Bristol Design Build Services, a small business qualifier based in Anchorage, AK received a $14.8 million firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a multi-purpose machine gun (MPMG) range at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.
Camp Lejeune is the home of the Expeditionary Forces in Readiness, including the II Marine Expeditionary Force, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Logistics Group. The base is home to more than 47,000 Marines and sailors from around the world.
Work on the range will include relocation of an engineering training area (ETC) and explosive ordinance disposal site…
FN Manufacturing in Columbia, SC received an $11.5 million firm-fixed-priced, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract to refurbish and overhaul machine guns in support of multiple US military agencies.
The company will overhaul MK46 lightweight machine gun (LMG), MK 48 LMG, and the M240 machine gun.
Both the MK46 and MK48 LMGs are designed specifically for US special ops requirements. The Mk46 is a lighter weight variants of the 5.56mm M249 “Minimi” Squad Automatic Weapon…
Olin Corp.’s Winchester Division in East Alton, IL received $43.4 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity with firm-fixed-price orders for .50 calibre M903 saboted light armor penetrator (SLAP) and M962 saboted light armor penetrator tracer (SLAPT) bulk and the 4 ball (M903) to 1 tracer (M962) configuration.
The .50 caliber SLAP ammunition was developed by the US military during the mid/late 1980s for the M2 heavy machine gun, known as “Ma Deuce.” It uses a reduced caliber, heavy metal (tungsten) .30 inch diameter penetrator wrapped in a plastic sabot or “shoe” of .50 inch diameter.
FN Manufacturing in Columbia, SC received a $68.4 million firm-fixed-price contract to supply M249 5.56mm light machine guns to the U.S. Army. The quantity was not disclosed.
FN Manufacutring will perform the work in Columbia, with an estimated completion date of July 24/14. 1 bid solicited with 1 bid received by the U.S. Army Contracting Command, Joint Munitions & Lethality Contracting Center at Picatinny Arsenal, NJ (W15QKN-09-D-0019).
FN’s 5.56mm M249 was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1984 to replace the 7.62mm M60 Machine Gun…
Trijicon in Wixom, MI won a $33 million not-to-exceed ceiling, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for the procurement, delivery, maintenance, and logistical support of the M240B 7.62-mm machine gun day optic (MDO), which is a magnified day optic that mounts onto the M240B. The MDO aids the machine gunner in target detection, recognition, and identification.
This contract is a 5-year contract with a minimum buy of 25 MDO systems within the 1st contract year. Trijicon will perform the work in Wixom and expects to complete it by July 2014. Contract funds in the amount of $16.4 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online, with 2 offers received by the Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, VA (M67854-09-D-1015).
That complete lack of helicopters eventually became a large political problem. When the January 2008 Manley Report [PDF] was delivered to Parliament, it effectively made Canada’s continued military presence in Afghanistan contingent on fielding an adequate solution by February 2009. Canada’s delayed CH-47F Chinook buy wouldn’t arrive quickly enough, so the government wound up buying 6 used CH-47Ds from the US Army in August 2008 – more than 2 years after calls for exactly that course of action had begun.
Those helicopters will still need escorts, however, and so will some convoys. Meanwhile, allied AH-64 Apaches or Mi-24 Hinds are in high demand, and are not always available. A September 2006 article from the CASR think tank had suggested turning Canada’s CH-146 Griffon/ Bell 412 helicopters into light armed reconnaissance helicopters, making a virtue of necessity given the type’s limited carrying capacity in hot and high altitude conditions.
In fall 2007, however, the (appointed) Liberal Party Senator Colin Kenny was ridiculed by Canada’s defense minister for suggesting the very same thing.
The Mk93 Heavy Machine Gun Mounting System is used to lessen the recoil of heavy weapons like the 40mm MK19 Grenade Machine Gun (GMG) and the .50 caliber/12.7mm M2 Heavy Machine Gun (HMG), improving their accuracy. It attaches to a tripod for infantry use, but it’s seen much more frequently as part of a vehicular mount, using the MK175 pintle pedestal. The MK93 requires no external adapters or tools, and consists of a gun carriage and cradle assembly, a train stop bracket, an ammunition can holder, a bolt-on small pintle, a bolt-on large pintle, and a stowage bar assembly. The U.S. Army Tank Automotive and Armaments Command in Rock Island, IL recently announced a set of contracts for these items to:
Textron Marine and Land Systems’ M1117 Guardian Armored Security Vehicle (ASV) provide better mine and ballistics protection than the Hummer, coupled with an armored turret that offers both mounts for advanced sensors, and firepower overmatch via a .50 cal machine gun and 40mm grenade machine gun combination in its turret. It’s a classic revival of the armored car segment, which had fallen into disuse but has begun to attract interest again.
The vehicle has traveled a lot of difficult roads, both inside and outside of combat. The US military was backing away from the project, until Iraq came along and military police adopted the 3-man vehicle. Textron had to undo production line shutdowns and rehire skilled talent, and they were just hitting their stride when Hurricane Katrina flooded their only factory in New Orleans. Textron’s offering definitely provides more land mine protection than a Hummer, but heroic efforts were required to get it up and running again. When the US military finally got serious and began buying MRAP vehicles, however, the stretched M1117 ICV failed the tests and was removed. This was actually the vehicle’s second competition loss, following Iraq’s selection of the Cougar-based ILAV Badger as its mine-resistant vehicle. American MPs continued to order the vehicle, however, and an artillery-spotting variant known as the M707 Armored Knight also picked up a few contracts. A small order came in from the Bulgaria, but the USA remains the vehicle’s sole customer of note.
That may be about to change, however, due to a formal request from… Iraq. One that has now been expanded.
Every once in a while, a defense-related controversy becomes large enough to hit mainstream news outlets. Making the cover of TIME Magazine is often a good sign for world leaders, but it’s almost always a very bad sign for military programs. Especially a program that is just making its combat debut. TIME’s Oct 8/07 cover story “V-22 Osprey: A Flying Shame” pulls few punches:
“The saga of the V-22 – the battles over its future on Capitol Hill, a performance record that is spotty at best, a long, determined quest by the Marines to get what they wanted – demonstrates how Washington works (or, rather, doesn’t). It exposes the compromises that are made when narrow interests collide with common sense. It is a tale that shows how the system fails at its most significant task, by placing in jeopardy those we count on to protect us. For even at a stratospheric price, the V-22 is going into combat shorthanded. As a result of decisions the Marine Corps made over the past decade, the aircraft lacks a heavy-duty, forward-mounted machine gun to lay down suppressing fire against forces that will surely try to shoot it down. And if the plane’s two engines are disabled by enemy fire or mechanical trouble while it’s hovering, the V-22 lacks a helicopter’s ability to coast roughly to the ground – something that often saved lives in Vietnam. In 2002 the Marines abandoned the requirement that the planes be capable of autorotating (as the maneuver is called), with unpowered but spinning helicopter blades slowly letting the aircraft land safely. That decision, a top Pentagon aviation consultant wrote in a confidential 2003 report obtained by TIME, is “unconscionable” for a wartime aircraft. “When everything goes wrong, as it often does in a combat environment,” he said, “autorotation is all a helicopter pilot has to save his and his passengers’ lives.”
Recent developments are about to address one of these concerns, but TIME has hardly been the Osprey’s only critic, or the most thorough. That distinction probably belongs to a report published by the left-wing Center for Defense Information, which makes a number of very specific allegations re: the V-22’s technical and testing failings:
Cape Fox Professional Services in Ketchikan, Alaska received an $8.5 million firm-fixed-price contract for 12,278 M3 tripod mount. The M3 tripod (see associated Field Service manual) is the standard ground mount for M2 12.7mm heavy machine guns and Mk19 40mm grenade machine guns.
CFPS is an Alaska Native Company (ANC) certified in the Small Business Administrations 8(a) Business Development program, and is HUB Zone certified as well. Their web site states that “the purpose of CFPS is to engage in the business of providing information technology IT services and integrated solutions.” Parent firm Cape Fox Corp. has a number of subsidiaries, however, including interests in HDPE piping and coating.
M3 tripod, labeled
Work will be performed in Ketchikan, AK and is expected to be complete by Dec. 31, 2010. Web bids were solicited on Aug 1/07, and 4 bids were received by the US Army Tank Automotive and Armaments Command in Rock Island, IL (W52H09-08-D-0107).
