The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Hill Hopping. HASC leadership is expected to decide in the next few weeks whom the new subcommittee chairmen will be, aides said. The Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee top spot is open, after Chairman Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) lost his reelection bid Nov. 6. Reps. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and Mike Turner (R-Ohio) are potential replacements. The Seapower and Projection Forces subpanel leadership is open because Chairman Todd Akin (R-Mo.) gave up his House seat to run unsuccessfully for Senate. Shipbuilding advocates Reps. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) and Randy Forbes (R-Va.) both want the Seapower chairmanship. Thornberry, Turner, Wittman, and Forbes chair other HASC subcommittees, so a committee reshuffling is in order. On the Democratic side, the ranking member spot on the Tactical Air panel is open, following Rep. Silvestre Reyes’ (D-Texas) May primary loss. Seapower Ranking Member Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.), appears to have won a close reelection bid on Nov. 6, though his Republican opponent, David Rouzer, hasn’t conceded as of press time. Also, a new ranking member for the HAC and its defense subcommittee is needed, following the coming retirement of Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.). Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) is in line for the HAC-D spot. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (R-Ohio) is the most-senior Democrat for the HAC ranking member spot, though Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) also is vying for it, the New Yorker’s spokesman says.
… SASC Shuffle. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) hasn’t confirmed as of press time he won’t seek a waiver to a term-limit rule requiring him to relinquish his spot as SASC ranking member, though he is expected to leave the position. SASC’s No. 2 Republican, Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), is “looking forward to stepping in as ranking member,” subject to approval of SASC GOP, he says in a statement Nov. 7. “I am deeply concerned about planned defense cuts and pending defense cuts through sequestration,” Inhofe says. “My focus on the committee will be on military readiness, acquisition reform, and preventing the potential hollowing out of our forces. After more than a decade of war, our personnel and equipment needs will be wide ranging, and I am ready to address these very important issues.” Inhofe is an advocate for vehicle and aircraft programs and opponent of Pentagon alternative-fuel efforts. He is a co-founder of the new Senate Unmanned Aerial Systems Caucus. On the Democratic side, retirements are opening three of the SASC’s six subcommittee chairs: the Air Land panel, run by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I/D-Conn.); Strategic Forces, chaired by Ben. Nelson (D-Neb.), and Personnel, steered by Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.). Air Land Ranking Member Scott Brown (R-Mass.) also lost his reelection.
Levin’s Ship. SASC Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) gives the Navy’s closely watched Littoral Combat Ship program some love Nov. 8 during in the keel-laying ceremony for the seventh LCS in Marinette, Wis. Dubbed the USS Detroit, the Lockheed Martin ship’s sponsor is Levin’s wife. “As chairman of the Armed Services Committee, I spend much of my time thinking about the national security challenges we face today, myriad of threats and, especially in the current fiscal environment, the limited resources we have to meet them,” Levin’s prepared remarks say. “The USS Detroit and her sister ships in the Littoral Combat Ship family are not only uniquely capable of helping to meet those threats, but thanks to the innovative spirit of our Navy and its contractors, they will help us meet our fiscal challenges as well.” He touts the “innovative acquisition strategy recommended by the Navy and approved by the Congress late last year” for the LCS, which he says will ensure “America’s taxpayers will get more of these ships, in less time, and for less money. That’s a victory for our defense and for good stewardship of precious taxpayer dollars.”
Better Buying. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall plan to unveil on Tuesday the so-called Better Buying Power 2.0–an updated version of the two-year-old effort to make the defense acquisition system more efficient. Kendall has been previewing some of the changes during speeches in recent months. For example, Better Buying Power 2.0 will make clear that sized fixed-price, incentive-fee contracts–which the first Better Buying Power initiative greatly encouraged–should not be used all the time and other contracting types are still appropriate during these austere times. He further has said the revised effort will still require affordability of weapons programs, call for should-cost analyses of programs, and seek to eliminate bureaucracy in the Pentagon. Kendall also plans to help revise DoD Instruction 5000.02, which dictates how the Pentagon acquisition system operates.
Contracting Improprieties. The Navy has relieved the commanding officer of the Southwest Regional Maintenance Center at Naval Station San Diego due to “loss of confidence” related to an investigation into “contracting improprieties,” the Navy says. Capt. Michael Wiegand was stripped of his post by the commander of the Navy Regional Maintenance Center on Thursday and reassigned to administrative duties, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) says. Capt. Mike Fulgham, who is serving as the executive director of the southwest center, will take over as acting commander until a relieving officer is assigned, NAVSEA says. The Southwest Regional Maintenance Center provides intermediate level maintenance support to more than 100 surface ships and submarines in the Pacific Fleet.
Acceptance trials. The next San Antonio-class (LPD-17) amphibious transport dock ship completed acceptance trials earlier this month as it nears commissioning and entry into the fleet, NAVSEA says. The future USS Arlington (LPD-24) underwent acceptance trials Nov. 2 out of Huntington Ingalls Industries’ shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. The LPD-24 is expected to deliver later this year and is scheduled for commissioning in April.
Down Under In Palmdale. The Royal Australian Air Force’s chief, Air Marshal Geoff Brown, visited Northrop Grumman’s Palmdale Manufacturing Center in California last week and toured the production line for F-35 fuselages. Brown specifically viewed a center fuselage that will be the first to be on an F-35 for Australia’s air force, the company says. Australia joined the Joint Strike Fighter program in 2002 as one of eight international partners. Northrop Grumman builds the fuselages for prime contractor Lockheed Martin. Australia is set to receive its first two F-35s for pilot training in 2014.
Protecting the Crown Jewels. The Air Force is doing a “terrific job” of protecting its lower level applications from cyber attacks but not so with its “crown jewels,” says Kenneth Brodie, chief information security officer, for Air Force’s Office of Information Dominance and Chief Information officer. Brodie says at the annual Symantec government symposium that the “crown jewels, which are sitting on those backend databases and those ERPs (Enterprise Resource Planning) and mission planning systems and weapons systems, those are those are the things that when we start moving up into the application layer, we don’t pay enough attention to that. Things like software assurance and hardening applications. I just think that we do a very good job with that. We’re starting to move in that direction.”
500th F-35 Sortie. The Air Force’s Integrated Test Force at Eglin AFB, Fla., completes its 500th combined sortie for both the Air Force’s F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant and the Navy’s F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing (STOL) variant Nov. 2, according to a Lockheed Martin statement. Flight operations for the F-35 began on the Emerald Coast March 6. There are currently 22 F-35s at Eglin. The team accomplished the 500 sorties in 238 days.
MILSATCOM. Northrop Grumman announces it will work with the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center (AFSMC) to demonstrate ways to make future protected military satellite communications (MILSATCOM) capabilities more affordable. As part of the Protected Military Satellite Communication Design for Affordability Risk Reduction initiative, Northrop Grumman will develop an unclassified, government-owned waveform specification and demonstrate its feasibility through component-level demonstrations; design and demonstrate a space/ground modem at the component level through analyses, software simulations, waveform implementation and a hardware demonstration and demonstrate gateway affordability by using commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components combined with software emulation. The demonstration also will show the ability to interface with a mission management system, integration into an information assurance architecture, as well as other key gateway functions and capabilities.
P&W 3DExperience. Pratt & Whitney Canada chooses Dassault Systèmes’ 3DExperience platform to run its enterprise integrated product management process, according to a Dassault Systèmes statement. P&W Canada has started “phase one” of its enterprise Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) evolution with “phase one” focusing on improving operational excellence, integrated process planning and quality and requirements management. 3DExperiences creates virtual worlds that simulate the development and usage experience in PLM. Dassault Systèmes is an independent company providing software and services to industry. Pratt & Whitney Canada is a division of United Technologies Corp.
Raytheon WDA Contract. The Air Force awards Raytheon a $11.5 million contract to enhance the Weather Data Analysis (WDA) system, according to a company statement. The contract will upgrade the current meteorological satellite capability and legacy systems at the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA), improving the agency’s analysis capabilities. The modernized system is expected to deliver significant efficiencies and improve weather forecast analysis capabilities, enabling warfighters to make critical mission decisions. WDA is central to AFWA’s global system architecture and is a major weather data and product contributor to the service’s weather enterprise.
Protection Talk. The State Department expects more than 1,000 public and private security professionals from the government, U.S.-based businesses, academia, faith-based institutions, and nongovernmental organizations Nov. 14 and 15 for the Overseas Security Advisory Council’s (OSAC) 27th Annual Briefing, “Protecting Your Organization in a Changing World.” Scott Bultrowicz, DoS director of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, and John McClurg, vice president, Chief Security Officer, Dell Inc., open the conference discussing, “The State of OSAC: Views from the Public/Private Co-Chairs.” Keynote addresses will be made by Amb. Jon Huntsman, former Ambassador to China and former Governor of Utah, on: “China and the U.S.–Challenges and Opportunities,” and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on “Public-Private Partnership to Mitigate Risks to U.S. Businesses when Working Abroad.”
New Leader. SYNEXXUS names Damon Walsh as its new president. Former President Gregory Glaros assumes the new role as CEO and will remain the Chief Technology Officer. Walsh is a retired Army officer with over 30 years of combined military and defense industry experience representing large and small corporations. Before joining SYNEXXUS, Walsh was the president of Jet Hot High Performance Coatings, a North Carolina company specializing in the design and application of coating products to engine and exhaust components within the automotive enthusiast and truck building industries. SYNEXXUS is a systems engineering company pioneering data distribution systems for armored vehicles and special operations craft.
MDAA Honors. For the first time, the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance Nov. 9 hosted the Peninsula Missile Defenders of the Year Award Ceremony in Seoul, Korea. The South Korean and U.S. winners were selected by a peninsula-wide competition held by each country’s missile defense units, the South Korean’s 2nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade and the U.S.’s 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, says Riki Ellison, MDAA chairman and founder. The crew winners emerged from a three-day tactical and technical proficiency competition that also had the soldiers compete in core soldier skills.