Cutting in half the U.S Air Force's planned purchase of 1,763 F-35A Joint Strike Fighters (JSFs) and ordering more F-16 Block 60 aircraft appears to be the leading option considering force structure and budget demands, two Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) analysts propose in a new report.
The biggest hurdle the U.S. Air Force and Pentagon have to overcome in developing successful cyber operations is changing the secrecy culture that has ruled the military mind for decades, says Lt. Gen. Robert "Bob" Elder, commander, 8th Air Force, Barksdale Air Force Base, La., the home of the new Cyberspace Command. "We have to learn to share," he says. Everyone has to transmit their data onto the grid and network to give all of those who need it the best situational awareness, he said.
SECURING SBINET: Congress is pushing the Homeland Security Department (DHS) to better define its Secure Border Initiative network (SBINet) contract with Boeing before approving significant amounts of work. Before DHS can sign a task order for $100 million or more, or obligate half or more of what has been appropriated, the House would require a report with updated SBINet dates and goals. A competing Senate bill for fiscal 2008 DHS appropriations would withhold half of the $1 billion SBINet request until congressional auditors get a new budget plan.
RISING TIDE: Navy Adm. Mike Mullen's selection to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Marine Corps Gen. Gen. James Cartwright's selection to back up Mullen are the latest examples of the rise in prominence of U.S. sea services. "If you thought the disappearance of the Red Navy had made the sea services irrelevant, think again," says Lexington Institute analyst Loren Thompson.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski has received what she calls a "tepid" response to her request that President Bush convene a bipartisan summit with lawmakers to discuss the future of the U.S. space program. The administration's letter to Mikulski (D-Md.), signed by outgoing Office of Management and Budget Director Robert Portman and White House Science Adviser John Marburger, does not address the summit idea directly, instead inviting Mikulski to meet with Portman, Marburger and NASA Administrator Michael Griffin.
Using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and pod-equipped combat jets to find improvised explosive devices (IEDs) is often a misuse of time and resources, said U.S. Air Force Gen. Ronald Keys, commander of Air Combat Command. Often, requests for airborne surveillance are based on the assumption that such aircraft help find IEDs and save ground forces from such attacks, he said. Certain military leaders feel they need the full-motion video feeds to locate the explosives. The truth, he said, is much different.
TURBOPUMP TEST: Northrop Grumman will build and test a 40,000-pound thrust class liquid hydrogen turbopump for rocket engines under a new contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Upper Stage Engine Technology program. The company has already received $19.9 million in AFRL contracts under the program for advanced engine-design software tools, and will apply those tools to building the turbopump assembly, integrating it on an AFRL test stand at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and conducting validation tests by mid-2009.
The Professional Services Council (PSC), a trade group that represents the burgeoning federal services sector in Washington, is arguing that even more information under the Central Contractor Registration should be exempt from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. The Defense Department is both the database manager and has among the largest number of contractors in the database among federal agencies. The database captures 194 fields of data on each contractor, and DOD has identified 44 as information properly exempt from disclosure under FOIA.
Spanish state shipbuilder Navantia has won both of Australia's current warship competitions, beating out a Gibbs & Cox design for the country's air-defense destroyer contract and a proposal from France's DCN for helicopter-capable dock landing ships.
MISSED TARGETS: Satelites Mexicanos says it has suspended a sale offer because tenders submitted did not meet the valuation target. That target was reportedly $500 million, which may have been too much for the troubled Mexico City-based operator. SatMex had hired Morgan Stanley to look for a buyer since emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December. Paris-based Eutelsat said on June 7 that it had tendered an offer for 100 percent of SatMex, together with a pair of local partners, Miguel Aleman and Clemente Serna.
The U.S. Coast Guard is exploring the idea of forming an unmanned aerial vehicle-sharing partnership with Customs and Border Protection, another Homeland Security Department (DHS) agency, the Coast Guard's commandant said June 19. "We're looking right now at partnering potentially with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and whether or not we can come up with a DHS solution," Adm. Thad Allen, the Coast Guard commandant, said at a DHS summit on the security risks posed by small maritime vessels. Benefits
FOREIGN MANPADS: The House will meet the Bush administration's fiscal 2008 foreign affairs appropriations request for buying and eliminating grenades, guns, and man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) because the risk is growing and nascent U.S. efforts have been successful, according to a House appropriators' report accompanying their bill. Already, the program has destroyed more than 800,000 weapons, 80 million rounds of ammunition and 17,000 MANPADS, they said.
The STS-117 space shuttle Atlantis crew collected one last round of heat shield self-inspection imagery June 19 that is being analyzed at Johnson Space Center to clear the vehicle for re-entry and landing at Kennedy Space Center June 21.
Northrop Grumman's Directional Infrared Countermeasures (DIRCM) system is ready for action on the U.S. Marine Corps' CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters - and the system has been tested on a Dutch AH-64D Apache.
GPS III RFP: Government information technology consultancy FedSources says the Global Positioning Systems Wing will post the final request for proposals for the Global Positioning System IIIA Space Vehicle by June 22. The contracting office has confirmed that the GPS III space segment contract value is more than $1 billion for the basic contract, FedSources told clients. The total value of GPS III Phase A Contract Follow-on is $4.26 billion over 21-29 months. Lockheed Martin is vying with Boeing to build the GPS III constellation (DAILY, April 10).
JETEYE: BAE Systems has received SAFETY Act designation from the Homeland Security Department for its JetEye commercial aircraft missile defense system, which is used against infrared-guided missiles. The Support Anti-terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies (SAFETY) Act encourages development and rapid deployment of anti-terrorism technologies by giving qualified sellers liability protection from lawsuits. During the 18-month Phase III program, JetEye will continue flying on American Airlines and also on an ABX Air cargo aircraft.
Congressional lawmakers are reviewing downwash data for the helicopters that competed for the U.S. Air Force's combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter replacement fleet to make sure rescue operations can be done safely.
INTELSAT BOUGHT: BC Partners, a London-based private equity firm, has struck a deal to buy a 76-percent stake in Intelsat for $5.03 billion and the assumption of $11.4 billion in debt. Intelsat's current owners, a group of private equity firms that acquired the satellite operator in 2005, will retain a 24-percent stake in the company. Intelsat CEO David McGlade is expected to remain at the helm of the company, which is based in Bermuda but largely run from Washington.
Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC), Unisys, Northrop Grumman Information Technology and IBM Business Consulting Services have won a round in a fight with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) over being excluded from the 10-year, $13 billion Encore II contract regime.
MISSILE MARKET: Teal Group analysts predict roughly 776,596 missiles of virtually all types valued at $128.2 billion are expected to be built throughout the world by 2016. With the "bow-wave" of U.S. defense funding after 9/11 likely to decrease in the new term, future growth likely will appear less dramatic but will occur nonetheless. "We continue to believe that declines in world defense spending have bottomed out in the past few years so far as missiles are concerned," Teal analyst Steve Zaloga said.
The next Army secretary, the service's top general and Defense Secretary Robert Gates are eyeing budget plans to speed up President Bush's proposal to grow the Army by 65,000 new permanent troops - a move that could further squeeze procurement and research accounts.
