The Latest Word On Trends And Developements In Aerospace And Defense
Sticker Price. The Cost Analysis Improvement Group (CAIG) last week reported out an initial estimate of $7.2 billion for the first two Zumwalt-class destroyers, DDG-1000 and 1001, a source tells Defense Daily. The estimate is approximately the dollar amount the Navy has been reporting for the first two ships.
Bowing Out. Retired Marine Col. Frank Ryan, an accountant from Lebanon, Pa., has withdrawn his name from consideration to be the next undersecretary of the Navy, a source tells Defense Daily. Ryan was never officially nominated by the White House for the position. His name surfaced as candidate for the opening in May. The position has been vacant since December 2006, when then-Under Secretary of the Navy Dino Aviles left for a job with Lockheed Martin. Ryan was a one-time Republican candidate for Pennsylvania’s 17th District. In 2004 he lost in the Republican primary to Scott Paterno, the son of Penn State Coach Joe Paterno.
Special Delivery. The Navy accepted delivery of the USS Mesa Verde (LPD-19) from Northrop Grumman Ship Systems (NGSS) on Sept. 28, the third San Antonio– class of amphibious transport dock ships NGSS has delivered. The Mesa Verde crew moved aboard Oct. 1. Over the next two months, as Northrop Grumman Ingalls Operations puts the finishing touches on the ship, the crew will be participating in various inspections and certifications including a Light-Off Assessment. Early in December, Mesa Verde will leave Pascagoula, Miss., for commissioning at Panama City, Fla., on Dec. 15, before transit to the its new homeport of Norfolk, Va.
Intell Acquisition Plan. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has issued the Intelligence Community’s 500-Day Plan for Integration & Collaboration. Among other topics, the plan focuses on building acquisition excellence and technology leadership. The core initiative is implementing an acquition improvement plan. “We must build an acquisition process that responds to national mission needs and quickly identifies, develops, delivers, and upgrades high impact technologies. Through the newly formed Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), the IC [intelligence community] will be provided with expertise in advanced innovation and take risks for high gain that individual agencies by themselves cannot undertake.”
…Acting Alone. “Acquisition functions across the IC have evolved independently within agencies. As a consequence, the IC does not have an integrated strategy to acquire and apply the newest technologies or to maintain a qualified acquisition workforce. We take too long and spend too much to transition advanced technology to application. Inconsistent funding increases programmatic risk in acquisition programs,” the report says. “By removing roadblocks and training the acquisition workforce, this initiative streamlines the existing acquisition process so that the Community can rapidly acquire needed technologies and services.”
New Arrival. The Long Range Interceptor (LRI) arrived Oct. 11 at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems facility in Pascagoula, Miss., after completing factory acceptance testing in September. The LRI, built by Willard Marine in Anaheim, Calif., is one of two small boats that will be deployed with the National Security Cutter (NSC), says the Coast Guard. The LRI will allow a boarding party or search and rescue team from the NSC to operate independently over the horizon from the cutter for up to 10 hours. Lockheed Martin is responsible for the C4ISR system aboard the LRI, which integrates numerous navigation sensors, computer networks and communications equipment with long-range connectivity providing the crew with unprecedented situational awareness. The navigation system has already passed the factory acceptance test with 100 percent stability and availability. Lockheed Martin will complete internal tests of the boat’s C4ISR suite later this month in preparation for NSC sea trials this fall, the Coast Guard adds.
Looking Forward. Vice Adm. Robert Murrett, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), tells the Defense Writers Group he has had discussions with the heads of DigitalGlobe and GeoEye to discuss the future of commercial satellite imagery, including a follow-on to the NextView system. “I’ve had discussions with both Matt O’Connell and Jill Smith who are the CEOs of GeoEye and DigitalGlobe, as you may know, the two primary U.S. commercial vendors,” Murrett says. “The health of the commercial remote sensing industry is something of high interest to us and we are very closely, as you know, aligned with both the U.S. commercial vendors, and moreover, the products and services that they provide at the unclassified level for use in a variety of applications to include disaster assistance, mapping and charting which is a big part of what we do at NGA.”
…Future Arrangements. Murrett says the discussion have focused on both companies own efforts in terms of follow-on to the NextView constellation and making sure that NGA partner closely with them so that the agency has a commercial architecture in the future that complements its airborne, international programs, and its national means. “That’s kind of the overarching thing. Then we get into some specifics in terms of what our future contractual arrangements will look like with both DigitalGlobe and GeoEye which is something that we talk about all the time.”
Universally Speaking. Air Force munitions developers say they are on track to field the Universal Armament Interface (UAI) in FY ’09. It will allow new air-delivered weapons as well as modified variants of existing bombs and missiles to be integrated easily on host aircraft without the need for lengthy and complex upgrades to the aircraft’s operating software, as has traditionally been the case. “We now have a published interface standard and we will have plug-‘n’-play weapons here pretty quickly,” says Judy Stokley, the Air Force’s deputy program executive officer for weapons. In fact, she says, the UAI will be available for use in FY ’09 with the JDAM and JASSM cruise missile on the F-15E multirole fighter jet. “And then, in Fiscal Year ’14, we will have Small Diameter Bomb II, and we will be able to do our first fielding with a new weapon using this plug-‘n’-play construct,” Stokley notes. “I love the Universal Armament Interface,” adds Air Force Acquisition Executive Sue Payton. “I think that is an incredible step forward to making our platforms more interoperable and open.”
Prompt Global Strike. The Air Force is in the final stages of its in-depth study of strike options that could be available circa 2020 to hit time-sensitive targets just about anywhere on the globe within minutes or hours of the attack order, says Brig. Gen. Ted Kresge, director of operations for Air Force Space Command. The command has been exploring roughly 18 proposals as part of the Prompt Global Strike (PGS) analysis of alternatives (AoA), he says. The findings of the AoA are scheduled to come up for review by the Air Force Requirements for Operational Capabilities Council in March of next year, he says. In the near term, the Navy is planning to convert some or its nuclear-tipped Trident ballistic missiles to carrying conventional warheads for the PGS role. The Air Force says it has a more capable CONUS-based Conventional Strike Missile concept that could be ready by the middle of next decade for the mission. The objective 2020 PGS system would follow under the Pentagon’s notional plans.
Stealth Arrival. Four Air Force B-2A stealth bomber aircraft arrived Oct. 7 on Guam from their home at Whiteman AFB, Mo., and will remain on the Pacific island for several months as part of the U.S. policy of maintaining a continuous bomber presence in the Asia-Pacific region. The B-2s relieved a unit of six B-52H bombers from Barksdale AFB, La., that had been there since May. “I’m extremely pleased the B-2s are here,” says Col. Damian McCarthy, 36th Operations Group commander on the island. “These aircraft have truly unique capabilities and the training opportunities available here will translate into increased combat airpower.” The United States has rotated B-1B, B-2A and B-52H bombers to the strategically located island since March 2004 as a means of maintaining stability and security in the region. As part of the most recent rotation, 18 F-16 fighters that had arrived with the B-52s in May returned home to Cannon AFB, N.M., the Air Force says.
Don’t Forget the Gun. Aircraft-mounted machine guns, such as those on fighter jets, are an important piece of the Air Force’s counterair and ground-attack capabilities today and will remain so in the future, says Maj. Gen. Mark Matthews, director of plans and programs within Air Combat Command (ACC). “We can’t forget about something as simple as a ballistic weapon like a gun itself,” says Matthews. Based on fresh input to ACC from warfighters in Afghanistan, he says, “The 30 millimeter [gun] still remains a true crowd pleaser for our troops. Tremendous impacts on the enemy.” Looking ahead to the F-35 stealth fighter jet, Matthews says, “I still feel that that weapon, whether in a pod or internal, will remain a capability needed.” Indeed machine gun fire is an effective way to suppress enemy grounds troops in the open and attack certain types of vehicles, he says. “And when we worry about collateral damage, sometimes we focus a lot of smart weapons, [and] we kind of forget about the collateral effect that we are able to minimize by employing this type of weapon in the tight patterns much as we do…today.” As for air-to-air roles, the Air Force learned the lesson during the Vietnam War not to design fighters without internal guns, he says.
Tanker News. Boeing has signed a memorandum of agreement with Sargent Fletcher for the KC-767 Advanced Tanker. The document lays out the terms under which Sargent Fletcher would provide the body fuel tank system for Boeing’s KC-767 if the Air Force chooses this platform over Northrop Grumman’s KC-30 to be its new aerial refueling platform. “With these body fuel tanks, the KC-767’s usable fuel capacity exceeds what the U.S. Air Force requires,” says Mark McGraw, vice president of Boeing Tanker Programs. “Sargent Fletcher’s system extends the KC-767’s range and off-load capacity without sacrificing size.” Boeing says it chose Sargent Fletcher following a best-value evaluation.
Billion-dollar Questions. While there is much wisdom in the administration’s thrust to rapidly field Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, Lt. Gen. Stephen Speakes, the Army’s chief of programs (G-8), said he does not see the vehicles as an “enduring program” for the service. How MRAP vehicles might grow into the Army’s force structure is a rhetorical question at this point, he told reporters last week at the Association of the U.S. Army conference. Senate leaders said they would provide $11.5 billion for the vehicles so that production lines would remain operational in the absence of a supplemental spending bill for the vehicles.
Active First. On Oct. 1, the Army started a new program to bolster its plan to increase the size of the Army faster. The program brings soldiers on to active duty with the active duty bonus for 30 to 48 months and then allows them to transition to the National Guard for eight years, Brig. Gen. Gina Farrisee, commanding general of the Army Soldier Support Institute at Fort Jackson, S.C., told the Association of the United States Army conference last week. They can also opt to stay in the active force. The plan helps with recruiting and with training for National Guard soldiers, she said.
Penalty Box. The House last week passed a bill that would make “war profiteering” by American contractors in Iraq a crime. The bill defines profiteering as “contract fraud overcharging for goods and services overseas” and those found guilty could receive 20 years in prison or a fine of up to $1 million, according to a statement from Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), the sponsor of the bill and the chairman of the House Armed Services airland subcommittee.
What Did He Know? House lawmakers called on Defense Secretary Robert Gates to answer a number of questions regarding foreign military sales (FMS) after a recent Washington Post report said Iraq has ordered military equipment from China. At the top of the list of questions was one about whether Gates could assure Congress Iraq did not use U.S. funds to buy Chinese weapons and whether Pentagon officials were aware of the purchase, according to the letter sent by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), the ranking member Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), and Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.). The letter, dated Oct. 9, also asked about the progress of the Defense Department’s FMS working group, which is tasked with speeding up delivery of equipment to Iraq.
Redress The Balance. The Army and Army National Guard (ANG) will work together to rebalance force structure and resources under a memorandum of agreement signed at the Association of the United States Army’s annual conference in Washington, D.C. The memo, signed Oct. 9, says the ANG will grow to 358,000 by fiscal year 2013. The ANG also will keep 17 tactical units and four field artillery units. Some funds will draw from supplemental appropriations, other funds will come from current budgets.
Terminator Protection. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) shows his support for the military by signing Oct. 9 legislation to benefit veterans, military personnel and families. “These bills demonstrate California’s commitment to those who currently serve, those who have served and the families who have sacrificed so much to support them,” Schwarzenegger says. Proposals range from protections against predatory lenders; to expanding educational opportunities, waiving certain vehicle fees, making it easier to vote and increasing access to state retirement benefits. The state now makes it harder–a crime, to misrepresent a military medal.
Old Boy Network. The Blackwater Alumni Association is open to keep course grads, employees and former employees “who have left in good standing” and those recognized as part of the Blackwater family, the private security company says in its in-house organ Oct. 8. The association is like many others. For $35, members receive a subscription to a private contracting industry magazine, a monthly alumni newsletter, e-mail alerts, a lapel pin, and a member ID card that can be used for a 10 percent discount in the Blackwater Pro Shop. There’s also a certificate validating membership that can be redeemed for $35 that can be used toward the tuition for a Blackwater training course.
Engage Not Disengage. The Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe and 7th Army says engagement with Russia is important. “From a military perspective I don’t want to discourage working with the Russian military,” Gen. David McKiernan says at the Defense Writers Group Oct. 11. “I want to work with the Russian military.” While it’s important to keep an eye on what Russia is doing, engagement with land forces and training with them is important in building relationships, he says. “I want to foster that.”
…Tech Mismatch. Among U.S. allies, “there’s a growing concern that they are technologically mismatched,” McKiernan says. “I think that’s something that NATO has to pay attention to.” The mismatch does not necessarily mean weapons and platforms, but such things as command and control, communications and computer network capabilities, he says. “On the surface, the mismatch is probably getting wider given investment strategies in countries,” he says. On the other hand, the United States does provide technology and assistance to partners when working in coalition, to include counter-IED technologies and systems, as an example.