BRAC BENEFITS: U.S. lawmakers looking to protect defense facilities in their districts and states may take little solace from a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit on how the Pentagon measures excess base capacity. The reason: the Defense Department’s methods for estimating excess capacity outside of a congressionally authorized base realignment and closure (BRAC) process have limitations — in other words, the only way to know how much to cut is to start the surgery.
ARMY Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Linthicum, Md., was awarded a $38,353,781 modification (P00029) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, option-filled contract (W15P7T-11-C-H267) for services in support of the vehicle and dismount exploitation radar system. The cumulative total face value of this contract is $178,122,493. The work will be performed in Afghanistan. Fiscal 2013 operations and maintenance funds are being obligated on this award. The Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., is the contracting activity.
The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) USS Freedom’s ship service diesel generators (SSDG) continue to give the vessel fits, recently causing the LCS to lose propulsion briefly while heading out to participate in at-sea exercises off the coast of Singapore and forcing it to return to port, the U.S. Navy says.
By cutting into training and readiness funding, sequestration could force the U.S. Navy to be more selective about what missions its aircraft and ships can perform at any given time, says Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the chief of naval operations. “If you take an air wing, they do air-to-air, they do air-to-ground, they do a whole series of missions that the pilots are qualified to do, typically measured in how many cockpit hours you have in the air, how much you fly,” Greenert said July 19 during a media briefing.
Click here to view the pdf U.S. Army Procurement Funding Shifts:2013 Plan for Fiscal 2014 Compared to Actual 2014 Request (Winners) (Then-year dollars in millions) U.S.
U.S. and Chinese naval leaders continue to develop more channels for cooperation, says Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations. “With regard to China and our relations, I like the trend we’re on right now,” Greenert said July 19 during a media briefing. Some “tangible outcomes” are resulting from this cooperation, he says.
PAYING BILLS: House Republican leaders are trying to schedule consideration and passage of their appropriations panel’s version of fiscal 2014 spending for the Pentagon and related defense efforts before the sacred August recess. But since it could be the legislative vehicle of choice for some lawmakers’ hoped-for restrictions on going to war in Syria, or obliterating the National Security Agency surveillance programs making headlines, those leaders are arguing with members of their own caucus as much as Democrats.
As the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and federal lawmakers both paint a bull’s-eye this week on the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program, service officials are trying to put the small combat ship in the best light.
Even as the U.S. Navy is spending a good part of this summer investing time and resources in rebuilding its forces abroad, the service also has to keep ships, people and equipment for missions closer to home. The Third Fleet area of operations conducts and supports maritime law enforcement, interdiction and security operations with the U.S. Coast Guard, similar to missions slated for the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), which is making its deployment debut this summer in Singapore.
An 8% increase in commercial aerospace original equipment sales and a 3% improvement in commercial aftermarket revenues helped Honeywell Aerospace mitigate the adverse effects of an 8% decline in defense and space sales in the second quarter. Despite a 1% decline in overall sales to $3 billion, Honeywell Aerospace posted a 4% year-on-year rise in operating income to $583 million and a 0.9 percentage point gain in segment margin to 19.5%.
To better cushion itself from the financial blow of sequestration, the U.S. Navy is officially seeking reprogramming authority from Congress to shift certain funds, and also plans to scrutinize its major contracts line by line looking for immediate savings, says Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations (CNO.)
TEL AVIV — Under a veil of secrecy, Israel test-fired a ballistic missile believed to be an improved version of the nuclear-capable Jericho III on July 12. Israeli defense sources say that the test was “highly successful.” The missile was launched from the missile test center at Palmachim Air Force base, south of Tel Aviv, into an unknown range westbound, and landed in the Mediterranean. The launch of the heavy missile was clearly visible throughout Israel’s southern Mediterranean coast.
In the wake of June's Paris air show, both Airbus and Boeing issued victory statements detailing orders, options, commitments and letters of intent reportedly signed during the five-day event. Both rivals claimed they achieved or surpassed their most optimistic sales predictions, disseminating robust releases to the media. And, once more, the press corps—in most cases without the required restraint—agreed to the rules of the game, although that was largely meaningless.
In the North Sea, the Eurocopter EC225 has been a workhorse, plying routes between bases in Norway and Scotland oil and gas platforms. But for 10 months, the helicopter has been missing from such operations, grounded as engineers searched for the root cause of the failure in its bevel gear vertical shaft. For the major operators in the North Sea region such as Bond Offshore Helicopters, Bristow Helicopters and CHC Scotia, the loss of the type from their fleets had a dramatic impact on their capacity to fly for customers.
More space programs are set to feel sequestration's effects, particularly on the civilian side as lawmakers responsible for NASA are increasingly—and bitterly—at odds. Last week, Senate appropriators, led by Democrats, recommended $18 billion for the agency for 2014. But despite his stated approval of the legislation, senior Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) voted against the measure in committee because it adheres to Senate Democrats' overall federal budget allocations.
