The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces recently ruled that a service member who received notice that she was required to undergo a random urinalysis test, and who e-mailed several other people to discuss her strategies for beating the tests to avoid discovery of her drug use, was not sufficiently informed of the DoD policy that employees have no right of privacy when using government computer systems. It set aside the findings, and her sentence.

In response, the US Department of Defense has replaced its decade-old banner warning with a new one. The banner notifies users that their systems may be monitored for “penetration testing, (communications security), monitoring, network defense, quality control, and employee misconduct, law enforcement and counterintelligence investigations,” adding that all security systems in place are there to provide security for the benefit of the government, not to provide personal privacy to employees. A related notice will appear on government BlackBerry devices and other personal digital assistants and personal electronic devices.

Members of the defense community sending emails to colleagues in the Pentagon, or otherwise working with DoD employees, need to keep these things in mind. USAF release.

The Capt. & The Sheikh
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Defense Industry Daily’s mandate is clear, and summed up well in our motto “daily news for defense procurement managers and contractors.” In most cases, our coverage limits itself to the events and issues around contracts that have already been issued, and/or key issues of doctrine and policy that are related to defense procurement. We also include reports from the field that bring home useful information about equipment performance, and serve as a reminder of what’s really important: usefulness to the people on the front lines.

Sometimes, news from the front lines also highlights important trends and force structure issues that go beyond the performance of any one system. “(Lt. Col. David) Labouchere of Mesopotamia,” which covered that British commander’s successful mobile/Bedouin approach in Iraq, was one. Now Noah Shachtman of WIRED’s award-winning defense blog Danger Room has written another. In the wake of the discussions in defense departments and ministries around the world concerning “network-centric warfare,” events like Israel’s recent Winograd Commission post-mortem of the 2006 war in Lebanon, and the Nov 28/07 security pact involving 6,000 Sunnis in Hawija, Noah’s article offers important food for thought to policy-makers and procurement managers alike. In his words…

Ramadi turnaround
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“It’s an attempt at explaining why we’ve seen such a drop in violence in Iraq in recent months, and why it took so long to see a shift. My short answer: the U.S. dropped its somewhat techno-centric approach to prosecuting the war—and started focusing on Iraq’s social, political, tribal, and cultural networks instead…. For the story, I scored a rare opportunity to spend time with a U.S. “psychological operations” team, getting into the heads of the people of Fallujah; hung out with an Army colonel who worked his tribal connections to bring stability to one of Iraq’s roughest towns; spent time with the heads of a controversial program to embed anthropologists into combat units; and interviewed General David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq.”

“How Technology Almost Lost the War: In Iraq, the Critical Networks Are Social – Not Electronic” is worthwhile reading as one contemplates the future of net-centric warfare as it is currently sold – and what it might be turning into.

“Aroint thee!”
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Built since the 1920s, the reliable, powerful, air-cooled .50 caliber (12.7 mm) M2 Browning Machine Gun (aka. “Ma Deuce”) is still one of the world’s most effective heavy machine guns. It can be carried by a team of soldiers, or mounted on vehicles and aircraft. Despite its age, its combination of reliability, durability, and kick-butt firepower has made it one of the most requested weapons in the Iraqi theater of war, and it remains popular around the world. Modern alternatives like FN’s M3M/GAU-21 have been introduced, and the XM307/312 remains a future possibility, but the M2 remains, as one of our correspondents put it, “the mounted lance of the US cavalry.” The USA has even had to ramp up .50 cal ammunition production, in order to keep up.

This article covers the venerable, and valuable, M2 machine gun, and associated contracts…

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Loading the UUV
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Unmanned Underwater Vehicles are becoming increasingly popular for a number of roles, including mine detection, advance scouting roles against enemy vessels, and basic hydrographic work. With nuclear submarines costing $2 billion and more per boat, an inexpensive surrogate that could handle some of the most dangerous jobs seems like an obvious addition – especially given the popularity of well-understood torpedo-like designs for key naval UUVs like Remus family, Bluefin-21 et. al.

Launching these UUVs is no challenge. Just build them to the 21-inch diameter limit and use the torpedo tubes. The thing is, submarines have a more restricted carrying capacity than most people think; even the US Virginia Class can carry only 26 total torpedoes, anti-ship missiles, and torpedo-like UUVs. That makes one-shot UUVs unacceptably expensive. In order to be effective, submarines will have to do something not normally done with torpedoes – recover them at the end of their mission. Enter the Long-Term Mine Reconnaissance System (LMRS), now known as the AN/BLQ-11 UUV…

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ORCWS-30 on Piranha
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The NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency’s (NAMSA) main task is to assist NATO nations by organizing common procurement and supply of spare parts and arranging maintenance and repair services necessary for the support of various weapon systems, with the purpose of achieving maximum effectiveness in logistics support at minimum cost.

NAMSA operates on the no profit, no loss principle. It is overseen by the NATO Maintenance and Supply Organization (NAMSO), formed by 26 NATO nations (Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States).

On Nov 21/07, NAMSA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Logistic Support Cooperation with Israel….

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LITENING AT parts
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The LITENING family of pods has become the most widely-used international solution for adding sophisticated surveillance and precision strike capabilities to fighter and bomber aircraft, defining the price:performance target for its sector. An international agreement between developer RAFAEL and Northrop Grumman divides responsibility for global marketing, and the most current version in Northrop’s inventory is the US-standard LITENING AT, with over 500 pods sold and 400 fielded on AV-8B, A-10, B-52H, F-15E, F-16 and F/A-18 C/D aircraft. Together, all variants of the LITENING pod have amassed more than 750,000 flight hours, more than half of which have been logged under deployed and combat conditions.

With Lockheed Martin’s new Sniper ATP is coming on strong in the global marketplace, however, the LITENING partnership needs to fight to stay ahead of the curve. Fortunately, the LITENING pods are highly modular, allowing rapid upgrades. A recent $18 million contract from U.S. Air Force Materiel Command’s Aeronautical Systems Center lays the groundwork for some important upgrades, as Northrop prepares it next-generation offering. Under the new contract,Northrop Grumman’s Defensive Systems Division will deliver in excess of 201 new data links under Plug and Play II, to be fielded on a variety of aircraft beginning in September 2008 and continuing through January 2010.

The new data link set features multiple frequencies, while retaining compatibility with the ROVER portable receiving station that lets U.S. and coalition ground forces exchange targeting data and video feeds. In addition, Plug & Play II provides a new high capacity digital recording capability for both video and metadata collected during a mission, and can include 2-way data transfer functionality with an onboard server to support network operations. In addition to approaching the capabilities of dedicated reconnaissance pods, and adding the new data link set, the 4th generation version of LITENING will feature the most advanced 1024×1024 pixels (1k x 1k) FLIR sensor for improved target detection and recognition ranges under day/night conditions (already incorporated); new sensors for improved target identification; and advanced target recognition and identification features. NGC release.

YRH-70 w. Hydras
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The ARH (Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter) is a program by the United States Army to replace around 375 Bell Textron OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters. The Army’s initial replacement, the $14.6 billion RAH-66 Comanche program, was canceled in 2004 in favor of buying a larger number of less expensive platforms with reduced capabilities.

Bell Helicopter Textron won the ARH competition, beating rival MD Helicopters. and the contract calls for 368 ARH-70 aircraft (a request raised to 512 aircraft and $5.4 billion) during FY 2006 – 2013. Unit costs of approximately $6-11 million have been suggested (calculation methodologies vary), vs. much more advanced Comanche’s estimated $36 million. As DID has noted re: a similar $500-600 million competition in India, Bell’s ARH-70 is a militarized version of its highly successful 407 single-engine commercial helicopter.

This will serve as DID’s FOCUS Article for the ARH-70 program, providing updated background, details, and contract award information. The latest additions include a recommendation by the House Armed Services Committee in Congress to cancel and recompete the ARH-70 program, shortly after the Army both raised its request for the number of ARH helicopters from 368 to 512 and issued a stop-work order on the program. Now the Army says it will continue working with Bell Helicopter, rather than re-competing the program… and there are rumblings in Congress in favor of full program cancellation and replacement by an armed UH-72A Light Utility Helicopter. Meanwhile, Bell Helicopter continues to work on the ARH-70 at its own expense, including a contract for sensor systems worth up to $1.2 billion – even as a recent Pentagon report continues to document rising program costs…

• The ARH Program
• The ARH Program Winner: Bell’s ARH-70
• The ARH Program: Contracts & Events
• Appendix A: Weary Warriors – The Army’s OH-58D Kiowa Warrior Fleet
• Appendix B: Additional Readings & Sources
  
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If you want to keep track of key Pentagon programs, Selected Acquisition Reports are an important resource. Shortly after the defense budget is submitted, the Pentagon releases details on major defense acquisition program cost, schedule, and performance changes on a periodic basis, summarizing the latest estimates of a major program’s cost, schedule, and technical status. Quarterly SARs are submitted for initial reports, final reports, and for programs that are rebaselined at major milestone decisions. Subsequent quarterly exception reports are required only for those programs experiencing unit cost increases of at least 15%, or schedule delays of at least 6 months.

Total program cost estimates provided in the SARs include research and development, procurement, military construction, and acquisition-related operation and maintenance (except for pre-Milestone B programs which are development costs only). Total program costs reflect actual costs to date, as well as future anticipated costs, and include anticipated inflation allowances.

The November 2007 SAR is a mixed bag, as usual…

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Trophy on Stryker
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In May 2006, “No Trophy for FCS, Iraq Troops – Raytheon HTK APS Selected” explained RAFAEL’s Trophy active protection system, which can defend against threats like anti-tank missiles, incoming tank shells, and even EFP land mines. Israel had delayed full deployment on own its tanks and APCs for budgetary reasons, but the lessons of the 2006 war in Lebanon drove home the need, and Trophy is headed into production and fielding as part of Israel’s Tefen procurement plan.

Now, the USA may have reached similar conclusions. From FBO Solicitation #N0017808R1002:

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Catching the wire
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Northrop Grumman Corp. Electronic Systems in Sykesville, MD received a $9.3 million order against a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract (N68335-02-D-0023) for 10 Valve Actuation and Control (VAC) system production units: 4 systems for CVN 77 George H.W. Bush under construction, 5 systems for CVN 70 USS Carl Vinson which is undergoing a major overhaul, and 1 shore-based system for training. The VAC system is intended to replace the existing control and actuation system of the Mark 7 Aircraft Arresting Gear that stops high-speed aircraft following the controlled crash of a carrier landing. As Navy Matters puts it:

“The current USN standard is the Mark 7 Mod 3, however starting with the USS Ronald Reagan [DID: CVN 76] the USN is moving to a new three-wire Mark 7 Mod 4 arresting gear design (actually four arresting gear engines but with two of them interchangeable as the barricade engine). The new system uses polycore cables designed to withstand more traps than steel cables and extra-large pulleys to reduce maintenance and man-hours, and provides the capability to land potentially larger and heavier aircraft. It is hoped that the new design will reduce maintenance requirements by half by increasing the time interval between inspections and overhauls, in addition, the costs associated with replacing these high-wear components will be reduced. Another benefit of this system will be that the arresting gear engines will be more accessible to flight line crews.”

Work will be performed in Sykesville, MD and is expected to be complete in May 2009. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division in Lakehurst, NJ issued the contract.