By Debbie Gregory.

British defense contractor BAE Systems has been awarded a $198 million contract to deliver an initial 30 Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACV), with options for a total of 204 vehicles. The total contract could be worth up to $1.2 billion.

The vehicles will replace the current fleet, which has been in service since the 1970s.

BAE was chosen over Virginia-based SAIC, which had teamed up with Singapore Technologies Kinetics.

“We are well positioned and ready to build the future of amphibious fighting vehicles for the Marine Corps, having already produced 16 prototypes,” said Dean Medland, vice president and general manager of Combat Vehicles Amphibious and International at BAE Systems. “Through this award, we are proud to continue our partnership with the Marine Corps by providing a best-in-class vehicle to support its mission through mobility, survivability and lethality.”

ACV1.1 provides exceptional mobility in all terrains, and blast mitigation protection for all three crew and 13 embarked Marines, along with other improvements over currently fielded systems.

BAE conducted its own extensive risk mitigation testing and evaluation for land mobility, survivability, and swim capabilities that proved its vehicle’s performance prior to delivering the first 16 prototypes to the Marine Corps in 2017.

The initial production vehicles will be delivered to the Marine Corps by the fall of 2019, with the Marines conducting initial operational test and evaluation in late 2020.

The 3rd Amphibious Assault Battalion on the West Coast will be the first unit equipped with the ACV 1.1, Marine Corps officials said.

After purchasing the 204 vehicles in the initial phase, the next phase will see BAE’s development of the ACV 1.2, an upgraded platform that will hopefully be a replacement for the fleet of 870 amphibious assault vehicles.

Work on the program will be performed at the company’s facilities in Aiken, South Carolina; Sterling Heights, Michigan; Minneapolis; Stafford; San Jose, California; and York, Pennsylvania.

At the invitation of Isabelle Krasney, Veteran Outreach Specialist for the Orange County Veterans Employment Committee (OCVEC), VAMBOA CEO Debbie Gregory has been invited to be a Distinguished Guest Speaker at the July 24th OCVEC meeting.

Members of OCVEC are committed to leadership excellence as Veterans’ employment advocates by addressing Veterans’ employment and training opportunities and concerns. Membership is open to Veterans’ organizations, including County Veterans Service officers, Employers and Service providers. In addition, membership is open to all veterans and concerned individuals desiring to participate, assist, and promote Veterans employment activities.

“I am honored to be invited to speak to these leaders in the Orange County veteran community and share with them the mission of VAMBOA,” said Ms. Gregory. “As a result of their military training, Veteran Business Owners, Service Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses (SDVOB) and Military Business Owners are highly qualified to build successful businesses. Not only are small businesses the backbone of the U.S. economy, but Veterans hire other Veterans”.

VAMBOA, which has over 7,000 members, is wholly supported by corporate sponsors and does not charge any dues or fees to its members.. Its “Vet Owned” seal symbolizes the talent, dedication, leadership and courage of these special Americans who currently serve or have served in our nation’s Armed Forces.

Debbie Gregory also founded the Military Connection web site that focused on employment and was recently acquired. Additionally Debbie spent over a decade in the recruitment industry and rose to partner in a retained search firm that focused on technology companies and openings.

OCVEC, an all-volunteer non-profit organization, advocates for those who have served and addresses employment and training opportunities for them.

The U.S. Army had awarded contracts under the Sub Compact Weapon (SCW) program, worth approximately $200,000, to ten companies to submit submachine guns for the service branch to evaluate.

Then a few weeks later, the service branch expanded the scope of the test and  added three more submachine guns to the mix: the Angstadt Arms’ UDP-9, the Heckler & Koch UMP9, and the Noveske Sub Compact Weapon.

The Army is reportedly considering them for units tasked with protecting senior Army leaders.

The list of sole-source contracts for the subcompact weapons, in alphabetical order, are:

Angstadt Arms for UDP-9

Beretta USA Corporation for PMX subcompact weapon

Colt’s Manufacturing Company LLC for CM9MM-9H-M5A, Colt Modular 9mm subcompact weapon

CMMG Inc. for Ultra PDW subcompact weapon

CZ-USA for Scorpion EVO 3 A1 submachine gun

Heckler & Koch for UMP9

Lewis Machine & Tool Company for MARS-L9 compact suppressed weapon

Noveske for Sub Compact Weapon

PTR Industries Inc. for PTR 9CS subcompact weapon

Quarter Circle 10 LLC 5.5 CLT and 5.5 QV5 subcompact weapons

Sig Sauer Inc. for MPX subcompact weapon

Trident Rifles LLC for B&T MP9 machine gun

Zenith Firearms for Z-5RS, Z-5P and Z-5K subcompact weapons

The contracts come on the heels of a Request for Information issued last May for a SCW that will fire 9×19-millimeter (9mm Luger) ammunition, fire full automatic, and have a Picatinny rail for attaching lights and optics.

The ten companies awarded contracts are from the U.S. and Europe. Gunmaker Colt is the first on the list, with what is described as the Colt Modular 9mm Sub Compact Weapon.

Some of the weapons, such as the Colt, CMMG, LMT, and Quarter Circle offerings are likely based on so-called short barrel AR15 “pistols” using the AR15/M16/M4 operating system.

Other guns are based on the famous Heckler and Koch MP-5 submachine gun.

The U.S. Army has not fielded a new submachine gun since World War II.

On May 24 experts from government, military and industry came together for Think Gov 2018: Technology for a smarter government. Think Gov was a call for government leaders to learn what’s possible, make it relevant in your world, and find the right partner to make it happen.

Even if you weren’t able to join us at the program, you can still explore the post-event resource page and watch videos of the full event. You can view a mainstage interview with MG William Hix (Army Modernization Command Task Force) and Francis Rose (Government Matters), a breakout session about Connected Government with experts from Department of State, the Veterans Health Administration, and IBM, a conversation about Modernizing for the Mission with leaders from SBA, GSA, Commerce, and IBM, and many more discussions about the latest trends in AI, blockchain, cloud, data, and security.

By Debbie Gregory.

The U.S. Air Force has awarded the contract to carry its national security satellites to SpaceX.

The $130 million firm-fixed price contract for evolved expendable launch vehicle (EELV) services will utilize SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket to deliver Air Force Space Command’s 52 satellite, known as AFSC-52, into orbit.

Scheduled for late 2020, the launched will originate from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

SpaceX had to demonstrate the capabilities of its Falcon 9 rocket several times before the Air Force certified that launch vehicle, but military officials apparently acquired enough data from the Falcon Heavy’s single launch and the Falcon 9’s track record to give their go-ahead for AFSPC-52.

SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy launch went viral when the payload consisted of launching Elon Musk’s personal Tesla Roadster sports car into a solar orbit past the reach of Mars, far below the payload capacity of 63.8 metric tons.

Work on the project will be performed in Hawthorne, California; the Kennedy Space Center; and McGregor, Texas.

The launch will support the Air Force Space Command’s “mission of delivering resilient and affordable space capabilities to our nation while maintaining assured access to space,” Lt. Gen. John Thompson, Air Force program executive officer for space and commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center.

“On behalf of all of our employees, I want to thank the Air Force for certifying Falcon Heavy, awarding us this critically important mission, and for their trust and confidence in our company,” said SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell. “SpaceX is pleased to continue offering the American taxpayer the most cost-effective, reliable launch services for vital national security space missions.”

SpaceX’s first substantial military contract was awarded in 2016, when the Air Force tapped Elon Musk’s company to launch a GPS III satellite aboard its Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX was the sole bidder for the launch.