Air Force Leads UAS Purchasing
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o news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River economic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.
The Navy’s UAS purchasing is growing the fastest, but a recent market research study shows the Air Force leads DoD’s buying of unmanned aerial systems. The UAV market was once dominated by the Army. Washington Technology reports.
Defense News reports Poland will consider offers to acquire new medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) drones. Poland announced last year its military would purchase larger combat UAVs either from the US or Israel. Polish military is aiming to acquire some 350 UAVs by 2019.
US State Department OK’d the sale of nearly 3,000 small diameter bombs to Australia, a deal estimated at $386 million, The Diplomat reports. The precision bombs can be integrated into the weapons bay of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters the country has purchased.
US Marines participated in the Phl-US Balikatan 2016 joint military exercises in Manila, Philippines, The Philippine Star reports. Six non-explosive rounds were fired using the M142 High Artillery Rocket System platform. The testing, part of ongoing war games, discovers possible interference during the drills.
Islamic State group could be capable of conducting cyberattacks on the US, IBTimes.com reports. ISIS had “harnessed the power of the information arena” for propaganda of their ideology, ADM Michael Rogers told the Senate Armed Services Committee. ADM Rogers oversees the military’s cyberspace operations.
The 610-foot-long Navy destroyer Zumwalt is undergoing its builder’s sea trial to check all of the ship’s features and identify any fixes. A Defense News reporter is “At Sea Aboard the Zumwalt.”
FlightGlobal.com reports NASA is again considering whether to launch a public competition to develop large stratospheric airships, a capability that has eluded the US military despite several costly attempts. NASA first floated the idea of a stratospheric airship challenge in 2014.
American Electronics Inc., California, MD, is being awarded a $45,383,063 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for engineering and technical services for the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division’s Air Traffic Control and Landing Systems Division in support of the Navy and the government of the United Kingdom. Services to be provided include system test planning and system test and evaluation; and development of procedures, specifications, and test planning for systems. Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, MD (58 percent); Patuxent River, MD (21 percent); California, MD (16 percent); Jacksonville, FL (4 percent); and various shipboard and site locations throughout the US (1 percent), and is expected to be completed in April 2021. No funds will be obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual delivery orders as they are issued. This contract competitively procured as a 100 percent small business set-aside; two offers were received. This contract combines purchases for the Navy ($44,929,233; 99 percent) and the government of the United Kingdom ($453,830; 1 percent) under the Foreign Military Sales program. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, MD, is the contracting activity.
