By Marina Malenic
The average unit cost of the Air Force’s RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance drone has risen by more than 25 percent due primarily to a lower-than-expected buy quantity planned for fiscal 2012, a service official said in a letter to members of Congress last week.
“The primary driver of this average procurement unit cost increase is the fiscal year 2012 budget decision to decrease the Global Hawk procurement quantities from 77 to 66 aircraft,” Air Force Secretary Michel Donley wrote in the April 6 letter.
Global Hawk is a high-altitude unmanned intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft built by Northrop Grumman [NOC]. The company is producing the aircraft with various sensors for the Air Force, Navy, NASA and foreign customers. Officials have said the RQ-4 should take the place of the Air Force’s U-2 manned spy plane fleet beginning in fiscal 2013.
The latest cost increase of more than 25 percent triggers the Nunn-McCurdy cost-growth cap statue, requiring the Defense Department to recertify the program as essential to national security to avoid termination. This is the fourth time the program has breached the cap.
Air Force officials said during a February budget briefing that the planned buy of 22 Block 40 Global Hawks was halved in the president’s fiscal 2012 budget request and that savings would be used to make capability improvements in the Block 30 buy (Defense Daily, Feb. 15).
The Block 40 variant carries the multi-platform technology insertion program radar. Eleven Block 40s, in conjunction with the E-8C Joint-STARS fleet that provides a similar capability, are currently meeting military’s requirement, officials have said. The Air Force is, however, conducting an analysis of alternatives to determine its future needs in this area.
Meanwhile, the service wants $311 million to buy three Block 30s in fiscal 2012. Nine Block 40s have been purchased previously, and the Air Force has requested funding for two more in fiscal 2011.
Northrop Grumman officials have said that their “biggest focus” now is affordability. The company has over 100 cost-saving initiatives in place (Defense Daily, Feb. 16).
“The primary reason for Global Hawk’s Nunn-McCurdy breach is the reduction of Block 40 quantities from 22 to 11 aircraft due to budget pressures,” company officials said in a statement released yesterday. Other factors include the creation of two sensor depot centers, increased spares due to higher than expected operational tempo and testing costs, they added.
Last month, Air Force leaders said the program is now meeting affordability guidelines, just over a year after officials first criticized both government and industry program managers for allowing costs to burgeon (Defense Daily, March 4).