By Ann Roosevelt
The joint Army-Marine Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System (NLOS LS) to provide precision fires to brigade-level troops and the Navy’s new Littoral Combat Ship is now under a recommendation to cancel the program made at senior Army levels, according to sources close to the program.
The program, under development by NetFires LLC, a joint venture by Raytheon [RTN] and Lockheed Martin [LMT], has recently been under the gun due to launch failures in a series of flight limited user tests. The program was to have been further scrutinized by a Defense Department level interim defense acquisition board review on other facets of Increment 1, the new set of equipment slated to go to an infantry brigade combat team in the next couple of years if successful levels of maturity are proven.
NLOS LS was also part of a precision fires review by the Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli, who held a meeting Friday to to determine the way forward. Another consideration was an analysis of alternatives, of which precision fires were part. Part of the determination is that NLOS LS is not cost effective for the capability it provides, according to a source close to the program. In other words, other weapons systems can fill that niche.
While there is a recommendation to cancel the program, as an Acquisition Category 1 program, the final decision will be up to Pentagon procurement chief Ashton Carter. Something could be forthcoming from his office in a week or so, a source said.
By recommending canceling the program, the Army in theory could let the contract expire, and also have the ability to add a little extra funding to close the program out. Termination, on the other hand, means ending a program right now, and opens up termination liabilities.
Earlier this month, an Army general in charge of Increment 1 said with the system hitting only two of six targets in its flight limited user test, the path forward would be to continue, which would be unlikely, modify, or cancel the program (Defense Daily, April 13).
Shortly after the Flight Limited User Tests, Raytheon said the company knew the definitive root cause of two misses, and was still investigating the other two misses (Defense Daily, March 11, Jan. 22).
Earlier last week, Michelle Lohmeier, deputy vice president of Raytheon Land Combat, said the program completed a Failure Review Board (FRB) April 23, and found the need for algorithm enhancements and minor software modifications.
“We’re already implementing those corrective actions,” she said, while awaiting a decision from the Army to move forward with some retesting to prove out the modifications, then get the soldiers involved in testing again.
The government sat in on the FRB and, in addition, brought an independent review team.
Lohmeier said the company continues to look at how to reduce costs as much as possible while plugging into a high-low precision mix.
“We’re looking at a family of three adaptable, scalable NLOS weapons,” she said.
The program is more than 90 percent complete, Lohmeier said.