House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) lobbied President Bush on Oct. 9 to "take immediate steps to develop and deploy systems that are capable of addressing the full range of North Korean missile-based threats to the United States, our deployed forces and our allies." For starters, the Pentagon should accelerate Aegis ballistic missile defense capabilities, whether solely Standard Missile-3 interceptors or an "appropriate combination" of SM-2 and SM-3 interceptors.
Although the Future Combat Systems (FCS) team remains upbeat about its technical and financial performance, the annual budget cuts levied by Congress against the mammoth Army modernization program are beginning to take their toll, according to program officials.
Lockheed Martin's simulated proof of the capabilities of its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) - the cornerstone of the aircraft manufacturer's ramped-up development strategy - does not guarantee the jet's ability to fly and fight as advertised, said Michael Sullivan, acquisition and sourcing management director for the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). "For the current model simulations, the fidelity is not as high as actual flight," Sullivan said. It's not the same as putting the aircraft through real airborne missions, he added.
Having stopped development work on Canard Rotor/Wing (CRW) technology and the Unmanned Little Bird (ULB), Boeing's advanced rotorcraft division is focusing on the long-endurance A160 Hummingbird unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), according to division director Pat Donnelly. "With the limited resources that we have available, we can't continue to entertain developing four or five different systems," Donnelly said during the Association of the U.S. Army's (AUSA) annual symposium in Washington Oct. 9.
JLTV TEAMING: Lockheed Martin Corp. and Armor Holdings Inc. are teaming to compete for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program, the companies said Oct. 10. Lockheed would serve as the prime contractor and systems integrator, providing the vehicle design, net-centric capabilities and logistics. Armor Holdings would primarily be responsible for vehicle assembly but also lead the design and manufacture of the armor survivability subsystems. Alcoa, JWF Technologies and Axletech International also belong to the team. The U.S.
BAE RG33L: BAE Systems has unveiled its new 6x6 Mine-Protected Vehicle, featuring a monocoque-constructed V-shaped hull design. BAE Systems Ground Systems said the company used design, modeling and simulation tools in Benoni, South Africa, and in Santa Clara, Calif., to build a prototype and produce the first RG33L. "BAE Systems is offering its production-ready mine protected RG33L vehicle to meet urgent requirements," the company said Oct. 9. The company is shopping the product at the Association of the U.S. Army annual conference in Washington this week.
NAVY RADIOS: Harris Corp. has been awarded a $1.9 million contract to provide the U.S. Navy Expeditionary Combat Command with Falcon(R) III AN/PRC-152(C) multiband handheld radios, the company said Oct. 10. The radios will be used for the Navy's Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and Naval Coastal Warfare Group operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
SNIPER COMPATIBLE: Lockheed Martin Corp. said Oct. 9 that its Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod demonstrated compatibility with the launch of a Maverick missile from an adjacent A-10C wing pylon, "doubling the previous A-10C Maverick loadout capabilities." The Sniper ATP was mounted on an A-10C Precision Engagement aircraft adjacent to the Maverick missile mounted on the LAU-88 missile rail, about 15 inches away. Sniper pods are flying on U.S. Air Force F-15E, F-16 and A-10 aircraft and are set to fly on the B-1 this month.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has awarded General Atomics Aeronautical Systems of San Diego a $33.9 million contract for two more Predator B unmanned aerial systems (UASs), the company announced Oct. 9. Scheduled for delivery in the fall of 2007, each UAS will be comprised of a Predator B unmanned aircraft equipped with an electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) camera system, multifunctioned Lynx Synthetic Aperture Radar and Ground Moving Target Indicator (SAR/GMTI) ), a ground control station, support equipment and logistics support.
Top U.S. Army officials said Oct. 9 that the service's fiscal 2008 budget request will be submitted on time to Congress early next year, despite the fact that it has missed the normal Aug. 15 deadline for submission to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
AF TRANSACTIONS: After cutting its personnel by tens of thousands, the Air Force is now looking for ways to reorganize by doing more "transactions" by computer or telephone that are now handled face-to-face, service officials say. About 85 percent of those transactions would be handled by computer, 10 percent by phone and the remaining 5 percent in person.
ARMY AM General L.L.C., South Bend, Ind., was awarded on Sept. 29, 2006, an $83,353,215 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract for M1152A1 and M1165A2 Marine Corps high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles. The work will be performed in South Bend and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on July 17, 2000. The U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (DAAE07-01-C-S001).
FCS FUNDING: The Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, the Army's major equipment modernization effort, is slated to receive roughly $32 billion during FY '08-13, according to Army officials. This makes the program a juicy target for cuts, which it has weathered annually for several years. Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker says Army leadership is committed to the program, although it still will have to "compete with everything else" for Army funding from year to year.
DEFENSE OUTLAYS: The Congressional Budget Office says its preliminary estimate of fiscal 2006 defense outlays totaled $500 billion, up an actual 5.3 percent over FY '05. The October calculation is down from the CBO's projection in August of $522 billion, or 5.8 percent. Still, outlays grew at an average annual rate of 12.7 percent from 2002 through 2005 (DAILY, Aug. 21).
With enhanced sensors, communications links and engine power, Apache helicopters will make ideal aircraft for deep-strike missions, Army aircraft program managers said Oct. 9 during the Association of the U.S. Army's (AUSA) annual symposium in Washington. "This is an optimized system," said Col. Mark Hayes, Training and Doctrine Command system manager for reconnaissance and attack. "The mission for deep strike still exists."
AWARD NOMINATIONS: Nominations for the 2007 Charles B. Ryan MRO Award are due Nov. 15. The award is presented annually by Aviation Week and Overhaul & Maintenance in two categories: outstanding airline or military operator, and leading MRO supplier. The Ryan Award recognizes those industry leading companies and organizations that are finding new ways to improve operations and service, profits, products, efficiency and effectiveness, while sustaining or improving safety and technical proficiency.
The presidential Bush family and Northrop Grumman Corp. christened the nation's 10th and final Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, the George H. W. Bush (CVN 77), on Oct. 7. At 1,092 feet in length, the nuclear-powered flattop is nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall. When delivered to the U.S. Navy as expected in late 2008, it will weigh 97,000 tons and carry more than 80 combat aircraft, officials said at the ceremony in Newport News, Va.
Reactions on Oct. 9 to North Korea's claim of conducting a successful underground nuclear test ranged from calls to bolster U.S. missile defense efforts to underpinning naval and air capabilities, although President Bush and politicians from both parties continued to prioritize weapons proliferation as the main threat.
Research and development work for the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) and upgrades to ground vehicles to make them more relevant to current conflicts are likely to continue for some time, said Raj Rajagopal, vice president and general manager of BAE Systems - Ground Systems Division. The Army spent about $2.3 billion this year through the end of August for FCS research and development, according to a DAILY analysis of Pentagon contracts, ranking it in the top five DOD programs for contractual obligations.
