The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Budget Beginnings. The House Rules Committee will meet tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. to set parameters for House floor debate this week on the House Budget Committee’s FY ’13 budget resolution. The Republican plan calls for setting the FY ’13 defense budget at $554 billion, or $8 billion more than dictated by the Budget Control Act of 2011. If the GOP-controlled House passes the resolution it is likely to set the topline budget figure for the House Armed Services Committee, which will start marking up its parts of the FY ’13 defense authorization bill next month. Taxpayers for Common Sense, a government-watchdog group, opposes the $8 billion defense boost, saying the resolution has “few details about where this money would come from, or what strategy requires this increase.” The House Budget Committee plan also would protect the Pentagon from $500 billion in sequestration cuts slated to begin next January. The resolution would direct six congressional committees to find $261 billion in savings over the next 10 years to lessen the sequestration impact to the military.
Army Birds. Senate Appropriations Committee member Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) expresses concerns about planned Army aviation delays at a March 21 hearing, asking for more details on which programs would be impacted. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno says the service wants to drop buys of AH-64 Apache helicopters to 48 per year, which is the minimum requirement. This would delay the program up to five years to 2030. Over the next five years, the service wants to delay the procurement of 23 new Apaches and 42 remanufactured ones. For the CH-47 Chinook, the service plans to reduce some performance upgrades. The Army, meanwhile, wants to delay modernization of UH-60 Black Hawks by two to three years. It plans to delay procurement of 72 UH-60Ms outside the six-year Program Objective Memorandum, Odierno says. The service also plans to make a decision later this year on whether to proceed with a new armed-aerial-scout helicopter or invest in further improvements to the Kiowa Warrior.
Subs Away. Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) sends a series of letters, some with co-signers, advocating for submarine programs to HAC-D Chairman C.W. “Bill” Young (R-Fla.) and Ranking Member Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) on March 22. Courtney’s district is home to General Dynamics’ Electric Boat shipyard. Courtney and Reps. Randy Forbes (R-Va.), Rob Wittman (R-Va.), and James Langevin (D-R.I.) say in one missive they oppose the Pentagon’s FY ’13 budget proposal to tweak plans for buying two Virginia-class submarines a year and shift procurement of one from FY ’14 to FY ’18. “Defense Department and Navy officials have made clear that this decision was made purely for budgetary purposes–and that they would strongly support exploring ways to sustain the two submarine build rate in 2014 and beyond,” they write. “At a time when our military leaders will relay on submarines to execute missions of extreme importance to the security of the U.S., we are concerned that this budget-driven decision will exacerbate the shortfall in required submarine force levels. This proposal will also harm the progress made towards cost reduction and efficiency demonstrated in the program to date.” They ask the HAC-D leaders to consider restoring the FY ’14 submarine and support continued multi-year procurement for the program.
…More Boomers. Courtney and Langevin also ask Young and Dicks to support the Pentagon’s FY ’13 request for $100 million to develop a Virginia Payload Module, “which would ensure that future submarines are able to support a variety of payloads and provide a flexible and effective range of capabilities to future military commanders,” they write. Adding such a module to future Virginia-class submarines provides “near-equivalent” strike, forward-presence, and special-operations capability of today’s four dual-crewed SSGN force, they say. Courtney also sends the HAC-D leaders a letter asking them to support the SSBN(X) Ohio-class submarine replacement program. He argues “it is absolutely critical that the development and construction of the new SSBNs move forward in an efficient and effective manner,” saying he is concerned about the impact of the Pentagon’s FY ’13 budget proposal to delay construction of the lead SSBN(X) by two year and stretch out the development process.
Navy Numbers. The Navy would need “over 500 ships” to meet all combatant commanders’ requests, Vice Adm. William Burke, deputy chief of naval operations for fleet readiness and logistics, tells the HASC Readiness subcommittee March 22. The Navy, which has 285 ships, has a current goal of 313 vessels, though it is completing a new force-structure assessment that Chief of Navy Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert says will call for roughly 300 ships. Burke, talking to a shipbuilding-friendly subcommittee, says if Congress cannot stop so-called “sequestration” budget cuts to the Pentagon then the Navy would have $15 billion dollars less each year for the next decade. “That’s about the same as…our ship-building number per year,” he says.
CANES Or No CANES? Boeing’s president for network and space systems says his division will take a look at getting in on the bidding when the Navy re-competes the contract for its next generation ship-based tactical network, but it will not be a top priority. “We haven’t ruled it out,” Roger Krone says. “Everyone one of those decisions we make we’ll talk to the Navy, we’ll see what the (Request for Proposals) looks like, we’ll try to decide the value of incumbency on that program,” he tells Defense Daily. “It is on the list. It is not at the top or bottom of the list.” The Navy awarded the contract for the Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) to Northrop Grumman on Feb. 1 over Lockheed Martin. Boeing and General Dynamics had been in on the early stages of the competition before the service narrowed the field to the two finalists. The Navy plans to reopen the competition next year for the full production run of CANES, which is designed to eliminate multiple legacy information technology systems on ships and integrate their functions into a common platform.
….Ditto NGEN. Krone also tells Defense Daily the company is taking the same approach toward the successor to the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI). The Navy is expected in the weeks ahead to release a final RFP for the Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN) and two teams have already said they plan to submit bids. One is led by NMCI incumbent Hewlett-Packard, and the second by Harris Corp. and Computer Sciences Corp. Lockheed Martin has said it will take a look at the RFP but has made no final decision as to whether it will join the competition. Boeing will have a look as well. “It is sort of in that middle of the road category,” Krone says. “There are other things that we are more focused on.”
DDG-1000 Integrates. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) says a developmental test on Tuesday demonstrated the successful integration of the engineering control and integrated power systems software for the first of the Zumwalt class (DDG-1000) of destroyers. “This is an extremely significant test milestone for the DDG 1000 program,” Capt. James Downey, DDG 1000 program manager from Program Executive Office (PEO) Ships, says. The testing took place at the Naval Surface Warfare Center’s Carderock Division just outside Washington. The test verified the software and hardware compatibility and interoperability between the two systems, NAVSEA says.
More Iraqi Patrol Boats. The Navy says that it delivered three more patrol boats to the Iraqi Navy at the Umm Qasr naval facility. The 35-meter boats were the seventh, eighth and ninth deliveries to the Iraqis. Each of the boats underwent successful reactivations in Bahrain before the transfer. The Navy and industry partner Swiftships Shipbuilders in Morgan City, La., are supporting the procurement of the patrol vessels. They can travel up to 30 knots and are armed with a 30mm gun weapons system.
Another IFT Delay. Once again, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is delaying briefly the release of the Request for Proposals (RFP) for its Integrated Fixed Tower (IFT) system that would continue the build-out of an electronic surveillance fence on the nation’s southwest border. The agency last week said the RFP is now expected around April 6 instead of March 26. Earlier this month, CBP pushed back the release of the RFP from around March 7 to March 26.
Coast Guard Support. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a staunch supporter of the Coast Guard, tells Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano that she is “appalled” with the department’s plans to curtail production of the long-range National Security Cutter program at six vessels instead of the planned eight. Up until the release of the Department of Homeland Security’s FY ’13 budget request, the plan had been to purchase eight NSCs to replace the 12 existing Hamilton-class high-endurance cutters that are 44 years old on average. Moreover, Collins is unhappy that the budget plan would delay the acquisition of the next-generation of medium endurance cutters, the Offshore Patrol Cutter, by another year.
Eye On TSA. Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), a vocal critic of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) today will host a joint hearing about the agency that they have entitled “Effective Security or Security Theater?” Mica, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, and Issa, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, say they plan to examine the agency’s whole body imager and behavior detection programs, a port security credential program managed by TSA and the Coast Guard, as well as other security programs such as the TSA-led multi-agency law enforcement teams that randomly shop up at rail lines, airports and other venues to provide another layer of security. Members of the two committees will be using the social networking site Facebook to solicit questions from the public for the panelists, who include representatives from the TSA, Coast Guard, the Department of Homeland Security Intelligence and Analysis Division, the Government Accountability Office and the private sector.
Raytheon Huntsville Plant. Raytheon officially begins operations at its all-up-round Standard Missile production facility in Huntsville, Ala., Nov. 26, says company executive John Rood last week. The 70,000 square foot factory, at the Army’s Redstone Arsenal site, will provide final assembly and testing for the company’s SM-3 and SM-6 missiles. SM-3 is being developed as part of the Missile Defense Agency’s sea-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system while SM-6 is an extended-range anti-air warfare missile.
Panetta In Ottawa. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta travels today to Ottawa, Canada, to meet with Canadian and Mexican defense officials, according to the Defense Department. Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay hosts the meeting, which includes Mexican defense leaders. Mexico’s Defense Secretary Gen. Guillermo Galvan and Navy Secretary Adm. Mariano Francisco Saynaz will participate and discuss issues including counternarcotics cooperation, disaster response and trilateral support for North and South America’s defense institutions. Panetta will hold bilateral meetings with his Mexican and Canadian counterparts, then leaders from all three countries will meet for the first Trilateral Meetings of North American Defense Ministers.
Raytheon And MFRFS. The Army awards Raytheon a $45.5 million contract for the prototype build of the Ku Band Multi-Function RF System (MFRFS) Sense and Warn (S&W) radars, according to a company statement. The contract is a follow-on to an ongoing effort being performed by Raytheon to improve the performance of the Counter Rocket Artillery and Mortar (C-RAM) S&W systems currently fielded at forward operating bases in theater of operations. Under the contract, Raytheon will procure long-lead material and subsystems for Ku Band MFRFS prototype systems to be built in 2012.
Robojelly. Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas and Virginia Tech create an undersea vehicle inspired by the common jellyfish. The vehicle runs on renewable energy and could be used in ocean dives for rescue and surveillance missions, researchers say. In a study published last week in Smart Materials and Structures (http://iopscience.iop.org/0964-1726/21/4/045013), scientists created a robotic jellyfish, dubbed RoboJelly, to feed off hydrogen and oxygen gases found in water. “We’ve created an underwater robot that doesn’t need batteries or electricity,” says Yonas Tadesse, assistant professor of mechanical engineering http://me.utdallas.edu/index.html) at UT Dallas and lead author of the study. “It feeds off hydrogen and oxygen gasses, and the only waste released as it travels is more water.”
New Sensors. BAE Systems wins a $34 million DARPA contract to develop the next generation Multi-Function Radio Frequency (MFRF) Advanced Rotary Wing Multifunction Sensor (ARMS) system for helicopter operations. The system improves aircraft survivability in degraded visual environments (DVE) while enhancing platform lethality and minimizing size, weight, power and cost. “The ARMS system helps solve the number one cause of helicopter-related casualties and breaks new ground in silicon-based phased array technology,” says Dave Logan, vice president and general manager of BAE Systems Technology Solutions. The system will be designed to allow for safe take-off and landing in brownout or whiteout conditions. BAE Systems leads the research team for the program that includes Mustang Technology Group, Honeywell Aerospace Defense & Space, Applied Signal Intelligence Inc. and the University of Michigan.
Canine Camera. The Army wants to know which firms can supply camera systems for dogs, known as canine integrated camera systems. The Project Manager Special Operations Forces Survival Support and Equipment Systems (PM SOF-SSES) at the Army Research, Development, and Engineering Center, Soldier Systems Center, Natick, Mass., is doing a market survey looking for product information, manufacturing capabilities and/or samples. The canine camera’s systems would include the camera, transmitter and receiver. The system must be light, collapsible or foldable, and meet certain other criteria. The system must also be compatible with the Eagle Canine Assault Vest/K9 Storm Vest. The notice in FBOdaily.com looks for responses by April 19. The point of contact is Stephanie Elder (508) 233-4534, or email [email protected].