The misuse of urgent needs requests coupled with outdated purchasing policies is hampering the Pentagon's ability to get vital equipment into battle zones when it's needed, military acquisition officials say. Speaking at a June 20 panel at the Transformation Warfare '07 conference in Virginia Beach, Pentagon acquisition officials and purchasing experts talked about delays and questionable expenditures caused by requirements creep, Cold War purchasing policies and other related problems. Bogus requests
DELAYED: Thunderstorms near Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla., forced NASA to wave off shuttle Atlantis from landing June 21. Atlantis will try again during one of five opportunities at KSC June 22, the first of which is at 2:18 p.m. EDT. If the weather in Florida remains poor, there will be three landing opportunities at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., as well.
Pentagon officials are lobbying appropriators on Capitol Hill in a last-ditch effort to shore up support for the beleaguered Conventional Trident Missile (CTM) program, with particular focus on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Worried about international reaction, Congress last year denied funding to CTM entirely (DAILY, Aug. 6, 2006). The Bush administration requested $175 million in fiscal 2008 for the program, which would tip submarine-based intercontinental ballistic missiles with conventional warheads for prompt global strike.
The June 15 shortfall of a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V launch vehicle with a pair of classified National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) ocean surveillance spacecraft onboard may delay upcoming military missions by the Boeing/Lockheed Martin joint venture. Among them could be the first Boeing-built Wideband Gapfiller System (WGS) satellite, designed to begin replacing the aging Defense Satellite Communications Spacecraft (DSCS) constellation.
Unless advanced technology being developed by defense contractors is going to help the warfighter for an affordable cost, U.S. Air Force Gen. Ronald Keys doesn't want to see it. "This is not about novelty," the commander of Air Combat Command said June 20 during his morning keynote speech at the Transformation Warfare 07 conference and exhibit in Virginia Beach, Va. The ACC cannot waste time on "science projects," he said.
UAS REPAIRS: AeroVironment Corp. of Monrovia, Calif., has been awarded a $17.6 million contract to provide maintenance and repair for RQ-11 Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, the Defense Department said June 20. The work will be performed in Simi Valley, Calif., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 15, 2007. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
The U.S. Air Force is living and thinking too much in the Cold War mode with its "cursor-on-target" mantra, says Air Force General Michael V. Hayden, director of the Central Intelligence Agency. "They're still thinking about the end product of intelligence," Hayden said June 19 during an Air Force Defense Strategy Seminar Series speech.
EYE-WATERING: The stealth and maneuverability characteristics of the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter - coupled with some yet-to-be-publicly-seen developments from the black world - will create a subsonic bomber by 2018 that will "water people's eyes," says Lt. Gen. Robert "Bob" Elder, commander, 8th Air Force, Barksdale Air Force Base, La. Even though hypersonic speed or some other more advanced capabilities won't be ready to be incorporated in that timeframe, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen.
PARIS - Two very different approaches to the U.S. Navy's Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) requirement were detailed in presentations at the Paris Air Show by Northrop Grumman and Boeing, which, with Lockheed Martin/General Atomics Predator, are in contention for a $3 billion contract. BAMS is the planned supplement to the abilities of the new Boeing P-8A maritime patroller, calling for some 48 unmanned, high-altitude, long-range aircraft controlled from ground stations.
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.
