The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Hawks’ Hawk. HAC-D Ranking Member Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) says it is “not acceptable” to put 18 Global Hawk Block 30s drones in storage, as the Air Force seeks Congress’ permission to stop buying the Northrop Grumman aircraft. He tells Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz “we’ve got to find somewhere” to use the existing unmanned planes–suggesting NATO, Special Operations Command, or the Navy. “The idea that we’d spend all this money to buy them and then put them in a hangar is just not acceptable,” Dick says during a March 6 hearing. “We got to find a way to use these aircraft, and intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance is a high national priority. So if the Air Force isn’t going to use them, we got to find a home for them.”
Littoral Questions. Members of the powerful SAC-D from Wisconsin and Alabama, the states where Littoral Combat Ships (LCSs) are being built, express concerns about the Navy’s proposal to move two of the vessels out of its five-year shipbuilding plan during a March 7 hearing. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) tells Navy Secretary Ray Mabus he hopes they “can work together” on the service’s LCS plans. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) prods Mabus to say the Navy still supports long-term plans to buy 55 LCSs. The secretary says the service “absolutely” does, adding: “We want to build out the 55 ships as quickly as we can. We still believe in that number and that need for our fleet.” He adds the Navy stands by the decision to buy two variants of the ship. “The price is going down for each successive ship,” Mabus says. “And we are very pleased with the shipyards that are building them.”
JHSV Jostle. Shelby further questions the Navy’s move to stop production of the Joint High Speed Vessel at 10 ships instead of building 21 of them. “I know budgets are tight…but it seems it’s a pretty good price,” Shelby says about the vessels built by LCS maker Austal USA in his state. “As you know, the more you build, the better price you’ve been able to get in this environment.” Mabus says the Navy cut the JHSV buy because of budget cuts and the Navy’s conclusion the 10 ships under contract meet its military requirements. The secretary notes the service prefers to defer support ships like the JHSV instead of combat ships like LCS. “And since the Joint High Speed Vessel is made in the same shipyard that the Version 2 of the Littoral Combat Ship is made, and since the gear-up of that work force is going to require the hiring of at least 2,000 more people over the next couple of years, we thought that it was a very healthy industrial base and that, at least for this five years,…that contract could be ended at 10 without any harm there,” he adds.
New START Prod. Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio), chairman of the HASC Strategic Forces subcommittee, introduces legislation March 8 that would put into law the nuclear-modernization pledges President Barack Obama made when seeking approval of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) between the United States and Russia. “During the Senate’s consideration of the New START treaty, the president made many promises to achieve support for Senate ratification,” Turner says. “With the president’s FY ‘13 budget request, it is now apparent that those promises have been broken.” The bill would link reductions in U.S. nuclear forces with successful execution of the administration’s nuclear modernization plan. It also would require construction of new plutonium and uranium facilities, prevent “asymmetries” between the sizes of U.S. and Russian nuclear forces, and codify Obama’s pledge for full funding for modernization of the nuclear stockpile.
Final voyage for Big E. The USS Enterprise (CVN-65) was to hit the high seas Sunday on its final operational deployment after more than 50 years of service that saw action in every major conflict involving the United States. The Navy plans to retire the first ever nuclear-powered aircraft carrier after it returns this fall. The ship’s skipper, Capt. William Hamilton, says, however, now is not the time to get teary eyed over saying goodbye to the Enterprise. “It’s going to be very much a working deployment,” he tells the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot. “This is the final deployment, and we get all sentimental and things, but we’re going over there to do the nation’s business.” The Enterprise entered the fleet during the Kennedy administration. It witnessed the Cuban Missile Crisis, had six tours in the Vietnam War and engaged in some of the first strikes against the Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The carrier will undergo a long deactivation period before decommissioning in 2015.
Sequestering nukes. The head of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) says that taking care of the current stockpile of nuclear arms deployed by the Pentagon would take top priority over other initiatives if the agency were hit by budget sequestration. Thomas D’Agostino tells a Defense Writers Group breakfast that modernization and life-extension would take a backseat to ensuring warheads on missiles or subs were safe and ready. “That’s number one because that is the material that is out there with the Defense Department,” he says. “The safety of that stockpile is paramount.” While modernization and life extension programs are popular with Congress, D’Agostino says NNSA would make a compelling case to lawmakers to “make sure they understand” why sustaining the deployed warheads “is the number one priority.”
Commercial Space. The Spaceship Company (TSC), the aerospace production joint venture of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites qualifies three primary aerostructure suppliers. Each approved company is now officially qualified to fabricate structural composite components for the WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo space tourism vehicles. The companies are: Applied Aerospace Structures Corp (AASC), Stockton, Calif., GFMI Aerospace & Defense, Fountain Valley, Calif., and Triumph Aerospace Systems-Wichita, Wichita, Kan. TSC’s Director of Supply Chain Bob Marks says that a request for quote package for the first outsourced structures is currently being prepared for release.
Under The Microscope. The U.K. Joint Select Committee’s first review of the National Security Strategy says, “ There is no evidence that the NSS has influenced decisions made since the Strategic Defence and Security Review. If the current strategy is not guiding choices, then it needs to be revised.” The committee suggests there should be an “overarching strategy” document to guide government decisions and crisis management at home and on the international stage. Additionally, the committee says the government assertion that there will be no reduction of U.K. influence on the world stage is “wholly unrealistic in the medium to long term” and the nation needs to plan for a changing, and more partnership-dependent role in the world.
Long Distance. Harris Corp. receives a $51 million order from Iraq to provide high-performance tactical communication solutions, the Falcon II and Falcon III families for a range of security missions. As part of the order, Harris will provide Falcon III® RF-7800S wideband Secure Personal Radios, Falcon II® RF-5800M multiband handheld radios and RF-5800H high-frequency manpack radios, along with accessories and training services. “The Falcon family of Harris radios will provide Iraqi security forces with field-proven, secure communications for a broad range of challenging missions,” says Brendan O’Connell, president, International Business, Harris RF Communications.
Last Out. A Caiman Plus mine-resistant-ambush protected (MRAP) vehicle was the last to drive through the Khabari Crossing out of Iraq and into Kuwait in December, and now it’s being prepared for a trip to a museum, the Army says. The MRAP moved with Company C, 3rd Brigade Special Troops battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Div., and will be preserved at the 1st Cavalry Div. Museum at Ft. Hood, Texas. “The last vehicle in Iraq represents our nation’s efforts over the past nine years to bring freedom to the Iraqi people, says Col. John Laskodi, 402md Army Field Support Brigade commander. The brigade took the initiative to preserve the vehicle. Mid-March the Caiman will be shipped by sea and arrive in Texas about a month later.
First Training. For the first time a Shadow unmanned aerial system unit is part of and trains with a Combat Aviation Brigade at the National Training Center, Calif., the Army says. F Troop, 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade can use the Shadow to provide live video feeds to the ground or other aviation units. The UAS can provide additional situational awareness to ground troops and help pinpoint targets before sending out aviation assets. The manned-unmanned teaming aspects help make this the first full-spectrum combat aviation brigade.
Panetta emphasizes Cyber. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta tells an audience March 2 in Louisville he has a feeling the United States has not “taken all the necessary steps” to protect the itself from cyber attacks. “I have to tell you that I do worry, however, about this new area I talked about of cyber-war,” Panetta says. “We are literally getting hundreds of thousands of attacks every day that try to exploit information in various agencies and departments and frankly throughout this country. And there is obviously growing technology, growing expertise in the use of cyber-warfare…I think it’s very important for us to understand that we not only have to defend against that kind of attack, but we have to develop the intelligence resources to understand when those possibilities are coming, and to develop greater capabilities in the cyber arena…So the one thing that I worry about the most right now is knowing that this is possible and feeling that we have not taken all the necessary steps to protect this country from that possibility.”
EC’s Galileo in 2014. According to a report in the European magazine Enterprise & Industry, the European Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Agency expects the Galileo Global Positioning System to be up and running by 2014 thanks to two new supplier contracts: A 250 million euros contract with German company OHB System AG for eight satellites for the Galileo system and a second, 30 million euros contract with EADS subsidiary Astrium to launch up to three satellite launches with an Ariane-5 rocket. Currently, Galileo satellites are launched into space in pairs by Russian Soyuz rockets.
Astrium Wins Helios Contract. EADS subsidiary Astrium last week signs a life support contract with the French Defence Procurement Agency to continue to be responsible for the ground segment maintenance of the Helios 2 military optical reconnaissance system. The contract will run from this year through 2018 and will also cover the successors to the Helios program: the satellites that make up the optical space component of the MUSIS multinational space-based imaging system and the associated ground component (SSU-CSO).
Raytheon Receives PATRIOT Deal. Raytheon receives a $138.7 million contract to provide engineering services for the PATRIOT Air and Missile Defense System, according to a March 7 company statement. The deal is the third of four annual options to the base contract awarded in 2009, which brings the total amount to date to $803 million. The contract calls for the company to deliver systems analysis, software and hardware engineering, testing and logistics support.
SOCOM Gets L-3 BNVD Goggles. The Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center awards L-3 a $50 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract for Binocular Night Vision Devices (BNVD), according to a March 6 company statement. The equipment will provide U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) forces with enhanced surveillance, identification, recognition and detection capability in all light conditions, especially where vision is limited or restricted due to low light conditions.