Sub Deal. General Dynamics Electric Boat [GD] takes home a $5 billion cost-plus-incentive-fee with special incentives contract for the Integrated Product and Process Development design completion for the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs). The contract also includes component and technology development, missile tube module and reactor compartment bulkhead prototyping and manufacturing efforts, and United Kingdom Strategic Weapon Support System kit manufacturing for the Columbia class ballistic missile submarines. This contract includes foreign military sales to the United Kingdom. Work will be performed in Groton, Conn.; Newport News, Va. and Quonset, R.I., and is expected to be completed by December 2031. Fiscal 2017 shipbuilding and conversion, fiscal 2017 research, design, test and evaluation and United Kingdom funding in the amount of $175 million will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract is not competitively procured – only General Dynamics Electric Boat currently possesses the entirety of the nuclear ballistic missile submarine design/engineering workforce and data environment to support completion of the highly specialized submarine design products and integration efforts required to meet all of the contemplated technical and schedule contract requirements, according to the Navy.
Dunford Hearing. Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford is scheduled to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee Sept. 26 on his reappointment as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Dunford has held that position for the past two years.
NRO Launch. A National Reconnaissance Office satellite (NROL-42) is scheduled to lift off as early as Sept. 23 on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The launch was originally slated for Sept. 21 but was delayed to allow time to replace a faulty battery on the rocket booster. The launch will be ULA’s 25th mission for the NRO and the Atlas 5’s 73rd launch.
Air Force Innovation. The Air Force has kicked off a “Spark Tank” competition to encourage airmen to pitch their innovative ideas for cutting costs and increasing the force’s lethality. Airmen will submit their entries through the Airmen Powered by Innovation portal. Their ideas will be showcased at the Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium in February in Orlando, Fla.
CVN-69 PIA. The Nimitz-class USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) aircraft carrier starts a six month Planned Incremental Availability (PIA) at Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY). The carrier arrived at NNSY last month. The PIA is a maintenance and upgrade period and this one will focus on nuclear reactor work as well as mechanical and electrical improvements. The Navy expects CVN-69 to complete its PIA in spring 2018.
Mabus. Former Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus has joined Unimed Holdings, LLC as co-chairman of the board and its subsidiaries. Unimed is the parent company of Universal Marine Medical Supply International LLC, and other companies that are some of the world’s largest providers of medical supplies, security, medical, and travel-related duty of care services for corporations, governments, and NGOs. “I have known the leadership team at Unimed for many years, and I am eager to work with them during this strategically pivotal expansion time for the group,” Mabus says.
N-GEN Schedule. The Navy announces an adjustment in the award schedule of the Next Generation Enterprise Network Re-compete (NGEN-R) primary contracts, which are the evolutionary follow-on to the current Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN) contract. NGEN provides information technology (IT) services to stateside Navy and Marine Corps users via the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) and the Marine Corps Enterprise Network (MCEN). NGEN-R will also provide IT services to overseas Navy users via the [outside the continental United States] Navy Enterprise Network (ONE-Net). The NGEN-R primary contracts are the End User Hardware (EUHW) covering hardware-as-a-service and hardware-for-purchase and the Service Management, Integration, and Transport (SMIT) covering print services, software core build services, service desk and computer network defense. Instead of awarding the two primary contracts by June 2018 as originally announced, the NGEN-R acquisition schedule has been modified for contract awards in late 2018. The EUHW contract is now slated for a November 2018 award. The SMIT contract award will be in December 2018. The schedule change allows for the implementation of a new “sprint” contract development process that includes significant interaction with industry through weekly industry conference calls, one-on-one industry question and answer sessions, and a forthcoming Engineering Day. The increased Industry interaction encourages and promotes industry input early in the process to develop better acquisition documents for government and industry alike.
Missile Intercept. A Lockheed Martin [LMT] PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) interceptor successfully intercepts a tactical ballistic missile target in the first-ever MSE test from a remote launcher. As part of an Army-led missile defense flight test at the Reagan Test Site at the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the test demonstrates the expanded defended footprint available by deploying the launcher remotely from the Patriot radar. It also confirms PAC-3 MSE’s unique ability to detect, track and intercept an incoming threat, according to Lockheed. “PAC-3 continues to be successful against today’s evolving threats, and it remains the only combat proven hit-to-kill interceptor in the world,” says Scott Arnold, vice president and deputy of Integrated Air and Missile Defense at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “Today’s global security environment demands reliable solutions. We expect PAC-3 MSE interceptors to continue serving as an integral layer of defense in the protection of armed forces personnel, citizens and infrastructure.”
Korean Subs. South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) awarded Babcock International Group a seven-year contract to build and deliver weapons handling and launch equipment for the third boat-set of South Korea’s Jangbogo III submarine program. This comes after Babcock also won contracts with DSME for the design, production, and delivery of this equipment for the first two boat-sets. Procurement and manufacture of the equipment is set to start immediately and first hardware deliveries will begin in March 2020. The company did not disclose the value of the contract.
Bob Hopes. The Navy awarded U.S. Marine Management Inc, a $36 million contract to operate and maintain seven USNS Bob Hope-class surge large, medium-speed roll-on/roll-off vessels. The contract has a 12 month base period, four one-year option periods, and a six-month option. If all options are exercised the total value would rise to $196 million.
ScanEagles for the Philippines. Naval Air Systems Command awarded Boeing’s Insitu unit a $10 million order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement to procure six ScanEagle unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and associated equipment for the Philippines. This includes related support equipment and spares, training, site activation, technical services, and data. Work is expected to be finished by Sept. 2019.
New Iranian Hackers. The cyber security firm FireEye has disclosed details of an Iranian hacking group that has been active since at least 2013 and has “potential destructive capabilities,” the company says. FireEye says that APT33 is likely working for the Iranian government and has targeted organizations in the commercial and military aviation sector and the petrochemical industry, in the U.S., Saudi Arabia and South Korea. It says from mid-2016 until early 2017, APT successfully hacked a U.S. organization in the aviation sector. The name of the organization wasn’t disclosed. FireEye says the attack mode in the aviation hack was spear phishing emails to employees.
Breakup Fee. Orbital ATK [OA] is required to pay a $275 million fee to Northrop Grumman if its pending acquisition by one of the premier U.S. defense companies is terminated by Orbital ATK. A regulatory filing by Northrop Grumman says the termination fee would be required if Orbital ATK accepts a better acquisition offer from another entity or if the company’s board withdraws its support for the deal. Northrop Grumman is paying $7.4 billion for Orbital ATK in a deal expected to close in the first half of 2018 contingent on various approvals.
UAS Assist. A ScanEagle small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) deployed aboard the Coast Guard National Security Cutter Stratton helped in five of 11 drug seizures made during the cutter’s most recent deployment, the service says. The Boeing [BA] Insitu ScanEagle provided real-time imagery of suspected drug smuggling vessels, aiding in situational awareness, interdiction safety, and evidence collection. The Stratton, along with the NSC James, two other cutters and a Navy ship, seized more than 50,500 pounds of cocaine worth about $679.3 million. The ScanEagle on the Stratton is owned and operated by Insitu and operations are helping the Coast Guard refine its sUAS acquisition strategy for the NSC fleet. A request for proposal for sUAS is slated for release early in FY ’18.
Marine Vehicles. The Marine Corps has orders additional diesel MRZR (MRZR D) Utility Task Vehicles (UTV) from Polaris Government and Defense to enhance the service’s operational capabilities. This follows the delivery and fielding of MRZR UTVs to Marine Corps infantry regiments earlier this year. Delivery of the more than 100 vehicles is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. “MRZR Ds support requirements in the Marine Corps for an internally transportable vehicle that is highly mobile and modular,” says Joaquin Salas, manager of Polaris Government and Defense. “Marines can quickly configure the lightweight and open-concept MRZR D depending on the required mission.” The MRZR D is a highly capable mobility solution for the Marine Corps that lightens the load and improves agility across the force. It is readily available to individual units and other services for purchase on GSA and other contracting mechanisms. “The two- and four-seat MRZR Ds can be quickly internally transported by V-22 and larger helicopters, allowing the vehicles to support Marine forces in almost any location. It is a significant advantage to have that mobility and support at the most tactical level,” adds Salas.
Jacobs Engineering/DISA. The Defense Department awards Jacobs Engineering Group [JEC] a potential $480 million contract to provide testing and certification support services for the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). Jacobs will perform work for the contract at DISA’s Joint Interoperability Test Command Headquarters in Fort Huachuca, Ariz., and the defense IT support agency’s headquarters in Ft. Meade, Md. The base performance period is through 2019, with three one-year options and one six-month options that extend the possible scope of work through March 2023.
ACTC Amendment. An amendment from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), included in the Senate’s defense authorization bill passed on Monday, directs the secretary of the Army to assess the cyber readiness of Army Combat Training Centers (ACTC). No later than 180 days after the National Defense Authorization Act is enacted, the secretary must submit a report on the current resident cyber capabilities of ACTC’s and how sufficient training is to meet pre-rotational cyber needs.