B-1s Grounded. The Air Force grounded its B-1B bomber fleet June 7, citing an “issue with ejection seat components.” The service said it found the problem while investigating a B-1B’s recent emergency landing in Midland, Texas. “As these issues are resolved, aircraft will return to flight,” the Air Force said. The “stand-down” announcement came days before the House Armed Services Committee’s tactical air and land forces panel is scheduled to hold a June 13 hearing on military aviation safety.
Radar Contract. Northrop Grumman edged out BAE Systems and Raytheon for a five-year, $866 million contract from the Air Force to modify and sustain several ground-based radars that support missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance. The Sustainment and Modification of Radar Sensors (SMORS) contract covers the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) radars at Thule Air Base in Greenland, Clear Air Force Station in Alaska and Royal Air Force Fylingdales in the United Kingdom; the PAVE Phased Array Warning Systems (PAVE PAWS) radars at Beale Air Force Base in California and Cape Cod Air Force Station in Massachusetts; and the Parameter Acquisition Radar Attack Characterization (PARCS) radar at Cavalier Air Force Station in North Dakota.
Defense Debate. The Senate plans to resume deliberations late June 11 of the fiscal year 2019 defense authorization bill. Senators have submitted hundreds of potential amendments for consideration. For example, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) is proposing to prevent the Air Force from developing the Long Range Standoff Weapon, a nuclear-armed cruise missile; Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) wants the Government Accountability Office to assess the amount and distribution of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance resources; and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) seeks to have the Defense Department develop a science and technology strategy.
NASA Funding. The Senate Appropriations Committee’s Commerce, Justice and Science (CJS) panel intends to mark up its fiscal year 2019 appropriations bill June 12. The full committee will take up the legislation June 14. Meanwhile, Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas), who chairs the House CJS panel, said at a Space Transportation Association event June 8 that he hopes to have the full House consider his bill “as soon as possible.” His bill, which the House Appropriations Committee approved May 17, contains $21.5 billion for NASA, an $810 million increase from FY 2018.
No Strategy, No Problem. Even though there is no joint Coast Guard-Navy defense strategy for operating in the Arctic Ocean, the two services have been working together for 200 years and the Coast Guard has been assessing the Arctic for 150 years and is not “operating independently” when it comes to that region, Coast Guard Vice Commandant Adm. Charles Ray told a House panel last week. “We’ve been up there for a while,” Ray told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s panel that oversees the Coast Guard. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), chairman of the subcommittee, told Ray, “The Navy doesn’t want to be in the Arctic,” and his ranking member, Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.), said the Navy has “abandoned the Arctic,” except for submarines. Hunter and Garamendi were able to insert a provision in the House version of the fiscal year 2019 defense authorization bill mandating the Defense Department work with the Department of Homeland Security to develop a joint strategy for Arctic operations. Hunter points out that the DoD’s National Defense Strategy doesn’t mention the Arctic, calling it a “huge lapse.”
…Arctic Czar. Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) said that “Maybe we ought to have an Arctic Czar” to get federal agencies to effectively work together, noting that “this is where the future is of the nation, of the world,” given the mineral, oil and eventually fish resources there. He said during the hearing on the Arctic that China and Russia already understand the importance of the Arctic but warns the U.S. doesn’t. Young said that if the U.S. doesn’t get its act together, it will lose the Arctic. Hunter agreed with the idea of an Arctic Czar, suggesting the Coast Guard Commandant or Vice Commandant take on that role.
Half Way There. The Coast Guard on June 7 took delivery of its 29th 154-foot Fast Response Cutter (FRC), marking the halfway point in production against the program of record for the service’s Sentinel-class boats that typically deploy for several days at a time and operate in the littorals. The program of record for the FRC is 58 FRCs, although Congress has provided funding for two additional vessels for operations in support of U.S. Central Command. Bollinger Shipyards is the prime contractor for the FRC.
Give Me an “A.” For the ninth straight year, the Department of Homeland Security has received an “A” grade on the Small Business Administration’s annual Small Business Procurement Scorecard. To achieve its “A+” grade, the highest available, DHS awarded nearly 34.8 percent, $5.8 billion, of its total contracting dollars to small businesses, well above the government-wide target of 23 percent.
B-1 SOUTHCOM. U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) commander Adm. Kurt Tidd said his command has chances to use Air Force B-1B bombers for SOUTHCOM drug interdiction purposes. Tidd told reporters during a Defense Writers Group breakfast last week that the military has in some circumstances changed Air Force training flights to occur over water rather than ranges and SOUTHCOM helps provide a means to communicate between the aircraft and SOUTHCOM tactical headquarters. “So it’s a training opportunity that has a benefit for us,” Tidd said.
Malabar. U.S., Japanese, and Indian naval ships, aircraft and personnel are participating in the Malabar 2018 exercise off the coast of Guam the week of June 7 – June 16. This year’s exercise will focus on ashore and at-sea training including professional exchanges on carrier strike group operations, maritime patrol and reconnaissance operations, surface and anti-submarine warfare, damage control, and helicopter operations. At-sea exercises will occur in the Philippine Sea. Participating U.S. Navy vessels include the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers USS Antietam (CG-54) and USS Chancellorsville (CG-62), the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold (DDG-65) and a P-8A Poseidon aircraft. They will be joined by three Indian navy ships and three Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces ships.
U.S.-India. Ambassador Tina Kaidanow, principal deputy assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Political-Military affairs recently traveled to India, pushing for the countries to buy American defense products. “I traveled to Delhi where we had exceptionally good, very, very productive conversations” and made clear “the centrality of the relationship, the growing relationship with India as a function of U.S. interests in the Indo-Pacific,” she told reporters in a teleconference. Kaidanow also met with representatives of the U.S. defense industry in India “to try and suss out where the opportunities lie for a greater interaction and where some of the challenges remain that we can hopefully try and address from the Washington end.”
…And CAATSA. Kaidanow was unwilling to discuss the details of how the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) may apply to India as it purchases the Russia S-400 surface-to-air missile system. CAATSA imposes sanctions on Russian, North Korean, and Iranian companies. The ambassador did note that “the acquisition of these systems in theory is beneficial to the Russian government. That is our set of concerns.”
Japanese E-2D. The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) was awarded a $153 million contract modification to procure one E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft for Japan as a foreign military sales (FMS) program. The work is expected to be finished by March 2020 and will be performed largely in various locations within the U.S. The full FMS amount was obligated ar award time and none will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Knifefish. General Dynamics finished all stages of formal Sea Acceptance Testing (SAT) for the Knifefish surface mine countermeasure (MCM) unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV). Tests occurred off the coast of Boston, using mine test targets in various operational scenarios with simulated mine fields. The next step in Knifefish is the start of developmental tests and operational assessment evaluations with the U.S. Navy. In the process of finishing tests, GD completed initial Navy Fleet operator training, helping to familiarize Navy operators with operating and maintaining the system. Knifefish is a medium-class MCM UUV meant to deploy from Littoral Combat Ships and other vessels.