A160T carries
1,000 pounds
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Helicopters are familiar sights in the sky, and recent years have seen a variety of unmanned helicopter options introduced into the market. Boeing’s entry lays a breathtaking challenge before the field: what could the military do with a helicopter-like, autonomously-flown UAV with a range of 2,500 nautical miles and endurance of 16-24 hours, carrying a payload of 300-1,000 pounds, and doing it all more quietly than conventional helicopters? For that matter, imagine what disaster relief officials could do with something that had all the positive search characteristics of a helicopter, but much longer endurance.

Enter the A160 Hummingbird Warrior, which was picked up in one of Boeing’s corporate acquisition deals and uses a very unconventional rotor technology. The firm’s Phantom Works division continues to develop it as a revolutionary technology demonstrator and future UAV platform. With the Army’s Class IV UAV role and the Navy’s VTUAV locked up by the Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire Scout, Boeing’s sales options may seem thin. Their platform’s capabilities may interest the USA’s Special Operations Command and Department of Homeland Security, however, and exceptional performance gains will always create market opportunities in the civil and military space. At least, Boeing hopes so.

This is DID’s FOCUS article covering the A160 program, which is about to begin flight testing again after a December 2007 crash…

• The A160T Hummingbird
• Contracts & Key Events
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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CH-53E lifts UH-60, Iraq
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DID FOCUS Article “CH-53K: The U.S. Marines’ HLR Helicopter Program (updated)” notes that:

“On average, existing CH-53E aircraft are more than 15 years old, have over 3,000 flight hours under tough conditions, and are becoming more and more of a maintenance challenge with a 44:1 maintenance man-hours:flight hours ratio. Not to mention the resulting $20,000 per flight-hour cost ratio. According to Jane’s Defense Weekly, a 1999 analysis showed that the existing fleet has a service life of 6,120 flight hours, based on fatigue at the point where the tail folds. Currently, the USMC expects the existing fleet will start to reach this point in 2011, at a rate of 15 aircraft per year.”

That kind of maintenance time can create a downward spiral as work backlogs delay maintenance, which increases the number of off-duty helicopters, which forces the Navy to run existing helicopters harder, which means they need maintenance more quickly. Airframe fatigue issues will be tricky and unpredictable, as experience with the USAf’s F-15 fleet demonstrates. On the maintenance front, however, Defense News reports that the US Navy is undertaking a $150 million engine upgrade involving titanium nitride-coated blades on helicopter engine compressors. TiN is already used on USMC CH-46 Sea Knights and British Lynx helicopters, among others, to help cope with the sandblasting these components receive in desert operations. The goal is to improve the “time on wing” from 350 hours to 1,100 hours, and time between full overhauuls from 2,400 to 3,200 hours, resulting in an estimated savings of $22 million per year. They’re already part way there. About half of the fleet’s 3-engine CH-53Es Super Stallion mainstays, older twin-engine CH-53Ds, and MH-53E Sea Dragon minehunters have been upgraded, and “average time on wing” has risen to about 665 hours. See the full Gannett Navy Times report.

AEY Betrayal?
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Reports surfaced in late March that a company with several hundred million dollars worth of contracts, acting as the main supplier of munitions to Afghanistan’s army and police forces, has been delivering substandard ammunition and violating military export regulations. It operated out of an unmarked office in Miami Beach, FL, and employed a 22 year old licensed masseur as its Vice President. Naturally, a number of readers recommended it as DID’s lead April Fool’s Day story. Unfortunately, the story is not a joke.

In March 2007, “$298M to AEY for Ammo in Afghanistan” covered one of the firm’s key contracts. As of March 25/08, however, AEY, Inc. is barred from future contracts with any agency of the US government, and is under investigation by the Department of Defense’s inspector general and by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Complaints include the quality and origins of ammunition it provided, and allegations of corruption.

Now an investigation by Government Executive Magazine may help shed light on how the firm was able to win the contracts it received. Apparently, it helps to be a “small, disadvantaged business”...

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RG-33L w. arm
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At the beginning of June 2007, BAE sat in 4th place in the US MRAP competition with orders for just 90 vehicles – 2.8% of the total. It had to be a humbling experience for the firm that went into 2004 as the world leader in the field. The climb back has been slow and consistent, involving a major $4+ billion acquisition and a slow ramp-up of orders for its flagship RG-33 family of vehicles, which built on BAE OMC’s 4 decades of experience in blast-resistant vehicles in South Africa. By December 2007, BAE had reached second place in the MRAP production race with 3,569 direct orders, plus some orders via General Dynamics’ entry of BAE OMC’s earlier RG-31 model. In January 2008 the firm made its comeback complete, regaining its spot as the leader in the field.

The total $2.288 billion MMPV program will buy up to 2,500 vehicles for use by U.S. Army Engineers and Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams through 2015. The initial buy is expected to involve 1,362 MMPVs: 684 are slated for engineering units to conduct route and area clearance missions, command and control, mount mine clearing systems, and conduct explosive hazards reconnaissance. Another 678 will go to explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams to neutralize Improvised Explosive Device land mines and other unexploded ordnance.

BAE Systems was picked as the sole-source winner, and the first substantial order has now been placed…

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US SOUTCHCOM

Hensel Phelps Construction Co. in Orlando, FL won a $91.3 million firm-fixed price contract for the design and construction of a building complex to support United States Southern Command and their collaborative partners. SOUTHCOM handles US security relationships, contingency planning, and military activities (including humanitarian assistance delivered by the military) in Central and South America. They also ensure the defense of the Panama Canal and canal area. Given the dynamics of the region, narco-terrorism is one of the command’s foci.

Work will be performed at U.S. Southcom Headquarters in Miami-Doral, FL, and is expected to be complete by April 16/09. Web bids were solicited on Aug 8/07 and 3 bids were received by the US Army Corps of Engineers in Mobile, AL (W91278-08-C-0021).

The Defense Security Assistance Management System (and see DISAM Journal 2000 review) is a worldwide automated information system that is used for managing the USA’s multi-billion Foreign Military Sales Program. Legal restrictions concerning military technology transfers force all purchases to be managed as FMS purchases, and DSAMS was designed to replace 13 automated information systems used by US agencies to perform this role. It is currently programmed using Sun Microsystems’ Unified Development Server environment, formerly known as Forte.

Now Softsol Technologies Inc. has received a firm-fixed-price contract for $11 million to transform the business application software using Transactional Object-Oriented Language, to Microsoft’s .NET programming framework. At this time, all funds have been obligated (HQ0013-08-C-0002). For more information please call (703) 604-6566. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), Defense Contracting, DBO-CON, in Arlington VA.

M777: dragon’s breath
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The M777 ultra-lightweight towed 155mm howitzer has an integrated digital fire control system, and can fire all existing 155mm projectiles. Nothing new there. What is new is the fact that this 9,700 pound howitzer saves over 6,000 pounds of weight by making extensive use of titanium and advanced aluminum alloys, allowing it to be carried by Marine Corps MV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft or medium helicopters, and/or airdropped by C-130 aircraft. The new gun is a joint program between the US Army and Marine Corps to replace existing 155mm M198s, and will perform fire support for U.S. Marine Air Ground Task Forces and U.S. Army Stryker Brigade Combat Teams.

Britain is also an M777 LWH development partner, but Canada became the first country to field it in combat via an emergency buy before their 2006 “Operation Archer” deployment to Afghanistan. This is is DID’s new FOCUS article covering the M777 program. The latest news is an additional order from the USA…

• M777: Capabilities and Upgrades
• M777: Program
• M777: Contracts and Key Events
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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USMC M1A1 settles a
firefight in Fallujah
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As DID’s past coverage has noted, 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, et. al., and even attack 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 this would be a wise measure regardless. A July 2006 Washington Times article noted the effect age and wear have had on the USA’s vehicle fleet, a subject DID has also covered under the wider rubric of the coming 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; DID will seek to backfill its roster as opportunities arise, and all newly-added materials will be presented in green as a reader convenience. Recent additions include a reset contracts for over 1,000 M113 family vehicles, long-lead materials for M1 Abrams RESET work, and growing awareness of this issue in Britain…

• RESET Programs and Procedures
• RESET Contracts, Delivery Orders & Developments, FY 2006-Present [updated]
• Vehicle Fleets and Maintenance Overhangs
• Additional Readings [updated]
  
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M3A3 Bradley CFV: Charge!
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In the 1970s, middle eastern wars demonstrated that tanks without infantry screens were vulnerable to infantry with anti-tank missiles. Unfortunately, armored personnel carriers were easy prey for tanks, and sometimes had trouble keeping up with newer behemoths like the M1 Abrams which boasted top speeds over 50 miles per hour. In response, the Americans rethought the armored personnel carrier, taking a page from the Soviet book and creating a more heavily armored, faster “Infantry Fighting Vehicle” with an offensive punch of its own. Named after WW2 General Omar “the soldier’s general” Bradley, America’s M2/M3 tracked, armored IFVs can carry infantry – but they also have 25mm Bushmaster cannons, networked targeting sensors, and even TOW anti-armor or Stinger anti-aircraft missiles at their disposal.

Bradley puts on wear
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Even for upgraded and well-serviced vehicles, however, age and wear will take their toll. The US Army plans to keep its Bradley fleet for some time to come, and new technologies have made it wise to upgrade part of that fleet while renewing the vehicles. Hence the remanufacture program, which complements the restore-only RESET programs DID has covered elsewhere. This DII Q.V. Spotlight article explains the Bradley variants currently in service and involved in remanufacture programs. It also covers the remanufacture process and associated contracts…

• Bradley Variants and Sub-Variants: A Quick Guide
• Bradley Remanufacture Program: Details & Contracts
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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AN/APG-79 AESA Radar

The F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet’s current radar is Raytheon’s all-weather, multimode AN/APG-73, but the revolutionary new Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) APG-79 radar offers significantly greater capability, reliability, image resolution, and range. The AESA array is composed of numerous solid-state transmit and receive modules, to virtually eliminate mechanical breakdown. Other system components include an advanced receiver/exciter, ruggedized commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) processor, and power supplies. With its open systems architecture and compact COTS parts, it changes what the aircrew can do with the radar – and does so in a smaller, lighter package.

Fulfilling part of the Navy’s roadmap to expand the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet’s capabilities for future network-centric operations, Boeing and Raytheon debuted the F/A-18F Block II Super Hornet equipped with the AN/APG-79 AESA radar system at a St. Louis ceremony in April 2005. In October 2006, the first Super Hornet Block II squadron attained the requisite “safe for flight” (really for independent operations with the new equipment) designation.

This article has been expanded to become DID’s complete Spotlight article (because the radar is a sub-system, and not a full platform) covering the APG-79 weapons system’s capabilities, results, and contracts. The latest development is a spares contract…

• The AN/APG-79 AESA Radar
• Contracts & Key Events [updates]
• Additional Readings
  
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