Rapid Fire March 12, 2012: Acquisition Fully Burdened with Cost of Energy

Mar 12, 2012 08:15 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff
  • The US Department of Defense published an implementation plan for the operational energy strategy [both PDFs] it released last year. Energy considerations will be made part of modeling/simulation and requirements, and acquisition plans will have to incorporate Fully Burdened Cost of Energy (FBCE) analyses, in line with a recent Navy issuance [PDF]. In November last year the Navy set up an Operational Energy in Acquisition Team (EN-ACQT) to embed energy considerations in all acquisitions. Some of these goals will be tough to achieve: the Pentagon’s plan reflects the Air Force’s recent realization that 10% jet fuel burn reduction was not going to happen by 2015; the deadline to meet that goal is now 2020.
  • Saving energy money involves engineering smarter procedures, not just more effective engines. Langley AFB has been testing an aircraft fueling system that reduces the need to shuffle trucks back and forth.
  • The latest CBRNIAC newsletter [PDF] has an article on the chemical agent detection capability the US Navy plans to add to many of its ships by the end of 2018. Known as the Improved Point Detection Sytem – Lifecycle Replacement (IDPS-LR), it was recently installed on USS Mason (DDG 87). 35 ships are scheduled for upgrade this year, with DDG-110, DDG-83 and LPD-19 next in line.
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  • The US Army plans to test an online tool meant to let troops on the ground contribute to the body of existing intelligence on the areas they operate in. A feedback loop if you will, rather than the usual read-only database fed by remote analysts. They call it “ops-intel convergence” which can conveniently be acronymized to OIC.

  • AvWeek sees an EADS that “backs away” from its Talarion UAV. DID’s take: no, they’re just waiting for the French elections.

  • On our radar: Sourcemap, an “open directory of supply chains and environmental footprints.” The public-facing website has consumer mass-market products in mind, but it is not too much of a stretch to see something like this applied to contain the presence of counterfeits in the defense electronics supply chain.

  • Supply chain risk management is also on the mind of the CrossTalk editors: their latest issue has a reprint from an IEEE conference paper on code vulnerabilities in code you buy or integrate.

  • The US may restate military aid to Yemen soon.

  • U.S. Navy Vice Admiral and JSF program manager David Venlet confirmed that buying F-35Bs is indeed “under consideration” in Great Britain. Meanwhile, an update on why the 1st F-35A flight at Eglin AFB was shortened last week: loose fasteners.

  • The JLTV EMD RFP which was initially due tomorrow March 13 has been extended to March 27. A 4th amendment [PDF] was also added.

  • US Marines and DoD officials are feeling the heat of the non-lethal Active Denial System in the video below. So it this actually being deployed anywhere?

    • Categories: Britain/U.K., Daily Rapid Fire, EADS, Fighters & Attack, France, Fuel & Power, Official Reports, UAVs, WMD Detection

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