The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Election Anticipation. Voters around the country will decide tomorrow if key military-minded lawmakers will return to Congress next year. Incumbents facing tough reelection battles include the top four HASC Democrats: Chairman Ike Skelton (Mo.), Vice Chairman John Spratt (S.C.), Readiness subcommittee Chairman Solomon Ortiz (Texas), and Seapower and Expeditionary Forces subcommittee Chairman Gene Taylor (Miss.). SAC-D member Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) is fighting a tough challenger, as is HAC-D member Alan Boyd (D-Fla.). Also, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), a former Navy admiral running for the Senate seat Democrat Arlen Specter lost in the primary election, is close in polls in his matchup with Republican Pat Toomey. If Republicans gain control of the House, Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) is poised to chair the HASC, and Rep. C.W. “Bill” Young (R-Fla.) may chair the HAC-D; both Republicans are expected to win their reelection bids.
Norfolk Battle. Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) argues that the Navy’s decision to homeport the future LPD-24 in Norfolk, Va., strengthens his position that the service should keep a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier there and not in Mayport, Fla. “The homeporting of the future USS Arlington reinforces the strategic importance of Norfolk and affirms its place as the preeminent Navy town on the East Coast,” says Webb, a former Navy secretary. “As the largest naval complex in the world, Norfolk is well-equipped to accommodate the USS Arlington and additional ships as required in the future. Moreover, Norfolk’s capabilities underscore the fact that we do not need to spend one billion dollars on redundant facilities to homeport a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Mayport, Florida.” Webb maintains the money needed to prepare Mayport for the carrier would be better spent on other Navy priorities.
Hill Transformed. Construction has begun in northern Utah on the Falcon Hill aerospace research park, a public-private project on Hill Air Force Base that will include Northrop Grumman’s ICBM Prime Integration office building. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) worked with the Air Force and Sunset Development Partners, LLC on the project, the largest of its kind in the air service’s history. The lawmakers, advocates for Pentagon and NASA programs that benefit Utah, estimate the park could bring 15,000 jobs to the state. “Many more aerospace, aviation and high-tech firms are expected to follow Northrop Grumman’s lead and make Falcon Hill home, bringing thousands of new high-paying jobs to northern Utah and putting Hill and its outstanding workforce in an even stronger position to land even more work on defense-related projects,” Hatch says.
NII’s Killer. Teri Takai, named the Department of Defense chief information officer (DoD CIO) Oct. 26, is working to disestablish the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration (ASN NII) and define the successor CIO organization. Thus, she is temporarily serving as the acting ASN NII. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced the disestablishment of the office on Aug. 9. “As one of the country’s most significant users of information technology (IT), it is critical that the DoD streamline its IT management and infrastructure to drive increased information security and agility,” the Pentagon says in a statement. ” Additionally, the billions of dollars that are spent by the DoD every year must be rationalized to ensure IT is used in the most cost-effective manner.”
Nuke Consensus. National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Thomas D’Agostino says he sees a consensus on transforming the nation’s nuclear-security enterprise. “Taken together, all of these developments–the Nuclear Posture Review, New START, and Nuclear Security Summit–point to the emergence of a new national consensus on the importance of our mission and the need to invest in the resources and infrastructure required to transform a Cold War nuclear weapons complex into a modern, 21st Century Nuclear Security Enterprise,” he says Oct. 28 in Washington at a conference on nuclear forces and nonproliferation at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. “For too long, our nation lacked that consensus, and as a result our enterprise lacked clear direction. Now, thanks to the hard work of many people…we have a clear path forward.”
Securer Flying. Today all airlines with flights into and out of the United States must submit the full names of their passengers to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for vetting against terrorist watch lists. Secure Flight requires airline passengers to submit their full name, date of birth, gender, and, if applicable, their redress number, when booking flight reservations. The watch list matching was originally done by airlines, which will still collect the passenger data and transmit it to TSA for vetting against watch lists controlled and operated by the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center. The agency has been phasing in Secure Flight and expects few difficulties for passengers today, saying that more than 99 percent of passengers will quickly be cleared to fly once they properly submit their personal data.
Border Fence Plans. With the Department of Homeland Security only extending its contract until Nov. 17 with Boeing for construction of an electronic surveillance network along the nation’s land borders, the betting is that the department plans to alter the course of the Secure Border Initiative Network (SBInet) program soon. Given an ongoing review, a spending freeze on the program and the diversion of some monies earlier this year from SBInet to other border security efforts, “It seems that DHS officials have concluded that SBInet, at least in its current form, has not delivered results commensurate with its costs,” Rick “Ozzie” Nelson, director of the Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says in a brief analysis of the troubled project.
…Which way? The DHS review of SBInet is said to be wrapping up and going through senior level approvals. Nelson and others in industry, some of whom are hoping to get in on the action under a new border security effort, expect DHS to shift to a “point defense” that relies on mobile surveillance systems, which would not provide the same integrated situational awareness that SBInet would, and personnel. Customs and Border Protection is currently holding a competition for MSS systems and the funds that were redirected away from SBInet earlier this year went toward programs at ports of entry. Nelson tells Defense Daily that any point defense border security solution is apt to be more “manpower intensive” and possibly more expensive in the long run.
…Shared Blame. Don’t blame just Boeing for the troubles with SBInet, Nelson says. All involved with the project need to accept that the blame needs to be shared, he says. That’s because when SBInet began DHS’ requirements and acquisition processes were immature and they “still haven’t figured out how to do requirements and large acquisition programs,” he adds. While not defending Boeing, Nelson says the department “needs to accept” that it has work to do here and “not punish industry for their failure.” He’s also concerned that if SBInet contract is ended, DHS may find that some of the large systems integrators such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin are going to pass on future major integration efforts because “it’s too hard to deal with DHS.” Complex integration projects are challenging and often take time to get right, he says.
…Still Promise. Despite the troubles with SBInet, the program still shows some promise, Nelson says, pointing out in his analysis that early reviews by the Border Patrol of the operational effectiveness of the electronic fence in one border sector where it is in limited use “have been positive.” Canceling the program won’t solve CBP’s needs for border security solutions and it won’t change the fact that DHS needs to fix its requirements and acquisition processes, he says. “Canceling SBInet just as Boeing and DHS have turned a corner is only likely to set back these reforms–the institutional knowledge gained by the prime contractor will be lost, and DHS will be no closer to better managing projects of this nature.”
Kennett Retires. Doug Kennett, a long-time spokesman for Boeing and the Air Force, is retiring at the end of the month. Kennett had been with Boeing the past 14 years. After retiring from the Air Force as a colonel, Kennett first joined McDonnell Douglas in 1996, which was shortly thereafter bought by Boeing. Kennett worked from 1999-2002 in the company’s aircraft and missiles division in St. Louis. Since 2002, he had worked in the company’s Washington office. Notably, Kennett was the sole U.S. military spokesman after the U.S. attack on Libya in 1986.
GMD Team. Lockheed Martin last week announced its newly formed industry team for its planned bid to capture the Missile Defense Agency’s Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) development and sustainment contract. Raytheon’s Reid Davis has been appointed deputy program manager for the team. Orbital Sciences has joined the effort as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for the GMD Orbital Boost Vehicle, and Northrop Grumman has joined as an OEM for the GMD Fire Control and Communications, according to Lockheed Martin. The team now includes seven OEMs with the two additions. Others are: ATK, Bechtel, Dynetics, and Harris. Other partners include Alaska Aerospace, ARES, CohesionForce, Imprimis, IroquoiSystems, NANA Development, Oregon Iron Works, QuantiTech and TDX Power. The Missile Defense Agency has said it plans to issue a final request for proposals for the contract by the end of the year and award a contract in 2011. GMD incumbent Boeing is also bidding on the work.
AEHF Milestone. Lockheed Martin has completed Intersegment System Testing (IST) of the second Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) military communications satellite at the company’s facilities in Sunnyvale, Calif. This milestone marks the completion of pre-launch verification for the new eXtended Data Rate (XDR) service, which will provide enhancements in protected communications, the company says. AEHF is the successor to the existing five-satellite Milstar constellation and will provide global protected communications. Completion of IST for the second AEHF satellite marks the culmination of an extensive suite of interoperability tests with new XDR capable user terminals demonstrating protected anti-jam communications at data rates up to 8 Mbps via highly agile satellite spot beams. New and enhanced strategic and tactical applications such as real-time video and voice and data conferencing will be enabled by this service, providing a 10-fold increase in system capacity, according to Lockheed Martin. The second AEHF satellite has completed all testing and will be placed in storage next month. The third satellite is progressing through thermal vacuum environmental testing in Sunnyvale. Lockheed Martin is under contract to provide three satellites and the mission control segment to the Air Force. The program has also contracted advanced procurement of long-lead components for a fourth satellite. A contract award to begin full-scale production of the fourth satellite is expected later this year.
DM-2 Test Data Emerge. Data from the second five-segment Development Motor (DM-2) test conducted by ATK and NASA show that the new motor performed precisely as designed, providing substantially higher performance and reliability than the heritage space shuttle solid-rocket booster at a lower cost, prime contractor ATK says. “These extensive test results confirm the ATK five-segment Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) is ready for flight testing,” said Charlie Precourt, vice president and general manager of Space Launch Systems, ATK Aerospace Systems. The 30-day findings from the Aug. 31 ground test were compared to data collected from the first ground test, conducted in September 2009, and the Ares I-X flight test of October 2009 to develop a greater understanding of motor and material performance and first stage avionics. The data were also compared to ground test, flight, and post-flight data collected throughout the Space Shuttle Program. A main objective of DM-2 was to test new O-rings at cold temperatures. The motor was conditioned to approximately 40 degrees Fahrenheit, and flaws were introduced into the joints that allowed hot gases to potentially penetrate the insulation into the joint and thermal protection system where the O-rings are housed. Even under those conditions, the seal and thermal protection system on DM-2 performed as designed, according to ATK. ATK is currently maturing the rocket’s first stage avionics and is scheduled to complete a critical design review in the fall of 2011.
Tracer Test Flight. The first flight of Lockheed Martin’s Tactical Reconnaissance and Counter-Concealment-Enabled Radar (TRACER) has been conducted aboard an MQ-9 Unmanned Aerial System, the company says. The milestone marks the first time a penetrating radar has flown on a fixed wing unmanned aerial system, according to Lockheed Martin. TRACER, a dual-band synthetic-aperture radar (SAR), detects vehicles, buildings and other man-made objects that are buried, camouflaged or concealed under foliage in real-time. TRACER’s design is predicated on Lockheed Martin’s foliage penetration (FOPEN) technology, which incorporates dual-band synthetic aperture radar and provides high resolution images to ground units in all-weather, day or night conditions, as well as operating in various collection modes. TRACER has already successfully completed approximately 100 test flights on manned platforms. TRACER is expected to provide tactical penetrating radar that is deployable on both manned and unmanned platforms in a variety of environments. TRACER incorporates data link technology that allows airborne processed results to be down-linked to ground stations immediately. The system includes a portable ground station to plan, collect, support missions, and exploit imagery.
Change of Command. Army Gen. Raymond Odierno assumed command of U.S. Joint Forces Command in ceremonies Friday in Suffolk, Va. “During times of great change, leadership is essential,” said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen. “Ray leads from the front.” Mullen also praised Acting Commander Lt. Gen. Keith Huber, now deputy commander, for keeping the command focused on the warfighter in this time of uncertainty about the command’s future. In August, Defense Secretary Robert Gates recommended the disestablishment of the command as part of his efficiency effort. “The end state of this transformative process remains to be determined,” Odierno said, asking that each member of the command continue to execute their mission through the transformation.
GCV Coming. The RFP drop for the Army’s new Ground Combat Vehicle is “imminent,” coming in the near term, says Lt. Gen. William Phillips, principal military deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology at the annual Association of the United States Army conference. The service is also fully committed to having the right strategy for the program, he says in a press briefing. The initial RFP was pulled back to ensure the service is smarter up front in an acquisition to ensure there’s not “trouble down the road,” he says.
More Ammo. ATK receives more small-caliber ammunition orders totaling more than $213 million for a mix of 5.56mm, 7.62mm, and .50-caliber ammunition. The company will make them at Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, Mo. ATK Small Caliber Systems is a global leader in affordable high-volume, high-quality manufacturing of small-caliber ammunition. Since 2000 when it began operating the Lake City plant, ATK has produced more than 10 billion rounds, while successfully executing the modernization of the facility.
Force Adjustment. NATO is adjusting the KFOR presence in Kosovo. Over the next few months, KFOR will progressively reduce its presence to around 5,000 total troops. This is one more step in the adaptation of KFOR to a deterrent presence, the alliance says in a statement. The security conditions in Kosovo continue to improve, which is a positive sign not only for Kosovo, but for the whole region, the alliance says. Local institutions are increasingly capable of assuming responsibility for security tasks. However, KFOR will still be able to deploy forces quickly and effectively whenever and wherever necessary, including with robust reserves. KFOR’s mission is unchanged: to guarantee a safe and secure environment in Kosovo.
PIM Prototype. BAE Systems delivers seven Paladin Integrated Management (PIM) prototype howitzer vehicles to the Army on schedule. In 2009, BAE was awarded a $63.9 million R&D contract to produce five Self Propelled Howitzers and two Carrier, Ammunition, Tracked vehicles. The first prototype vehicle was unveiled in January. The initial PIM vehicles are conducting contractor testing before deliveries beginning in January 2011. The PIM uses the existing main armament and cab of a Paladin M109A6 and replaces out-of- date chassis components with up-to-date components from Bradley Combat Systems. It incorporates a state-of the-art digital backbone and power generation ability and integrates electric elevation and traverse drives, electric rammer and a digital fire control system. The PIM upgrade ensures commonality with existing systems in the Heavy Brigade Combat Team and reduces logistic and sustainment costs. The PIM is the first production vehicle equipped with the company’s enhanced on-board power management capability, the first implementation of the Army’s On Board Power Management requirement that doubles the electrical power of most military vehicles.
Lakota With Teeth? EADS North America thinks that its Lakota UH-72A Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) has been demonstrating the underpinnings of a successful program to meet Army capabilities, company vice president John Burke says. “We believe that the armed scout is a natural evolution of that, technologically, on schedule and performance.” While Burke admits that some requirements of an armed scout aircraft are different than the base LUH, he says the company isn’t sitting idle while the Army completes its analysis of alternatives (AoA) on a possible armed scout program. “We have made significant investment in three aircraft to position the evolution of the LUH to meet the capability of the helicopter we think the army wants for the armed scout,” he adds.
…Feasible Benefit. Col. Neil Thurgood, Army utility helicopters project manager, says that everyone will have to wait for the AoA to find out if there is going to be a future armed scout aircraft and that whatever the results bear out in terms of demand, capabilities, and mix of manned and unmanned will drive the competition. “Make no mistake, LUH, in its current form, is not a combat aircraft,” he says. “But could it do some future mission?…absolutely it could, and it would also absolutely have to be modified with additional capabilities not on the current platform.” He adds that there are real advantages of starting with a commercial platform. “As a staging point, the government leverages all of industry’s efforts to get to that point…there is clearly the case for cost benefit.”
Flock of Ravens. As the Army continues to understand how soldiers can use small unmanned aircraft systems like AeroVironment’s Raven, it is finding the need to operate “more and more Ravens” in the same geographic area without interference, Col. Gregory Gonzalez, UAS project manager at PEO Aviation, says. “We also have a requirement from DoD to encrypt all of our data links, to include full motion video and control links. Small UAVs are not immune to that so had to find a way to encrypt,” he adds.
…Enter DDL. “The digital data link (DDL) is the answer,” Gonzalez says. “We began developing it years ago, and it was first fielded in December of last year…and roughly 500 systems have either been fielded new or retro-fitted on the old analogs.” The DDL upgrade uses the frequency spectrum much more efficiently and allows operators to fly up to 16 Ravens in a geographic area where they could only fly four before. The Army will continue to field new and upgraded Raven DDLs to reach the parallel path target of more than 2,200 upgraded systems thru 2013, on the way toward a total procurement objective of about 3,000, he adds.