FRES-U finalists: There
can be only one…
(click to view full)

Many of Britain’s army vehicles are old and worn, and the necessities of hard service on the battlefield are only accelerating that wear. The multi-billion pound “Future Rapid Effects System” (FRES) aims to recapitalize the core of Britain’s armored vehicle fleet over the next decade or more, filling many of the same medium armor roles as the Stryker Family of armored wheeled vehicles and/or the Future Combat Systems’ Manned Ground Vehicle family. Current estimates indicate a potential requirement for over 3,700 FRES vehicles, including utility and reconnaissance variants. Even so, one should be cautioned that actual numbers bought usually fall short of intended figures for early-stage defense programs.

The FRES program was spawned by the UK’s withdrawal from the German-Dutch-UK Boxer MRAV modular wheeled APC program, in order to develop a more deployable vehicle that fit Britain’s exact requirements. Those initial requirements were challenging, however, and experience in Iraq and Afghanistan led to decisions that removed a number of FRES requirements including weight. The UK MoD has taken some criticism for its selection of wheeled APCs as its FRES-U infantry fighting vehicle finalists, and even more criticism for making the Boxer MRAV one of those finalists after spending all that time and sterling on FRES development. The MoD is defending its choices, however, and has now declared a winner…

• FRES: The Program (Continue reading…) [updated]
• FRES: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
• Appendix 1 – The British Army’s Armored Vehicle Fleet, late 2006
• Appendix 2 – A New Procurement Approach: System House Challenges
• Appendix 3 – FRES: Key Challenges for the Contractors
• Appendix 4 – FRES Experiments: Electronic Architecture Contracts
• Appendix 5 – FRES Experiments: Vehicle-Related Contracts
  
  Continue Reading… »

Kellogg, Brown & Root Services, Inc. in Houston, TX, which is now an independent company, received a $24.6 million firm-fixed price and cost-reimbursement contract for Kosovo support services. Work will be performed in Texas, Germany and Kosovo, and is expected to be completed by July 31/11. The original $68.2 million contract was announced on June 23/05, and was slated to last until June 2010. An Oct 5/07 announcement noted that the ceiling was now $70.3 million, and also extended the period to July 31/11.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Winchester, VA originally solicited 66 bids on Sept 29/03, and 3 bids were received (W912ER-05-D-0003).

LPD-17 cutaway
(click to view full)

LPD-17 San Antonio Class amphibious assault support vessels are a new class of ship which is just entering service with the US Navy. Much like their predecessors, their mission is to embark, transport, land, and support elements of a US Marine Corps Landing Force. What changes are the capabilities and technologies incorporated to perform that mission. This new ship class includes significant internal technology and design upgrades, and is designed to operate accompanying platforms like the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle amphibious armored personnel carrier.

Navy sources note that the 9 scheduled ships of this class (reduced from 12) are slated to assume the functional duties of up to 41 previous ships. Ships to be replaced include the USA’s older LSD-36 USS Anchorage Class dock landing ships (all decommissioned as of 2004, LSD-36 and LSD-38 transferred to Taiwan) and its LPD-4 USS Austin Class ships (12 built and serving, LPD 14 Trenton now India’s INS Jalashva). The San Antonio Class ships may also replace 2 classes of ships currently mothballed and held in reserve status under the Amphibious Lift Enhancement Program (ALEP): the LST-1179 Newport Class tank landing ships, and LKA-113 Charleston Class amphibious cargo ships.

Welcome to Norfolk…
(click to view full)

Replacing that many existing ships is already a very tall order. While its design incorporates notable advances, the San Antonio Class has also had its share of teething problems. So, too, has the New Orleans shipyard to which most of this contract has been assigned. Teething issues are not uncommon in new ship classes, but the number of serious issues encountered in this ship class have been higher than usual. The initial ships have been criticized for sub-standard workmanship, and costs are almost twice the originally promised amounts at over $1.5 billion per ship.

This is DID’s FOCUS Article for the San Antonio Class, detailing the ships’ unique features and capabilities as well as its program innovations and issues. We’ll also include an updated list of related contracts awarded throughout the program’s history. As has become DID custom, the most recent additions are highlighted in green type. Now, over 2 1/2 years after the initial ship of class was delivered and accepted, the San Antonio Class has reached Initial Operational Capability, and Raytheon continues to get electronics contracts to equip new ships of class…

• LPD-17 San Antonio Class: Capabilities and Features
• LPD-17 San Antonio Class: Project & Timelines
• LPD-17 San Antonio Class: Process & Issues
• LPD-17 San Antonio Class: Contracts and Events (1996-Present) [updated]
• Appendix A: Additional Readings & Sources – LPD-17 Ship Class
• Appendix B: Additional Readings & Sources – News and Views
  
  Continue Reading… »

Hill AFB in Utah has just issued a $1.5 billion multiple-vendor, indefinite delivery/ indefinite quantity contract to provide “support and source for competitive [US] Air Force and [Defense Logistics Agency] land gear (709 Air Force items, and 371 DLA items).” At this time $8 million has been committed. Winners include:

• Helicopter Tech., Inc. of King of Prussia, PA (FA8203-08-D-0001)
• Logistics Specialties, Inc. of Layton, UT (FA8203-08-D-0002)
• ES3 Prime Logistics Group, Inc. of San Diego, CA (FA8203-08-D-0003)
• Eagle Tool and Machine Co., Inc. of Springfield, OH (FA8203-08-D-0004)

RE HMMWV, changes
(click to view full,
new parts in yellow)

As “$650.1M for 4,526 Hummers” explained in mid-April 2008, the US military continues to orders Hummers by the thousands. Now AM General, LLC in South Bend, IN has received a follow-on a $522.4 million firm-fixed price contract, which will add 3,216 EA High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicles to the contract (DAAE07-01-C-S001). Work will be performed in Mishawaka, IN and is expected to be complete by Dec 31/09. One bid was solicited on March 17/06 by TACOM in Warren, MI.

The US military has begun fielding “Reliability Enhanced” M1151, M1152 and M1165 model HMMWVs. There have been some changes made, based on the harsh environment of South West Asia, increased payload demands, and some feedback from the field. The new models have been under development for about 18 months, from mid-2006, and are now in full production following durability testing by the U.S. Government.

The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast in Jacksonville, FL has issued several indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity, multiple award, design-build construction contracts for general building type projects at Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay. Each contract consists of a base year and 4 option years, for a maximum of 60 months, or a maximum value of $50 million for all contracts, whichever comes first. Each contract comes with a guaranteed minimum of $10,000, a normal procedure that helps to defray the expenses of bidding and preparing to execute contracts of this type. Expected completion date is May 2009, or May 2013, with all options exercised; contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

Work to be performed is for general building type projects (new construction, renovation, alteration, and repair of facilities and infrastructure, roofing, demolition, and routine renovation) including but not limited to: 1) aviation and aircraft facilities, 2) marine facilities, 3) barracks and personnel housing facilities, 4) administrative facilities, 5) warehouses and supply facilities, 6) training facilities, 7) personnel support and service facilities, 8) security level facilities, 9) abatement and handling of hazardous/ regulated materials.

The basic contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with 5 proposals received. Winners include:

Continue Reading… »

CH-47Fs take off
(click to view full)

Trying to make sense of government releases and contracts is challenging at the best of times. Trying to make sense of defense-related contracts takes the challenge to a whole new level. Research quickly revealed that the scattered CH-47F contracts we’ve been seeing were part of a much larger effort to recapitalize America’s CH-47 Chinook helicopter fleet. The USA expects to be operating Chinooks in their heavy-lift role past 2030, and the history and structure of that effort is detailed below thanks to some help from Boeing.

This is DID’s FOCUS Article for the CH-47F/MH-47G helicopter programs, in the USA and abroad. While the forced re-compete of the HH-47’s $10-15 billion CSAR-X program win goes on, Boeing has completed operational testing of the CH-47F, and delivery orders are in for CH-47Fs and MH-47G Special Forces configuration helicopters. The latest news involves an RFP from Canada, and an engine services contract related to SOCOM’s MH-47G…

• The New Chinooks: CH-47F, MH-47G, HH-47 (Continue reading…)
• The US Army’s Acquisition Plan, Plus Global Events & Contracts [updated]
• Appendix A: Reconciling Previous Contracts and Numbers
  
  Continue Reading… »

Afghan 7000 series
(click to view full)

The U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command recently awarded Navistar Defense a follow-on contract to provide medium tactical trucks and spare parts to the Afghanistan National Police, Afghan National Army and the Iraqi Ministry of Defense.

Under the multi-year, $1.283 billion contract, Navistar will supply 7,072 vehicles based on their severe service International 7000 Series truck. The order will include General Troop Transporter, POL (petroleum, oil and lubricant), water tankers, wreckers and hazardous material truck variants. In addition, Navistar will supply all required spare parts necessary to support several years of scheduled maintenance. Approximately half of the 2008 order will be delivered during the first year of the contract, with nearly 1,000 units expected to be delivered in FY 2008 (i.e. before Oct 1/08).

MV 7000 as tanker
(click to view full)

This award follows a $430 million contract, 2,900 vehicle contract awarded in 2005, bringing the overall total to $1.71 billion and 9,972 trucks. Navistar release. Note that the International 7000 truck chassis is also the basis of the blast-resistant MaxxPro 4×4 patrol vehicle, which is currently the lead vehicle in the USA’s 15,000+ vehicle MRAP (Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected) program.

TCOM 17M RAID Aerostat
(click to view full)

The RAID program is a combination of cameras and surveillance equipment positioned on high towers and aerostats. Aerostats differ from blimps in that blimps are powered, while aerostats are anchored to the ground via a cranked tether that also supplies electrical power. Because the aerostats are not highly pressurized, bullets won’t burst them and they can actually remain buoyant for hours after suffering multiple punctures.

The RAID concept used a smaller TCOM 17M instead of the TCOM 71M JLENS aerostats used for cruise missile and air defense, and has sensors optimized for battlefield surveillance rather than powerful air defense radars. The result is a form of survivable and permanent surveillance over key areas that has been deployed to Afghanistan & Iraq. It can also be deployed as a tower system, and this “Eagle Eye/ GBOSS” deployment is turning out to be the preferred mode.

Raytheon recently received a contract from the US Marine Corps for more systems, which has now been followed by an additional US Army order…

Continue Reading… »

A Viking comes ashore
(click to view full)

The BvS-10 is the successor to the wildly popular Bv206, 11,000 of which have been sold to 40 countries around the world – including the USA (M978). It is in use in both Britain and the Netherlands as a key armored vehicle for their respective Marines, and is under evaluation elsewhere. Singapore has developed and manufactured an improved variant of its own called the Bronco ATTC, and Finland and Norway also have their own local Bv-206 variants.

What makes this unusual-looking vehicle family so popular? They aren’t like Hummers or similar wheeled mainstays. They aren’t full armored personnel carriers, either – they’re armored, but Bv family vehicles can’t take the kind of punishment that a Bradley or LAV can absorb. Instead, the secret to their success lies in a remarkable all-terrain capability, and their ability to fill a rare and critical role: air-portable and amphibious infantry enhancement.

These success factors are discussed below, along with contracts and key developments related to this vehicle family. The latest development involves a bulletin from the Dutch, who are finding that they need to fix some issues with the BvS-10 Vikings headed for duty in Chad…

• The Bv Family of Vehicles (i.e. Continue reading…)
• Bv Family: Why So Popular?
• Bv Family: Performance in Afghanistan [updated]
• Contracts and Key Events
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
  Continue Reading… »