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Saving the Galaxy: The C-5 AMP/RERP Program

Related Stories: Americas - USA, Budgets, Contracts - Awards, Contracts - Modifications, FOCUS Articles, Issues - Political, Lobbying, Lockheed Martin, Other Corporation, Simulation & Training, Support Functions - Other, Testing & Evaluation, Transport & Utility

AIR C-5 Galaxy Over SF Bay
C-5 Galaxy
(click to view full)
DII

Got to get the maintenance depots ready. (March 16/10)

DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record. When it was introduced, back in 1970, the C-5 Galaxy was the largest plane in the world. It also has the highest operating cost of any Air Force weapon system, owing to extremely high maintenance demands as well as poor fuel economy. Worse, availability rates routinely hover near 50%. To add insult to injury, the Russians not only built a bigger plane (the AN-124), they sold it off at the end of the Cold War to semi-private operators, turning it into a commercial success whose customer list now includes… NATO.

Meanwhile, the USA still needs long-range, heavy load airlift. The AN-124’s commercial success may get its production line restarted, but the C-5 has no such hope. Boeing’s smaller C-17s cost more than $200 million per plane. That’s about the cost of a 747-8 freighter, for much higher availability rates than the C-5. What’s the right balance?

AIR C-5 Silhouette Sunrise or Sunset
Sunrise? Sunset?
(click to view full)

The US Air Force believed it could save money by upgrading the older C-5s to renew their avionics (AMP) and engines (RERP). Their hope was that this would eliminate the problems that keep so many C-5s in the hangar, cut down on future maintenance costs, and grow airlift capacity without adding new planes. Unfortunately, the program is program experienced major cost growth, and the C-5M program wound up being both cut in size, and cut in 2. The C-5A and C-5B/C fleets are now slated for different treatment, which will deliver fewer of the hoped-for benefits in exchange for lower costs and lower risk.

Rapid Fire: 2010-03-17

Related Stories: Americas - Other, Americas - USA, Asia - Central, Contracts - Awards, Daily Rapid Fire, Design Innovations, Fighters & Attack, IT - Software & Integration, Issues - Political, L3 Communications, Lockheed Martin, MPs & Justice, Medical, Other Corporation, Pre-RFP, Sensors & Guidance, Simulation & Training, Soldier's Gear, Support Functions - Other, Training & Exercises

  • European shipbuilder consortium (Fincantieri, Damen, Meyer Werft, STX, Thyssen Krupp) and EU sign grant agreement for 3.5 year BESST (Breakthrough in European Ship and Shipbuilding Technologies) project.
  • Defense Threat Reduction Agency is looking for industry input for a robotic underground munition that would be an air-dropped mobile platform capable of drilling underground to deliver munitions. FedBizOpps notice | Ubergizmo.com | Tech Journal
  • USJFCOM tests Lockheed Martin’s Valiant Angel system to sort through full-motion video from UAVs and sensors.

DTIC IACs: On-call Technical Expertise for the US Military

Related Stories: Americas - USA, Contracts - Awards, Contracts - Modifications, Delivery & Task Orders, Other Corporation, Projections & Assessments, R&D - Contracted, Simulation & Training, T&C - Booz Allen

DTIC Logo

$20.4 million to Booz Allen Hamilton for USAF cyber security under IATAC contract. (March 15/10)

The US Department of Defense’s Information Analysis Centers (IACs) are research and analysis organizations operated by the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC). Chartered by the DoD to help researchers, engineers, scientists and program managers, IACS offer specialized research staff to DoD agencies and military services.

The mission of the IACs is 2 two-fold: (1) IACs provide access to worldwide scientific and technical information to improve the productivity of personnel in the defense science and technology communities. The IACs accomplish this mission by collecting, analyzing, synthesizing, and disseminating relevant information in clearly-defined and structured subject areas; (2) IACs serve their respective fields by providing technical services and solutions.

There are 10 DTIC IACs that specialize in various scientific areas relevant to the US military…

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QF-16s: Look Ma, No Hands!

Related Stories: Americas - USA, Boeing, Contracts - Awards, Fighters & Attack, Simulation & Training, UAVs

QF-4 Takeoff
QF-4: the QF-16 predecessor
(click to view full)

QF-16s [pdf] are former F-16 fighters that will be fitted with remote-control equipment and used as aerial targets and decoys for testing against missiles and radars.

Boeing in St. Louis, MO recently received a $69.7 million contract to provide QF-16 full scale aerial targets. The USAF expects to buy 220 QF-16 with full rate production expected in FY 2014.

The QF-16 is a follow-on to the QF-4 aerial target drone…

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Digital Abrams: The M1A2 SEP Program

Related Stories: Americas - USA, Contracts - Awards, Contracts - Modifications, Delivery & Task Orders, Electronics - General, FOCUS Articles, General Dynamics, New Systems Tech, Other Corporation, Simulation & Training, Tanks & Mechanized

M1A2 SEP Motoring
M1A2 SEP
(click to view full)
DII

22 more tanks, program details. (March 8/10)

America’s M1 Abrams tanks come in a number of versions. In addition to the M1A1 that is now standard, the US Army is beginning to field its M1 TUSK for urban warfare. It also operates the M1A2 System Enhancement Program (SEP), currently the most advanced standard variant.

This Spotlight article covers the M1A2 Abrams SEP upgrade program, and will be updated and backfilled as new contracts are issued and key events take place.

SPAWAR Awards $145.8M in Contracts for TDL System Support

Related Stories: Americas - USA, C4ISR, Contracts - Awards, IT - General, IT - Networks & Bandwidth, IT - Software & Integration, Other Corporation, Signals Radio & Wireless, Simulation & Training, Support & Maintenance, T&C - CSC

SPAWAR

The US Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center Pacific in San Diego, CA awarded $145.8 million in contracts to support tactical data link (TDL) systems for US military services and Foreign Military Sales Program.

The TDL systems covered by the contracts include airborne tactical data systems; ballistic missile defense; command and control processor; common link integration processing; dynamic net management; Joint Tactical Radio System; tactical systems (engineering, integration, test, evaluation, fleet) support; and associated subsystems, network, process, and capability maturity model integration support.

The winners of the 3 TDL support contracts are:

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Rapid Fire: 2010-03-02

Related Stories: Americas - USA, BAE, Boeing, Britain/U.K., Contracts - Awards, Daily Rapid Fire, Engineering Vehicles, Helicopters & Rotary, IT - General, IT - Networks & Bandwidth, IT - Software & Integration, New Systems Tech, RFPs, Simulation & Training, T&C - SAIC, Tanks & Mechanized

  • Chinese People’s Liberation Army Senior Colonel, Liu Mingfu’s new book, “The China Dream”, reportedly argues that China must become the world’s top military power.
  • US Sen. Sessions [R-AL] questions criteria for Littoral Combat Ship RFP: AL.com | YouTube video.

MH-60S Airborne Mine Counter-Measures Continues Development

Related Stories: Americas - Other, Americas - USA, Ammunition, BAE, Britain/U.K., Coastal & Littoral, Contracts - Awards, Contracts - Modifications, Design Innovations, Electronics - General, Guns - 20-59 mm direct, Helicopters & Rotary, IT - Software & Integration, Lockheed Martin, New Systems Tech, Northrop-Grumman, Other Corporation, Partnerships & Consortia, Protective Systems - Naval, R&D - Contracted, Raytheon, Sensors - Aquatic, Simulation & Training, Small Business, Spotlight articles, Support & Maintenance, UUVs & USVs, Underwater Weapons, United Technologies, Warfare - Trends

MH-53E/Mk-105
MH-53E & Mk-105 sled
(click to view full)
DII

The US Navy currently uses large CH-53/MH-53 helicopters and towed sleds to help with mine clearance work, but they hope to replace those old systems with something smaller and newer. In an era where the threat of mines is arguably rising, while new minehunter ship classes like the Ospreys are being retired by the US Navy and sold, AMCM is a critical program.

The smaller MH-60S helicopter’s Airborne Mine Counter-Measures (AMCM) system adds an operator’s station to the helicopter cabin, additional internal fuel stores, and towing capability, accompanied by a suite of carried systems that can be mixed and matched. AMCM is actually 5 different air, surface and sub-surface mine countermeasures systems, all deployed and integrated together in the helicopter.

DoD Supercomputers: Speeding Along the Digital Highway

Related Stories: Americas - USA, Contracts - Awards, IT - General, IT - Networks & Bandwidth, IT - Software & Integration, Other Corporation, Partnerships & Consortia, R&D - Contracted, Science - Basic Research, Simulation & Training, T&C - SAIC, University-related

MIL_HPCMP_Logo'/

Cray to supply 3 DoD supercomputers. (Feb 24/10)

The US Department of Defense (DoD) High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) was set up in 1992 to modernize DoD’s supercomputing capabilities. The HPCMP was assembled out of a collection of small high performance computing departments run by the services, each with supercomputing capabilities independent of the others.

The HPCMP brings these capabilities together. The program provides supercomputer services, high-speed network communications, and computational science expertise that enables the DoD labs to develop new weapons systems, prepare US aircraft for overseas deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq, and assist long-term weather predictions to plan humanitarian and military operations throughout the world…

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Rapid Fire: 2010-02-23

Related Stories: Americas - USA, Asia - China, Asia - Other, Britain/U.K., Contracts - Awards, DARPA, Daily Rapid Fire, Delivery & Task Orders, Elbit Systems, Europe - France, Fighters & Attack, Helicopters & Rotary, Lockheed Martin, Mergers & Acquisitions, Middle East - Israel, Missiles - Anti-Armor, Northrop-Grumman, Other Corporation, Radars, Simulation & Training, Support Functions - Other, T&C - SAIC, United Technologies

  • Taiwan air force is not ready to withstand an attack from China, US DIA report warns. AP | Reuters
  • WIRED Danger Room: Where have all the MANPADS (MAN Portable Air Defense missile Systems) gone?

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