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Archive for the ‘Contracts’ Category

Atlantic Signal Receives New Contract from United States Secret Service Counter Assault Team

Friday, August 28th, 2020

Atlantic Signal recently received another significant order from the United States Secret Service Counter Assault Team.

Atlantic Signal and the USSS CAT have been doing business for well over a decade. Several product designs as well as added product features of Atlantic Signal products have come from this long-term relationship.

“The USSS CAT has many unique requirements that require something beyond the traditional tactical communications equipment one might correlate with conventional tactical teams. CAT is a specialized tactical unit of the United States Secret Service that provides tactical support to the Presidential Protective Division to protect the President of the United States. The members of CAT are Secret Service Special Agents who have gone through and complete an 8-month course at FLETC in Georgia and have also successfully served multiple years in the Secret Service. Once accepted to CAT, the Agents undergo additional training including counter-ambush tactics and CQB. They are a finely meshed team of professionals at the highest level”, states Randall Hedrick, President and Managing General Member of Atlantic Signal.

USSS Counter Assault, due to their wide ranging mission sets, chose both the Atlantic Signal exclusive Peltor ComTac V circum-aural headset and the DOMINATOR II headset featuring RX audio via both the facial bones and ear canals with the addition of both electronic hearing protection and ambient environmental amplification when the DOMINATOR II earpieces are engaged. Further, Atlantic Signal made unique modifications to CAT’s shoulder microphones for use with their PTT and radio interfaces.

The DOMINATOR II headset push-to-talk assembly features plug and play cables designed and manufactured by Atlantic Signal for their Motorola radios as well as their Harris 6 pin radio models. Custom cables were also designed and manufactured for use with CAT’s key-load adapters.

The ComTac V headset suite, purchased by the team, features the Atlantic Signal WARRIOR Dual Comm push-to-talk. The plug and play cables designed and manufactured by Atlantic Signal can be used with both the WARRIOR and DOMINATOR II PTTS..

Atlantic Signal also provided a custom, coiled cable assembly for use with both push-to-talks and the team member’s smartphones.

Atlantic Signal is based out of Topeka, KS where they develop, design, manufacture and sell tactical communications and accessories. The company started in 1989 with a focus on tactical law enforcement. Today, thirty-one years later, the company’s clients include Customs and Border Patrol, Naval Special Warfare, LAPD, ATF, MARSOC, DEA, US Coast Guard, US Secret Service among thousands of military and law enforcement clients around the world.

atlanticsignal.com

Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Awards Skyborg Contract

Saturday, August 22nd, 2020

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio (AFNS) —

The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center has awarded multiple indefinite-delivery / indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts to The Boeing Co., General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems, Inc. and Northrop Grumman Systems Corp.

These initial awards will establish a vendor pool that will continue to compete for up to $400 million in subsequent delivery orders in support of the Skyborg Vanguard Program.

The aim of the Skyborg Vanguard program is to integrate autonomous attritable unmanned air vehicle technology with open missions systems to enable manned-unmanned teaming. This will provide a game-changing capability to the warfighter. The attritable UAV line of effort awarded by this contract will provide the foundation on which the Air Force can build an airborne autonomous “best of breed” system that adapts, orients and decides at machine speed for a wide variety of increasingly complex mission sets.

“Because autonomous systems can support missions that are too strenuous or dangerous for manned crews, Skyborg can increase capability significantly and be a force multiplier for the Air Force,” said Brig. Gen. Dale White, Fighters and Advanced Aircraft program executive officer, who, along with Brig. Gen. Heather Pringle, Air Force Research Laboratory commander, serves as the leadership for the Skyborg program. “We have the opportunity to transform our warfighting capabilities and change the way we fight and the way we employ air power.”

Skyborg is one of three Vanguard programs identified late last year as part of the Air Force Science and Technology 2030 initiative. These high priority Air Force capability development efforts come with an enterprise commitment to deliver game-changing capabilities to transform Air Force operations for the future force.

“Autonomy technologies in Skyborg’s portfolio will range from simple play-book algorithms to advanced team decision making and will include on-ramp opportunities for artificial intelligence technologies,” Pringle said. “This effort will provide a foundational government reference architecture for a family of layered, autonomous and open-architecture UAS.”

The Vanguards are also introducing a novel early partnership between AFLCMC and AFRL due to the need to quickly identify cutting-edge technology and transition directly into the hands of the warfighter.

“The greatest technological edge is for naught if the warfighter can’t use it on the battlefield. That makes the partnership between AFRL and AFLCMC so vital to this program. We can’t allow bureaucratic speed bumps to interfere with our mandate to deliver,” White said.

By Daryl Mayer, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Public Affairs

Avon Protection Awarded Contract to Supply Respiratory Protection for NATO

Friday, August 21st, 2020

The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) has awarded Avon Protection a 10 years contract to supply a complete CBRN personal respirator system. This procurement was led by Finland and Norway to establish technical requirements and demanding end user testing. The framework contract will enable NATO countries and partners to purchase Avon Protection’s market leading respirator system, based around FM50, full suite of filters, MP-PAPR, (Powered Air Purifying Respirator), ST53 (Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus) and accessories.

Understanding the operational flexibility required by NATO forces, Avon Protection have designed a unique modular respirator system to protect NATO troops in the most demanding environments. 

The FM50 respirator and a suite of filters are at the core of the respirator protection system selected by NSPA. Developed in conjunction with the United States Department of Defense to counter the multiple CBRN threats met in modern war fighting, anti-terrorist and peace-keeping operations, the FM50 is the most operationally proven and widely deployed battlefield respirator in the World.  

Commenting, James Wilcox, President, Military at Avon Protection, said:

“We are proud to be awarded this strategically important contract from NSPA and we look forward to working with NATO and their partners to continue to support world leading military capability. This contract demonstrates NATO‘s continued confidence and reliance on Avon Protection to supply product of the highest quality and performance to protect its troops for the forseeable future.”

Hungarian Armed Forces Establish Joint Venture with Rheinmetall to Produce Lynx Infantry Fighting Vehicle

Wednesday, August 19th, 2020

Deal helps the Hungarian Army meet its NATO commitments through continued modernization of the country’s defence industry

Key facts

Major order: Hungary intends to procure the Lynx infantry fighting vehicle

Order volume expected to exceed €2 billion

New Joint Venture for the production of the Lynx in Hungary

First NATO and EU customer for Rheinmetall’s innovative Lynx IFV

With the signing of an agreement in Unterlüss on 17 August 2020, the government of Hungary has embarked on a massive programme worth over two billion euros to modernize the country’s defence industry and military capabilities. The move was announced by Hungary’s Secretariat of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology and the Commissioner for Defence Development. Rheinmetall, Europe’s foremost maker of army equipment, will be cooperating with Hungary to create a joint venture and production facility in Hungary to manufacture the most modern Lynx infantry fighting vehicle.

Hungary is the first NATO and EU member state to choose the Düsseldorf-based Group’s innovative new IFV. The step is of central importance in Hungary’s ongoing programme of military and industrial development, which aims to transform the Hungarian Army as quickly as possible into a world-class fighting force capable of actively addressing security challenges in the Euro-Atlantic region.

In the words of the joint statement read by László Palkovics, Minister of Innovation and Technology, and Gáspár Maróth, Commissioner for Defence Development: “As part of its commitment to NATO, Hungary is replacing its heavy ground forces equipment. Following the tanks and artillery, it is now the turn of the infantry combat vehicles, which form the backbone of the capabilities set. As the most advanced system of its kind, the Lynx has demonstrated its suitability for a central role in the Army’s capabilities spectrum for decades to come. In keeping with earlier promises by the Hungarian government to enhance the nation’s armed forces, this cooperative endeavour extends far beyond the modernization of military technology. Partnering with a major European corporation will result in the modernization of our defence industry and thus to the expansion of our industrial portfolio.”

As Armin Papperger, chairman of the executive board of Rheinmetall AG, explains: “The Lynx’s market breakthrough is a major success for us. And the fact that we were able to convince Hungary – an important EU and NATO partner – to choose this innovative vehicle makes this success all the greater. In making this forward- looking procurement decision, Hungary’s top political and military officials have demonstrated real leadership. Not only does the move place Hungary at the forefront of European army technology. It reaffirms the Hungarian government’s commitment to being a reliable, more militarily effective partner of its NATO allies, a policy which it is pursuing with systematic energy.”

“We’re very proud”, said Mr Papperger, “to be able to make an important contribution to the sustained expansion of Hungary’s defence technology capabilities in cooperation with local industry. We look forward to working together with our Hungarian friends and partners, and will do everything in our power to assure the long-term success of this venture.”

ATAC Wins Air-to-Ground Training for Air Force

Wednesday, August 19th, 2020

Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC) to Deliver JTAC Training to Air Force Special Operators

Washington, DC — August 13, 2020 — Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC), part of the Textron Systems segment of Textron Inc (NYSE: TXT), announced today that it has been selected to provide live contract close air support (CCAS) training for Joint Terminal Air Controllers (JTACs) under the U.S. Air Force’s Combat Air Forces Contracted Air Support program.  

A team flying ATAC’s L-39 Albatros and Valkyrie Aero’s A-27 Tucano aircraft will support Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) JTAC training at numerous bases and locations throughout the continental United States.  The contract calls for approximately 900 sorties and more than 1,100 flight hours on tactical ranges annually, with flight operations commencing in the summer of 2020.  This is the first CCAS award the Air Force will grant the contracted air services industry for what could be up to 10 locations under the Combat Air Forces Contracted Air Support program.

“ATAC is proud to support the training of AFSOC JTACs, the gold-standard in their field”, said Scott Stacy, ATAC General Manager. “This work expands on ATAC’s previous air-to-ground training and positions the company for future growth in this important training area”.

The ATAC-Valkyrie team also supports JTAC training under the U.S. Navy’s Terminal Attack Controller Trainer (TACT) program, and recently completed an evolution for the Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center (NAWDC) on the Fallon ranges. The ATAC-Valkyrie team was competitively selected to participate in the TACT program in April 2019.

ATAC is the global leader of tactical airborne training, having pioneered much of what are now contracted air services industry standards with a fleet of over 90 aircraft, over 60,000 flight hours, and 20 years of operating experience.  ATAC has provided a wide range of contracted air support capabilities to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) in locations world-wide, including the continental United States, Hawaii and the Western Pacific region. ATAC has helped train crews from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps and regularly operates out of as many as 25 different air bases per year.

Persistent Systems Completes Phase I of Robotic Command Vehicles program; Readies for Phase III

Tuesday, August 18th, 2020

Company officials say mobile ad hoc network will shine in complex, multi-unit battlefield scenarios 

For Immediate Release 

NEW YORK, N.Y. – August 18, 2020 – Persistent Systems, LLC (“Persistent”), a leader in mobile ad hoc network (MANET) solutions, announced today that it has successfully completed Phase I of the U.S. Army Robotic Command Vehicles (RCV) program.  

Run under the auspices of the Army Future Command’s Next Generation Combat Vehicles – Cross Functional Team, the RCV program aims to show the utility of manned-unmanned teaming with a future Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) being able to control multiple RCV “wingmen.”   

During Phase I, a modified M113 tracked armored personnel carrier acted as an RCV surrogate while a modified Bradley infantry vehicle called the Mission Enabling Technologies-Demonstrator, or MET-D, served in lieu of a yet-to-be-built OMFV. 

 “We successfully networked the surrogate platforms in a point-to-point fashion with our Wave Relay MANET,” Brian Soles, VP of Government Relations & Business Strategy for Persistent Systems, said. “That means enabling the cameras, sensors and software as well as the command-and-control interface for control of the RCV and its gun systems.” 

Persistent Systems is now working with the Next Generation Combat Vehicles – Cross Functional Team and other stakeholders, such as Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Ground Vehicle Systems Center and C5ISR Center, to review lessons learned and further adapt Wave Relay capabilities. 

“We are really looking forward to Phase III of the Army RCV program,” Soles said, “because it’ll be a complex, RF-contested and -congested environment with multiple air, ground, and dismounted units, and that’s where Wave Relay’s scalability, resiliency and spectrum efficiency will shine.”    

ATLANTIC SIGNAL Receives Contract for All New York Emergency Services Units (ESU)

Tuesday, August 18th, 2020

Atlantic Signal was recently awarded and delivered the first of numerous orders for the NYPD ESU following extensive testing of the company’s exclusive ComTac V Patriot Headset, Invictus Push-to-Talk and ESU Speaker Mic with custom radio cable inline QD for quick change capabilities for their Motorola APX portable radios.

The Invictus push-to-talk was developed in 2017 to provide an updated/alternative to the old school U94 PTT option that had been prevalent since the late 1990s. The Invictus features both single and dual comm models with shrouded actuation switch(es) that allow the end-user to attach or detach protective shrouds. Both models include a blackened stainless steel MOLLE clip that allows the end-user to move the PTT switch(es) to the 3, 6 ,9 & 12 o’clock positions. Further, the Invictus MOLLE clip was designed to allow the user to remove the MOLLE clip from its normal ‘back’ position, which configures the PTT actuation switch(es) in an outboard position, and attach the clip to the ‘front’ of the Invictus PTT housing which positions the actuation switch(es) in an outboard orientation for left handed trigger-pullers.

The order includes the Atlantic Signal exclusive 3M/Peltor ComTac V Patriot headset featuring all-new ambient environment listening modes, ambidextrous noise canceling boom microphone, removable rubber headband and ARC rail mounts for the team’s Ops-Core protective helmets.

“We began working with ESU approximately 18 months ago after being notified they were looking to update what proved to be very outdated ancillary communications. As opposed to most other tactical communications suppliers/distributors, we design and manufacture our products and have in-house capabilities to customize our builds. ESU is a very demanding customer and are not the traditional part-time SWAT / tactical unit. Requirements for their needs included custom comms systems for Heavy Weapons and Tactics, Explosive Ordinance Disposal, SCUBA, EMT, High Angle Rescue, Vehicle and Train Extrication, Helicopter & HAZMAT. NYPD’s requirements are very similar to what we have done for the FBI Hostage Rescue Team. An example is, NYPD wanted its ESU operators to be able to quickly transition into tactical gear without having to unscrew, remove, re-position and screw back on their Motorola APX radio adapter. We provided an inline quick disconnect on the coiled radio cable assembly that allowed each officer to simply unplug his department issued shoulder mic cable from the radio and plug in his/her Atlantic Signal comms system without ever having to remove the actual radio connector. We had experience with this unique type of request having developed a similar inline QD system for Naval Special Warfare boat operators. We worked with each specialized team and developed comms solutions for their specific needs surrounding a single common headset, the Atlantic Signal exclusive ComTac V Patriot” stated Randall Hedrick, President and Managing General Member of Atlantic Signal.

NYPD ESU provides services analogous to the functions of a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team. ESU responds to high-risk, tactical operations involving barricaded suspects, hostage situations, high- warrant service, tactical crowd control and dignitary/VIP protective operations. ESU also provides operations and technician level response to hazardous materials (HAZMAT) incidents involving the presence of industrial or illicit chemical, biological or radiological agents involving criminals or terrorists. ESU is also trained to rescue victims from structural collapse, high-rise structure, confined spaces, trench collapse, vehicle and rail car accident, and machinery accident entrapment. They may also respond to persons having difficulty breathing, heart attacks, and strokes as first responders, or along with local EMS.

NYPD ESU performs both surface and underwater victim rescue, searches and evidence recovery as well as to provide “crisis response” to incidents involving psychologically disturbed individuals. ESU members sometimes provide immediate fire suppression and victim rescue for fires occurring in massive and highly populated structural locations that are under the direct jurisdiction of a state or municipal authority. ESUs’ operations are often supported by a Canine (K-9) response capability and members often respond to incidents involving dangerous animals and reptiles. In some jurisdictions, ESU members may provide medical support and team member rescue during tactical operations and sometimes staff a dedicated ambulance.

Atlantic Signal is based out of Topeka, KS where they develop, design, manufacture and sell tactical communications and accessories. The company started in 1989 with a focus on tactical law enforcement. Today, thirty-one years later, the company’s clients include Customs and Border Patrol, Naval Special Warfare, LAPD, ATF, MARSOC, DEA, US Coast Guard, US Secret Service among thousands of military and law enforcement clients around the world.

atlanticsignal.com

Contract Dispute Delays Fielding of New Dutch Combat Uniforms, Interim Solution Selected

Monday, August 10th, 2020

According to the Dutch Ministry of Defense, a contract dispute for new combat uniforms for the Dutch Army (Koninklijke Landmacht) and ensuing analysis of tender documents has led to the withdrawal of a contract award to manufacture them. The newly designed uniforms, developed as part of the Defensie Operationeel Kleding Systeem (Defense Operational Clothing System) or DOKS program, were intended to be fielded in 2023, but now that plan has been pushed back.

Instead, the Dutch forces will continue to field MultiCam Combat clothing for those troops deploying to contingency areas.

Additionally, non-deploying Dutch Army personnel will be issued an improved interim clothing package in the new national camouflage, the Netherlands Fractal Pattern M-19. NFP is available in several colorations.

This ensemble will be based on the Dutch Marine uniform seen above which is currently offered in M81 Woodland. It combines the new NFP fabric with the Marine cut, utilizing a material substitution in current contracts. Fielding of these uniforms should begin by mid-2021.

DOKS also fields a new helmet (manufactured by Galvion) as well as other equipment. These portions of the program continue unabated, with helmets delivered in batches, beginning at the end of this year. Eventually, the full system will be fielded, including clothing in an entirely new cut.

Photos from Dutch MOD.