Iraq Costing $7.5 Million Daily. Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby says Friday the Pentagon has spent an average of $7.5 million a day on air strikes, humanitarian aid and observation teams in Iraq since U.S. involvement began on June 16. “It didn’t start out at $7.5 [million] per day–as our [operational tempo] and our activities have intensified, so too have our costs,” he says. The money is coming from the fiscal year 2014 Overseas Contingency Operations account, and “we’re well within our limits in that regard.” The U.S. has funded about 110 air strikes so far, mostly near the Mosul Dam, which is still under daily attack by Islamic State fighters, and if operations intensify or expand into Syria then Kirby says the Pentagon would have to re-think its FY ’15 OCO request.
New Rocket Engine RFI.
Lockheed Martin plans to respond to the Air Force’s recent request for information (RFI) on the commercial potential for a new, next-generation rocket engine, according to company spokeswoman Allison Rakes. Rakes says the company plans to respond because “the RFI asks for inputs to inform the booster propulsion and launch system strategy and because Lockheed Martin has developed these systems in the past and has this expertise.” The Air Force is particularly interested in exploiting any available synergies with commercial space launch systems as well as ways to create greater United States competitiveness in the commercial space arena. Representatives from SpaceX, ATK and Boeing declined to say if they would respond to the RFI.
First Block III Virginia Delivers. The Navy has taken delivery of the first Block III version of the Virginia-class (SSN-774) attack submarine. The North Dakota (SSN-784) is the 11th Virginia sub but 20 percent of the vessel has been redesigned as part of the Navy’s cost reduction initiative for the Block III ships built by General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, Conn. The changes feature a redesigned bow, and the replacement of 12 individual vertical launch tubes for Tomahawk cruise missiles with two larger diameter tubes that can each house six Tomahawks. The delivery that took place on Friday came six days after the North Dakota completed INSURV trials to evaluate seaworthiness and operational capabilities. “It was almost 10 years ago that the first ship of the class, USS Virginia delivered on Oct. 12, 2004. Since then, this program has delivered 10 ships, with North Dakota the latest,” says Rear Adm. David Johnson, the program executive officer for submarines at Naval Sea Systems Command. “We continue to meet the Virginia Class standard of delivering submarines early, under cost, more complete and ready for tasking right out of the shipyard.” The first Block III did not come through without a snag, though. It was supposed to be commissioned in May, but that timeframe had to be postponed because of quality problems with some components that required dry-docking to fix. The commissioning date is now set for Oct. 25.
Russia-bound Mistrals? France has said that will proceed with the delivery this year of the first of two ships the country is building for Russia. France and Russia signed a $1.6 billion deal in 2011 for two Mistral ships. But with the conflict in eastern Ukraine raging, and western countries blaming Russia for it, there has been suggestions that France should forego delivering the ships to Moscow, a move that would negatively impact the shipyard and labor force building them. However, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO has an idea to avoid that scenario. Kurt Volker, now the executive director of the McCain Institute, in an opinion piece published in the Washington Post on Friday urging NATO to get tougher on Russian President Vladimir Putin, says NATO should step in an buy the assault ships instead. “As for the French ships: NATO should buy them for itself using its infrastructure budget and deploy them as a naval component to the NATO Response Force,” Volker penned along with Erik Brattberg, a visiting fellow at the McCain Institute from the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.
For Sale. Advanced communications systems developer and producer Comtech Telecommunications says it is exploring a range of strategic alternatives, including a merger or sale of the company. The $320 million company operates in the telecommunications transmission, radio-frequency microwave and mobile data communications areas, with sales to the Defense Department, intelligence agencies, civilian agencies and prime contractors accounting for about 30 percent of the business. International sales make up about 60 percent of the business and commercial the rest. J.P. Morgan aerospace and defense analyst Joseph Nadol says in a note to clients that U.S. defense contractors looking to increase their international and commercial exposure may be interested in Comtech. He says potential buyers that could be interested may include Exelis, Harris and L-3 Communications, ViaSat and Gilat Satellite Networks. Citigroup is Comtech’s financial adviser for the review of strategic alternatives, which has no defined timeline.
Shared Vision. The Science and Technology branch of the Department of Homeland Security is inviting interested partners and customers across the broad homeland security enterprise to be part of the discussion in defining its visionary goals for the next two or three decades. The agency has developed and refined proposed goals based on the 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review and the policies and priorities of the White House and DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson but wants further input via an unclassified collaborative community (http://scitech.ideascale.com). The site is open for comment through Sept. 7.
…Four Goals. S&T has proposed four visionary goals, including: Screening at Speed, Matching the Pace of Life; A Trusted Cyber Future, Protecting Privacy, Commerce, and Community; Enable the Decision Maker, Providing Actionable Information Ahead of Incident Speed; and Responder of the Future, Protected, Connected, and Fully Aware. The proposed goals were drafted by a working group of S&T personnel and then posted online for comment within the agency. S&T plans to release the final visionary goals this fall.
Trusted Traveler Milestones. The Department of Homeland Security says enrollment in key trusted traveler programs managed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) continues to increase. TSA’s PreCheck program, which provides expedited screening for travelers that have voluntarily submitted to background checks, now has more than 500,000 enrollees while CBP’s Global Entry, NEXUS and SENTRI programs have more than 3 million enrollees, DHS says. “These programs enable us to facilitate and expedite travel to, from, and within the United States, while maintaining the highest standards of security,” says Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
Business Supports NATO Summit. Defense companies join heads of government Thursday and Friday from the 28 NATO nations and 30 partner countries who gather in Wales to talk about key issues. Businesses, including BAE Systems, Raytheon UK, General Dynamics UK, Lockheed Martin
Photo: U.K. Government
UK and Airbus, all confirmed as official supporters of the event. The companies will provide financial backing and showcase cutting edge technologies at Celtic Manor in Newport during September’s summit. All of the companies are major employers with bases in Wales and all invest in building skills by providing apprenticeships. The defense industry generates more than $36 billion per year for the U.K. economy.
New Tech Strykers. Ceremonies were held last week at Anniston Army Depot, Ala., as General Dynamics-built Stryker vehicles with double-V hulls are rebuilt. An order for 93 Strykers with the double-V hulls will occupy Anniston over the next two years. The double V hull greatly increases protection for those inside the vehicle from the explosive power of IEDs blasting up from underneath or close by. In July, the Army took delivery of the first of the double-V hull vehicles, and the ceremony last week took official notice of the event. Rebuilding the vehicles is expected to save the government about 60 percent of the cost of building a new Stryker.
End of a Career. The U.K. aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious decommissions Aug. 28 after a 32-year career. The last of the Royal navy’s Invincible Class aircraft carriers sailed more than 900,000 miles on operations across the globe. Fifteen of the 17 former commanding officers attended the decommissioning in Portsmouth. The carrier will be replaced for now by the HMS Ocean, a helicopter carrier, which just had an approximately $107 million refit. Ocean will eventually be replaced by two new 65,000 ton aircraft carriers being built now, the HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. The Ministry of Defense wants to preserve HMS Illustrious as a tribute to the personnel who served on all three of the Invincible-class carriers. Bids from private companies, charities and trusts are being considered to secure the ship’s future. A condition of sale is that the carrier remain in the United Kingdom.
Denmark Joins In. Denmark plans to join NATO’s missile defense system, the Foreign Affairs Committee decided last week, according to published reports. Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard says, “We will offer that one or more of our frigates can be outfitted with a radar that can be part of the missile defense.” Defense Minister Nicolai Wammen says,“That Denmark will join the missile defense system with radar capacity on one or more of our frigates is not an action that is targeted against Russia, but rather to protect us against rogues states, terrorist organizations and others that have the capacity to fire missiles at Europe and the U.S.”
USAF HARM. The Air Force and Raytheon successfully flight test an upgraded High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM), according to a company statement. During this test mission, a F-16 fired a HARM control section modification (CSM), AGM-88F, against an emitter located outside of a zone of exclusion, which contained a similar radiating emitter. The HCSM used its new Global Positioning System (GPS)/inertial measurement unit (IMU) capability and successfully impacted the correct target. Another HCSM test mission is needed to determine if HCSM is ready for deployment to the Air Force, Raytheon says.
Aerojet 3D Printing. The Air Force awards Aerojet Rocketdyne a contract through the Defense Production Act Title III office for large-scale additive manufacturing (3D printing) development and demonstration, according to a company statement. The contract secures multiple large selective laser melting machines to develop liquid rocket engine applications for national security space launch services. Aerojet Rocketdyne will demonstrate three different alloys with these larger 3D printing machines to include nickel, copper and aluminum alloys. Parts ranging from simple, large ducts to complex heat exchangers are planned to be demonstrated in full scale.
Indyne Range Contract. The Air Force awards InDyne a $31 million modification to a cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-reimbursable for materials contract, according to a Defense Department statement. The contract is for launch range infrastructure operations and maintenance services for non-personal services. These involve operations and maintenance of launch facilities, systems, equipment, utilities and infrastructure primarily for Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and several Florida annexes in support of the 45th Space Wing, based at Patrick AFB, Fla., and its mission partners. Work is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2015.
…CSR Range Contract. The Air Force awards Computer Sciences Raytheon (CSR) an $80 million modification to a previously awarded contract, according to a DoD statement. The modification exercises an option to provide operations, maintenance and sustainment of critical range and launch processing systems that support the launch processing mission of the 45th Space Wing and its launch customers at Cape Canaveral. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $657 million. Work is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2015.
Space-Track.org. DoD adds new, high-quality positional information on space debris of an unknown origin to its Space-Track.org website, according to a DoD statement. DoD says this information will help satellite owner-operators better protect their satellites from objects and ultimately create less space debris. The Joint Functional Component Command for Space (JFCC Space) at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., currently tracks more than 17,000 objects in space on a continuous basis and, among these, there are about 1,100 active satellites currently conducting operations.
Honeywell-Inmarsat. Honeywell signs a memorandum of arrangement with Inmarsat to be a hardware provider for government and military customers looking to access Inmarsat’s commercial global, high-speed connectivity Global Xpress services, according to a Honeywell company statement. Honeywell is developing new products under the JetWave product family to support Inmarsat’s government Global Xpress services. JetWave hardware delivers high-speed data for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms. Honeywell says Global Xpress will deliver secure, end-to-end wideband connectivity for seamless airborne, naval and land operations on a global basis by the first half of 2015.
F-15C Crash. A F-15C assigned to the Air National Guard’s 104th Fighter Wing crashes Aug. 27 over the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, according to an Air National Guard statement. The pilot made a report of an inflight emergency prior to radio contact being lost. Subsequently, there were reports of dark smoke being seen around the aircraft’s last known whereabouts. The F-15C was in route to receive a system upgrade and there were no munitions on the aircraft during this cross-country trip. Boeing develops the F-15.