The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Gathering. A source tells Defense Daily that Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, acquisition czar John Young, Navy Secretary Donald Winter and CNO Adm. Gary Roughead met last Thursday to discuss CG(X), the Navy’s next-generation cruiser, and issues related to DDG. In recent weeks lawmakers have begun to debate the merits of moving forward with DDG-1000 or whether the Navy should restart the DDG-51 production line. Two weeks ago Young questioned the accuracy of a Navy letter from Roughead to SASC seapower subcommittee head Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) stating the life-cycle costs of DDG-1000 and DDG-51 are similar while the procurement cost of a DDG-51 is “significantly less.”
Setting the Mark. Congressional appropriators are getting busy. The Senate Appropriations homeland security subcommittee marks up the Homeland Security bill for FY ’09 this Wednesday, and the full SAC will have its say Thursday. The House Appropriations Committee also marks up its Homeland Security legislation Wednesday, following last week’s subcommittee mark. Still no word on when SAC-D will tackle defense. But the HAC-D has announced it’s ready to write its bill July 16, followed by a full HAC mark of the much- anticipated spending measure July 23.
SAC Sacked. Don’t expect a return of the Air Force’s defunct Strategic Air Command (SAC)–which controlled nuclear bombers and missiles until 1992–in the wake of the recent Air Force shakeup over a lack of nuclear focus, Defense Secretary Robert Gates says. While he says a near-term nuclear-related priority is to look at “how do you fix this division of responsibility that has prevented any one person from being responsible, and making sure that standards are kept.” Yet, he tells reporters June 10, “I think you can fix that without recreating the Strategic Air Command. I’m not sure how you do that, but I don’t think there’s much interest in” reviving SAC.
Support…For Now. The ranking member on the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee says he supports the Democrat-led version of the FY ’09 spending plan for the Department of Homeland Security “for now,” but has reservations on a number of issues. Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) says the $39.9 billion plan, which represents a 6 percent increase from the Bush Administration’s request, “provides no real fiscal discipline to our budgetary process.” It’s not simply a matter of “more money and more government” to solve homeland security problems, he says. Rogers believes that congressional requirements on certain government initiatives, notably the Secure Border Initiative, are too onerous, already causing delays in securing the border. He also decries the lack of a cap on TSA screeners, favoring an emphasis on advanced technology over more labor to address aviation security.
Priceless. Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe (R) lauds the Army debut of the Future Combat Systems (FCS) Non-Line-Of-Sight Cannon on the Mall in Washington, D.C., saying the U.S. has “the greatest artillery piece in the world.” But Inhofe knows congressional critics think the price tag is too high. “It is true that FCS is the most expensive Army modernization program to date, which has made it an easy target for some members in Congress,” Inhofe says at the NLOS-C debut June 12. “But let me remind you that we are not just building an individual weapons platform.” FCS combines what could be 15 major acquisition programs into one integrated program. “It will prove less expensive in the long run to build FCS than it would be to continue to retool legacy systems with lesser capabilities. FCS comprises only 3.7 percent of the Army’s total budget and is well planned and budgeted,” he says. Speaking directly to his Hill colleagues, Inhofe says: “In the end, it all comes down to funding. In order to realize the full capabilities of this system, Congress must fully fund, and fully procure FCS.”
Global Connections. Satellite solutions provider AMERICOM Government Services (AGS) wins a follow-on contract with an initial value of $136.2 million over a five-year base period supporting the Army’s TROJAN Network. The contract also includes five additional one-year options worth $150.2 million for a total potential contract value of $286.5 million over 10 years. The Army Intelligence Security Command’s TROJAN Network provides an operational intelligence capability and a means of enhancing combat readiness of military personnel. Tip Osterthaler, president and CEO of AGS, says, “this represents a major landmark in terms of our growth and evolution as a solutions provider for our government customers.” AGS won the initial contract in 1988. Under the new contract, AGS will provide the latest technology and innovative solutions to make more efficient use of the available bandwidth currently offered by the TROJAN Network.
More Helicopters. A joint statement after the June 13 NATO-Ukraine Commission says the allies welcome Ukraine’s active support to all NATO-led operations and missions– the only partner country to make such a contribution. “In the overall context of the NATO helicopter initiative, allies also noted with appreciation Ukraine’s willingness to join the United Kingdom/France initiative to support helicopter capability upgrades and pilot training, aiming to make more helicopters available for multinational operations,” the joint statement says. “Allies also welcomed Ukraine’s intention to continue to offer its strategic airlift capabilities in support of NATO’s operations. We also welcomed Ukraine’s accession to the Air Situation Data Exchange Program,” it says.
…Some Differences. But after the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) met, defense ministers reaffirmed their commitment to further development of practical cooperation. “While acknowledging that NRC practical cooperation has not yet achieved its full potential, ministers noted positive developments on Theater Missile Defence (TMD), progress toward initial operational capability of the NRC joint project to counter terrorist threats to civil aviation (the Cooperative Airspace Initiative (CAI)), and continuing efforts toward developing logistical interoperability,” a statement says. Additionally, Defense Ministers renewed their commitment to complete “an Air Transport Framework Agreement as soon as possible, which could make the Russian Federation’s significant strategic airlift capability available for future joint efforts.” Ministers also welcomed the progress made in the area of search and rescue at sea and, in particular, Russia’s successful participation in the recent NATO submarine search and rescue exercise BOLD MONARCH 08, the statement says.
First Stage. Defence Minister Phil Goff welcomes the completion of the initial stage of the construction of New Zealand’s first NH90 helicopter being built in France. Goff visited the plant while in France to attend the annual meeting of the OECD Ministerial Council earlier this month. “The ‘mating’ of the NH-90 helicopter fuselage represents the first stage of assembly of the helicopter, which should be completed by October this year,” Goff says. “The helicopter, which is the first of eight being built for the Royal New Zealand Air Force, will be ready for its test flight in about five months. It will then take a year for it to receive formal qualification.”Technologically, it is several generations ahead of the Air Force’s existing Iroquois helicopters,” Goff says. A large investment but the helicopters will be a major asset for years to come with a state-of- the-art capability.
Playing Nice With The Big Bear. Capt. Dave Dittmer, chief of staff to COMSUBNORTH, tells Defense Daily he sees the opportunity for further U.S. Navy-Russian navy submarine rescue exercises, after the successful Bold Monarch 08 event earlier this month. “One of the things I have been playful nudging my Russian counterparts about is when are they going to bring a submarine so that we can put the NATO rescue systems on a Russian sub? Three years from now I think that is a great initiative and I think we ought to do that, because you never know what we are going to find out there.”
…Open Environment. “There has been a lot of openness through this exercise and a lot of good ties built so I think we are building that bridge to the future at least in the submarine escape and rescue community,” Dittmer adds. “Who knows what fruit it will bear.”
Need To Succeed. Chris Miller, PEO C4I, tells Defense Daily, his organization doesn’t have a choice when it comes to making sure it gets open architecture right. “The reality is, the fiscal pressures are going to continue. So if we don’t figure out a way to open up the architecture both to keep up with technology but also to increase supportability and decrease cost, we will find ourselves in a very awkward situation,” he says. “I have told this to my leadership team. We don’t have a choice here. We have got to figure out a way to be more efficient and effective in how we spend dollars. If we don’t do it, somebody else will probably do it for us.”
Winging It. The Navy has begun repairing the structural issues with the 39 P-3Cs, grounded since the end of 2007, Capt. Joe Rixey, program manager for the P-8 and P-3C, tells Defense Daily. “We have begun target repairs. We had material left over from an existing program called SRP, and we are making use of some of the planks that were designed about 10 years back to fix some of the wing planks that were associated with those fatigue issues…so we have commenced repairs,” he says.
…Return To Service. “Over the next year we are probably going to get some of these repairs completed, so we are expecting to see in late ’08 and ’09 the beginning of these aircraft being returned to service,” Rixey notes.
The Right Balance. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen says he’d like to see more Air Force representatives at the senior level joint staff and COCOM positions. “It’s my experience you can’t do that over night,” he tells reporters at a recent Defense Writers Group. “There needs to be a good balance with respect to that. That’s why the Air Force doesn’t necessarily have a lock on TRANSCOM. That’s one of the reasons it was very important that [Air Force] Gen. Duncan McNab be nominated behind [Air Force] Gen. Norton Schwartz as he left [TRANSCOM]. And I think it’s just not for the balance with respect to the Air Force. I think we need to have that balance with…across the board with everything we are doing,” Mullen adds.