Mattis Resigns. Defense Secretary James Mattis announced Thursday that he will resign at the end of February. The announcement follows President Trump’s surprise order to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria and months of speculation about when Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general and former U.S. Central Command commander, may leave the administration. “Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours … I believe it is right for me to step down,” Mattis said in his resignation letter. In a tweet, Trump praised Mattis for the “tremendous progress” made under his watch. “General Mattis was a great help to me in getting allies and other countries to pay their share of military obligations,” he said, adding a new defense secretary will be named “shortly.”
One Budget Topline. Amid ongoing reports that the Pentagon is working on multiple budget topline requests for the FY ’20 Presidential Budget request, the department is currently focused on one sole budget topline, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord said Dec. 17. “There were a whole series of very organized meetings over the last four months in the department,” she said during a media roundtable at the Pentagon. “We’ve worked on a range of toplines. … All of the information is in, and we’re waiting to hear back” from the White House, she added.
GPS III Launch Pushed to Weekend. The inaugural launch of the Air Force’s GPS III space vehicle (SV 01) has been rescheduled after three days of attempted launches. The next launch window is Dec. 22 from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida, Space X said Thursday. The Lockheed Martin-built satellite was originally scheduled for launch aboard a Space X Falcon 9 rocket on Dec. 18, but was called off due to “out of family reading on first stage sensors.” It was called off again on Dec. 19 for further evaluation, and called off again Dec. 20 due to weather conditions.
Missile Milestone. Lockheed Martin announced Tuesday that it has delivered the first Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASM) to the Air Force for integration on the B-1B Lancer bomber, achieving early operational capability. Company officials had previously said EOC would arrive by the end of 2018. The precision-guided, anti-ship missile is based off of Lockheed’s Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range (JASSM-ER). It is on schedule to reach EOC on the Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornets in 2019, the company said.
… And Missile Facility Money. The Air Force on Wednesday awarded Lockheed a not-to-exceed $99.2 million undefinitized contract to procure “equipment and tooling needed to increase JASSM/LRASM production to a maximum rate where installation is required” to build its new missile manufacturing facility. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, and is expected to be completed by Feb. 28, 2022. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity.
Agile Software Development. Pivotal Software Inc. on Wednesday was awarded a $100.1 million fixed-base, production-other-transaction agreement for support of the Air Force’s Kessel Run Experimentation Lab. Kessel Run was launched in May to quickly develop and launch software capabilities for the warfighter. Work will be performed in Boston, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 18, 2019. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $10.6 million; and fiscal 2018 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $764,500 are being obligated at the time of award. The contract is a follow-on to a prototype contract between Pivotal Software Inc. and the Army Contracting Command-New Jersey, according to the contract announcement. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity.
Raytheon SDB Award. Raytheon Missile Systems on Tuesday was awarded a $141.4 million firm-fixed-price contract to exercise an option to a previously awarded Air Force contract for it Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) II. Raytheon will provide low-rate initial production for 1,260 SDB II Lot Five munitions, 389 single-weapon containers, 344 dual-weapon containers, 20 production reliability incentive demonstration effort captive vehicles, 20 production reliability incentive demonstration effort tests, 36 weapon load crew trainers/conventional munitions maintenance trainers and data, according to the contract announcement. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by June 30, 2022. The award is the result of a sole-source acquisition resulting from follow-on to competition. Fiscal 2019 missile procurement funds in the amount of $141.4 million are being obligated at the time of award.
Cruz Introduces NASA Authorization Act. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) this week introduced the NASA Authorization Act of 2018, with the intent to build upon the proposed legislation in the 116th Congress. The act supports an overall budget of $21.545 billion for fiscal year 2019, meant to sustain NASA and “ensure continued progress for our nation’s existing national space initiatives and investments,” according to a Thursday press statement. Cruz serves as chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness. The bill authorizes a low-Earth orbit commercialization and pushes for increased cybersecurity of NASA’s space assets and supporting infrastructure as necessary, among other efforts. Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Ed Markey (D-Mass) are co-sponsors.
Senate Passes Space Frontier Act. The Senate on Thursday passed the bipartisan Space Frontier Act (S.3277) by a unanimous vote of approval. The bill was sponsored by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and establishes an Assistant Secretary for Commercial Space Transportation within the Department of Transportation, and requires DoT to “issue a rulemaking to overhaul existing regulations within one year, and directs that the revised regulatory framework be focused around clear, high-level performance requirements applicable to both reusable and expendable systems.” The act also repeals the existing legal framework for Earth observation regulations and pushes for a new framework at the Department of Commerce, requiring a more streamlined process to review Earth observation satellite license applications, among other efforts.
Super Hornet Engines. Naval Air Systems Command awarded Genera; Electric a $291 million modification to procure eight F414-GE-400 install engines for the Navy. The F414-GE-400 is an afterburning turbofan engine that powers the Navy’s F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers. The modification also covers procurement for 56 F414-GE-400-1A model engines, spare engines, and spare engine modules for Kuwait. The work is expected to be finished in December 2020.
CMV-22B. The Navy established the first CMV-22B Osprey squadron during a ceremony on Dec. 14 at Naval Base Coronado. Fleet Logistics Multi-Mission Squadron (VRM) 30 was established to start transitioning the Navy away from the C-2A Greyhound for aircraft carrier logistics support. The Navy said the Ospreys have a larger operational range, greater cargo capacity, faster cargo loading/unloading, better survivability, and increased beyond-line-of-sight communications compared to the C-2A. The first CMV-22Bs are set to be delivered to the squadron in FY 2020. Until then, Navy pilots and maintainers will train with the Marine Corps’ MV-22s. The Last C-2A squadron is scheduled to stand down and transition to CMV-22B in FY 2024.
Hack the Air Force. The Pentagon’s latest bug bounty ethical hacking program found 120 security vulnerabilities in the Air Force’s public-facing websites, officials said Thursday. Hack the Air Force 3.0 was the Pentagon’s seventh bug bounty program and largest so far, including hackers from around the world. The latest effort ran from Oct. 19 to Nov. 22, and included 30 participants. The Air Force paid out $130,000 in rewards for the vulnerabilities submitted by the hackers.
SASC Backs Ukraine. Top SASC members Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) on Thursday sent a letter to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis expressing support for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) following Russia’s latest aggressive tactics against Kiev in the Kerch Strait earlier this month. “We urge you to review USAI in advance of the submission of the Department’s fiscal year 2020 budget request to determine whether additional funding is necessary to effectively meet Ukraine’s defense requirements, especially to improve maritime domain awareness and coastal defense capabilities,” the letter said.
Publication Note. This is the last Defense Daily issue for 2018. You next issue will be Jan. 3, 2019. Meanwhile, check www.defensedaily.com for news updates. Happy Holidays!