The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Reform Candidate. Among a field of pro-defense, pro-Iraq war Republican candidates, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is distinguishing himself by tapping into his military and SASC experience. On the campaign trail, McCain is pledging to rein in the cost of Defense Department weapons systems frequently plagued by overruns. He’d do so by demanding more fixed-price contracts to move away from the cost-plus contracts used on programs like the Littoral Combat Ship and using as evidence of his earnestness his work in bringing the Air Force’s plan to lease aerial refueling tankers to a screeching halt and ending with resignations of former service officials and prison time for officials from Boeing.
Refocus and Reequip. Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), the chairman of HASC, last week urged the nation to refocus its military efforts on Afghanistan rather than Iraq. He called for a long-term effort to build, train, equip and sustain Afghan security forces. In addition, he reiterated a position contained in the House defense authorization bill currently in conference negotiations that would create a Defense Readiness Production Board to boost the military’s effort to repair equipment with a Defense Industry Advisory Committee. It would provide a $1 billion strategic readiness fund for the Defense Department along with the authority to transfer additional funding and multiyear procurement authority, Skelton said during a speech to the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association on Oct. 16.
Another Approach. The list of legislation seeking an exit from Iraq is long and growing longer. Last week Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) introduced a bill that differs from its predecessors in a few key ways–it would reduce the force in Iraq to 15,000 below the pre-surge level within six months with the goal of improving the Army’s readiness and would set a goal of bringing all troops home within 20 months, allowing time to close forward operating bases. Second, it calls for the country to take a leadership role in Middle East regional diplomacy. According to Sestak, it is meant to provide Democratic leadership with a way to change strategy from the position that public pressure will move Republicans to support a withdrawal date from Iraq and provide a position that Republicans can support.
On Deck. The House Armed Services seapower subcommittee is planning a hearing on the status of the Pentagon’s plans for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles in the coming weeks, Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), the chairman of the subcommittee, told Defense Daily. Last week, the Pentagon announced the award of $1.2 billion in contracts for MRAPs to three companies–BAE SYSTEMS, Force Protection Inc. and International Military and Truck Co.
States’ Case. The National Governors Association last week sent a letter to the leaders of the armed services committees weighing in on the conference reconciling differences between the House and Senate defense authorization bills. The letter dealt with two specific defense procurement issues. The governors are pressing for full funding of the Joint Network Node program, which would provide battlefield communications to Army National Guard units. In addition, it called on lawmakers to reject language in the Senate authorization bill moving funding and control over the Joint Cargo Aircraft program to the Air Force. The language would undermine plans for the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard, which is trying to “bridge” missions for bases that lost planes because of the Base Realignment and Closure process, the letter said, adding that in the future the Guard would use that aircraft to respond to domestic disasters and emergencies.
Boom For West Virginia. EADS North America and Cobham, parent company of Sargent Fletcher, have chosen Bridgeport, W.Va., as the would-be production site of their respective Aerial Refueling Boom System (ARBS) and under-wing hose and drogue refueling pods that are part of Northrop Grumman’s KC-30 Tanker design in the Air Force’s KC-X aerial refueling aircraft competition. If the Air Force chooses the KC-30 over Boeing’s competing KC-767 Tanker model, the two companies would establish adjacent production facilities for the boom and pods at Harrison County’s North Central West Virginia Regional Airport, employing at least 100 skilled workers, EADS says. “We examined a number of sites across the country and chose Bridgeport because it offers a solid combination of location, community support and skilled workforce necessary to execute this critical national security program,” says EADS North America Chairman and CEO Ralph Crosby. “This investment decision–along with our previous selection of Mobile, Ala., as the potential site of the KC-30 Tanker final assembly facility–reflects EADS’ firm commitment to create jobs and insource advanced critical technologies into the United States.” EADS North America envisions a new 32,000 square foot. facility for ARBS production, while Sargent Fletcher’s pod facility would encompass 25,000 square foot.
Growing Detachment. The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) activated a new detachment of 240 employees Oct. 15 at Robins AFB, Ga., to provide supply, storage and distribution support to the maintenance activities at Warner-Robins Air Logistics Center (ALC). The creation of the new branch, which is called DLA-Warner Robins, comes about as part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure legislation that called for the Pentagon to reconfigure its supply, storage and distribution infrastructure into one integrated provider, the DLA. Warner-Robins is the Air Force’s first ALC to implement the BRAC mandate. Similar transitions will take place in February at the ALC at Tinker AFB, Okla., and in April at the center at Hill AFB, Utah. Overall, the Department of Defense plans 13 such supply, storage and distribution activations over the next several years at aviation depots across the services.
Humming Along. Boeing says it logged the longest flight to date of the turbine-powered A160T Hummingbird unmanned rotorcraft with a 12-hour test mission on Oct. 12 near Victorville, Calif. For the mission, the Hummingbird carried a 500-pound payload at an altitude of 5,000 feet, simulating a multi-sensor operational mission, the company says. Previously, the longest flight of the A160T had been eight hours, which was accomplished Sept. 27 while the aircraft flew with a 1,000-pound payload. Ultimately, Boeing says it plans to fly the A160T for 18 consecutive hours with a 300-pound payload.
Starstruck. Air Force Maj. Gen. Glenn Spears, deputy commander of U.S. Southern Command, has been appointed to receive a third star for his current post.
Increasingly Aware. BAE SYSTEMS says it will upgrade more than 100 A-10A Thunderbolt II ground-attack aircraft next year for the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command. The upgrade, the company says, will improve pilot awareness of the position of friendly ground forces and reduce pilot workload by automatically transferring target coordinates within the aircraft’s internal systems and to other aircraft. “This system will allow the pilot to perform more hands-free tasks that would otherwise require diversion of attention from the primary flight controls of the aircraft,” says Andrew Gecelosky, a senior analyst at the National Guard Bureau, in Arlington, Va. “That’s a significant benefit for an aircraft with a close air support mission like the A-10A.” BAE says it is developing the aircraft modification in its facility in Johnson City, N.Y.
Rumor Squelched. Rumors have been floating around that current AIA president John Douglass would become the next head of acquisition for the Navy, replacing current ASN RDA Delores Etter when she leaves later next month. Douglass is set to retire from his post at AIA in December, after nine years there. He previously had been the Navy’s acquisition chief from 1996 to 1998. According to an AIA spokesman, Douglass has already said publicly “he will be very involved in one of the Democratic presidential campaigns, so there is no chance he would take a job in the Bush administration.”
Let Freedom…Sound. Lockheed Martin has conducted a number of tests recently with its lead LCS, the USS Freedom. Over the past few weeks, the company has tested Freedom‘s horns as well as operated some of the key mission handling systems on the ship. “We exercised the stern doors, the stern ramp that articulates down…we also operated the side doors. When they opened up, we extended the crane that goes overboard and also extended [it] out,” Paul Lemmo, director, business development Littoral Ships & Systems, tells Defense Daily. “We have basically exercised all those systems for the first time. It is exciting to actually see those things operating for the first time. Of course we will be real excited when the first RIB can come up the back end, but that’s a little ways a way. But at least we know that the systems that have to support that are working and operational, as they were designed to be.”
Radio Deconfliction. Philadelphia-based Nomadio Inc., has developed a new Wireless Ethernet over UHF (WEUF) that will enable users to deploy WiFi and WiMAX radio systems at any desirable frequency band without having to change their hardware. WEUF 435’s design enables beyond line of sight capability and the ability for the radio signal to bend around buildings. One benefit will be the ability to send streaming video for example from a robotic system from locations such as elevators, says a company spokesman, DoD and JIEDDO are both evaluating WEUF 435, the spokesman adds. At this time the system is only available to federal agencies and not state and local authorities, the spokesman says. There has been interest in WEUF 435 from security companies such as Blackwater, and a Canadian robotics company is also looking at it, the spokesman notes.
The Road Ahead. Earlier this month the Navy published its objectives for FY ’08. Navy and Marine Corps leadership set a high priority on providing a total naval workforce capable and optimized to support the national defense strategy. This objective includes building active Marine Corps end-strength and providing high quality support services to naval personnel and their families, the Navy says. The objectives also highlighted the requirement to utilize the Navy and Marine Corps to aggressively prosecute the global war on terrorism, which includes providing combatant commanders with skilled forces for full spectrum operations; optimizing naval contribution to Special Operations Forces; and supporting JIEDDO efforts to field working solutions to IED threats, adds the Navy.
…Emphasis. The objectives emphasized building the Navy and Marine Corps force for the future to include numerous programs and processes, such as implementing a strategy for Marine Corps modernization and reconstitution; operationalizing theater ballistic missile defense naval capability; and delivering maritime domain awareness capability, the Navy says. The importance of integrating safety and risk management into all on- and off-duty evolutions was included in the 2008 objectives. This emphasis on safety is intended to establish the Navy as an organization with a world-class safety record where no mishap is accepted as the cost of doing business. The need to strengthen ethics as a foundation of exemplary conduct within the DoN and providing first-rate facilities to support stationing, training and operations of naval forces was also stressed, the Navy adds.
Grand Opening. Oshkosh Truck Corp. will open a 12,000 square foot logistics facility in Oceanside, Calif., near Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base. The new Oceanside Regional Logistics Center, scheduled to open in November, will help Marine Corps units reduce downtime and improve overall operational readiness by assisting them in the service, maintenance and training of vehicles including the MTVR and Logistics Vehicle System (LVS) vehicles, the company reports. The logistics center will use Oshkosh Truck factory- trained technicians to repair vehicles, perform preventive maintenance, as well as provide parts distribution support to the major military bases in the Southwest, such as Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, Yuma Proving Ground, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Naval Sea Port Hueneme Surface Warfare Center and the Army’s Fort Irwin, the company says.
Making Nice. U.S. Joint Forces Command is part of the counter-IED effort, with a knowledge information and fusion system called NICE, the commander says. “We collect all of the most current data worldwide on IEDs, put that on database and link to all of the services and all of the theaters,” says Air Force Gen. Lance Smith, who commands JFCOM and NATO Allied Command Transformation. The information is as current as the night before. People are available 24/7 to answer questions and provide help. “It’s getting growing use every month and significant requests for information out of the theater,” Smith said at a briefing last week. “It’s used for real time development of [tactics, techniques and procedures] TTPs, it’s being utilized all training facilities.” Additionally, some formerly U.S.-only information is now available to NATO and partner countries.
…Getting A Handle. A group of some 22 analysts gathered from all the services and led by a U.S. Joint Forces Command officer are heading to Iraq to take a look at the whole intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance situation “and develop some ideas on how we could better use all the systems that are out there to meet their needs,” Smith says. The request came from Gen. David Petraeus, top commander in Iraq. The ISR capability is growing, Smith says. Now there are many questions to answer, including how to spread ISR to the right places, how to command and control it, how to interoperate with all the forces on the ground and how to develop an air command and control structure as ISR assets like Predator, Raven, Shadow and Hunter operate in the same place and avoid fratricide. The team will stay in Iraq about three weeks and then present an initial report to Petraeus and U.S. Central Command leader Adm. William Fallon. In a month or so a quick look report will come out, followed some time later by the full report, Smith says. The Air Force has also expressed the need for an operational construct for manned and unmanned ISR assets.
More Years, More Savings. If Congress authorizes a multiyear contract for CH-47F helicopters, it will save money, Boeing H-47 program manager Jack Dougherty says. “It provides stability, not so much to us, or the really big suppliers, but to the smaller guy,” he says. For example, a multi-year contract could justify the cost of an expensive machine for a smaller supplier, because the work would be there over several years, a business case small companies can’t make on shorter contracts only accounting for a few parts. Boeing is in the process of preparing a multi-year proposal if Congress authorizes a multiyear contract. There would be savings throughout the supply chain, he says.
Decon Work. U.K. BIOQUELL Plc. says it’s on the Teledyne Brown Engineering (TBE) Team that has been awarded a contract relating to DoD’s Joint Material Decontamination System (JMDS). The JMDS is required to have the ability to decontaminate sensitive equipment, and interiors of vehicles, aircraft, ships and fixed site facilities that have been exposed to Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) warfare agents. All services will use JMDS. TBE tells BIOQUELL that DoD awarded TBE the initial JMDS System Development and Demonstration phase worth about $14.7 million–BIOQUELL’s share is expected to be some $7 million and will last two years.
…CBRN Systems. BIOQUELL subsidiary MDH Defense delivers more than 1,500 CBRN filtration systems for U.S. MRAP vehicles during 2007. The MRAP contracts for CBRN filtration systems were awarded and will all be delivered within the 12-month period starting January 2007. MDH Defense is supplying to both Force Protection and General Dynamics a CBRN filtration system. Additionally MDH Defense wins a major contract by FNSS Savunma Sistemleri to supply 300 CBRN filtration systems and airconditioning as part of the M113 upgrade package for Saudi Arabia. The first vehicles are expected to be returned to service during 2008.
Sensor Day. An industry day will be held Nov. 7 in Linthicum, Md., for the Survivability Sensor Suite (Radar Warning Receiver, Missile Plume Detector, and Laser Detector) for the Future Combat Systems (FCS) Class IV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Multifunctional Aerial Combat Support System. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Electronic Systems sector, acting as Aerial Sensor Integrator (ASI), will host the event for Boeing and SAIC, the Army’s FCS Lead Systems Integrator (LSI). For more information, check Northrop Grumman’s website: https://oasis.northgrum.com. Administrative questions should go to Sharon Sarchiapone at 410-765-1324.