Marine Drones. Marines love the capabilities provided by small, tactical unmanned aerial systems (UAS), but the service is beginning to consider acquiring a large, so-called Group 5 UAS to provide a wider-aperture view of its battle space, says Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, deputy commandant for combat development and chief of Marine Corps Combat Development command. “A lot of our Marines would love to have a Group 5 UAS, but it has to go on a ship. If it can’t go on a ship, we’re not looking at it,” Walsh says during a forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies this week. “We’re looking for a truck that can operate from a ship. Then we’ll figure out what package it should carry and how to integrate it.” The Marine Corps operates Group 3 UAS, which weigh less than 1,300 pounds, including the RQ-21 Blackjack, Group 2 aircraft–between 20 and 55 pounds–like the Scan Eagle, and Group 1 UAS–systems under 20 pounds–like the RQ-11 Raven. Taking on a Group 5 unmanned aircraft–larger than 1,320 pounds–would mean acquisition of a system like the MQ-9 Reaper, RQ-4 Global Hawk or its maritime cousin the MQ-4C Triton.
PSC President Search. The Professional Services Council (PSC) is searching for its replacement for retiring president and CEO Stan Soloway, an industry source says. The PSC board of directors has a senior leader search committee underway and will be evaluating candidates. The source says Soloway has no fixed date for departure, but both he and the search committee recognize the importance of moving expeditiously to find the next leader in a timely manner. Soloway is leaving after 15 years at the helm of PSC, which advocates for the government technology and professional services industry. PSC Executive Committee member and IBM General Manager Anne Altman are leading the search committee.
WMATA GM Candidate. Local Washington media reports a former aerospace executive is a finalist for the top position with the region’s Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). Neil Cohen was chief financial officer of ATK, according to Orbital ATK spokesman Barry Beneski. Beneski says Friday Cohen didn’t make the transition into the merged company after ATK combined with Orbital Sciences in early 2015. Cohen was with ATK from February 2012 to February 2015. WRC-TV in Washington broke the news of Cohen’s candidacy.
Orbital/SSL Contract. Orbital ATK signs a five-year contract with Space Systems/Loral (SSL) to produce flight sets consisting of two propellant tanks for the SSL 1300, a platform designed to accommodate evolving technology and innovation in satellites services, according to an Orbital ATK statement. The contract continues a 27-year relationship with SSL for satellite fuel tanks produced by Orbital ATK’s space components division in Commerce, Calif.
Qatar ADOC Contract. The Air Force awards Raytheon a $160 million contract for the procurement, delivery, installation and sustainment of the Qatar Air and Missile Defense Operations Center (ADOC), according to a service statement. The contract symbolizes the next step in the delivery of a U.S. integrated air and missile defense system for Qatar. The contract also covers training of Qatari personnel. The ADOC is a command and control (C2) center consisting of multiple different weapon systems and radars and is composed of a command center, space for operations and planning personnel as well as senior leader offices. The Air Force says the Hanscom AFB, Mass., program office was to meet with Qatar officials this month to discuss interoperability requirements and to determine what information will be exchanged between the ADOC and existing and planned systems. One of the systems planned to be integrated into the ADOC is the Army’s Patriot air and missile defense system.
Orion Partial CDR. Lockheed Martin and NASA complete the majority of Orion’s critical design review (CDR), according to a company statement. This means the spacecraft design is mature enough to move into full-scale fabrication, assembly, integration and test of the vehicle. It also means the program is on track to complete the spacecraft’s development to meet NASA’s exploration mission-1 (EM-1) performance requirements. The complete Orion EM-1 CDR process concludes in the spring after a European Service Module CDR and a presentation to the NASA agency program management council. Orion’s crew module pressure vessel will be shipped to the operations and checkout facility at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in early 2016, where it will undergo final assembly, integration and testing to prepare for EM-1 when Orion is launched atop NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) for the first time.
IT Support Contract. Glacier Technologies is awarded a $7 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for administrative support, data management, data collection, instrumentation, information technology, and logistics support for the U.S. Army’s Test and Evaluation Technical Support Services. The contract is the result of one bid solicited and received. The contract estimated completion date is March 31, 2016. Funding and work location are to be determined with each order. The contracting activity is Army Contracting Command at Ft. Hood, Texas under contract number W91151-16-D-0001.
Proclamation. President Obama proclaims November critical infrastructure security and resilience month. “From roadways and tunnels, to power grids and energy systems, to cybersecurity networks and other digital landscapes, it is crucial that we stay prepared to confront any threats to America’s infrastructure,” Obama says in the official statement. The proclamation identifies both physical and cybersecurity/networked infrastructure security as “essential to our economy.”
U.S.-Brazil Cyber. Christopher Painter, the Secretary of State’s Coordinator for Cyber Issues along with Ambassador Daniel Sepulveda, U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, discuss information and communications technology (ICT) and cyber policy with government officials, the private sector, and civil society at the second U.S.-Brazil Internet and ICT Working Group in Brasilia.
Intel Budget. Congress appropriated $50.3 billion for the United States intelligence community in FY ’15, $100 million less than requested, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence says. The funding for the National Intelligence Program includes funds to support war-related activities. In FY ’14 Congress provided $50.5 billion for the NIP. The FY ’16 request for the NIP is $53.9 billion. The ODNI release of the FY ’15 appropriation is required by law to occur within 30 days after the end of the fiscal year.
New Dolphin. The Coast Guard has begun flight testing of the newest version of its MH-65 Dolphin search and rescue helicopter, the MH-65E Dolphin. The new version of the helicopter includes a digital common avionics architecture system cockpit architecture that provides four multifunction displays that allow the operator to select the most relevant information for the crew. Other upgrades expanded electro-optical/infrared sensors, a traffic collision avoidance system, and upgraded and integrated weather radar, which can detect weather patterns and warnings about serious weather. The Coast Guard is spending $300 million on the upgrades to its Dolphin fleet, including the replacement of select components to extend the service life.
New CFO for HII. Huntington Ingalls Industries says that Barbara Niland, its chief financial officer, is retiring effective March 1, 2016, and will be succeeded by Christopher Kastner, who is currently corporate vice president and general manager for corporate development. Niland has worked with current HII Chief Mike Petters since 2004. Kastner, before joining the corporate office, previously was chief financial officer for the company’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division.
DoD Intel Budget. The Department of Defense Military Intelligence Program (MIP) total top line budget for FY 2015 is $16.5 billion, the Pentagon says. This includes both the base budget and the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) appropriations. The department determined releasing this top line figure does not jeopardize classified activities within the MIP, but other details and figures remain classified. This amount is a decrease of $900 million from the top line MIP budget for FY ’14 of $17.4 billion.
Bomber Blues. The world finally finds out this week that Northrop Grumman will build the Air Force’s new long-range strike bomber (LRSB), but the contract vehicle used in the potentially $80 billion program irks Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.). “I want to get an explanation. I’m on record as being opposed to cost-plus contracts, but I have talked to the Secretary of the Air Force and they’re going to come over and brief me, and I’ll be glad to listen to their arguments before I contemplate any other action,” he says. McCain wants a fixed-price contract that would hold Northrop Grumman to its bid price. Notoriously over-budget programs that overshot initial development schedules like the F-35, B-1B bomber and F-22 Raptor all were conducted with cost-plus incentive contracts, he says. “If your roof leaks, would you like to have a cost-plus contract with the guy that fixes your roof or would you like to see the guy fix your roof for what he says. Look at the history…We can’t keep seeing that movie over and over again.”
…And Praise. Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.), who chairs the House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces Subcomittee, says he is pleased that the program, the largest aerospace procurement effort since the F-35, has progressed. “The long range strike bomber will serve our country for most of the 21st century and promises to provide critically-needed capabilities in the contested environments we will face,” Forbes says in a statement. “Now more than ever, getting this program completed on time and on budget is crucial not just for one service or one mission but for the United States’ ability to project power around the world.”
Afghanistan. The United States has spent $470 million to establish and prop up the Afghan Local Police (ALP), but the force still lacks adequate logistics support, oversight or a plan to integrate it into the larger Afghan National Police (ANP), the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) reports this week. Plans are to spend another $121 million on the ALP every year through 2018. The ALP’s supplies–which are poor in quality to begin with–are often diverted to other units, delayed in delivery, or outright pilfered before they can be fielded and put to use, SIGAR finds. Inadequate supply has hurt the ALP’s morale and performance and likely will cause attrition of its ranks, SIGAR says. Plans are to transfer ALP personnel to other national security forces, but age limitations and literacy requirements will disqualify many ALP members from services in those units, SIGAR finds.