Webster Field Abuzz With UAS Activity
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Forty-five teams from all over the world descended on Webster Field last month for the 15th Annual Student Unmanned Aircraft System Competition, The Tester reports. The three-day UAS contest was hosted by the Seafarer Chapter of the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.
NASA has been developing new designs for supersonic aircraft, with a focus on reducing the strength of the sonic booms, Space.com reports. Last week, the Quiet Supersonic Transport, or QueSST, passed a preliminary design review.
North Korea launched a two-stage missile on July 4; CNN broke the news that US intelligence will classify the second stage as a brand-new missile. Whatever the unseen portion did gives North Korean missile the potential to reach Alaska. China, North Korea’s main ally, issued a joint statement with Russia that calls for a halt to missile tests in exchange for the US and South Korea suspending their large-scale military exercises, reports South China Morning Post. The Washington Post reported the US Army and South Korean military responded Wednesday to North Korea’s latest launch with their own exercise of missiles into South Korean territorial waters along the country’s eastern coastline.
Beijing sent warships and fighter jets to warn off a US naval destroyer that sailed close to a disputed island in the South China Sea, reports South China Post. The Chinese called it a serious provocation that strained bilateral ties. Reuters reports the vessel was the USS Stethem, a guided-missile destroyer that sailed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island.
China protests President Donald Trump’s plan to sell $1.3 billion in arms to Taiwan, reports Bloomberg. The sale includes early-warning surveillance radar, anti-radar, air-launched missiles, and naval torpedoes, but is smaller than past deals, such as the $5.9 billion sale offered by President Barack Obama in 2011.
Russia will deploy military police to security zones in Syria, says the Washington Examiner, to de-escalation zones in the western part of the country. Operations are being finalized as Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, with Russian help, pushes closer to regaining control of the west from rebels and US-backed coalition forces are engaged in an effort to defeat the Islamic State group.
Scout.com suggests the current defense budget fight unfolding in Washington, DC, suggests that the modernization of the Air Force’s fleet will take much longer than hoped. “Patching up aging airplanes is an accepted part of life in the US Air Force,” the articles reads.
Some members of the Senate Armed Services Committee believe that reducing housing stipends received by dual military couples could produce significant savings for the Defense Department, Military Times reports. The proposal echoes recommendations from Army auditors, but ultimately rejected by Pentagon leadership and lawmakers.
Can innovation and sole sourcing go hand in hand, Washington Technology asks of the new Trump administration’s approach to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Northrop Grumman keeps Marine software contract, Washington Technology reports, winning a potential four-year, $93 million contract to develop and maintain corps’ systems and applications used in command and control functions.
Kay Bailey Hutchison, a former Republican senator from Texas, has been nominated to be the US ambassador to NATO, Military Times reports.
General Dynamics Mission Systems, Fair Lakes, Virginia, is being awarded a $22,633,571 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-09-C-6246) to exercise options for the accomplishment of the AN/BYG-1 weapons control system technology insertion and advanced processing build software upgrade. Work will be performed in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and is expected to be completed by June 2019. Fiscal 2017 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); and fiscal 2017 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $2,609,604 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.
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Linthicum, Maryland, is being awarded $15,471,609 for firm-fixed-price job order N0016417FW090 under a previously awarded basic ordering agreement (N00164-13-G-WT15). The requirement is for spare parts to support organic depot repairs of the AN/ALQ-240 Electronic Support Measures system. The AN/ALQ-240 provides rapid detection, classification, and geographical location of ground based radar systems to provide situational awareness to the P-8A aircraft. Work will be performed in Linthicum, Maryland (75 percent); San Jose, California (10 percent); Ashburn, Virginia (5 percent); Baltimore, Maryland (5 percent); and Fort Walton Beach, Florida (5 percent), and is expected to be completed by October 2020. Fiscal 2015 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $15,471,609 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of fiscal year. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Crane, Indiana, is the contracting activity.
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Linthicum, Maryland, is being awarded $10,491,865 for firm-fixed-price job order N0016417FW094 under previously awarded basic ordering agreement N00164-15-G-WS82. The requirement is for spare parts to be used to repair the AN/ALQ-240 Electronic Support Measures system at intermediate-level repair sites. The AN/ALQ-240 provides rapid detection, classification and geographical location of ground-based radar systems to provide situational awareness to the P-8A aircraft. The Navy’s P-8A Poseidon aircraft also includes capabilities such as long-range anti-submarine, anti-surface, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in support of broad-area maritime and littoral operations. Work will be performed in Linthicum, Maryland (75 percent); San Jose, California (10 percent); Ashburn, Virginia (5 percent); Baltimore, Maryland (5 percent); and Fort Walton Beach, Florida (5 percent), and is expected to be completed by October 2020. Fiscal 2015 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $10,491,865 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. In accordance with 10 US Code 2304(c)(1), this job order was not competitively procured. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Crane, Indiana, is the contracting activity.
NetCentrics Corp., Herndon, Virginia, is being awarded a modification to a cost reimbursement contract for $15,751,887 to obtain Joint Service Provider Information Technology Service Delivery Support Services for Washington Headquarters Services (WHS), the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Pentagon Force Protection Agency, and the WHS supported organizations. The primary place of work performance will be in the National Capital Region, including the Pentagon, Mark Center, and Crystal City, Virginia. The expected completion date is June 30, 2018. Fiscal 2017 operations and maintenance funds are being obligated at the time of the award. Washington Headquarters Services, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting office (HQ0034-17-C-0057).
Imagine One Technology & Management, Ltd., Lexington Park, Maryland, was awarded a SeaPort-e Task Order for Navy Maritime Maintenance Enterprise Solution Sustainment and Modernization support. The objective of this $167 million dollar task order, one of the largest Seaport-e small business procurements to date, is to provide operations support and sustainment services for systems engineering, testing, and evaluation of hardware and software information technology systems, hardware design, procurement assistance, systems integration, software maintenance, data center operations support, and information technology management. Task Order requirements include program and project management support, development of end items resulting from maintenance activities, and life-cycle support for existing or proposed solutions; support services will ensure the successful programming (for the purpose of sustainment), testing, training, deployment, implementation, and operation of Naval Shore Based Maintenance systems managed by Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) 04. NAVSEA 04 I, Information Resource Management Division, in support of the Ship Maintenance Community (SMC).Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a not-to-exceed $43,974,520 modification P00001 to a previously awarded advance acquisition contract (N00019-17-C-0001). This modification provides additional funding for long-lead time materials, parts, components, and effort for production of five additional low-rate initial production Lot 12 F-35B Lightning II aircraft. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (30 percent); El Segundo, California (25 percent); Warton, United Kingdom (20 percent); Orlando, Florida (10 percent); Nashua, New Hampshire (5 percent); Nagoya, Japan (5 percent); and Baltimore, Maryland (5 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2017. Fiscal 2017 aircraft procurement (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $43,974,520 are being obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $30,000,000 not-to-exceed modification to a previously awarded advance acquisition contract (N00019-16-C-0033) for additional engineering and hardware assembly services in support of the F-35 low-rate initial production Lot 11 aircraft for the government of Japan under the Foreign Military Sales program. Work will be performed in Nagoya, Japan (80 percent); and Baltimore, Maryland (20 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2018. Foreign military sales funds in the amount of $30,000,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
