New Ops Center for Atlantic Test Ranges
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economic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.
Construction of a new operations center at Pax River for the US Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division’s Atlantic Test Ranges has begun. A ground-breaking ceremony was held Aug. 24. The project will boost the ATR’s ability to support simultaneous test operations for future and current naval aviation programs, including unmanned systems and virtual, live, and constructive battlespace environments, Shephard Media reports. The center should be completed in 2017.
SpaceX faces a stark accounting after Thursday’s explosion of a Falcon 9 rocket during engine testing at Cape Canaveral, FL, Breaking Defense reports. Few details have been available, though a company officials tweeted this: “Loss of Falcon vehicle [Sept. 1] during propellant fill operation. Originated around upper stage oxygen tank. Cause still unknown.”
The $1 trillion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has taken plenty of lumps in recent years, but the plane is proving that it is a “double threat from the sky,” The Fiscal Times reports. Despite the Pentagon’s aspirations to develop a truly joint aircraft system that spans the military services, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning system is essentially three distinct aircrafts with different flying capabilities: The F-35A uses a conventional takeoff; the F-35B with short takeoff and vertical landing capabilities, and the F-35 C launched from aircraft carriers.
The US Marine Corps lobbies for laser weapons added to its version of the F-35, Defense Systems reports. Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, USMC deputy commandant of combat development and integration, said directed energy weapons would lighten the fighter aircraft’s load by reducing the amount of “kinetic ordnance” and fuel its F-35s would have to carry.
DefenseWorld.net reports, South Korea will likely purchase four of Boeing’s P-8 Poseidon antisubmarine patrol aircraft after North Korea’s recent successful test-firing of a submarine launched ballistic missile. The P-8 Poseidon costs between $223 million to $268 million per jet.
An Oklahoma Army National Guard unit takes center stage in “Citizen Soldier,” a documentary that tracks members of the 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team during and after their 2011 deployment to Afghanistan, Army Times reports.
Black Dart, DoD’s formerly classified counter-drone exercise, is expanding to Eglin Air Force Base this year, in search of more space and more capabilities, including ships, Breaking Defense reports. “Eglin will allow us to deliver added uncertainty in the way of providing multiple locations for launching UAS at different distances so we can explore the full nature of the threat and the full nature of the [defensive] capability,” Navy Lt. Cdr. Ryan Leary, the exercise’s director, said.
President Obama confirmed last week plans to cap the military pay raise at 1.6 percent next year, a move which lawmakers and military advocates have already warned will hurt military families’ personal finances, Military Times reports.
Production of the first “new” K-MAX has begun, Aviation Week reports. The single-engine, single-seat utility helicopter is designed for repetitive life operations. It’s been more than a dozen years since the last Kaman K-MAX K-1200 rolled off the production line, after only 38 of these “aerial trucks” were produced.
The Hindu Times reports the Pentagon has backed proposals from Boeing and Lockheed Martin to manufacture top-line fighter aircraft as part of the Make in India initiative. The proposals, including breakthrough offers on transfer of technology and licenses, were conveyed by US DefSec Ashton Carter last week.
The US Army plans to start operating a $4.5 billion plant at the military’s Pueblo Chemical Depot in southern Colorado that will destroy the nation’s largest remaining stockpile of mustard agent, complying with an international treaty that bans chemical weapons, The Associated Press reports.
A Sept. 19 arraignment is set for owners and officials of a company charged with conspiracy involving 7,800 tons of potentially explosive M6 artillery propellant abandoned in 2013 at a Louisiana facility. They’re accused of submitting government forms falsely claiming they had sold large amounts of demilitarized M6 to various buyers and lying to get contracts to “demilitarize” quantities of the propellant, storing it unsafely and obstructing inspections, Army Times reports.
Contracts:
The American Society for Engineering Education, Washington, District of Columbia, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $42,406,097 modification (P00023) to previously awarded contract FA9550-11-C-0028 for the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Program Fellowship Class 6. The contract modification provides funding for stipends and other allowable expenses for the selected fellows on a cost-reimbursable basis. The location of performance is Washington, District of Columbia. The work is expected to be completed by Aug. 31, 2019. Fiscal 2016 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $42,406,097 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., Greenbelt, Maryland, is being awarded a $29,435,000 firm-fixed-price contract for the construction of temporary medical facilities at Naval Support Activity Bethesda. The work to be performed provides for construction of temporary modular medical/clinical facilities for medical staff, patients, and visitors to supplement vacated space during the demolition on the Bethesda campus. Work will be performed in Bethesda, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by December 2017. Fiscal 2013 military construction (Defense-wide) contract funds in the amount of $29,435,000 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with two proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N40080-16-C-0172).
Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded an $18,000,000 fixed-price-incentive, firm-target modification to a previously awarded advance acquisition contract (N00019-16-C-0033). This modification provides for long lead time materials, parts, components and effort required to maintain the planned production schedule for one F-35A low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lot 11 aircraft, and two F-35A and one F-35B LRIP Lot 12 aircraft for a non-US Department of Defense participant in the F-35 program. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (55 percent); El Segundo, California (15 percent); Warton, United Kingdom (10 percent); Orlando, Florida (5 percent); Nashua, New Hampshire (5 percent); Baltimore, Maryland (5 percent); and Cameri, Italy (5 percent), and is expected to be completed in January 2021. Non-US Department of Defense participant funds in the amount of $18,000,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Annapolis, Maryland, is being awarded a $16,393,168 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-13-C-6412 to exercise option year three for the production of MK54 Mod 0 lightweight torpedo (LWT) array kits, factory test equipment, production support material, and related engineering and hardware repair services for upgrade of Navy LWTs. Although the MK54 Mod 0 LWT is primarily intended as an anti-submarine torpedo for littoral scenarios, its basic capabilities includes operation in both shallow and deep water acoustic environmental conditions, and exceeds MK46 anti-submarine warfare capabilities in deep-water scenarios. This option exercise will also provide the Navy with factory test equipment, production support material, and related engineering and hardware repair services for upgrade of Navy LWTs. This contract combines purchases for the Navy (98 percent); and the government of Thailand (2 percent) under the Foreign Military Sales program. Work will be performed in Lititz, Pennsylvania (41 percent); Annapolis, Maryland (30 percent); and Santa Barbara, California (29 percent), and is expected to be completed by November 2018. Fiscal 2016 weapons procurement (Navy); and foreign military sales funding in the amount of $16,393,168 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.
CACI Inc. – Federal, Chantilly, Virginia, is being awarded $10,144,285 for modification P00024 to extend the previously single awarded, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00189-10-D-Z006) for logistics and training support in shipboard non-tactical automated data processing and Navy tactical communications support systems management to designated Navy and Marine Corps activities. This modification to the existing contract is to extend the period of performance, bringing the total estimated contract value to $227,103,827. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia (35 percent); San Diego, California (35 percent); various locations throughout the continental US and the world (20 percent); and Cherry Point, North Carolina (10 percent). Work is expected to be completed by January 2017. No funding will be obligated at the time of award. Subject to availability of funds, fiscal 2017 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds will be obligated as individual task orders are issued, and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This modification is a non-competitive action in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-2, using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(2), citing unusual and compelling urgency. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity.
Zel Technologies Inc. (Zel Tech), Hampton, Virginia, has been awarded a $165,272,923 ceiling, cost-plus-award-fee task order under the General Services Administration (GSA) One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) Small Business Pool 4 contract to provide the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Agency (JIDA) with expertise in research, experimental development, and rapid acquisition; development and fielding of counter-threat technologies; and delivering urgent mission solutions in support of operations throughout the globe. Zel Tech will identify and maintain an understanding of risks, vulnerabilities, and capability gaps of the Joint Force to drive rapid assessments, thus enabling informed investments in counter-threat technologies and non-materiel solutions within the combatant command’s latest time of value. This task order assists JIDA enable Department of Defense actions to counter improvised threats with tactical responsiveness and through anticipatory, rapid acquisition in support of combatant command’s efforts to prepare for, and adapt to, battlefield surprise in support of counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency, and other related mission areas including counter-improvised explosive device. Work will predominantly be performed in Virginia and the National Capital Region; however, contractor personnel will also be embedded as needed with globally deployed U.S. forces. The expected completion date is Aug. 31, 2021. Joint IED Defeat funds in the amount of $2,652,877 are being obligated at the time of award. This task order was a competitive acquisition and three offers were received. GSA Federal Systems Integration and Management Center is the contracting activity, in support of JIDA (GSQ0016AJ0017). (Awarded on Sept. 1, 2016)
