Nouvelles

By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — BAE Systems announced Monday that is has reached an agreement to buy two subsidiaries being divested for antitrust reasons by Raytheon and UTC as part of the merger between the latter two companies. The agreement includes Collins Aerospace's military Global Positioning System business, a UTC subsidiary, as well as Raytheon's Airborne Tactical Radios (ATR) business. The GPS sale involved $1.925 billion in cash with an expected tax benefit of approximately $365 million; the ATR deal will cost $275 million in cash, with an expected tax benefit of approximately $50 million. “As militaries around the world increasingly operate in contested environments, the industry-leading, battle-tested products of these two businesses will complement and extend our existing portfolio of solutions we offer our customers,” Jerry DeMuro, CEO of BAE Systems, said in a statement. “This unique opportunity to acquire critical radio and GPS capabilities strengthens our position as a leading provider of defense electronics and communications systems, and further supports our alignment with the modernization priorities of the U.S. military and its partners,” added DeMuro, who will be retiring come April. Raytheon and UTC announced plans to merge into the newly named Raytheon Technologies Corporation in June. It is expected the merged company will become the second-largest defense player in the world, behind only Lockheed Martin, even as company executives are hoping for a roughly 50-50 split of defense and commercial sales. The Collin's GPS business is based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Per a BAE statement, the company “designs and produces advanced, hardened and secure GPS products to include M-Code, anti-jamming, and anti-spoofing technologies,” with an installed base of “over 1.5 million devices on approximately 280 platform types around the world, including ground, airborne, and weapon systems.” The ATR business is based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Largo, Florida, and “has leveraged its innovative technologies to develop secure communications solutions that are installed on a broad range of military airborne platforms," per the release. Should the deal be approved by regulators, both groups will join BAE's Electronic Systems unit. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2020/01/20/bae-buys-up-gps-radio-units-divested-by-utc-raytheon/

By: Nathan Strout The Air Force awarded Raytheon a $442 million contract Jan. 16 to develop new technology that will allow the B-52 and RC-130 aircraft to utilize the nation's advanced anti-jamming communications satellites. The contract is part of the Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals (FAB-T) program, an effort to replace legacy communication terminals with secure, nuclear-survivable terminals capable of utilizing the nation's most secure communications satellites for protected communications — including Presidential and National Voice Conferencing — and nuclear command and control. In 2015, the Department of Defense divided the FAB-T program into two segments: the Command Post Terminals (CPT) subprogram, which will provide terminals for ground posts and E-4 and E6 aircraft, and the Force Element Terminal (FET) subprogram, which will place new terminals in B-52 and RC-135 aircraft. The $442,265,464 cost-plus-incentive-fee undefinitized contract will provide for the latter, with Raytheon designing, developing, testing, integrating and providing logistical support for force element terminals for the two aircraft. Once in place, the terminals will allow airmen within those aircraft to utilize a trio of highly advanced satellites: the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites, the Enhanced Polar System satellites, and the legacy Milstar satellites. The FAB-T terminals will also allow command and control of those three constellations. According to the Government Accountability Office, the force element terminals are essential to the FAB-T program — without them, the program “cannot achieve its planned capabilities that are based on the interaction of bomber aircraft with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft and CPTs.” The GAO also reports that due to delays in the FAB-T program, all six AEHF satellites are expected to be on orbit before the system is in place, resulting in an underutilization of costly satellite capabilities. The same day, The FAB-T contracting office award Raytheon a $36,848,806 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification to develop a software encryption platform for the system approved by the National Security Administration. Work is expected to be completed by March 2023. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center also issued a Request for Information Jan. 15 seeking industry sources that can support the installation of the FAB-T Command Post Terminals worldwide. According to a May 2019 Government Accountability Office report, the CPT subprogram is expected to reach initial operating capability in June 2021 and full operational capability by March 2023. Raytheon is also the primary contractor for the CPT subprogram. Responses to that RFI are due Jan. 22. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/c2-comms/2020/01/21/with-this-upgrade-these-aircraft-will-have-anti-jamming-comms/

By: Susanna V. Blume and Molly Parrish It's no secret that the military services fight hard to protect their shares of the defense budget. Just last week, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday made his case for a greater share of the defense budget. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy quickly answered, making the same claim on behalf of his service. What if the Department of Defense were able to use these rivalries as a force for good? The secretary of defense should pit the services against each other in a healthy competition for solutions to real operational challenges. The reward? More funding in their budgets to implement the best solutions. It is by now old news that the 2018 National Defense Strategy solidified a shift in priorities from long-term counterinsurgency and stabilization operations in the Middle East to strategic competition with China and Russia. This shift represents a significant change in what the country will require of the joint force in the future. As a result, to fully embrace this shift in priorities, it follows that the services must accept additional risk in some areas in order to invest in the capabilities required to sustain U.S. military advantage over aspiring great powers. In other words, in order to implement the NDS, the DoD must shift resources. But shifting resource around with the defense budget is really hard. For the most part, defense budgets are built from the bottom up, with each program having strong institutional champions, regardless of how relevant that program is to the current strategy. In this environment, it's difficult to take money away from something to give it to something else. The result is budgets that largely reflect the status quo. While the DoD should of course avoid capricious and destabilizing swings in funding for defense programs, there are times when deliberate, strategy-driven shifts in resources are necessary. To make it a little easier to move money around the DoD in these cases, we recommend in our latest report that the secretary of defense harness interservice rivalry as a force for good. The secretary should give the services specific operational challenges to solve at the outset of the budget cycle, and reward the service or services with the best solutions at the end of the cycle with the funds to implement them. The DoD competition would start at the beginning of the budget cycle, with the operational challenge given alongside the usual strategic, planning and fiscal guidance. Over the course of the budget cycle, the services would each work to come up with solutions to the operational challenges posed by the secretary. During program review, the services would present their solutions to defense leadership. The service or services with the best solution to the secretary's challenges would then receive the funds to implement them. To fund this competition, the secretary would have to hold back some resources at the start of the process, effectively giving less to each of the services to begin with. This decision will be extremely unpopular with the services, but it will also ensure that the secretary has easily accessible funding available to him or her at the end of program review with which to ensure that the services are implementing his or her top priorities. The idea of spurring innovation through competition is not new. The DoD already uses competitions to drive innovative solutions to a wide variety of technical challenges. Take the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Launch Challenge, which aims to improve resiliency in space by tasking participants to “launch payloads to orbit on extremely short notice.” DARPA will give the team who is able to complete both launches a prize of $10 million to continue their work. In addition, this past September, the DoD's Joint Artificial intelligence Center, along with the National Security Innovation Network, hosted a Hackathon at the University of Michigan. Participants came from both academia and the commercial industry to find artificial intelligence-enabled solutions. The hackers were given a specific problem and then tasked with finding a solution. The winners of the Hackathon are rewarded with — surprise — money! The services like money just as much as the average citizen, and the Department of Defense needs to take this concept and use these persistent and unavoidable interservice rivalries as a force for good. A healthy competition between the services, incentivized by funding, could be the next step toward implementing and addressing the challenges inherent in implementing the National Defense Strategy. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/01/21/interservice-rivalries-a-force-for-good/

ARMY BAE Systems Land & Armaments LP, Sterling Heights, Michigan, was awarded a $400,905,801 modification (P00080) to contract W56HZV-15-C-A001 to procure 160 armored multi-purpose vehicles. Work will be performed in York, Pennsylvania, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 28, 2023. Fiscal 2019 and 2020 European reassurance initiative, defense; and procurement of weapons and tracked combat vehicles, Army funds in the amount of $400,905,801 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity. TechTrans International Inc., Houston, Texas, was awarded a $231,277,398 cost-no-fee contract for non-personal services to provide event planning, coordination and logistical support for training requirements. Bids were solicited via the internet with seven received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2025. U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, is the contracting activity (W9124J-20-D-0004). Arcadis U.S. Inc., Highlands Ranch, Colorado, was awarded a $32,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for architect and engineering services. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 21, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York, New York, is the contracting activity (W912DS-20-D-0002). Agate Construction Co., Cape May Courthouse, New Jersey, was awarded a $9,265,354 firm-fixed-price contract for repairs to the Hereford Inlet seawall. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Cape May, New Jersey, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2021. Fiscal 2019 civil construction funds in the amount of $9,265,354 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (W912BU-20-C-0006). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY AM General LLC, South Bend, Indiana, has been awarded a maximum $40,469,946 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery requirements contract for transmission hydraulics. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a three-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Indiana, with a Jan. 23, 2023, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2023 Army working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Warren, Michigan (SPRDL1-20-D-0064). Lions Services Inc., Charlotte, North Carolina, has been awarded a maximum $24,502,400 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contract for hydration carriers. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(5), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-5. This is a three-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is North Carolina, with a Jan. 31, 2022, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2022 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-20-D-B080). Federal Prison Industries Inc.,* Washington, District of Columbia, has been awarded a maximum $24,465,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for trousers. This is a one-year base contract with four one-year option periods. Locations of performance are District of Columbia, Texas, Alabama and Mississippi, with a Sept. 30, 2021, performance completion date. Using customers are Army and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2021 defense working capital fund. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-20-D-F056). NAVY Transoceanic Cable Ship Co. LLC, Baltimore, Maryland, is awarded an $18,375,084 for a firm-fixed-price modification with reimbursable elements to a previously awarded contract N32205-19-C-3506. This modification provides for the first, six-month option for one cable ship, CS Global Sentinel. This vessel will be utilized to lay and repair cable for the Department of Defense worldwide. Work will be performed worldwide, and is expected to be completed, if all options are exercised, by Dec. 22, 2023. This contract includes a 12-month base period, two six-month option periods, two 12-month option periods, and one 11-month option period. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $10,500,000; and procurement Navy funds in the amount of $7,875,084 are obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity. Ternion Corp., Huntsville, Alabama, is awarded a $13,300,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the sustainment and upgrade of the Flexible, Analysis, Modeling, and Exercise System Automated System Trainer software applications, software maintenance, and upgrade and modification services in support of the Common Aviation Command and Control Increment I system. The program is managed within the portfolio of Program Executive Officer Land Systems, Quantico, Virginia. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, and is expected to be completed by Jan. 31, 2025. The ordering period of the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract will be for five years and will begin on Feb. 1, 2020. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $670,480; fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy and Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $742,542; and fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $160,900 for a total amount of $1,593,092 will be obligated on the first delivery order at time of award. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured, in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1 and 10 U.S. Code § 2304(c)(1). The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M67854-20-D-0013). BAE Systems Controls Inc., Endicott, New York, is awarded a $7,727,763 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00007) to a previously award firm-fixed-price delivery order (N00019-18-F-2483) against basic ordering agreement N00019-18-G-0019. This modification provides for non-recurring engineering for the Forward Defense Weapons Systems cockpit controls and cabin intrusion reduction effort and associated prototypes in support of the tiltrotor aircraft, CV-22. Work will be performed in Endicott, New York (88.7%); Fort Worth, Texas (11%); and Fort Wayne, Indiana (0.3%), and is expected to be completed in June 2022. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Air Force) funds in the amount of $1,566,750; and fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Air Force) funds in the amount of $494,000 will be obligated at time of award, $1,566,750 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. *Mandatory source https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2062046/source/GovDelivery/

White Sands Missile Range, January 21, 2020 – Two U.S. Air Force F-35s were integrated with the U.S. Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS), providing an airborne sensor capability to successfully detect, track and intercept near simultaneous air-breathing threats in a test at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. The December 2019 test marked the first time F-35s were used as sensors during an IBCS live fire test against multiple airborne targets. Linking F-35s to IBCS via the Multifunction Advanced Data Link (MADL) provided enhanced situational awareness and weapons-quality track data to engage airborne targets. The proof of concept demonstration used experimental equipment developed by Lockheed Martin, including the Harvest Lightning Ground Station and IBCS adaptation kit (A-Kit). “The F-35's advanced sensors and connectivity enable it to gather, analyze and seamlessly share critical information with the joint fighting force to lead the multi-domain battlespace,” said Greg Ulmer, Lockheed Martin vice president and general manager of the F-35 program. “This test validated the F-35's capability to serve as an airborne sensor and extend the range of critical Integrated Air and Missile Defense interceptors.” “This test represents a major milestone for multi-domain operations by leveraging airborne assets to detect and track threats that can then be countered with ground-based effectors. This demonstrates a tremendous capability to defeat threats that are terrain masked or beyond ground-based sensor detection capabilities due to terrain and curvature of the earth,” said Jay Pitman, vice president, Lower Tier Integrated Air and Missile Defense at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. This test is the latest in a series of successful activities to demonstrate the F-35's role as the keystone of the joint force. Lockheed Martin is evolving technologies that connect, share and learn to create a holistic network that provides unprecedented situational awareness across the battlespace and enables Multi-Domain Operations. For additional information, visit our website. About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 105,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. View source version on Lockheed Martin: https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2020-01-21-U-S-Army-and-Air-Force-Team-up-for-Multi-Domain-Operations

CAE has announced the appointment of Todd Probert as group president, Defence and Security, effective Jan. 27, 2020. He will be based in Washington, D.C., and is succeeding Gene Colabatistto, who retired from CAE in December 2019. “I am very pleased to welcome Todd Probert to CAE's executive management team, as our new group president, Defence and Security. He is a proven strategic business leader with the right balance of technical, business and international experience in defence and technology,” said Marc Parent, CAE's president and chief executive officer. “Todd's competencies and background are very well aligned with CAE's emphasis on digital innovation and our long-term vision to be the training partner of choice. His ability to drive business growth and create strategic partnerships will bring significant value to our company and our defence customers.” Probert worked for Raytheon, the world's fourth largest defence company, over the past 10 years. Most recently, he was leading the Command, Control, Space and Intelligence business unit as part of Raytheon's Intelligence, Information and Services segment. In this role, he spearheaded Raytheon's use of commercial software development practices and artificial intelligence for military and intelligence community customers in addition to establishing strategic relationships with Silicon Valley companies. He previously served as the vice-president of Raytheon's Mission Support and Modernization product line where he steadily grew the business during his tenure. He has formed innovative partnerships with leading tech companies to transform the development timelines and delivery of capabilities to the U.S. Department of Defense in areas such as fully open architectures, artificial intelligence and cyber security. He also held the position of vice-president, Engineering and Technology, where he managed the engineering workforce for Raytheon's Intelligence, Information and Services portfolio. Before joining Raytheon, Probert worked for Honeywell Technology Solutions, Inc. (HTSI) in various functions such as strategy and business development, planning and operations, merger and acquisition activities, and he also served as HTSI's chief technology officer. Prior to that, he worked for ANSER, where he led the Space Technology division. In 2019, Probert was named by WashingtonExec as one of the Top 10 Department of Defense (DOD) Executives to Watch based on business accomplishments, impact on the defence community and vision for the future. He also received the 2019 Aviation Week Program Excellence Award in the OEM Sustainment category. Probert holds a master's degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from Purdue University, where he was named Outstanding Aerospace Engineer of the Year in 2017. He has a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan. https://www.skiesmag.com/press-releases/cae-appoints-todd-probert-as-group-president-defence-and-security

Lee Hudson The U.S. Congress is providing the military with direct responses to the threat of climate change. The passage of defense policy legislation provides the military with new tools to address the effects of the warming globe on strategic security interests, installations and readiness. Congress addresses climate change in defense legislation Climate change negatively affects military training That climate change is a threat to national security has been acknowledged by the military for nearly 30 years. In 1990, the U.S. Naval War College issued a report on “Global Climate Change Implications for the United States.” But in recent years, the issue has become politically charged, with the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voting in 2016 on an amendment to block Pentagon action on climate change. Now legislative support for addressing the security effects of a warming planet is growing. The 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) characterized climate change as a direct threat to national security. Two years later, lawmakers are uniting around potential solutions. Last month, President Donald Trump signed into law the 2020 NDAA, which includes 10 provisions related to climate security. The bill made it through the Democrat-controlled House and the Senate, past Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), who wrote a book in 2012 calling global warming The Greatest Hoax. The 2020 NDAA mandates creation of a Climate Security Advisory Council within the intelligence community to ensure analysis is informed by the best possible science. Intelligence experts must incorporate the foresight scientists have in projecting stress on various regions to predict potential crises. Establishing a Climate and Security Council is a positive step, John Conger, director of the Center for Climate and Security, tells Aviation Week. “If you know there is going to be a water shortage in some portion of the world, that would inform, for example, the assessment of whether that region is going to go unstable,” Conger says. Another provision in the bill related to climate-security strategic interests for the U.S. revolves around the Arctic. Section 1752 of the 2020 NDAA directs the Pentagon to consider sites for a strategic port in the Arctic and submit a report to Congress no later than June 2020. The document should include a cost estimate for construction and sustained operations at the site. For years, experts have rallied for the U.S. to have a more permanent presence in the Arctic as melting ice caps begin to open sea lanes to vessels from Russia and other nations. As the Arctic continues to warm, extreme weather has hit hard at existing bases in the continental U.S. In 2018, Hurricane Michael decimated Tyndall AFB in Florida. Tyndall was home to the Air Force's fleet of Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptors. The Air Force is still coping with the aftermath. While Tyndall is undergoing repairs, F-22s assigned to the 43rd and 95th Fighter Sqdns. have moved to other installations. The jets assigned to the 43rd relocated to Eglin AFB in Florida, while the 95th's aircraft are being spread out across F-22 units at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, and Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia. The military is not just concerned about its coastal bases. A few months after Hurricane Michael floodwaters reached 7ft. (2.1 m), damaging Offutt AFB in Nebraska and causing personnel to move aircraft and munitions to higher ground. The flooding damaged one-third of the Midwestern base, home to the headquarters of the nation's nuclear arsenal, U.S. Strategic Command (Stratcom) and the 55th Wing. The 55th Wing is Air Combat Command's largest wing, with an annual budget of more than $477 million, 45 aircraft, 31 squadrons and 7,000 employees. In total, the damage at Tyndall and Offutt will cost the American taxpayer an estimated $5 billion to rebuild. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein and former Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson had to beg Congress for $5 billion in emergency funding to begin rebuilding the installations damaged by natural disasters. Section 328 of the 2020 NDAA creates a dedicated budget line item for adaptation to and mitigation of extreme weather on military networks, installations, facilities and other assets. These include loss or obstructed access to training ranges. The bill defines extreme weather as recurrent flooding, drought, desertification, wildfires and thawing permafrost. In 2019, the Air Force submitted to Congress a “Top 10” list of installations at risk of extreme damage from chaging weather. Six of the bases are in Florida—Eglin, Hurlburt Field, Patrick AFB, Homestead Air Reserve Base, MacDill AFB and Tyndall. The base taking the top spot is Vandenberg AFB in California, home to the Space Force's Space Operations Command. The remaining installations at risk are Dover AFB in Delaware and Langley-Eustis in Virginia. “As developed, the above list reflects installations susceptible to the consequences of severe weather events: coastal and inland flooding, wildfires, and/or drought; not necessarily 50-100-year climatic changes,” the submission states. “This list does not look at any specific critical mission implications (i.e., even if the base is subject to flooding because a portion is within a 100-year flood plain, a mission-critical facility may not be impacted because of its location on the base or it is on high ground; e.g. the Stratcom Headquarters Building on Offutt AFB).” The Army assessed six climate vulnerabilities on its military bases in the U.S. The service is most concerned about desertification, or land degradation caused by dry conditions, affecting its installations especially at Yuma Proving Ground and Fort Huachuca in Arizona, Fort Irwin and Camp Roberts in California, Fort Bliss in Texas, White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada, Tooele Army Depot in Utah and Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado. “The analysis is based on climate science only and is not influenced by strategic or mission considerations,” the Army report says. The majority of the measures to defend the military against climate change to date are reactionary, but Section 2801a of the 2020 NDAA is more preventative, directing the Pentagon to incorporate military installation resilience into master plans; it authorizes funding for climate resilience projects. These installation master plans will specifically assess vulnerabilities to the bases and surrounding communities, identify missions affected by those susceptibilities and propose projects to address those weaknesses. “Until you start incorporating these risks into your master planning process, you aren't going to fully appreciate what you have to do at a particular location,” Conger says. “You can't just throw money at a problem not knowing what you're supposed to do.” The Navy paid attention to climate change early on because the service has the most coastal bases and infrastructures in its inventory. Separate from climate change, a few years ago Congress directed the Navy to study the infrastructure requirements of its shipyards. That assessment found that the dry docks at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Virginia were not high enough to deal with sea level rise, Conger says. The 2020 NDAA authorizes $49 million for a project at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to increase the height of the floodwalls around its dry docks. The shipyard's primary mission is the overhaul, repair and modernization of Los Angeles-class fast-attack nuclear-powered submarines. Climate change is also affecting the U.S. military's readiness levels because of an increasing number of Black Flag days, when the temperature rises to 90F or higher, and training is suspended. This affects units being able to complete a training syllabus on time, Conger says. “It's not like we've never done workarounds in training, but these are things where the training experts in all of the services will have to look at trends and figure out how to adjust what they have to do,” he says. “It is not something they're immune from; it's something they're going to have to accommodate and deal with.” https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/us-military-given-authority-defend-against-climate-change

NAVY Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, Tewksbury, Massachusetts, is awarded a $30,358,285 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-only modification to previously-awarded contract N00024-19-C-5509 to exercise the option for dual band radar design agent support efforts. Work will be performed in Tewksbury, Massachusetts (69%); Port Hueneme, California (17%); and Arvonia, Virginia (14%), and is expected to be completed by January 2021. Fiscal 2020 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); and fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $2,099,910 will be obligated at time of award, and funds in the amount of $1,069,769 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. CACI International Inc./BIT Systems, Sterling, Virginia, is awarded a $13,336,559 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides engineering, program management and technical services to support the installation, integration and sustainment of counter unmanned aerial systems. Installation and integration includes modeling and simulation, hardware installation, software integration, verification testing and integration trouble shooting support. System sustainment includes maintainability and deployment upgrades of operational systems, reconfiguration of installed systems, training, system maintenance, software updates and hardware repairs. Work will be performed in Sterling, Virginia (34%); various locations within the continental U.S (33%); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (33%), and is expected to be completed in January 2022. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-20-D-0020). ARMY Phillips Corp.,* Hanover, Maryland, was awarded a $28,570,997 firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of Computer Numeric Control mill and lathe assemblies. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 16, 2025. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W9098S-20-D-0004). Four Tribes Enterprises Inc.,* Gaithersburg, Maryland, was awarded a $13,147,968 firm-fixed-price contract for the construction of a perimeter security entry point at Rome Laboratory. One bid was solicited via the internet with one bid received. Work will be performed in Rome, New York, with an estimated completion date of July 14, 2021. Fiscal 2020 civil construction funds in the amount of $13,147,968 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York, New York, is the contracting activity (W912DS-20-C-0005). Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., McLean, Virginia, was awarded an $8,873,629 firm-fixed-price contract for program management support services on the Integrated Personnel and Pay System-Army for the Functional Management Division, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1, Technology and Business Architecture Integration Directorate. Fifty-five bids were solicited with one bid received. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 17, 2023. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, Army, funds in the amount of $8,873,629 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (W15QKN-20-F-0144). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Honeywell International, doing business as Honeywell Aerospace-Tucson, Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a $25,664,750 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for helicopter generators. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a one-year base contract with four one-year options periods. Location of performance is Arizona with a Jan 17, 2026, performance completion date. Using military service is the Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 Army working capital funds. The contracting activity is Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (SPRRA1-20-D-0016). *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2060522/source/GovDelivery/

Le groupe britannique de défense BAE Systems a annoncé lundi le rachat en numéraire de plus de 2 milliards de dollars d'actifs aux groupes de défense américains United Technologies et Raytheon, en train de finaliser leur rapprochement. BAE va acquérir un système de géolocalisation militaire à Collins Aerospace, filiale de United, pour quelque 1,9 milliard, et également reprendre pour 275 millions de dollars l'activité de radio tactique aéroportée de Raytheon. Ces transactions sont soumises à "la réalisation effective de la fusion de Raytheon et United Technologies et à l'accord des autorités", précise BAE. Ces actifs, qualifiés d'"opportunités uniques" par le directeur général de BAE Charles Woodburn, sont sur le marché dans le cadre de désinvestissements requis par les autorités américaines de la concurrence pour approuver le rapprochement de Raytheon et United Technologies. Ils "complètent fortement notre activité de systèmes électroniques basée aux Etats-Unis" et présentent "de fortes perspectives de croissance". Ils devraient aussi "avoir un impact positif immédiat sur les résultats et la trésorerie" de BAE, précise le communiqué. L'activité de géolocalisation, dont le rachat sera financé par endettement, devrait générer un chiffre d'affaires de 359 millions de dollars et un excédent brut d'exploitation (adjusted EBITDA) de 127 millions de dollars en 2020. Celle de radio pour l'aviation militaire, "qui conçoit un vaste éventail de systèmes de communications sensibles avec le département américain de la Défense, les gouvernements alliés", affiche "un long historique d'innovations". Elle devrait générer un chiffre d'affaires de 125 millions de dollars en 2019, avec un effet positif immédiat sur les résultats et la trésorerie. Elle devrait être financée par des liquidités existantes. https://www.journal-aviation.com/actualites/43690-bae-rachete-pour-plus-de-2-milliards-de-dollars-d-actifs-a-united-technologies-et-raytheon