Sponsored by Oshkosh
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22 Feb 19. Oshkosh Corporation Named One of the Top 100 Most Sustainable Companies by Barron’s. Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE: OSK) today announced that it has once again been named one of Barron’s “100 Most Sustainable Companies.” First launched in February 2018, this ranking highlights U.S. companies who are leading the way in environmental, social and corporate governance factors. The Barron’s ranking was created in partnership with Calvert Research and Management, an arm of Eaton Vance. They focused on the 1,000 largest publicly traded companies by market value that are headquartered in the United States. The group then reviewed and rated each company based on five stakeholder categories: shareholders, employees, customers, planet and community. Looking at more than 230 performance indicators throughout this process, Calvert rated each company between 0-100 in each category and then calculated the company’s overall rating. Oshkosh Corporation came in at number 17 on the list.
“In the Oshkosh Corporation Family, we view sustainability holistically. It’s embedded into our strategic planning, manufacturing operations, community engagement efforts and is part of our People First culture,” said Ignacio A. Cortina, Oshkosh Corporation Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. “Receiving this award for the second consecutive year highlights our commitment to sustainability excellence.”
In addition to being named one of the Top 100 “Most Sustainable Companies,” Oshkosh Corporation is proud to be included in The Sustainability Yearbook 2019. Daniel Wild, PhD, Co-CEO of RobecoSAM stated: “We congratulate Oshkosh Corporation for achieving a place in The Sustainability Yearbook 2019, a showcase of the world’s best performing companies among industry peers and in terms of financially material ESG metrics. Launched this year under the SAM brand and now with increased public access to the percentile rankings of all companies, the Yearbook remains a highly credible source of corporate sustainability insights.” (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
28 Feb 19. New MoU to help businesses optimise supply chains. Strategic Connections Group has signed a memorandum of understanding with Valuechain UK and Anywise to create a data system to help businesses optimise their supply chains. The MoU has been in the works since all parties met at the Stategic Connections Group at Euronaval last October, with the effort formalised with the official signing at the Victorian Pavilion at Avalon Airshow.
The Victorian state government, the Australian Defence Alliance and other key stakeholders “have supported the three companies to build capacity and extend to additional markets”.
“We have been developing the support framework for Valuechain platforms here in Australia since 2016,” Adam Evans, managing director of Anywise Consulting, said.
“In seeking additional partners we have been deliberate in our search for a company such as SCG here in Victoria. With the help of the Victorian government, we have opened up more opportunities for local companies to collaborate domestically and across Europe.”
Valuechain UK has been a trailblazer in the development of digital solutions for SMEs around the globe. The partnership “builds another support node into the network”, which in turn will provide a greater reach into adjacent markets and industries.
The company said that its efforts will now shift to a national network following a successful pilot of the Victorian Defence Alliance Network, in order to connect “SME capabilities and capacities” in the cloud.
SCG is made up of a team with a “unique diversification of competencies”, be it engineering, design, freight and logistic experts, all the way through to innovation and business systems specialists.
This diversity allows the team to “support highly complex, large scale and sensitive projects”.
The company aims to connect other businesses with key stakeholders in order to help them streamline their projects.
Anywise Consulting was formed in 2014 to “address a growing need in the market”, with clients “seeking something more than body shop support”. Anywise specialises in integrating people processes and tools, forming high performing teams and helping their clients deliver challenging projects. (Source: Defence Connect)
27 Feb 19. How the US Air Force’s Kessel Run team plans to solve one of the F-35 program’s biggest headaches. Setting the weekly flying and maintenance schedule for an F-35 squadron is a weeklong process. It takes hours for multiple people to download data from the jets and comb through it, paste information into different spreadsheets, and continuously update each system. With a new app called Kronos, on track to be delivered in early March, the U.S. Air Force is hoping it can trim the amount of time for that process to 15 minutes.
Kronos was developed by the Air Force’s Kessel Run software development team as part of a new effort called Mad Hatter, which was established late last year to solve pilot and maintainer gripes with the F-35 fighter jet.
If all goes well, it could lead to a much bigger overhaul of the F-35’s troubled logistics backbone, known as the Autonomic Logistics Information System, or ALIS, said Will Roper, the Air Force’s top acquisition official.
“There are many things about ALIS that are very frustrating and time consuming,” Roper told Defense News on Feb. 12 in an exclusive interview. “The goal [of Mad Hatter] is not simply to fix ALIS within the constraints that define it. It is to make the operator — the maintainer — more efficient, to make their user experience more pleasant.”
To build Kronos, the Air Force is relying on a team of developers from Kessel Run; Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the F-35 and ALIS; and Pivotal Software, Inc., which has created software and data analytics applications for the Air Force over the past several years.
Those coders are also working with a specialized group of maintainers from Nellis Air Force Base — called the Blended Operational Lightning Technician team or BOLT — who have helped shape the product, will test it and then return feedback to the Mad Hatter team once the first iteration of Kronos has been delivered, Roper said.
“You can imagine: What do the users want? They want Wi-Fi on the flight line. We believe we can do that securely. They want to have a touch screen where they have one database that can touch ALIS and all the other tools, that translates automatically. These are not Herculean tasks,” he said.
“This is today’s technology, so the fact that we will think of this as innovation in the Air Force when it’s technology we all enjoy when we go home means we need to reboot ourselves. We need to expect this for the maintainers,” he added.
Mad Hatter is still in its earliest stages, but it has already attracted the attention of top Air Force officials, including Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, who name-dropped the effort during an October congressional hearing. “The Defense Department and the Air Force is terrible at buying software,” she acknowledged, but added that Kessel Run was changing that paradigm.
“There is a logistics system that supports the F-35 called ALIS. It cannot scale. It has got huge problems. It drives the maintainers nuts. And so we put together a team of Lockheed Martin, Air Force programmers and maintainers on the flight line,” she said. “They named themselves. The new program is called Mad Hatter, rather than ALIS. It is always the young techies that come up with something.”
Two other applications will follow closely on the heels of Kronos. Titan will help expeditors determine fleet status, assigning tasks between maintenance teams as the workflow changes. Meanwhile, Athena is built for squadron leadership and will help section chiefs ensure maintainers are trained and performing work to build competency.
“We’ll start with the BOLT [aircraft maintenance group] at Nellis — they’re going to be acting as a guinea pig or a petri dish for this code,” Roper said.
“If it works well, then there’s an option for the Air Force and the Navy to move that beyond Nellis and to deploy elsewhere,” he said. “There’s nothing about this tool that is peculiar to F-35s, so we’re thinking beyond just F-35s. Maybe F-22s can be run this way. Maybe even fourth-gen systems.”
And once Mad Hatter has a chance to prove itself with its initial apps, it may move onto a more substantial task: creating an experimental, cloud-based version of ALIS, and then helping build future software drops.
The team has begun the process of re-hosting the latest iteration of ALIS, version 3.0.1.2, on Pivotal’s cloud foundry, Roper said.
“That allows you to start breaking the code up into modules and triaging parts of the code that we think can be used as they are, or parts of the code that can be used with modification, or parts of the code that we need to change to make compatible with cloud,” he said. “It also allows us to use cloud development tools, which is a big deal.”
The bigger picture
ALIS’ problems are legion and legendary in the defense acquisition community. New software builds take more than a year to formulate and are often late. Data gaps have caused canceled missions. In a report released in January, the Pentagon’s director of test and evaluation blasted the lack of progress in fixing the logistics system’s longtime technical issues — some of which have been on the books since 2012.
“Users must employ numerous workarounds due to data and functionality deficiencies. Most capabilities function as intended only with a high level of manual effort by ALIS administrators and maintenance personnel,” the report stated.
So how did a system designed to streamline maintenance processes become such a burden?
ALIS is a proprietary system built to Defense Department standards that existed before the existence of concepts like cloud computing and DevOpps software. In order for the ALIS infrastructure to improve, it may need to move to modern, cloud-based tools, Roper said.
“There is good code there, but it’s good code in a fairly bad user interface and a bad architecture — bad in the sense that it’s 1990s technology and we’re in 2019,” he said.
“As they go through the code, think of it as apps in a smartphone, knowing that it’s an old phone that needs to improve. So we’re eventually going to ditch the ’90s flip phone, re-host on a modern smartphone, and we want to know what apps are pretty good to use, what apps can be used in part with reuse, and what things we need to recode,” he said. “It’s early, but so far a lot of the code appears reusable down at the app level.”
Fixing ALIS and moving the F-35 to a more agile software development approach is a stated goal for both Lockheed and the F-35 Joint Program Office. How exactly that happens is not set in stone.
While the Mad Hatter effort kicked off in October, teams have only been coding since January. Before that, Lockheed and the Air Force sat at the negotiating table, solidifying how much reach the government would have into ALIS and what data it would own.
Roper views Mad Hatter as a pathfinder for the program office’s own agile software development effort for F-35 Block 4 upgrades, which it calls Continuous Capability Development and Delivery.
In January, Naval Air Systems Command, which manages F-35 contracts, posted a notice stating its intent to sole-source a contract to Lockheed for “ALIS Next.” That effort “will re-design ALIS in accordance with current information technology and software development best practices,” the solicitation said.
“We’re partnering with Kessel Run on prototyping ALIS improvements for the warfighter and working closely with the JPO on a strategy for the rapid development and delivery of ALIS software driving long-term sustainability of the program,” said Reeves Valentine, Lockheed’s vice president of F-35 logistics. “Lockheed Martin is investing in ALIS to improve data integrity, reduce hardware infrastructure and labor costs, ultimately improving aircraft availability through ALIS.” (Source: Defense News)
26 Feb 19. RMIT proposes digital twins for defence aircraft. AI to manage maintenance and procurement. Researchers at RMIT University are proposing an artificially intelligent Virtual Design, Optimisation and Testing (VDOT) framework for managing defence fleet procurement and maintenance decisions. Associate professor Adrian Orifici from RMIT’s School of Engineering said understanding the mountains of incoming performance data was a major challenge defence agencies are struggling with.
“Systems like defence are now so complex that optimising and maintaining all the technology effectively is beyond human capability,” he said.
“What’s needed is an integrated environment where digital representations of systems, models and simulations – combined with new thinking in data analytics and AI – are all adding value to the flow of information and sensor data.”
He argues that the VDOT framework could do this, while also virtually testing components to evaluate mission performance for new aircraft or other assets.
It could even recommend design possible design changes based on historical performance data.
“VDOT proposes a disruptive approach, one that can help predict the cost of ownership of an aircraft that may be in service with the RAAF for up to 40 years,” Orifici said.
“This means smarter acquisition and value for money, where a new fleet can be evaluated in various battle scenarios before making a procurement decision.
“In this way, our proposed AI system would oversee the massive amounts of data from a plethora of sources to inform decisions that save time, money and potentially lives.”
Associate Dean of Aerospace Engineering and Aviation at RMIT, Professor Pier Marzocca, added that smart materials with built-in sensors would collect data for each aircraft or component on strain, repair needs and the type and number of deployments, then feed that into this system.
“In the not-too-distant future, all aircraft will have a digital twin with all the information on materials and specifications added to over time with flight data, engine data and so on,” Marzocca said.
“By harnessing these disruptive technologies to optimise complex systems, VDOT gives us the first real look of what industry 4.0 looks like for defence.”
However, Orifici said that successfully implementing VDOT or similar frameworks will require significant work in assigning responsibilities and intellectual property controls across disparate systems and databases.
“The feasibility of developing such a system has been systematically investigated and proven but complexities over access and IP security are some of the challenges to be overcome,” Orifici said.
“Our virtual framework serves as a platform offering a way forward for defence to embrace an industry 4.0 system and optimise these complex systems.”
RMIT is presenting the VDOT framework at the 18th Australian International Aerospace Congress in Melbourne this week. (Source: Google/https://www.itnews.com.au)
27 Feb 19. Textron Aviation expands Australian operations. Textron Aviation has confirmed an expansion of its Australian operations, with Premiair Aviation Maintenance appointed as the authorised service facility across a full suite of Textron Aviation platforms.
Established in 2002 in Perth, Premiair now has a national presence with additional service locations in Melbourne and the Gold Coast. Premiair’s footprint spans major markets in Australia and will allow Textron Aviation customers close access to industry-leading aircraft maintenance and support, including avionics services and upgrades, scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, structural and component repair and overhaul, and refurbishment.
The program of works includes maintenance and sustainment operations for Cessna Citation, Cessna Caravan, Beechcraft King Air, Cessna and Beechcraft piston and Hawker aircraft through multiple Premiair locations throughout Australia.
Kriya Shortt, Textron Aviation senior vice president, customer service, welcomed the announcement, saying, “Textron Aviation has long been a part of the vibrant Australian aviation community and this appointment helps ensure our customers have easy access to expert, factory authorised service for any requirement. (Source: Defence Connect)
26 Feb 19. Northrop Grumman has begun initial capability development following the recent opening of the Electronic Sustainment Centre (ESC); a sophisticated advanced defence electronics maintenance and sustainment capability centre located in Sydney, Australia.
First announced in May 2017, the ESC was established in partnership with the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to help build and expand the Commonwealth’s defence force capability across the Pacific region through advanced electronic systems – across land, sea, air and cyberspace. The facility provides the ADF with the ability to repair the next generation of mission systems such as radar, navigation, communication and electronic warfare systems. This replaces the need to return them to their overseas-based manufacturer. Having an in-country capability increases Australia’s self-reliance, speeds up repairs and reduces maintenance costs.
Additionally, the ESC will enhance the availability of major ADF platforms and systems by shortening turnaround time to repair mission-critical, complex electronic systems – saving cost and schedule. In the near future, the ESC will support advanced radar systems, including AESA radar systems. It will also support communications systems, navigation products and electronic warfare equipment.
Recently, the ESC achieved initial operating capability for repair of the AN/APN-241 Tactical Transport Radar that was employed on regional C-130s and the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) C-27Js. The ESC has also contributed to system maintenance for the RAAF’s KC-30, C-27J Spartan, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, EA-18G Growler and Triton.
As ESC’s anchor tenant, Northrop Grumman has continued to support the region’s economy by investing in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Skilled workers across the region contribute to the ESC’s advanced electronic systems by repairing and maintaining the mission-critical systems in a short and efficient manner so the ADF is ready for its mission.
26 Feb 19. Denmark chooses Marshall to provide containerised Office and Storage systems.
- Wins Second Multi-million pound framework agreement in Denmark
- Contract for Office and Storage Container Systems
- Contract won against international competition on quality and pricing
Deployable Office and Stores facilities for the Danish Armed Forces are to be provided by Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group following the award of a framework agreement, the second contract in as many weeks. The Danish Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organisation (DALO) selected Marshall following an international competition to meet the operational requirement of the Danish Armed Forces.
This second multi-million pound framework contract calls for an initial supply of containers including fitting out of the units and on-call support as required by the Danish Armed Forces.
“This is a real vote of confidence from Denmark in the capability of our Land Systems business and validates our strategy for growth and increasing focus on exports. The contract demonstrates that we have the skills to win international tenders based on our technical competence and pricing structure,” said Alistair McPhee, Chief Executive of Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group.
The deployable shelters being supplied will be standardised units fitted with air conditioning, electrical power distribution, and CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear) protection. Marshall will be fitting these with a variety of equipment including generators and ancillary equipment to be used as office, stores or briefing facilities.
This is the third export contract Marshall has won for deployable infrastructure in the last three months.
25 Feb 19. Haulmark opens trailer manufacturing facility in Adelaide, Australia. Australian company Haulmark Trailer has opened a manufacturing facility in Adelaide, which represents a significant growth in the country’s defence industry. The opening of the $15m facility was welcomed by Australian Defence Minister Christopher Pyne and Defence Industry Minister Steven Ciobo. The trailer manufacturing facility has been designed by architects Bennett Designs and built by Sitzler, making use of 100% Australian steel.
Pyne said: “The facility will have an initial workforce of 20, which is expected to ramp up to more than 30 by year’s end. The new building will support both defence and commercial customers with new trailers being manufactured from scratch while a whole of life repair and maintenance service is also available.”
Last year, the Australian Defence Department announced that Haulmark Trailer will manufacture and sustain trailers being procured under the country’s Land 121 5B programme. The department is procuring new-generation medium and heavy trucks, 872 modules and 812 trailers to enhance the land capabilities of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The Land 121 programme is designed to replace the ADF’s legacy fleet of ageing vehicles and trailers. The contract was awarded to Rheinmetall Group. The Land 121 5B programme will sustain more than 100 jobs with Haulmark in Brisbane.
Steven Ciobo said: “It’s a source of great pride to me to see a state of the art development such as this supporting our troops.” (Source: army-technology.com)
21 Feb 19. US Navy Wants Faster Ship Repairs; 70% Of Destroyer Fleet Late. If the Navy ever hopes to reach its goal of a 355-ship fleet, it won’t be by simply building new hulls and launching them. Instead, the admirals have long recognized they’ll have to extend the lives of dozens of ships already long in the tooth — and do so at a time when shipyard space is already stretched and less than half of its ships are able to complete scheduled maintenance on time.
“We’ve really got to get better than what we’re doing today,” Vice Adm. Tom Moore, head of Naval Sea Systems Command, told the West 2019 conference last week. “We’re digging out of a little bit of a maintenance backlog.” Moore and other commanders at the annual event insisted that they were getting better at getting ships in and out of maintenance availabilities, but currently only about 30 percent of destroyers are able to leave the docks on time.
The Navy is working on a plan to improve those numbers, but wholesale change in how the service schedules and contracts for repairs is needed. Key to that is private industry investing in more workers to meet the increasing demand. “We’ve got to make a concerted effort on both the public side and the private sector side to work with industry if we expect to get better,” Moore said. “If we don’t solve that piece, at the end of the day, we’re really not going to deliver the force to the combatant commanders that they need.”
Speaking to reporters after his talk, Moore delved deeper into what it’s going to take to move the needle and get ships in and out of repair availabilities on a more predictable schedule. The Navy has taken steps to increase the capacity of shipyards, and is working on ways to change the acquisition strategy to work with private shipyards to get even more capacity. Moore said that over the next six months, “you’ll see some real sea changes in how we’re going to contract for surface ship maintenance for the private sector that will incentivize them to build more capacity.”
Shipyards and companies in the private sector hire workers for specific projects, but the Navy usually issues a contract just a few months before a ship pulls in for work on a one-off contract, it doesn’t provide the shipyards an incentive to think long-term.
“Industry has got to hire more,” Moore said. “We got to build a system that incentivizes industry to have the right people there, so I think you’re going to see a real sea change in the way we’re working to acquire repair work,” that will give industry a longer view of the maintenance schedule.
I asked Moore about the Navy’s push toward more secrecy as to when ships are coming and going, and the Dynamic Force Employment concept, which will see ships leave port, only to return early from a deployment, and then head out again at an unpredictable time. Won’t that cause havoc in the push for more predictability he had been talking about?
“Operations come first,” he said. “There are ways we can incorporate the thought process of dynamic force employment and still give industry enough predictability.” But he recognized that the model of predictable unpredictability may be tough to square with the push on the back end for more predictability. “It’s something that the maintenance community is going to have to wrestle with,” he conceded. “We’re going to have to think our way carefully though this.”
Another big change the Navy says it wants to pursue is in how it monitors the readiness of the force, which is tied closely to refit and repair. The failures of keeping a ship’s systems up and running was seen in the deadly collision of the USS Fitzgerald with a cargo ship in the Pacific in 2017, which killed seven sailors. We don’t know enough about the USS McCain collision to say with certainty that maintenance was key.
“We need some fundamental changes in how we approach readiness, how we generate it, analyze it, measure it, [and] integrate it,” Fleet Forces commander Adm. Christopher Grady said at the conference.
Grady mentioned the possibility of bringing a chief readiness officer to manage all this, as well as standing up a Fleet Analytics Office to crunch the data and do analysis. “We also need to assess whether we have a modern IT structure in place to support these efforts across the Navy’s readiness exercise,” he said, including AI and other automated tools to “accelerate our decision-making by suggesting decision options that might not have been aware if we had relied only on human actions alone.”
Neither Moore or Grady offered any specifics to indicate where their initiatives may be headed. But it’s clear that in the wake of the Fitzgerald and McCain tragedies, uncertainty over future defense budgets, and Navy CNO Richardson’s comments recently that he’s rethinking the 355-ship-feet goal, that the service’s top admirals are putting everything on the table. (Source: glstrade.com/Breaking Defense.com)
25 Feb 19. Holmwood Highgate wins US Army contract. Queensland-based Holmwood Highgate, in partnership with MERRILL Technologies Group, has been awarded a US Army petroleum and water systems (PAWS) contract valued at nearly US$1m. The contract will see the development of a mobile tactical retail refuelling system (MTRRS) prototype, as well as field representative support. The MTRRS will be required to be a bulk fuel carrier and retail dispenser for military vehicles and ground support equipment, providing fuel “at the manoeuvre level in all operational requirements”.
The system will also provide fuel storage, filtration and unit-level retail capabilities with the ability to refuel ground vehicles, ground equipment and fuel containers.
“If it wasn’t for our success with Australia’s Land 121 3B and 5B program, we would not have this opportunity. Being able to design and develop in-house a capability that had world first requirements for a platform such as that program gave us the confidence to head overseas and promote our capability,” said Holmwood Highgate chief executive director Wade Mellish.
“This is certainly another export win for Australia’s defence industry. We owe a lot to the Team Defence Australia program, the Australian Military Sales Office, CDIC and Austrade. They have been instrumental in helping us realize our true potential.”
“Partnering with our allies to keep soldiers, both home and abroad, safe and armed with the most effective equipment is something we take very seriously,” said MERRILL CEO and president Robert Yackel.
“In selecting our team, the US Army is able to capitalize on MERRILL’s proven technical design, development, manufacturing and testing expertise, as well as Holmwood Highgate’s more than 66 years of fuel tank and pump system expertise. Our solution will exceed all MTRRS requirements.” Yackel said. (Source: Defence Connect)
22 Feb 19. TLMAL achieves C-130J Super Hercules empennage production milestone. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics’ joint venture (JV) with Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) has achieved a milestone with the delivery of the 100th C-130J Super Hercules empennage. The delivery was carried out from its manufacturing facility located in the Indian city of Hyderabad. The JV is known as Tata Lockheed Martin Aerostructures Limited (TLMAL). It was formed in 2010 and aims to further progress the Indian Government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative.
TLMAL has a workforce of 500 and serves as the sole global source of C-130J empennage assemblies that are installed on Super Hercules aircraft produced at Lockheed Martin’s Marietta plant in Georgia, US.
TASL CEO and managing director Sukaran Singh said: “The JV has been a great example of successful US-India Industrial partnership and a testimony to Lockheed Martin’s and Tata’s intent of developing aerospace manufacturing in India. The Hyderabad facility produces assemblies such as the Super Hercules aircraft’s horizontal and vertical stabilisers, as well as leading edges and tip assemblies.
“C-130Js are designed to support search and rescue, peacekeeping, combat delivery, maritime patrol, special operations, aerial refuelling, medical evacuation and humanitarian response missions.”
It previously manufactured sets of C-130J centre wing box components. In May, TLMAL launched a 4,700m² metal-to-metal bonding facility.
Lockheed Martin international programmes for air mobility & maritime missions vice-president Karmyn Norwood said: “The C-130J has a global presence both in its operations, as well as within its core structure, as exemplified by its TLMAL-built empennage.
“I’ve been privileged to watch our TLMAL partnership grow significantly in terms of capability over the past few years. This growth is due, in large part, to the outstanding team that builds these empennages.”
C-130Js are designed to support search and rescue, peacekeeping, combat delivery, maritime patrol, special operations, aerial refuelling, medical evacuation and humanitarian response missions.
In addition to C-130Js, TLMAL empennages are included in the LM-100J, the commercial variant of the Super Hercules. (Source: airforce-technology.com)
22 Feb 19. Moog to support F-35 MRO work in Australia. Moog Australia has been selected to support the repair, overhaul and upgrade of the F-35 aircraft components in Australia, the company announced on 20 February. The company will provide support for the F-35’s Electrohydrostatic Actuator, Leading Edge Flap Actuation System and the Wingfold Actuation System.
Moog is among seven companies, including BAE Systems Australia, Northrop Grumman Australia and General Electric Aviation, to support Australia’s Asia-Pacific regional assignment awarded by the US F-35 Joint Program Office to provide component maintenance repair and overhaul services, in the next round of assignments, for 343 out of a possible 388 components.
Bryan O’Connor, managing director, Moog Australia, said: ‘The F-35 will play a key role in Australia’s future defence strategy and Moog is proud to be supporting this endeavour in-country by providing our cutting edge technology from the US to Australia, allowing us to build sovereign capability to support the F-35 fleet. Developing this capability is part of Moog’s ongoing commitment and support to Australian defence.’ Work will be performed at Moog’s facility in Melbourne, Australia. (Source: Shephard)
21 Feb 19. Comtech wins incremental funding for US Army’s BFT-1 sustainment. Comtech Telecommunications’ Command & Control Technologies group has received incremental funding for the US Army’s Blue Force Tracking (BFT-1) sustainment contract. The five-year BFT-1 sustainment support contract was awarded originally in April 2017 for the US Army’s Project Manager Mission Command (PM MC) BFT-1 programme. The $1.1m incremental funding for sustainment support is for Option Period One of the BFT-1 contract. It increases the funding for Option Period One to $7.3m and the cumulative total contract funding to $14.1m. BFT-1 battle command, real-time situational awareness and control system is designed to locate friendly military forces, as well as provide the capability to send and receive text and image messages.
Commenting on the funding, Comtech Telecommunications Corp president and chief executive officer Fred Kornberg said: “This additional funding demonstrates the continued commitment that the Comtech team provides to the US Army and emphasises the importance of the BFT-1 sustainment effort for our US military.
“Comtech remains committed to providing the US Army and its soldiers with the highest level of support to enable them to complete their missions.”
Under the contract, Comtech will continue to provide engineering services, satellite network operations and programme management.
Option Period One’s base performance period commenced on 15 April 2018 and ends on 14 April 2019.
The contract also offers three additional twelve-month option periods that are exercisable by the General Services Administration.
The services are provided by the company through a firm fixed price (FFP) contract with time and materials (T&M) and cost reimbursement elements. (Source: army-technology.com)
22 Feb 19. PTC and IFS Partner to Deliver Powerful Field Service Management and Aerospace & Defence Solutions that Optimise People and Parts. Collaboration represents the coming together of two influential leaders, PTC with Servigistics, the industry-leading service parts optimisation solution, and IFS with best-in-class solutions for field service management, aerospace & defence asset management and aviation maintenance.
IFS, the global enterprise applications company, and PTC today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement for a strategic collaboration expected to increase value for customers who differentiate their brand on service excellence and asset readiness across verticals like A&D, heavy industrials and high tech.
IFS and PTC will integrate PTC’s Servigistics® Service Parts Management solution with IFS Field Service Management™, IFS Applications™, and IFS Maintenix™ solutions. The integrated offering will allow companies to increase equipment uptime and service part availability as well as improve service delivery and execution efficiency.
“We are excited to partner with IFS to integrate our solutions and pursue new frontiers of innovation in connected service delivery,” said Leslie Paulson, General Manager, Servigistics Business Unit. “Having the right part in the right place at the right time has never been more important. We’re pleased to be working with IFS to enable companies to differentiate their service and maintenance operations.”
Marne Martin, President of IFS Service Management, said, “Servigistics is hands down the most proven industry-leading service parts optimisation solution. We believe that integrating our solutions will drive significant transformative change.”
Scott Helmer, President of IFS’s Aerospace & Defence business unit, added, “By combining IFS’s industry expertise in A&D including land, sea and air, with the outstanding parts optimisation functionality of Servigistics, we are setting a new benchmark for how aerospace and defence organisations plan and execute maintenance, repair and overhaul of their valuable assets.”
In today’s fast-paced experience economy there is no margin for error when mission-critical equipment is down. Organisations focused on delighting their customers must be capable of avoiding downtime when possible through smart, connected products and IoT platforms like the ThingWorx® industrial IoT platform, and, when necessary, restoring equipment uptime quickly and efficiently. Dispatching the right technician, or the right parts, and getting them to the right location is imperative and ensuring the availability of critical service parts is paramount to first-time fixes and delighted customers.
Commenting about the FSM benefits of the agreement, Aly Pinder, Program Director, Service Innovation & Connected Products, IDC said, “The collaboration between PTC and IFS connects two critical aspects of service – field execution and service parts management. To remain competitive and deliver enhanced service experiences, it is crucial to have the right service part available for a service technician to fix an issue promptly and during the first visit. Integrating these two solutions has the potential to aid manufacturers and service organisations in the efficient resolution of customer issues.”
Adan Deroche, Assistant Director Customer Care Operations, Sysmex America Inc. said, “We have experienced value from Servigistics and IFS independently and are excited to explore how these benefits can synergise.”
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About Oshkosh Defense
Oshkosh Defense is a leading provider of tactical wheeled vehicles and life cycle sustainment services. For decades Oshkosh has been mobilizing military and security forces around the globe by offering a full portfolio of heavy, medium, light and highly protected military vehicles to support our customers’ missions. In addition, Oshkosh offers advanced technologies and vehicle components such as TAK-4® independent suspension systems, TerraMax™ unmanned ground vehicle solutions, Command Zone™ integrated control and diagnostics system, and ProPulse® diesel electric and on-board vehicle power solutions, to provide our customers with a technical edge as they fulfill their missions. Every Oshkosh vehicle is backed by a team of defense industry experts and complete range of sustainment and training services to optimize fleet readiness and performance. Oshkosh Defense, LLC is an Oshkosh Corporation company [NYSE: OSK].
To learn more about Oshkosh Defense, please visit us at www.oshkoshdefense.com.
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