The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Missile Math. To better understand the how the Obama administration’s new missile-defense plans will impact the Pentagon’s need for the underlying equipment, the Joint Integrated Air and Missile Defense Organization (JIAMDO) is kicking off a Joint Capability Mix III study. “With the advent of the phased-adaptive approach (PAA) for missile defense, we are embarking on a new round of analysis to understand the implications of that decision on our needs for sensors, weapons, and systems,” JIAMDO Director Rear Adm. Archer Macy tells the Senate Armed Services Committee April 20. “The PAA concept will affect each combatant commander differently, and each will have their own requirements for accomplishing their ballistic missile defense responsibilities.” The Joint Capability Mix III effort is intended to “integrate these needs,” he says. The study “is in its initial stages,” and is intended to wrap up around this time next year, he adds.
…Study’s Elder. The Pentagon’s most-recent Joint Capability Mix Study, a missile-defense inventory analysis requested by Strategic Command, assessed warfighters’ requirement for upper-tier interceptors. That analysis found a need to roughly double the number of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense and Standard Missile-3 interceptors. “Working with the combatant commands, the services, and the Missile Defense Agency, JIAMDO was able to quantify how many interceptors were needed and the effect those numbers had on the warfighting capability,” Macy says. He emphasizes the study “was not a unilateral effort by JIAMDO,” and was aided by the Missile Defense Agency and combatant commands. He says the new study–which looks at sensors, weapons, and systems–will be a “repeat” of the older study “where we look at scenarios across the three regions, compare them against the (combatant commanders’) warfighting plans, and then understand what are the implications.”
Reform Vote. The House is slated to vote this week on the new defense-acquisition-reform bill the HASC approved April 21. The House Rules Committee has a deadline of 5 p.m. tonight for congressmen to submit proposed amendments to the Implementing Management for Performance and Related Reforms to Obtain Value in Every (IMPROVE) Acquisition Act of 2010. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) praises the bill, which has bipartisan support. “This legislation will save taxpayers billions of dollars on defense acquisition spending while ensuring that our troops have the equipment they need to stay safe and get the job done,” Hoyer says. The bill is intended to address the 80 percent of defense acquisitions not targeted by a law passed last year that focuses on large weapon systems. The new measure attempts to expand the defense industrial base and make it easier for small companies to work for the Pentagon.
Budget Balance. The FY ’11 federal budget resolution approved by the Senate Budget Committee April 22 adheres to President Barack Obama’s request for a $574 billion defense budget amount in fiscal year 2011. The Budget Committee-passed resolution also agrees with the White House’s proposed war funding of $159 billion for FY ’11, and an additional $33 billion in FY ’10, which ends Sept. 30. “The Chairman’s mark is strong on defense,” states a Democratic summary of the resolution, prepared by staff committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.). Defense Secretary Robert Gates, though, in an April 12 letter to Conrad expresses concern about the resolution not fully funding the administration’s requested foreign-affairs funding amount. “I strongly believe a robust civilian foreign affairs capability, coupled with a strong defense capability, is essential to preserving U.S. national security interests around the world,” Gates writes.
Heavy Metals. Lawmakers are sounding alarms in response to a GAO report highlighting the need for a sustainable supply chain of heavy rare-earth metals in the United States. China, which is dominant in the production of such materials that are used in U.S. weapon systems, has decreased output and increased export taxes, Rep. Mike Coffman (R- Colo.) says in a letter to HASC leaders requesting a hearing on this topic. “There is no doubt that China’s dominant position in the production of rare-earth minerals has long- reaching implications for the U.S. Department of Defense,” he writes. “Though the Department of Defense is doing an internal report on this issue that will not be released until September 2010, a near-term HASC hearing is critical to addressing the results of GAO’s report….Much of America is simply not aware that rare earth metals play an essential role in key national security systems and protecting our warfighters.”
New F-35 Test Asset. The seventh Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter flight test aircraft took to the skies last week, with the overall objective of validating the F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant’s weapons suite. The jet, known as AF-2, took off from Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base and flew for one hour. AF-2 will be used to verify the F-35A’s ability to carry both internal and external weapons throughout the required flight envelope. The jet is also the first F-35 to have the internal GAU-22/A 25-millimeter gun system installed. Gun testing on AF-2 will be used to confirm predictions of gun vibration, acoustic and recoil loads with the aircraft and various weapons. Additionally, the aircraft will be used to confirm vibro-acoustic loads with the weapons-bay doors open and closed with various weapon configurations. The measurements will validate the structural design of the jet, and provide evidence of the F-35A weapons’ compatibility with gunfire and weapons-bay environments.
Tankers to the Rescue. Lockheed Martin rolled out the first of a new fleet of HC-130J combat rescue tankers for the Air Force’s Air Combat Command (ACC) last week. “The HC-130J will enable us to meet the expanding operational tasks that we face today–wartime operations in Operation Enduring Freedom and the Horn of Africa, and relief operations in the continental United States as well as in areas like Haiti and Chile,” said Maj. Gen. Thomas Andersen, director of requirements, Headquarters ACC. Lockheed Martin is under contract with the Air Force to build 21 C-130J Super Hercules to replace aging fleets of combat search and rescue HC-130s and special operations MC-130s. The service is authorized to acquire up to 31 HC/MC-130Js (11 HCs and 20 MCs). The new aircraft, which is based on a KC-130J tanker baseline, will have the Enhanced Service Life Wing, Enhanced Cargo Handling System, a Universal Aerial Refueling Receptacle Slipway Installation (boom refueling receptacle), an electro-optical/infrared sensor, a combat systems operator station on the flight deck, and provisions for the large aircraft infrared countermeasures system. In-line production of this configuration reduces cost and risk, and meets the required 2012 initial operational capability, according to Lockheed Martin.
GPS CDR on Track. The Lockheed Martin team developing the Air Force’s next-generation Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite, or GPS III, continues to maintain schedule performance and meet key milestones in the Critical Design Review (CDR) phase of the program, the company announced last week. To date, the team has successfully executed 26 of 65 GPS III CDRs, most recently completing individual CDRs for the satellite’s power regulation unit, batteries, and space vehicle antenna assemblies. Preparations are now underway to conduct the TT&C, ACS and L2, L3 and L5 transmitter assembly CDRs this month. By the end of April, the team will have completed over 50 percent of the planned CDRs and is well on its path to conduct the overall space vehicle CDR in August — two months ahead of the planned schedule. GPS III is expected to improve position, navigation and timing services and provide advanced anti-jam capabilities. The Air Force is on track to launch the first GPS IIIA satellite in 2014.
Presidential. As the Navy begins anew its search for a presidential helicopter, Secretary Ray Mabus tells reporters the service is looking for a platform that isn’t as glamorous as the previous effort. “I will quote the Secretary of Defense [Robert Gates], ‘we are looking for something less exotic this time,'” Mabus says. “I believe he said the last one had the requirement to be able to flee a nuclear attack while cooking a gourmet meal.” The Navy has extended the RFI for VXX, out to mid June. The Navy is working with OSD and the White House military office to make sure the requirements remain stable, he adds. Mabus compares the effort to shipbuilding where the requirement are known, the technology is mature, and “we get a craft that does the mission it needs to but without having capabilities that may not be needed,” Mabus says. He adds the Navy is the administrative lead but USD AT&L is coordinating the effort as the program moves forward.
…Fueling Language. Mabus has been shepherding an effort to include in contracts, language specifically looking at energy efficiency and environmental stewardship. “We are not only going to be looking at what you are building for us in terms of how energy efficient it is, but also one of the factors is going to be what is your energy footprint, how energy efficient are you, what’s your carbon footprint?” Mabus adds that discussions with industry on this new approach have not yet occurred. He also emphasizes that adding in language about fuel efficiency and environmental footprint isn’t aimed at a specific company. “It doesn’t just apply to one contractor…it [applies] across the board.”
Honored. The Navy will name its 10th San Antonio-class ship (LPD-26) after the late Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.). Murtha served a distinguished 37 years in the Marine Corps and received the Bronze Star with Combat “V,” two Purple Hearts and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry for his service in the Vietnam War, retiring as a colonel in 1990, the Navy says. Murtha, who served as the chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, spent 36 years in Congress. He died Feb. 8.
More Boats For USCG. Marinette Marine receives a $63 million contract from the Coast Guard for an additional 30 Response Boats-Medium (RB-Ms). The new boats are part of a multi-year, Coast Guard contract requiring the construction and delivery of up to 250 RB-Ms at a total contract value of up to $600 million, the company reports. Delivery of the 30 boats is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2011. This raises the total number of boats under Contract to 97. Marinette Marine will build 50 percent of the boats at its ACE facility in Green Bay Wis. Teaming Partner Kvichak Marine Industries of Seattle, Wash., will build the other 50 percent of the boats at its Kent, Wash., facility, Marinette Marine adds.
…Fishy Business. Marinette Marine also receives a $73.6 million contract from NOAA for the agency’s newest Fisheries Survey Vessel (FSV-6), the sixth in a series of the most technologically advanced fisheries vessels in the world, the company says. FSV-6 will serve the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) and will replace the aged NOAA ship David Starr Jordan, which has logged over 1.5 million miles of research surveys for the SWFSC since its commissioning in 1966. The new FSV-6 will be equipped with a full suite of modern instrumentation for fisheries and oceanographic research, including advanced navigation systems, multifrequency, acoustic sensors, direct sampling gear and extensive laboratories.
Ready To Sail. The USS Mobile Bay (CG-53), the second cruiser to undergo the Navy’s move toward open architecture systems under advanced capability build 08 (ACB08), wraps up its 10-month upgrade and modernization at BAE Systems San Diego Ship Repair, NAVSEA says. All Ticonderoga-class cruisers are undergoing extensive structured modernization efforts to improve the Navy’s warfighting capability by supporting future combat system integration, improving operational availability, increasing capacity, and ensuring ships reach their expected service life, NAVSEA adds. The USS Bunker Hill (CG-52) was the first cruiser to compete its combat system modernization in Spring 2009. The Navy is also upgrading the USS Philippine Sea (CG-58). Over the next several years, the remaining 19 cruisers will undergo this structured modernization to ensure they too are able to reach their projected 35-year service lives, NAVSEA says.
ALPHA Testing. NSWC Crane and Indiana University Cyclotron Facility (IUCF) produce the first measurable beam of electrons at the new Advanced Electron-Photon Facility (ALPHA) during a major test that began March 30. Developmental testing, which is still in progress, marks the first time that electrons have been injected into the storage ring that will allow for fine tuning of the beam’s parameters, NAVSEA says. This is a key step in the facility’s development and demonstrates the ability of ALPHA to inject and contain a beam of electrons. ALPHA, a multipurpose electron accelerator located at Indiana University, will significantly enhance current linear accelerator testing capabilities, providing advanced dose-rate research and test capabilities. This state-of-the-art resource will provide NSWC Crane and the DoD with the means to perform the entire suite of dose-rate studies. Construction of ALPHA began in 2007, with full operation planned for fall 2011, NAVSEA adds.
Developing The Innovative. The Robotics Technology Consortium, Inc. (RTC) announces the government has awarded 19 projects with funding totaling $7 million. The teams will undertake the research required to further develop innovative technologies that add capabilities to currently deployed unmanned ground vehicle and enhance future unmanned ground systems. In May 2008, the RTC entered into a $170 million Other Transactions Agreement (OTA) with DoD to better enable nontraditional defense contractors to undertake technical projects on the government’s behalf. Since then, the government has awarded a total of 37 projects, worth $17 million involving 47 member companies, universities, and non-profit organizations. “The RTC model has shown the ability to stimulate innovation, encourage teaming, and get vital research projects under contract quickly” says Jose Gonzalez, acting director, Land Warfare and Munitions, “Because of these successes, it is being looked at as a model for other industries.”
Upgrades For Marine Vehicles. Oshkosh Defense says it has received an award valued at more than $44 million, but not to exceed more than $89 million, from the Marine Corps Systems Command for more than 5,750 upgrade kits for the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR). The work is expected to be completed in September. Oshkosh will deliver more than 950 weapons-mount kits that allow the installation of motorized Marine Corps Transparent Armor Gun Shields, which replace the gunner protection kits on up-armored vehicles. Oshkosh Defense also will supply 2,000 door-upgrade kits to support MTVR non-reducible-height armor kits used on trucks that were armored in 2005 to 2007. The kits will make the doors common with those on MTVRs using the reducible-height armor kits, which Oshkosh began producing in 2008.
…And Axles. Oshkosh Defense also will supply 600 axles for the Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT) A4 under a $6 million award from the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). Production is expected to begin in October and be completed by January 2011. The HEMTT A4 is built with maximum common parts across its variants.
…And Ladders. Additionally, Oshkosh will deliver MTVR Troop Carrier upgrades that include 800 dual-ladder kits, which can be installed in place of single ladders for improved ingress and egress, as well as more than more than 1,000 seatbelt kits to support the Troop Carrier’s occupants and more than 1,000 lift-point kits for improved transportability.
New AeroVironment Exec. AeroVironment announces that Roy Minson, formerly an executive with SAIC and Boeing, has joined the company as vice president of business development and deputy general manager of its unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) segment. “With nearly 30 years of broad experience in the defense and commercial markets, Roy is an experienced leader with a strong background in technology commercialization,” says Tom Herring, vice president and general manager AV UAS segment, in a statement. “Roy joins AV at an important time, with broad adoption of our small UAS taking place in the U.S. Department of Defense, and significant progress occurring in our key UAS development programs, Switchblade and Global Observer.”