Latest update (Feb 2/12)

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
    Continue Reading… »

• 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.

• L-3 Communications’ sales for 2011 decreased by $511M (3%) to $15.2B. Growth in the C3ISR segment was not enough to compensate for lower sales elsewhere in the conglomerate. The funded backlog lost $396M (3.6%) to $10.7B.

• The US DoD announced [PDF] $18M in funds to 6 recipients for operational energy capability improvement.

• Catherine Ashton, head of the European Defence Agency (EDA), urged EU members to pool and share defense resources more aggressively but such calls have not been heeded much so far. Alignment of the British, French and Germans in the same project has proven elusive.

• The British MoD published its latest procurement and technology whitepaper [PDF], stating the intent to maintain science and technology spending at 1.2% or more of the defense budget. The report does mention in passing the EDA as well as NATO’s “Smart Defence” initiative, but its framework for cooperation with other countries will “generally favour bilateral collaboration on technology, equipment, and support issues, as we believe this offers the best balance of advantages and disadvantages. We will, however, continue to work multilaterally, for example through NATO or the EU, where this offers a clear benefit to the UK.” Coming later this year, a 10-year equipment plan.

• Defense Undersecretary for Policy Michelle Flournoy spoke at the Reserve Officers Association Symposium in the 1st video below. She toed the now familiar line from Panetta’s DoD. Flournoy will leave DOD at the end of the week.

• In the 2nd video below, CSBA’s Todd Harrison on the impact of projected FY13 cuts on the US Navy’s equipment and personnel:
  Continue Reading… »

KC-135: Old as the hills…

DOT&E: KC-46A test schedule & promises “not executable”; USAF disagrees. (Jan 19/12)

DID’s FOCUS articles cover major weapons acquisition programs – and no program is more important to the USAF than its bid to replace its aerial tanker fleet. 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:

• KC-X: The Story So Far
• KC-X: Teams & Locations
• 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: Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

Over $200M in contracts; Engine changes. (Dec 29/11)

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 new multi-year purchase contract, associated contracts for key V-22 systems, and program developments that arise after the contract conversion…

• Contracts & Key Events (June 2008 – Present) [updated]
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

• 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:
  Continue Reading… »

• 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.

EATF developments; Norway joins. (Nov 18/11)

One of the driving forces behind Airbus’ A400M military transport program, and of “pool” programs like NATO’s SALIS with Russian AN-124s or its recent SAC C-17 pool, is Europe’s shortage of transport aircraft to support military missions. This shortage will not be fixed any time soon. In the interim, NATO pools are about to be augmented by a more local partnership.

As the Netherlands struggled over proposed defense cuts in 2007, its Ministerie van Defensie signed an agreement with Germany, France and Belgium to create “European Air Transport Command” (EATC) as a coordination pool for their own military transports. By 2009, it was a multinational program, and by 2011 it had become an EU EDA “Category A” program:

• The EATF/ EADC
• EATC/ EATF Timeline & Events
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

• The British National Audit Office’s 2011 Major Projects report says that short-term cuts spurred by its Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) has added GBP 500 million (about $785M) to its 15 largest defense projects. The UK MoD responds.

• Britain’s first-of-class fast-attack submarine, HMS Astute, fires UGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles for the first time. Unlike the US Navy, Britain’s Tomahawks are only based on attack submarines.

• Rumors of a British Harrier jump-jet fleet sale to the US Marines get stronger.

• The US House Armed Services Committee had a hearing yesterday on USMC acquisition and modernization (ACV, AAV, JLTV). Video at the bottom of this entry.

• The US Air Force updated its AFDD 1 doctrine document [PDF] with the addition of a whole new chapter on airpower. Some might find the USAF’s definition of airpower as “control and exploitation of air, space, and cyberspace” (emphasis ours) as familiar overreaching.

• After spending lobbying & design dollars, Smith & Wesson decided that its M&P4 won’t be competing in the US Army’s Individual Carbine competition.

• One of Pakistan’s JF-17 fighters crashed; the pilot was killed when his parachute failed to open.

• A report from the French Assemblée Nationale concludes [in French] that the Franco-German Brigade could be the nucleus for a EU military, but found that its financing could be perfected, not to speak of its cumbersome deployment procedures. German Jägerbataillon 291 is stationed in French city Illkirch-Graffenstaden since last year.
  Continue Reading… »

• The USAF proposed the debarment of 3 contractors: Advanced C4 Solutions, Inc. (headquartered in FL), Superior Communications Solutions Inc. (GA), and Iron Bow Technologies (VA) because of a “history of failure to perform [or] unsatisfactory performance.” Washington Technology | WBJ.

• Count us among those disappointed that the Commission on Wartime Contracting’s records will remain sealed for 20 years.

• In case the DoD acquisition lifecycle gets you confused, yes a program can be in its Production & Deployment Phase and in its Operations & Support Phase at the same time. Procurement funds are channeled to the former while Operations & Maintenance (O&M) budgets line up with the latter. In practice the end of the acquisition lifecycle is less formally structured than earlier, milestone-constrained phases.

• Back in September Chairman of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee J. Randy Forbes (R-VA) sent a letter [PDF] to Admiral Jonathan W. Greenert to argue in favor of maintaining all CVNs currently homeported in Forbes’ state. Greenert recently sent back his reply [PDF], and while he supports the strategic rationale behind moving a CVN to Mayport, FL, he leaves the door open to reconsidering based on budgetary concerns. Forbes had sent his letter on the day Greenert was appointed as the 30th Chief of Naval Operations. Last month several lawmakers from Florida asked Greenert to consider moving the date of the planned carrier move from FY19 to FY16. Expect them to fire back.

• US SecDef Leon Panetta gave a classified briefing to the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) yesterday, but its chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) told reporters that “he [Panetta] wants to take 50% of the [$450B] cuts out of modernization,” i.e. weapons procurement, the other half coming from personnel. Forthcoming HASC hearings: FY12 Combat Aviation, US Nuclear Weapons Policy and Posture (both this afternoon); Institutionalizing Irregular Warfare Capabilities, and A Day Without Seapower and Projection Forces (both tomorrow).

• On a backdrop of sovereign debt crisis and Euro bailouts, yesterday the Greek government made sweeping changes at the top of its military.

• Recent Pentagon reports of interest: State of U.S.-India Security Cooperation, BRAC 2005 Implementation, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction quarterly report [all PDFs].

• While the US is refocusing its attention to Asia/Pacific, China has dramatically ramped up its investments in Africa. The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations just had an interesting hearing on this topic. Not a hotspot defense issue now, but of increasing geostrategic significance nonetheless.

• US Army acquisition personnel has updated the Joint Assault Bridge (JAB) website several times in recent days to help contractors position themselves for the forthcoming Engineering & Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase of the project. JAB has an undisclosed amount of funding for FY12 and FY13. The current (very early) schedule looks at starting production at a low rate in FY15 and finishing deliveries in FY22, for a potential of 168 JABs for the Army and 29 for the USMC. Lots of Ts to cross and Is to dot until then. Because JAB will use the Abrams M1A1 hull, bidding involves ITAR exports control and a lot of the relevant material is posted as controlled unclassified information (CUI).

• In light of recent events in North Africa and the Middle East, the UK’s Foreign Secretary William Hague intends to introduce a “mechanism to allow immediate [defense/security export] licensing suspension to countries experiencing a sharp deterioration in security or stability.”

• Work got started on Anson, the 5th of a planned 7 British Royal Navy Astute class submarines.

• Curious minds want to know why USCGC Stratton, the 3rd of 8 planned cutters, looked like she was listing starboard on her way off Huntington Ingalls Industries’ docks.

• The Thales/Safran asset swap deal which has been in the works for months is not quite ready yet: Reuters, L’Usine Nouvelle [in French].

• In the U.S. Naval War College’s /luce.nt/ Fall 2011 edition: Perceptions about the Indian Ocean [PDF] by Captain Sameer Saxen of the Indian Navy.

• Both US House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) and Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-WA) sent letters to the debt super committee to urge it to stick to the smallest possible defense cuts. Predictably, they don’t agree on whether to increase federal revenue through higher taxes. Meanwhile Mike Turner (R-OH), Chairman of the HASC Strategic Forces Subcommittee, criticized Ed Markey (D-MA) for his support of lowering nuclear weapons spending. The window of opportunity given to congressional committees to send recommendations to the super committee is closing today.

• Yesterday’s HASC hearing with Secretary of Defense Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dempsey waded repeatedly on the rather unlikely, and in any case hypothetical, sequestration that would occur if the super committee failed to reach an agreement. On the other hand few new details emerged on where to apply the cuts that will happen no matter what. Dempsey sounded lukewarm in answer to Congressman Jeff Miller (R-FL)’s warm support for F-35B STOVL capabilities.

• Panetta insisted on starting from threats to define strategy then take budget decisions. On that scale, South Korea seemed a higher priority for him than Europe when it comes to keeping troops stationed abroad. Panetta also announced he wanted to make the DoD budget ready for audit by FY14 rather than FY17 (this wouldn’t mean full audits quite yet). Transcript; 1st video below.

• The UK House of Lords EU Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Development Policy heard National Security Adviser Peter Ricketts on whether the European Union should have a defense role, an idea that Defence Ministrer Liam Fox recently brushed aside as redundant with NATO. (Fox currently faces more pressing issues.) Understated but cutting British humor was at play – mixed with diplomatic reassurances – when Ricketts went out of his way to highlight Belgium and Denmark’s military contributions. Ricketts says the EU has expertise and funding in the area between policing and military advising and peacekeeping. 2nd video below:
  Continue Reading… »