Stable Funding Needed. Outgoing Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Bob Papp says that overall the Coast Guard’s acquisition house is in strong shape with just one key ingredient that needs constant attention, “stable funding.” Papp tells a House Appropriations Homeland Security panel that it took at least 10 years of “hard work” for the Coast Guard to become the first military service to achieve a clean financial audit, which occurred in 2013. “We have our financial act in order,” he says. “All we need now to continue on is stable and predictable funding.” The Obama administration’s FY ’15 budget request for the Coast Guard’s acquisition account is $1.1 billion, a cut of $291.4 million from FY ’14, which leaders of the Homeland Security panel say won’t allow the service to meet its needs.
…Spending Plan Fight.
Papp says the Coast Guard’s five-year spending plan that was supposed to accompany the FY ’15 budget request to Congress has been held up because he continues to make his case within the administration for the service’s needs. “If there’s any delay it’s because I’ve been obstinate in making sure that the administration knows the needs of the United States Coast Guard,” he says. “It’s not my job at first to fit the Coast Guard within a budget. It’s my job to look at what we need now and what we’re going to need in 10, 20, 30 and 40 years from now.” Papp adds that “we’ve been fighting for everything that we need to try and get it in that five-year plan. There are disagreements. That’s, I think, the most polite way I can put it.” Papp says the plan will be delivered to Congress soon but he declined to be specific.
DMSP. Representatives from Lockheed Martin and launch provider United Launch Alliance (ULA) encapsulate a Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellite into its payload fairing in preparation for an April 3 launch, according to a Lockheed Martin statement. The launch will take place aboard an Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. DMSP satellites collect data that enables military forecasters to find, track and forecast weather systems all over the world, particularly in remote and hostile areas for deployed troops. DMSP also supports a broad range of civil users with sensing capabilities not provided by U.S. civil and international weather satellite systems. The satellite to be launched, DMSP-19, is the fourth Block 5D-3 version to be launched and the first DMSP to be launched since 2009. DMSP is an Air Force program.
GPS III NCE. Lockheed Martin awards General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems (GDAIS) a $26 million contract to support the Air Force’s Global Positioning System (GPS) III network communications element (NCE), according to a GDAIS statement. GDAIS is already under contract with Lockheed Martin to produce the NCE for the first four GPS III space vehicles as well as for the procurement of long-lead material for the second set of four space vehicles. This follow-on contract provides GDAIS with the funding to complete the NCE for space vehicles five through eight. The Air Force’s next-generation GPS III satellites will improve position, navigation and timing (PNT) services and provide advanced anti-jam capabilities yielding superior system security, accuracy and reliability. GDAIS is a division of General Dynamics.
Exelis GPS. Exelis completes and fully tests six GPS III navigation payload transmitter assemblies for GPS III satellites, according to a company statement. Exelis, in January, received three rubidium atomic frequency standard clocks from Excelitas Technologies specifically designed for the first GPS III satellite’s navigation payload. The atomic frequency standard provides accuracy for the GPS III international time transfer and navigation services. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for GPS III.
Seeing Something Else. Exelis and NIRF Imaging Inc., a commercial stage, private medical imaging company, enter a strategic agreement to deliver a noninvasive, nonradioactive, medical imaging capability addressing multiple unmet needs in the global medical imaging market. Exelis will provide NIRF Imaging with proprietary Pinnacle® Gen III image intensifier (I2) tubes, which have historically been used primarily in military-grade night vision goggles. They will become a key component in NIRF Imaging’s proprietary medical imaging technology. NIRF Imaging and Exelis will finalize both the commercial design and manufacturing process for NIRF Imaging’s initial product, the NIRF-LI™ system. NIRF-LI will provide physicians and surgeons with the only dynamic, non-invasive, point-of-care imaging system available for imaging the body’s lymphatic system, without the risks associated with radioactive imaging agents.
Game Changer. The crisis in Ukraine is a geo-political “game-changer” for NATO allies who must strengthen their economic and military ties in wake of Russia’s military a
ggression against Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says in a March 21 speech at the Brussels Forum. “The transatlantic bond and NATO matter more for Europe than ever before,” he says. Rasmussen set out three priorities for allies to address in the wake of the crisis: to reaffirm allied commitment to collective defense, strengthen support to Ukraine and the wider region, “and to make clear that we can no longer do business as usual with Russia.” He says the September NATO Summit in Wales will be key for allies to ensure they have the full range of capabilities to deter and defend against any threat.
Missile Defense Decision Soon. Raytheon, the Lockheed Martin-led MEADS consortium, France’s Thales and Europe’s MBDA will soon know which system will be chosen Poland’s planned missile defense system. Published reports say a defense official said the best offer would come within weeks. Current concerns over the Ukraine and Crimea have accelerated a process that a year ago a Polish defense official said would cost some $10 billion on modernized air defense over a decade. About half of that would go to lower tier missile defense.
All Full. The April 1-2 TARDEC Industry Days at the Detroit Arsenal are full up at 300 attendees, but you can still get on the standby list. The Industry days are a forum to discuss TARDEC’s tech focus, with topics such as its 30-year plan, funded and future projects review, Modular Active Protection Review. Registration closed Friday, but a standby list is maintained, and such applicants will be notified no later than March 26. The Industry Days are for U.S. citizens only. The application site is:
https://www.tardec.info/events/industryday2014/rsvp/rsvp/default.cfm. The point of contact is: Steve Olevnik (586-214-5697
586-214-5697, [email protected]) or Web POC: Tom Jeffrey (586-782-4300586-782-4300, [email protected]).
An Iranian Nimitz? Iran is believed to be building an aircraft carrier that analysts suspect is meant to resemble a U.S. Nimitz-class (CVN-68) ship. The New York Times reports that satellite images show the construction of the would-be carrier in the Gachin shipyard near Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf. Analysts viewing the images, believe, however, it is not meant to be an operating ship but instead may be used for propaganda purposes, such as blowing it up to demonstrate an attack on a real Nimitz carrier. The Iranian “mock” carrier even includes the number 68 painted on the ship, according to The New York Times. American officials quoted by the newspaper say it appears to be more of a barge than warship, contains no nuclear propulsion and is only two-thirds the length of the 1,100-foot-long Nimitz carriers. “Based on our observations, this is not a functioning aircraft carrier; it’s a large barge built to look like an aircraft carrier,” Cmdr. Jason Salata, a spokesman for the Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, says in The New York Times article. “We’re not sure what Iran hopes to gain by building this. If it is a big propaganda piece, to what end?” Unnamed intelligence analysts suggested Iran may want to tow the barge to sea, then anchor and blow it up to demonstrate military resolve in case international diplomacy over its nuclear program fails to reach a resolution.
LCS Christening. The Navy was to christen the future USS Jackson (LCS-6) during a ceremony at the Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Ala. on Saturday. The vessel would be the sixth Littoral Combat Ship and third of the Independence variant. The ship is named for the capital of Mississippi, the state formerly government by the current secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus.
Fired. Information security company Symantec on Thursday said it has terminated its President and CEO Steve Bennett, effective immediately, pointing to the need develop new products and generate growth. “Our priority now is to identify a leader who can leverage our company’s assets and leadership team to drive the next stage of Symantec’s product innovation and growth,” says Daniel Schulman, the company’s chairman. Bennett became Symantec’s president and CEO in addition to his then role as chairman in July 25 when the company abruptly terminated Enrique Salem from the president and CEO positions. Bennett said at the time of Salem’s termination that the “company is underperforming against the opportunity.”
Sniper ATP-SE. The Air Force declares initial operational capability (IOC) for Lockheed Martin’s Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod-Sensor Enhancement (ATP-SE) and deploys the system to support combat operations in theater, according to a company statement. An enhanced configuration of Sniper ATP, Sniper ATP-SE provides Air Force strike fighter and bomber aircraft with advanced modes for non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR); improved combat identification and expanded air-to-air and maritime capability, among others. Lockheed Martin won the Air Force’s ATP-SE competition in 2010.