The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Supplemental Tango. With President Barack Obama’s $33 billion request for supplemental war funding this fiscal year pending in Congress, Army Secretary John McHugh says “the last possible moment” his service “can comfortably” fund the wars is “the end of June, beginning of July.” FY ’11 ends Sept. 30. McHugh also indicates to the SASC Feb. 23 that Obama may have a hard time fulfilling his goal of no longer funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through such supplementals. He says only around $8 billion of the Army’s “oversea contingency operations” request could be placed in the Pentagon’s base budget. Asked by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) if the military needs to continue using supplementals, McHugh replies: “If we’re going to operate in…these types of theaters, yes, we absolutely do.”
JLTV vs. Humvee. The Army can satisfy its light-tactical vehicle needs until the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle is developed by fixing existing Humvees–which it intends to stop buying–and using interim Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs), service leaders tell the SASC. “We’ve experienced far fewer battle losses, far fewer breakdowns on the Humvee platforms than originally expected, and so we feel that we can meet a large part of that (light-tactical vehicle need) through recapitalization and reset of the platforms we have available,” McHugh says Feb. 23. “And…about 3,000 or so of the Humvee requirements can be met by our MRAP stocks. And so until the JLTV comes on the line, we feel very comfortable that we have a light tactical vehicle that will serve and keep safe our men and women in uniform.” He adds: “One of the concerns of the Humvee, of course, is that commanders are telling us that it does not provide in its manufactured state the level of…protection that is necessary. And we hope the JLTV will meet that need.”
…MRAP Part. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey says the service is figuring out the future use for MRAPs, as it is in “the throes of completing” its wheeled-vehicle strategy. “The Department of Defense has had a significant investment in MRAP, and we have to figure out how to incorporate that into our force and into our overall wheel vehicle strategy,” Casey says. The Army, like the Marine Corps, is adding more-agile suspension systems to existing MRAPs so they are better suited for the Afghan terrain, he adds. While discussions are ongoing about if and how many MRAPs will be left in Iraq, McHugh says some vehicles could be transferred to the Iraqis “either through some sort of in-kind donation, or should they pay up front, it will be on a case- by-case basis, should we get to that point.”
…More M-ATVs, Please. The Army has ordered 1,460 additional MRAP All Terrain Vehicles (M-ATVs) at a cost of $640 million from Oshkosh Corp., the company says Feb. 23. The order raises the tally of the off-road vehicles purchased by the Pentagon to 8,079.
Next Great Engine War. A new Pentagon analysis says continuing development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter F-136 alternate-engine program would cost roughly the same as pursing one engine, but would not save money. Thus, the cost-benefit analysis, the Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) office’s update of a 2007 assessment, advises against continuing the General Electric-Rolls-Royce second engine. Congress has funded it in recent years over Pentagon objections. “While the 2010 updated result is in fact more favorable to a competitive acquisition strategy than the 2007 analysis suggested (because of sunk costs for engine development since then), the fundamental conclusion remains the same: the potential life-cycle cost savings from a competitive sourcing of engines for the JSF program do not provide a compelling business case,” a CAPE memo to lawmakers says, yet adds: “In net present value terms, the estimated costs of a competitive engine acquisition strategy are projected to be approximately equivalent to a sole-source scenario, or at the breakeven point, as a result of the additional sunk costs for the F-136 development program during the last three years.” The memo says following the recent F-35 program restructuring, which extends the aircraft’s development phase, the cost to the Pentagon “over the next six years to get the alternate engine in position for competition” is $2.9 billion.
…Hill No. Lawmakers who support the alternate engine, and prodded the Pentagon to release this assessment, aren’t pleased with the CAPE’s conclusions. HASC Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) says “it appears that the (Defense) Department’s approach focuses on near-term costs to the exclusion of what the committee sees as the long-term benefits of this program.” He adds in a Feb. 25 statement: “The costs of the second engine in the next few years must be balanced against the fact that life-cycle costs of having two engines are comparable to having only one. The Department’s analysis does not consider the risk that a single engine would present not only to our fighter force, but to our national security, given that the F-35 will account for 95 percent of our nation’s fighter fleet.” A HASC fact sheet notes non-financial benefits to building two engines, including competition that serves as a hedge against risks incurred during development. Skelton says he remains “unconvinced that terminating the alternate engine program makes sense.” Defense Secretary Robert Gates stands by his recommendation that the White House veto the defense budget if the second engine is included, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell says.
New Wave. The Joint Program Executive Office for the Joint Tactical Radio System (JPEO JTRS) program announced last week that the JTRS Network Enterprise Domain (NED) Program Office has released the JTRS NED Test and Evaluation Waveform Portability Guidelines. This document provides guidance and lessons-learned for waveform developers on producing waveform software that can be readily ported to multiple Software Communications Architecture (SCA)-compliant radio platforms. Waveform portability is a key attribute of the JTRS program because it aims to reduce cost, permits faster technology insertion, guarantees interoperability between radio families, and reduces training and maintenance needs. The document details development guidelines as well as specific guidance for General Purpose Processor, Digital Signal Processor, and Field Programmable Gate Array processing elements.
More Strykers? The Army is studying whether it needs another Stryker brigade in the FY ’12 budget. Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey tells HASC last week that the Army is assessing whether a 2004 decision to move to eight Stryker brigades is still sufficient. “And I’ll tell you right up front, I’d like a few more Strykers,” Casey tells lawmakers. “I’d like to be able to put three Stryker brigades in a rotation. And that means that we need to get to nine to do that.” The service is now in the process of adding an eighth brigade.
Modernization Net. Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli says “the network is the hub of Army modernization,” in a video teleconference from his Pentagon office to attendees at the AUSA Winter Symposium in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. “We need secure, standard-based solution across the Army,” he says. Soldiers are key: the service needs to do a better job of listening to what soldiers say, and solicit soldier inputs. To make it work, he says, it needs to leverage commercial applications and add security–which will help to close the gap between the Army and industry.
Data Is Necessary. The Army’s chief scientist says there are lessons learned for his office from the FCS program. At the AUSA Winter Symposium in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Thomas Killion, deputy assistant Secretary of the Army for Research and Technology says, “We need to engage early with the program manager. We need to have data to convince decision makers we’re ready to move on” from one level to the next.
…Plan To Come. Killion says the Army’s new S&T Master Plan is in coordination and hopes that by the end of March it will be published.
Unforeseen Mission. Soldiers always find ways to use equipment developers never think of says Helen Greiner, CEO of CYPHY Works and co-founder of iRobot, at the AUSA Winter Symposium. She proves it with a picture of one of the some 3,000 PackBot’s in Iraq. During her presentation showing a picture of a PackBot by a river, arm angled up–holding a fishing pole. The audience got a big kick out of it.
…Future Missions. Soldiers still clear buildings the way they did 50 years ago, Greiner says. The mission is risky for soldiers, because there are too few soldiers and too many buildings in an urban environment. Unmanned systems would take the guesswork out helping soldiers find which buildings are occupied. Such a concept is called “Extreme Access.”
Change Is Necessary. AMC Commander Gen. Ann Dunwoody says “transformation and adaptation is absolutely a must.” At the AUSA Winter Symposium, she points out that the operational Army is in some ways easier to adapt than the institutional piece of the service.
Taking Action. Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), tells Navy leadership during last week’s HASC hearing if the service can’t get to 313 ships on its own, lawmakers could step in and do it for them. “If administratively you can’t get us towards 313, then we’re going to have to do it legislatively,” he says. “Decommissioning 10 ships this year is unacceptable.” One way this could be done, Taylor says, is to introduce into this year’s defense bill, a proposal that for every three ships that are commissioned the Navy could decommission two. “That’s going to get us finally on the right track towards 313,” he adds. “…Take a look at the 10 ships you asked to decommission, narrow that down to two because we need to stop the bleeding this year.”
…Another Look. HASC Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) wants the Navy to provide a report on the pros and cons, including the cost, of building a variant of the Coast Guard’s National Security Cutter (NSC) for the Navy. “No rush, two or three weeks, whatever.” Skelton recently visited Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding’s Pascagoula, Miss., shipyard where the NSC is being built. “I really had to scratch my head when I saw that ship…we have the plans and we wouldn’t have to start from scratch there,” he says. “I’ve seen no request for anything like it or for that particular ship itself.” CNO Adm. Gary Roughead says the Navy has looked at a variety of options for the type of capabilities the service needs to meet the requirements of the maritime strategy. “The Coast Guard and the National Security Cutter, that ship is optimized for their missions,” he tells the HASC. “I think it’s important that our ships be able to provide for a range of missions…For us, speed becomes important. And that led us to the LCS. Since becoming CNO, I’ve looked at the speed requirements again, and I have reassured myself that we’re in the right place. What we’re building now meets the requirements that we have to deliver the type of Navy the nation needs to be able to operate in the places where we expect to have to operate in the future.”
Getting Well. The Navy and Marine Corps are looking at bringing the well-deck back into future large deck amphibious ship construction, CNO Adm. Gary Roughead tells the SASC last week. “We have periodic, what we call, warfighter talks. This was one of the topics that we discussed just last week. And there were decisions made in years past about the configuration of the big deck amphibs and, as was pointed out, the weight, the volume of the equipment has changed and the interest in going back to the well deck design is something that was the topic [of discussion],” he says. But Roughead notes there is a cost associated with returning the well deck. “Depending on when we do it, that cost can change and I’ve committed to the Commandant that we’re going to take a very hard look at this as we go into our ’12 budget to see how that can best be done to support the needs of the Marine Corps,” Roughead adds.
…Flexibility. Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway tells SASC members that since the Marine Corps is operating at-risk with the numbers of amphibs they have, it’s argued that those that are at sea ought to have the maximum flexibility possible for whatever the mission might require. It’s the Corps’ desire, he adds, to have well decks on ships after LHA-6 and LHA-7 are built. “We also would like to have that ship in the ’16 budget because we will need it for the purposes of putting MEUs (Marine Expeditionary Units) to sea and that type of thing,” Conway adds. “So, as the CNO says, we’re going to look at it from a business case perspective, analyze the cost against the timeline and hopefully make a very good decision.”
Energy Savings. Shipboard fluid system components developed by NAVSEA could save the Navy more than $50 million in energy and maintenance costs, the Navy says. The new ship components include variable speed drives (VSDs) and integral motor pumps (IMPs). They were developed, tested and installed by engineers at NSWC Carderock Division’s Ships Systems Engineering Station (SSES) in Philadelphia. The VSDs automatically regulate rotation speeds for motors on pumps feeding firemain piping systems, ensuring the systems maintain an optimal 150 pounds per square inch (psi) water pressure. Four VSDs have been installed on the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD-1). Recent data compiled by NSWC Carderock-SSES revealed the VSDs improved the pumps’ overall energy efficiency by more than 50 percent. Once VSDs are installed on all LHD-class ships, they could save the Navy more than $50 million over 20 years, the Navy adds. The IMPs are designed to replace bulky, two-part motor and pump combinations, and are being installed on Whidbey Island– class amphibious dock landing ships as they undergo mid-life upgrades. USS Gunston Hall (LSD-44) received the new system in November 2008, followed by USS Germantown (LSD-42) in March 2009 and the USS Whidbey Island (LSD-41) in July 2009.
A Big Haul. In its first deployment, the Navy’s USS Freedom (LCS 1) disrupted a high-speed “go-fast” vessel and recovered more than a quarter of a ton of cocaine during operations in the 4th Fleet’s area of responsibility, the service reports. A MH-60S Sea Hawk from HSC-22 responded and coordinated with Freedom and air assets from Joint Interagency Task Force-South (JIATF-S) to provide location data on the surface target of interest, the Navy says. Following interception by the MH-60S, the vessel jettisoned its illicit cargo in the western Caribbean Sea. The “go-fast” subsequently entered Colombian waters, where the Colombian navy took over the tracking and pursuit mission. A response team of sailors and Coast Guardsmen from Freedom coordinated with a Colombian Navy patrol boat and Colombian patrol aircraft to retrieve seven bales and 72 kilos of cocaine from the water, the Navy adds.