C2

Indianapolis, Indiana-based Pierce Aerospace unveiled its inaugural Board of Advisors. The step represents a milestone in the company’s development, as if further grows as a provider of remote identification technologies in the burgeoning autonomous aircraft sector, the company’s CEO Aaron Pierce reported on February 10.

“We are very honored to announce the formation of our formal advisory board and the depth of talent and experiences that they bring to Pierce Aerospace,” said Pierce. “The board brings fresh perspectives to the company from a variety of diverse backgrounds and decades of experience covering the finance, legal, commercial, government, and defense sectors.” 

 The new board members include:
 

AV3 Inc.,* Mechanicsville, Maryland (N0042121D0026); Bridges System Integration LLC,* Herndon, Virginia (N0042121D0027); FGS LLC,* LaPlata, Maryland (N0042121D0028); Futron Inc.,* Woodbridge, Virginia (N0042121D0029); iSoft Solution LLC,* Virginia Beach, Virginia (N0042121D0030); Mission Analytics LLC,* Falls Church, Virginia (N0042121D0031); and US International Development Consortium Inc.,* Chantilly, Virginia (N0042121D0032), are awarded an estimated aggregate ceiling of $100,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price, cost reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division Integrated Command, Control and Intelligence (IC2&I) Division.

Qayaq Government Solutions LLC,* Anchorage, Alaska, was awarded a $7,902,831 firm-fixed-price contract for the construction of a new space control facility at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. Bids were solicited via the internet with eight received. Work will be performed in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with an estimated completion date of March 3, 2022. Fiscal 2018 military construction, defense-wide funds in the amount of $7,902,831 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Property and Fiscal Office, Colorado, is the contracting activity (W50S6V-21-C-0001).

Given adversarial threats in the Indo-Pacific region and Europe, especially from Russia and China, the Arctic region’s strategic importance is increasing. As such, over the last several years, the U.S. military has focused on growing its cold weather operation capabilities. Beginning in 2016, the U.S. Marine Corps in particular, through host and NATO ally Norway, has maintained a presence in the Kingdom of Norway to train and develop the skills necessary to operate in extreme conditions.

L3 Technologies Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah, is awarded a $9,999,144 firm-fixed-price modification (P00012) to a previously-awarded firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00019-18-C-1030) to procure eight Common Data Link Hawklink AN/SRQ-4 systems for the MH-60R aircraft. Work will be performed in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is expected to be completed in December 2022. Fiscal year 2020 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $9,999,144 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year.  The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Ultra Electronics Advanced Tactical Systems Inc.

Frequentis Defense Inc., Columbia, Maryland, is awarded an $8,454,481 firm-fixed-price contract for non-recurring engineering and logistics for the design, development, test, manufacture and repair of the MD-5A Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System, which will support the MQ-25 Stingray unmanned air vehicle.  The integrated computer system will transport voice communications from carrier-based air vehicle operators to local audio switches, local radio terminals and remote radio terminals. Work will be performed in Columbia, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in March 2021.

Air Force officers in charge of creating air tasking orders have long developed mission plans at air operations centers, known as AOCs, or centralized hubs in a specific command. The Air Force is looking at diversifying and decentralizing how and where those plans are created to add depth and resiliency to the process. This may be needed as designing air battle plans against potential peer threats will only grow in complexity in the future, experts say.

Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Connecticut, is being awarded $9,500,000 for modification P00070 to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm contract (N00019-14-C-0050) in support of the VH-92A aircraft. This modification provides for the integration of the Mission Communications System Version 3.0 hardware changes. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in April 2020. Fiscal year 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $6,000,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

RiverTech, LLC,* Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded a $34,513,979 firm-fixed-price contract for command and control technical support. This contract provides for the operational, technical, and analytical expertise for the planning and execution of training and test events, conducting Live-Virtual-Constructive and Distributed Mission Operations activities, providing operational support, providing non-kinetic operations training and tactics development support, and conducting operational testing of command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems.

Kairos Autonomi Inc.,* Sandy, Utah, is being awarded an $8,153,599 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and cost indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the procurement of up to 75 each Moving Land Target (MLT) Command Control Systems, MLT ground control stations, MLT ground communication relay stations, Global Positioning System (GPS) cables, MLT small specialty tires and wheels, MLT large specialty tires and wheels, MLT small cable installation kits, MLT large cable installation kits, steering rings, augmented GPS subsystems, vehicle integration modules, steering ring adapter kits, and fuse tap electrical integration kits. In addition, this contract provides for up to 25 associated training support events, as well as ass

Odyssey Systems Consulting Group, Ltd has been awarded a five-year, $225 million task order for Engineering, Professional, Administrative, and Support Services (EPASS) with the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC). The company will support the Battle Management Directorate Strategic Warning and Surveillance Systems (HBQ) Division based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, Massachusetts.

The U.S. Army’s Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, known as CERDEC, has unveiled new mission command software that provides improved real-time command and control capabilities.

CERDEC, a part of the Army’s Research, Development and Engineering Command, has been developing capabilities under its Expeditionary Mission Command (EMC) Science and Technology Objective (STO). This year, it is rolling out 15 new capabilities, including software advances such as the Tactical Computing Environment (TCE) and the Single, Multimodal, Android Service for Human-Computer Interaction software known as SMASH.

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Herndon, Virginia, was awarded a $34,379,834 modification (P00024) to to contract W31P4Q-15-C-0065 for maintenance and training on the Counter-Rocket Artillery Mortar, Counter-Unmanned Aerial System, command and control system. Work will be performed in Herndon, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2019. Fiscal year 2018 operations and maintenance Army funds in the amount of $34,379,834 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. 

New technologies, capabilities and tactics will be necessary for the U.S. Navy to prevail in the burgeoning arena of information warfare. But while some needs are obvious, the course for the overall way ahead remains elusive.

Explaining the complicated nature of naval information warfare was Vice Adm. Jan Tighe, USN, deputy chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare (N2N6). Speaking at the Wednesday keynote luncheon at West 2018 being held in San Diego February 6-8, Adm. Tighe outlined a series of challenges and potential options, beginning with the state of the realm.

As the U.S. Navy embraces its evolving “forward ... from the sea” strategic concept in a post-Cold War geopolitical reality, it is operating more in contested littorals and facing increasingly compressed decision cycles. Sanctuaries sanitized of threats have become the exception, not the rule. As a result, the sea service has emerged as a global enforcer—combating pirates, taking out terrorists and responding to disaster-ravaged areas—a role that has brought its missions closer to coastlines.

A mobile operations fusion kit that provides easy, rapid and on-the-go interoperability for mobile field operations and communications will be developed in European and Middle Eastern military markets as well as in the United States.

C2UK Ltd. and Mutualink Incorporated partnered to further develop and circulate the communications-based product portfolio. Overseas, C2UK will leverage the state-of-the-art, secure communications and information-sharing technology, expanding the companies’ global reach, particularly of command and control (C2) systems.

SSB Inc., Fairfax, Va., was awarded a cost-plus-fixed-fee, option-filled contract with a maximum value of $8,192,670 for technical support services in the areas of database and web development and maintenance for command and control applications. The Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., is the contracting activity (W91CRB-13-D-0014).

Marine Corps leadership is seeking to apply lessons learned from fighting two ground wars in the last 10 years and return to its core competencies: amphibious ops, sea-based forward presence and crisis response. In his article, "Marines Go Back to the Amphibious Future," Defense Editor Max Cacas outlines the Corps' goals in this issue of SIGNAL Magazine. Col.