Costs for the Force Element Terminal (FET) portion of the Air Force’s Family of Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals (FAB-T) program increased 24 percent in 2015 compared to 2014, according to the Pentagon’s Selected Acquisition Report (SAR) released Thursday.
The SAR lists programs that featured cost changes greater than $1 billion or 10 percent. The Air Force had five programs listed, the Army had zero programs listed while the Navy had 12 programs listed and the only Nunn-McCurdy Breach: the Navy Remote Minehunting System (NRMS), which the SAR said was due to the program being cancelled in the fiscal year 2017 budget request.
FAB-T FET program costs increased $565 million due primarily to a revised estimate for separate FET acquisition beyond the future years defense program (FYDP) incorporating the updated baseline from the approved service cost position used for the Command Post Terminal (CPT) Milestone C. In addition, there was an increase of $85 million due to initial spares and another increase of $53 million for other support. Raytheon [RTN], which develops FAB-T, did not return a request for comment by press time Thursday.
These increases were partially offset by defense funding of $35 million due to a quantity reduction of nine ground terminals. FAB-T will provide U.S. leaders with secure, survivable, satellite communication during all phases of nuclear conflict. The Air Force originally awarded the FAB-T contract to Boeing [BA] in 2002, but re-opened the program to competition after being dissatisfied with the contractor’s performance.
Global Positioning System III (GPS III) costs were up $846 million, or 18 percent, from last year while the Next Generation Operational Control Segment (OCX) was up $586 million, or 16 percent. The SAR cited GPS III costs going up due primarily to a quantity increase of one satellite in Air Force missile procurement and one additional satellite in Air Force space procurement.
OCX was up primarily because of a revised cost estimate to support cost overruns associated with Blocks 0, 1 and 2 technical issues and associated revised cost estimates. GPS III, the Air Force’s next-generation position, navigation and timing (PNT) constellation, is being developed by Lockheed Martin [LMT] while OCX, the next-generation ground segment, is being developed by Raytheon.
The Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) represents good news for the Air Force in the SAR. EELV costs are down nearly four percent from last year, due primarily to revised estimates for launch services pricing from fiscal years 2017 to 2028 based on final negotiated contract values, among other reasons. United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, has been the sole EELV contractor over the last decade, though the service has opened the program to competition.
In associated Air Force news, F-35 overall acquisition costs are down three percent from last year. The aircraft portion of the program is down two percent while the engine portion is down 9.5 percent. Lockheed Martin develops the F-35 while Pratt & Whitney of United Technologies Corp. [UTX] develops the engine.
Program costs for the Air Force’s Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) are up 11.4 percent from last year. JDAM is developed by Boeing.