The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Sequester Shuffle. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) ask Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to describe what the Pentagon would do if the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction does not craft a budget-cutting plan that passes Congress; if that happens, a sequestration process would cut $600 billion more from the long-term defense budget, on top of the current $450 billion reduction. The two Senate Armed Services Committee members ask Panetta to “describe the specific options and types of actions the (Defense) Department would be required to take should a sequester result.” They add: “Congress must be fully informed regarding the contemplated actions of the Department that may be necessary to implement a sequester. In order for the Congress to do its job, we cannot wait until December or later to receive specific and concrete information.” They ask him to describe “the range of options under consideration,” acknowledging “that a specific outcome cannot be predicted at this time.”
Candidates On Defense. The Republican presidential candidates have two defense-focused debates planned for this month. CBS News and National Journal have arranged a debate in Spartanburg, S.C., on Saturday, Nov. 12 that, the news outlets say in a press release, “will focus primarily on national security.” They say the 90-minute event “will reveal the candidates’ views on wide-ranging foreign affairs topics, such as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the changes throughout the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, and the global war on terror.” The Republican contenders also will face off at a “debate on foreign policy and national security” hosted by The Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, and CNN in Washington on Nov. 22.
Half And Half. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta estimates half of the roughly $450 billion slated to be trimmed from the Pentagon’s 10-year spending plans will be taken out of modernization accounts. “He wants to take 50 percent of the cuts out of modernization,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) tells reporters after Panetta briefs lawmakers Nov. 1, according to Reuters. Panetta issued general guidelines to Pentagon budget officials regarding the cuts to programs for new weapon systems and upgrades to existing ones, McKeon says after the classified briefing. Half of the roughly $450 billion in cuts will come from efficiencies and reduction in troop levels and personnel costs, McKeon relays to reporters. The five-year spending plan the Pentagon will propose next year will include $250 billion to $260 billion in cuts, Panetta says last month.
Equipment Advances. The Stimson Center, a non-partisan Washington think tank, argues against the “prevailing wisdom on defense spending in the past decade…that despite the large amount spent, we did not modernize our weapons systems.” In an Oct. 28 report, it analyzes procurement funding over the past 10 years and concludes “the services capitalized on funding to modernize their forces, especially the major weapons programs that constitute the heart of the services’ capabilities.” The report cites the Army’s upgrade of its primary combat vehicles and supporting capabilities; the Air Force’s new F-22s, C-17s, and unmanned aircraft; and the Navy’s success in nearly meeting the shipbuilding plans it set a decade ago. The report maintains that despite cancellations and curtailments of high-profile weapons programs for each of the services, they all made “significant advances” overall in modernizing their equipment.
Cutter Review. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin Dempsey visits the Coast Guard’s Stratton, the third of eight planned National Security Cutters (NSCs), near Annapolis on Oct. 31. “One of the things we always talk about as service chiefs is we need to provide the nation as many options as possible,” he says, according to American Forces Press Service. “And getting to know what the Coast Guard can bring to the issue of national security has interested me greatly. So this trip out here just reinforces that.” The 418-foot NSCs replace the 378-foot high-endurance cutters that have been used since the 1960s. The Stratton will enter the Coast Guard’s operational fleet after it March 2012 commissioning. While the Coast Guard has planned to homeport all eight NSCs on the West Coast, Commandant Adm. Robert Papp says he may instead base two of them on the East Coast.
Cutting Equals Stopping. The House’s version of the FY ’12 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill, which cuts 77 percent of the research and development budget within the Science and Technology Directorate, would bring key programs to a grinding halt and also hurt work with small businesses, a homeland security official tells Congress. It means that research in cyber security and bio-defense will stop and S&T will not be helping DHS components in establishing realistic requirements and in the test and evaluation process, Paul Benda, chief of staff for the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency, tells a House Homeland Security Committee panel. He also says that the number of Small Business Innovation Research awards, which average around 60 per year, will drop to four.
Budget Review To Include Carrier Homeporting. Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, says in a letter to Virginia’s congressional delegation last week that the 2009 decision to homeport an aircraft carrier at Naval Station Mayport, Fla., will be included in the broad budget review the service is undertaking. But he gave no indication the decision would be reversed. “Within the context of the ongoing Department of Defense strategic and budget reviews, the size of the fiscal adjustments compels us to take a comprehensive strategic review, examining every program element, including the funding required to homeport a CVN in Mayport,” Greenert says in the letter addressed to Rep. Randy Forbes, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee. Greenert, however, also went on to say the rationale behind basing the ship in Florida remains “sound” and was “validated” by the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review.
…Feuding Continues. The Navy’s decision to base one carrier in Norfolk, Va. and another in Mayport has long been at the center of tension between the Virginia and Florida delegations. Virginia’s representatives wanted both, arguing it would be too costly to retrofit Mayport to host a carrier. But the Navy determined it made sense from a strategic and security standpoint to disperse them into separate ports, and has stuck with that decision despite the riff-raff. Forbes issued a statement saying he was pleased Greenert was open to reassessing the decision. Florida Rep. Ander Crenshaw, a Republican on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee whose district includes Mayport, said he was confident the decision won’t change, noting construction has already begun at the naval station. “I plan to be on hand the day that a nuclear aircraft carrier sails in to homeport at Mayport,” Crenshaw said in a release last week.
Flight Deck Hoops–NCAA style. The USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) will host a basketball game between the Michigan State Spartans and North Carolina Tar Heels on its flight deck on Nov. 11. The San Diego-based aircraft carrier is importing the hardwood, bleachers, lights and tents from all over the United States for the game intended to commemorate Veterans Day. The Navy says it will take nine days to transform the flight deck into a basketball arena intended to seat 7,000, and will involve some 150 construction workers. They are also preparing a secondary arena, with much less seating, inside the hangar bay in case of bad weather. The Associated Press and an ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll rank the Tar Heels No. 1 in the nation heading into the season. ESPN plans to televise the game.
Designations for air platforms. The Air Force has designated two aerial platforms now using Northrop Grumman’s Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN), the company said last week. The Bombardier Global Express BD-700, which is a military modified corporate jet, received an E-11A designation. Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk RQ-4Bs which have been equipped to host BACN were re-designated as EQ-4Bs. BACN is a high-altitude, airborne communications system for maintaining constant operational communications support. BACN is designed to provide improved situational awareness for better coordination between warfighters on the front lines and their commanders, the company said.
Navy sole sourcing missile with BAE. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) says last week it will enter into sole source contract negotiations with BAE Systems for the for Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) Maritime Demonstration. The purpose is to evaluate the missile’s performance over water and ability to counter the threat posed by small boats. The Navy and BAE have already entered low-rate initial production (LRIP) for the first version of APKWS.
New National Monument. President Barack Obama signs an executive order adding Fort Monroe, Hampton, Va., to the list of national monuments. “It was the site of the first slave ships to land in the New World,” Obama said. “But then in the Civil War, almost 250 years later, Fort Monroe also became a refuge for slaves that were escaping from the South, and helped to create the environment in which Abraham Lincoln was able to sign that document up there–the Emancipation Proclamation.” In September Fort Monroe closed its doors as a military base and its largest tenant, Army Training and Doctrine Command is now at Joint Base Langley Eustis, Va.
New Leader. Victor McCrary has been appointed the Emerging Technology and Innovation Manager in the Research and Exploratory Development Department (REDD) at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md. McCrary will focus on finding emerging and disruptive technologies developed at U.S. universities and other research institutions, and forming research partnerships that are important to maintaining APL’s technological competitive edge. He likens his new role to that of a prospector: “I’m going to be looking for diamonds in the rough” he says. He will also work to strengthen the Laboratory’s relationships with national laboratories, including Oak Ridge and Lawrence Livermore.
Shields Up. NORAD and Northern Command are holding their annual homeland defense exercise Nov. 1-10. Vigilant Shield 12 is a joint exercise supported by the Joint Coalition Warfare Center and conducted as a command post exercise with a supporting field training exercise in Key West, Fla. It’s linked to the Canada Command exercise Determined Dragon, and runs concurrently with exercise Vigilant Guard Arizona. The scenario is based on potential threats to the United States and Canada that require extensive military planning to support national objectives and provide multiple military options to the national leadership.
…Field Exercise. NORTHCOM is sending a Joint Deployable Integrated Air and Missile Defense system and elements of a logistics support facility to Naval Air Station Key West to participate in the VS 12 Field Training Exercise. The event will include Navy ships, Army ground-based radar and missile systems, and Air Force, Coast Guard and Navy aircraft. A primary objective for this exercise is to have air, land and sea forces coordinate their activities to provide an aerospace defense capability against multiple threat scenarios at a forward deployed location.