The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Budget Break. The House and Senate both passed fiscal year 2010 budget resolutions last Thursday that endorse the Obama administration’s proposal for a $533.7 billion base defense budget and a $130 billion pool for “overseas contingency operations,” AKA the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. While a conference committee still has to resolve the two bills, the Pentagon spending levels will not change because both chambers are in agreement. The process of filling in the details of the defense budget will begin today, when Defense Secretary Gates is expected to tell lawmakers and reporters about the big program changes he wants made in the defense budget. Lawmakers said they will have to scramble to pass the defense authorization and appropriations bills before the next fiscal year starts Oct. 1.
Cyber Focus. Wide-reaching legislation calling for a cybersecurity czar who reports to the president was filed April 1 by Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and John Rockefeller (D-W.V.), a member and the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, respectively. The senators say they want to bolster private-sector networks tied to utility, traffic-control, telecommunication, and banking services. Their legislation, which includes many recommendations from the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency, also calls for a creating a public-private partnership to coordinate cybersecurity efforts. “Our enemies are real, they are sophisticated, they are determined and they will not rest,” Rockefeller says in a statement. “Congress must bring new high-level governmental attention to develop a fully integrated, thoroughly coordinated, public-private partnership to our cybersecurity efforts in the 21st century.”
GAO Redux. Outgoing Pentagon acquisition chief John Young says the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO’s) newly reported figure of $296 billion in cost growth with major weapon programs is “misleading, out-of-date, and largely irrelevant to the current management of DoD programs.” Young, in a memo to the defense secretary and his deputy that was copied to many Pentagon leaders, says the GAO conducted a dissimilar comparison of programs in different years to show cost growth. Young emphasizes that much of the $296 billion is cost growth that happened in previous years. He also notes some programmatic cost growth resulted from increased procurement quantities and slowing procurement execution–not “a failed defense acquisition management process.”
ACS, Take 2. The Army expects to release the request for proposals (RFP) for two technology-development prototypes for the Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) spy plane in the near future. Army Lt. Gen. Ross Thompson, military deputy to the Army’s top acquisition official, says Young will approve a new ACS acquisition strategy in “a week to 10 days,” clearing the way for the RFP’s release. Thompson tells the HAC-D the approval “is tied to the final deliberation on submission of the FY ’10 budget (which is in the) final stages right now.” Thompson tells Defense Daily the acquisition-strategy approval is not contingent on funding in the budget. “There’s no doubt; the RFP will go out,” Thompson says. ACS is envisioned as a multi-intelligence, manned, fixed-wing, Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition/ISR system that can carry multiple sensors. The coming RFP is intended to result in two competing technology-development contracts. The JROC approved the ACS Capabilities Development Document in November 2008, after a joint Army-Navy ACS program was canceled in 2006.
Info Flow. One challenge facing the services as they begin transitioning to net centric operations will be how to filter through all the information that will be required by personnel in theater. The services will need to make information tailorable, Vice Adm. Nancy Brown, director for C4 systems on the Joint Staff (J6), tells Defense Daily. “I need to be able to tailor what information I am going to get from those sensors. There has to be some kind of a fusion and way to tailor things and it has to be done rapidly, because if I am out there trying to take an action, I can’t wait, I need it right away,” she says. “I can’t wait for it to go back for an analyst to sort through it. I need to have some way to tailor that raw data…so I can act on it.”
Expanding ASTOR’s Uses. As U.K. ground forces in Afghanistan get acquainted with the capabilities that Raytheon’s ASTOR brings, additional uses for ASTOR are not in the immediate future, Group Capt. Mark Harry Kemsley, tells Defense Daily. “The system is, in theory, capable of moving from the ground environment to the maritime environment [but] we have not done that in the preparations thus far. With operations [in Afghanistan] continuing as they have now for some years and are likely to do so for a period of time into the future, its important we prioritize, and the prioritization that we put in place was that we’d be ready to support the ground environment and give the soldier on the ground what he needed,” he says. “In due time…we will explore opportunities for the littoral or maritime environment as well.”
…Upgrades? “I think the system we have now, given that it is performing so well, is the one we will stay with for some time. But the nature of the business we are in, it’s always changing,” Kemsley adds. “To be static, to not develop, to not look at new opportunities and explore them, would be foolish. I am quite clear as we use the system…and we identify things we’d like to develop further or indeed to include, we will do that with Raytheon and bring forward a system in time,” he says. “But for the foreseeable future, certainly in my tenure as commander and probably my successor’s, I imagine the system will look largely like it is today.”
The Green Navy. The USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) is the latest aircraft carrier to become chlorofluorocarbon (CFC)-free. The NAVSEA Shipboard Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) Elimination Program completed CFC elimination from the Carl Vinson on April 2, the Navy says. When the ship returns to the fleet later this year, it will have 10 air-conditioning plants and five refrigeration plants that have been converted from CFC refrigerants to non-ozone depleting hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants. Carl Vinson joins the other eight CVNs built prior to USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) that have now all been converted to ozone-friendly refrigerants. Starting with Ronald Reagan, all new aircraft carriers are built without CFC refrigerants, the Navy adds.
…Energy Efficient. NAVSEA researchers and engineers also worked closely with the original equipment manufacturer to improve the energy efficiency of the air- conditioning plants as part of the conversion process. Using state of the art electronic control systems and compressor improvements, the converted HFC plants are up to 15 percent more energy efficient than they were prior to the conversions, the Navy says. Another major milestone will be reached in 2010 when all shipboard refrigeration plant conversions are completed. Because the air-conditioning conversions must be completed during major ship maintenance availabilities these conversions are scheduled to continue through 2017, the Navy adds.
New Chair For ASA. Fred Harris, president, NASSCO, is the new chair of the American Shipbuilding Association (ASA), says Cynthia Brown, president of the ASA. Harris became president of General Dynamics NASSCO on Jan. 1, 2006. Prior to that, Harris was the senior vice president of programs at General Dynamics Electric Boat, where he was responsible for the execution of all submarine design, construction and repair programs.
Army Grows. The Senate Friday adopted an amendment to the budget resolution, introduced by Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), to increase the Army end strength by 30,000 personnel. Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and John Thune (R-S. Dak.) co-sponsored the amendment. The “vote shows that Congress is ready and willing to support those who voluntarily serve our country,” Lieberman said. “”This amendment is an important step in the right direction, and will help grow the Army to prepare for both its immediate challenges and its future missions.”
Fight For It. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), senior SASC member, says he’s committed to fighting for the Army’s Future Combat System. “Let me be absolutely clear, I will do everything I can in my role as a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee to fight for the Army’s FCS program and the NLOS-Cannon.” In a statement released by his office, Inhofe says FCS is the Army’s modernization plan. “What price should we place on the lives of our children we send off to war? With its state-of-the-art composite armor, FCS’s family of manned ground vehicles, including the NLOS-C, will be an average of 12 percent more survivable than current combat vehicle systems based on manufacturer tests of armor,” he says.
Block That View. The Federation of American Scientists says the Army has removed its unclassified Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin (MIPB), an Army journal devoted to intelligence policy and practice. It is now available on a password protected Website. The MIPB has long been available on the world wide web and has even been sold commercially, according to Secrecy News. The FAS website has back issues from 1995 to 2005. FAS filed a Freedom of Information Act request to release the publication.
Flying High. The Royal Australian Air Force marks 88 years of service, and says it now has more than 500 personnel on operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Darfur, East Timor and the Solomon Islands, as well as at home on border protection duties in Australia’s maritime domain. “RAAF is the best small Air Force in the world and we plan to remain so in the future,” Air Marshal Binskin, said. The RAAF is the second oldest Air Force in the world, officially formed on 31 March 1921. Approval to use the ‘Royal’ prefix was granted later that year. Air Force combat capability will be boosted with the formidable F/A-18F Super Hornet coming into service from 2010. In the next 12 months, the Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft and the KC-30 tanker transports will also begin phasing into service.
Moving East. Eurocopter announced its acquisition of 80 percent of Euroheli’s Corp.’s shares from ITOCHU Corp. As a result, Eurocopter’s share of the business will increase from 10 percent to a high of 90 percent. ITOCHU Corporation keeps 10 percent of the company’s shares and remains an important partner for Eurocopter in the country. April 1, Euroheli’s staff and activities merged with Eurocopter Japan (ECJ) and becomes the first foreign aircraft manufacturer in Japan to carry out direct sales and customer support activities for Eurocopter’s entire range of civil and military helicopters. Lutz Bertling, CEO of Eurocopter says, “This investment is completely in-line with our business strategy of being multi-local players in all Eurocopter’s key markets.”
Trade Space. Satellite export control rules are hampering U.S. national security and economic interests, and must be updated to protect the U.S. space industrial base, AIA President and CEO Marion Blakey said Thursday in written testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade Subcommittee. “Without meaningful steps to modernize the U.S. export control system and enhance space trade among our allies, the United States faces a real and daunting possibility of losing our leadership in space and ability to compete in the global space industry,” Blakey said. U.S. market share for commercial satellites dropped from 73 percent to 27 percent after legislation passed in 1998 to control commercial satellites as military items. The Center for Strategic and International Studies reports that the United States is the only country that requires stringent and time-consuming reviews and approval processes for exports of commercial communications satellites and related components.
…Report. AIA recommends that the government undertake a review of all space technologies to determine which ones should be controlled as commercial or military items. The review should be coupled with legislation that allows the administration flexibility to differentiate between sensitive commercial satellite technologies and truly commercial components. “During his campaign President Obama pledged a thorough review of our export control system,” said Blakey. “We are looking forward to working with the administration to restore the competiveness of the U.S. satellite industry.”