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Boeing Awarded $2.4B Contract for New Helicopters

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By Debbie Gregory.

Boeing has been awarded a $2.38 billion contract by the U.S. Air Force to provide 84 of its MH-139 helicopter and related support (training devices and support equipment) to replace the more than 40-year-old UH-1N “Huey” helicopters, used to protect America’s intercontinental ballistic missile bases.

“We’re grateful for the Air Force’s confidence in our MH-139 team,” said David Koopersmith, vice president and general manager, Boeing Vertical Lift. “The MH-139 exceeds mission requirements, it’s also ideal for VIP transport, and it offers the Air Force up to $1 billion in acquisition and lifecycle cost savings.”

The MH-139 derives from the Leonardo AW139, which is used by more than 270 governments, militaries and companies worldwide. Leonardo will assemble the helicopters at its northeast Philadelphia plant, with Boeing integrating military-specific components at its facility south of that city.

“The new helicopter will be an important tool for Airmen charged with securing and defending the nation’s intercontinental ballistic missiles,” the Air Force said in a statement announcing the award.

The MH-139 helicopters will be the product of a joint effort between Boeing and Leonardo. Leonardo will assemble the helicopters at its northeast Philadelphia plant, with Boeing integrating military-specific components at its facility south of that city.

Earlier this year, six U.S. Senators wrote a letter to the Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson urging the Air Force to expedite the acquisition of a replacement helicopter.

Hueys first entered Air Force service in 1970.

“We’re proud to provide the U.S. Air Force with solutions across the entire services ecosystem,” said Ed Dolanski, president of U.S. Government Services, Boeing Global Services. “With the AW139 platform’s more than 2 million flight hours and established supply chain, we look forward to applying our expertise to drive cost savings while supporting mission readiness.”

The first delivery of an operational helicopter is expected in Fiscal Year 2021.

By Debbie Gregory.

Air Force Captain Jason Lo was awarded nearly $41.9 million in his negligence lawsuit against SoCalGas, after being struck by one of the company’s trucks. The award does not including punitive damages.

Lo nearly died after being struck by the truck driven by employee Dominick Consolazio  in Hawthorne, CA on February 13, 2017.   The accident occurred when Consolazio suffered a seizure and struck Lo on his motorcycle as he was waiting at a red light.

According to the lawsuit, Lo was wedged underneath the front end of the gas company truck, which came to a stop at the intersection for 23 seconds. When Consolazio regained consciousness, he dragged Lo 430 feet as he attempted to flee the accident and get on the freeway.

Witnesses got out of their cars and blocked Consolazio’s path until the police arrived and arrested him on the spot. He pleaded no contest to felony hit-and-run causing injury, and was sentenced to five year’s probation and community service.

The lawsuit alleged Consolazio and SoCalGas should have known he was unfit to work as a driver because he suffered from epilepsy and continued to have seizures despite taking medication, including one six weeks before the collision. Supervisors also knew Consolazio went on disability leave for six months and had his driver’s license suspended following a severe seizure in 2012, not long after he worked 79 hours of overtime for the company in one week, according to the lawsuit.

Captain Lo lost 40 percent of his blood and spent close to a month in the hospital, nearly losing his life and his leg.  Lo underwent multiple surgeries, and his leg remains severely disfigured and is still at risk of amputation.

“The Lo family will live with this tragedy for the rest of their lives,” said Lo’s attorney, Brian Panish. “The settlement reached by the parties after the jury’s substantial verdict will enable this young couple to move forward, build a family and get Captain Lo the medical care he will need in the future.”

By Debbie Gregory.

The U.S. Army wants to push its long-range guns into territory where it’s never been. The service’s Strategic Long Range Cannon is projected to farther than any existing gun, or any gun ever made.

Gen. John “Mike” Murray, commander of Army Futures Command, told Congress the command wants to field a long-range cannon that can shoot out to 1,000 nautical miles, a range comparable to that of Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Murray testified at a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Readiness to explain to lawmakers how the Army Futures Command will change the Army’s acquisition and modernization process.

“We are looking very hard and starting down the path of hypersonics and also looking at what we call the Strategic Long Range Cannon, which conceivably could have a range of up to 1,000 nautical miles.” That’s the equivalent of 1,150 land miles.

The Army’s largest guns, the M109A7 Paladin self-propelled howitzer and the M777 towed howitzer, are 155-millimeter guns with a maximum range of 18.6 miles. The Long Range Land Attack Projectile, a round specially designed for the Zumwalt-class of destroyers and then promptly cancelled over cost concerns, has a range of about 85 miles. Even the massive 16-inch guns of the Iowa-class battleships had a range of only 23 miles.

“From a tactical fires perspective, we are going through basically a two-step upgrade to our current Paladin, going to the M109A7, which is a new chassis,” Murray said. “The next step is coming very quickly. We call it the extended-range cannon artillery. … We have already shot a … round out of that tube and more than doubled the range of our current artillery. And the goal is to get that out even further.”

When this long-range cannon might see combat is yet to be determined.

Under a new streamlined acquisition approach, the service was able to shave five years off the development process, Murray said. “The initial estimate was we could field one in 2025. We are now down to [fielding] four battalions in fiscal year 2020. The requirements process was done in 90 days, as opposed to the three to five years.”

U.S. Air Force Awards $7.2 Billion GPS Satellite Contract

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By Debbie Gregory.

The Air Force announced that Lockheed Martin will receive a $7.2 billion contract to manufacture 22 Global Positioning System satellites.

Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson said the new generation of GPS satellites, called GPS 3 follow-on, or GPS 3F, is more resistant to interference and electronic attacks.

“These satellites will provide greater accuracy and improved anti-jamming capabilities, making them more resilient.”

The satellites are expected to be available for launch into space beginning in 2026.

“The world is dependent on GPS, from getting directions to getting cash from an ATM machine or trading on the stock exchange,” Wilson said.

“This investment in GPS 3 continues to advance our capabilities into the future,” said Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. David Goldfein.

In 2008, Lockheed Martin was selected by the Air Force to build the first 10 GPS 3 satellites. In February, the Air Force requested competitive bids for the next batch of 22, but only Lockheed Martin submitted a proposal. Other military satellite manufacturers like Boeing and Northrop Grumman that were expected to challenge Lockheed Martin decided not to.

The Air Force experienced a number of setbacks and schedule delays in the production of the first 10 GPS 3 satellites.

Timely production of GPS satellites is critical as the current constellation of 31 GPS 2 satellites in orbit will have to be replaced over the next decade. The first GPS 3 launch was scheduled for March, 2018, but has been delayed.

According to the agreement, the $7.2 billion fixed-price deal ensures that the “contractor, not the taxpayer would be responsible for any cost overruns.”

The first vehicle of the GPS 3 constellation arrived at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on August 20th in anticipation of a December 15th launch.

Army Looking to Replace Current Ghille Suits

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By Debbie Gregory.

A new, lightweight, modular ghillie suit for snipers is in the works to replace the current Flame Resistant Ghillie System, or FRGS, that will be more functional for troops in hot environments.The U.S. Army issued a request for proposal for the IGS on August 28th.

A ghillie suit is a type of camouflage clothing designed to resemble the background environment such as foliage, snow or sand. Typically, it is a net or cloth garment covered in loose strips of burlap, cloth or twine, sometimes made to look like leaves and twigs, and optionally augmented with scraps of foliage from the area.

Program Executive Office Soldier is developing the Improved Ghillie System, or IGS, a modular system that would be worn over the field uniform, Debbie Williams, a systems acquisition expert with Product Manager Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment, said in a recent Army press release posted on PEO Soldier’s website. Components will include sleeves, leggings, veil and cape that can be added or taken off as needed.

The Army plans to buy about 3,500 IGSs to outfit the approximately 3,300 snipers in the service, as well as Army snipers in U.S. Special Operations Command.

The ghillie suit was developed by Scottish gamekeepers as a portable hunting blind. Lovat Scouts, a Scottish Highland regiment formed by the British Army during the Second Boer War, is the first known military unit to use ghillie suits.

The FRGS was first fielded in 2012 at the Army Sniper School at Fort Benning, Georgia; U.S. Marine Corps Scout Sniper School at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia; and the Special Operations Target Interdiction Course at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

The updated version will do away with the accessory kit, as most of the items in the kit are not being utilized.

The IGS will feature a lighter, more breathable fabric than the material used in the FRGS, and will offer some flame-resistance, but soldiers will receive most of their protection from their Flame Resistant Combat Uniform, worn underneath the IGS, Army officials said.

The Army will test and evaluate the new IGS in both lab and field environments during day and night conditions, with a user evaluation scheduled for next spring at the Sniper School at Fort Benning.

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