UNITED KINGDOM
AIR
26 May 20. Boeing selects Leonardo and Thales to provide systems for RAF. Boeing has selected Leonardo and Thales to deliver a UK sovereign Defensive Aids System (DAS) to the British Royal Air Force (RAF). The delivery is for RAF’s new fleet of five Boeing E-7 Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) MK1 aircraft worth $1.98bn, which will replace the existing current E-3D Sentry aircraft. Last year, Boeing selected Thales’s Elix-IR Threat Warner and Leonardo’s DAS controller to equip the RAF’s fleet of Shadow R1 Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance aircraft. (Source: airforce-technology.com)
26 May 20. The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) will upgrade to Leonardo’s latest Osprey radar to support missions such as search and rescue, border protection, fishery and pollution patrols. The Osprey 30 radar will be installed on-board the two customised Beechcraft King Air aircraft provided to the UK MCA by UK-based aviation services company 2Excel. Currently, the UK MCA is operating Leonardo’s Seaspray 7300E radar, which has been employed to great effect in support of regular fishery and pollution patrols around the UK. The radar comes equipped with Leonardo’s patented small target detection capability, allowing it to spot shipwrecked individuals in the water at long range, even in the most difficult environmental conditions and sea states. Additionally, the radar provides the ability for MCA crews to identify oil spills and rogue polluters at very long range, day or night. 2Excel will build on this success by equipping the MCA King Airs with Leonardo’s second generation Osprey radar, the latest entry in its range of E-scan surveillance radars. Osprey benefits from all of the capabilities of the Company’s Seaspray family whilst also adding additional modes and optimized overland and coastal imaging capabilities. This makes the radar ideally suited to mixed environment operations, such as along the coast. (Source: ASD Network)
TECHNOLOGY
26 May 20. BAE Awarded GBP350m Contract for UK Mod Decision Support. BAE Systems has been announced as the preferred supplier for a major new framework contract with the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD). The Analysis for Science & Technology Research in Defence (ASTRID) framework will be the primary mechanism for providing wide-ranging decision support, analysis and advisory services to the MOD for up to seven years, with a contract value of up to £350m. The contract was placed by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and will be delivered by BAE Systems’ analytical consultancy, CORDA, which has provided analysis and decision support services to the MOD for over 30 years. ASTRID will be the successor to the £120m Analysis Support Construct (ASC), Dstl’s current flagship framework for defence and security analysis which has been managed by BAE Systems since 2015. Under the ASC, BAE Systems manages a 150-strong supply chain of defence companies, SMEs, consultancies and universities to deliver more than 300 separate analysis activities. This approach will continue under ASTRID, with a large, diverse supply chain delivering the majority of the work. The framework will be open to all government departments with defence and security decision support requirements. BAE Systems will source and select the best supplier from its specialist supply chain to conduct analysis and inform decision-making. ASTRID will therefore help ensure, for example, that investment decisions provide the best value for money. (Source: ASD Network)
EUROPE
SEA
26 May 20. Nexeya France Receives Order of Six LYNCEA Combat Management Systems for the French Navy. The CMS will equip the French Navy’s offshore patrol vessels (OPV) beginning in 2021. Nexeya France, a HENSOLDT company, has received an order of 6 LYNCEA Combat Management Systems (CMS) by French shipyard SOCARENAM. This is following a competition organized by the French procurement agency DGA. The CMS will equip the French Navy’s offshore patrol vessels (OPV) beginning in 2021. LYNCEA offers a tactical datalink that increases operational capacities to communicate with the ship’s Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats and commandos. The CMS also offers additional capacities to store and analyse data collected by the ship’s unmanned aerial vehicle. Nexeya’s LYNCEA system is already in use on board of six offshore patrol vessels and six surveillance frigates of the FLOREAL class. With this order, Nexeya France strengthens its leadership position in innovative, effective and competitive solutions for French OPVs. The Combat Management Systems are developed in Toulon and Angoulême. This order represents about 13,000 working hours for Nexeya’s engineers and technicians. (Source: ASD Network)
AIR
25 May 20. CAE Awarded Contract to Deliver Additional PC-21 Full-mission Simulator for French AF. CAE signed a contract amendment last February with Cognac Formation Aero, a joint venture of Babcock France and Dassault Aviation, to provide an additional Pilatus PC-21 full-mission ground-based simulator to support pilot training for the French Air Force (Armée de l’Air). The pilot training for the French Air Force is delivered under a Program managed by DGA, the French procurement agency, and known as FOMEDEC (Formation Modernisée des Equipages de Chasse or Jet Pilots Modernised Training Program). The Program is designed to train future French Air Force fighter pilots. CAE was previously subcontracted to develop a comprehensive PC-21 ground-based training system that was delivered in 2019 and included two PC-21 full-mission simulators and a suite of PC-21 part-task trainers. (Source: ASD Network)
20 May 20. Saab Signs Support Agreement for SK60. Saab has extended its support and maintenance agreement with the Swedish Armed Forces regarding the SK60 trainer aircraft, which is used for pilot training. The contract is valid from 1 July 2020 up to 2025, with 2026 as an optional year. The initial order value amounts to MSEK 875. The extended support agreement means that Saab will continue to serve as primary supplier, and is responsible for the operation, maintenance, and availability of all SK60 aircraft at the Swedish Armed Forces. The commitment calls for Saab to ensure that the system is airworthy and readily available for Swedish Air Force Wings as per the Swedish Armed Forces’ requirements. The agreement is a continuation of a similar contract signed in 2015. (Source: ASD Network)
18 May 20. The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded two contracts to Thales Alenia Space, the joint company between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), concerning EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service). These contracts, fully financed under the European Commission H2020 program, concern study phases on the system evolution. They will call on Thales Alenia Space’s expertise as program prime contractor for over 25 years to study and develop upgrades for the EGNOS satellite navigation system. The first contract concerns possible upgrades for EGNOS aeronautical services, designed to improve performances in order to increase landing safety under limited visibility conditions (from current CAT-I to CAT-II), over the current EGNOS footprint, focused on Europe. The second contract will study changes required to extend its aeronautical services worldwide. Based on state-of-the-art technologies, this upgrade will call on the A-RAIM (Advanced Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring) concept and the global coverage of the Galileo satellite navigation constellation. RAIM is an already deployed technology that assesses the integrity of signals in the receivers that are part of a global positioning system, mainly GPS. Galileo will now be incorporated in the advanced version of this concept, A-RAIM, to provide enhanced horizontal guidance performance, not possible with RAIM using only GPS. The new concept would thus provide “Safety of Life” aeronautical services, including approaches with vertical guidance, thanks to inputs from GPS and Galileo via EGNOS. (Source: Satnews)
USA
LAND
28 May 20. BAE Systems Land and Armaments LP, Sterling Heights, Michigan, is awarded an $11,038,019 modification for cost-plus-fixed-fee Contract Line Item Number 8101 to previously awarded contract M67854-16-C-0006 for Phase Two of the design and development for the Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) medium caliber cannon mission role variant. The ACV program is managed within the portfolio of Program Executive Officer Land Systems, Quantico, Virginia. Work will be performed in York, Pennsylvania (85%); and Aiken, South Carolina (15%), and is expected to be complete by March 2021. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $3,885,873 will be obligated at the time of award and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract modification 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.
28 May 20. Leonardo DRS Receives Contract to Digitize Army Howitzer Fire Control Systems. Leonardo DRS, Inc. announced today that it has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Army Contracting Command to provide mission-critical computing systems for the M777A2 Lightweight 155MM Towed Howitzer. The indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract is worth up to $21,470,307 and was awarded on February 19, 2020 with the first delivery order worth $6,319,922. Under the contract, Leonardo DRS will provide Chief of Section Displays and Mission Systems Computers. These computers host U.S. Government Digital Fire Control Software (DFCS) as well as provide the user-machine-interface for the platform. The DFCS controls a fully integrated digital onboard fire control system for the M777A2 that provides significant improvements to system accuracy, lethality, response time, and survivability. The Mission Systems Computer is the centralized computing and integration hub that interfaces with onboard sensors and other Line Replaceable Units (LRUs). The MSC utilizes platform sensors, LRUs and user input in conjunction with integrated fire control software to automate howitzer operations. Work on these systems will be conducted by the Leonardo DRS Land Electronics business unit in Melbourne, Florida.
27 May 20. Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control, Grand Prairie, Texas, was awarded a $106,282,221 hybrid (cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price) contract for industrial engineering services for programs supporting international contractor logistics services related to the Multiple Launch Rocket System. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Grand Prairie, Texas, with an estimated completion date of May 26, 2023. Fiscal 2020 other procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $ 9,553,209 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-20-C-0032).
AIR
26 May 20. CAE USA Awarded Subcontract from LM to Develop C-130J Simulators for AFSOC. CAE USA has been awarded a subcontract from Lockheed Martin to support the design, development and manufacture of three C-130J full-mission simulators for the United States Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC). Two of the simulators will be specifically for the MC-130J variant which is a multi-mission transport and special operations tanker operated by AFSOC. The other simulator will be reconfigurable between the MC-130J and EC-130J, a variant used for information operations by AFSOC. (Source: ASD Network)
22 May 20. General Electric Aviation, Lynn, Massachusetts, has been awarded a maximum $394,149,546 firm-fixed price, requirements contract for supplies related to the J85 engine. 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 five-year, six-month base contract with one four-year, six-month option period. Location of performance is Massachusetts, with a Nov. 30, 2025, performance completion date. Using military services are Air Force and Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2025 defense appropriated funds and working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Richmond, Virginia (SPE4AX-20-D-9445).
22 May 20. Goodrich Corp., doing business as Collins Aerospace, Danbury, Connecticut, was awarded a $19,057,548 not-to-exceed, undefinitized contract action for the Multi-band Overhead Persistent Infrared Payload (MBOP) effort. MBOP is a flight ready satellite payload with a unique, advantageous modular sensor configuration. The proposal was received and evaluated under broad agency announcement HQ0850-20-S-0001. Work will be performed at the contractor’s facility in Danbury, Connecticut, with an estimated completion date of May 22, 2022. Fiscal 2020 research and development funds in the amount of $6,500,000 were obligated at the time of award. Space Development Agency, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (HQ0850-20-C-0004).
27 May 20. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $393,846,014 modification (P00008) to previously awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract N00019-19-D-0015. This modification increases the ceiling to produce and deliver Ancillary Mission Equipment (AME)/Pilot Flight Equipment (PFE) and associated AME/PFE initial spares in support of F-35 Lot 14 aircraft deliveries for the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, non-Department of Defense participants and Foreign Military Sales customer’s operational aircraft. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be complete by September 2023. No funds are obligated at time of award and funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
27 May 20. Triumph Group’s subsidiary Triumph Systems & Support has secured a contract extension for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services on an international CH-47 Chinook fleet. As part of the long-term agreement, the company’s Systems, Electronics and Controls (SEC) will deliver MRO services for the Chinook fleet’s EMC-32T hydromechanical fuel control, technical support and product investigations. Under the six-year contract, the company will deliver the services out of its West Hartford, Connecticut, US, repair station. Additionally, the site will design and manufacture the EMC-32T hydromechanical fuel control unit and offer MRO services for the engine component. (Source: airforce-technology.com)
26 May 20. Ultra Electronics’ (ULE) Erapsco joint venture with Sparton has been awarded $205m (£168m) of subcontracts by the US Navy to manufacture sonobuoys. These are part of the five-year ‘indefinite delivery indefinite quantity’ (IDIQ) contract secured in August last year and are worth $102m to Ultra. Production is expected to be completed by March 2022. (Source: Investors Chronicle)
TECHNOLOGY
27 May 20. Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (NASDAQ: CMTL) announced today that during its third quarter of fiscal 2020, its Tempe, Arizona-based subsidiary, Comtech EF Data Corp., which is part of Comtech’s Commercial Solutions segment, received a $4.7m contract for engineering services from a large prime U.S. Department of Defense (“DoD”) contractor to support a critical Air Force and Army Anti-jam Modem (“A3M”) program under the U.S. Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center (“SMC”). The A3M program will provide the Air Force and Army with a secure, wideband, anti-jam satellite communications terminal modem for tactical satellite communication operations. The jam-resistant modems will support SMC’s Protected Tactical Waveform technology, an anti-jam capability operating on military satellite communication terminals through the Wideband Global Satcom constellation. The prime contractor was awarded a five-year, $500m ceiling, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (“IDIQ”) contract. The prime has received an initial delivery order in excess of $30m for the development and prototype phase. Comtech EF Data will be a key subcontractor providing both engineering and hardware services and has received initial funding of $501,000 with additional orders expected during the Company’s fourth quarter. Once development is completed, Comtech EF Data expects to receive significant hardware orders in future periods during the production phase. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
27 May 20. Kromek (AIM: KMK), a worldwide supplier of detection technology focusing on the medical, security screening and nuclear markets, headquartered in Durham, has this morning announced that it has been awarded an extension to its contract with by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (“DARPA”), an agency of the US Department of Defense, to detect and identify pathogens in an urban environment. Under the terms of the new contract, Kromek has been awarded up to $5.2m to further work on its mobile wide-area bio-surveillance system capable of detecting airborne pathogens. The total contract period is up to June 2021. The completed system aims to extend the existing SIGMA network for biological threats as part of DARPA’s SIGMA+ initiative. (brief FYI: Sigma + calls for the development of highly sensitive detectors and advanced intelligence analytics to detect minute traces of various substances related to weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threats.) The miniaturised system will be capable of detecting viruses and bacteria and is intended to be located on vehicles to detect the presence of a pathogenic threat. The small, unmanned system that will run all day will also be capable of being used in high footfall areas, such as hospitals and airports. This follows successful completion of the base period of the contract which was awarded by DARPA in December 2018 to develop a vehicle-mounted biological-threat identifier.
21 May 20. Leidos (NYSE:LDOS), a FORTUNE® 500 science and technology leader, has been awarded a new prime contract by the General Services Administration (GSA). The contract directs Leidos to develop and refresh software as well as upgrade capabilities for the Army’s Unmanned Aircraft System Ground Control Station – Version 4 (UASGCS-V4). The single award, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract has a one-year base period of performance and three one-year option years. If all options are exercised, the contract holds a total value of approximately $53m. Work will primarily be performed in Huntsville, Ala. Through this contract, Leidos will provide engineering services for technical and logistics support, including software development. Leidos will also support integration of this design solution into the Universal Ground Control Station (UGCS) as well as system qualification, certification and operational testing for multiple UAS platforms. Leidos will deliver a software solution that is compatible with the common baseline and maximizes reusable efficiencies for the existing unmanned aircraft system, as well as U.S. Army, Department of Defense and commercially-available software. This will result in a simplified, efficient and integrated system that will be easier to operate, reduce the burden of training and provide the warfighting commander with maximum concept of operations (CONOP) flexibility. This solution is essential for unmanned aircraft ground control station operators to see where they need to go, locate enemies and execute their mission. (Source: PR Newswire)
REST OF THE WORLD
LAND
26 May 20. Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace has secured a contract to deliver Protector Remote Weapon Stations (RWS) to the Canadian Army. The contract, awarded General Dynamics Land Systems – Canada, is Kongsberg’s fourth Protector RWS contract for Canada and follows previous agreements signed in 2005, 2012 and 2014. Capable of operating on land and sea, the stations are designed to be equipped with small and medium calibre weapons such as coaxial weapons and anti-tank guided missile. It features an advanced and modular sensor suite to customise situational awareness and fully stabilised 2 + 2 Axis (DLOS) system to enable better aim at targets. According to its website, Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace has delivered around 20,000 Protector RWS units to several armed forces around the world. (Source: army-technology.com)
28 May 20. Meggitt Training Systems wins Australian Defence Force contract for additional wireless virtual weapons. Meggitt Training Systems announced today it has been awarded a US $1.8m contract for 73 additional BlueFire® EF88 assault rifle wireless virtual weapons to be used by the Australian Defence Force (ADF) on its Weapon Training Simulation Systems (WTSS), also delivered by the company as a program of record. These latest EF88 weapon simulators will be used at several ADF bases throughout the country with all deliveries to take place in the first half of 2021. The
28 May 20. The U.S. State Department has OK’d a trio of packages to update Kuwait’s Patriot missile defense systems, with a combined potential price tag of $1.425bn. The three packages, announced on the website of the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Thursday, include $425m for sustainment and technical assistance, $200m for a repair and return program, and $800m for 84 Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) missile segment enhancements. DSCA notifications are not final sales; if cleared by Congress, Kuwait will then enter negotiations over the package, during which quantities and costs can shift. The potential sales “will supplement and improve Kuwait’s capability to meet current and future threats and provide greater security for its critical oil and natural gas infrastructure,” according to the DSCA. “Kuwait will use the enhanced capability to strengthen its homeland defense. Kuwait will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment and services into its armed forces.” The repair and return program involves shipping items that can’t be serviced on the ground back to the U.S. military for refurbishment, and then inducted into the military’s regular repair cycle. When the repairs are complete, the parts are shipped back to the country that owns them, which is then billed for the repairs. (Source: Defense News)