• GAO blocks $1 billion contract award to Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater, to train Afghan police, upholding DynCorp protest. Washington Post | Business Week | GovExec | DynCorp release

• European shipbuilder consortium (Fincantieri, Damen, Meyer Werft, STX, Thyssen Krupp) and EU sign grant agreement for 3.5 year BESST (Breakthrough in European Ship and Shipbuilding Technologies) project.

• Defense Threat Reduction Agency is looking for industry input for a robotic underground munition that would be an air-dropped mobile platform capable of drilling underground to deliver munitions. FedBizOpps notice | Ubergizmo.com | Tech Journal

• USJFCOM tests Lockheed Martin’s Valiant Angel system to sort through full-motion video from UAVs and sensors.

• New T-11 parachute doubles the number of paratroopers that can be deployed, according to US Army testing.

• L-3 gets $20.9 million order to build 4 F-16 flight simulators for the USAF.

• Canada awards C$14.9 million contract to M. Sullivan & Son to build a new 6,139 square meter health center at Canadian Forces Base Kingston.

US “Chair” Force?
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UAVs have played a crucial role in gathering intelligence in the US military’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are thousands of UAVs gathering and distributing valuable data on the enemy, but each system uses its own proprietary subsystem to control the air vehicle as well as receive and process the data. Yet commanders need access to information gathered by all types of UAVs that are flying missions in their area of operation.

Recognizing this shortcoming, the Pentagon began an effort in 2008 to break down the proprietary barriers between UAV systems and create a single GCS that will fly all types of drones.

This free-to-view DID Spotlight article examines the problem of proprietary UAV systems and efforts to break down barriers to sharing vital UAV-generated information.

• Ground Control to Major Tom: The Role of GCS
• Come Together: The Pentagon’s UCS-WG
• Are You Going STANAG?: NATO’s Standard
• One is the Loneliest Number: AAI’s OneSystem
• Red ROVER, Red ROVER: The ROVER Datalink
• Masters of the Universe: Raytheon’s UCS
• Too Close to the Sun: ICARUS and Autonomy
• Contracts and Key Events
• Additional Readings
  
  Continue Reading… »

Oshkosh M-ATV
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M-ATV will add CROWS weapon systems. (March 10/10)

“The Government plans to acquire an MRAP All-Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV). The M-ATV is a lighter, off-road, and more maneuverable vehicle that incorporates current MRAP level [bullet and mine blast] protection. The M-ATV will require effectiveness in an off-road mission profile. The vehicle will include EFP and RPG protection (integral or removable kit). The M-ATV will maximize both protection levels and off-road mobility & maneuverability attributes, and must balance the effects of size and weight while attempting to achieve the stated requirements.”
  —US government FedBizOpps, November 2008

Oshkosh Defense’s M-ATV candidate secured a long-denied MRAP win, and the firm continues to remain ahead of production targets. The initial plan expected to spend up to $3.3 billion to order 5,244 M-ATVs for the US Army (2,598), Marine Corps (1,565), Special Operations Command (643), US Air Force (280) and the Navy (65), plus 93 test vehicles; but FY 2010 budgets and purchases have pushed this total higher.

• MRAP ATV: Requirements and Contenders
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings [updated]
  
  Continue Reading… »

MK13 flash-bang grenade

American Rheinmetall Munitions (ARM), a Stafford, VA-based subsidiary of Germany’s Rheinmetall Defence, received a $28.8 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract from the US Navy for an improved flash-bang grenade.

ARM currently supplies the MK13 Mod 0 BTV-EL flash-bang grenade to US special ops forces and other US military customers. The MK13 is a stun grenade that produces a blinding flash and deafening noise levels sufficient to daze and disorient the target, without causing permanent injury, the company explains.

The MK13 uses a delay fuze that detonates the grenade 1.5 seconds after the fly-off lever is released…

Continue Reading… »

• Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries issues its Report on Military Procurement; recommendations include 1 minister to oversee it, rather than the current 3.

• F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet fighter rumored to have beaten the F-35A and JAS-39DK Gripen NG in Denmark.

• Indian interceptor missile test misses a Prithvi II target missile. RIA Novosti | Indian Express | Jakarta Post

• How The Hurt Locker’s bomb suit works.

• US Army fast-tracking GPS-guided 120mm mortar round to Afghanistan.

• Venezuela receives first 6 of 18 Chinese K-8 Karakorum trainer/ light attack jets.

• EADS aims to sell 210 A400M military transport planes to US Department of Defense. Good luck with that.

• Qatar’s C-17s flying aid missions to Haiti, and Chile.

• Lockheed Martin delivers 1st Hawk-T Mk.2 simulator to the winning Ascent consortium, for future use with the UK’s new Hawk Mk.128 LIFT jet trainers.

• DARPA looks to tap quantum mechanics for military application.

• Frost & Sullivan: Aging land military equipment in Asia Pacific countries fuels growth in upgrades and replacements.

3BCT-101st, Iraq-
no Chavis turrets?
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$178M for 1,222 DXM off-road suspension upgrade kits. (March 15/10)

Navistar subsidiary International Military and Government LLC (IMG) in, Warrenville, IL has now won well over $4 billion in contracts to date under the MRAP program. The Category I MRUV vehicle’s role is similar to a Hummer’s, albeit with more carrying capacity and much more protection. That has become a staple for IMG’s entry, dubbed the “MaxxPro” by its manufacturer. Their collaboration with an Israeli firm who provides up-armored vehicles for the Marines successfully overcame lukewarm initial interest, but even successful survivors of Aberdeen’s tests may not offer enough protection against the ERP class of land mines that began to appear in Iraq.

Nevertheless, the MRAP program became a production race – and Navistar did very well under those competitive terms. In the end the military’s desire for standardization of its fleets exerted something of a gravitation pull on the competition. A July 2007 order vaulted Navistar into 1st place for MRAP vehicles ordered, and they have kept that position ever since.

• MRAPs, Start Your Engines [updated]
• MaxxPro: A Collaborative Success
• MaxxPro Contracts [updated]
• MPV or APC to Face EFPs? (June 2007)
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
  Continue Reading… »

Skynet 5 satellite model
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When militaries around the world have wanted to expand their satellite communication (SATCOM) capacity, they traditionally have had 2 choices – either pay a satellite manufacturer billions of dollars to build a satellite constellation and then own and operate the constellation themselves or lease capacity on commercial satellites, with all the attendant concerns about availability and security.

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) came up with an innovative approach to expanding its SATCOM capacity called Skynet 5.

Through a GBP 3.6 billion UK MoD private finance initiative (PFI), EADS Astrium manufactures the Skynet 5 satellites and Paradigm owns, manages, and operates the Skynet constellation. The satellites are built to UK military specifications and the UK is committed to purchasing satellite capacity from Paradigm, an EADS Astrium subsidiary…

Continue Reading… »

FRES-U finalists:
There can be… none?
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FRES-SV weapon agreement; Shake, rattle & roll testing; BAE shifts course in bid to win FRES-SV contract. (March 12/10)

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 changed a number of requirements. In the end, GD MOWAG’s Piranha V won the utility vehicle competition. FRES-U is not the end of the competition, however, or the contracts. In fact, FRES-U had the winning bidder’s preferred status revoked; that entire phase will now take a back seat to the FRS-SV scout version…

• FRES: The Program
• FRES: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings [updated]
• 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
  
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Containerized Kitchen
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Global Strategies Group North America in Frederick, MD received an $18.7 million firm-fixed-price modification to a previously awarded contract (W911QY-05-D-0004) for 103 containerized kitchens and spares.

The containized kitchen is a US Army deployable food preparation container that is able to prepare and serve a minimum of 800 meals up to 3 times per day. The container can be expanded to 8 feet by 8 feet by 20 feet and is mounted on a tactical trailer.

The kitchen is powered by thermal fluid/ cogeneration technology…

Continue Reading… »

• USCG acquisition chief warns about declining readiness of cutter fleet [PDF], expects price tag for Deepwater program to reach $27.4 billion.

• UK’s SSN Trafalgar-class fast attack submarine HMS Triumph sets sail for sea trials after 6-year, GBP 300 million refit program that included installation of new sonar and C2 systems and an upgrade of the Tomahawk missile system.

• UK MOD inks GBP 400 million deal to buy capacity on EADS Astrium’s Skynet 5D satellite, which is expected to be launched in 2013; the satellite capacity will be used for military communication, including Bowman radios.

• Der Spiegel: The debate over Germany’s security & defense policies.

• Germany’s KMW delivers 1st Fennek JFST armored reconnaissance vehicles to Bundeswehr for deployment to Afghanistan in April. KMW release [in German]

• Greece reportedly agrees to settle its submarine contract dispute with ThyssenKrupp.

• US Army working to improve its M24 sniper rifles, including a .300 Win Mag upgun.

• South Korea’s KUH Surion utility helicopter makes its first flight.

• US military’s next-generation JPALS flight approach and landing system completes preliminary design review.

• ATK reorganizes into 4 business units; Karen Davis to head armament systems group. ATK release | Associated Press