Wednesday, April 04, 2018

Boeing Numbers Among Winners Of Sizable Department of Defense Contracts

Law360 (April 2, 2018, 9:11 PM EDT) -- The U.S. Department of Defense handed down a number of multimillion dollar contracts Friday, with big winners including The Boeing Co., which nabbed a $262 million deal for a C-17 cargo aircraft, and several companies that received a $480 million award to develop camouflage nets for the Army.

Boeing to Prepare C-17 for India

Under a $262 million contract, Boeing will provide one C-17 aircraft that is to be sold to India and will be uniquely configured to suit the country’s purposes, the DOD said Friday.

Boeing’s C-17 Globemaster III is a military transport aircraft that has been used by customers all over the world, including the United States, Kuwait, Australia, the United Kingdom and India, to deliver cargo and troops since it was introduced in the early 1990s.

The company stopped producing the aircraft in late 2015, but said at the time that it would continue providing support, maintenance and upgrades to the worldwide C-17 fleet, which numbers in the hundreds.

The contract announced Friday covers work to prepare Boeing’s final C-17, which the company has held in storage, for delivery to India, spokesman Todd Blecher told Law360 in a Monday email.

“We are honored to help India expand its airlift capabilities with this C-17,” Blecher said.

Boeing will be working on the aircraft in San Antonio, Texas, and is expected to wrap up by August 2019, according to the DOD.

Army Taps 3 for Camo Nets

HDT Expeditionary Systems Inc., Saab Barracuda LLC and Fibrotex USA Inc. will share in a $480 million contract to develop a replacement for a legacy camouflage system used by the Army, the DOD said.

The Ultra-Lightweight Camouflage Net System Increment 1 contract will cover work on netting to conceal vehicles, weapons systems and equipment that can quickly be put up and disassembled, according to the solicitation document.

“ULCANS Increment I is employed throughout entire operational themes from peacetime military engagement to major combat operations, and provides U.S. forces the ability to quickly employ camouflage, rapidly respond to changing tactical situations, and reduce battlefield signatures,” the document said.

The contractors, which were selected out of five bids, will start by producing up to two dozen prototypes that will be evaluated by the government and possibly returned to analyze problems and find fixes, with additional orders and testing to follow, according to the document.

Work locations and funding will be determined for each order, with an estimated end date of late April 2028, the DOD noted.

Saab said in a Tuesday statement emailed to Law360 that it is "very pleased" to have been selected.

"We look forward to the next steps in the competitive process to supply our next-generation camouflage systems to the U.S. Army," Saab said. 

Mass. Cos. Will Deliver Robots

Endeavor Robotics and QinetiQ North America — based in Chelmsford and Waltham, Massachusetts, respectively — were tapped to kick off a roughly $429.1 million Army contract for unmanned ground robots, according to the DOD.

The two companies will participate in a 10-month engineering and manufacturing development period, during which time they will each deliver two robots that the government will test and evaluate.

The contractors, chosen from three bids, are also responsible for providing support during the testing process, including aiding with security control assessments and cyber penetration evaluations, the DOD noted.

After evaluating the test results and price proposals, the government will decide which company will proceed to the initial production phase for the Common Robotic System (individual) program, according to the DOD.

The program is aimed at developing a robot weighing fewer than 25 pounds that can be easily transported by personnel and used to "detect, identify and counter hazards," Army solicitation documents indicated.

Work locations and funding will be determined for each order, with an estimated completion date of early February 2027, the DOD noted.

Original article can be found here ➤ https://www.law360.com

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