The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Free or Fair Trade? As the presidential campaign reached Ohio last week, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) was quoted in the Los Angeles Times responding to the Air Force’s decision to award a contract for aerial refueling tankers to Northrop Grummanover Boeingas saying she is “deeply concerned about the Bush administration’s decision to outsource the production of refueling tankers for the American military.” Clinton has long supported the efforts of Lockheed Martinin Owego, N.Y., to build the VH-71 presidential helicopter and the company’s effort to win a contract for the Combat Search and Rescue helicopter when both platforms rely heavily on the European firm AgustaWestland. Asked to explain the apparent contradiction, Philippe Reines, a senior adviser to the Clinton campaign said the difference lies in an ongoing World Trade Organization dispute affecting Nothrop Grumman’s teammate the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., a subsidiary of Airbus. “Senator Clinton is concerned about this decision because it awards the second-largest Pentagon contract in history to a team that includes EADS/Airbus, which the U.S. is simultaneously suing at the WTO for receiving illegal subsidies. Senator Clinton is firmly committed to ensuring that Pentagon contracting is fair, transparent and competitive, and hopes and expects that the Pentagon will fully explain its decision in the coming days,” Reines said in a statement to Defense Daily.
I Need a Hero. HASC last week released a report on the roles and missions of the Defense Department that is meant to be the start of an open-ended discussion about potential sea changes to defense efforts across the administration, the chairman of the panel told reporters last week. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) and Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) said the last two times the nation undertook such sweeping changes in the Pentagon, in 1947 with the Key West Agreements and in the 1980s under the Goldwater-Nichols Act, the administration opposed efforts at reform. What helped turn the tide was having a maverick general in the Pentagon. Cooper said the panel has its “hooks out” looking for an active- duty general to champion the cause.
Foreign Affairs. The House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee last week recommended Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) become the official replacement for Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) as the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Berman has been serving as the acting chairman since shortly after Lantos’ death last month. The party caucus is expected to vote on the recommendation next week, according to a press release from House Majority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Full Funding. The Senate and House Budget Committees last week passed budget resolutions for fiscal year 2009 that meet the president’s defense spending request for $537 billion and assume a $70 billion placeholder for emergency war funding. The mark from Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) also assumes that the Pentagon will provide $49 billion to train, equip and sustain the National Guard and Reserves.
Counterpoint. Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), the ranking member of SASC, last week said that those objecting to the Air Force’s decision to award the contract to Nothrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. on protectionist grounds are losing sight of the larger picture of the military’s international relationships on programs like the Joint Strike Fighter. “As I look at this thing, the people who are objecting are putting up a virtual fence like the one we’re building down along the border with Central America, against trade,” he says.
Industry Presence. Future Combat Systems Lead Systems Integrators Boeing and SAIC personnel are ready to adapt to Army needs where FCS Spin Out 1 technologies are being evaluated at Ft. Bliss, Texas. Dan Zannini, SAIC FCS deputy program manager, says “It’s a microcosm of the program as a whole. It’s LSI led–a shell over the top–then we have a host of One-Team partners that are there in varying strengths depending on where we are in the fielding and testing and training cycle.” Gregg Martin, Boeing vice president and FCS program manager, says people are in El Paso working with Army Evaluation Task Force soldiers evaluating FCS Spin Out 1 technologies. “We have set up a presence there and we will continue to regulate the size of that team there commensurate with the activity going on.”
Stryker Support. More than 20 members of Congress sign on a March 3 letter to House Appropriations Defense Committee Chairman John Murtha (D-Pa.) and ranking member Bill Young (R-Fla.), expressing support for the Stryker program and asking for their continued support funding in the fiscal year 2008 Global War on Terrorism request. Numerous troop reports say Stryker is performing “exceedingly well,” members say. Additionally, the Army has requirements for “hundreds more Stryker Medical Evacuation vehicles” to augment existing medical response equipment in theater. Such vehicles are included in the FY ’08 GWOT request and “it is our understanding” the Army would like to procure and field them as quickly as possible, members write. The service also has a requirement for additional Strykers for an Equipping Force Pool, which could provide the Army with the flexibility to rest and modernize vehicles in the most cost-effective way. Congress has appropriated $41 million in the 2008 bridge supplemental that was spent on Stryker survivability kits. “The remaining 2008 GWOT request of $2 billion will procure approximately 500 Stryker vehicles that the Army urgently needs to support validated requirements,” members say.
New Name. The Computer Hardware, Enterprise Software and Solutions (CHESS) is the new name for the Army Small Computer Program (ASCP), the Program Executive Office, Enterprise Information Systems, says. The name change goes into effect during the AFCEA Belvoir Industry Day April 16. The name changes, but the mission is the same: “to be the Army’s primary source to support the warfighter’s information dominance objectives by developing, implementing and managing commercial IT,” the office says.
More Trucks. Oshkosh will be building 1,084 heavy expanded mobility tactical trucks (HEMTT) in the A4 configuration under an Army contract modification. This contract modification raises the total of Oshkosh HEMTT A4s now under contract to 1,745, for a total contract modification of more than $321 million. The HEMTT A4 production begins in July.
New Standard. Lockheed Martin Coherent Technologies, which supplies laser-based remote-sensing systems, was recently certified to the AS9100 standard by British Standards Institution (BSI) Management Systems. The AS9100 certification includes all the requirements of ISO 9001 in addition to requirements specifically applicable to aerospace companies. This certification is the latest advance made by Coherent Technologies in its ability to take innovative laser radar concepts and develop them into high quality products for airport, defense and meteorological applications. The unit is part of Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company.
New Navigator. Integrated Guidance Systems LLC, (IGS LLC), a Honeywell International and Rockwell Collins joint venture, are providing the deeply integrated navigator for the U.S. Army Non-Line of Sight-Launch System (NLOS-LS) program, the companies say. The subcontract work calls for IGS LLC to develop guidance systems for the Non-Line-Of- Sight-Launch System (NLOS) Precision Attack Missile (PAM) and Container Launch Unit (CLU). Deliveries will begin in 2009, with potential quantities of up to 30,700 PAM and 900 CLU systems being delivered over the next 15 years. IGS LLC provides new guidance offerings made possible through the combination of Rockwell Collins’ military Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver technology and Honeywell’s Micro Electronic Mechanical Systems (MEMS) Inertial Measurement Units (IMU) and navigation processing technologies. Through a highly integrated physical architecture and tightly coupled GPS-IMU signal processing techniques, these technologies increase navigation accuracy in GPS jammed or denied environments.
Future Balance. Some say the Army can’t provide for a future force, while current force needs for war are at the forefront. Lt. Gen. Stephen Speakes, deputy chief of staff (G-8), says such “all or nothing arguments by the very logic of them diminish the sophistication of this issue–we’re not in all-or-nothing discussions, that would not be prudent. The issue is what would create balance.” At a breakfast March 6, Speakes said, “the investments that we make today are absolutely essential for that future. We have learned a couple of bitter lessons over the last five years. One is you don’t turn on and off the industrial engine that supports the Army, [and] you don’t turn on and off the capability to do research and development.” Current and future force investment is required to meet the commitment that soldiers have the very best equipment.
…Technology Lead. The U.S. investment during the Cold War period turned out to make the American soldier “for a brief period of time invulnerable on the battlefield,” Speakes says. “Our challenge now is that in today’s operating environment the American soldier is no longer invulnerable, and the public is no longer willing to tolerate repeated loss of life.” Technical supremacy must be reestablished to put an invulnerable soldier on the battlefield. “And that’s no small task,” Speakes says.
Green Air. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne last week likened the air service’s work with industry on alternative fuels as akin to collaborations that spurred the Internet. “It has often been the case that America’s great technological leaps forward have started with partnerships between the military and industry,” Wynne said March 3 at the U.S. Air Force Energy Forum II in Arlington, Va. “Some projects are just so big that they require a national level of attention of resources: nuclear energy, jet air travel, our conquest on space and the Internet.” Wynne said working to create a market for clean alternative energy. “We believe that if we supply the marketplace, American ingenuity will do the rest,” the secretary told the industry gathering.
No China Connection. The head of U.S. Strategic Command has had no luck reaching out to his counterpart in China, Gen. Jing Zhiyuan. STRATCOM commander Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton at a March 4 Defense Writers Group breakfast in Washington said he does not know why Jing has not visited the United States, even though he has visited Latin America.”We received no response from the invitation that we sent in 2007,” Chilton told reporters, after advocating for a more open dialogue with China.
C-17s On Their Mind. The Air Force is reworking the Mobility Capability Study of 2005 to set a new target number for strategic airlifters. Though a revised study isn’t expected until January 2009, service leaders are making their case on the Hill for more Boeing C-17 Globemasters. Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley told Senate authorizers March 5 that C-17s are being used more than previously for reasons including the emergence of the Africa Command, growth of the Army and overflight of C-17s in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are “somewhere around 3,500 to 36,000 convoys a month and around 9,000 people a month that we take off the roads away from IEDs or insurgents,” Moseley said. The Pentagon requested no funds for C-17s in fiscal year 2009, though the Air Force put 15 of the aircraft on its unfunded priorities list.
ARRRRRGM. While ATK is focused on upgrading 1,750 HARMs to AARGM configurations for the Navy, and some for the Italians, the company is looking at the possibility of building an AARGM, says Gordon Turner, the company’s director of strike weapons. “That’s what we are looking at right now.” Turner hopes that both the Navy modifications and the work for the Italians will lead not only to a significant international market for AARGM, but even an expanded domestic market. “We continue to work with the customers to evolve this requirement in the capability they have from their investment to ensure that it is available for future aircraft.”
…Adding To The Mix. Along with the 1,750 reconfigured AARGMs, the Navy will also modify an additional 121 missiles for Captive Air Training Missiles allowing for operational training, says Capt. Larry Egbert, program manager for PMA 242, Direct and Time Sensitive Strike Weapons.
Power Reduction. While the Navy explores ways to reduce the cost to build ships, one area that may seem an unlikely candidate for cost reductions are nuclear propulsion plants. “If you go back and look at the history of the program, and what started with Adm. [Hyman] Rickover, if anybody understood cost consciousness…I call it value consciousness…it’s not about being cheap or inexpensive, it’s about value for the dollar. If anybody understood that he did and he was relentless in working with our contractors…shipyards…to deliver value for the dollar. That has not changed,” Adm. Kirkland Donald, director of naval nuclear reactors, tells Defense Daily.
…Doing Their Part. Donald adds the vendor base is putting a lot of effort into developing Lean Six Sigma initiatives, trying to reduce cost and become more efficient and effective in what they are doing. “All of them are looking at best business practices…[becoming] smarter in how we buy our things, whether it is raw materials or manufactured goods, managing the work forces to be as efficient and effective as they can be. All of them are doing things of that sort.”
…Design Changes. Because personnel are one of the highest costs for the Navy, the service has looked at ways to reduce manning on its ships. “We took on a challenge to reduce the manning in the Ford-class (CVN-78) and we are working that challenge today to try and reduce it to half of what a Nimitz-class is in the reactor department. Mindful that we have to [not only] operate them safely and effectively, but also being good stewards of the public trust and trying to be as cost consciousness as we can be.”
Jammer Jam. A “roles and missions” report released by a House panel last Friday takes a swipe at a now-defunct Air Force program to add a jamming capability to the B-52 bomber. “The short history of the Air Force’s B-52 Stand-Off Jammer program provides a case study on how important mission areas that cut across the services are often not well coordinated,” the report states. After a joint capabilities document defined requirements for an airborne-electronic-attack system of systems, the Air Force initiated the B-52 jammer effort in fiscal year 2005. Yet problems ensued and the program was terminated. Now, the earliest an operational core-component jammer platform is expected is 2015-17. This creates a capability gap beginning in 2012, when the Air Force had committed to begin performing some airborne electronic warfare missions under an agreement with the Navy and Marine Corps, laments the final report of the House Armed Services Committee’s Roles and Missions Panel.
It’s In The Bag. Seeking a low tech approach to mitigate an ongoing hassle for many business travelers, the Transportation Security Administration is seeking information on prototype laptop computer bags and designs that would reduce, and possibly eliminate, the current need to unpack and repack laptops at airport security checkpoints. TSA titled its Request for Information, Checkpoint Friendly Laptop Bag, and is seeking responses by April 17. If it finds such a carrying case, TSA says allowing passengers to keep their laptops in the bag would “further reduce wait times at the checkpoint and improve the overall passenger security experience.”
…And In The Line. Taking a decidedly non-tech approach to try and improve the checkpoint experience for all travelers, TSA last week said it will expand its use of “self-select lanes” to six additional airports by the end of April. The agency in February began piloting the new concept at airports in Denver, Colo., and Salt Lake City, Utah, to allow passengers to choose between three lanes based on their own circumstances. The lanes are marked after colored diamond ski icons: green for families traveling with children or people who need special assistance; blue for casual travelers who are somewhat familiar with security procedures and have multiple carry-on bags; and black for expert travelers who know the procedures well and arrive at the checkpoint with the appropriate items removed and limited carry on luggage. A TSA spokeswoman says the initial pilots have gone well and reduced passenger wait times at Denver and Salt Lake.
Go, No Go. Defense Secretary Robert Gates should ensure that the Army’s top modernization program, the Future Combat System (FCS), lays out a series of criteria against which the program’s future will be judged by a 2009 milestone review, the Government Accountability Office said in its annual report on the behemoth collection of weapons system last week. Gates should also flag alternatives to the 14 platforms connected by a computer network, said the report. The department agreed with recommendations in the report. A separate report on the program’s software development noted that after five years of development, “it is not yet clear if or when the information network that is at the heart of the FCS concept can be developed built and demonstrated by the Army” and Boeing, the program’s lead systems integrator. That report calls on Gates to firm up and stabilize the program’s requirements.