The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Resolution Roulette. The House and Senate have approved a continuing resolution temporarily extending the FY ’11 federal budget at FY ’10 levels until Dec. 18. It replaces a similar resolution that expired Dec. 3. FY ’11 started Oct. 1 and lawmakers are clashing over what to do after Dec. 18. Senate Democrats want an omnibus appropriations bill for all federal agencies for FY ’11, while House Democrats are eyeing a continuing resolution for all of FY ’11. House Republicans are pushing for another short-term continuing resolution that runs into early 2011, so they can take a stab at the budget after they assume control of the chamber in January. Under the resolution that runs through Dec. 18 no new Pentagon programs planned for FY ’11 can begin.
HAC Honchos. A House Republican steering committee is expected to decide this week if it will grant a waiver allowing Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) to chair the House Appropriations Committee (HAC) next year even though he is maxed out as the top Republican on the panel under party term-limit rules. Defense subcommittee Ranking Member Bill Young (R-Fla.) also wants a waiver to serve as the subpanel’s chairman starting in January, when the GOP will control the House. Besides Lewis, other contenders for the HAC chairmanship include Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.). According to Politico, Rogers is considering making Bill Inglee, a Lockheed Martin vice president who lobbied Congress in recent years, the HAC’s staff director.
Contract Chiding. Government auditors say Pentagon departments and agencies are not submitting required information on contract awards to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs (OASD(PA)) for public disclosure. Under the Federal Acquisition Regulation, when large contracts are awarded, departments and agencies must disclose five things: contract data, competitive information, contractor data, funding data, and miscellaneous data such as the identification of the contracting office. “Our analysis revealed a pattern of contract award announcements that lacked the information required to be submitted to the OASD(PA) for one or more categories,” the Government Accountability Office says in a Nov. 30 report. “President Obama has emphasized transparency and openness in how the government spends taxpayer dollars,” it adds. “We are bringing this issue to the attention of the Defense Department’s Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy due to its responsibility for acquisition and procurement policy matters in DOD.”
NASA Numbers. NASA officials tell lawmakers the space agency is proceeding with plans, as much as they can, to build a new heavy-lift rocket by the end of 2016. “We are going to follow the law,” White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren says Dec. 1, referring to the new NASA authorization act President Barack Obama signed into law in October. While that law dismantles the Bush administration’s Constellation program, NASA cannot fully proceed with the new manned-spaceflight plan, including the heavy-lift rocket, until an accompanying NASA appropriations bill for FY ’11 has been approved. Senate Commerce Committee members, during a Dec. 1 hearing, say they are concerned about the authorization law’s implementation. Congress may approve a continuing resolution for all of FY ’11 keeping government funding at FY ’10 levels, a setup that would give NASA $18.7 billion, less than the $19 billion the White House requested. NASA recently awarded $7.5 million in contracts to 13 companies for helping to design the heavy-lift rocket.
Skelton Sendoff. Rep. Ike Skleton (D-Mo.), the outgoing HASC chairman who lost his reelection bid last month, says during his Dec. 1 farewell speech that he leaves “with some anxiety for the future.” As a result of the Nov. 2 elections, he says, “the center has been hollowed out and more members will represent extreme points of view, which is likely to make meaningful compromise difficult, if not impossible.” He “implore(s) our citizens and our leaders not to forget that we are a nation at war. Unless our government protects our national security, none of these other important issues can receive the attention they deserve.” Skelton’s “greatest concern,” he adds, “is that a chasm will develop between those who protect our freedoms and those who are being protected.”
FABulous. Boeing last week announced the recent completion of communications tests between a Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminal (FAB-T) and an Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite vehicle (SV2) payload. The tests demonstrated the ability of the FAB-T Nuclear Command and Control Network Communications System (NC2NCS) to communicate with the AEHF satellite payload. “FAB-T continues to demonstrate increased functionality and development progress in air, ground and satellite communications,” says John Lunardi, Boeing vice president and FAB-T program manager. “Since we began working with the Air Force on this program, we’ve completed more than 65 percent of the hardware qualification and a significant portion of the software development for this complex set of systems.” When fielded, FAB-T will provide the United States’ senior leaders with critical, protected wideband satellite communications via the AEHF system.
New USAFE Chief. On Dec. 13, U.S. Air Forces in Europe commander Gen. Roger Brady will hand over control to Gen.-select Mark Welsh, the Pentagon says. Welsh has been serving as the top military officer at the Central Intelligence Agency since August 2008. The Air Force announced the command change last year, and the Senate confirmed Welsh’s promotion in October 2009. For reasons Air Force officials declined to discuss, the change of command was put off until now. Welsh, a 1976 graduate of the Air Force Academy, spent most of his operational career flying F-16 Fighting Falcons and A-10 Thunderbolts. His prior command positions include leading the 8th Fighter Wing at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea. Staff assignment for Welsh include vice commander of Air Education and Training Command and commandant of cadets at the Air Force Academy.
What’s $643 Million in Jobs. The $643 million in stimulus funding the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) obligated for the purchase of equipment and construction related to airport baggage handling equipment for checked baggage screening resulted in the creation or retention of 589 jobs through June of this year, according to the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (IG). TSA received $1 billion in stimulus funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which the Obama administration and Congress approved in 2009, to boost the moribund United States economy by spending on “shovel-ready” projects around the country. For checked baggage screening machines and related construction to install the machines in-line with airport baggage handling systems, TSA received $734 million through the stimulus package. The IG says that the agency had plans to spend the rest of the checked baggage related funds by Sept. 30, 2010. While TSA had obligated $643 million of these funds by June 30, the IG says that the agency had only expended $107 million of those funds, with $60.5 million going toward reduced size explosive detection systems made by SAIC, $40.6 million for airport facility modification projects, and $96,000 for airport video surveillance equipment.
New Body Scanner. Tek84, a nearly year-old company formed by the heads of Spectrum San Diego, which was purchased by SAIC in January, today plans to introduce its new whole body imaging system at the American Association of Airport Executives annual aviation security summit in Washington, D.C. The company touts its Ait84 has being half the size of the current whole body imagers being deployed by the Transportation Security Administration, saying its “about the same width” as walk through metal detectors. The machine also features a built-in shoe scanner to improve throughput and convenience, and dual-mode technology–both backscatter and transmission X-Ray–that exceeds the detection capability of current systems, Tek84 says. The Ait refers to Advanced Imaging Technology, which is how TSA refers to the whole body imagers it buys. Tek84 founder Steven Smith invented the backscatter-based whole body imager that is currently produced by OSI Systems Rapiscan division and sold to TSA and some airports around the world.
…About that Radiation. As TSA has accelerated the deployment of the AIT systems, the agency has increasingly confronted critics warning that there has not been enough independent testing and research about the radiation doses given off by the backscatter X-ray versions of the machines and their impact on humans. Smith in a Dec. 2 letter to Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), chairman of the Select Intelligence Oversight Committee, says the various claims about the dangers of the radiation from the body scanners are “incorrect” and are due to a “misunderstanding of the physics involved.” Holt, in a Nov. 19 letter to TSA Administrator John Pistole, cites a Columbia Univ. scientist, David Brenner, as saying the backscatter machines introduce to a person’s scalp “’20 times the average dose that is typically quoted by the TSA and throughout the industry.'” Smith says that Brenner and others have confused dose penetration with imaging penetration, leading them “to erroneously conclude that the energy of the X-ray beam is deposited mostly into the skin.” He adds that the studies these people of have done of AIT system have all been theoretical and that none “have had the opportunity to take direct measurements on the actual products.”
New ISAF System. Norwegian software engineering and systems integration company Teleplan Globe AS will supply a new intelligence requirement and collection management system for NATO’s forces in Afghanistan (ISAF) under an approximately $2.6 million contract. ISAF’s operational requirement is for computer based tools supporting the entire intelligence cycle, including planning, collection, analysis and distribution. ISAF force commanders have access to a wide range of intelligence sources, ranging from aerial and satellite imagery, to ground forces observers, airborne and ground based electronic sensors, and radars. The efficient use of these assets offers major contributions to force security. Teleplan’s system is one of several components in NATO’s new strategy for “Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance.” The system will be fielded during the first half of 2011.
New InfoSec Acquisition. In Australia, BAE Systems says it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire stratsec.net Pty Ltd, an information security company in the Australian and South East Asian region. Operating from facilities in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, stratsec.net Pty Ltd has been providing information security consulting and testing services to government and commercial customers since 2004. The acquisition of stratsec will add capabilities and footprint in the growing area of cyber and intelligence for BAE. The acquisition, conditional upon receiving regulatory approval, is due for completion by the end of 2010.
High Tech Trackers. For the 55th consecutive year, the North American Aerospace Defense Command is prepping to track Santa. As of Dec. 1, the NORAD Tracks Santa website,
http://www.noradsanta.org, is live. It features holiday games and activities that change daily. The website is available in seven languages. On Dec. 24, the website will stream videos, captured by NORAD “Santa Cams,” from cities along Santa’s journey. This year, Santa hits social media as children can track Santa via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and TroopTube. They just type Santa- “@noradsanta” into the search engine to start. Also, beginning at 12:00 a.m. MST on Dec. 24, visitors to the website can watch Santa as he prepares his sleigh, checks his list, and goes through all of his preparations to ensure he has a successful journey.
Flock Together. NAVAIR says the operational needs of the Marine Corps led the decision to award two contracts for Cargo Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) services even though it intends to deploy one winning system after this summer’s Quick Reaction Assessment (QRA). It is keeping both competitors–Boeing’s A160T, and Lockheed Martin-Kaman’s K-MAX–in the running to reduce potential of deployment delays or performance requirement shortfalls. “By evaluating two different systems, we have the ability to accelerate development of technology and use it immediately to support the warfighter while maintaining competition,” Rear Adm. Bill Shannon, Program Executive Officer for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons, says.
…Not of A Feather. The A160T and K-MAX could not be much different, and they will now square off in the QRA to prove systems’ ability to sustain cargo-carrying capability in an operational environment. The government-owned, contractor-operated contract is the first for A160T Hummingbirds from the Boeing -funded production line. “The A160T has proven its ability to autonomously deliver cargo to forward operating bases in austere conditions in a demonstration setting, and we are confident in its ability to do the same in battlefield conditions,” says Vic Sweberg, Unmanned Airborne Systems director for Boeing.
…Same Language? Both teams say they are looking forward to supporting the Cargo UAS program and providing the capability to the Marines on the front lines. Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Bettina Chavanne adds that K-MAX was specifically designed for the battlefield cargo resupply mission. “With its four-hook carousel, the unmanned K-MAX can also deliver more cargo to more locations in one flight than any other unmanned rotorcraft,” she says.
Checkout Position. It will be about 10 months before the first AEHF satellite gets to its checkout position, says Doug Loverro, the executive director of Air Force Space Command’s Space and Missile System Center (SMC). “We’ll then go through a multi-month…checkout of the payload where we’re planning on launching our second AEHF satellite, which is now fundamentally done…right after we get through the majority of that checkout for the payload to make sure there [are] no other issues that we need to deal with on AEHF,” he adds.
…2012. Once the second satellite gets up there in about the spring of 2012, there will be a checkout between the two satellites, again on the order of months, Loverro says. “We’re probably talking in the late summer, early fall of 2012 before we’ll be ready…to move from what we consider developmental tests…to operational tests.” To maintain operations, a population of EMD terminals will be needed and SMC should have about 20 by then, he says. “We’ll need a population of control terminals from Lincoln Labs, and we’ll have operational Navy terminals by that time…so [while] the timing doesn’t look like it’s synchronized…it actually isn’t going to be too far off as we move through that process,” he says.