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  • A delicate balancing act: The US government must juggle a pandemic and the FY21 budget

    14 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    A delicate balancing act: The US government must juggle a pandemic and the FY21 budget

    By: Robert DuPree For the past few months, the U.S. federal government has been, quite understandably, totally focused on addressing the enormous health care and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. These efforts will necessarily continue to be front and center in the weeks and even months ahead, no matter how rapidly the curve flattens or declines, as different sectors and regions reopen. But to move the country forward, Congress must prepare to do its regular business for the year, which largely means tackling appropriations bills. Congressional staff have reportedly been doing the prep work to get spending bills ready for whenever the House and Senate can safely convene to work on them (or to do much of this work remotely). The American people — including federal contractors large and small, and our employees — are relying on Congress to check its partisan impulses and figure out how to do two things at once in the coming months: Continue to combat the COVID-19 crisis, and develop fiscal 2021 funding bills for all federal departments and agencies to meet our nation's needs. Unfortunately, there are some who are already taking a simplistic view, saying Congress will be so busy dealing with the pandemic that it will have to just give up and pass a continuing resolution to fund the government beyond the election into next year or even for a full year. On the contrary, the pandemic is exactly why Congress should be doing its work and completing updated appropriations bills on time. First of all, in these extraordinary times, the country doesn't need appropriations bills which merely extend the decisions made on spending last December, when Congress finally completed action (over two months late) on FY20 appropriations bills. The COVID-19 pandemic was just a blip on the horizon at that time. For FY21, the country needs updated spending legislation that more accurately reflects the greatly changed world we now face. Moreover, departments and agencies also need the flexibility to enter into new contracts to meet new needs, which is generally prohibited unless expressly provided under a continuing resolution. Further, Congress and the administration must come to grips with the elephant in the room — the strict annual spending caps imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011, as amended. To mix metaphors, this law is no longer just an elephant, it's an emperor who has no clothes. Congress has modified the BCA's statutory spending caps a number of times over the past decade (thus, the above caveat “as amended”). Now we're about to face the final year of the law's spending caps, and what do we find? The caps are a joke. The caps were meant to limit discretionary spending each year, but Congress has repeatedly found ways around them. This has usually been done in one of two ways. The first is by including some amount of normal baseline defense spending under the category of overseas contingency operations, or OCO, which is “wartime” funding; this occurs even when unrelated to America's overseas/wartime military efforts. OCO spending is exempt from the BCA caps, so funding part of the base Defense Department budget this way enables the law's defense-spending cap to be technically met while also understating the Pentagon's non-wartime expenditures. The second way is by designating certain spending as “emergency” expenditures. Yes, these are almost always for valid, unforeseen emergencies, but it is still spending that would otherwise exceed the discretionary caps. Only Congress can wave a wand and say: “No, it doesn't exceed the cap — it's for an emergency.” To be honest, the caps painted an unrealistic picture of efforts to control federal spending anyway. By only being applied to discretionary spending, exempting massive entitlement expenditures and interest on the debt, the caps presented a partial picture of true federal-spending restraint to begin with. And now the COVID-19 crisis has resulted in multiple legislative packages being enacted, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates could add over $2.7 trillion to the current year's deficit. But because they are loans or designated as “emergency” spending, they don't violate the caps. They just add to the deficit. In reality, true federal spending has soared far past the stable level of spending that the caps were purported to achieve when the BCA was first enacted. Yet, the caps are still in place for next year, which will impact the congressional appropriations process by either preventing the spending needed to address current needs, or leading to further contortionist efforts by legislators to circumvent the caps. So let's quit pretending. Congress and the administration should agree to repeal the final year of the caps as part of the next COVID-19 legislative package so appropriators can be upfront about the spending needed without having to hide so much of that spending behind the “emergency spending” loophole. Be transparent, and admit the country is, like during World War II, spending a whole lot more than anticipated to meet the crisis. And most of all, get the job done by acting in a bipartisan fashion to pass appropriations bills by Oct. 1, 2020, that accurately reflect our real needs and expenditures. Admittedly, that may not be easy to do in an election year, but the nation and the federal contracting community are depending on Congress to be able to manage the COVID-19 crisis response, while simultaneously conducting its regular business. Robert DuPree is manager of government affairs at Telos Corporation. He focuses on political developments in Congress and the executive branch, including the federal budget, appropriations process, national defense and cybersecurity. He previously served as legislative director for a senior member of the U.S. House of Representatives. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/05/13/a-delicate-balancing-act-the-us-government-must-juggle-a-pandemic-and-the-fy21-budget/

  • The Army network plan to ‘compete everything’

    14 mai 2020 | International, C4ISR

    The Army network plan to ‘compete everything’

    Andrew Eversden The Army recently conducted a critical design review for technologies it plans to deploy for Capability Set '21, one of the first pieces of its battlefield network modernization. In the review, the Army tested various elements of Cap Set '21, such as tactical radios and satellite terminals. Now, the service is making a series of capability trade offs — assessing affordability, technical maturity and density across formation. For example, the Army is weighing trade-offs between how many of its two-channel Leader radios and more affordable single channel radios will ultimately end up in an infantry brigade. Col. Garth Winterle, project manager for tactical radios at the Army's Program Executive Officer for Command Control Communication - Tactical, and Lt. Col. Brandon Baer, program manager for helicopter and multi-mission radios (HAMMR), talked with C4ISRNET about the decisions made during the critical design review and what these choices mean for the next batch of equipment known as Capability Set '23. This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity. C4ISRNET: What decisions were made during the critical design review (CDR)? COL. GARTH WINTERLE: We went from a 100 percent classified network, hard to get people security clearances, very expensive, NSA-certification required for everything as part of the network architecture, to 75 percent secure but [with an] unclassified architecture at battalion and below. That really adds a lot of flexibility — not only in the addition of affordable commercial technologies that really add capability rapidly because that shaves about 24 months off potential fielding timeline if you don't have to go to NSA — but it keeps a very strong encryption using some of the same algorithms you use for NSA certified radios. It's secure. It's not unsafe. While it's unclassified, it's still very well encrypted. It's just a different way of doing business. So it really opens the door for a lot of different things. Plus, it really improves the ability to share data with coalition and multinational partners, who are also operating at that security level. C4ISRNET: Can you explain the Terrestrial Transmission Line of Sight (TRILOS) radio and the capability trade off you made? WINTERLE: The quantities were adjusted in order to afford more flexible, more expedient and pretty much more affordable options at the brigade level and below. There's a system called TRILOS. Think of a big dish on a portable tower. If you can line it up with another big dish on a portable tower over pretty long distances, you can get very high data throughput very quickly ... It's purpose is to connect large command nodes together and enable them to share data much, much better. So one of the things we looked at as part of the CDR, and we experimented with, is a new smaller expeditionary version. I talked about a giant dish on a portable tower. We went to the company we worked with called Silvus. They have a smaller, little four antenna radio, it's about the size of your home WiFi router [and] does the same thing in slightly less bandwidth. It's not as capable, but it performs that same function. And it's much, much lighter, much easier to pack out and we're actually putting those under quadcopters, like a drone, that are tethered [so] they operate off a line. So you can raise that up in the air and hold that radio up in the air and get really good range to connect two of those radios together to share data. By trading out one system of those large dishes on the tower, we're able to buy a significant quantity of the smaller systems. TRILOS, those dishes on towers, still remain in the architecture. But just by reducing the quantity marginally, we're able to really add a much more expeditionary much, much lighter, easier to set up. And we can buy it in larger quantities to increase the quantity out in the architecture to increase that capability. C4ISRNET: Can you describe how the Army intends to procure some of the Integrated Tactical Network components? WINTERLE: The intent is to compete everything. Single channel radios are a prime example. We're getting ready to invite vendors that have conforming radios to an industry day to basically have a radio run off. [We want them to] provide us enough radios so we can get them integrated and start assessing them against each other and against the current offering from the vendor that actually went through the experiment. It's going to be a fully competitive action. It is important to note though that I can't just go out and buy a new radio and, boom, I can field it. There is an amount of time where we are going to have to procure a limited quantity of the systems that went through the experiment until I can get those other radios through enough lab-based experimentation and integration, so that I know they work on the network. So even though they might be very similar [to] what we experimented with, there will be a delay so I can actually start fielding those to operational units. But [our] intent is to start that as soon as possible as part of the procurement fielding next year — this competitive run off of single channel radios. Anywhere else where there was a stand-in capability where we know from market research that there's other vendors, we'll perform the same sort of competitive actions. C4ISRNET: What are some of the lessons learned from Capability Set '21 that can be applied to Capability Set '23? WINTERLE: We're going to have a design review every year. The year prior to the preliminary design review, which is the year we're in right now for Cap Set '23, focuses on small-scale experimentation and a kind of assessment of ‘what are those technologies that going to compete to be added to the architecture as part of the preliminary design review' in April of next year. So we picked April. We just did this CDR in April. So the preliminary design review for Cap Set '23 is next April. We've partnered with the network cross functional team to help conduct research and development funded activities of certain key technology that they want to see added to the architecture in Cap Set '23. C4ISRNET: How has the Army's capability set testing structure been suited for COVID-19? LT. COL. BRANDON BAER: Traditionally, we do a large operational type test, where our approach has been lab-based testing, [cyber]-based testing, and then doing what we're calling soldier touchpoints. They're smaller experiments, but we're doing more of them. It gives us an opportunity to capture data, soldier feedback at different points of time. We call it developmental operations or DevOps. We can go back and tweak the stuff, fix any problems, get it back out there and continue to collect feedback. But I think it's extremely important due to current conditions with COVID-19, and everything else. Because everything has kind of gone into a large pause. And if we would have had a large pause during operational tests, it could be six months or a year before we have another opportunity to do that, where when you're doing multiple events ... we're capturing data at different times and different soldier feedback, you're not reliant upon one event. As we move forward, I see continuous benefits through that. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/c2-comms/2020/05/13/the-army-network-plan-to-compete-everything/

  • Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - May 13, 2020

    14 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - May 13, 2020

    NAVY The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded a $1,971,754,089 firm-fixed-price contract to provide non-recurring engineering associated with the Stand-off Land Attack Missile – Expanded Response (SLAM ER) obsolescence redesign effort as well as the production and delivery of 650 SLAM ER missiles in support of the government of Saudi Arabia. Work will be performed at St. Louis, Missouri (47%); Indianapolis, Indiana (37%); Pontiac, Michigan (9%); Melbourne, Florida (3%); Middletown, Connecticut (2%); and Black Mountain, North Carolina (2%). Work is expected to be complete by December 2028. Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $1,971,754,089 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-4. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-20-C-0003). The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded a $656,981,421 modification (P00014) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-19-C-0016). This modification procures and delivers 467 Harpoon full rate production Lot 91 Block II missiles and support equipment for various Foreign Military Sales customers. Work will be performed at St. Louis, Missouri (30%); McKinney, Texas (28%); Toledo, Ohio (6%); Grove, Oklahoma (5%); Pontiac, Michigan (4%); Putnam, Connecticut (2%); Galena, Kansas (2%); Burnley, United Kingdom (2%); Lititz, Pennsylvania (1%); Minneapolis, Minnesota (1%); and various locations within the continental U.S. (19%). This modification procures four Block II missiles and support equipment for the government of Brazil, eight Block II missiles and support equipment for the government of Thailand, 53 Block II missiles and support equipment for the government of Qatar, 402 Block II missiles and support equipment for the government of Saudi Arabia, and support equipment for the governments of Japan, the Netherlands, India and Korea. Work is expected to be complete by December 2026. Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $656,981,421 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. Strategic Airborne Operations JV LLC,* Newport News, Virginia, is awarded a $146,834,175 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract acquires the High Endurance Electronic Warfare Jet (HEEWJ) capability. Work will be performed in Cherry Point, North Carolina (5%); and various locations within and outside the continental U.S. (95%) to be determined on individual orders. The HEEWJ capability is an offensive air support for training that provides regionally based, geographically distributed aviation with a variety of airborne threat simulation capabilities to train shipboard and aircraft weapon systems operators and aircrew to counter enemy electronic warfare and electronic attack operations in today's electronic combat environment in support of Department of the Navy, other Department of Defense (DOD) agencies, non-DOD government agencies and Foreign Military Sales customers. Work is expected to be completed in May 2024. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal, and two offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-20-D-0108). Q.E.D. Systems Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia, is awarded a $16,205,606 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-15-C-4400 for specification development and execution/procurement support services in support of Chief of Naval Operations availabilities, continuous maintenance availabilities (CMAVs), inactivation CMAVs, sustainment availabilities, phased modernization availabilities, re-commissioning availabilities, continuous maintenance and emergent maintenance window of opportunity for Navy surface combatant ship classes (CG 47/DDG 51). Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia (53%); San Diego, California (36%); and Everett, Washington (11%). Work is expected to be complete by October 2020. No funding will be obligated at time of award. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. BAE Systems, Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc., Greenlawn, New York, is awarded a $14,465,881 modification (P00010) to previously awarded, firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract N00019-17-D-0006. This modification adds the requirement to procure 46 AN/UPX-41(C) digital interrogators and 10 Mode 5 change kits for the Navy, Coast Guard, the government of Japan and various countries under the Foreign Military Sales program. Work will be performed in Greenlawn, New York (80%); Austin, Texas (10%); and Manassas, Virginia (10%), and is expected to be complete by May 2023. No funds are being obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. CACI Enterprise Solutions Inc., Chantilly, Virginia, is awarded a $13,904,377 cost-plus-fixed-fee task order modification in the four option years of the integrated business systems support services contract (N32205-19-F-1044 and P00008). Information technology services in this contract assist Military Sealift Command's business systems and ashore operations branch to manage, operate and maintain the command's business systems, as well as interfaces with the Navy Enterprise Defense Business Systems. Work under this modification will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia, and is expected to be complete by December 2023. This modification includes the remaining portion (eight months) of Option Year One as well as three 12-month options. If exercised, the cumulative value of this modification will be $13,598,409. The task order was competitively procured with proposals and four offers were received. The Naval Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a Lockheed Martin Co., Stratford, Connecticut, is awarded an $8,954,062 modification (P00091) to previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract N00019-14-C-0050. This modification provides support for the integration and transition of Windows 10 and Server 16 into various VH-92A training devices. Work will be performed in Quantico, Virginia, and is expected to be complete by October 2022. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $4,667,720 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. ARMY Northrop Grumman, McLean, Virginia, was awarded a $176,471,668 modification (P00056) to contract W58RGZ-17-C-0014 to support Army special electronic mission aircraft fixed-wing life cycle services. Work will be performed in McLean, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2020. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $176,471,668 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. DynCorp International LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $167,556,981 modification (P00057) to contract W58RGZ-17-C-0011 for support services for government-owned fixed-wing fleets performing transport aircraft missions. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, with an estimated completion date of May 31, 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $167,556,981 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Kiewit Infrastructure South Co., Sunrise, Florida, was awarded a $7,759,000 firm-fixed-price contract for Everglades restoration. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Miami-Dade, Florida, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 16, 2021. Fiscal 2020 civil construction funds in the amount of $7,759,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity (W912EP-20-C-0004). Michels Corp., Brownsville, Wisconsin, was awarded a $7,066,242 firm-fixed-price contract to repair levee systems in the Missouri River Basin. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work will be performed in Pender, Nebraska, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 30, 2020. Fiscal 2020 other procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $7,066,242 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, Nebraska, is the contracting activity (W9128F-20-C-0026). Qualx Corp., Springfield, Virginia,* was awarded a $7,003,493 modification (P00010) to contract W91QF0-18-F-0047 for digitization of archival materials for the Army Heritage and Education Center. Work will be performed in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 25, 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $7,003,493 were obligated at the time of the award. Mission and Installation Contracting Command, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY NuStar Terminal Partner TX L.P., San Antonio, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $22,392,616 firm-fixed-price contract for contractor-owned, contract-operated services to receive, store and issue U.S. government-owned jet propellant thermally stable. This was a competitive acquisition with one response received. This is a four-year base contract with one five-year option period with a possible six-month extension. Location of performance is Texas, with a June 30, 2024, performance completion date. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2024 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SPE603-20-C-5006). AIR FORCE CAE USA Inc., Tampa, Florida, has been awarded a $10,544,331 firm-fixed-price modification (P00158) to contract FA8223-10-C-0013 for support of the KC-135 Aircrew Training System. This modification provides for collective bargaining agreement wage adjustments resulting from Fair Labor Standards Act and Service Contract Act – Price Adjustment, and brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $526,529,911. Work will be performed in Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma; Grissom Air Reserve Base, Indiana; MacDill AFB, Florida; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base, Ohio; Scott AFB, Illinois; Fairchild AFB, Washington; Milwaukee Air National Guard Base, Wisconsin; March AFB, California; and Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. Work is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2020. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $10,544,331 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity. Honeywell International Inc., Phoenix, Arizona, has been award a $7,777,093 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to research, develop, integrate, validate and demonstrate Consistent Logical Automated Reasoning for Integrated System Software Assurance (CLARISSA) for development and assessment of assurance cases. This contract provides for the research and development of technology to automate generation of assurance cases from curated evidence. Work will be performed in Phoenix, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by March 12, 2024. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and two offers were received. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $380,564 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Rome, New York, is the contracting activity (FA8750-20-C-0512). (Awarded March 19, 2020) *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2185990/source/GovDelivery/

  • Contractors Recovering From COVID Shutdowns: Bruce Jette

    14 mai 2020 | International, Terrestre

    Contractors Recovering From COVID Shutdowns: Bruce Jette

    While the pandemic continues, Pentagon metrics show production on Army programs is returning to normal, the Army's acquisition chief told Breaking Defense. By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.on May 14, 2020 at 4:01 AM WASHINGTON: The number of defense contractors reopening after COVID-19 quarantines now exceeds the number of new shutdowns, the Army's senior acquisition official said in an interview. That is happening, Bruce Jette told me, because industry is learning and adapting. New health precautions, from disinfecting tools between shifts to social distancing on the factory floor, should contain further outbreaks of COVID-19 and keep Army programs on track, he said – even if there's a new upsurge in infections nationwide. According to daily updates from Defense Contract Management Agency, Jette said, “the openings are outweighing the number of closings, and total number of closings is down significantly, so things are improving quite a bit.” Of 10,509 facilities large and small that DCMA is tracking, 248 had closed at some point — but only 40 are still closed. The number of reopenings has exceeded the number of new closings since April 20. But, I asked, what if there's another spike, whether from states relaxing shutdown orders or a change in weather come the fall? Because of the new precautions now in place, Jette told me, “I would say that in the long run, if we had some degree of a resurgence, I don't think it would be as marked as the first one.” Learning To Cope There was an initial wave of shutdowns in the first days of the pandemic, Jette said, because a single case of COVID-19 might require putting the entire workforce at a facility into quarantine, particularly at smaller companies. That wasn't a panicked reaction, but a reasonable precaution. Workers had been mingling freely in close quarters, most coronavirus carriers were asymptomatic, and virtually no reliable tests were available. A company facing a single case had no way of knowing who else might already be infected. But that's no longer true, Jette went on. Private companies and government agencies alike have now broken up large groups of workers into smaller ones, creating “bubbles” in which any contagion can be contained. “For example, in the past, one shift came in and started using the tools from the other shift,” Jette said, as one example. “Now, between shifts, a cleaning team comes in and disinfects all the tools.” Wiping down shared equipment, surfaces, and spaces is just one part of a multi-layered defense against contagion. Workers on the same shift who once all came in and out together, chatting in close quarters and shaking hands, may now arrive and leave on staggered schedules so they can stay six feet apart at all times. Workflows have been changed and workstations physically moved, where possible, to permit social distancing on the factory floor. Employees who must work side-by-side wear masks and gloves. Those precautions reduce the chance of someone catching the coronavirus in the first place – and just as important, they make it harder for one infected employee to spread the disease, especially to colleagues outside their “bubble.” So when somebody does get sick, you only need to quarantine their particular team, not shut down the whole factory. “If somebody in the bubble comes down [with COVID],” he said, “ only that bubble ends up isolated.” Even Pentagon offices like Jette's own are getting cleaned more frequently and more thoroughly, he told me, even when no one working in them has actually gotten sick. “[Even when] nobody has become infected in a particular office,” he told me, “we are having a cleaning team go through and do one office here, one office there, and just do a thorough wipe-down to make sure that there's nothing that got into that office undetected.” These precautions aren't excessively onerous, disruptive, or costly, Jette said. They're just things nobody had thought about doing before – but now they might be useful even after the pandemic is under control. “I don't see it being a significant burden on the system; it was just something we didn't see was an issue before,” he said, “[but] I may well help us have fewer flus and colds if we just continue the same practice.” Dealing With Disruption Industry may be adapting well, but a global pandemic is still extraordinarily disruptive. Like the rest of the Defense Department, the Army is closely tracking not only its prime contractors but the smaller subcontractors and sub-sub-contractors, which are much more fragile. To date, the Army has pumped $167.5 million into small businesses to help them ride out COVID disruptions. “There have been some cost implications to the government,” Jette said, “but mostly with respect to the CARES Act,” which ensures workers at facilities closed by COVID are paid instead of let go. The main way the Army has helped out companies is by making payments they already had coming, just ahead of schedule. For example, Jette said, the service has started writing checks to contractors every 15 days instead of the normal 30. It's also increasing progress payments, normally limited to 80 percent of total contract value (85 percent for small business) to 90 percent (95 for small business). “Cash flow was one of those things we concerned ourselves with,” Jette said. “Congress gave us flexibilities there. There were things passed down from OMB in the White House that gave us some flexibility as well.” To help figure out which subcontractors might be in trouble, the Army's prime contractors have opened their books and shared information with the service, far beyond anything they were contractually obligated to do, Jette said. Since the early days of the pandemic, even before shutdowns began, he's been getting a daily report on the health of subcontractors, which now routinely runs over 60 pages. “The primes ... were all very cooperative in trying to give us visibility down to the lowest level supplier,” Jette said. “It's really been helpful for us, because it helps us get a better gauge on what we have to do if something goes awry. In some cases when a subcontractor shuts down, the primes can find an alternative supplier. But despite the huge size of the defense industrial base, Jette said, there are single points of failure where only one company that's been formally qualified to build a certain part or perform a certain industrial process. It takes time to get a back-up supplier up to speed – sometimes longer than the 16.8 days that, on average, it takes a quarantined facility to reopen. That has resulted in delays, Jette acknowledges, but, so far, Army programs are finding ways to make up the time elsewhere in their schedules and still deliver new weapons to the troops on time – what's called First Unit Equipped, or FUE. “Delivery schedules on some products have slipped a little bit right...but at this point, none of them has assuredly slipped the FUE,” Jette told me. “As of right now, the vast majority of challenges that we've had with COVID, we've been able to accommodate within the current contracts with minor changes.” But the factories aren't the only part of the system that has to function. “The most significant thing isn't production,” Jette said. “It's trying to get all the testing done to make sure that all the systems work.” While some testing takes place in labs, what's most complex is operational testing, which puts a new technology in the hands of soldiers in the field to see how it works in for a real unit, interacting with all the rest of that unit's gear, conducting a realistic mission in realistic conditions. That requires bringing together not only the soldiers but technical specialists from the manufacturers, Army program offices, and Army testing organizations across the country. “Those are not simple to just change or move around, [and] that's part of what we've struggled with,” Jette said. “In some cases, we have suppliers who provide a capability and it's ready to be tested and we just don't have the facilities or the units available yet for full testing.” Officials need adequate test data before they can approve a program to start production – what's known as a Milestone C decision. But, Jette said, if you have to delay that formal approval, you can compensate by getting ready to jump-start manufacturing as soon as you have the go-ahead. The contractor can even start production ahead of Milestone C at its own risk, if it's confident that testing will not find any significant problems. At some point, it comes down to what kind of risk you're willing to take. If you rev up your manufacturing base before testing is complete, but then testing discovers a problem you have to fix, you may have to make expensive, time-consuming changes to your design, to your production process, or even to items already built. But if you wait for all the testing to get done, no matter how long it takes, you may not get the kit to troops on schedule. Unprecedented Stresses It's a difficult and stressful time; Jette can't recall anything like it in his 30 years in the defense sector. “At least based on my experience which goes back to the early '90s,” he told me, “you may have had strains on a particular vendor, [but] this is fundamentally a nationwide challenge that covers all of our programs.” “I can't think of any time where we had such a longstanding challenge to keeping programs fully operational,” he said. “Probably the closest thing,” he said, is when Congress can't pass defense funding bills on time and passes a stopgap Continuing Resolution. A CR essentially puts spending on autopilot at last year's levels with no ability to start new programs, ramp up existing ones, or cancel failing ones. Like the pandemic, a CR can impact every function of the Defense Department, or even the entire federal government, for weeks or months on end. But funding problems don't threaten the health and safety of every worker the way the pandemic does. “In this case, we have to consider the financial underpinnings, but we also have to consider the impact to the people themselves.” “Our most valuable resources are people,” Jette said. “If I don't have good people, I'm not getting good work done. I want to make sure those people want to work here, and a big piece of that is giving them a safe and healthy environment.” https://breakingdefense.com/2020/05/contractors-recovering-from-covid-shutdowns-bruce-jette/

  • Special Ops Budget Crunch Looms, But New Aircraft Demo Coming

    14 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial

    Special Ops Budget Crunch Looms, But New Aircraft Demo Coming

    And so what's really important to me is what the vendor brings to the table, in terms of their ability to integrate weapons onto a non-developmental platform," said SOCOM acquisition czar Jim Smith. By PAUL MCLEARY and THERESA HITCHENSon May 13, 2020 at 4:32 PM WASHINGTON: Like the rest of the Defense Department, Special Operations Command is preparing for flat to declining budgets in the coming years as the national debt spirals to $25 trillion and the economy flattens due to COVID-19 related shutdowns. At the moment, the command that trains, equips and sustains the nation's elite covert operators boasts a $13 billion budget, $7 billion of which goes directly into buying and repairing new gear, with another $800 million pumped into research and development. And that's the unclassified part of the budget. The command wants to protect those investments, Jim Smith, SOCOM's top acquisition executive, told reporters this morning. But fiscal realities being what they are, “right now, our planning assumptions are based on a flat budget out through the next seven years or so,” he said. “And then, if you take into account inflation, you might even have a slightly downward pressure on our overall budget.” Just recently, Defense Secretary Mark Esper suggested that the budget pressure might force his hand in cutting older, legacy systems earlier than planned to pull savings toward priority modernization programs like the $500 billion the DoD plans to spend on the refurbishment of the nuclear triad over the next decade. Earlier this month Esper declared, “we need to move away from the legacy, and we need to invest those dollars in the future. And we have a lot of legacy programs out there right now — I could pick dozens out from all branches of the services” that could be cut or curtailed. Asked by Breaking Defense if pressure on SOCOM budgets could lead to the command walking away from bigger and older systems, Smith said “SOF is a little different. There is a propensity for us to accept a near-[commercial] solution and get it into the fight very quickly. And for that reason, we tend not to sustain equipment or the 20-year, 30-year life cycles that you see in the services.” That's not to say “we don't have the same pressures,” as the services in finding savings, he added. “We're trying to divest in a force that you know likes to hold on to things. And so we have very rich dialogue at the command level, I can assure you, about trying to divest over some of our larger programs going on.” One area commanders want to grow is close air support and ISR in areas without large, improved landing strips via the Armed Overwatch program. Lt. Gen. Jim Slife, commander of Air Force Special Operations Command, said in February at the Air Force Association's annual meeting that the aircraft would replace AFSOC's U-28s — and focus more on plane's close air support, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. Smith today explained that effort is standing on the shoulders of the Air Force's defunct Light Attack Aircraft effort. “We are on the backs of the Air Force's effort. We're using the same program managers and engineers,” Smith said. “Everything that was learned by the Air Force in their light attack experiment is being leveraged into ours.” The Air Force's long-running light attack aircraft saga — that at one point was expected to involve procurement of up to 300 airplanes — began way back in 2011, when the Air Force initiated a program to procure what it then called “light air-support” aircraft for use in insurgencies. In 2017, the program morphed into what the service called the Light Attack Experiment, aimed at developing a concept of operations that involved US allies as well as fleshing out an overall acquisition strategy. In 2018, then-Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said the service had set aside $2.4 billion in the fiscal year 2019 budget's five-year cycle to acquire agile, armed reconnaissance aircraft — once it had tested out its chosen competitors: Textron's AT-6 and the Sierra Nevada-Embraer team's A-29. In October 2019, facing a threat from Congress to strip the program from its control, the Air Force issued a request for proposal to Textron and Sierra Nevada to buy “two or three of both” companies' turboprops. Finally, in February this year, the Air Force threw up its collective hands and gave up the quest to buy light attack aircraft in quantity — purchasing only two each of the AT-6 Wolverine and A-29 Tucanos for continued experimentation. Several of the companies who originally fought it out way back in the day under the Air Force effort, as well as Textron and Sierra Nevada, are now throwing their hats in the SOCOM ring. Spokespeople for Air Tractor (which had formally protested the Air Force's contract award in the light attack competition), Sierra Nevada and Textron confirmed to Breaking Defense today that they are all in for the live-fly demonstration expected in November. The plan is for SOCOM to buy up to 75 of the aircraft over seven years, beginning with a $106 million request in the 2021 budget to kick things off. The Special Operations community is as interested in what it can put on one of these planes as it is in the aircraft itself. “At the end of the day, I'm going to deliver a weapon system,” Smith said. “And so what's really important to me is what the vendor brings to the table, in terms of their ability to integrate weapons onto a non-developmental platform. I think the Air Force, you know, there was a lot of focus on the actual platforms. I don't think you'll see that from SOCOM. We are far more interested in the integration capability of our eventual industry partners on the platform.” https://breakingdefense.com/2020/05/special-ops-budget-crunch-looms-but-new-aircraft-demo-coming

  • Support growing for review of Ligado interference information

    14 mai 2020 | International, C4ISR

    Support growing for review of Ligado interference information

    Aaron Mehta As the Department of Defense and its allies attempt to stop Ligado from moving forward with plans the Pentagon says will harm the Global Positioning System, consensus is growing around the idea of an independent review of the testing the Department had completed for interference. The dispute stems from the Federal Communications Commission's decision to approve Ligado's request to use L-Band spectrum, first reported by C4ISRNET April 10. Now the question is whether Pentagon tests showing that Ligado's plan would interfere with GPS signals vital to military, commercial and civilian technologies are still relevant, given mitigation plans from the company. A May 6 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the issue underlined a fundamental disconnect between the two sides over technical testing of Ligado's capabilities, a he-said-he-said situation where both sides claim the data shows the other is comprehensively wrong. That disconnect is an issue for Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., the chairman of the SASC and a vocal supporter of the Pentagon's position. “What I took away from our hearing last week was that the results of DoD's testing just don't match up with the testing the FCC relied on to make their decision; in fact, I'm concerned they were looking at different things,” Inhofe told C4ISRNET this week. “It seems to me the FCC didn't really give DOD's analysis — which was done in conjunction with eight other federal departments — fair consideration,” Inhofe continued. “While I trust the Pentagon's conclusions, I think we'll all sleep better at night if we have more independent testing done to verify just how Ligado's plan will affect our GPS signals.” While not saying who should do the verification, Inhofe's comments match up with calls from a trio of non-defense trade groups that in the last few days have specifically called for the National Academy of Sciences — a non-profit, non-governmental research institute that can play a role as a neutral arbiter — to take a fresh look at the data gathered by both the Pentagon and Ligado and weigh in. On May 8, Securing America's Future Energy and the Intelligent Transportation Society of America tweeted that NAS should specifically lead a new round of testing, while Dana Goward, president of the non-profit Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation, also supported the idea in a May 11 op-ed for C4ISRNET. “Congress must select a technically competent and impartial entity such as the National Academy of Sciences to fill this role. This entity must review the work that has been done and conduct any further analysis needed to inform policy makers,” Goward wrote. “The technologies involved are mature. Testing methodologies are well established. This will not be an onerous task.” Pausing the FCC's decision while launching a review of the testing data would likely require approval from the Commerce committees. House Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., suggested further work would be redundant. “We must ensure that this decision maintains our national and economic security, which is why this technology was tested, modified, and tested again, several times before the FCC reached its decision,” Walden said in a statement to C4ISRNET. The Pentagon, thus far, has been reluctant to agree to further technical testing, with Dana Deasy, the department's Chief Information Officers, shooting down the idea in a May 6 call with reporters. However, Defense leaders are now open to an independent review of existing test data, according to Lt. Col. Robert Carver, a department spokesman. He said in a statement the Pentagon would “support an impartial third party, one with demonstrated expertise in GPS testing, conducting a thorough examination of all data collected during the preceding decade of testing. “We emphasize any such examination must be conducted by a party with unquestioned capability, capacity and experience in this arena. We believe a painstaking examination of existing test data will confirm the results of all previous tests, including the limited tests funded by Ligado, that Ligado's proposal will result in interference to GPS even at the one-decibel level,” Carver said. “Any testing, or evaluation of prior testing, must address protection of the GPS service, the frequency band assigned to it, and all receivers intending to use that service." A Ligado spokesperson declined to comment. In the meantime, the department continues to push through the formal process to request the FCC change its mind. That would be a tough path forward for any vote that passed unanimously with five votes, as it would require three members of the commission to change their mind. It may be even more difficult given the comments from Deasy, Inhofe and others indicating the FCC purposefully kept DoD out of the loop as it was making its decision. In a statement after the hearing, an FCC spokesman blasted “all of the untrue statements” made by officials, called claims of unanimous opposition in the government “blatantly false,” and saying assertions that DoD was blindsided are “preposterous.” “The bottom line here is that the FCC made a unanimous, bipartisan decision based on sound engineering principles,” the spokesman said. “We stand by that decision 100% and will not be dissuaded by baseless fearmongering." Joe Gould in Washington contributed to this report https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/2020/05/13/support-growing-for-review-of-ligado-interference-information/

  • Pourquoi les industriels européens de l’aéronautique misent sur les secteurs de la défense et l’espace

    14 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    Pourquoi les industriels européens de l’aéronautique misent sur les secteurs de la défense et l’espace

    HASSAN MEDDAH INTERNATIONAL , ALLEMAGNE , AÉRONAUTIQUE , SPATIAL , DÉFENSE PUBLIÉ LE 13/05/2020 À 18H43 Les présidents du GIFAS et de son équivalent allemand le BDLI appellent de façon urgente à un plan de relance européen ambitieux et à accélérer les investissements dans le domaine de la défense et de l'espace. Face à la crise du coronavirus qui frappe lourdement le secteur aéronautique, industriels allemands et français ont décidé d'agir en concert. Le GIFAS (Groupement des industries françaises aéronautiques et spatiales) et son homologue allemand (german aerospace industries association) ont tenu en commun ce 13 mai le bureau de leur conseil d'administration par vidéoconférence. Dans la foulée, les deux présidents respectifs Eric Trapper - par ailleurs PDG de Dassault Aviation - et Dirk Hoke, président du BDLI et CEO d'Airbus Defence & Space ont profité d'une conférence de presse pour lancer un appel commun à un plan de relance européen ambitieux. Les industriels aéronautiques des deux pays auraient dû se voir en chair et en os à cette date... si le salon aéronautique de Berlin (Allemagne) n'avait pas été annulé à cause de la pandémie mondiale. "Ensemble, nous étions forts avant la crise et nous partageons l'idée qu'il faudra que nous soyons forts après la crise pour faire face à la concurrence mondiale", a souligné Eric Trappier, le patron de Dassault Aviation. Accélérer le programme d'avion de combat du futur Selon les deux groupements, les secteurs de la défense et de l'espace peuvent permettre d'amortir le trou d'air que traverse le secteur aéronautique. Ils appellent les deux gouvernements à renforcer leurs budgets de défense afin de conserver les capacités dans ce domaine stratégique. "Ce serait une grave erreur de réduire les dépenses du secteur de la défense. C'est un facteur de stabilité qui ne doit pas être sous-estimé", a précisé Dirk Hoke. Le GIFAS et le BDLI misent sur l'accélération des programmes en coopération. La France et l'Allemagne, rejointes par l'Espagne, ont lancé le programme SCAF (système de combat aérien du futur). Ce programme, à l'horizon 2040, permettra le remplacement des Rafale français et des Eurofighter allemands. "Ce programme est un défi et nous sommes convaincus qu'il faut le renforcer et ne pas prendre de retard. Les industriels ont commencé à travailler. Nous avons besoin d'une vision à long terme et de contrats pour atteindre la première échéance d'un démonstrateur en 2026", a exhorté Eric Trappier. Des deux côtés de la frontière, l'accélération de ce programme pourrait apporter une bouffée d'oxygène à tous les acteurs qui y participent : avionneurs, fabricants de moteurs, électroniciens et leurs sous-traitants. Cela permet également de faire d'une pierre deux coups, puisque la plupart des entreprises de l'aéronautique travaillent également pour le secteur de la défense. La manne du programme spatial européen Dirk Hoke a également évoqué l'importance du secteur spatial comme amortisseur à cette crise. Il a rappelé que l'agence spatiale européenne (ESA) avait approuvé en fin d'année dernière le lancement de nombreux programmes. En novembre 2019, lors de la réunion des ministres européens en charge du secteur spatial à Séville, l'ESA avait en effet dégagé un budget de 14,4 milliards d'euros pour les cinq prochaines années. La France et l'Allemagne étant les principales contributrices avec respectivement 3,3 milliards d'euros et 2,7 milliards. Les deux partenaires ont également sollicité l'aide de l'Europe. Ils craignent toutefois que le budget du fonds européen de défense soit la victime des ajustements budgétaires en cours de négociation. A l'origine, il devait atteindre 13 milliards d'euros sur la période 2021-2027. "Ce serait un mauvais signe si ce budget était coupé pour la construction et l'autonomie stratégique de l'Europe", a averti le patron du GIFAS. https://www.usinenouvelle.com/article/pourquoi-les-industriels-europeens-de-l-aeronautique-misent-sur-les-secteurs-de-la-defense-et-l-espace.N964041

  • Suisse : Les appels d'offres pour un nouvel avion de combat prolongés jusqu'en novembre

    13 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial

    Suisse : Les appels d'offres pour un nouvel avion de combat prolongés jusqu'en novembre

    La pandémie de Covid-19 chamboule le calendrier des offres pour les nouveaux avions de combat et du système de défense sol-air. Le Département fédéral de la défense (DDPS) a fixé mardi à novembre le nouveau délai pour les offres. Ce nouveau calendrier n'a aucune incidence sur la suite du processus d'acquisition, assure le département dans un communiqué. Les informations tirées des deuxièmes offres ainsi que des résultats des divers tests permettront d'identifier les points forts de chaque système. Le DDPS doit réagir au fait que les fabricants sont aussi touchés par les mesures visant à freiner l'épidémie. De plus, les impératifs de confidentialités interdisent les collaborateurs des entreprises sollicitées à traiter les offres en télétravail. Les entretiens en personne, nécessaires pour concrétiser les exigences relatives aux affaires compensatoires, ne sont pas possibles. Ils ne peuvent pas toujours être remplacés par des téléconférences en raison du degré de classification des sujets abordés. Quatre avions Armasuisse avait transmis une nouvelle demande d'offre aux autorités françaises, allemandes et américaines début janvier. Celles-ci étaient initialement attendues pour août. Quatre jets restent dans la course: le Rafale français (Dassault), l'Eurofighter allemand (Airbus), et côté américain, le successeur du FA-18, le Super Hornet de Boeing, et le F-35A de Lockheed-Martin. Pour le système de défense sol-air, seuls les Etats-Unis (Raytheon Patriot) et la France (Eurosam SAMP/T) sont encore en lice. La nouvelle flotte doit remplacer à la fois les Tiger et les F/A-18. Les exigences ont été précisées sur la base des premières offres remises. Les constructeurs sur les rangs devront toujours calculer le nombre d'avions requis pour accomplir les missions de l'armée de l'air, notamment faire voler quatre avions en permanence pendant quatre semaines et assurer la police aérienne 24 heures sur 24. Les nouvelles offres devront indiquer un prix correspondant à 36 et 40 engins, frais logistiques et engins guidés compris. La première offre exigeait un prix pour 30 et 40 avions. Le prix proposé sera un point de départ contraignant des négociations approfondies avec le candidat à l'issue du choix de l'appareil. https://www.rts.ch/info/suisse/11319075-les-appels-d-offres-pour-un-nouvel-avion-de-combat-prolonges-jusqu-en-novembre.html

  • A bankrupt OneWeb and other troubled space startups could get some help from the Defense Department

    13 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial

    A bankrupt OneWeb and other troubled space startups could get some help from the Defense Department

    By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — As the U.S. Space Force looks to expand the military's communications capabilities in the far north, it is facing a problem. The global pandemic has hit space startups exponentially hard, and OneWeb, one of the companies aiming to provide internet to Arctic locations, filed for bankruptcy in March. The Defense Department is considering taking action to help fortify OneWeb and other vulnerable space startups, said Lt. Gen. David Thompson, vice commander of Headquarters Space Force. “I will say with respect to OneWeb specifically and others, we continue to work,” he said during a May 12 event held by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “We work with the White House and we'll be working with Congress, not just focused on OneWeb but all of the commercial space companies that face bankruptcy and face those concerns.” Thompson did not lay out options under consideration by the Pentagon to aid OneWeb, but he did say the department's Space Acquisition Council devised a list of proposed investments for space companies that need rapid, aggressive action. That capital is needed to ensure emerging space technologies remain available to the U.S. military but also so “that potential adversaries don't have the opportunity to acquire those capabilities,” he said. OneWeb is pursuing a sale of the business as part of bankruptcy proceedings, saying that “while the company was close to obtaining financing” through its own negotiations with investors, “the process did not progress because of the financial impact and market turbulence related to the spread of COVID-19.” So far, the company has launched 74 satellites, secured global spectrum and has half of its 44 ground terminals in development or complete — making it attractive to potential bidders such as Amazon or European satellite company Eutelsat. However, two unnamed Chinese firms have also submitted proposals, according to The Telegraph. That could raise major concerns among Defense Department officials, who have warned that adversary nations — particularly China — could use the financial instability caused by the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity to increase investments in technology companies with national security applications. “The [defense-industrial base] is vulnerable to adversarial capital, so we need to ensure that companies can stay in business without losing their technology,” Ellen Lord, the Pentagon's top acquisition official, said in March. If OneWeb is sold to a Chinese owner, the Defense Department could lose access to one of the few suppliers of commercial broadband internet servicing the Arctic. While the Space Force operates two Enhanced Polar System satellites to provide secure, jam-resistant military communications, few commercial satellite providers extend their coverage to the far north. As a result, troops have limited communication options in the Arctic, and the Pentagon has long been concerned about a lack of resiliency. Companies like OneWeb and SpaceX, which intend to create a network of hundreds of small satellites in low-Earth orbit, could change that paradigm by providing low-cost commercial internet services that span the globe. In September, OneWeb announced it would begin to provide low-latency broadband service to the Arctic by the end of 2020, with full, 24-hour coverage expected in 2021. For its part, SpaceX stated that its Starlink constellation would begin providing broadband service this year. The military has expressed interest in working with both companies. U.S. Northern Command sought $130 million to explore OneWeb's and SpaceX's capabilities in order to provide reliable and potentially cost-effective internet in the Arctic, listing the effort on top of the unfunded priority list sent to Congress this spring. Nathan Strout in Washington contributed to this story. https://www.defensenews.com/smr/2020/05/12/a-bankrupt-oneweb-could-get-some-help-from-the-defense-department/

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