The Navy awarded Amentum Services Inc. a $475 million contract on June 15 to cover logistics support for maintenance of the F-16 fleet used in fighter jet training for the Navy.
The firm-fixed-price, cost reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract specifically covers logistics support for organizational, selected intermediate and limited depot level maintenance of the Navy’s F-16A/B/C/D fleet.
In recent years the Navy acquired F-16s from the Air Force and Air National Guard as well as 22 Northrop Grumman [NOC] F-5s from Switzerland to act as the “red team” opposition forces in Navy fighter jet training.
The F-16s and F-5s replace F/A-18E/F Super Hornets previously held as reserve fighters used in that adversary role.
In June 2022, the Navy issued a presolicitation notice seeking potential sources to provide these contractor logistics services and aircraft maintenance services for the F-16 adversary fleet. The notice said the fleet consists of 14 F-16A/Bs and 26 F-16C/Ds as expected to later add another 13 F-16Cs.
The notice said the maintenance and logistics support services would cover aircraft based at Naval Air Station (NAS) Fallon, Nev., and a possible future site at NAS Lemoore, Calif.
At the time, the Navy said the period of performance was expected to be a five-year base ordering period with a single three-year option ordering period.
In 2021, Director of the Air Warfare Division (OPNAV/N98) Rear Adm. Andrew Loiselle told a Senate panel those aircraft were procured and shifted to that role to help close the current strike fighter shortfall earlier than previously planned (Defense Daily, July 19, 2021).
Last July, the Navy announced it reached a Milestone C decision on the Avionics Reconfiguration and Tactical Enhancement/Modernization for Inventory Standardization (ARTEMIS) program to convert and modernize the F-5s (Defense Daily, July 15, 2022).
Work under this latest contract will be split between Fallon, Nev. (75 percent), and Lemoore, Calif. (25 percent), and is expected to be finished by August 2031.
No funds were obligated at the time of award, but they will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued.
The contract announcement noted the contract was competitively procured with four total offers received, but it did not disclose the other three competitors.