The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
HASC Tackles Tanker. The HASC includes an array of amendments related to the Air Force’s disputed KC-45 tanker contract with Northrop Grumman in the FY ’09 defense authorization bill it marked up last Wednesday. Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) wants the Air Force to review the impact any illegal government subsidies had on the tanker competition–but only if the World Trade Organization (WTO) deems the subsidies illegal. If the Air Force determines any such subsidies impacted the tanker source selection, it would have to figure out how to “remove” that impact, a summary of the chairman’s mark says.
… Hunter’s Hunt. HASC’s retiring ranking member Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) doesn’t deliver any fiery tanker-inspired “buy America” speeches at the markup, but he does insert three related provisions into the bill. They would: ban future Pentagon contracts with companies from WTO member countries that benefit from illegal government subsidies (including firms receiving subsidies subject to pending disputes before the WTO); mandate DoD consider the impact on the domestic industrial base during future program competitions; and require the Air Force submit a report on the process used for developing requirements for the tanker–including information on the desired aircraft size.
…More Reports. Hunter also secures language in the bill requiring the services to submit “system development and demonstration benchmark” reports on several acquisition programs: the Navy’s Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Unmanned Aerial System, the Air Force’s Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter, the Army-Marine Corps Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, the Air Force’s KC-45A aerial refueling tanker, the Navy’s VH-71 presidential helicopter (increment II), and the Army’s Warrior-Alpha unmanned aerial vehicle efforts. The HASC bill calls for Pentagon acquisition czar John Young to create configuration steering boards for each of these programs that would oversee proposed alterations to requirements or technical configurations during the system development and demonstration phase.
Southern Help. While current submarine operations might be impacting the Navy’s ability to conduct ASW training against live targets, the service has been training with several South American navies and their diesel electric subs, Jerry Ellis, special assistant for undersea strategy for the Secretary of the Navy, tells Defense Daily. “There is a program called the Diesel Electric Submarine Initiative (DESI). It’s run by the SUBFOR commander. He is bringing up submarines from Chile, Columbia, Peru. They come to Florida, to Norfolk, and basically work with submarines, with our ASW helicopters, and P-3s, basically as a target,” he says.
… Filing A Niche. Ellis has gone down to Mayport, Fla., to see the results of the training effort. He adds the South American countries have been very accommodating. “It’s been a very successful program. It’s well worth it because we don’t have diesel submarines in the U.S. Navy and we probably never will.”
Steady As She Goes. One of the goals of the early deployment of the USS Hawaii (SSN-776) was to find out what does and doesn’t work. One of the systems that worked great was the ship’s control system, Cmdr. Ed Herrington, the skipper of the boat, tells Defense Daily. “When we conducted lockout trunk operations, it was sea state three, 10-foot swells and 30 mph winds,” he says. “My submarine, which weighs 7,800 tons, was able to hover within about a four-foot depth band and I find that quite remarkable.”
…No Hands Required. The ship control system on the Virginia class has an autopilot feature that enables the boat to raise to periscope depth and dive back down, Herrington adds. “It can really control a lot of features, and we used that system extensively on deployment. In fact, rarely do the operators themselves take the boat to periscope depth,” he notes. “And throughout the entire deployment, in what I would describe as challenging seas, the system performed flawlessly.”
…Lock And Load. Unique to the Virginia class is a lockout trunk that can support an entire SEAL team, Herrington says. “We went down and conducted operations off of Key West with a SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team II to certify that process,” he says. “During the SEAL insertion and retrieval, we had no material issues with [the lockout trunk], no design flaws. The system works great.”
Shedding Pounds. The Navy’s next generation heavy-lift helicopter, the CH-53K, is using more composites and titanium in the airframe to keep the weight down, Capt. Rick Muldoon, CH-53 program manager, tells Defense Daily. “Certainly the heavy use of composite materials is probably more than was originally envisioned,” he says. “One of the areas that you are always concerned with, with composites, is repairability.” NAVAIR is working with experts in that field and has been doing some risk reduction activities with them, Muldoon adds. “We are pretty confident and we have some activities to help us.”
Room For Both. While the Navy plans to keep the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet flying well beyond the first deliveries of its F-35 JSF carrier variant, there won’t be any problem flying and maintaining both aircraft aboard carriers, Rear Adm. Kenneth Floyd, director, aviation and aircraft carrier plans and requirements, tells Defense Daily. “We see it as a great step forward. We will be going to four type models on carriers including helicopters and E-2, and that’s down from helicopters and E-2s, S-3s, A-7s, A-6s and F-14s,” he says. “In the long-run [it will be] much more efficient going down to two. And having two gives you the flexibility that if there ever is a problem with one or the other, like the F-15 grounding, if that [occurred with a Super Hornet or JSF], you still have the other one to do the mission. Our system supported numerous type model series, so necking down to just two is going to be easy. We can maintain two aircraft.”
AUVs For Port Surveillance. When AUVFest ends May 23, ONR will take some of its autonomous unmanned underwater mine warfare technologies to Portsmouth Navy Yard for a fleet exercise dubbed Frontier Sentinel, a port and harbor surveillance-reconnaissance type exercise that will also include participation by the Coast Guard, says Tom Swean, organic mine countermeasure program manager.
…Tracking Change. ONR has a lot of effort ongoing in port and harbor surveillance, Swean adds. “That leads us into other areas we invest in like change detection. What you are looking for in those highly cluttered environments is something that may not have been there the last time you surveyed. You compare that map with a prior map and that can tell you very quickly if something has changed, and if it’s changed, that can cue you to go determine why. That is one technique we are working on and we have a development effort to be able to do that in real time on board.”
Added Support. PEO IWS this month established six new System Integration Program Managers (SIPMs) to better support the ship program managers, enabling them to deliver timely, capable and integrated combat systems to the fleet, the Navy says. SIPMs are charged with ship class systems integration responsibility. These program managers will be responsible for establishing a close relationship between IWS combat systems and ship programs. “These leaders and managers will serve as force-multipliers, making us even more effective, as we bring the right capabilities and support to the fleet at the right cost,” says Rear Adm. Terry Benedict, PEO IWS.
Tuning In. NAVAIR last month accepted the 25,000th ARC-210 radio from Rockwell Collins. The ARC-210 radio is currently installed on more than 180 different types of platforms worldwide, ranging from fighter aircraft, transports, unmanned aerial systems, ships, vehicles and in buildings. The Navy alone has more than 9,800 in-service, NAVAIR says. The ARC-210 provides two-way, multi-mode voice and data communications with the most recent variant supporting a 30 to 941 megahertz frequency range. This compact system is software reprogrammable. It also includes embedded Ultra High Frequency and Very High Frequency anti-jam waveforms and other data link and secure communication features, NAVAIR adds.
Hypersonic Halt. The SASC is frowning on the Air Force and DARPA’s plans for a Blackswift hypersonic test bed. The committee wants to cut the Pentagon’s $120 million request by $40 million, according to the SASC’s newly-filed report on its version of the FY ’09 defense authorization bill, which it marked up last month. The committee directs DARPA, the Air Force, the Prompt Global Strike Office, the director of Defense Research and Engineering, and the Joint Technology Office for Hypersonics to ensure the Blackswift program is properly focused so it can one day operationally field hypersonic capabilities.
Eyes on MRAPs. The SASC’s report notes that “significant engineering change proposals” are necessary to address issues with Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs). “The committee intends to monitor closely how the Department works to incorporate these changes in the coming months, and the committee expects that the Department will place a high priority on any force protection and warfighter safety items that may be discovered in the ongoing developmental testing,” the report says. The SASC also “encourages” DoD to continue pursuing force protection technologies, and says it is monitoring research into areas such as active protection systems and reactive armor.
… Senate Action. The Senate isn’t expected to take up its version of the defense authorization bill until after the Memorial Day recess, and it won’t be the first week after the recess, a SASC aide says.
Not Fashion. The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) and the Joint Counter Radio Controlled Electronic Warfare (JCREW) Science and Technology (S&T) Board plan an industry day June 20 at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Parsons Auditorium in Laurel, Md. The conference is an opportunity to collaborate with other contractors currently engaged with JCREW Science and Technology work. Experts will discuss a general overview of the status of the JIEDDO funded JCREW S&T program and describe hardware and test philosophy to be used for testing and evaluating developed products. Additionally, vendors currently under contract for JCREW S&T work will make presentations. The point of contact for the unclassified event is Ms. Lindsey Forsht, 301-744-5164 or [email protected].
Closer Ties. New Zealand Trade and Defense Minister Phil Goff last week visited his counterparts in Japan to promote closer security and economic ties. “On security issues Minister of Defence Ishiba and I will discuss international and regional defence and security issues, including developments in the Pacific, Afghanistan and Timor Leste,” Goff says. “We will also look at ways of strengthening our defence and security cooperation. New Zealand and Japan have many shared security interests that lend themselves to closer cooperation, including disaster relief and peacekeeping.” As he left, Goff commended Japan’s help in the Persian Gulf: “We are grateful for Japan’s cooperation in fueling the New Zealand frigate Te Mana free of charge as it carries out patrol duties in the Persian Gulf.”
Flying High. Australian air force participates in Exercise Bersama Shield 2008 in Malaysia, May 5-17. The exercise practices interoperability of air, ground and naval forces under the auspices of the Five Power Defence Arrangements–involving Australia, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Singapore and New Zealand. As one of the Air Force’s participants, South Australian-based Number 92 Wing deployed personnel and two AP-3C Orions to the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) Base Butterworth, in Malaysia. Number 92 Wing focuses on building the solid tactical-level relationship it has with allies. During Bersama Shield 2008, Number 92 Wing’s Orions conduct maritime operations, including surveillance, anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare and strike direction. Bersama Shield 2008 is flown over the Malaysian peninsula and South China seas.
Icebreaker. Though some cling to the notion that global warming is a myth, NATO is already pondering its potential effects in the Northern Hemisphere. “By 2013, perhaps later, most are predicting warmer temperatures will begin to expose, then open the Northern passages,” Royal Netherlands Navy Vice Adm. Pim Bedet tells the crowd recently at a NATO maritime security conference in Italy. Bedet is deputy director of Allied Maritime Component Command HQ, Northwood, United Kingdom. ” This is most important, initially, with respect to the northern parts of Russia,” he adds.
…New Routes, More Brutes. By 2030, a summer Northern Sea shipping route could open, followed by a possible transpolar route by 2049, Bedet says. This would trim about 4,000 miles off current routes connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, open vast oil reserves and attract a lot of new actors, some good and some bad for maritime safety and security. “NATO will probably have to develop new capabilities, and I don’t know what they would look like…[but] we definitely have to focus more on the Arctic,” he adds.
Pressure Centers. NATO is sprouting off COEs (centers of excellence) at an impressive rate, with 19 now either nominated, in the process of approval or accredited, according to U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. James Soligan, deputy chief of staff at Allied Command Transformation. While the centers effectively pool “experts in one location, time and place to focus their brains and energy and come up with solutions,” there is “tremendous pressure inside NATO against COEs,” he tells a conference hosted by NATO’s Combined Joint Operations from the Sea COE. The perception is that there are more people in COEs than in headquarters and they are competing for billets, he adds. “There is a potential that countries will have to choose whether to send someone to a certain COE or PE (Peacetime Establishment) billet…[and] the COEs are increasingly under the thumb to generate value added right away.”
…Transforwhat? It’s not just the season of change inside the Beltway; some in NATO may be ditching the ‘Transformation’ word–for ‘Change’ of course. “The T-word means too many things to too many people,” Soligan, who is the Transformation deputy chief of staff at Allied Command Transformation, says. “How do you take 26 nations inside NATO…all that have changed…experienced internal change and are doing things in their own interest…where things are stovepiped…and avoid all the gaps and duplicates?” he asks. Soligan’s prescription includes changing mentality to truly share best practices, or learning from each other’s “scar tissue,” aggressively shaping interoperability standards “that become the global default” and better implementing solutions once developed. While he has dropped the T-word, sources say ACT has no plans to change its name.
…Circumpossible. Like many things in the alliance, transformation isn’t happening like it could because “the NATO headquarters process is simply impossible…but unless you are in the process you can’t go forward,” Soligan jests. The COEs, however, have demonstrated a method for circumventing some of the gridlock. “They have the ability to take something out of the process, develop a solution, make it combined and plug it back into the process,” he says. Having COE members tacitly gathering home-country support for projects early on also helps with training and acquisition. Beyond standards and procedures and agreements, “these things must impact…[and] be implemented in the individual countries,” Soligan adds.
…Multiple Futures. Soligan and the deputy supreme allied commander transformation, Italian Adm. Luciano Zappata agree that NATO is taking serious steps toward understanding and positioning for future challenges. Whereas “the U.N. is a come as you are force…reacting to events,” as Soligan puts it, NATO is different, looking into the future to determine its needs. Or “multiple futures,” as Zappata says. “NATO is developing the intellectual framework for beyond Afghanistan, to the 25-year ahead challenges.”
…My Precious. Maritime scenarios will loom larger because of asymmetric threats and the proliferation of submarines, Zappata says. Sea Basing is an important step, but coordinating the individual activities necessary for complete maritime situational awareness will be very difficult, he adds. Meanwhile, the alliance remains too focused on land forces and political distractions on terra firma, and “NATO is missing a comprehensive conceptual work…[on] maritime capabilities and multiple futures,” the admiral says. For this, “the COEs are precious.”