The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense

In Limbo. Congress has yet to agree on what to do about the federal budget–and within that how to handle war funding. Senators said last week they are waiting to see what the House sends over on Monday. House leaders have said they will include money for operations in Afghanistan–not Iraq. Meanwhile, senators have suggested adding a larger figure. Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), the chairman of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, said he did not think Congress would leave for the year-end recess passing only a continuing resolution, which funds the government at last year’s amount, saying it is his “gut feeling” that an agreement on an omnibus bill including war funding would be reached.

Waiting Game. Members of Congress from the National Capitol Region urged the administration last week to delay sending furlough notices to federal employees. Citing a Congressional Research Service report, Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) said the Pentagon could tap into working capital funds and invoke the Feed and Forage Act to buy more time for a supplemental spending measure to pass. Top military officials have said the Army can continue to run through February and the Marine Corps through March. Taking more drastic measures could buy another month, lawmakers said.

BRAC is Back. The cost of implementing the recommendations of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure commission are exceeding original estimates by up to 48 percent. The cost of closing Ft. Monmouth, N.J., for example, jumped by more than $550 million, according to a Government Accountability Office report. According to the report, those costs may climb even higher, because of the way DoD calculated its potential savings.

Coast To Coast. The Air Force intends to make history today by conducting the first-ever transcontinental flight of an aircraft burning a synthetic fuel mix. A C-17 transport aircraft will take off from McChord AFB, Wash., carrying a 50-50 blend of synthetic fuel and JP-8 jet fuel to power its four Pratt & Whitney F117-100 engines. The aircraft will fly to McGuire AFB, N.J., completing the cross-country jaunt. The Secretary of the Air Force will speak at McGuire on the event. The C-17 will then do a fly-by of New York City before heading to Andrews AFB, Md.

…Kitty Hawk Revisited. The Air Force chose today for the historic C-17 flight by no accident; Dec. 17 is the anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first flight. The Air Force says certification of the C-17 fleet with the synthetic fuel is expected in early 2008. Already, B-52 bombers are cleared to use the fuel and the Air Force wants all of its aircraft certified in 2011 to reduce its dependence on foreign sources of energy. The F117 engine is also used widely by the commercial airliners, like the Boeing 757, so there is the potential for the commercial airline industry to make significant use of the synthetic fuel, thereby further boosting U.S. energy independence.

On An Up Note. Tomorrow, Lockheed Martin plans to roll out the first F-35B Lightning II test aircraft built during the F-35 program’s current system development and demonstration phase from its assembly facility in Fort Worth, Texas. The F-35B is the variant of the Lightning II capable of taking off and landing vertically. Gen. James Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps, is expected to attend the event, along with leaders from the Lockheed Martin-led F-35 industry team: BAE SYSTEMS, Northrop Grumman, Pratt & Whitney, General Electric and Rolls-Royce. Representatives from the United Kingdom and Italy will also be in attendance since they, like the Marines, intend to procure the F-35B. This model is considered the most technically challenging of the three F-35 variants due to its innovative propulsion system, including its vertical lift fan. The other two Lightning II models are the F-35A conventional-takeoff-and-landing version, which has already flown in tests, and the F-35C variant optimized for use on big-deck aircraft carriers.

In The Event Of. The Air Force issued model contracts Dec. 13 to each of the two bidders in its multi-billion-dollar tanker KC-X tanker contest: Boeing and Northrop Grumman. Industry says these contracts will be refined over the course of coming weeks before the two teams submit their best and final offers to the Air Force early next year. Having them in place would allow the Air Force to move out readily with the winning contractor so that the new tanker platform, the service’s top recapitalization priority, can enter the inventory early next decade. Boeing is offering the KC-767; Northrop Grumman is proposing the KC-30. The Air Force is expected to choose the winner around February 2008.

Foreign Front. Boeing is now on track to deliver the first of four KC-767 tanker aircraft to Japan toward the end of January 2008, says Mark McGraw, Boeing tanker program manager. The company is conducting some at-night contact tests with receiver aircraft over the course of the next few weeks, he says. Delivery of the second Japanese KC- 767 will follow shortly after the first, he says. Meanwhile, the first of Italy’s four KC-767s is now scheduled for delivery in mid 2008, McGraw says. Ground testing is now ongoing during which fuel is passed from the aircraft’s centerline boom and wingtip pods, he says. These activities will pave the way for a return to flight test of the Italian aircraft, he says.

…Wichita. Boeing had to restructure both its Japanese and Italian tankers programs after experiencing integration challenges that set back the original delivery schedules by about 11 months and two years, respectively. As part of the programmatic changes, modification of all Japanese and Italian KC-767s will now take place at Boeing’s facility in Wichita, Kan. Originally only the first Japanese and Italian tankers were to be militarized in Wichita and the rest at facilities in each respective country. In the case of Italy, the change impacts the industrial offset agreement that Boeing has with Italy’s Aeronavali. But McGraw says Boeing remains committed to meeting its offset obligations through adjustments to the company’s other programs for Italy.

Overhaul. The Air Force is restructuring its aircraft maintenance units to support its combat wings better, says Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley. “To prepare for combat, we train like we fight…so it only makes sense that we should also organize the way we fight,” the chief says, adding that the squadron remains the Air Force’s building block and its structure must be built around it. Accordingly, the chief says, aircraft maintenance units that are responsible for sortie generations for fighter aircraft and combat-search-and-rescue platforms will be aligned with their flying squadrons starting in 2008, Moseley says. As part of the changes, these maintenance units will evolve into material groups that are process-aligned with the flying wings and combatant commanders, he says. “The Materiel Group will enhance logistics enterprise integration at the wing level and contain the Logistics Readiness Squadron, Aerial Port Squadrons, and the remaining maintenance squadrons,” he says. “This alignment consolidates traditional logistics functions under a single logistics leader in the wing.”

Hummingbird Down. Boeing says an A160T Hummingbird turbine-engine unmanned rotorcraft crashed Dec. 10 during a test flight near its facility in Victorville, Calif., causing the “total loss” of the aircraft. There were no injuries or damage to property, the company says. It was the ninth flight of the turbine-engine A160 variant, which first flew in June. The rotorcraft was flying approximately 2,300 feet above the ground when it went down. Boeing says it has formed an independent accident investigation board to help determine the cause of the mishap; flight operations are suspended pending accident determination. Boeing began flying a version of the A160 with a four-cylinder gasoline engine in 2002, prior to the advent of the turbine-engine variant. There were three crashes of that model. The company has developed the Hummingbird under DARPA sponsorship; the rotorcraft unit that crashed last week was built under Navy-administered contract.

Autonomous Landing. BAE SYSTEMS says it has completed the first test of an autonomous landing system for large-sized mobility and transport aircraft at Edwards AFB. Calif. During the Dec. 6 test, the company says it showed that its Autonomous Approach and Landing Capability (AALC) system, mounted aboard a C-130H aircraft, enhances a pilot’s vision in a simulated zero-visibility landing scenario. AALC technology fuses millimeter-wave radar and infrared imaging, enabling pilots to see the runway and detect obstacles in a variety of visibility-limiting conditions, the company says. The system generates an image from the radar that is displayed on a head-up display for the aircrew, with flight- guidance symbology overlaid digitally onto the image, BAE says. “This technology essentially lets aircrews maintain their vision through all weather and obscurants,” says Clark Freise, vice president of defense avionics for BAE. BAE has been developing the AALC system since 2004 under Air Force Research Laboratory sponsorship.

In Command. Boeing says it is now modifying the third of four Air Force E-4B National Airborne Operations Center aircraft at its facility in Wichita, Kan. The aircraft is receiving an upgrade to its communications infrastructure and the company will also carry out programmed depot maintenance on it. The E-4B is a modified 747-200 commercial airliner designed to serve as a highly survivable airborne command, control and communications hub for the president, secretary of defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the event of a national emergency. The company says it has already delivered the first two modified E-4Bs–ahead of schedule.

Reports in the Wings. GAO is looking into a number of various homeland security issues that it will report on next year, including a look at airport checkpoint technologies and related testing and acquisition, Cathleen Berrick, director of Homeland Security and Justice at the GAO, tells an airport executives conference last week. That report is due out in February and will be preceded by another that examines domestic airline passenger pre-screening efforts. GAO next year will also report on the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) efforts to achieve a congressional mandate for 100 percent screening of air cargo, the Federal Air Marshall Service and TSA’s covert testing program, Berrick says. The covert test report will look at how the tests are designed, to what extent they are based on intelligence, and what the agency does with the results, she adds. Next summer, GAO will report on airport perimeter security and access controls as well as airport employee screening, Berrick says. Another report due next summer will look at TSA’s Screening Partnership Program, which allows airports to opt-out from using federal screeners in favor of private security firms. GAO will also investigate how DHS shares intelligence and will examine TSA’s Inspector program, she says.

…And Pilots in the Wings. TSA plans to conduct pilot tests next year at multiple airports using different technologies to monitor exit lanes, Mike Golden, the agency’s chief technology officer, says at the airport executives conference. He says it is important that TSA establish a qualified products list for technologies that meet its requirements for exit lane security. TSA only plans to fund the pilots, he adds.

Common Approach. The submarine force is actively working to increase commonality among its boats, a NAVSEA spokeswoman tells Defense Daily. “For example, the Submarine Warfare Federated Tactical Systems construct is moving toward common sonar, combat, weapons, radars, and imaging systems aboard all classes of submarines with the end goal being a minimum number of baselines with common ‘look and feel,'” the spokeswoman says. “For Hull, Mechanical, and Electrical systems, NAVSEA has four Standardization Working Groups that are actively addressing commonality within our processes for new construction, maintenance/repair, commodities management, and best value standardization, not just at the submarine level, but Navy-wide.”

…No Common Approach. While the surface Navy is looking at common hull forms, it is a different situation for the undersea Navy, the NAVSEA spokeswoman says. “The concept of a common submarine hull has been around for several years. However, submarine hull size is driven by a number of factors including required operational performance and mission profile,” the spokeswoman says. “For example, the hydrodynamic properties of the Seawolf class was better optimized as a 40-foot diameter hull (four decks) than a smaller three deck boat given Seawolf‘s speed and payload requirements. The Trident missile system required the Ohio-class SSBNs to have a 42-foot hull diameter.”

…New Boomers? The Navy’s 30-year shipbuilding plan calls for the start of new SSBN construction in FY ’19, the spokeswoman adds. “The early requirement studies needed to define an initial concept for a Sea Based Strategic Deterrent are in progress,” the spokeswoman says. “These results must be reviewed through the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System process and the DoD acquisition process. Modularity is certainly a concept to consider as requirement approval and concept studies proceed.”

Resetting The Corps. The Marine Corps says it will cost about $16 billion in terms of what it thinks the reset requirement is, Lt. Gen. John Castellaw, deputy commandant programs and resources, says. “We also see right now, if you take a snap shot now, we’d need to spend $1.8 billion over two years to get us where we need to be in terms of reset,” he says. “As we get greater fidelity and as the war continues, that amount will change. So we will continue to review and see where we are in that and what it will take to reset us.”

…Overuse. “Usage of equipment and material continues at a high rate,” Castellaw adds. “A LAV, we usually programmed to drive about 2,000 miles a year. We are driving it at 8,000 to 9,000 [miles]. Just about everything we got over there is going about four to five times what the program usage is,” he says. “It’s going to go up not down.”

Power Up. The Navy earlier this month stood up its Electric Ships Office (ESO) to facilitate the coordination of the development and integration of new electric power systems aboard U.S. Navy ships. “The Navy needs a cross platform office to coordinate investments and deliver the Next Generation Integrated Power System (NGIPS) technology to the fleet,” Vice Adm. Paul Sullivan, Commander, NAVSEA, says. “The Navy’s leadership is committed to pursuing technologies which directly enable electric weapons and advanced sensors for our future platforms. The ESO will be our focal point for these efforts.”

…Approach. Managed by the ESO, NGIPS will define open architectures, standards and specifications, develop common components and coordinate Navy and industry investments, the Navy says. “The ESO is a cross platform office which is staffed by each of the Navy stakeholders,” Electric Ships Office Director Mike Collins, says. “Directing the future of ship’s power is essentially what the ESO is all about.” Coordinating science and technology investments with research, development, test and evaluation and acquisition programs, the NGIPS business approach is intended to improve the power density and affordability of Navy power systems, the Navy adds. This approach will deploy matured, appropriate architectures, systems and components to meet the emerging mission load requirements of future ship acquisition programs, the Navy says.

Readying For OPEVAL. The USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) successfully conducted mine reconnaissance operations off the coast of Spain utilizing the AN/WLD-1 Remote Minehunting System (RMS) on Dec. 10. This training was part of a NATO Naval Task Force exercise, the Navy reports. One of the objectives of the training evolution was to help prepare the Bainbridge crew for RMS Operational Evaluation (OPEVAL), which will be conducted when Bainbridge returns from its current deployment. Another objective was to demonstrate RMS’s capability to locate and classify sea mines. The 10.5-hour mission was comprised of real-time, shallow water mine field operations with the AN/AQS-20 mine reconnaissance sensor at a range of approximately seven nautical miles from the ship. The ship’s operators concluded the training with a night recovery of the system.

…December Delivery. RMS will be deployed on the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and Arleigh Burke-class Guided Missile Destroyers (DDG 91-96). The key component of the Remote Mine Hunting Systems is the semi-submersible Remote Multi-Mission Vehicle (RMMV) which was launched and recovered from Bainbridge during the exercise. The RMS completed an operational assessment in the summer of 2006 and a technical evaluation in March 2007. The second LRIP RMS is part of the first Littoral Combat Ship Mine Warfare Mission Module that was rolled out in September. The third LRIP model RMS is scheduled for delivery this month, the Navy notes.

Lakota Pace. EADS North America’s UH-72A Lakota program checks off a successful year, saying it has delivered 16 Light Utility Helicopters for Army units on-time or ahead of time. During the past 12 months, the LUH program has achieved all of the Light Utility Helicopter Program’s targeted milestones, including full-rate production authorization, the issuance of FAA production certification authority for U.S.-built UH-72As, and the Lakota’s service introduction with Army units. “EADS North America has clearly demonstrated its ability to manage and execute large-scale programs that are vital to the defense and protection of the United States,” EADS North America Chairman and CEO Ralph Crosby, says in a statement. “We are pleased the UH-72A has become a benchmark for well-managed military aircraft acquisitions. Our entire program team is dedicated to meeting and exceeding the Army’s requirements for this newest member of its rotary-wing fleet.” The Army took delivery of its first UH-72A Lakota in November 2006. Production rates are now two helicopters per month, and is slated to rise to three per month in the first quarter of 2008.

Hawk Service. The government and Sikorsky sign a five-year, about $7.4 billion multi-service contract for 537 H-60 Hawk helicopters to be delivered to the Army and Navy. The “Multi-Year VII” contract is for UH-60M Black Hawk, HH-60M MEDEVAC, MH-60S Seahawk and MH-60R Seahawk aircraft. It is the seventh contract for Sikorsky and the government. The contract includes options for an additional 263 aircraft, spares, and kits, with the total contract value potentially reaching $11.6 billion. Actual production quantities will be determined year-by-year over the life of the program based on funding allocations set by Congress and Pentagon acquisition priorities. Deliveries are scheduled to be made from 2007 to 2012.

Keeping A Close Eye. North American Aerospace Defense Command’s NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center kicks into high gear beginning at 2 a.m. MST Dec. 24. During the 24 hours the center will operate, approximately 800 Santa tracking volunteers will cycle through answering telephone calls and e-mails from children around the world who wish to get a fix on Santa Claus’ whereabouts, the command says. The NORAD Tracks Santa Web site, http://www.noradsanta.org, went live Nov. 16 and has already garnered 330,000 unique visitors from 167 countries. This year, the public and children can participate directly: Children and parents can count down with the NORAD Tracks Santa Web site at http://www.noradsanta.org, where there is a different activity occurring in the North Pole Village every day. On Dec. 24, children will be able to closely follow Santa’s progress around the world. Information will be available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish. Children can also receive updates on Santa’s Christmas Eve journey by calling the traditional NORAD Tracks Santa hotline at 1-877-HI NORAD, or e-mailing [email protected].

Tiger Sims Arrive. A suite of aircrew and ground training devices for the Australian army’s new Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH Tiger) was handed over by the prime contractor, Australian Aerospace Pty Ltd, at a ceremony at the Army Aviation Training Centre, last week. The suite of devices includes a state of the art Full Flight and Mission Simulator, a Gun System Trainer, Centre Fuselage Trainer, Underwater Escape Trainer, and Environmental Control System Trainer. The Chief Executive Officer of Australian Aerospace, Joseph Saporito said, “We knew from the beginning that the program was going to be very challenging because the Tiger is a very complex flying system to simulate.” Brig. Andrew Dudgeon, director General Army Aviation Systems, on behalf of the Defence Materiel Organisation for the Army, said: “The Army’s Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter is an exciting new platform for the Australian Defence Force providing both reconnaissance and light attack capabilities in support of ground troops.” The ARH Tiger is slated for operational service in mid-2008.