FIVE CONTRACTS AWARDED FOR ARMED OVERWATCH PROTOTYPE AIRCRAFT

摘要

PROTOTYPES OF five different aircraft types have been ordered for competitive demonstrations under US Special Operations Command's (USSOCOM's) Armed Overwatch program. The Directorate of Procurement, on behalf of USSOCOM Program Executive Office-Fixed Wing (PEO-FW), awarded fixed-price prototype contracts to five companies in a deal costing just under US$19.2m, financed with Fiscal Year 2021 Research, Development, Test and Evaluation funds. The contracts were announced on May 14, on the government's official beta.SAM.gov contracting website. The Armed Overwatch program is intended to provide Special Operations Forces (SOF) deployable, affordable and sustainable manned aircraft systems fulfilling a number of requirements in austere and permissive environments for the Countering-Violent Extremist Organization (C-VEO) missions. The first of the five is Leidos Inc of Reston, Virginia, which is proposing the Bronco II, an Americanized version of the South African Paramount Group's AHRLAC, previously offered to SOCOM in May 2020 in partnership with Leidos and Vertex Aerospace.