The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Taiwan Touchdown. The White House signaled its support last Friday for helping Taiwan buy “U.S.-made fighter aircraft” in the near future to help counter China’s military. Robert Nabors, director of the White House’s Office of Legislative Affairs, told Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) his proposal to modernize Taiwan’s air force with new F-16C/Ds “warrants serious consideration.” Cornyn, after hearing from the Obama administration on the Taiwan fighter sales, lifted his hold on the nomination of Mark Lippert to be assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs. The Senate confirmed Lippert in the position last Thursday. In a letter to Cornyn last Friday, Nabors said: “We are committed to assisting Taiwan in addressing the disparity in numbers of aircraft through our work with Taiwan’s defense ministry on its development of a comprehensive defense strategy vis-a-vis China. This work will be a high priority for a new assistant secretary of defense in his dialogue on force transformation with his Taiwan counterparts. The assistant secretary, in consultation with the inter-agency and the Congress, will play a lead role as the administration decides on a near-term course of action on how to address Taiwan’s fighter gap, including through the sale to Taiwan of an undetermined number of new U .S.-made fighter aircraft.”
‘Old’ News on LCS. Even though a report last week citing cracking and other problems on the first Littoral Combat Ship, the USS Freedom, is “old” news, the Navy takes it seriously as it would for any other program, says the service’s acquisition chief, Sean Stackley. “If somebody raises an issue, particularly a technical issue…we take it very seriously and I don’t care what the source is,” he tells reporters after giving congressional testimony Thursday. “We go. We take a hard look and say ‘ok first, is it correct? Is it not correct?’” He says the Navy went “line by line” evaluating the report released by the Project On Government Oversight and concludes there‘s nothing new. “A lot of this is correct but it’s old,” Stackley says. The Navy reportedly sent an itemized response to Congress either rejecting POGO’s claims or stating they had already been addressed.
…Old news continued. POGO sent a letter to Congress Monday and released documents containing images of the cracking on the Freedom, and called for the cancellation of the Lockheed Martin variant of the class. The cracking shown in the documents was widely reported more than a year ago, and was repaired last summer. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) says there has been no new cracking since the August dry docking in San Diego. Nor has there been the engine failures POGO asserts also took place in recent months, NAVSEA says. Stackley adds: “There is no program that is under greater scrutiny, that has had more transparency, been more highly reported on than the LCS program. So when somebody resurrects stuff that occurred in the past–yeah, these are all issues that are important–but they’re not new issues. These are things that we have been addressing and reporting to folks as it goes.” POGO’s report also cites a shaft seal failure on the LCS-1 in February, but that has been widely reported as well, including by Defense Daily. The Navy says the shaft seal was fixed.
Medgar Evers Delivered. The Navy has accepted delivery of the USNS Medgar Evers (T-AKE-13), one of the final two in the Lewis and Clark-class of logistical support ships. The Navy took possession Apr. 24 of the ship built by General Dynamics’ National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) in San Diego, the Navy says. T-AKEs operate under Military Sealift Command and provide ammunition, food, fuel, and other to the fleet. The 14th and final T-AKE is to be delivered by the end of this year. “This class continues to perform exceptionally well,” said Frank McCarthey, the Navy’s T-AKE class program manager.
F-35A Refueling. Lockheed Martin’s F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant of the Joint Strike Fighter completes the program’s first in-flight refueling mission while configured with external weapons April 21 at Edwards AFB, Calif., according to a company statement. Air Force Lt. Col. George Schwartz piloted the AF-4 test aircraft with two external inert AIM-9X weapons and four external stores, according to a company statement. This test paves the way for weapons separation testing later this year, according to a statement. The F-35A is the variant the Air Force is purchasing.
NG Award. The Defense Department and Association for Enterprise Information selects Northrop Grumman as the industry winner of the DoD Enterprise Architecture Achievement Award, according to a company statement. The Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Battle Command System (IBCS), under the direction of the Army IAMD Project Office, Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space in Huntsville, Ala., is praised for significant achievement in using enterprise architecture to enable mission success in all operations of DoD: warfighting, business and intelligence, according to a statement. This year, the selection criterion emphasized programs delivering agile and secure information capabilities to enhance combat power and decision making, according to a statement. The award is given to one government and one industry organization each year, according to a statement.
LM Pods Deal. The Air Force awards Lockheed Martin a $22.4 million firm-fixed-price contract for seven sniper advanced targeting pods; seven sniper pod upgrades; seven compact multiband data links and seven digital data recorders, among others, according to a Defense Department statement. Work is scheduled to be completed by April 30, 2017, according to a statement. Robins AFB, Ga., is the contracting activity, according to a statement.
New Plan. Top Army officials–the Secretary and Chief of Staff–sign off April 19 on Army Strategic Planning Guidance, which sets out the service vision, imperatives and priorities. The Army Vision: globally engaged and regionally responsive, an indispensable partner and provider of a full range of capabilities to the combatant commander in a Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental, and Multi-National (JIIM) environment. As part of the Joint Force and as America’s army, “in all that we offer, we guarantee the ability, versatility and depth to Prevent, Shape and Win,” the service says. The force can take action to Prevent, Shape and Win, and has four imperatives: to provide modernized and ready, tailored land force capabilities to meet combatant commanders requirements across the range of military operations; to develop leaders to meet the challenges of the 21st century; to adapt the Army to more effectively provide land power; and to sustain the all-volunteer Army.
New HQ. The Army plans a new two-star headquarters at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) that reflects the installation’s growth and importance in the new Defense Strategic Guidance. Army Secretary John McHugh says, “As the Army’s only power projection installation west of the Rocky Mountains, JBLM has assumed even greater importance in our new Defense Strategic Guidance.” The new unit will provide oversight for personnel, equipment, training and readiness of three Stryker brigade combat teams, a combat aviation brigade and a fires brigade–totaling some 17,000 Soldiers. The I Corps commanding general remains the joint base commander at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and the new two-star headquarters will report to I Corps. The Joint Base Lewis-McChord Garrison Command will continue its joint-installation functions in support of the new headquarters and other tenant units.
Tank Upgrades.The Army awards General Dynamics $31 million to start upgrading 24 M1A1 Abrams tanks and 22 M1A2 System Enhancement Package (SEP) Version 1 (V1) to the MI1A2 Sep V2 configuration. The most technologically advanced digital tank available, the M1A2 SEP V2 includes improved color displays, day and night thermal sights, auxiliary power and a tank-infantry phone. The configuration is a digitally connected tank with a state-of-the-art electronic backbone, powerful computers and an open architecture designed to accept future technologies without the need for significant re-design. This award maintains the stability of the U.S. combat vehicle industrial base and helps protect critical commercial defense resources. Abrams production helps preserve a strong national industrial base of approximately 882 suppliers, 64 percent of which are small businesses, as well as a strong national defense.