DEFENSE DECLINE: Consulting company Research and Markets says the U.S. defense budget will register a minus 0.12% compound annual growth rate through fiscal 2017, dipping to $611 billion, including so-called contingency funding for wars, compared with $645.7 billion total for 2012. Furthermore, defense expenditures as a percentage of GDP are also estimated to decline, from an average of 4.6% now to 3.4% over the forecast period.
The Pentagon’s top procurement official is considering a strategy of funding research and development projects despite ongoing budget pressure, a slight shift from his fervent push to only proceed with well understood, affordable programs.
A “radical” shift in the F-35 Joint Program Office’s (JPO) approach toward addressing systems engineering and durability questions is already showing results for the program, says Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, program executive officer (PEO).
ARMY FN Manufacturing L.L.C., Columbia, S.C., was awarded a firm-fixed-price contract with a maximum value of $76,922,574. The award will provide for the procurement of a maximum quantity of 120,000 M4/M4A1 Carbines and related requirements. The work location will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 19, 2018. The bid was solicited through the Internet, with six bids received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-13-D-0030). NAVY
REMOTE RECOGNITION: Long-distance tactical warfare, introduced by technologies like cyber and UAVs, is being heralded with a new honor from the U.S. military. The Distinguished Warfare Medal — which the Pentagon said will sit in stature directly below the Distinguished Flying Cross — will be awarded in the name of the defense secretary to armed service members whose extraordinary achievements, regardless of their distance from the traditional combat theater, deserve distinct, department-wide recognition.
NEW DELHI — India plans to develop its own Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft as part of the modernization program of the Indian air force (IAF). “To leverage the experience and expertise gained in the design and development of Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems, a project proposal for indigenous development of India AWACS by the Defense Research and Development Organization has been approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security on Feb. 12, 2013,” Defense Minister A.K. Antony says.
As the DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer gets closer to being completed, the U.S. Navy is highlighting its aviation-delivering potential. There are multiple aviation assets the ship can support, Capt. Jim Downey, DDG-1000 program manager, notes in a recently posted internal Navy site interview.
AIR FORCE L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace L.L.C., Madison, Miss., is being awarded an $8,076,281 contract modification (FA3002-09-C-0006, P00022) for aircraft flightline maintenance for the F-16 aircraft in support of Taiwan’s F-16 program. The location of performance is Luke AFB, Ariz. The work is expected to be completed by Feb. 28, 2014. Type of appropriation is international funding. The contracting activity is AETC CONS/LGCI, Randolph AFB, Texas. The contract involves Foreign Military Sales.
CYBER CRACKDOWN: The White House is adopting a tougher public relations campaign against China and other online hackers believed to be carrying out what has been described as the greatest theft of intellectual property in history. Last month, high-ranking officials unveiled the “Administration’s Strategy on Mitigating the Theft of U.S.
As the lead ship of the Littoral Combat Ship class, the USS Freedom (LCS-1), got set to depart March 1 for its planned deployment to Singapore, U.S. Navy and other officials were digging into a draft environmental assessment (EA) report that proposes basing part of the fleet on the U.S. East Coast by the start of the coming decade.
LONDON — Warsaw has issued a 1.5 billion zloty ($470 million) tender for eight jet trainers and associated equipment for the country’s air arm. The Polish Armament Directorate announced on Feb. 25 that the country’s defense ministry wants to purchase eight lead-in fighter trainers (LIFT), a suite of simulators, spare parts and ground support equipment with deliveries to take place between January 2014 and November 2017. Press reports in Poland say the number of aircraft procured could increase to 12.
Congress may be facing across-the-board budget cuts, but that has not stopped members from attempting to protect individual programs from reductions. Included in a bill released by Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), who leads the House committee controlling the government’s purse strings, is a directive to continue purchasing the RQ-4B Global Hawk UAV and C-27J Spartan aircraft that the Air Force had sought to stop buying in its fiscal 2013 budget request. It also blocks the retirement of C-23 Sherpa aircraft.
AIR FORCE Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., San Diego, is being awarded a $71,202,469 contract modification (FA8620-10-C-4000, P00023) for Global Hawk block load/sustaining engineering and production acceptance infrastructure. The location of performance is San Diego. The work is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2014. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2011. The contracting activity is AFLCMC/WIGK, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
ARMY Fidelity Technologies Corporation, Reading, Pa., was awarded a $21,582,669 firm-fixed-price contract.The award will provide for the Armor B-Kits in support of the Heavy Mobility Tactical Truck A4, Palletized Load System A1, Heavy Mobility Tactical Truck A4 Tanker Armor Module Kit and the M915A5. The work will be performed in Reading, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 27, 2014. The bid was solicited through the Internet, with nine bids received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-13-C-0052).
The temporary grounding of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has been lifted after investigators determined the turbine blade crack that prompted the stand down was an isolated event. “Based on the findings from our initial on-wing inspection to our subsequent inspections in our lab, we determined that root cause is sufficiently understood for the F-35 to safely resume flight,” says Pratt & Whitney, the manufacturer of the fighter’s F135 engine.
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is classifying its forthcoming squadron of Boeing EA-18G Growlers as a support force distinct from its air combat units, raising the possibility that the 12 electronic-attack aircraft will be added to the fast-jet fleet instead of substituting for part of it. The move may not persuade the government to pay for more fast jets than it has planned, however.
While the rest of the U.S. defense community continues to be obsessed with the effects of sequestration, the major issue for shipbuilding juggernaut Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) is the effect of the continuing resolution (CR) currently funding the government at fiscal 2012 levels. “From the beginning of this, we’ve been focused on the continuing resolution,” HII CEO Michael Petters says. With no new appropriations yet in place for fiscal 2013, which began last October, the nation’s shipbuilding programs are adrift.
NEW DELHI — India has raised its defense budget for the next fiscal year, contrary to expectations that there would be a reduction in its military spending due to economic strains. The defense allocation for the India’s fiscal year beginning April 1 is being increased by around 5% to 2.03 trillion rupees ($38 billion), from the originally allocated 1.93 trillion rupees for the year ending March 31.
BERLIN — EADS CEO Tom Enders has given up the once important target of balancing civil and defense revenues. “Maybe it is not a bad time to have a smaller rather than larger defense business,” he said at the EADS annual press conference in Berlin Feb. 27. The plan to increase defense exposure faltered when the merger with BAE Systems collapsed last year and important potential military contracts such as the U.S. Air Force tanker program were lost.
