Chinook at Night

South Korea intends to spend more than 2 billion dollars over the next 5 years on missiles according to Yonhap. The Chosunilbo reports that this sum will translate into 500+ Hyunmu-2 and Hyunmu-3 missiles. They’re also adding to their minesweeping capabilities.

KC-135: Old as the hills…

DID’s FOCUS articles cover major weapons acquisition programs – and no program is more important to the USAF than its aerial tanker fleet renewal. In January 2007, the big question was whether there would be a competition for the USA’s KC-X proposal, covering 175 production aircraft and 4 test platforms. The total cost for this first phase alone will exceed $25 billion, but America’s aerial tanker fleet demands new planes to replace its KC-135s, whose most recent new delivery was in 1965. Otherwise, unpredictable age or fatigue issues, like the ones that grounded its F-15A-D fighters in 2008, could ground its aerial tankers – and with them, a substantial slice of the USA’s total airpower.

KC-Y and KC-Z contracts may follow in subsequent decades, in order to replace all 530 (195 active; ANG 251; Reserve 84) active tankers, as well as the USAF’s 59 heavy KC-10 tankers that were delivered from 1979-1987. Then again, fiscal and demographic realities may mean that the 179 plane KC-X buy is “it” for the USAF. Either way, the stakes were huge for all concerned.

In the end, it was Team Boeing’s KC-767 NexGen/ KC-46A (767 derivative) vs. EADS North America’s KC-45A (Airbus KC-30/A330-200 derivative), both within the Pentagon and in the halls of Congress. The financial and employment stakes guaranteed a huge political fight no matter which side won. A fight that ended up sinking, and restarting, the entire program, after Airbus won in February 2008. Three years later, Boeing won the recompete. Now, it has to deliver.

• KC-X: The Program
  • The KC-X Competitions
  • The KC-46A Development Phase
  • The KC-46A Production Phase
• Boeing’s KC-46A, and Its Team [updated]
• KC-X RFP: Contracts & Key Developments [updated]
• Appendix A: KC-X RFP v2.0 – The New Structure
• Appendix B: The Contenders and The Cargo Factor – KC-30B, KC-767… KC-777?
• Appendix C: Airbus KC-30/ KC-45A Team
• Additional Readings
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In March 2008, the Bell Boeing Joint Project Office in Amarillo, TX received a $10.4 billion modification that converted the previous advance acquisition contract (N00019-07-C-0001) to a fixed-price-incentive-fee, multi-year contract. The new contract now sits at $10.92 billion, and will be used to buy 143 MV-22 (for USMC) and 31 CV-22 (Air Force Special Operations) Osprey aircraft, plus associated manufacturing tooling to move the aircraft into full production.

The V-22 tilt-rotor program has been beset by controversy throughout its 20-year development period. Despite these issues, and the emergence of competitive but more conventional compound helicopter technologies like Piasecki’s X-49 Speedhawk and Sikorsky’s X2, the V-22 program continues to move forward. This DID Spotlight article looks at the V-22’s multi-year purchase contract for 2008-12, associated contracts for key V-22 systems, program developments that arise after the contract conversion, and a preview of what may come next.

• V-22 MYP-II? [NEW]
• Contracts & Key Events (June 2008 – Present) [updated]
• Additional Readings
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• The Pentagon published the Contracting Officer’s Representative Handbook (DoD COR HDBK – PDF) to provide guidance on contract surveillance, ethics, the acquisition process, as well as contract structure, administration, and monitoring. It intends to provide a comprehensive roundup of material found in FAR, DFARS, and other relevant regulation.

• The GAO purchased military-grade electronic parts on the internet through a fictitious company to assess the availability of counterfeit parts from China. They found parts that had been remarked, did not meet milspec, showed more recent dates than the last legit date of production for that part, and other signs of counterfeiting.

• Next Thursday the US Senate Armed Services Committee will consider the nominations of Frank Kendall as Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics; Katharina G. McFarland to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition; and Heidi Shyu to be Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology. 2 other undersecretaries and one assistant secretary are also up for nomination during the same hearing.
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• The US Navy’s MZ-3A military research airship is about to get another year’s lease on life, as an Army test bed. With LEMV coming along, that’s probably a good idea.

• The GAO says US Army payroll is a mess – not the kind where you get to eat.

• Dassault Aviation released its 2011 results [PDF]. Net sales were down 21% to 3.3B euros (about $4.4B) because of markedly lower Falcon business jet deliveries vs. a record 2010. Defense orders grew 17.5% to 931 million euros. The consolidated backlog is down 7% to 8.75 billion euros.
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• The Australian DoD announced the allocation of construction work for the third ship of the $8 billion Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD).

• Earlier this week India debarred 4 foreign companies – Israel Military Industries (IMI), Singapore Technologies Kinetics Ltd, Rheinmetall’s Air Defence Swiss subsidiary, and Russia’s Corporation Defence (aka Corporation Zashchita) – and 2 local ones – RK Machine Tools Ltd and TS Kisan and Co Private Ltd – from doing business with its Ministry of Defence for 10 years. Apparently this will affect the whole ministry in practice though not in the legal fineprint.
  
  ST Kinetics first complained that allegations to that effect were made since 2009 despite a lack of any formal charges until now. The company then confirmed it received official notification from the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) which only affects an NDA signed a few years ago, as the firm has not won any defense contract in India. Meanwhile Israel’s defense ministry expressed its surprise and is reviewing how to proceed with IMI.
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Galileo concept

The USA’s Global Positioning System service remains free, but the European Union is spending billions to create an alternative under their own control. In addition to civilian GPS (the Open Service), services to be offered include a Safety of Life Service (SoL) for civil aviation and search and rescue, a paid Commercial Service with accuracy greater than 1 meter, plus a Public Regulated Service (PRS) for use by security authorities and governments. PRS/SoL aims to offer Open Service quality, with added robustness against jamming and the reliable detection of problems within 10 seconds.

Organizational issues and shortfalls in expected progress pushed the “Galileo” project back from its originally intended operational date of 2007 to 2014/15. After a public-private partnership model failed, the EU gained initial-stage approval for its plan to finance the program with tax dollars instead of the expected private investments. Political issues were overcome in 2007 by raiding other EU accounts for the billions required, but by 2011, it became clear that requests for billions more in public funds were on the way. Meanwhile, doubts persist in several quarters about Galileo’s touted economic model. Security concerns regarding China’s involvement, and its Beidou-2/Compass project overlap, have been equally persistent. On a European political level, however, Galileo is now irreversible.

This article offers background, players, developments, contracts, and in-depth research links for Galileo, as well as linked EU programs like GIOVE and EGNOS:

• The Galileo Program
  • Galileo: The System [updated]
  • Galileo Elements [updated]
  • Galileo Structure & Costs [updated]
  • Galileo Timeline [NEW]
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings [updated]
  • PNT alternatives
  • News & Views
  • The Security Dimension
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• Latest from the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS): Controlling Costs and Demanding Effective Program Execution [PDF, chart galore]; and a short memo [PDF] on evolving US-India relations. The author reckons India will want to get closer to Iran. The Washington Quarterly preemptively disagreed [PDF].

• Dassault Aviation released the most terse and self-restrained press release ever in the wake of the Rafale’s final selection for India’s MMRCA. The French business press and stock market were less subdued, but it is not a signed contract just yet. More details to come.

• Northrop Grumman reported sales of $26.4B in 2011, a $1.7B or 6% drop from 2010. Its aerospace, electronic and information systems all shrunk by a few percentage points while revenue from the smaller Technical Services dropped by 16%. Among other programs, lower-than-anticipated F-35 deliveries weighted on the aerospace division. The company has revisited the criteria it uses to state its total backlog. This change contributes $3B out of a $7.3B backlog decrease from the previous year, and brings the total down by 15.6% to $39.5B with a 59% funding ratio. NG excludes unexercised contract options and unfunded Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) orders from its backlog numbers.
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• A recent Finmeccanica DRS release about a $691 million sub-contract for submarine parts was wrong; the figure is apparently $400 million. More details to come later.

• India’s defense minister, meanwhile, talks about 9 more C-130Js – but the DSCA request was for only 6.

• Well, this is an interesting point of view: “It is perhaps time for the Indian majors like Tata, L&T and Mahindra Defence and indeed the Indian Government/DPSUs to invest in American and European defence companies.” After all, the hostile takeover of Arcelor by Mittal in 2006 was rocky but eventually went through to form the largest steel maker in the world. Who would have thought that possible when the roots of the European Union are found in a steel and coal common market and the French state owned Usinor-Sacilor as late as 1995? That said India is currently stalling on allowing foreign direct investment in retail so globalization is not quite complete just yet.

• TASC and its 15 partners wins a $133 million NASA contract [PDF] for software verification and validation. Projects since 2005 have included instrument flight software, launch vehicles, navigation systems and ground system legacy integration.

• US Navy SEAL “Naval Special Warfare Group Four” is being recognized for its… business process improvement.

• Researchers at the Center for Corrosion Science & Engineering (CCSE) within the Naval Research Laboratory have developed a cheaper way to inspect the exterior coating of ships by using digital cameras and custom-made software. They expect to shorten the workload by a factor of 6 vs. the existing visual inspection process.

• Members of the US House and Senate have been working in conference on the Defense Authorization bill all week and hope to have it ready to send to the President next week. Among the points under discussion: whether to transfer the MC-12 program, and the ongoing VA vs. FL CVN homeporting contention. Another budget issue: sticking to what the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) budget is supposed to be about.

• Should the US develop a counter-UAV doctrine? Maybe other countries already have one…

• “All your drone r belong to us”: Bad day for Lockheed Martin’s Skunkworks. Iran shows pictures of an intact RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone, which it says it hacked into and forced to land in western Iran. The Iranian regime’s lie detector scores are measured using the Richter Scale, but the drone is curiously intact. Partly because the US couldn’t bring itself to strike & destroy it. Video after the jump:
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• It’s confirmed: the Super Committee might have come close, but ultimately failed to reach an agreement. SecDef Panetta declared that “Congress cannot simply turn off the sequester mechanism” but also hinted that the nation deserves better than the outcome of the sequester. Predictably, HASC Chairman McKeon (R-CA) announced he’ll soon introduce a bill to roll back the sequestration mechanism before it kicks in. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) plan to do the same in the upper chamber. President Obama preemptively threatened to veto any such legislation. The Administration will have to show its cards by February when it submits the FY13 President budget. Will it assume sequestration takes place or not? And since sequestration doesn’t kick in until 2013, this might have to wait until after the 2012 election, for the new Congress to expedite in December ‘12. Expect to hear about it in tonight’s Republican primary debate, and as an ongoing campaign issue.

• The US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report on the Navy’s amphibious warfare ships, reckons the Navy will fall short of its “unconstrained demand” as stated last year.

• The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission released its annual report to Congress [PDF] last week, reviewing among other topics China’s military developments and its “Area Control Strategy.” The report states: “In order to defeat a superior opponent, the Area Control Strategy emphasizes degrading an opponent’s technological advantages; striking first in a conflict; and establishing military control over China’s periphery, especially the maritime region off of China’s eastern coast.”

• US Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) is pressuring the Obama administration on F-16 sales to Taiwan: his letter | Taipei Times.

• Military cooperation between the US and Australia may lead to the development of joint military facilities on Cocos Islands in the Indian ocean.

• The transfer of dock landing ship Foudre from France to Chile is confirmed [in French] and will happen next month, as well as training of Chilean personnel. Defense ministers Gerard Longuet (FR) and Andres Allamand (CL) discussed increasing their naval cooperation in the Pacific ocean.

• Poland’s defense spending looks set to increase more than in most other European countries in the next few years.

• In the UK a fleet of 38 Merlin helicopters has been grounded earlier this month because of problems with their computerized recording systems.