The Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense
Levin’s List. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the retiring SASC chairman, says the Weapon System Acquisition Reform Act he and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) helped craft four years ago is only “gradually taking hold.” Addressing the Council on Foreign Relations March 18, Levin says weapons programs have too much concurrency, when they are designed and produced at the same time. “It’s a major problem,” Levin says. “Those are some of the causes of (cost overruns)–too much concurrency, too much change in the designs as we proceeded. And we’ve tried to tackle both of those in our acquisition-reform bill, which is now law, and which is taking some time to take hold.” McCain tells reporters March 19 that before Levin retires at the end of 2014 the two of them will take another stab at acquisition reform. McCain is no longer the SASC’s ranking member, but he and Levin now lead the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations together. McCain says they will craft acquisition legislation on that subcommittee, but declined to share details.
Open SASC. The SASC announces the schedule for its June sessions for marking up the FY ’14 defense authorization bill, and reveals it will make more of the subcommittee markups open to the public. Three subcommittee–Airland, Readiness and Management Support, and Personnel–will open their June 11 sessions to the public. Last year only the Readiness and Management Support and Personnel subpanels did. Meanwhile, the Strategic Force and Emerging Threats and Capabilities subcommittee markups on June 11 will be closed, as will the Seapower subpanel’s session on June 12. The SASC has set aside three days for its full-committee markup of the defense bill: June 12 to 14. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) chairs the Airland subcommittee, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) leads the Readiness and Management support subpanel, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) holds the gavel on Personnel. SASC member Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) has pushed in recent years for the committee to stop holding the bill-writing sessions behind closed doors.
Asia Pivoting. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter describes the Pentagon’s shifting of assets to the Asia-Pacific region at the Jakarta International Defense Dialogue in Indonesia on March 20, according to the American Forces Press Service. “The rebalance will continue and in fact gain momentum,” he says. The Air Force will increase its presence in the region with tactical aircraft like the F-22 stealth fighter; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets like the MQ-9 Reaper, U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, and Global Hawk high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft; and also space, cyber, and bomber forces, he says. In Singapore, Littoral Combat Ships will start arriving next month. Carter notes the Pentagon is “giving priority” in its budget to development efforts that have direct use in the region. Those include the Virginia-class submarine, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the P-8 maritime patrol aircraft, the Broad Area Maritime Sensor, the new stealth bomber, the KC-46 tanker replacement, cruise missiles, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms, Carter says, according to AFPS. He adds the United States will be able to “leverage more capacity from our ground forces” returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Missile Nudge. HASC Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) and 18 GOP panel members call on Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in a March 19 letter to request at least $250 million in long-lead procurement money in the FY ’14 budget to begin building a new missile-defense site on the U.S. East Coast with 20 Ground-Based Interceptors. They say “it appears” Iran could flight test an ICBM this year and argue the Pentagon is showing an “ill-advised and risky” reluctance to do more planning for an East Coast site, beyond the current effort to conduct environmental-impact statements on possible locations. They cite Hagel’s March 15 announcement that the Pentagon plans to cut funding from the delayed SM-3 IIB missile program–and shift it to 14 additional interceptors in Ft. Greely, Alaska and advance-kill vehicle technology. They charge the Pentagon has actually terminated the developmental SM-3 IIB missile effort.
Work Out. Robert Work, who has served as undersecretary of the Navy since May 2009, stepped down on Friday with plans to become the next CEO of the Center for a New American Security progressive think thank. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus presided over a ceremony a day earlier to honor Work. “On behalf of the Department of the Navy I extend my deepest thanks and best wishes as he begins the next stage of his exemplary career,” Mabus says. Work told a gathering in January that he was planning to leave the position. Work is considered to be one of the Navy’s staunchest and most vocal supporters of the Littoral Combat Ship program, which has at times been mired in controversy and subjected to sharp criticism from the media and congressional lawmakers. Work, a former Marine, served on President Barack Obama’s defense transition team in 2008 before becoming undersecretary.
Netherlands Ties On Nukes. The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), an agency of the Energy Department, says that it and the Netherlands have agreed to expand ties and cooperation on securing and reducing global nuclear and radiological threats. The Netherlands agreed to provide $650,000 for the effort to remove vulnerable radiological material in former Soviet states, namely Kazakhstan, the NNSA says. The Netherlands has previously supported NNSA’s efforts to shut down the last remaining weapons-grade plutonium producing reactor in Russia, and other radiological material protection projects in Kazakhstan. To date, the Netherlands has invested more than $2.3 million in partnership efforts with the NNSA, the agency said.
Preparing Anchorage. The Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) in Port Hueneme, Calif. has completed a week-long combat system assessment and air defense rehearsal training for USS Anchorage (LPD-23), the seventh San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock delivered to the Navy in September. Port Hueneme engineers and technicians provided service expertise for many elements of the ship’s systems, in addition to performing air defense missile scenarios alongside the ship’s crew in preparation for upcoming live-fire tests, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) says. The effort enables the ship to proceed with more effective pre-deployment work-ups and ensure the systems are in a state of operational readiness.
No Knives. More than 130 House members have asked Transportation Security Administrator John Pistole to rescind his decision earlier this month to modify the prohibited items list to allow small knifes and some sporting equipment such as hockey sticks and two golf clubs to be carried on planes. The policy change, due to go into effect on April 25, is already being opposed by unions that represent flight attendants, federal law enforcers, flight deck officers and airline pilots. The March 21 letter from 133 congressmen and women says that the policy change is likely to result in more delays at passenger checkpoints because Transportation Screening Officers will have to inspect all knives to see which are allowed.
CBP Not in the Game. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) tells Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials responsible for helping to secure the nation’s borders that they need to “get in the game” when it comes to the ongoing debate and discussion around comprehensive immigration reform. While a number of Republicans in Congress say they are in favor of immigration reform, they are conditioning their stance on proof that the border is becoming more secure. However, CBP officials working on a Border Control Index (BCI) that would help show trends in how secure the border is can’t say when it will be ready. Moreover, Mark Borkowski, assistant commissioner for CBP’s Office of Technology Innovation and Acquisition, tells the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security that the BCI is not expected to be the main tool for measuring how secure the nation’s borders are. Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.), the panel chair, echoed Jackson Lee’s remarks about the need to “get in the game” and warned the CBP witnesses that, “You do not want the Department of Homeland Security to be the stumbling block to comprehensive immigration reform for this country and it could happen.”
EDGE Space Center. General Dynamics opens its 13th and newest EDGE Space Innovation Center within the company’s Seabrook, Md., facility, according to a company statement. The center will connect NASA and other government agency professionals with more than 350 EDGE Innovation Network members from industry and academia. The facility, located near NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., houses meeting rooms and demonstration space designed to encourage the free-flow of ideas and solutions for next-generation spacecraft, scientific instruments in-flight operations and the critical ground systems that keep missions on course. The EDGE Innovation Network is a collaborative, open environment enabling industry and academia, with government input, to work together to enhance the delivery cycle of new technologies and innovative capabilities for military, homeland security, law enforcement and first responders worldwide.
AFSPC GPS Test. Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) will be testing civil navigation (CNAV) capabilities on the Global Positioning System (GPS) L2C and L5 signals June 15-29, according to a Federal Register notice. These test events will provide an opportunity for civil users and manufacturers to participate in L2C/L5 evaluation and will result in enhanced provider and user readiness for L2C/L5 operations once the next generation GPS Operational Control System comes online in 2016. A major focus of the GPS modernization program is the addition of new navigation signals to the satellite constellation. The U.S. is in the process of fielding three new signals designed for civilian use: L12C, L5 and L1C.
SSL Satellite. Hughes Network Systems selects Space Systems/Loral (SSL) to build what will be the world’s highest capacity broadband satellite—JUPITER 2/EchoStar XIX, according to a SSL statement. The new Ka-band satellite will help meet the growing demand for HughesNet Gen4 high-speed satellite internet service in North America with 50 percent more capacity than EchoStar XVII, also known as JUPITER 1, which was launched in July. The satellite will be a large, multi-spot beam spacecraft based on the SSL 1300 space-proven platform, which provides the flexibility to support a broad range of applications and technology advances. The satellite is designed to provide service for 15 years or longer and is planned to be launched in mid-2016.
Chaos Out. U.S. Central Command Friday welcomed Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, the new leader who will work with the joint force and representatives from 60 countries in the CENTCOM region. “Much more will be required of us in the days ahead; the world we live in remains complex and extremely volatile,” Austin says. He replaces retiring Marine Gen. James Mattis, call sign “chaos,” who brought to a close what Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel calls the “remarkable” career of a legendary figure, front and center of every major combat operation the nation has seen in the past two decades.
…Poking Fun. Of course there’s fun in bringing a “legend” down to earth. Hagel concluded his remarks about the outgoing commander: “Now some of you may believe, and I know General Mattis does, that an Army infantryman is not worthy of the words “Semper Fi” passing from his lips, well, the hell with it General. I am the Secretary and I say “Semper Fi” and thank you!” It got a big laugh.
Program Problems. Lt. Gen. James “JJ” Jackson, chief of the Air Force Reserve, says sequestration and other funding restrictions will make LITENING pod integration difficult to complete. “With funding loss, procuring LITENING pods after December 2013 will be extremely difficult with the production line possibly shutting down,” he tells the House Armed Services Committee Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee last week before Congress approved the Continuing Resolution.
…Black Hawk Fleet. Lt. Gen. William Ingram, director, Army National Guard (ANG), says his equipment is in pretty good shape. However, the guard’s UH-60 Black Hawk fleet is the oldest in the Army. Service depots will be “severely curtailed if not closed during the third and fourth quarter of this year” and that will cause a maintenance backlog, leaving equipment returning from theater stacked up awaiting reset–affecting equipment on hand. “Over time, readiness could be significantly degraded,” he tells the committee. Sequestration would also impact contracts that affect readiness, such as collective training and contractor logistics support.
…Congressional Support. Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Talley, chief of the Army Reserve, says his command has asked Congress for support, which it has received in the past, for continued equipment modernization and procurement of simulation training systems. Talley says, “The days of a strategic army reserve, a force that was poorly resourced and seldom used, are simply gone…We comprise almost 20 percent of the Total Army for just six percent of the current budget.”
…Negative Impacts. Sequestration will negatively impact operational readiness and capabilities of the Air National Guard, says Director Lt. Gen. Stanley Clarke. “Civilian furloughs reduce manpower available at the unit level to maintain equipment, which in turn reduces manpower available at the unit level to maintain equipment, which in turn reduces readiness,” he tells the panel. The problem is difficult in the ANG because guardsmen in technical status are civilian employees subject to furlough, unlike their active component counterparts.
Hellfire II Award. The Lockheed Martin/U.S. Army Joint Attack Munition Systems (JAMS) HELLFIRE II Team Receives the William J. Perry Award from the Precision Strike Association, presented last week by Paul Kaminski, director of the Defense Science Board. The award honors former Defense Secretary William Perry and recognizes exceptional contributions to precision strike systems in the private or public sector by an individual or team. The Lockheed Martin Air-to-Ground Missile Systems Heliborne Laser Fire-&-Forget Missile System (HELLFIRE)/Army JAMS program team provided exemplary technical, schedule, and cost performance to meet the vital needs of our warfighters, the Association says. The team increased its production rate by five times; incorporated time-sensitive performance enhancements; identified and implemented corrective action for supply chain issues; and met constantly changing warfighter demands with multiple product variants. All of these elements contributed to cost reductions of 6.5 percent over the course of three years.
Cyber U. Universities’ role in training potential cyber adversaries came to the fore at a congressional hearing March 21. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) equates American universities’ education of mainland Chinese students with equipping a hostile power with the ability to build a nuclear weapon. “That is an insane, national suicidal policy,” he says. He suggests Mandiant follow up its February report on Chinese military hacking with an investigation of whether any hackers in 61398 were students at American universities.
Cyber Defense. Frank Cilluffo, director of the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University, proposes an “80 percent solution” for stopping cyber attacks. With limited resources and growing intrusions, Cilluffo suggests the government focus its resources on higher end threats while private sector security firms address the lower end. It will be impossible to neutralize all Advanced Persistent Threats (APT), so Cilluffo offers this compromise at a hearing March 20. He says Congress should consider incentives for firms participating in cyber security as it begins writing cyber legislation this year.