Northrop Grumman [NOC], the prime contractor for the Air Force’s RQ-4 Global Hawk reconnaissance drone program, is studying ways to lower the price of the aircraft in the wake of Pentagon efforts to reduce overhead costs.
“We have kicked off a series of affordability initiatives, looking at potential savings in several areas,” George Guerra, vice president and program manager for Northrop Grumman’s High Altitude, Long Endurance programs, recently said.
Guerra was speaking during a webcast press briefing at AUVSI’s Unmanned Systems North America conference in Denver.
The Pentagon’s top arms buyer, Ashton Carter, has said that Global Hawk is “on a path to being unaffordable” and would be studied in detail to determine what is causing the suspected inefficiencies (Defense Daily, June 28). Air Force acquisition executive David Van Buren has said that he is “not happy” with the pace and cost of the program, both on the government and the contractor side (Defense Daily, June 21).
As a result, a “should-cost” review is underway, as directed by Carter’s office. The Air Force-led study is intended to look at both the air vehicle cost, as well as the cost of each sensor package.
The Pentagon’s heightened awareness on such matters stems from Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ plan to reduce overhead in an effort to help avoid future defense budget cuts.
Guerra said his company is supporting Gates’ plan.
“We’re working to identify what the return from various cost-saving measures would be,” he said.
He explained that the “big cost drivers” in the Global Hawk program include materials for the air vehicle and payloads, testing and inefficient buy quantities.
For example, “we’re looking at combined procurement approaches–the idea that you would combine some [production] lots in order to gain efficiencies,” he said.
“We’ve developed a pretty good list [of potential savings] and will be going through that with the Air Force to see which ones are viable,” he added.
Guerra also noted that the Pentagon’s Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) in June authorized Global Hawk Lot 9 low-rate initial production, as well as long-lead funding for Lot 10. Lot 9 includes two Block 30 aircraft, two Block 40 aircraft, five Airborne Signals Intelligence Payload (ASIP) sensors, two enhanced integrated sensor suites (EISS) and two multi- platform radar technology insertion program (MP-RTIP) sensors. Lot 10 long-lead items are for two Block 30 aircraft, two Block 40 aircraft, five ASIP sensors, two EISS and two MP- RTIP sensors.