Those Were the Days
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The US military has a vast store of supplies and equipment around the world. Keeping track of all that stuff has always been a challenge. In World War II, the US Army kept track using IBM punch cards and electric accounting machines (EAMs).

Well today, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags have replaced punch cards and RFID readers and computers have replaced the EAMs. The RFID tags work like “wireless bar codes” that record, track, and manage the supplies and equipment of a modern networked military.

Military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have focused attention on the performance of the US Department of Defense’s (DoD) supply chain management in support of deployed US troops. The availability of spare parts and other critical supply items affects the readiness and operational capabilities of the forces, and the supply chain can be a critical link in determining outcomes on the battlefield.

So, not only does RFID technology help keep track of supplies and equipment, it also helps get critical supplies to the battlefield at the right time and place and to secure supplies en route. In the latest news, SRA International won a $4.4 million contract under the USMC Passive Radio Frequency Identification (pRFID) Infrastructure Support and Sustainment program…

• Key Technologies
• Applications
• Benefits
• Problems
• RF-ITV System
• Other Uses
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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[by John MacNeill]
Goo goo g’joob!

In April 2005, “USN, DARPA See Blimps & HULAs Rising”, looked at a range of projects on the drawing board, including the Walrus heavy-transport blimp (that’s “heavy” as in “1-2 million pounds”) which offered the potential for a faster and more versatile sealift substitute.

In this article DID explains the Walrus concept, details the contractors and contracts involved in this initial award (including a few updates), and lays out the program’s structure… or at least, what used to be its structure. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funded phase 1 contracts, but things seemed to end in 2006. Yet the imperatives driving the need for Walrus, or even for a much smaller version of it, remain. Is the Walrus dead? What about Paul? And could it, or a HULA like like it, rise again?

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Keep on Moving
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Everybody hates to move. And no one moves more than the US military. With approximately 500,000 household goods shipments every year, the military is the largest moving population in the United States.

To help ease the process, the United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) has contracted with SRA International to automate the process using information technology under the Defense Personal Property System (DPS).

The web-based DPS enables US military personnel, family members, government managers and moving companies to plan, schedule, contract for, move and receive shipments of household belongings from assignment to assignment.

SRA began work on DPS in 2004…

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The US Air Force has exercised a second option year on a $90 million 5-year contract (FA8224-07-D-0001) for Mainstream GS in Bethesda, MD, to provide continuous process improvement (CPI) services. CPI is intended to improve the efficiency of how the USAF works as an organization.

A main portion of Mainstream’s work involves support for the Air Force Smart Operations 21 (AFSO21) program, which is based on both Lean and Six Sigma business process improvement tools.

In an interview, Mainstream President Alan Horowitz told DID that his company is supplying the USAF a number of CPI services, include Lean and Six Sigma consulting, training, facilitation, and planning…

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TransHospital, Afghanistan
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Shipping containers are ubiquitous in a globalized world, and many modes of transport on air, sea, and land are adapted to carry them easily. To portability, add protection: their rigid metal construction provides more shielding than tent fabric, and this can be augmented by digging the structure in slightly or putting up Hesco-type instafill walls nearby. A number of manufacturers have thrown in a 3rd advantage: modular flexibility, created by making it easy to connect containerized modules and deploy the exact combination you need.

Military and para-public medical facilities are natural fits with these advantages, and EADS’ innovative TransHospital leverages all of them. Now, the Thai government will become a customer, giving them a transportable field hospital for military or disaster-related use…

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Water tower etc.,
Times Beach
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Most people never see services like wastewater management and water distribution, maintenance of the electric grid, et. al. The cost is built into their taxes and utility bills, or into initial subdivision fees. Military bases have to deal with these sorts of issues, just as homeowners and developer do – but on a much larger scale. The preference in the US military seems to be shifting toward very long term (about 50 year) term fixed-price or regulated tariff contracts, which are often coupled with partial privatization or conveyance of assets to make the contractor 100% responsible for the utility.

This Spotlight article covers recent contracts that fall under this format, totaling over $5 billion. In the latest offering, Entergy Arkansas won a contract worth a maximum of $25.3 million to own, operate and maintain the electric distribution system at Little Rock Air Force Base…

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Science Applications International Corp. in McLean, VA won a $128.1 million cost-plus-award-fee contract to support the US Army Sustainment Command’s Distribution Management Center (DMC).

Located in Rock Island Arsenal, IL, the DMC is the Army’s central agency for materiel management control of all general supplies. It conducts supply item management and maintains asset visibility…

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Lockheed Martin’s Savi Technology in Mountain View, CA received a maximum $100 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity/ indefinite-delivery, sole source contract for radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and magnetic mounting brackets. RFID tags are similar to wireless bar codes and are used to track US military supplies and equipment.

The firm has worked with the US military for over a decade to build their RF In-Transit Visibility (ITV) network, which spans more than 45 countries and tracks military supplies through 4,000 sites. “US Getting Savi at Ammo Depots” has more on the RF ITV network.

Savi was selected in December 2008 to compete for work on the US Army’s RFID III contract…

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F/A-18F Super Hornet
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The US Navy flies the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet, and has just taken delivery of its first operational EA-18G Growler electronic warfare & strike aircraft. These buys are actually managed out of a common multi-year procurement (MYP) contract, which also manages many of the EA-18G’s support costs since it’s derived from the Super Hornet and many of the required maintenance items are common to both planes. The contract covers 42 aircraft per year, split between Super Hornets and EA-18Gs, with a variation quantity clause permitting up to 6 additional aircraft per year under the same terms. FY 2008 marks year 4 of the 5-year MYP-II contract.

DID already has an EA-18G FOCUS Article; we will be using this entry to cover the Super Hornet MYP program’s budgets, and this article has been updated to include all announced contracts since MYP-II began. The latest entries include almost $40 million for engine spares…

• Hornet MYP: Aircraft Types & Budgets
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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B-52H: to 2030?
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The current US Air Force fleet, whose planes are more than 23 years old on average, is the oldest in USAF history. It won’t keep that title for very long. Many transport aircraft and aerial refueling tankers are more than 40 years old – and under current plans, some may be as many as 70-80 years old before they retire. Since the price for next-generation planes has risen faster than inflation, average aircraft age will climb even if the US military gets every plane it asks for in its future plans. Nor is the USA the only country facing this problem.

As this dynamic plays out and average age continues to rise, addressing the issues related to aging aircraft becomes more and more important in order to maintain acceptable force numbers, readiness levels, and aircraft maintainability; avoid squeezing out recapitalization budgets; handle personnel turnover that becomes more and more damaging; and keep maintenance costs in line, despite new technical problems that will present unforeseen difficulties. Like F-15 fighters that are under flight restrictions due to structural fatigue concerns – or grounded entirely.

The biggest contracts aren’t always the ones deserving of the most attention. Enter the USA’s Joint Council on Aging Aircraft (JCAA), and initiatives like the Navy’s ASLS. Enter, too, DID’s Spotlight article. It seeks to place the situation and its effects in perspective, via background, contracts, and a research trove of articles that tap the expertise and observations of outside parties and senior sources within the US military. The latest addition is a $75+ million contract to BAE, and some alarming data concerning KC-135 tanker fleet costs…

• The JCAA
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Aging Aircraft: Some Additional Readings
  
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