Depending on whom you cite, U.S. military operations since 2001 have cost the country between $808 and $904 billion, with the bulk of the money coming from supplemental funding — a budgetary problem the Defense Department is going to have to resolve, according to two new reports.
UNRULY RECEPTION: A new U.S. government acquisition rule requiring contractors to disclose government overpayments and their own criminal contracting violations went into effect Dec. 12. The rule — still considered “controversial” by federal contractors as voiced in a year’s worth of public comment — stems from a Justice Department request last year following government complaints that industry was not volunteering enough information (Aerospace DAILY, Nov. 15, 2007).
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — NASA is testing and installing the avionics in the Orion crew module test unit at its Dryden Flight Research Center here, in preparation for transfer to the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range for launch abort system (LAS) tests.
AIR FORCE The Air Force is modifying a Fixed Price Incentive Firm contract with Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., San Diego, Calif., not to exceed $18,222,000. This action will provide additional long lead associated with 5 Global Hawk Air Vehicles, 2 Ground Segments, 2 EISS and 2 ASIP sensor payloads. At this time the entire amount has been obligated. 303 AESG/PK Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio is the contracting activity (FA8620-08-C-3001, modification P00005). NAVY
HORNET POWER: The Australian Defense Ministry has awarded a 12-year contract to General Electric International Inc. to provide all-engine support for the country’s F/A-18A/B Hornet and soon-to-be acquired F/A-18F Super Hornet aircraft. Minister Joel Fitzgibbon asserted Dec. 15 that the new contract will save more than $20 million and provide more work for about 150 workers around Royal Australian Air Force Base Amberley in southeast Queensland.
NAUGHTY OR NICE?: Just how bad or good are defense contractors in Australia? They are about to find out. The Australian government said Dec. 11 it will issue what amounts to a report card to industry. Around 100 companies will receive the so-called CompanyScoreCard, spelling out just how they are doing. While the Australian defense materiel organization has provided feedback before, this time the data will be far more detailed, including comparing companies with others operating in the same business segment over the past three years.
The revamped request for proposals (RFP) for the U.S. Air Force’s $15 billion Combat, Search and Rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter replacement program puts greater focus on the lifecycle cost calculations that derailed the service’s previous procurement effort.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicated new calendar listing.) Jan. 26 - 28, 2009 — 6th Annual Tactical Power Sources Summit, Hilton Alexandria Old Town, Alexandria, Va. For more information go to www.idga.org/us/tacticalpower
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: Left-leaning analysts are pointing to two reports last week to boost their arguments that the U.S. military must better address unconventional threats, reinvigorate its ground forces, and rebalance the budget to match funding to post-9/11 priorities. The think tanks and related commenters from the liberal National Security Network also are highlighting a new essay from Defense Secretary Robert Gates in the newest Foreign Affairs magazine that apparently argues along similar lines. “The United States cannot expect ...
Controllers are sending the starboard solar array wing on the International Space Station (ISS) into an 18-hour test this weekend to gauge how well repairs made during the past space shuttle mission improved the performance of a critical mechanism that has been out of action for the past year.
DEADLY SILENCE: Boeing has captured a $12 million delivery order for research and development in support of the development phase of an InfraRed Search and Track (IRST) system for the U.S. Navy’s newest F/A-18E/F. IRST would give the semi-stealthy Super Hornets a passive way to detect targets without giving away aircraft positions through radar emissions. Boeing also snagged a $110.2 million contract to exercise the Lot 5 option for the Small Diameter Bomb.
PICKING UP PACE: After a slow start, the Joint Strike Fighter assembly line is finally humming. Lockheed Martin is expected to roll out no less the three F-35s over three days this week: aircraft AF-1, the first production-standard conventional takeoff and landing F-35A; AG-1, the static-test F-35A; and BF-4, the third short take-off and landing F-35B off the line. They join STOVL flight-test aircraft BF-1 and BF-2 and AA-1, the pre-production F-35 and the only one currently flying.
After a false start earlier this year, NASA is restarting its effort to buy a propulsion system for its planned Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft, following a more phased approach.
URGENT FUNDS: French armaments agency DGA says urgent operational requirement (UOR) spending could double next year as part of an ongoing effort to bolster the protection, projection and combat readiness of forces in Afghanistan and other foreign theaters. Although the list of new equipment is not yet decided, it is likely to include jammers, optical/radar sensors, rover tactical data links and SIDM medium-altitude unmanned aircraft.
Counterinsurgency aircraft, armed helicopters, turboprop trainers and a range of armored vehicles, weapons and other military equipment are among an expected $6 billion in U.S. arms sales to Iraq recently announced by a Pentagon agency. The foreign military sales will make Iraq the launch customer for the AT-6B armed version of Hawker Beechcraft’s T-6 Texan II turboprop trainer. Congress has been notified of the potential $520 million sale of 36 AT-6Bs to Iraq, plus another 20 T-6As, worth $210 million.
JASON DEFERRED: The Eumetsat Council has failed to agree on funding for the follow-on U.S.-European Jason-3 ocean altimetry meeting, pushing a decision on the €255 million spacecraft well into 2009 and threatening continuity with Jason-2, launched in June. Eumetsat said it would convene early next year to discuss how it can contribute €46 million in baseline funding plus a portion of a €46 million budget shortfall the agency is being asked to share with the European Commission and European Space Agency for the mission.
SNEAKY REAPERS: The U.S. Navy is only now acknowledging its purchase of four General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial systems built by General Atomics. The Navy purchased the MQ-9s between November 2005 and March 2007. They are being used for a “sensor testing and integration project,” service officials say. Few details were provided, though the reason behind the secrecy is unclear.
ALGAL BOOM: A team led by General Atomics will try to demonstrate that a drop-in replacement for JP-8 jet fuel can be produced affordably from algae, under a $20-million U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract. DARPA’s biofuels program has demonstrated the ability to produce a surrogate JP-8 from plant oil sources.
AVIATION CHIEF: Brig. Gen. Tim Crosby took the reins as the U.S. Army’s new program executive officer (PEO) for aviation in a ceremony at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., Dec. 12. Crosby takes over from Paul Bogosian, who retired after 35 years of Army service. The office is responsible for the development, procurement, and life cycle management of the Army’s helicopter fleet, as well as its fixed-wing aircraft and unmanned systems. Crosby previously served as deputy PEO for aviation.
MORE MRAPs: Four hundred more of Navistar’s MaxxPro Dash Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles (See story p. 5) will head to Afghanistan under a $362 million contract recently awarded to the company. Navistar is already prepping to deliver 822 MaxxPro Dash vehicles a month ahead of schedule at the end of January, from a previous September award. Work on the next batch of 400 is expected to be complete by the end of May 2009.
TOUGH TALK: Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) has harsh words to say about Pentagon acquisition strategy. A House Armed Services member and retired vice admiral, Sestak has been mentioned as possible Navy secretary in the Obama administration. Between 2006-2008, Sestak says, the Pentagon’s various development programs had over 30 breaches of Nunn-McCurdy cost triggers, but there’s been little attempt at reform.
JAM TOMORROW: The U.S. Navy is looking for bidders to provide and operate a pair of “electronic aggressor” aircraft than can flying jamming missions against its ships for electronic warfare (EW) training and testing. The aircraft will replace a pair of twin-turboprop Gulfstream Is now used for the task. They must be able to screen an inboard pair of strike aircraft at a minimum of 100 nautical miles from the target vessel’s search radar. The Navy wants one EW aggressor based on each coast and is guaranteeing a combined minimum 490 hours of flying.
