Capitol Hill Week Ahead. The Senate is the chamber to watch this week, with the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act likely coming to the floor at some point. Staffers tell Defense Daily that SASC Chairman John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) amendment, which would add at least $17 billion to the defense authorization bill, could be one of the first debated. The SAC-D subcommittee is also slated to mark up the defense spending bill on Tuesday.
Spending Bills Move Forward. The HAC on May 17 passed the defense spending bill. The bill provides $517.1 billion for base discretionary expenses and $59 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations. Like the HASC, HAC designated some of that OCO money for base expenses—in this case $16 billion. HAC passed only two amendments to the bill, one with minor changes to language and one that stipulates that “Congress has a constitutional duty to debate and determine whether or not to authorize the use of military force against ISIL.”
PreCheck Expansion. Amid the backdrop of longer wait times for travelers at airport security checkpoints and infuriated travelers, airline and airport executives, not to mention lawmakers, the Transportation Security Administration has expanded its PreCheck trusted traveler program to include eligible customers from four more airlines, Aeromexico, Cape Air, Etihad Airways, and Seaborne Airlines. With the expansion, 16 air carriers now participate in PreCheck. Wait times at security checkpoints have increased due to increased volume, reduced staffing levels, and a renewed emphasis on security versus convenience.
Trump Policy. John Hamre, chief executive of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) took time Thursday to opine on the foreign policy evinced by presumed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. In a brief speech at the Norway-American Defense Conference in Washington, D.C., Hamre employed Trump’s own rhetorical flourish of saying something by claiming not to say it. “Sure we should renegotiate the Japanese treaty. Sure we should talk to Kim Jong Un and North Korea,” Hamre says. “This is the strangest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. It is just so profoundly out of scale to America’s history and direction that I don’t know what to say, so I’m not going to say it. “I’m going to pretend that we will somehow get a sensible outcome in this election.” Hamre should know a thing or two about defense and foreign policy. He served as the 26th deputy secretary of defense after serving as the Defense Department’s chief accountant from 1993 to 1997, has served on both the Defense Policy Board and in the Congressional budget Office and has a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University.
Flight 804. A P-3 Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft from the Navy’s Sixth Fleet is assisting in the search for wreckage of the airliner that suddenly fell from the sky this week on its way from Paris to Cairo. U.S. military officials are reaching out to counterparts in Greece and Egypt to offer support. The P-3 launched on its search mission early Thursday and was still on-station helping with the search when Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook says. “The department stands by to provide any other assistance that is requested,” he says.” And at this point, the investigation is, of course, just beginning.” Cook would not opine on what might have caused the crash but says no intelligence suggests Islamic State terrorists were targeting commercial airliners.
… Other Assets. The U.S. has multiple other assets in the eastern Mediterranean, including personnel, ships and aircraft but none other than the single P-3 has been requested, Cook says. “We have a host of capabilities. And we will be reviewing everything possible that could be helpful in the course of this investigation. In terms of the immediate presence there, we did not have any ships immediately in the area, but we do have a presence in the region.”
Diesel Dune Buggy. Polaris Defense unveiled a turbo-diesel powered version of its high-performance MRZR off-road vehicle lineup. MRZRs have become synonymous with ultralight, off-road mobility for military vehicles and are in use by U.S. and more than 20 allied country special operations forces. All MRZR vehicles are V-22 helicopter transportable and can be configured a number of ways, including two-, four- and six-person setups. The turbo-charged diesel engine in the new MRZR-D has been engineered to meet the performance and physical specs of the original MRZR vehicles, Polaris says. Key features like dimensions, payload, towing, ground clearance, accessories, and handling remain the same but the company has taken a cue from users to improve occupant seating space, ergonomics and sightlines. The MRZR-D also provides increased auxiliary power and greater range. Production continues for the original gas powertrain MRZR 2 and MRZR 4 under the LTATV program for USSOCOM and other international contracts. Orders for the 4-seat turbo-charged MRZR-D are being accepted now, with production and deliveries also starting this year.
Amphib Christening. The Navy will christen the newest amphibious transport dock ship, USS Portland (LPD-27), on May 21 during a ceremony at the Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. The future USS Portland is named in honor of Portland, Ore. Bonnie Amos, wife of the 35th Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James F. Amos (ret.), serves as the ship’s sponsor. This will be the third Navy ship named Portland, honoring both the Oregon seaport and Maine’s largest city. The first was heavy cruiser USS Portland (CA-33), which was commissioned on Feb. 23, 1933. Serving throughout World War II, she saw action at a number of important battles, including Guadalcanal, Leyte Gulf, Corregidor, and Okinawa. The second, dock landing ship USS Portland (LSD-37), was commissioned Oct. 3, 1970. Over the course of nearly 33 years of service, she participated in a number of important operations, including the 1976 evacuation of American citizens from Lebanon, the 1983 multi-national peacekeeping mission to Beirut, Lebanon, and deployment of Marines to Kuwait in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The newest Portland will be the 11th San Antonio-class ship, and is currently scheduled for delivery to the Navy in 2017.
Installation Audit. The Defense Department Inspector General is announcing an audit of anti-terrorism defenses at military installations. Specifically, the audit will determine whether DoD installations are optimizing existing resources to mitigate risk, achieve efficiencies, and reduce redundancies. It will consider suggestions from management on additional or revised objectives, the DoD IG says in a May 6 memo released on May 20. The audit will begin this month at Fort Bliss, Texas; Naval Base San Diego, Calif.; Joint Base San Antonio, Texas; and Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va. Additional locations may be added during the course of the audit, the IG says.
SpaceX-NRO. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is under contract to launch the the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) mission NROL-76 in March 2017, according to NROL spokeswoman Loretta DeSio. The launch will take place from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. DeSio says the NRO is anticipating the possibility of SpaceX supporting additional missions based on future competitions. Space News first reported the news.
Lockheed Martin GPS III. Lockheed Martin’s offering for the Air Force’s future Global Positioning System III (GPS III) satellites, known as space vehicles 11+, will offer on-orbit reprogrammability so the satellites can be upgraded in space to add new signals or missions, according to a company statement. Lockheed Martin calls this a first for the GPS program. The company believes the modular design of its offering will also allow for low risk, easy insertion of new and future technology into the production line. Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing were all awarded feasibility assessment contracts for phase one.
Langevin Cyber Threats. Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), ranking member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities as well as the co-chair of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, ranks Russia as the top cyber threat over China at a George Washington University Center for Cyber & Homeland Security event. He ranks Russia over China because “the Russians are more targeted, focused, and effective, [and] the Chinese have been noisier, if you will, and pervasive.” Langevin also thinks the Obama-Xi agreement to refrain supporting cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property has hopefully curtailed some actions.
Cyber Delegation to Mexico. Christopher Painter, Coordinator for Cyber Issues at the U.S. State Department, is leading an American delegation to Mexico to meet with Mexican government, academia, and private sector officials to discuss a range of cyber issues. The delegation includes representatives from the State Department, Department of Homeland Security, Justice Department, Defense Department, and the National Security Council. The department notes the importance of building regional partnerships on a range of cyber issues and views this kind of engagement “as critical to achieving our goal of promoting an open, interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet that benefits all users,” it says in a statement.
Sweden To NATO Cyber. Sweden plans to send an expert to the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence (CCDCOE) in 2016, the Swedish Minister of Defense Peter Hultqvist says in a visit reaffirming the country’s new commitments to the center. Sweden previously decided to join the Tallinn, Estonia-based CCDCOE in the summer of 2015 as a contributing participant. “The speed of staffing highlights the Swedish commitment to cooperative cyber defence,” Sven Sakkov, director of the NATO CCDCOE, says in a statement. As a member of the center Sweden will gain full access to its training and exercises, including the ability to participate in Locked Shields 2017, the largest cyber defense exercise in the world.
GBSD RFP Close. The Air Force says that release of the Request for Proposals for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) is expected this month with plans to award up to two 36-month cost-plus fixed-fee contracts for Technology Maturation and Risk Reduction. An award is expected in the summer of FY ’17, the service says in FedBizOpps.gov notice. A fourth draft RFP for the GBSD was released last week.
CANES Install Rate. The Navy has improved the installation of its next-generation tactical afloat network aboard aircraft carriers from between 14 to 18 months originally down to seven months, while also adding scope to the work, Rear Adm. David Lewis, commander of Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, says at the Sea Air Space symposium. The Navy is going to stick with the seven-month plan for the next two carrier installations of CANES, he says.
Year of Compliance. Last year may have been the Year of Spear Phishing in which spear phishing was the “sort of main attack vector globally” and the “user the weakest link” in cyber security, but 2016 is “shaping up…in terms of our learning, to be more focused on the procedural compliance,” Vice Adm. Jan Tighe, commander of Fleet Cyber Command and the Navy’s 10th Fleet, says at the Sea Air Space conference. Tighe says she is referring to the broad “provider layer in our culture of compliance,” meaning industry, program managers, and systems commands, “building a culture of compliance, procedural compliance, and in acquiring systems that are resilient.”
LCS Acceptance Trials. The future USS Montgomery (LCS-8) wrapped up acceptance trials on May 6, paving the way for delivery of the ship later this spring, the Navy says in a news release. The trial period lasted four days and included tests of the propulsion plant, ship handling, and auxiliary systems. The ship also performed launch and recovery operations of the 11-meter rigid hull inflatable boat, a four-hour full power run, and surface and air self-defense detect-to-engage exercises.
DISA IT Contract. The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) awarded By Light Professional IT Services Inc. a competitive firm-fixed-price contract cumulatively worth over $15 million to provide 10-year indefeasible right-of-use dark fiber, equipment, and operations and maintenance support. The performance period consists of a one-year base period and nine one-year option periods. The contract face value is over $10 million. Proposals are solicited via the FedBizOpps webpage with four proposals received. Work is to be performed at two sites in Georgia, two sites in Alabama, and one site in Florida. The contracting activity is the Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization at Scott Air Force Base, Ill.