The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Fantasy Ships. Defense Secretary Robert Gates tells the HASC the accuracy of the Navy’s new 30-year shipbuilding plan, which sees the service reaching its goal of a 313- ship fleet around or after 2020, lessens in the out-years. “I think the near-term estimates on the part of the plan have a significant degree of accuracy,” he tells Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) during a Feb. 3 budget hearing. “I think the mid-range in years is based on analysis and studies, and we don’t really know for sure. And the outyears toward the end of the 2030s is mainly fantasy because nobody knows.” The Pentagon is seeking just under $16 billion for Navy shipbuilding in FY ’11. “We have told the Navy that we probably need to get them to $16 (billion) or $17 billion a year in the middle years and later years of this decade in order to try and get to where they need to be,” Gates says.
M-ATV Movement. Between 500 and 700 of the new Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicles (M-ATV) are in Afghanistan and more are headed there, Gates tells the SASC Feb. 2. “We’re ramping up the production right now, and our expectation is that we’ll be sending in between 500 and 1,000 a month pretty quickly here,” he says about the blast-deflecting trucks made by Oshkosh Corp. Gates also wants to transfer surplus legacy Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs) to U.S. allies in Afghanistan, American Forces Press Service reports Feb. 5. “The United States will now do whatever we can within the limits of U.S. law, and as soon as we can, to provide as many surplus MRAPs as possible to allies, especially to those operating in high-risk areas,” Gates tells a Feb. 5 news conference in Istanbul. The United States has loaned roughly 50 MRAPs to only one nation’s forces–Poland’s–fighting in Afghanistan, AFPS reports.
EFV Limits. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen tells the HASC “there are limits” on what can be spent on the Marine Corps’ developmental Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV), a long-delayed amphibious vehicle intended to carry Marines ashore, which the Pentagon delayed another year in its FY ’11 budget proposal. Still, Mullen acknowledges the General Dynamics vehicle, which was reviewed for cancellation, is needed. “It’s a program that has also exploded in costs,” Mullen says Feb. 3. “We’ve asked it to do a lot. The requirements have grown, and it has certainly come under visibility many times in terms of whether we should keep it as we make this trade. Certainly having some kind of capability of maneuvering to shore as the EFV does I think in the future is important.” He then adds: “I also think there are limits about how much money we can spend (on the EFV).”
The Demise of CG(X). When CNO Adm. Gary Roughead first came on the job in September ’07, he began looking at what capabilities the Navy needs to operate in the current environment. “Clearly, my sense was that one of the core missions of the Navy in the future was going to be integrated air and missile defense and that manifested itself in the decision we made on truncation of DDG-1000 and restart of [DDG-]51,” he says. And, along with the two destroyers, the Navy was pursuing the next-generation cruiser, CG(X), Roughead adds. “[It was a] very expensive program, very expensive program, and a program to design a ship that was going to fit into an architecture that had yet to be designed,” he says. “So we’ve got a very expensive ship to fill a gap that we haven’t defined yet.”
…Radar Study. The Navy conducted a radar study and looked at what they thought they would need in the near-term, Roughead notes. “We know we can advance the [DDG-]51, we have the DDG-1000 coming along with some of its technological features, and with what the radar study told us, we have the capability that we need here and in the foreseeable future,” he says. “Clearly, with this POM, we’ve got a good solution to what we need to do and then we evolve it from here. That’s a much more practical approach in the environment we are in.”
Going Smaller. Representatives from NAVSEA and its five affiliated PEOs hosted a small business conference at California State University, Los Angeles, last month, the Navy reports. The conference provided a forum where small business representatives could talk directly to senior Navy and industry leaders to explore how the service may use small business products and services in support of the Navy. The conference also brought together large prime and subcontractor officials to exchange information relevant to Navy product and service requirements, ultimately aimed at increasing the participation of small businesses in NAVSEA contracts, the Navy adds. “We need to embrace the small business partner and encourage them in order to include their innovations and creativity in our efforts to keep our Navy #1 in the world,” says Victor Gavin, PEO Littoral & Mine Warfare executive director. “The fact that all of the NAVSEA-affiliated PEOs are here today illustrates our commitment to small business partnerships.”
Making The Grade. The H-1 program’s Weapons System Support Activity (WSSA) team at China Lake, Calif., receives a Level 3 maturity rating in the Software Engineering Institute’s Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) model, an IT industry-standard process improvement approach, the Navy says. While the WSSA team started gathering data two years ago to support a CMMI appraisal, the journey really took root about four years prior when PMA-276’s program manager asked the WSSA team to expand their role in the development and integration of the AH-1Z and UH-1Y helicopters; WSSA was already supporting the AH-1W and the H-1’s foreign military sales customers, the Navy adds. “WSSA’s certification is very important to the H-1 program,” notes Col. Harry Hewson, PMA-276’s program manager, “because it reinforces the WSSA’s role as the mission systems integrator across all three platforms.”
Trusted. General Dynamics C4 Systems’ Trusted Virtual Environment (TVE) has been added to the Unified Cross Domain Management Office’s (UCDMO) Cross Domain Baseline list, a list of systems and equipment approved for rapid use by the DoD and intelligence communities, the company reports. A software application, TVE allows users to view and access multiple operating systems, security levels and domains from a single computer. TVE reduces information technology costs associated with the size, weight and power needs of multiple secure computing systems by using COTS technology, General Dynamics adds. TVE is the company’s second trusted computing product included in the UCDMO Baseline list. Previously, GD’s Trusted Network Environment (TNEr) made the list. UCDMO is tasked by the U.S. government to speed cross-domain equipment and technology to the field, enabling timely access to and sharing of classified information among military and intelligence agency users.
New Guard Leader. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) appoints Brig. Gen. Mary Kight as adjutant general of the California National Guard. Schwarzenegger says, “I am confident that with General Kight’s leadership, the California National Guard will continue to be fully prepared, standing ready and able to assist our local communities and our country when called upon in times of emergency.” Kight has served the California National Guard for nearly 25 years. She has been assistant adjutant general since 2006.
New Lockheed GMD PM. Lockheed Martin Space Systems names Mathew “Mat” Joyce vice president and program manager for GMD, according to John Holly, vice president, Missile Defense Systems, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, to whom Joyce now reports. “Mat contributes extraordinary expertise in all aspects of development, production, testing, and operations and sustainment as we prepare to bid for the Missile Defense Agency’s GMD Development and Sustainment Contract. He will be responsible for the day-to-day execution of the program, directing the team of Lockheed Martin employees and subcontractors dedicated to delivering consistent, performance-based outcomes across the GMD life cycle.” Joyce most recently was Lockheed Martin’s vice president and program manager for the missile element of the Missile Defense Agency’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system,
Successful Diesel Test. L-3 Combat Propulsion Systems (CPS) announces its AVDS 1790 air-cooled engine became the first heavy duty diesel to pass the extremely demanding modified NATO 400-hour durability test, AEP-5. The successful test, administered by the U.S. Army, now qualifies the L-3 engine for use in a variety of vehicle platforms, including the upcoming Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) program. L-3’s AVDS series engine is specifically designed for military applications and is rated for 750 to 1,500 horsepower applications.
New Northrop Exec. Northrop Grumman appoints Jack Stumpf vice president and business operations director and chief financial officer of National Security Technologies LLC (NSTec), located at the Nevada Test site. Northrop Grumman is the managing partner of this joint venture, which supports the National Nuclear Security Administration. Stumpf has been with Northrop Grumman for 26. NSTec was formed in 2006 as a joint venture between Northrop Grumman’s Technical Services sector, AECOM, CH2M Hill and Nuclear Fuel Services.
Four-Legged Aid. Boston Dynamics receives $32 million from DARPA for a 30-month phase of design and building initial prototypes for the Legged Squad Support System. The project is a joint DARPA Marine Corps Warfighting Lab effort to develop a walking four-legged platform to augment squads by carrying traditional and new equipment autonomously. It should carry 400 pounds or more of payload and have a 24-hour period where it can sustain itself. The whole platform, including fuel and payload, should be no more than 1,250 pounds. Boston Dynamics has teamed with Bell Helicopter Textron, AAI Corp., Carnegie Mellon University, the Jet Propulsion Lab and Woodward HRT.
Industry Outreach. U.S. Joint Forces Command holds its next industry outreach March 11 at the Chesapeake Conference Center in Chesapeake, Va. The JFCOM Business Management Office will host briefings focusing on the command’s process for continuous market research and industry engagement and for the command’s portfolio of current and programmed contracts and agreements. The session will be dedicated to three command areas: Joint Command and Control Integration and Capability Development; the Joint Warfighting Center’s Joint Advanced Training Technology Laboratory; and the Office of CIO
Hill Cyber Action. The House overwhelming passes the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act on Feb. 4. The bill–which still requires Senate approval–is intended to improve the transfer of cybersecurity technology to the marketplace, help develop a cybersecurity workforce, and coordinate federal research and development. Filed by Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D- Ill.), chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee’s Research and Science Education Subcommittee, the legislation builds on recommendations from the former Bush administration’s May 2009 Cyberspace Policy Review. “This bill will increase the security of vital and personal information by strengthening research partnerships among the federal government, the private sector, and colleges and universities, and supporting the transfer of promising technologies from researchers to the wider marketplace,” Lipinski says.
…Cyber Vote. Passage of the Cyber Security Enhancement Act is a historic step, says Mark Bregman, chief technology officer, Symantec Corp. “Cyber security is an issue that impacts every facet of American society, be it economically, socially, in terms of education, or national security. Amidst a growing and evolving threat landscape, this bill will help improve the security of cyberspace by ensuring federal investments in cybersecurity are better focused, more effective, and that research into innovative, transformative security technologies is fully supported.” HR 4061 represents a major step forward toward defining a clear research agenda that is necessary to stimulate investment in both the private and academic worlds, resulting in the creation of jobs in a badly understaffed industry, Bregman adds.
POGO Vs. Lynn. The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) sends a Feb. 4 Freedom of Information Act request to the Pentagon for information on any ethics decisions or policies created the past year on behalf of Deputy Secretary William Lynn, a former Raytheon lobbyists who received a waiver to the Obama administration’s lobbying-related ethics rules so he could take the Pentagon job last year. The government-watchdog group is seeking ethics decisions, ethics or conflict-of-interest waivers, recusal decisions, and any procedures established on behalf of or as a consequence of Lynn’s past work for Raytheon, as well as information on any meetings between Lynn and Raytheon over the past year. “POGO worried that the wide spectrum of the work required by Deputy Secretary Lynn’s position would prohibit him from conducting work free from conflicts of interest,” POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian says in a statement. “We are requesting this information to make sure that the Pentagon did due diligence to ensure no lines were crossed.”
McKeon On Industrial Base.Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.), noting that the new 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) report talks of strengthening the industrial base, says he fears the Pentagon “continues to rely too heavily on the commercial marketplace to drive innovation within the Department of Defense.” The ranking member of the HASC since last June, McKeon argues that “relying on the private sector, as the QDR suggests, abdicates leadership and risks our security.” He believes to “stay ahead of competitors and keep adversaries at bay we need to grow institutions and develop a workforce capable of developing technologies that are often too high-risk and too long-term for commercial investment.” McKeon believes investing in technologies that give the U.S. military the edge over foes should be an “inherently-governmental function,” according to his written opening statements for two HASC hearings last week. He is concerned the Pentagon’s QDR and FY ’11 budget proposal don’t do enough to add in-house scientists, engineers, and skilled workers to work on weapon-systems within the government.