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Foreign Deal. The House Foreign Affairs Committee approves on June 27 an authorization bill for the State Department, which has not been guided by such a policy-setting law since 2002. The fiscal year 2013 Foreign Relations Authorization Act “establishes important jurisdiction and oversight authorities in the expanding fields of cybersecurity, counterterrorism communications, and arms-export controls,” Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) says in an opening statement for the bill’s markup session. She adds: “It helps American businesses by modifying Arms Export Control authorities to reduce obstacles and streamline the process for exporting selected equipment and parts. At the same time, it enhances U.S. security by increasing safeguards against the transfer of U.S. technologies to state sponsors of terrorism and countries subject to U.S. arms embargoes.” Ranking Member Howard Berman (D-Calif.) laments that funding levels in the bill are lower than what he thinks are “proper to exert strong and effective international leadership.”
Cyber, Revisited. Eight GOP senators including John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) re-introduce on June 27 a new cybersecurity bill, the Strengthening and Enhancing Cybersecurity by Using Research, Education, Information, and Technology Act (SECURE IT). They modified a previous version of the legislation by addition language intended to better protect citizens’ privacy, among other changes. The bill is similar to the House-passed Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act; both bills would make it easier for companies and the government to share cyber-attack information. Yet SECURE IT does not do a key thing Senate Democratic leaders want and an alternate bill from Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) would do: allow the government to set standards for securing critical infrastructure such as electrical grids. McCain says: “The key to successfully fighting this (cyber) threat is not adding more bureaucrats or forcing industries to comply with government red-tape. Instead, we must leverage the ingenuity and innovation of the private sector in partnership with the most effective elements of the federal government to address this emerging threat.”
Sequester Stance. HASC Republicans, led by Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.), call on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to allow the Senate to vote on legislation to stop so-called sequestration cuts of $1.2 trillion to defense and non-defense spending from starting next year. They note, in letter sent June 29, that the House passed a bill in May to prevent the first year of sequestration cuts by reducing the federal workforce. Senators including McCain and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) introduced a similar bill. The HASC Republican call on Reid to “immediately” put forward his own plan or “stop obstructing plans others have already offered.” They argued Congress should not wait until the lame-duck session after the November elections to resolve the sequestration issue. They say the military and industry are making choices now, because of sequestration, about job cuts. The HASC members are concerned about comments Reid made about the Pentagon having to share in the burden of spending cuts intended to reduce the federal deficit. They call on Reid to immediately identify any waste in the defense budget that he believes should be directed to domestic spending. They say if he can’t he should “abandon the unhelpful notion that further arbitrary cuts will improve national security or resolve our debt crisis.”
HASC Switch. Rep. Ron Barber (D-Ariz.), who replaced former Rep. Gabrielle Gifford (D-Ariz.) in Congress, is the newest member of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees. “I am pleased to have the opportunity to work on two committees that oversee many issues that affect the people I represent in Southern Arizona,” Barber says in June 22 statement. “I am eager to get to work on behalf of Southern Arizona’s military installations and military families and continue to work to secure our border.” Barber’s new district includes Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson and the Army’s Fort Huachuca. Raytheon also has a large missile factory in Tucson. Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.) left the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) to make room for Barber. The Maryland Democrat remains ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. Giffords resigned from Congress in January to recover from a shooting in Tucson last year.
Survey says? Acquisitions. A recent survey by the auditing firm KPMG says U.S. aerospace and defense executives, with declining defense budgets, view “strategic acquisitions” as their top investment priority to generate near term growth. The survey shows 71 percent of executives saying their companies will be involved in a merger or acquisition in the next two years. In addition, 64 percent express confidence they have significant levels of cash on their balance sheets, while 53 percent expect to increase capital spending this year. About half of them say the highest priority for using the cash will be for strategic acquisitions, up by eight points from the 41 percent who said so last year. “The way we see it, there’s a day of reckoning coming, and many A&D executives are telling us that this may spur an industry response similar to what drove major industry consolidation in the 1980s and 1990s, or perhaps an even more dramatic response,” Martin Phillips, the leader of KPMG’s aerospace and defense practice, says. “They are rethinking their strategies and becoming much more aggressive to drive growth and compete.” The survey was conducted in May and involved responses from 102 senior executives.
And on that note. General Dynamics says it has reached an agreement to acquire the Ship Repair and Coatings Division of Earl Industries, which it says is a leading East Coast repair company that supports the U.S. Navy fleet in Norfolk, Va., and Mayport, Fla. General Dynamics did not disclose the cash value of the transaction, but expects it to be accretive to earnings in 2013. General Dynamics anticipates closing the deal this summer. The Ship Repair and Coatings Division employs about 575 people in the Norfolk and Mayport areas. Earl Industries is a prime contractor for nuclear aircraft carrier maintenance, as well as other naval vessels. It will be folded into the General Dynamics NASSCO unit. “The acquisition of the Ship Repair and Coatings Division of Earl Industries will extend the reach of NASSCO’s ship maintenance and repair operations in two key East Coast naval ports,” Fred Harris, the president of General Dynamics NASSCO, says.
Social Media Security. The Navy has not had to change its message to sailors that much when it comes to protecting operational security while using social media, says Lt. Cmdr. Chris Servello, the director of the Navy news desk at the Pentagon. He says the core message is pretty much the same as was the case with cell phones when it comes to not revealing location or other operational details while Tweeting or Facebooking. ‘We have tweaked our message slightly,” he says. Rather, Servello says the bigger issue is keeping an eye on everything going on the social media environment. “Monitoring it becomes a challenge,” he says. Servello was speaking a social media forum last week sponsored by Defense Daily and Northrop Grumman, and hosted by Ogilvy Public Relations in Washington.
Boeing, Embraer KC-390. Boeing and Brazilian manufacturer Embraer agree to collaborate on the KC-390 military cargo aircraft program, Embraer says in a statement. The two companies will share some “specific technical knowledge and evaluate markets” where they may join sales efforts for medium-lift military transport opportunities. The agreement is part of a broader agreement that Boeing and Embraer signed in April to explore ways to cooperate in commercial airplane safety, research and technology and sustainable aviation biofuels. “This agreement will strengthen the KC-390’s prominent position in the global military transport market,” Embraer CEO Luiz Carlos Aguiar says in a statement. Embraer produces the KC-390.
SpaceX Engine Firing. Space Exploration Technologies’ (SpaceX) Merlin 1D engine achieves a full mission duration firing and multiple restarts at target thrust and specific impulse, the company says in a statement. The engine firing was for 185 seconds with 147,000 pounds of thrust, the full duration of power required for a Falcon 9 rocket launch. Falcon 9 carried the company’s spacecraft into space in late May on its way to the International Space Station (Defense Daily, May 23). “With the Merlin 1D powering the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, SpaceX will be capable of carrying a full range of payloads to orbit,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says in a statement. Merlin 1D engines will first see flight on Falcon 9 Flight 6, expected to launch in 2013.
Northrop Grumman DAS. Northrop Grumman demonstrates the ballistic missile detection, tracking and targeting capabilities of its AN/AAQ-37 distributed aperture system and AN/APG-81 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, the company says in a statement. Both the AN/AAQ-37 and AN/APG-81 autonomously detected, tracked and targeted multiple, simultaneous ballistic rockets. The AN/AAQ-37 autonomously detected all five rockets, launched in rapid succession, and tracked them from initial launch past the second stage burnout. Both the AN/AAQ-37 and AN/APG-81 are featured on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which is developed by Lockheed Martin.
LM JASSM Contract. The Air Force awards Lockheed Martin a $246 million contract for Lot 10 production of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and its Extended Range variant, the company says in a statement. The JASSM Lot 10 contract is for 191 baseline missiles, 30 Extended Range missiles, test instrumentation kits and systems engineering support. A Lockheed Martin spokeswoman says Lot 10 deliveries should start in “late third quarter of 2013.” JASSM is integrated on the Air Force’s B-1, B-2, B-52, F-16 and F-15E while JASSM-ER is on the B-1.
NG’s MSV. Northrop Grumman finishes conducting a two-day Spacecraft Baseline Interim Design Review, successfully completing the Spacecraft Bus Critical Design Review (CDR) process for the Modular Space Vehicle, the company says in a statement. This review moves work on the next-generation spacecraft design to the fabrication stage. “Completing the CDR process shows that our design meets mission requirements and moves the program toward the launch of a first-of-its-kind vehicle that could revolutionize the way spacecraft are built,” Steve Hixson, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems vice president, advanced concepts, space and directed energy systems, says in a statement. The MSV is being developed and manufactured as a rapid response space initiative for combatant commanders (Defense Daily, Nov. 16).
Exercise Hamel. The Australian Army’s annual month-long foundation war fighting exercise is under way. More than 9,000 Australian Defence Force members are involved in Exercise Hamel until July 18. Named after the Battle of Hamel in France in 1918, the exercise is designed to ensure Australian forces are trained, equipped and ready to deploy for future operations by allowing them to develop and conduct tactical planning and operations in a warlike scenario. This year’s exercise will certify the war fighting skills of Darwin’s 1st Brigade. Exercise Director Brig. Shane Caughey says, “It allows participating forces to hone their fundamental war fighting skills and allows us to certify a Brigade’s progression to the phase of the Force Generation Cycle where troops are ‘ready’ for future operations if required.” This year’s exercise also involves 150 members from the U.S. Marines and 25 medics from the New Zealand Defence Force.
Language Training. General Dynamics Information Technology receives a $17.3 million, 33-month DoD contract to manage and expand the National Language Service Corps (NLSC), a civilian corps of volunteers with certified proficiency in diverse languages. GD will work with the Defense Language and National Security Education Office to expand NLSC operational capabilities and to meet the unique language-support needs of DoD and other federal agencies. The NLSC was established to provide a surge capability in the full range of language the service needs in the United States and abroad. The NLSC provides more than 3,400 linguists skilled in 242 languages to support DoD and federal agency missions. It provides a surge capability to the government by leveraging U.S. citizens who speak hundreds of languages and prepares them for unique cultural elements in an immersive learning environment before they deploy for missions around the world.
Leadership Changes. Lockheed Martin says there are leadership changes in the Space Systems Co. (SSC) and Information Systems & Global Solutions (IS&GS) businesses. Rick Ambrose was appointed to the newly created position of vice president and deputy, SSC, reporting to executive vice president Joanne Maguire. Ambrose, who currently leads IS&GS-National, will be succeeded by Tim Reardon, currently vice president of operations for IS&GS-National. Both appointments are effective July 2. “Rick and Tim are exceptional leaders with diverse experiences and strategic leadership skills that will enhance our competitiveness and continue to drive value for our customers,” says Chris Kubasik, Lockheed Martin vice chairman, president and chief operating officer.
Oshkosh Wins DLA Award. The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Land and Maritime recognizes Oshkosh Defense with the Material Cost Reduction Award for the company’s commitment to reducing costs and supporting warfighters. Among large businesses, Oshkosh Defense has provided the highest gross savings for DLA Land and Maritime for the first two quarters of fiscal year 2012. In that time, Oshkosh has delivered nearly $13 million in cost reductions. “Oshkosh has a long-held commitment to lean strategies that have allowed us to provide convenient and cost-effective parts to DLA Land and Maritime,” says Jeff Koga, associate vice president of Integrated Product Support for Oshkosh Defense.