DEFENSE BUSINESS: The Pentagon’s Defense Business Board (DBB) advisory group on April 25 will mull over and possibly vote on draft recommendations that ultimately could help reshape the Defense Department’s bureaucracy. The board will consider its study, “Applying Best Business Practices for Corporate Performance Management to DOD.” Pentagon officials had asked the board to look into how successful, large and complex corporations plan, manage and achieve peak performance on an ongoing basis, but especially during periods of reduced resources.
LONDON — The U.K. defense ministry is hoping to purchase its first full squadron of Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters by year’s end. The ministry wants to order 14 F-35Bs to start forming the first operational squadrons by the end of this decade. But the decision, known as Main Gate 4, needs approval from the Treasury, BAE Systems officials say.
The U.S. Navy must continue to focus on its Pacific Pivot and other global deployments even as it grapples with the effects of budget cuts, says Secretary Ray Mabus. “We must remember that isolationism just isn’t an option” he says.” We are the world’s only global navy. The United States Navy and Marine Corps are our nation’s away team, and we have to be forward-deployed in order to defend the American people and protect our national interests.”
The U.S. Marine Corps should make the K-Max unmanned helicopter part of its core equipment, according to Maj. Gen. Charles Gurganus, commanding general of the I Marine Expeditionary Force Forward and commander, Regional Command – Southwest. “I hope it’s going to be a part of inventory everywhere we go,” he says – especially as the Corps and the rest of the military make the Pacific pivot and shift resources toward Asian regions. “For ship-to-shore [operations], it’s a vital piece of gear,” he said April 18 during a breakfast with media.
NEW DELHI — A comet moving toward Mars will not derail India’s first orbiter mission to the red planet, the country’s top scientist says. Preparations are in full swing for the country’s first orbiter mission to Mars, “Maangalyaan,” which is scheduled to be launched Nov. 27. NASA earlier this year announced that a comet is due to pass by Mars in September 2014, roughly the same time India’s Mars orbiter reaches the planet about 400 km (249 mi.) away, raising fears the comet might disturb its mission plans.
Deliveries of transmissions to Boeing for installation in the company’s AH-64 Apache Block III attack helicopters are running behind schedule, but the U.S. Army says, “there is nothing wrong with the Apache transmission,” in response to a question raised by congressional staffers and government auditors about its suitability for the aircraft. Transmission maker Northstar Aerospace experienced financial problems last year before being purchased by Wynnchurch Capital, a private equity firm. Though on more sound ground now, the company is trying to catch up.
The Pentagon’s decision to terminate the Precision Tracking Space System (PTSS) raises the specter of a potential gap in U.S. ability to track ballistic missiles in the midcourse phase of flight.
SINGAPORE — New Zealand has decided to buy eight secondhand Kaman Seasprite SH-2G(I) naval helicopters for $15 million each, the government says. The deal’s total worth is $242 million, with the helos costing $120 million. The package also includes two spare airframes, missiles, a flight simulator, ship deck-lock modification, additional components, testing and introduction into service activities, the government says.
SATELLITE CONTROL: Congressional auditors see the U.S. military’s almost $14 billion worth of satellite control networks as ripe for consolidation. In an April 18 report, the Government Accountability Office recommended the Office of the Secretary of Defense direct future defense satellite acquisition programs to create a business case for proceeding with either a dedicated or shared network for that program’s satellite control operations, as well as develop a department-wide, long-term plan for modernizing the Air Force Satellite Control Network.
The U.S. Navy is conducting an assessment of whether the Bell/Boeing MV-22 can operate as a potential Carrier Onboard Delivery (COD) vehicle in advance of kicking off a program to either replace or modernize the C-2A Greyhounds now performing that role.
The Defense Department says it will take steps to better manage its performance-based contracts following a report by the Pentagon Inspector General (IG) calling for reforms of such deals. ”Contracting personnel did not properly evaluate and negotiate schedules” for performance-based contracts, the IG says in its report, released earlier this month.
SUPPLY AND DEMAND: Beware the effect of going against statistical bias, says one official in the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). DLA’s core mode of operations is to use forecasts to try to predict and meet demand for parts, and it must do so as efficiently as possible as budgets become tighter, according to Air Force Col. Daniel Hicks, commander of DLA Aviation.
PREZ HELO: Industry has been alerted to the impending release of the final request for proposals for the VXX presidential helicopter replacement program, as the U.S. Navy tries once more to find a successor to its Sikorsky VH-3Ds and VH-60Ns. The RFP will call for modification of an in-production aircraft. The Navy plans to award a fixed-price contract for a six-helicopter engineering and manufacturing development phase, with options for nine aircraft in low-rate initial production and eight more in full-rate production, with the complete program lasting eight years.
The F-35A is expected to cost about 10% more to operate than the F-16 it is intended to replace for the U.S. Air Force and other international military services, according to U.S. government officials.
U.S. and coalition forces still need platforms and equipment to sustain their efforts in Afghanistan even as they pull back their military might and turn over operations to the Afghans, a U.S. Marine Corps major general says. Leading the list of coalition needs are equipment and people for medevac and other medical-related services, says Maj. Gen. Charles Gurganus, commanding general of the I Marine Expeditionary Force Forward and commander, Regional Command – Southwest. Gurganus spoke April 18 during a media breakfast.
SMALL EXPORTS: The U.S. Export-Import Bank is joining the Obama administration’s Global Business Solutions interagency initiative to expand outreach of federal export assistance to small businesses. The pilot program has a goal to add 50,000 small businesses to the nation’s exporter base by 2017. Besides the bank, five other agencies are involved: the Small Business Administration, the Agriculture Department, the International Trade Administration, the Trade and Development Agency and the Overseas Private Investment Corp.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Pratt & Whitney is preparing to test the first major development hardware for the U.S. Air Force’s Adaptive Engine Technology Development (AETD) program, which aims to lay the foundations for a sixth-generation fighter engine.
The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) USS Freedom arrived in Singapore at 11 a.m. local time April 18 — about midnight U.S. Eastern Standard Time — finishing its trans-Pacific trek to start its inaugural Asian deployment.
