The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Once Upon A Time. DARPA’s acting director, Ken Gabriel, reminds a gathering last week that maintaining an open mind is a key part of adapting to new technology. In a speech at the U.S. Innovation Summit hosted by fedscoop in downtown Washington, Gabriel recalls how unmanned aerial vehicles were scoffed at during the pioneering days of the 1980s, pointing to the reaction received by one of his predecessors when approaching the Air Force with the idea. “Aircraft with no pilots. Heresy to an Air Force whose ethos and senior leadership is made up of pilots,” Gabriel says. He says the then-DARPA chief was “thrown out” of the Air Force secretary’s office and “the door was slammed in his face.” Gabriel adds he “spent the next several months–if not years–protecting the budget because there were all sorts of studies that were performed and analyses done that showed how this was the wrong thing to do and a waste of taxpayers’ money. Now we can’t imagine doing what we’re doing in the theaters that were involved in without UAVs.”
Summer 2012 Ship Naming Tour. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus gets underway with a series of stops at locales around the country for ceremonies naming Littoral Combat Ships and Virginia-class attack subs. His first stops on Friday included Indianapolis for the USS Indiana (SSN-789) and Chicago to honor the USS Illinois (SSN-786). On Saturday he was to head to Sioux City, Iowa and Sioux Falls, South Dakota for ceremonies to name the USS Sioux City (LCS-11) and USS South Dakota (SSN-790). The tour was scheduled to wrap up Monday following stops in Omaha, Nebraska and Denver to attend ceremonies for the USS Omaha (LCS-12) and USS Colorado (SSN-788).
Social Media Event. Social media has evolved into major tool for officials and organizations to get the word out while responding to an emergencies and disasters. That will be the focus of a conference this week hosted by Ogilvy Washington, Defense Daily and Northrop Grumman. Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D-Del.) will be among the speakers that also include officials from the military and Red Cross as well as from the field of public relations. Topics will explore the successes and limitations of social media in a crisis, the lessons learned and how the emergency response community is adapting to social media. The event takes place June 26, from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at Ogilvy Washington Headquarters, 1111 19th Street (10th floor) NW in Washington. For more information, visit http://ogilvyexchangeseries.eventbrite.com.
Sold. Mine Safety Appliances says it has completed the sale of its ballistic helmet business to Revision Military. The small helmet business serves the U.S. Army. MSA, which designs and manufactures mine safety equipment and systems, sold the business as part of a strategic realignment. Revision Military is focused exclusively on military customers and makes protective equipment for military use worldwide. Terms of the deal, first announced in March, were not disclosed.
DoD in Colombia. The Pentagon is providing Colombia with expertise on how to improve its communication capabilities in its fight against FARC rebels, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) chief Air Force Gen. Douglas Fraser tells Defense Daily last week following a presentation at a National Defense Industrial Association conference in Arlington, Va. Fraser says the Pentagon has been working with Colombia on this for a number of years. “As they’re establishing new joint task forces, we’re just providing expertise on how to connect those joint task forces and how to make sure that intelligence information that is derived at a national level can get disseminated to those locations,” Fraser says. “These are Colombian joint task forces, so we’re assisting them in establishing communications structures, their communications structures to their joint task forces and their intelligence information to those joint task forces. We’re just assisting.”
X-37B First Flight. The second Boeing-built X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) unmanned space vehicle successfully lands June 16 at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., after a 469-day test mission, the company says in a statement. Boeing Vice President of Government Space Systems Paul Rusnock says in a statement the company proved with OTV-1 that unmanned space vehicles can be sent into orbit and safely recovered. Rusnock also says with OTV-2, Boeing tested the vehicle design even further by extending the 220-day mission variation of the first vehicle and testing additional capabilities. “We look forward to the second launch of OTV-1 later this year and the opportunity to demonstrate that the X-37B is an affordable space vehicle that can be repeatedly re-used,” Rusnock says.
Putin Wants LRB. Russian President Vladimir Putin wants his nation to start development of a long-range bomber aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), according to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti. Putin says if bomber development is not started soon, Russia might miss its opportunity. Putin also says Russia must develop a range of UAVs, including strike and reconnaissance types. “We need a program for unmanned aircraft,” Putin says. “We need a range of all types, including automated strike aircraft, reconnaissance and other types.”
JSF Flight Plan. Lockheed Martin is 35 percent ahead of schedule for F-35 test flights with 546 actual flights compared to 401 planned, the company says last week during a media day. Company spokesman Mike Rein says in an email the flights are a mixture of flight sciences (testing the flying capabilities) and mission systems (testing the avionics and radars). “This is actually the 17th month in a row we have been ahead in flight test dating back to the technical baseline review of 2010,” Rein says. “Being ahead of plan shows the F-35 is maturing as a capability and is performing at, or ahead, of schedule in its system development. It also shows that the preliminary design and the core systems of the aircraft are sound.”
NGA Reups DigitalGlobe. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) plans to exercise DigitalGlobe’s Service Level Agreement for EnhancedView for the entirety of option-year three, which begins Sept. 1, DigitalGlobe says last week in a statement. DigitalGlobe is one of two main providers of commercial satellite imagery to the federal government. EnhancedView, a 10-year program valued at $7.3 billion, is expected to be hit with substantial budget cuts next year.
GeoEye Expansion. GeoEye expands its office in the Amsterdam World Trade Center to meet growing demand in western and eastern Europe for commercial satellite imagery, the company says Friday in a statement. The company says the announcement comes months after it successfully established its European sales and customer service operation. GeoEye, one of two main providers of commercial satellite imagery to the federal government, is based in Herndon, Va.
New Vision System. FLIR Systems Inc.develops a lightweight driver’s thermal vision system (DTVS) driver’s camera designed to enhance driver safety and awareness through our state-of-the-art thermal imaging technology. The DTVS cameras will undergo final user trials before a formal launch expected later this year, the company says. “The Iraq and Afghan wars with the harsh driving conditions encountered and the requirement for 24/7 operations ushered in the need for driver vision enhancers (DVEs),” says Ulf Kapborg, business development director Land Systems Europe FLIR Systems AB, Imaging, Sweden. Cost has been prohibitive, but now, Kapborg says they have “ a DTVS platform which is not only affordable but easily retrofitted to existing vehicles with minimum engineering changes required. We see a huge market for this system worldwide in military, paramilitary, Police and Public Services organizations.”
More Efforts Like PTDS. Lockheed Martin Chairman and CEO Bob Stevens points to the Persistent Threat Detection System (PTDS) as a good example of government and industry working together to protect troops. The tethered aerostat with associated sensor package was completed and in the field in record time, providing better intelligence and situational awareness. Government and industry “should do more” communicating and aligning to achieve objectives, he says during Media Day June 19. Since 2004, the company has delivered 66 PTDS.
Reducing Costs. Lockheed Martin is investing in research and development to help it reduce costs–the technologies and methods to bring costs down as the government would like to see, Tory Bruno, president of Lockheed Martin Strategic and Missile Defense Systems, says during Media Day. Bruno also says the company this month completed production on the 50th THAAD missile for the Army, which now has two THAAD fire units.
…Moving Forward. PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE), the next phase of PAC-3, continues follow-on testing and flight tests with a Milestone C acquisition review slated for the fall of 2013, says Richard McDaniel, vice president of PAC-3 missile programs. That milestone review would support initial production in FY ’14.
Lima Support. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) Friday offered their support for the Marine’s decision to maintain their Hull Machining Line at the Joint Services Manufacturing Center (JSMC) in Lima, Ohio. After the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) Program was cancelled, the Marine program manager began reviewing the future use of all EFV-associated equipment procured as part of that program. Portman and Turner, members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, worked with the Marines to ensure consideration of all the options before any final decision. This follows their successful efforts in committee to stop attempts to defund the JSMC. The Marines now will undertake a Business Case Analysis (BCA) to compile a cost/benefit analysis of all potential disposition alternatives. This will focus on maintaining the defense industrial base, of which the Lima facility is a key part. General Dynamics was developing the EFV. The Lima plant also works on the Abrams tank, another General Dynamics product.