USMC M1A1 settles a
firefight in Fallujah
(click to view full)

BAE gets $32 million order to RESET 417 M113 APCs. (Jan 26/10)

The RESET process takes used vehicles apart, inspects the parts, then replaces any defective parts and refurbishes the equipment to like-new condition. Sometimes upgrades are also performed. RESET and related processes like remanufacture/upgrades are being performed on M1 Abrams tanks, Bradley IFV/CFVs, HMMWV jeeps, and even helicopters. It usually takes place when the vehicles return from the front lines in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations, where sand damage and increased wear have taken their toll.

In truth, many of these vehicles were produced in the 1980s, and are reaching an age where “deep maintenance” is a wise and necessary measure. A July 2006 Washington Times article noted the effect age and wear have had on the USA’s vehicle fleet, and DID has also covered this subject under the wider rubric of the Army’s maintenance overhang. DID believes these efforts are sufficiently important that the consolidated visibility of a FOCUS Article is in order.

Note that this is not a complete list of RESET contracts; DID will seek to backfill its roster as opportunities arise, and newly-added materials will be presented in green as a reader convenience. Recent additions include a contract to reset FMTV medium trucks…

• RESET Programs and Procedures
• RESET Contracts, Delivery Orders & Developments, FY 2006-Present [updated]
• Vehicle Fleets and Maintenance Overhangs
• Additional Readings
  
  Continue Reading… »

• NATO Ministerial: Gates pledges greater sharing of classified technology with allies; NATO chief calls for more resources to train Afghan army and police, while France agrees to send 80 more trainers.

• European defense ministers call for speedy conclusion to talks on troubled Airbus A400M military airlift program.

• The US Navy UCAS program receives $2 billion QDR push.

• US Army pays $253.3 million to service US Stryker vehicles around the world.

• Australia ready to OK final version of $547 million integrated HF communications system for armed forces.

• US Navy orders $122.5 million in spares and extra engine maintenance for V-22 Osprey.

• Obama administration beefs up missile defense budget. BMD report focuses on regional missile threats.

• Romania to allow US ballistic missile defense inceptor missiles to be deployed, following US cancellation of larger BMD deployments in Poland and the Czech Republic.

• Boeing gets $99.3 million order to supply 13 more AH-64D Block II helicopters to the US Army.

• Which defense firms will benefit from FY 2011 defense budget?

• Northrop Grumman feels Pentagon heat over KC-X aerial refueling tanker RFP.

• Taiwan’s order for Eurocopter EC225s could strain China-European Union relations – but hasn’t, so far.

• Asia-Pacific nations revamp their fighter inventories.

• DARPA has enlightened view on funding for ArcLight, a long-range strike weapon that could be launched using the MK 41 system onboard ships and subs.

• US military sends bomb-sniffing dogs to Iraq.

Styker APC in
Mosul traffic jam
(click to view full)

GM General Dynamics Land Systems Defense Group LLC Joint Venture in Sterling Heights, MI received a $253.3 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for follow-on contractor logistics support for Stryker family of vehicles in both garrison and deployment locations.

The 8×8 wheeled Stryker armored vehicle is the backbone of the US Army’s 7 medium armored brigades, with an 8th on the way.

Of the 7 brigades, 3 are deployed in combat zones: 2 in Iraq and 1 in Afghanistan. The Army has 3,320 Stryker vehicles, with more than 640 currently being used in combat.

Continue Reading… »

Oshkosh M-ATV
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$84.7 million for M-ATV explosively formed penetrator kits. (Feb 5/10)

“The Government plans to acquire an MRAP All-Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV). The M-ATV is a lighter, off-road, and more maneuverable vehicle that incorporates current MRAP level [bullet and mine blast] protection. The M-ATV will require effectiveness in an off-road mission profile. The vehicle will include EFP and RPG protection (integral or removable kit). The M-ATV will maximize both protection levels and off-road mobility & maneuverability attributes, and must balance the effects of size and weight while attempting to achieve the stated requirements.”
  —US government FedBizOpps, November 2008

Oshkosh Defense’s M-ATV candidate secured a long-denied MRAP win, and the firm continues to remain ahead of production targets. The initial plan expected to spend up to $3.3 billion to order 5,244 M-ATVs for the US Army (2,598), Marine Corps (1,565), Special Operations Command (643), US Air Force (280) and the Navy (65), plus 93 test vehicles; but FY 2010 budgets and purchases have pushed this total higher.

• MRAP ATV: Requirements and Contenders
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
  Continue Reading… »

GPS IIIA concept
(click to view full)

$75.9 million to Boeing to support GPS III precursor. (Feb 5/10)

DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record. It’s hard to be more significant than the USA’s Global Positioning System (GPS), which is widely relied upon for civilian uses, including timing services for stock trades and credit card processing. At the same time, military class (M-code) GPS guidance can now be found in everything from cruise missiles and various precision-guided bombs, to battlefield rockets and even artillery shells. Combat search and rescue radios use it, and so does a broadening array of individual soldier’s equipment. Disruption or decay of of the the critical capabilities provided by this line of communication in space would cripple both the US military, and many aspects of the global economy.

GPS-III satellites are a key part of this PTN (Positioning, Timing & Navigation) system’s future plan, offering several improvements over the existing GPS II family. When fully deployed, the current vision for GPS-III is that the new satellites will feature a new L1C civil signal; a cross-linked command and control architecture that allows the entire GPS constellation to be updated from a single ground station; and a spot beam antenna that provides resistance to hostile military jamming while improving accuracy and integrity. GPS III will also have limited interoperability with Europe’s ongoing Galileo GPS-type satellite constellation, per a 2006 agreement involving Lockheed Martin and EADS.

The latest additions include significantly upgraded background and contract information, GAO worries about the USAF’s ability to sustain its GPS capabilities if GPS IIF and IIIA encounter delays, and possible congressional funding cuts for GPS-III’s critical next-generation ground control segment…

• The Existing Array
• The GPS III Program
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
  Continue Reading… »

67% of the fleet
(click to view full)

Program changes create a Nunn-McCurdy breach, trigger forced review. (Feb 3/10)

The prime missions of the new DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class destroyer are to provide naval gunfire support and next-generation air defense in near-shore areas where other large ships hesitate to tread, possibly even as the anchor for an action group of stealthy Littoral Combat Ships and submarines. The estimated 14,500t (cruiser sized) Zumwalt Class will be fully multi-role, however, with undersea warfare, anti-ship, and long-range surface attack roles.

That makes the DDG-1000 suitable or another role – as a “hidden ace card,” using its overall stealth to create uncertainty for enemy forces. At over $3 billion per ship for construction alone, however, the program faced significant obstacles if it wanted to avoid fulfilling former Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter’s fears for the fleet.

True, or False?
(click to view full)

DID’s FOCUS Article for the DDG-1000 program covers the new ships’ capabilities and technologies, key controversies, associated contracts and costs, and related background resources. From the outset, DID has noted that the Zumwalt Class might face the same fate as the ultra-sophisticated, ultra-expensive SSN-21 Seawolf Class submarines. That appears to have come true, with news of the program’s truncation to just 3 ships. Meanwhile, production continues.

• Zumwalt Class: Program and Participants
• DDG-1000 Key Technologies and Features
• DDG-1000 Issues and Controversies
• Zumwalt Class: Contracts and Key Events
  • FY 2010 [updated]
  • FY 2009
  • FY 2008
  • FY 2007
  • FY 2006
  • FY 2005
  • FY 1998 through 2004
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
  Continue Reading… »

Austal MRV/JHSV concept
(click to view full)

Is program expansion from 8 to 28 ships in the cards? (Feb 3/10)

The US Army and Navy have leased Incat TSV/HSV wave-piercing catamaran ship designs, while the Marines’ charged ahead with very successful use of Austal’s Westpac Express high-speed catamaran. These Australian-designed ships all give commanders the ability to roll on a company with full gear and equipment (or roll on a full infantry battalion if used only as a troop transport), haul it intra-theater distances at 38 knots, then move their shallow draft safely into austere ports to roll them off.

Unsurprisingly, their use has attracted favorable comment and notice from all services. So favorable that the experiments have led to a $1.6 billion program called the Joint High Speed Vessel, which could involve up to 10 ships. These designs may even have uses beyond simple ferrying and transport. DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record, and this article covers JHSV from its inception onward.

• The US Military’s HSV/TSV Experience
• The JHSV Program
• Contracts & Key Events
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
  Continue Reading… »

General Dynamics Team
Trimaran LCS Design
(click to enlarge)

New RFP, FY 2011 budget request, Problems with ship survivability, LCS-2 commissioning, GAO costs report. (Feb 2/10)

Exploit simplicity, numbers, the pace of technology development in electronics and robotics, and fast reconfiguration. That was the US Navy’s idea for the low-end backbone of its future surface combatant fleet. Inspired by successful experiments like Denmark’s Standard Flex ships, the US Navy’s $30+ billion “Littoral Combat Ship” program was intended to create a new generation of affordable surface combatants that could operate in dangerous shallow and near-shore environments, while remaining affordable and capable throughout their lifetimes.

It hasn’t worked that way. In practice, what the Navy wanted, the capabilities needed to perform primary naval missions, and what could be delivered for the sums available, have proven nearly irreconcilable. The LCS program has changed its fundamental acquisition plan several times since 2005, and canceled contracts with both competing teams, without escaping any of its fundamental issues. This public-access FOCUS article offer a wealth of research material, alongside looks at the LCS program’s designs, industry teams procurement plans, military controversies, and contracts.

• LCS: Concept & Needs
• LCS: The Competing Teams
• LCS Solution = Standard Equipment + Mission Modules
• LCS: Controversies & Cautions
• LCS: Budgets and Program Structure [updated]
• LCS: Export Potential
• LCS: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• LCS Ancillaries: Mission Module & Weapon Contracts & Key Events
• Additional Readings & Sources [updated]
  
  Continue Reading… »

Trident II D5 Test Launch
(click to view full)

Draper Lab gets $131.1 million contract to upgrade the guidance systems on the Trident II D5 missile. (Feb 2/10)

The year that the Trident II D5 ballistic missile was first deployed, 1990, saw the beginning of the end of the missile’s primary mission – to deter a first nuclear strike by the Soviet Union.

Nuclear tipped missiles were first deployed on board US submarines in the 1960s at the height of the Cold War to deter a Soviet first strike. The deterrence theorists argued that, unlike their land-based cousins, submarine-based nuclear weapons couldn’t be taken out by a surprise first strike by the Soviet Union because the submarines were nearly impossible to locate and target. Thus, Soviet leaders could not hope to destroy the weapons before they could be launched against Soviet territory.

But by the time the latest version of the submarine-launched ballistic missile was deployed, the existence of the Soviet Union itself was in doubt. The previous year, the Soviet’s Eastern European client states began to fall, symbolized by the destruction of the Berlin Wall. The Soviet Union itself began to crumble with various Soviet republics rebelling against the central government in 1990. Then, in 1991, a failed coup attempt against Soviet reformer Mikhail Gorbachev brought to power Boris Yeltsin, who promptly dissolved the Soviet Union…

• D5 Life Extension Program
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
  Continue Reading… »

• Taiwan prepares to order a $6.45 billion weapons package, sparks predictable diplomatic huffing.

• The Pentagon plans to replace the official in charge of the F-35 JSF program and withhold $614 million in performance fees from Lockheed Martin for failing to meet key goals. At the same time Pratt & Whitney delivered the 1st F135 production engine for the F-35 aircraft.

• Sikorsky is investing $1 billion to develop an unmanned Black Hawk helicopter, which it hopes to have ready by 2015.

• USS George H.W. Bush [CVN 77] redelivered; its strike group will soon have the first female CSG commander in US Navy history.

• Shares of major US defense companies gained in trading following the unveiling of the Obama administration’s FY 2011 defense budget that would increase defense spending by 3.4%.

• The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) had another setback in its effort to build a ballistic missile defense, when its Sea-Based X-band radar failed to track a target missile during a test at the Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific. MDA is also looking for a supplier for its target missiles.

• Prime contractor CSC gets $261 million in orders to provide IT and logistics services under the US Army’s Logistics Modernization Program.

• USAF orders more of Lockheed’s Sniper ATP surveillance & targeting pods.

• Rolls Royce scores a $146 million order to provide another year of C-130J fleet engine support.

• Singapore unveils its new G550 AWACS aircraft.

• Raytheon/Boeing’s JAGM missile contender finishes captive test flights.

• Raytheon BBN announces a successful ad-hoc networking experiment under DARPA’s WNaN effort.