Army

The Army is two years into its aggressive front to modernize and shift to be a more agile, lethal force, moving away from counterinsurgency warfare. One of the service’s major priorities as part of that modernization effort is to create an integrated tactical network that can support soldiers fighting anywhere at anytime against near-peer adversaries in a contested environment, explained Maj. Gen.

The U.S. Army is committing to the multidomain operations (MDO) concept with a $700 million budget plan for fiscal years 2021-2025. The investment includes cyber, cloud and information warfare.

“Multidomain operations is our fighting concept, and it serves as the foundation of the Army Modernization Strategy. The MDO is how the Army supports the joint force in the rapid and continuous integration across all domains of warfare—land, sea, air, space and cyberspace—to ultimately deter, and win the fight should deterrence fail,” Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told the audience at the Association of the United States Army annual conference in Washington, D.C.

Advanced manufacturing techniques could inject innovation into the defense industry, suggested Bruce Jette, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology.

“We have a problem with the industrial base, particularly for the defense industry,” Jette told the audience at the Association of the United States Army annual conference in Washington, D.C. He added that the industrial base still conjures images of “large, smoking cauldrons of steel” because “that’s what we drove them to.”

Jette further noted that the industrial base “has some gaps in it because we haven’t been producing large equipment systems in a long time.”

The identification verification tools that easily work at the corner bank to access cash or online to pay a bill don't work as easily on the battlefield, where the simple action of pulling a card out of a pocket is clumsy at best and impossible at worst. To address this challenge in harsh environments, the U.S. Army is introducing tokens that can be incorporated into wearables as small as bracelets or dog tags.

General Dynamics Mission Systems Inc., Huntsville, Alabama, was awarded a $15,001,571 modification (P00036) to contract W58RGZ-18-C-0043 for engineering services. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of September 17, 2023. Fiscal year 2020 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $2,297,086 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

Raytheon Co., McKinney, Texas, was awarded a $427,298,588 hybrid (cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price) contract for procurement of Common Sensor Payload systems, spare parts and engineering and system support services. One bid was were solicited with one bid received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of September 12, 2024. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W56KGY-19-D-0005).

Senspex Inc.,* Albuquerque, New Mexico, was awarded a $7,500,000 modification (P00003) to contract W56HZV-16-D-0129 for procurement of the highly specialized long-range thermal imaging camera system spare parts, and service support. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of September 27, 2021. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity. *Small Business

The synthetic biology-related work that scientists at the Army Research Laboratory are performing may seem as if it is taken from a science fiction novel: harnessing the DNA of microbes to engineer military solutions such as self-healing paint on a tank. But to support soldiers of the future, this may be what is needed, a researcher says. The Army has to prepare soldiers to fight in multidomain operations across dense urban environments, megacities or austere environments, and synthetic biology capabilities could provide fuel sources, protective coatings, food or other necessities.

Tucson-based Raytheon Company announced that it would be a subcontractor helping to enhance the flight performance of the Army's hypersonic weapon glide body. Under Dynetics Corporation contracts with the service, Raytheon will build and deliver the control, actuation and power-conditioning subassemblies that control flight of the Army's new Common-Hypersonic Glide Body program. Raytheon will also help assemble and test the new glide body under the Dynetics Corporation contracts.