The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Passing The Torch. Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.) last week endorsed Chris Myers, an executive at Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems & Sensors in New Jersey, in the race to replace him as the congressman for the 3rd District. Myers, a Republican who also serves as the deputy mayor of Medford, N.J., faces a primary race in June, but the general election is shaping up to be the real race. Myers, a Cornell University alum and former Navy officer, is up against Democratic state Sen. John Adler, a Harvard-educated lawyer.
Work in Progress. Even though the Army’s Future Combat System reached milestone B in May 2003, a significant amount of science and technology work is still underway, according to William McCorkle, director of the Army’s Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center. For example, the Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System’s operational requirements call for autonomous target recognition, but all three military services agree the technology still has not advanced to the point at which anyone would trust it. “That problem is not going to be solved so we have to work around it,” McCorkle said during the AUSA Aviation Symposium and Exposition.
Policy Evolution. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) last week reiterated his position that the nation should change its mission in Iraq from the focus on a surge in forces to stabilize the nation–to counterterrorism operations, border security and training security forces. For the better part of last year, Nelson and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) shopped that proposal. Democrats pressed instead for beginning to remove troops from the fight. According to Nelson, that position evolved through the year, with more Democrats migrating to his more moderate stance. If next year the White House doesn’t see this as a “hostile proposal,” the administration may accept it, Nelson told reporters.
First Flight. Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) recently visited Marines overseas and took a spin on the V-22 Osprey, which has been criticized throughout its development for problems but is now flying in Iraq. Taylor said he has been skeptical of the tilt-rotor aircraft in the past, but said he wouldn’t provide funding for a platform he isn’t willing to use. After the flight, he said he was “pleasantly surprised,” calling the V-22 a “very capable platform.”
Gut Check. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), the ranking member of HASC, last week drew on the announcement that the U.S. is sending more Marines into Afghanistan, and thumped NATO for not pulling its weight in the fight. “In the eyes of Congress, it is unacceptable that the United States must continue to dig deeper into its military force when some of our NATO allies are unwilling to fulfill or make robust commitments to the international effort in Afghanistan,” Hunter wrote. He sent the letter to each NATO minister of defense, President Bush, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen and members of the congressional armed services committees.
Well, Maybe. Lockheed Martin is mulling a run at a new Aerial Common Sensor program later this year. In a statement last week, the company said: “Lockheed Martin believes that we can provide innovative ISR offerings to the Army that will support both immediate and future Army requirements. However, we have not yet made a final decision on our way ahead for the next ACS competition, but we are seriously considering a number of options.” Also last week, Northrop Grumman announced it has put together a team to compete for the program.
Not Exactly Gone. The Army didn’t buy the Boeing-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche helicopter in 2004, but the prototypes are still around and at least one is still flying, according to a service official. One Comanche helicopter is used by researchers to test items, another helps in recruiting, and one has gone to Ft. Rucker, Ala., home of the Army Aviation Warfighting Center, the official said at the Association of the U.S. Army Aviation Symposium Jan. 10.
First Director. The Director of National Intelligence taps Lisa Porter as the first Director of Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA). “This is an important milestone for the Intelligence Community,” McConnell said Jan. 9. “We are incredibly fortunate to have someone of Dr. Porter’s stature take on this vital role.” The selection of the Director of IARPA is a key piece of the Intelligence Community’s 500-Day Plan for Integration and Collaboration. IARPA sponsors research aimed at game-changing breakthroughs and complements the mission-specific science-and-technology research already being conducted by intelligence agencies. Porter, of Scituate, Mass., comes to IARPA following service as the NASA Associate Administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. Before her NASA service, Porter served as a senior scientist in the Advanced Technology Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Robot Day. The Ground Robotics Industry/Academia Day will be Wednesday at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Va. The event is co-hosted by the Joint Ground Robotics Enterprise and the Army, Joint Munitions and Lethality Life Cycle Management Command. DoD wants to extend the Ground Robotics Enterprise to include its industry, academic, non-profit and not for profit partners by creating a Ground Robotics consortium. DoD’s intent is to enter into an Other Transaction agreement with this consortium. Through the consortium, DoD wants to increase advances in the development and maturation of unmanned ground system technologies, improve the performance of ground robotic platforms, standardize the maturation and evolution of these systems as appropriate, and improve the integration of mission equipment packages, all the while preparing to transition these technologies into potential programs of record. Consortium members will participate with government counterparts through four working groups to plan and adjust the Joint Ground Robotics Enterprise’s annual research plan. The working groups would focus on the joint capability areas of: battlespace awareness, force application, protection and logistics. For information: contact Ms. Morgan Ross: [email protected], 973-724-3504.
New Armor. University of California-Irvine professor Maria Feng will help develop the next-generation of protective armor under a five-year, $5.5 million Army contract. The contract will fund the Center for Advanced Monitoring and Damage Inspection, which will develop sensor technology and advanced analysis tools for detecting damage and assessing the integrity of protective armors. The research will aid the design of new, superior-performing armor. Another objective of the center will be to develop a real-time monitor that would continuously check armor’s integrity and detect damage before its performance is compromised. While the research will primarily focus on lightweight body armors and helmets worn by individual soldiers, the same technology also could be useful for tanks, helicopters and planes, which use similar protective materials. Feng hopes the technology also will be applied to common construction materials, such as steel and concrete, where it could monitor the integrity and safety of bridges and other vital infrastructure.
The Clear Prize. “Clear Prize” isn’t just the title of this brief, it’s the name of a new competition being hosted by Registered Traveler (RT) service provider Verified Identity Pass to come up with technology and or process solutions that receive approval by the Transportation Security Administration and result in expedited passage of its RT members through airport security checkpoints. Verified Identity’s Clear RT service, which has been operating for over two years, has been stymied so far in its attempts to get new technologies approved by TSA for use by its members at checkpoints. The most notable example has been the failure to get TSA to approve General Electric’s shoe scanning technology certified for detecting explosives in footwear. The hope is that once that technology is certified, RT members at a participating airport wouldn’t have to take their shoes off upon entering a security checkpoint. Whoever wins the “Clear Prize” will receive $500,000 and receive a commitment from Verified Identity for a contract for the capital investment and operating costs necessary to deploy the winning technology or process at every Clear checkpoint. GE, which is an equity shareholder in Clear, isn’t eligible for the prize.
…The Ultimate Winner. While some lucky company may ultimately win the cash prize, the other winners would be RT members and the airports that serve them. Verified Identity executives will be aided in choice of a winner by an advisory panel that currently consists of representatives from several airports that offer the Clear service. “We want to make it good for our customers,” Reggie Baumgardner, the security manager at Indianapolis International Airport, tells Defense Daily. “We want to be on the leading edge of new security equipment.” While wait times at Indy for RT members are basically the same for regular passengers, Baumgardner says he wants to be a part of selecting potential new technologies and processes because his customers fly in and out of other airports that do, or plan to, offer RT services. The goal is to make a customer’s travel experience as easy and convenient as possible, he says.
An Inspiring Tour. CNO Adm. Gary Roughead says he was really struck by the enthusiasm of shipyard workers he has met while on an eight-day visit to the nation’s shipyards. “You really catch the excitement and the pride that is going into making these ships that our sailors will take around the world and in many instances in harm’s way. That is very reassuring and very inspiring,” he says.
No Interest. The commercial companies that operate the commercial shipping industry, companies such as Maersk, are not as interested in sea basing as Maj. Gen. Thomas Benes, director of expeditionary warfare, thought they would be. “[That’s] because they didn’t see not having access as a threat to their enterprise,” he tells Defense Daily. Benes adds the companies told him that the way they pack containers on a ship they need to go to a port for stable off-load.
…Help Wanted. “I would think it would be in their best interest in the future to not have a footprint ashore, to invest in all this infrastructure and be able to do this at sea, especially if there is a threat there or if they just don’t want to go [into a harbor],” Benes says. “But they said they’d just go to another port. They are not really thinking seriously about it.” Benes adds the Marine Corps was trying to get the shipping companies interested in sea basing to see if they could develop some of the technologies needed to move equipment and personnel from ship to ship.
A Joint Effort. NECC has Coast Guard officers in its billets in the maritime expeditionary security force, Rear Adm. Donald Bullard, NECC commander, tells Defense Daily. “In fact we have a couple of Coast Guard commanding officers. The Coast Guard will be deploying a port security force with us next year, and we are participating in their exercises at times in case there is need for homeland security, where they need increased augment,” he says. “They have been aboard search and seizure teams, we are doing some of the same curriculum training. We have been involved in their international training division, so as they teach quite a bit of Coast Guard boat operations around the world and we are teaching some of the same things, we are using the same curriculum.”
…A New Head For NECC. Rear Adm. Mike Tillotson, Deputy Commander, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, will assume responsibility for the NECC after Bullard retired from the Navy last Friday.