The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Supplier Base. Restarting the DDG-51 class will present some challenges to the Navy, although not at the shipyard level, Rear Adm. William Landay, PEO Ships, tells Defense Daily. “They are continuing to build DDGs today.” But Landay notes that first and second tier suppliers, which a few years ago were told by the Navy that the DDG-51 line was done and the service wasn’t going to build anymore, may have moved on. “As we are going through the restart, we are going back and reengaging with [suppliers], seeing what’s out there, seeing where there might be some issues restarting some competitions if we have to,” Landay adds. All of that is part of the process and I think the program manger is working that very well and right now there is nothing we see as a show stopper to award DDG-113 later this year and start building her on schedule.”
…Zumwalt. Landay says DDG-1000 is coming along very well. “The folks up at Bath [Iron Works] are doing a great job at building that ship. She is very much on schedule. They’ve started 74 of the 94 zones. You build a ship in zones and modules–74 of the 94 of those have already started fabrication up there,” he adds. “Northrop Grumman is doing a really good job on the composite deck house.” A little over a month ago, Landay visited Northrop Grumman’s Gulfport, Miss., facility where workers are building DDG-1000’s composite deck house. “They are doing really good work down there, making really good progress in that.”
…Going Forward. “We are very happy with where we are in construction with the first ship,” Landay says. “I think a lot of the things [Capt.] Jim Syring (DDG-1000 program manager) and the program office tried to put in place with the two shipbuilders to make this first ship not have the typical first ship issues are really paying [off],” Landay adds. “We are seeing very little rework, we are seeing not a lot of production delays, not a lot of change, the design seems to be very solid, so all of that is exactly where we wanted to be and it’s right now been a very positive story for us.”
Future Boomers. Although the Navy is still years away from building its first Ohio-class replacement boomer, and as the service is seeing a growing concern both inside the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill over the potential cost of the program, the Navy is doing some early work to prepare for the new sub effort, Rear Adm. William Hilarides, PEO Submarines, tells Defense Daily. “We have actually created the construct of the design build sustain teams that include the people who are most expert at the through life parts–the Submarine Maintenance Engineering Planning and Procurement Activity (SUBMEPP), public shipyards who do most of our in-services maintenance and the technical folks here at NAVSEA who do the through life sustainment–they are going to be on the team, on the design teams,” Hilarides says. “So the design build will have the designers and the people who are going to produce the product together.” The design, build, sustain teams will bring all those people together in the room as the Navy does that early work in the design that sets the foundations, he adds.
…Establishing A Plan. Even though it is decades before the first Ohio-class replacement would need to enter into a maintenance availability, Hilarides notes the early efforts will require PEO Submarines to have and maintain good records. “Generally, the sustainment part gets forgotten. In the time period between when you start building it, let’s say in 2019, and when you first have to take it apart–if the lead ship goes to sea in 2026 it is going to come in [for her maintenance availability] in 2031, 2032,” he says. “I have to get those [sustainment] ideas enshrined such that in 2032 when they pull out the work package they get the right thing. That’s a real challenge…but we are up to [it].”
COBRA Moves On. The Navy’s Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis (COBRA) test team successfully conducts Tactical Littoral Sensing (TLS) testing of the COBRA Block I configuration. With successful demonstration of the TLS capabilities, the COBRA Block I system will enter production under a SBIR Phase III, NAVSEA says. The AN/DVS-1 COBRA system will perform unmanned aerial tactical reconnaissance aboard the MQ-8B Fire Scout in the littoral battle space for detection and localization of minefields and obstacles in the surf and beach zones before an amphibious assault. COBRA Block I is scheduled for integration demonstration testing on the MQ-8B Fire Scout this summer. The COBRA Block I system was developed to address the beach zone and inland component to support assault breaching mission planning. Under a Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract, TLS capabilities are being added to the COBRA Block I System. This SBIR effort includes updates to both the COBRA Airborne Payload Subsystem and COBRA Post Mission Analysis Station to fully implement the new TLS functionality. TLS program options include navigation hazards detection, digital elevation maps, and precision targeting, NAVSEA adds.
ScanEagle Demo. Insitu Inc., in coordination with the Army Aviation Center of Excellence, demonstrates its heavy fuel engine-configured ScanEagle UAS to Army personnel at Fort Rucker, Ala. It was the first UAS demonstration at Fort Rucker in six years, the company reports. Insitu successfully demonstrated the interoperability between ScanEagle video with metadata and the Army’s One System Remote Video Terminal. The demonstration was conducted in conjunction with the Joint Systems Integration Laboratory (JSIL). Insitu also showcased its digital video, encrypted data feed, enhancing situational awareness and surveillance of threats. Other technologies on display included a mid-wave infrared sensor that provides high-quality intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data and imagery at night, as well as Insitu’s airborne target tracking system that displays stabilized video and remote video terminal functionality, the company adds.
Intel Insourcing. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) has made some headway in reducing its reliance on contractor support but additional progress will be difficult, Caryn Wagner, the chief intelligence officer at DHS, tells a House panel. Wagner, who took over the head intelligence role at DHS three months ago, says that the ratio of federal contractors to government staff is now 55 percent to 45 percent, down from 60 to 40 previously. But unless her office can increase the rate of hiring, such as through direct hiring authority, it will be hard to change the ratio. She also says there are still too many empty billets at I&A.
Out of Sight. The Defense Department announced last week that it has authorized the Army to cancel the Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System. A detailed analysis of alternatives determined that NLOS-LS does not provide a cost-effective precision fire capability, according to a statement released by the Pentagon on May 13. The Army intends to pursue other capabilities to engage a moving target in all-weather conditions to fulfill the operational requirement defined for the system. The Secretary of the Army recommended cancellation and the undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics approved and authorized the request. Further, analysis from the precision fires portfolio review concluded that a reduction in the number of Excalibur and Accelerated Precision Mortar Initiative rounds was also warranted; the Secretary of the Army also recommended support of these proposed reductions, which the Pentagon then approved.
Cyber Warrior. Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the NSA, has been confirmed to head a new military command that will be capable of launching attacks against enemy computer networks. A May 7 voice vote in the Senate elevated the career military intelligence officer from a lieutenant general to a four-star general. The Pentagon’s cyber command will be located at Fort Meade, Md., NSA’s headquarters, to take advantage of that agency’s expertise in penetrating adversaries’ networks as well as defending the military’s systems. The command, which will fall under U.S. Strategic Command in Nebraska, is scheduled to be fully operational in October. President Obama nominated Alexander to head the command in October. His confirmation had been delayed by lawmakers’ questions over exactly what the command’s roles, authorities and operational scope would be.
North Star. North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command will welcome Vice Adm. James Winnefeld as its new commander during a change of command ceremony this week at Peterson AFB, Colo. Winnefeld takes over from Gen. Victor Renuart, who is retiring after 39 years of service. Winnefeld will be promoted to the rank of admiral immediately before the ceremony. NORAD is a bi-national command that oversees aerospace warning and aerospace control for Canada, Alaska and the continental United States, while USNORTHCOM oversees command and control of homeland defense issues and coordinates defense support of civil authorities upon request.
Forget Davy Crocket. The combat developments process isn’t working the way it should, says Army Lt. Gen. Michael Oates, JIEDDO director, at the 2010 Joint Warfighting Conference cosponsored by AFCEA and the U.S. Naval Institute in coordination with U.S. Joint Forces Command. “We don’t want Davy Crockett,” he says, referring to a 1960s-era nuclear mortar that had a maximum range shorter than its lethal effects. The IED is a condition of the military workplace, he says, and the acquisition system must be able to make a rapid response to counter it.
Center of Mass. “The center of mass for the joint force…is quality people, the most important, bar none,” for commanders five years down the road, says Adm. John Havey, commander of Fleet Forces Command, at the AFCEA Joint Warfighting Conference. As the military tries to get things partly right for the future, it is “people who must provide the ability to adapt for both the fight we have and the one to come.”
New concept. Today at NATO headquarters in Brussels, the Group of Experts appointed by the Secretary General to lay the groundwork for the development of a new Strategic Concept for the alliance presents its report to the Atlantic Council. The report contains analysis and recommendations from the group, which is led by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. The report will be posted on the NATO website:
Congress of Ravens. AeroVironment receives an $11 million order under an existing contract with the Army for 63 new digital Ravenr small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), services supporting the Army’s evaluation of the small UAS Family of Systems concept and additional engineering services. This follows two recent orders under the existing Army contract. The orders were released under the existing Army joint small UAS program of record for AV’s Raven. This program has included contract additions from the Army, Marines, Special Operations Command and other U.S. military services. The items and services provided under these awards on this multi-year contract are fully funded and are scheduled to be delivered within the next 12 months.