production, acquisition, engineering management support, logistics, and sustainment support services. Work will be performed in Tampa, Florida (80 percent); and Herndon, Virginia (20 percent), and is expected to be completed by January 2024. Fiscal 2018 procurement (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $15,971,649; and fiscal 2019 procurement (Marine Corps) in the amount of $6,266,854 will be obligated at task order award and no funds will expire the end of the current fiscal year. This task order was competitively procured via the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement, with three offers received. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M67854-19-F-2025.) Kapili Services LLC,* Orlando, Florida, is awarded a ceiling $21,966,450 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide program manager training systems delta contract support. The ordering period is five years. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida (95 percent); and the remaining performed worldwide in various places (5 percent), and work is expected to be completed by Jan. 9, 2024. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $2,145,638 will be obligated on the first task order immediately following contract award and funds will expire the end of the current fiscal year. Fiscal 2018 research, development, test and evaluation (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $154,560 will be obligated on the first task order immediately following contract award and funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-5 and 15 U.S. Code 637. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contract activity (M67854-19-D-7815). AAI Corp. Hunt Valley, Maryland, is awarded a $10,839,582 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-only, firm-fixed-price modification to previously awarded contract N00024-14-C-6322 to exercise options for engineering and technical services for the Unmanned Influence Sweep System (UISS) unmanned surface vehicle platform. The UISS is one of the systems, which will allow the littoral combat ship to perform its mine warfare sweep mission. UISS will target acoustic, magnetic, and magnetic/acoustic combination mine types only. The UISS program will satisfy the Navy's need for a rapid, wide-area coverage mine clearance capability, required to neutralize magnetic/acoustic influence mines. UISS seeks to provide a high area coverage rate in a small, lightweight package with minimal impact on the host platform. Work will be performed in Hunt Valley, Maryland (70 percent); and Slidell, Louisiana (30 percent), and is expected to be complete by September 2019. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $10,839,582 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. AIR FORCE The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, California, has been awarded a $22,000,000 modification (P00006) to contract FA8802-19-C-0001 for federally funded research and development centers. Work will be performed in El Segundo, California, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2019. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $1,073,818,540. Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, El Segundo, California, is the contracting activity. Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a $21,000,000 modification (P00004) to the ceiling amount of the previously-awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (FA8675-15-D-0135) for advanced medium range air-to-air missile system improvement program software architecture and design risk reduction efforts to counter evolving threats. This modification provides an increase in the maximum ordering amount of the contract, from $50,000,000 to $71,000,000, to facilitate new task orders. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona. All orders under this contract will be placed on or before Sept. 30, 2019 with a period of performance not to exceed Sept. 30, 2022. No additional funds are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity. SRC Inc., North Syracuse, New York, has been awarded a $13,531,249 modification (P0007) to exercise an option on contract FA7037-17-D-0001 for the sensor beam program. Contractor will research, analyze, technically document, and perform reviews on electromagnetic systems, events and signatures required by the all services and other U.S. agencies. Work will be performed at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, and is expected to be completed by Jan. 31, 2020. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. Acquisition Management and Integration Center-Detachment 2, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1729037/source/GovDelivery/

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

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

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

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

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