Budget Watch. The House and Senate are back on the Hill this week, and there could be lots of momentum pushing the authorization and appropriations bills forward. The House Appropriations Committee marks their version of the bill on Tuesday morning. Things on the Senate side are more opaque. Committee aides are preparing for the defense authorization bill to be debated on Senate floor as early this week, a committee aide tells Defense Daily. The Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee will be releasing their version of the bill sometime in June, but a mark up has not yet been scheduled, a staffer says.
JLTV Competition. The Arkansas state legislature votes to give Lockheed Martin $87.1 million in bonds in the hopes of enticing the Army and Marine Corps to award it a manufacturing contract for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV). Should the company win the competition, the funding would help Lockheed Martin expand their facility in Camden, Ark., where the vehicles will be produced. The award would create 580 new full-time positions and as many as 1,000 indirect and induced jobs throughout Arkansas, a Lockheed Martin news release says. Oshkosh Defense and AM General also bid for the contract. An award is expected this summer. The services plan to buy about 55,500 vehicles total.
KC-46A. The Air Force’s KC-46A aerial refueling tanker returns to the air for engineering and manufacturing development flights May 28 and May 29, according to Boeing spokeswoman Caroline Hutcheson. KC-46A, the week of June 1, will fly with the aerial refueling boom and wing pods installed. Hutcheson says this is part of the planned process to certify the 767-2C’s airworthiness, including handling qualities and functionality.
AFSMC COOLS. The Air Force awards Lockheed Martin a $736 million contract for Combined Orbital Operations Logistics Sustainment (COOLS), according to a service statement. The contract is for operations and sustainment (O&S) of three disparate communications satellite constellations: Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF), Milstar Block I/II and Defense Satellite Communications System III (DSCS III). The period of performance runs through Nov. 30, 2019. Satellite manufacturer Boeing did not bid for the contract, company spokesman Robert Sterling says. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (AFSMC) Commander Lt. Gen. Sam Greaves says in a statement the service applied Better Buying Power principles to garner $425 million in savings over the total contract period by combining the sustainment of the three systems into one.
First Crew Order. NASA orders its first Commercial Crew mission from Boeing, according to an agency statement. NASA expects Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), which successfully performed a pad abort test earlier this year, to receive its first order later this year. Determination of which company will fly its mission to the International Space Station (ISS) first will be made at a later date. NASA’s contract calls for the orders to take place before certification to support the lead time necessary for the first mission in late 2017, provided the contractors meet certain readiness conditions. NASA says Boeing recently completes the fourth milestone in the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) phase of the program, the delta integrated critical design review, which demonstrates the transportation system reaches design maturity appropriate to proceed with assembly, integration and test activities.
RAM Block 2 IOC. The Navy achieves initial operational capability (IOC) with Raytheon’s Rolling Airframe Missile Block 2 (RAM), according to a company statement. By achieving IOC, the Navy can now employ the RAM Block 2 missile onboard deploying ships, significantly enhancing their self-defense capability against anti-ship missiles. The IOC declaration follows RAM Block 2’s delivery to the Navy last July and follows extensive maritime testing that began in 2013. RAM Block 2 is a significant performance upgrade that features enhanced kinematics, an evolved radio frequency (RF) receiver and an improved control system.
B-2 Weapons Management. Northrop Grumman successfully completes the critical design review (CDR) of the Air Force’s Flexible Strike Phase 1 program in February, which the company says demonstrates to the service that its plans to upgrade key weapons management software for the B-2 are on track and ready to proceed to the next level of development. CDR is a key review point in a three-year, $102 million contract awarded to Northrop Grumman last August. The contract covers the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) portion of the Flexible Strike Phase 1 program. The B-2 currently uses operational flight program (OFP) software to manage the communication between the jet and the hardware that holds and dispenses its weapons. Under the EMD contract, Northrop Grumman is replacing several mission-specific OFPs with a single OFP that can manage all of the B-2’s weapons carriage devices.
Saab-Digital Globe Venture. Saab and DigitalGlobe create a joint venture called Vricon to produce photo-realistic 3D products and digital elevation models globally for enterprise and government geospatial markets, according to a joint company statement. Vricon combines Saab’s 3D technology and know-how with DigitalGlobe’s archive that contains billions of square kilometers of what the company calls the world’s highest quality commercial satellite imagery. Vricon will be headquartered in Reston, Va., with company interest split 50/50.
Orbital ATK’s HTVSF. Orbital ATK’s FMU-167/B Hard Target Void Sensing Fuze (HTVSF) successfully completes a Milestone C review and receives approval for entry into Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP), according to a company statement. Achieving Milestone C approval means the technology successfully moves out of the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase and into the production and deployment phase, which includes LRIP. Orbital ATK expects a LRIP contract award within the next few weeks. The HTVSF is an advanced technology, programmable fuze that provides the capability to destroy hardened, buried targets and provides multiple delay arming and detonation times, as well as a void-sensing function, which allows precision activation of the fuze.
UH-1N Replacement. The Air Force expects to complete by July an analysis examining the previous Common Vertical Lift Support Platform analysis of alternatives (AoA) for applicability to the UH-1N helicopter, service spokesman Ed Gulick says in a May 27 email. The results will fold into a subsequent assessment and development of a UH-1N replacement acquisition strategy in fiscal year 2016. The Air Force wants to eventually replace its fleet of UH-1N helicopters, which serve a variety of missions ranging from nuclear weapon convoy escort, ICBM emergency security response and operational support to operational support airlift in the national capital region. The Air Force requests $2 million in FY ’16 for UH-1N replacement and expects to spend $980 million over the next five years. The UH-1N is developed by Bell Helicopter Textron.
New USAF Chief Scientist. Greg Zacharias is the Air Force’s 35th chief scientist and he starts June 1 for a two-year term, according to a service statement. He replaces Mica Endsley, who returns to her company, SA Technologies, in Phoenix. Zacharias is also president and senior principal scientist at Charles River Analytics. Along with being the science and technology (S&T) adviser to the Air Force secretary and chief of staff, Zacharias is also responsible for keeping them aware of S&T developments in the Defense Department and other areas of interest.
Aerojet Hydrocarbon Hot Fire. Aerojet Rocketdyne completes the first in a series of hot-fire tests on the sub-scale oxygen-rich pre-burner in support of the Air Force’s Hydrocarbon Boost Technology Demonstrator (HBTD) program, according to a company statement. In the coming months, Aerojet Rocketdyne will test multiple injector configurations to evaluate the performance and stability parameters critical for a high-performance, high-reliability liquid oxygen/kerosene rocket engine. The sub-scale test series will be used to aid the design and development of the full-scale pre-burner and engine development. Under program direction of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Aerojet Rockedyne is designing, developing and testing the HBTD engine.
Submarine Fleet. The newest Virginia-class attack submarine, John Warner (SSN 785), wraps up initial sea trials May 23, manufacturer Newport News Shipbuilding announces the week of May 25. During the trials, the submarine submerges for the first time and the crew operates it at high speeds underwater and on the surface. All systems, components and compartments are tested, a news release says. If all goes well in the upcoming rounds of sea trials, John Warner will be delivered to the sea service next month, three months ahead of schedule.
General Dynamics Contract. The Navy awards General Dynamics Electric Boat a $46.4 million contract for work ahead of a dry-dock maintenance availability for the USS Montpelier (SSN-765), a Los Angeles-class attack submarine. The contract covers planning activities necessarily before the vessel undergoes maintenance, upgrades and other modernization efforts. The work takes place at the Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Conn., and wraps up in 2018. The contract has a potential value of $259.6 million, should all options be exercised.
Coalition Against Alternative FISA Reform. A coalition of 51 companies, trade groups, and various organizations wrote a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in opposition to alternative FISA reforms that do not go as far as the USA FREEDOM Act: the FISA Improvements Act of 2015 by Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and the FISA Reform Act of 2015 by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). The coalition objects to bulk collection being allowed with “specific selection terms” when such terms are defined broadly and disapproves of how these bills do not require public disclosure of FISA court rulings, like the USA FREEDOM Act. The coalition includes the Center for Democracy and Technology; ACLU; Data Foundry, Inc.; Electronic Frontier Foundation; FreedomWorks; Government Accountability Project; Gun Owners of America; R Street; Republican Liberty Caucus; and the Sunlight Foundation.
DoD Cyber Work Force. The Defense Department is in the process of drafting the DoD Cyberspace Workforce Framework (DCWF), which will address cyberspace work force across the department. The framework is leveraging the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education Framework, and will “establish an additional level of detail by identifying cyber work roles,” Lt. Col. Valerie Henderson, a DoD spokeswoman, tells Defense Daily in an email statement. “This level of detail will enable DoD to establish workforce requirements, product consistency and applicability of cyber skills and abilities, as well as promote a greater understanding of cybersecurity responsibilities as technology advances.” The framework will also help the department with its human resource processes for the cyber work force, she says.
Harris Buys Exelis. As expected, Harris Corp. on Friday completed its $5 billion acquisition of Exelis Inc., creating an $8 billion communications and defense company. “The Exelis acquisition is transformative for our company and marks a major milestone in Harris’ 120-year history,” says William Brown, chairman, president and CEO of Harris. “With about $8 billion in combined pro forma revenue, the acquisition creates significantly greater scale, bringing together two engineering-driven companies and work forces with similar cultures that value technology leadership.”
…Raytheon Closes Cyber JV. In a big bet on the commercial cyber security space, Raytheon on Friday closes its purchase of a majority stake in Websense, which is focused on the commercial cyber security space. Websense, which was owned by the private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, is being combined with Raytheon Cyber Products that will be called Raytheon/Websense on an interim basis. Raytheon owns an 80.3 percent stake and Vista Equity 19.7 percent in the new joint venture.
…L-3 Divests Marine Biz. Also on Friday, L-3 Communications says it completed the sales of its Marine Systems International business to Finland’s Wartsila, which includes the assumption of pension-liabilities, for a total value of $318 million. The divestiture is part of L-3’s ongoing portfolio reshaping effort to focus on its core businesses.
89 Graduating Air Force Cadets To Space and Cyber. Over 800 cadets graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy Class of 2015, with 89 headed to the space and cyberspace fields, Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James says at the commencement ceremony. James highlighted that the cadets’ success would in part rest on a pillar of extending the technological edge of the U.S. military over potential adversaries. “China and Russia meanwhile are plowing full-speed ahead with their military modernization programs and they’re developing worrisome advanced capabilities like anti-air, counter-space and defensive cyber warfare capabilities,” James says. The cadets are graduating as second lieutenants.