The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Passing The Buck. Major Pentagon budget cuts are inevitable in President-elect Barack Obama’s administration, say October briefing slides from the Defense Business Board, which recommend eliminating “programs and activities not vital to the mission.” The advisory board, whose members include former Pentagon acquisition czar Ken Krieg, will release its final report this month. “All indications are the Department is entering a prolonged period of fiscal constraint in a tough economy with deficits increasing and competitive spending pressures,” the slides say. “Business as usual is no longer an option. The current and future fiscal environments facing the Department demand bold action.” The slides note from 2000 to 2007, five acquisition efforts accounted for more than half of program cost growth over the baseline: the Future Combat Systems, Joint Strike Fighter, Virginia-class submarine, Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, and Army chemical demilitarization programs.
Buy America Legacy. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), a champion of stronger Buy America rules for Pentagon contracts, may be retiring this year, but his successor–son Duncan D. Hunter–expects to take up his dad’s mantle regarding boosting required U.S. content of government acquisitions. “Especially with defense stuff,” the younger Hunter told Defense Daily before winning the House seat Nov 4. “It’s taxpayers’ dollars, it’s paid for by Americans, and it ought to be made by America. That’s the financial aspect. The defense and national security aspect is you don’t want countries that you don’t know if they’re going to be friends or not in the next conflict making important gear for us, that they might not make if they disagree with us on whatever conflict that is.”
F-22 Fight on the Hill. The Air Force’s Lockheed Martin-built F-22 stealth fighter will be the subject of a House Armed Services Air and Land Forces subcommittee hearing this Wednesday at 1 p.m. The list of witnesses was not finalized as of last Friday afternoon. The panel’s chairman and ranking member–and the full committee’s leaders–in recent weeks pushed the Pentagon to release $140 million in advanced-procurement funds for future F-22 purchases in FY ’10. DoD leadership last week instead agreed to spend just $50 million in advanced monies. Both sides agree the next president will decide the aircraft’s fate early next year, yet some F-22 supporters have argued if the $140 million is not obligated this month, additional costs will be incurred. An acquisition decision memorandum Pentagon acquisition chief John Young signed Nov. 10 says current DoD leadership want to seek full funding for four F-22s in the next supplemental, and directs the Air force to submit a revised F-22A Lot 10 acquisition strategy within 30 days.
Taking On Challenges. Navy Sec. Donald Winter tells attendees at the USS Freedom commissioning Nov. 8 that the nation needs LCS. “We face challenges and threats in the littorals around the world. From terrorists in small boats to mine warfare in vital waterways to diesel submarines deployed by hostile powers to pirates interdicting maritime commerce, the U.S. Navy faces a wide array of threats that must be countered,” Winter says. “The global economy is highly vulnerable to maritime threats. We saw that in April 2004, when terrorists attempted to attack an oil platform in the Northern Arabian Gulf. The terrorists failed–but the attack sent oil prices and insurance rates soaring, even though no damage was done to the platform.”
…Piracy. “And we have seen this vulnerability time and time again off the Somali coast, were ever more brazen pirates threaten, plunder, and terrorize merchant ships in innocent passage across international waters,” Winter adds. “These developments threaten the Suez Canal trade route, and they represent a challenge to every nation that depends on maritime security for their prosperity and their survival. With USS Freedom, we are responding to these threats. In this platform, we are making the right investments in our future security and prosperity.”
…Transition. Winter tells reporters following Freedom‘s commissioning that he is working through what advice he should offer the next Navy secretary. “That’s a question I am trying to think through right now,” he says. “It’s more than one item…it’s several items,” he adds. One of the core items is dealing with personnel issues, Winter notes. Although he doesn’t foresee a problem with recruiting the right people, the challenge will be in retaining the men and women who make up the Navy and Marine Corps. Winter says the services need to give the men and women in uniform the “opportunity to grow.”
Working Together. The weapons world seems to be more aligned to doing joint programs because the services all need weapons, regardless of whether they have a dedicated mission area or not, Capt. Mat Winter, program manager for Precision Strike Weapons, tells Defense Daily. Weapons such as JDAM, JSOW, JASSM and SDB II, affords the services the opportunity to all work together, he adds. “However we do have some very stark competing requirements that drive us apart,” Winter adds. “The major requirement decision is that the DoN sleeps with their weapons, and therefore the safety aspects of weapons on board ships is a number one design criteria.”
…Taking A Look. “When the DoD goes forward and develops a new long range surface warfare capable weapon, I guarantee you we will look at its interoperability with Air Force platforms,” Winter adds. “Why do I say that? Because the JCIDS, the joint capabilities process, requires us to do that.”
…Current Inventory. Right now the lifecycle time line for SLAM-ER and Harpoon is 2025, winter notes. “I am funded and have been directed to make sure that those capabilities are sustainable all the way to 2025.” If Winter began looking at developing a new capability for the fleet in the 2025 time frame, he says he’d obviously have a gap. “When you back that up and look at a nominal five to six year development program with a two year budget…and a two year transition to production, that’s a nine year swap,” he adds. “Take 2025 and subtract nine years and you get back to 2016.” If he hasn’t started a new effort by 2016, it could lead to a capability gap, Winter says. “When you look at the actual usage of Harpoon and SLAM-ER, we need to be looking at something in POM ’12 to POM ’14, and that’s what the DoN is looking at right now, either POM ’12 or POM ’14, to budget for a next navigation surface warfare weapon.”
A Laser Delivery. Boeing has delivered the first production Laser JDAM (LJDAM) guidance kits to the Navy, addressing the service’s need to engage fast-moving land targets, the company says. LJDAM adds a Precision Laser Guidance Set to the standard JDAM guidance tail kit to acquire and track laser-targeted signals. The U.S. Air Force fielded LJDAM in May and has used it successfully in combat, Boeing adds. The initial delivery to the Navy follows the completion of an extensive LJDAM flight test program at the Naval Air Warfare Center, China Lake, Calif., including tests on the F/A-18C/D and AV-8B Harrier aircraft. During the tests, LJDAM successfully engaged both stationary and moving targets, including one traveling at 85 miles per hour. Additional flight tests and clearance activities on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet are expected to begin later this year.
New Appointment. Northrop Grumman has appointed Evan “Marty” Chanik as vice president of business development for its shipbuilding sector, the company reports. Chanik will be responsible for all marketing, customer and government relations initiatives, reporting to Mike Petters, corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman’s Shipbuilding. Chanik assumes his position from John Mazach, who is retiring. Chanik served in the Navy for 35 years, achieving the rank of vice admiral. His most recent position was commander of the second fleet, and director of combined joint operations from the Sea Center of Excellence.
Cruising Along. MBDA Missile Systems has completed a series of aerodynamic trials of its SCALP Naval at ONERA’s wind tunnel facility in Modane, France. This milestone was achieved less than two years after the French DGA (Delegation Generale pour l’Armement) notified the development contract for its MdCN naval cruise missile programme in December 2006, says MBDA. SCALP Naval is a long-range cruise missile capable of being launched from surface ships and submarines, says MBDA. Most recently, the first test at system level was carried out at the DGA’s Centre d’Achevement et d’Essai des Propulseurs et Engins (CAEPE) near Bordeaux on Sept. 2. This involved a test firing of a missile mock- up fitted with the booster system within the Sylver A70 vertical launcher. These partial trials have prepared the way for the first firings of SCALP Naval, which will take place from 2009 onwards. These test firings will be in both launch configurations, the Sylver A70 launcher in its FREMM frigate configuration and from a submarine launch system in a Barracuda submarine configuration, MBDA adds..
Sticking to Plans. The German press is reporting that Defense Secretary Franz-Josef Jung has no intention of curbing plans to procure 180 Eurofighters or make reduction in Tranche 3, as some political parties are demanding. “Before one would pay for compensations, it makes more sense to rather take the aircraft,” Jung is quoted saying in Berlin by two papers, as translated on the Eurofighter website. According to Eurofighter, Jung is also confirming that he wants talks with the other partner nations on Tranche 3 to be concluded in spring next year.
Incoming. The Air Force last week received the first Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO-1) payload and ground system for operations, system manufacturer Lockheed Martin announced. SBIRS is designed to provide early warning of missile launches and to support missile defense, technical intelligence and battlespace awareness. U.S. Strategic Command is expected to formally certify the HEO-1 next month. Meanwhile, the Air Force has begun the process for assuming operational control of the HEO- 2 payload, and a two-flight operational utility evaluation and trial period is scheduled for the spring. Lockheed is also conducting integration and test activities on the first geosynchronous orbit (GEO) spacecraft, recently having completed acoustic testing. The company’s SBIRS contract includes the HEO payloads, the GEO satellites and ground-based assets for data collections and processing.
Cruise Control. U.S. cruise missile experts have long lamented the relative lack of funding for programs that defend against such systems–despite an upswing in their proliferation over the past several years. “One might ask the Obama administration, is there going to be a more even-handed approach between ballistic and cruise missile defense?” Dennis Gormley, a senior fellow at the Monterey Institute’s Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said during a discussion in Washington last week. “Taking on the cruise missile issue is a daunting one, but it needs coherent focus.” Gromley says internal Pentagon politics compound the difficulty of crafting a coherent strategy. “Each of the services produces cruise missile defense with respect to it own vision,” he says. “The Air Force would rather have a kill vehicle in the F-22 than broad-area, high quality tracking data that can be linked to other interceptors on the ground” such as the Army’s Patriot Advanced Capability-3 air defense system. The Air Force is “more interested in the F-22, which has now become the premier cruise missile defense.” However, using offensive systems as a primary defense has inherent proliferation implications. “China looks at that,” Gromley says, “and argues that there’s a nine-to-one cost advantage between offense and defense.”
First General. Gen. Ann Dunwoody is now in command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command, after separate Nov. 14 ceremonies led by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey. Dunwoody’s historic promotion sees her become the first woman four-star general in the U.S. military. The change of command from outgoing commander Gen. Benjamin Griffin included a 19-gun salute, the AMC Band and the AMC ceremonial color guard. AMC is the Army’s premier provider of materiel readiness. The command likes to say, “If a soldier shoots it, drives it, flies it, wears it or eats it, AMC provides it.”
Sim Extravaganza. The largest exhibition of modeling and simulation technology in history, the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference, (I/ITSEC) will be Orlando, Fla. from Dec. 1-4. More than 575 exhibitors, including government, research, academic, industry and military participants, will display all facets of modeling and simulation–live, virtual and constructive. Virtual reality and totally immersive environments will be prominently featured in hundreds of exhibitor areas. I/ITSEC 2008 will also feature a serious games competition, with twelve entries from around the world, gaming everything from search and rescue training to historical scenarios. Last year almost 20,000 attendees from 50 countries crowded the exhibition hall floor. For more information go to http://www.iitsec.org.
Gimme Shelter. EADS North America unveils the Tentainer ™, a compact and deployable mobile shelter for military medical support missions, emergency response and disaster relief. Tentainer is a hybrid shelter that combines a rigid-walled, lightweight lower container with a multi-cell inflatable tent upper portion. Tentainer is part of the EADS North America’s TransHospitalr Future Combat Support Hospital (FCSH), which is being evaluated by the U.S. Army for its Future Medical Shelter System requirement. Built in Russellville, Ark., Tentainer is tailored for applications such as military forward surgical stations, trauma treatment facilities, first aid stations and mobile command posts.