The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Defense Bill Delay. The FY ’09 defense authorization bill will likely be one of the first things senators tackle after they return to the Capitol Sept. 8 following their five-week recess. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) last Thursday night tried to advance the bill, but Senate Republicans blocked the measure, because they were focused on an energy bill under debate. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said SASC Ranking Member John McCain (R-Ariz.)–who was nowhere near Capitol Hill last Thursday night–agreed “at this particular moment, the most important issue related to the national security of our country is to stay on the subject of energy, finish the job,” before tackling the defense bill. SASC Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) has sought support for limiting floor amendments on the legislation. HASC aides, meanwhile, are anxiously waiting to conference with their Senate counterparts.
Under the Radar. The United States will base a new missile detection and tracking system in Israel, a senior Pentagon official said last week. Transfer of the X-Band radar will include an agreement to share early-warning launch data acquired by the device. The agreement was disclosed a day after Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak met with Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the Pentagon. The source said Israel also asked for a “substantial” U.S. investment in Israel’s “Iron Dome” and “David’s Sling” short-range missile defense systems. Washington recently agreed to provide $30 billion for the efforts over 10 years.
Half-Dozen of the Other. The Pentagon has released $1 billion for the purchase of six Lockheed Martin F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft as part of the second F-35 Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) contract. The LRIP 2 contract, worth $2.2 billion for a total of 12 aircraft, was awarded in May. At that time, release of $933 million was authorized for the purchase of six conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) F-35As. Long-lead funds of $197 million for LRIP 3 were released in May for 19 additional F- 35s, according to a July 31 Lockheed Martin press statement. The Marine Corps is expected to acquire approximately 340 F-35Bs. Three F-35 variants will replace at least 13 types of aircraft for 11 nations.
Vital Interest. Retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, adjunct professor at West Point, issues his latest After Action Report (AAR) after a week at NATO Headquarters and in Afghanistan. In sum, he says: “We cannot allow ourselves to fail in Afghanistan. NATO is central to achieving our purpose. This is a generational war to build an Afghan state and prevent the creation of a lawless, extremist region which will host and sustain enduring threats to the vital national security interests of the United States and our key allies.”
…Equipment Problems. McCaffrey’s AAR also says much of the U.S. “ground and air equipment is falling apart. The anemic U.S. Air Force and Naval modernization programs will place us in great risk in the Pacific in the coming decades. The Armed Forces are under-resourced and inadequately sized for the national security strategy we have pursued.” Further, McCaffrey says, “We are going to wreck the US Armed Forces unless Congress and the next Administration address this situation of great strategic peril.”
Spare Parts. The Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command awards General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada a $15.8 million contract for spare parts for RG-31 Mk5E vehicles under the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) program. General Dynamics Land Systems, the Canadian company’s parent corporation, is a business unit of General Dynamics. On July 17, General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada won a delivery order for 773 RG-31 Mk5E vehicles for the MRAP program. So far, 1,397 General Dynamics RG-31 vehicles have been ordered.
Nuclear Venture. This past Friday, Northrop Grumman Newport News (NGNN) stepped into a new market that one company official says is a perfect fit for the nuclear shipyard: to take over clean-up and defense operations of the Savannah River Site. Fluor Corp. is the prime and along with Northrop Grumman is joined in the joint venture by Honeywell International Inc., Lockheed Martin Services Inc. and Nuclear Fuel Services Inc. “It’s an interesting opportunity. It’s very nuclear…process, operations, [the] kind of specific things we do very well,” Matthew Mulherin, vice president and general manager NGNN, tells Defense Daily. “DoE was very eager to have new participants. Its been the same guys bidding on work. I think they are looking for new blood.”
…Opportunities. “We are looking at what other opportunities there are with Fluor. They do a lot of big power plant construction,” Mulherin adds. “Can we take modular construction and build Lego pieces for their power plants?”
A Speeding Tomahawk. About a year ago, Harry Schulte, vice president for air warfare systems at Raytheon, asked engineers in his sector to conduct a study exploring the feasibility of increasing the speed of the company’s Tomahawk cruise missile, he tells Defense Daily. “Given the current constraints of the launch platforms, given that you have to fit where the current Tomahawk fits, if we change the aerodynamics of the missile, how fast could we make it go and what range would it give us?” Schulte thought they could get somewhere between Mach 2 and Mach 2.5 and about 650 miles of range.
…Still The Same. “All the interfaces to the ship would stay the same. In other words, the integration to the ship would be transparent. The only thing that would actually change…the missile would have to change because you would have to put a different engine on it,” Schulte adds. “If you can eliminate any additional integration cost and basically almost think of it as form, fit, function…it’s just a faster Tomahawk with slightly less range and you could prosecute the same targets.” Although interested in a faster cruise missile, the Navy is protective of the 1,000 mile range of Tomahawk, he says. “You could do a missile at 1,000 miles [range] and Mach 2, 2.5, but it wouldn’t fit in a Tomahawk tube. So now you are going to have to change all your ships, and nobody is going to be able to afford that,” Schulte says.
Seeing Freedom. Navy Secretary Donald Winter is expected to pay a call on Wisconsin-based Marinette Marine this week to take a ride on Lockheed Martin’s Littoral Combat Ship, Freedom (LCS-1), to see first-hand how the ship is performing during builder’s trials.
RMS TECHEVAL. The Navy last week completed technical evaluation and training of the Remote Minehunting System (RMS) aboard USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) in Panama City, Fla. The evaluation enables the Navy to continue training on the system, designed as part of the Mine Warfare Mission Package for the Littoral Combat Ship, the Navy says. RMS is a system of systems that provides a remote and semi-autonomous capability to go into anticipated operational areas and do reconnaissance for mine threats prior to any manned ship entering the area, the Navy adds.
Mapping Celebration. NAVAIR’s Air Combat Electronics Program Office celebrated the 1,000th production delivery of the Tactical Air Moving Map system computer developed by Harris Corp., the Navy says. The Tactical Air Moving Map Capability (TAMMAC) provides cutting-edge moving map technology to give aircrews’ unprecedented situational awareness, says Capt. Ralph Portnoy, program manager for air combat electronics. The TAMMAC system is used on the U.S. Navy’s FA-18C/D, FA-18E/F and EA-18G; the U.S. Marine Corps’ F/A- 18A/C/D, AV-8B, AH-1Z, and UH-1Y; the EH-101 for Denmark and Italy; the CF-18A/B for Canada; and the FA-18A/B for Australia, the Navy says.
Tanker Tightrope. The House Appropriations Defense subcommittee included language related to the Air Force’s aerial refueling tanker re-competition in the FY ’09 defense authorization bill it marked up last Wednesday. Boeing backer and HAC-D Vice Chairman Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) says he’s happy with the results. He’s fought the initial and flawed contract award to Northrop Grumman and EADS. The bill requires the Pentagon, in its upcoming competition do-over, to include military construction, fuel, personnel, and maintenance costs over a 40-year life cycle–instead of the 25 years used the first time–in calculating life-cycle costs. It says independent cost estimates must be conducted, no consideration will be provided for exceeding key-performance-parameter objectives, the winning tanker must be able to refuel all required aircraft, and the Pentagon must “take into account the fact that one of the proposals offered satisfies more technical requirements relating to trade space than the other proposal.” Guess which one that is.