The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense

Army Savings. Army Under Secretary Joseph Westphal says his service’s “cumbersome” acquisition system will undergo changes. “We realize we have to make big changes…we don’t have a choice anymore,” he says April 27 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Asked his take on the Army’s industrial base–in light of Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead’s concerns about the shipbuilding industrial base–Westphal says he doesn’t see it as fragile. Still, he says the Army needs to improve its dialogue with industry. Westphal says he meets nearly every day with the Navy and Air Force undersecretaries to find efficiencies, and says the services may combine their depots.

Improper Chiding. A bipartisan group of 13 Senate and House members calls for Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale to do a better job spotting and eliminating improper payments that cost the government billions of dollars each year. Reports from the Department of Defense Inspector General and GAO say the Pentagon’s improper payment estimates have not been complete or accurate. “Without a thorough process to review expenditures and identify the full extent of improper payments, the (Defense) Department will not be able to identify internal controls aimed at reducing improper payments and better protecting the taxpayer. Nor will the Department be able to effectively recover improper payments,” states the April 29 letter to Hale crafted by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs’ Federal Financial Management subcommittee.

Coastie Move. Retired Coast Guard admiral Thad Allen, the former commandant, now serves on the board of directors of SELEX Galileo Inc. “The enduring challenge of maintaining technical superiority in the acquisition and fusion of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance information in an era of diverse global threats is the focus of SELEX Galileo’s business,” Allen says in a statement. SELEX Galileo Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of SELEX Galileo, a defense electronics company that is part of the Finmeccanica group.

CIO’s Charge. Pentagon Chief Information Officer Robert Carey tells companies he needs innovation from them to increase cybersecurity while using a new information- sharing enterprise network. “It’s not about consolidation as much as it is about raising security, while keeping enterprise in view,” he says April 25, according to American Forces Press Service. “Improving cybersecurity is what this is about.” Because of budget cuts launching the system will take more time with less funding, Carey tells members of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronic Association, “but we’re still going forward, because this can be done on its own gravity.”

Inefficiency Adds Burden. The Army is making a major effort to conserve energy, and Lt. Gen. Michael Vane, director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, says the past decade of conflict reminded the service of important energy lessons. “For example, maneuver is constrained by the need to supply fuel, water and batteries, he says at a roundtable last week. “Inefficient generators or power distribution systems only increase the sustainment burden without contributing to operational performance.”

…Mini Grids. The largest single liquid fuel consumer in the battle space is generators, says Richard Kidd, deputy assistant Secretary of the Army for Energy and Sustainability at the same roundtable. A new generator in the works would help decrease fuel demand and improve supply efficiency. In Afghanistan, he says the Corps of Engineers has 22 mini grids hard at work. Rather than one generator for one tent, the engineers have put in a larger generator with a uniform power distribution for several tents, saving megawatts of power.

…New Generators. The Army is in the process of fielding a new family of tactical generators, says Maj. Gen. Robert Radin, assistant deputy chief of staff of the Army, G-4, operations. These generators, ranging from 5 kilowatt to 60 kilowatt, are “about 20-percent more efficient” than previous equipment. Savings are anticipated, he says, so the generators are likely to “pay for themselves in about two years.” Vane says a production decision is likely in June, with deployment soon afterward.

New Boss. Boeing subsidiary Insitu Inc., names Steve Morrow president and CEO, effective immediately. Morrow succeeds CEO Steve Sliwa, who retired April 1. “Insitu is the industry leader in the design, development and manufacture of high-performance, low-cost unmanned airborne systems and has a bright future, with many opportunities for growth,” says Debbie Rub, vice president and general manager of Boeing’s Missiles and Unmanned Airborne Systems division, part of the Boeing Military Aircraft business unit. Morrow most recently served as director of Boeing’s Stand-off Strike unit, leading long-range weapons programs including the Navy’s Harpoon and SLAM ER missiles, the Air Force’s Air Launched Cruise Missile, the Next Generation Cruise Missile, and Boeing’s portion of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense program. Morrow joined Boeing in 2002 following his retirement as Navy program manager for the $500 million Tactical Tomahawk development program and the Tomahawk Block III recertification and remanufacture program. Insitu is a pioneer in the unmanned airborne systems market, with military and civilian products.

New Board Member. L-3 Communications elects retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff retired Army Gen. Hugh Shelton to the board of directors following the retirement of another former chairman of the joint chiefs, retired Army Gen. John Shalikashvili. The board has nine members, eight of whom are non-employee directors. “General Shelton brings to L-3 a broad-based strategic perspective on military and global affairs, a wealth of leadership experience and business acumen regarding technology and national security requirements,” says Michael Strianese, L-3 chairman, president and CEO. “We are both honored and proud that General Shelton will be part of L-3. At the same time, we appreciate the 12 years of leadership and service that General Shalikashvili provided to L-3 and to the Board, and we are pleased that he will continue to advise L-3 as Director Emeritus.”

Managing Scientific Services. The Army Research Office (ARO) taps Battelle to manage the Scientific Services Program (SSP) that provides short-term scientific and technical services to the Department of Defense and other federal agencies. Battelle was awarded the two-year, $96.6 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract April 25. The SSP is a rapid and flexible contract mechanism available to all federal agencies to solve research and development-related problems.

Keeping Up With Demand. Northrop Grumman says it delivered the 1,000th Guardian Laser Transmitter Assembly (GLTA) to the government for use as part of the Navy’s Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) system. Navy LAIRCM is currently installed on Marine CH-53E helicopters operating in Afghanistan and on ship-based CH-46E helicopters. Northrop Grumman has averaged between 35 and 45 production GLTAs each month since delivering the 500th unit to the government just over a year ago allowing the 1,000th GLTA to be delivered four months ahead of schedule. Each GLTA is comprised of a Viper(tm) laser assembly and a pointer tracker assembly, making it the only laser-based directed energy IRCM system in high rate production in the world. The Viper(tm) Laser is produced at Northrop Grumman facilities in Apopka Fla., and Rolling Meadows, Ill., while the pointer tracker assembly is produced by the Northrop Grumman facility in Rolling Meadows, and a Selex Galileo facility in the United Kingdom.

Propellant Production. ATK says it received an $80 million order from General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products for production of the MK90 propellant grain. “We are pleased to have this opportunity to continue our longstanding tradition of production excellence on the MK90 propellant grain,” says Kent Holiday, ATK Energetic Systems Vice President and General Manager. “We have made this propellant grain, or its predecessor design, for many years, and look forward to continuing to meet the needs of our customer and the ultimate end-user–the warfighter, with an affordable and reliable product.”The MK90 propellant grain provides propulsion for the MK66 rocket motor, a key element of the Hydra 70 rocket system, which is used on a variety of fixed-wing and rotary-wing platforms, including the AH-64 Apache helicopter, the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, and the A-10 aircraft, and has been used extensively in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

…International Growth. ATK also says it has received more than $16 million in non-standard (non-NATO) ammunition orders through a multi-year contract with the Army Contracting Command in Rock Island, Ill. Orders on the multi-year contract have totaled more than $177 million since it was awarded to ATK in December 2008. The ATK-provided supplies are critical for Afghan and coalition security forces to respond to internal and external threats. Under this contract, ATK provides technical oversight, quality assurance and supply chain management necessary to deliver non-standard small, medium, and large-caliber ammunition; aviation rockets; grenades; and mortars to Kabul, Afghanistan. In the two years ATK has been supplying non-standard ammunition and weapons to Afghanistan, deliveries have been consistently ahead of schedule. “International growth is a key part of ATK’s strategy,” says ATK Armament Systems President Karen Davies, “and our ability to win this business and perform above expectations supports that effort.”

Falling In Line. The only way that the Defense Department can meet the fiscal demands of the White House, while preparing for national security threats, will be to review the Pentagon’s needs from a mission-based point of view, according to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. Echoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Mabus says basing any reductions to Navy or DoD resources using anything less than a mission-based criteria is akin to treating the issue like a “math problem.” Futher, Mabus notes the recently-completed Marine Corps force posture review was a good template for the pending department-wide review. The Obama administration wants to trim DoD spending by $400 billion over the next decade, pending a wide-ranging departmental review.

Humming Along. Weapons manufacturer Boeing has ramped up development and production of its A160 Hummingbird vertical lift unmanned aircraft, with plans to pitch the airframe to the Navy for its upcoming UAV competition. “A160 is our player,” Chris Chadwick, Boeing’s president of military aircraft, says. The aircraft’s multimission capability, as well as its longer loiter time, make it a far superior platform, compared to the Northrop Grumman FireScout UAS, he says. Those two aircraft are in the running for the Navy’s Medium-Range UAS program, the details of which are still being worked by service officials.

SLEP Silly. Navy plans to extend the lives of the legacy F/A-18 Super Hornet fleet begin and end with 9,000 flight hours, says the two top military and industry officials overseeing the fighter program. The Navy’s Service Life Extention Program (SLEP) will push the flight hours on the Super Hornets from the original 6,000 hours to 9,000 and will go no futher, Capt. Mark Darrah, the Navy’s F/A-18 program manager, says. The Navy had considered pushing to 12,000 flight hours, but hitting that number might be too much for the airframe to take, according to Kory Matthews, Boeing’s vice president for F/A-18 programs. He adds that “it would be challenging” to get anywhere beyond the 9,000-hour mark being pursued by the Navy. Boeing is the prime contractor on the Super Hornet.