The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
A Photo Finish? The Navy has asked General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin, the two companies competing for its lucrative LCS contract, to respond to additional questions regarding cost and technical issues of each company’s respective bid, sources tell Defense Daily. The Navy’s questions likely confirm that the cost differential of the competing LCS bids was too close to call, sources say. Responses to the new set of questions are due this week. A source adds that both teams will make oral presentations to the Navy on Aug. 23. With final bids already in the hands of the service, it is unclear how the new answers could shape the competition. Lockheed Martin submitted its proposal at the end of July. General Dynamics turned in its bid earlier this month.
No Contest. Boeing says it will not contest Raytheon’s win in the competition for a contract to build the Air Force’s next-generation Small Diameter Bomb (SDB). “After a thorough and detailed debrief by the U.S. Air Force this week, the Boeing Company has decided not to file a protest with the Government Accountability Office regarding the SDB II contract announcement,” Debra Rub, vice president of Boeing Weapons, says in an Aug. 13 email. “We appreciate the Air Force’s professionalism.” Rub adds that Boeing remains a “committed partner” of the Pentagon by continuing to supply the Air Force and Navy with the original SDB and the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM). The Air Force last week announced that it had awarded Raytheon the $450.8 million fixed-price SDB II contract. Under the terms of the deal, Raytheon is to begin delivering units of its GBU-53/B munition, which contains an innovative uncooled tri-mode seeker, in 2013.
Rescission Angst. The $26 billion state aid package President Barack Obama signed Aug. 10 cuts $3.3 billion in defense spending. The reductions in the new law include rescissions of unobligated balances from prior appropriations acts, including $340 million for military construction, Army; $110 million for military construction, Navy and Marine Corps; and $50 million for military construction, Air Force. HASC Ranking Member Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) is vexed by the Pentagon spending reduction, which the House approved Aug. 10. “Rescissions to the DoD budget this late in the fiscal year are problematic and disruptive to operations,” McKeon says, adding Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale says “this rescission will require that DoD restructure or postpone programs.” Some of the target unspent dollars, McKeon adds, have been diverted to other defense programs.
START Support. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), chairman of the SASC’s Strategic Forces subcommittee, urges the Senate to pass the New START arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia. Addressing the U.S. Strategic Command 2010 Deterrence Symposium in Omaha on Aug. 11, Nelson emphasizes the treaty wouldn’t affect U.S. missile defense plans. “Some point to language in the treaty’s preamble and the inclusion of unilateral statements,” he says. “But they are not legally binding. The only binding restriction on missile defense systems arises in Article 5. It prevents conversion of ICBM silos into missile defense launchers. That has no practical effect because converting silos is more expensive and less desirable than building new silos.” He argues the administration is committed to modernizing nuclear facilities and forces, the new treaty’s verification measures are appropriate, and it will not impact the nuclear triad of strategic bombers, missiles and ballistic-missile submarines.
NASA Tech. NASA is hosting its first-ever Information Technology Summit in National Harbor, Md., from Aug 16-18. The space agency says the event will “bring together government and industry leaders to discuss best practices and innovations in (information technology) IT.” Presentations are planned on social networking, green IT, innovation, infrastructure, operations, and IT security and privacy. Speakers include NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, NASA Chief Information Officer Linda Cureton, Chief Information Officer of the United States Vivek Kundra, and Google’s Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf.
Marine Inspection. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered a review of the Marine Corps’ force structure to determine its future role after acting like a land Army during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Looking ahead, I do think it is proper to ask whether large-scale amphibious landings along the lines of Inchon (in Korea) are feasible,” Gates says Aug. 12 at the Marines’ Memorial Association in San Francisco. Still, he says the United States does not need a second ground-combat force and notes concerns that the Marine Corps has strayed too far from its expeditionary roots. He says the United States “will continue to face a diverse range of threats that will require a flexible portfolio of military capabilities.” The Marine Corps’ ability to project combat capability from the sea is still needed, he says.
JFCOM Jousting. Virginia’s congressional delegation is challenging Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ legal ability to shut down U.S. Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va. They argue, in an Aug. 13 letter to Gates, that his proposal does not jibe with Title 10 U.S. Code, Section 2687, which is intended to give Congress time to review Pentagon proposals to close or realign major military facilities. Virginia Sens. Jim Webb (D) and Mark Warner (D) and Reps. Glenn Nye (D), Randy Forbes (R), Rob Wittman (R), and Bobby Scott (D) want the command’s elimination to be weighed during the next Base Closure and Realignment review or under a process dictated by Title 10 U.S. Code, Section 2687. They also question the strategic basis for the proposed closure, and say they believe Gates based it on a recent Defense Business Board (DBB) report. They say “several in-depth studies each assessed joint force effectiveness and requirements to improve combat capability, and all reached a different conclusion than the DBB…(and) recommended placing increased emphasis on joint warfighting.”
Network Development. Lockheed Martin reps have been taking their MONAX 3G cell phone network system, designed for warfighters in theater, to various trade shows and demonstrating the system’s utility for potential customers., David Westley, director of business development, tells reporters during a briefing in Arlington, Va., last week. Westley notes the Lockheed Martin team can set up a system in just a few hours.. “It is an ideal system,” notes Glenn Kurowski, MONAX program director, “for public safety, homeland security, and border protection.” The commercial 3G network can be set up in aerostats, vehicles, and aircraft, Kurowski adds. “The actual stand up for a MONAX system is very, very fast,” he says. Additionally, the capability enables any currently available smart phone to link into the network using an interface sleeve called MONAX Lynx.
…Ease of Use. A warfighter can also use his or her cellphone in the traditional sense, sans the MONAX Lynx sleeve, and still have connectivity with the MONAX network, Kurowski says. “You don’t need to plug into the sleeve to have the network operate. Your phone can be in your pocket, vest, on a belt…and it will operate effectively.” And, if a phone is lost or stolen, Kurowski notes the MONAX Lynx can be locked out of the network.
Not The Type of Collaboration We Want To See. The capabilities of cyber/network attackers is increasing with each coming year, Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research for McAfee, tells Defense Daily recently. The bad guys are banding together into groups and merging capabilities,” he adds. “They are having great success [with] information sharing tools and capabilities where we, on the defensive side, have not done a good job of that historically,” Alperovitch says. “That is a major issue.”
…Offense Needed. A second major issue in defending against cyber criminals and attacks is that the government and private sector are still very much playing defense, Alperovitch says. “And, as is well known, no major war has ever been won on defense,” he adds. “In some of these cases, we need to start figuring out how we start going on the offense, leveraging the full power of law enforcement, diplomatic pressure, and ultimately kinetic pressure as well against some of these adversaries.”
…Uncontested. Just as with the war on terror, in cyber defense, the government has to be right 100 percent of the time, but cyber criminals only have to be right once to get into a network, Alperovitch says. “That’s not a sustainable situation,” he notes. “Criminals are not challenged by any laws, in regard to information sharing. They are motivated by money. It’s a great motivation for them to share tools, techniques, and procedures.” One thing that is very troubling now is that network security firms such as McAfee are starting to see collaboration between highly organized criminal groups and governments, Alperovitch adds. “We saw, for example, during the Georgia war where cyber attacks were launched against Georgia at the same time tanks were rolling in across the border, and a lot of the infrastructure used against Georgia was actually tied to the Russian Business Network.”
JCREW Milestone. The Navy’s Joint Counter Radio Controlled Improvised Explosive Device-Electronic Warfare (JCREW) program reaches a delivery milestone with the 1,500th Symphony unit completing production, June 28, NAVSEA reports. Symphony, an electronic countermeasure system, provides protection from Radio Controlled Improvised Explosive Devices for coalition partners and the governments of Iraq and Afghanistan. The JCREW program develops CREW systems and equipment for use by all U.S. military services and coalition and partner nations. More than 20,000 JCREW systems are currently deployed, NAVSEA adds.
GUSS Comes Through. NSWC Dahlgren engineers complete Limited Objective Experiment (LOE) 4 on the Ground Unmanned Support Surrogate (GUSS) vehicle during RIMPAC, the Navy says. GUSS, an unmanned, remotely operated vehicle, designed and built by Virginia Tech students under a contract with NSWC Dahlgren, is designed to support warfighters in combat, the Navy adds. The vehicle is designed to re-supply troops, carry up to 1,800 pounds at approximately five miles per hour, and provide an immediate means for the evacuation of any casualties in combat. The LOE and two previous limited technical assessments provided the project’s Quantico, Va.-based Marine Corps Warfighting Lab sponsor with an analysis of the current GUSS configuration and its ability to perform the missions, the Navy says.
Northrop Grumman Gets IT. The DoD awards Northrop Grumman the A-Mod Mission Service Bus (MSB) Framework (AMBER) contract to provide software and system support services to aid in the agency’s analytic modernization effort, the company reports. The AMBER award is for a base year with an option for four additional years for a total potential value in excess of $400 million. The Northrop Grumman team brings together both large and small business partners who will assist in development, service, and provision of the MSB to deliver enabling functionality to the analytic workforce and developers and provide services across A-Mod, adds Northrop Grumman.
Beating The Heat. It was too hot in the Mojave desert last year for the U.K.’s ISR Cortez suite, as it was checked before deployment at the JFCOM-hosted Empire Challenge in China Lake, Calif., says Air Force Col. Skip Krakie, chief SR Integration Div., at JFCOM and military lead for EC 10. Equipment “melted,” he says. Other equipment couldn’t cope with high winds. Fixes were made and Cortez is now fielded in Afghanistan, Krakie says.
Promoting Interoperability. More than 3,000 personnel from four nations begin Exercise Kakadu off the coast of Australia today. The Royal Australian Navy hosts ships and aircraft from Thailand, Singapore, New Zealand and Japan in the maritime exercise to develop and improve maritime interoperability. The exercise runs through Sept. 3. Sec of State for Defence Liam Fox says that the Ministry of Defence itself was in need of reform and to this end he announced that a Defence Reform Unit would be established to carry out the required changes.
Pain Across The Pond. The U.K. MoD will undergo a streamlining effort similar to the one U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates seeks. U.K. Secretary of State for Defence Liam Fox plans a structural reform reorganizing MoD into three pillars: policy and strategy, the armed forces, and procurement and estates. Next, a cultural shift aimed at a leaner and less centralized organization. A Defence Reform Unit will lead the work that Fox describes as “a heavy-hitting steering group of internal and external experts [who] will guide the hard thinking and challenge preconceptions.”
New LAVs. General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada will build 24 Light Armored Vehicles (LAV A-2) for the Marines under a $35.5 million contract. Various configurations will be built in London, Ontario. The work will be done by April 2012. The Marines have ordered 207 LAV-A2 vehicles since 2007. Some 800 earlier versions of the LAV have been in service with Marines since the 1980s.
New Misison Package. The EADS UH-72A Lakota takes its first flight with the Security and Support Battalion Mission Equipment Package. This package will expand the Lakota’s use for reconnaissance, command and control and air movement operations supporting U.S. homeland and defense and security missions with the U.S. Army National Guard. “This is a very significant milestone in the maturation of the UH-72A Lakota for the U.S. Army and National Guard user,” says EADS North America COO David Oliver. “The fleet of Lakota aircraft is approaching 40,000 flight hours and, as the Army continues to fly Lakotas, they’re realizing the versatility and reliability of the aircraft.”
…Meanwhile. The Lakota’s newest fielding location is Ft. Belvoir, Va., which officially welcomed the intial four of eight helicopters last week. They’ll be operated by B Company, 12th Aviation Battalion of the Army Air Operations Group (AAOG). Based at Fort Belvoir’s Davidson Army Airfield, these Light Utility Helicopters will support the AAOG in serving the Military District of Washington and Joint Force Headquarters National Capital Region, as well as for the regional transport needs of U.S. Army leadership.
Seeing Something More. Lockheed Martin recently delivers the TOPSCENEr Tactical Terrain Visualization System, a mission planning and rehearsal software package, to the U.K. MoDin support of operations in Afghanistan. U.K. helicopter forces based at RAF Odiham will use TOPSCENEr to perform mission rehearsal with greater realism than is possible with their existing system. TOPSCENEr also will enable greater interoperability with U.S. forces, which have been using TOPSCENEr for more than 20 years. TOPSCENEr converts two- dimensional data from satellites and other sources into three-dimensional “fly through” and “walk through” battlefield visualisation scenarios.