DALLAS – The four-star general in charge of the U.S. Air Force Materiel Command told Aviation Week’s MRO Military conference here that his top spending policy concerns entail maximizing competition for work, pricing data rights early in a program, and securing FAA certification for parts used in USAF maintenance, repair and overhaul.
DEFENSE REVIEWS: The Pentagon kicked off the 2010 Quadrennial Defense and Nuclear Posture Reviews process April 23, which will culminate in final reports to Congress due in early 2010. The process for the 2010 QDR, according to the Pentagon, will “embrace a whole of government approach” and include analysis and input from numerous departments and agencies. The NPR will be conducted in consultation with the Departments of Energy and State and will establish U.S. nuclear deterrence policy, strategy and posture for the next five to 10 years.
In an unusual twist given the current state of proposed defense budgets, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently estimated that changes to the U.S. Coast Guard’s contracting practices will not adversely affect the service’s bottom line.
China has launched a remote-sensing satellite on Long March 2C from Taiyuan launch center in the north of Shanxi province. According to Xinhua news service, the satellite, Yaogan VI, is one of a series that has been used for data collection for “scientific experiments, land resource surveys, crop yield estimates and disaster prevention and reduction.”
Senior Airbus and EADS management met with British government officials April 22 to discuss the vexing issue of the Airbus A400M airlifter. Fabrice Bregier, Airbus chief operating officer, met Quentin Davies, the British government minister for defense equipment and support, at the Defense Ministry’s main building in Whitehall. Bregier was believed to be accompanied by Tom Williams, the Airbus executive vice president for operations, and Robin Southwell, the EADS U.K. chief executive officer.
German armored vehicle provider Krauss-Maffei Wegmann says revenue last year reached 1.4 billion euros ($1.83 billion), a 100 million euro increase over 2007. The vehicle maker also managed to book 2.7 billion euros in orders. The bulk of those, more than 70%, were for export customers. KMW slightly increased its work force, up 200 positions to 3,400. But KMW management concedes that market conditions will likely be difficult due to the ongoing global economic slowdown.
ONE TRILLION: The U.S. is looking at a $1 trillion increase in the interest on the national debt over the next 10 years, according to predictions made by Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Doug Elmendorf. An estimated $150 billion of that amount will go toward defense discretionary spending. When all the numbers are totaled, the resulting budget deficit for 2010 through 2019 could be more than $9 trillion.
Workers at Kennedy Space Center started loading new instruments, gyros batteries and other hardware for the Hubble Space Telescope into the space shuttle Atlantis April 22, as the preliminary flight readiness review cleared the final servicing mission to the orbiting observatory for a May 12 liftoff. Payload installation started at 7 a.m. EDT, and launch-preparation crews were working no issues that might delay the launch, according to a KSC spokesperson.
NASA engineers are “on the verge” of pulling two crew seats from their design for the Orion crew exploration vehicle, at least at first, to save weight. That would mean that when NASA regains the ability to fly astronauts to orbit in the post-shuttle era, it will start with a crew of four instead of six. Four seats have been the baseline for the version of Orion that would take astronauts back to the moon, but the initial operational capability (IOC) to deliver crew to the International Space Station (ISS) currently calls for a six-seat version.
PACT INKED: Hellenic Aerospace Industry has inked a memorandum of understanding with Boeing outlining potential industrial cooperation between HAI and Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems business. Areas of collaboration include depot-level maintenance of rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft avionics and systems, aircraft upgrades, aerostructures, wiring, maintenance training and logistics.
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Due to the strains of simultaneously fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan while running other missions around the world, the U.S. Marine Corps is nearly tripling the planned utilization rates of many of its aircraft platforms, Gen. James Amos, Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, told the Senate Armed Services Committee April 22.
The impending fighter shortfall in the U.S. Air Force may prompt the Pentagon to turn to the Navy to fulfill some air sovereignty missions – flying patrols in U.S. airspace – in the future, according to Defense Department officials.
ENGINE REPAIR: The U.S. Army has awarded Texas-based Chromalloy two contracts valued at up to $1.9 million for engine component repairs on the AGT1500 engine that powers the M1 Abrams tank. The agreements cover component maintenance and repairs for the Army National Guard fleet of M1 Abrams tanks deployed worldwide. Starting in 2009, Chromalloy will support repairs on 150 engines per year. The original contracts awarded by the Army National Guard were three-year, performance-based agreements.
DALLAS – Good processes, good relationships with your prime contractor and good luck all seem the necessary ingredients for small businesses looking to make big plays in U.S. military maintenance, repair and overhaul, according to a panel on the issue at Aviation Week’s MRO Military conference here on April 22.
The now-delayed 2018 version of the Next Generation Bomber was derailed by more than the budget. In fact, Lt. Gen. Robert Elder, commander of the 8th Air Force with responsibility for nuclear deterrence and global strike, says it is not dead, just the victim of a postponement. “What we were looking for in the 2018 bomber was something that would take the B-2 capabilities to a new level, like the F-22 improved on the F-117,” Elder says. “It was stealthier and easier to maintain and from an operational standpoint that’s what you’re looking for.”
YOUNG INVESTIGATORS: The Office of Naval Research (ONR) recently awarded 15 aspiring researchers a three-year grant valued at up to $510,000 as part of the Navy’s 2009 Young Investigator Program (YIP). Award recipients were selected from 193 proposals. YIP has been in place at ONR since 1985, and recognizes research achievements, potential for continued outstanding research efforts and strong support and commitment from participating universities and research institutions.
DALLAS – The assistant deputy undersecretary of defense for material readiness at the Pentagon told an MRO Military audience April 22 that the Defense Department may soon be rebranding performance-based logistics (PBL). Randy Fowler told Aviation Week’s conference here that the DOD-led Product Support Assessment Team has listed the recommendation already, and while a formal decision has not been made, the time appears to be approaching when the Pentagon announces a new campaign toward weapons systems and platform sustainment.
The Pentagon’s new policy chief is touting the administration’s Afghanistan-Pakistan (AfPak) policy as recent attacks in Pakistan are forcing a re-evaluation of U.S. strategy in the troubled region. The Pentagon’s recent AfPak strategy review should be considered “the beginning of a process as opposed to the end,” Michele Flournoy told a group at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) April 21.
