• The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) and Professional Services Council (PSC), teamed up as the “Defense Industrial Base Task Force”, sent a joint letter [PDF] to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to outline what they think the impact of budget cuts might be. More subtle than past communications that threatened with the loss of 1 million jobs, the document states that subcontractors may choose to leave the defense market, forcing primes to in-source functions that they currently subcontract. This shows how the discussion has shifted from “should there be any cuts at all” to “how to execute cuts in a responsible way.” Where, and when, matter as much as how much.

• Panetta doesn’t need much convincing though. Neither the FY13 budget in the works nor the Pentagon strategy update from last week plan around the execution of full sequestration. The Secretary told NPR: “if we had to do over a trillion dollars in cuts in this department, I have to tell you that the strategy that we developed, we’d probably have to throw that out the window and start over.” The key element that seems to differentiate President Obama’s defense strategy from Donald Rumsfeld’s is the concept of “reversibility”. That may work to maintain high-level expertise such as military government management. However, shipyards and plants plainly need sustained work to keep going.

• The US Army is investigating the theft of six figures worth of night-vision goggles and other soldier equipment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

• The US Navy is shifting to “Type V” polysiloxane paint to reduce weather wear that degrades the original tint of gray into many different shades and even turns pink. The process of painting with Type 5 and is a little more involved, and the material is more expensive than the Type 2/3 Low Solar Absorbance (LSA) coatings it replaces. However the Navy hopes to save in the end thanks to less frequent repainting. Navsea procurement guidance [PDF] | Sherwin-Williams | Defense News.

• Israel’s Premier Benjamin Netanyahu said he’d increase the defense budget by $700M.

• Renault Trucks Defense provided 80 SLATE anti-sniper systems to France’s DGA procurement agency for integration on top of VAB infantry vehicles.

Oshkosh M-ATV

Minor services contract. (Jan 5/11)

“The Government plans to acquire an MRAP All-Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV). The M-ATV is a lighter, off-road, and more maneuverable vehicle that incorporates current MRAP level [bullet and mine blast] protection. The M-ATV will require effectiveness in an off-road mission profile. The vehicle will include EFP (Explosively Formed Projectile land mine) and RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade panzerfaust) protection (integral or removable kit). The M-ATV will maximize both protection levels and off-road mobility & maneuverability attributes, and must balance the effects of size and weight while attempting to achieve the stated requirements.”
  —US government FedBizOpps, November 2008

Oshkosh Defense’s M-ATV candidate secured a long-denied MRAP win, and the firm continues to remain ahead of production targets. The initial plan expected to spend up to $3.3 billion to order 5,244 M-ATVs for the US Army (2,598), Marine Corps (1,565), Special Operations Command (643), US Air Force (280) and the Navy (65), plus 93 test vehicles. FY 2010 budgets and purchases have pushed this total even higher, and orders now stand at over 8,800…

• MRAP ATV: Requirements and Contenders
• M-ATV Variants
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
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General Dynamics Team
Trimaran LCS Design
(click to enlarge)

Class services from each builder; LCS 3 post-production support; Mine-hunting ancillaries. (Dec 19/11)

Exploit simplicity, numbers, the pace of technology development in electronics and robotics, and fast reconfiguration. That was the US Navy’s idea for the low-end backbone of its future surface combatant fleet. Inspired by successful experiments like Denmark’s Standard Flex ships, the US Navy’s $30+ billion “Littoral Combat Ship” program was intended to create a new generation of affordable surface combatants that could operate in dangerous shallow and near-shore environments, while remaining affordable and capable throughout their lifetimes.

It hasn’t worked that way. In practice, what the Navy wanted, the capabilities needed to perform primary naval missions, and what could be delivered for the sums available, have proven nearly irreconcilable. The LCS program has changed its fundamental acquisition plan several times since 2005, and canceled contracts with both competing teams, without escaping any of its fundamental issues. This public-access FOCUS article offer a wealth of research material, alongside looks at the LCS program’s designs, industry teams procurement plans, military controversies, and contracts.

• LCS: Concept & Needs
• LCS Solution = Standard Equipment + Mission Modules
• LCS: Controversies & Cautions
• LCS: Export Potential
• LCS: Designs & Teams
• LCS: Budgets and Program Structure
• LCS Ship Roster
• LCS: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• LCS Ancillaries: Mission Module & Weapon Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
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SBX-1, Pearl Harbor

6-month extension for Boeing. (Dec 13/11)

As rogue state proliferation by the likes of North Korea made missile defense a growing priority for nations including the USA, Japan, and Israel, the USA began to look at the linchpin of any defense: powerful radars that could both track ballistic missiles, and guide interceptors. The USA has its BMEWS tracking system, but that would not serve. America’s Safeguard ABM system was dismantled long ago – though Russia still maintains its counterpart System A-135 network around Moscow. Something new would be needed.

Enter Raytheon’s new XBR radar, based on an SBX-1 platform that looks a lot like a mobile oil drilling rig. Basing the radar at sea offers numerous advantages. One is the obvious ability to move the radar as threats materialize, allowing much greater coverage with fewer radars. Another is the ability to protect allies, without having to invest in expensive systems whose regional capabilities and value to the USA could be put at risk by the decisions of a single foreign government. In exchange for this freedom from political interference, of course, the designers must contend with nature’s.

Boeing SBX system is linked to its land-based GMD (Ground-based Mid-course Defense) missile system but can also operate with other naval and land elements…

• The XBR Radar & SBX Platform
• Contracts & Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
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• JSF PEO Vice Admiral David J. Venlet said in an interview with AOL Defense that ramping up production quickly while completing tests was a “miscalculation” but he has to live with concurrency, though he questions the delivery pace.

• Northrop Grumman’s 3-year, $8.9M Microscale Power Conversion contract could lead to higher-power radars with wider frequency ranges, without increasing their size. It’s an outgrowth of DARPA’s R&D into Gallium Nitride (GaN) circuits, and is one of several GaN-related contracts Northrop has received.

• MASTERing the CHIRP. What goes with the USAF’s ground-breaking Commercial Hosted Infrared Payload? Why, a MASTER ground control architecture that can expand to hosted payloads on other commercial satellites.

• South Korea unveils a tilt-rotor UAV. Reports say it’s the 1st of its kind, but sharp eyed readers will note that it bears a resemblance to Bell Helicopter’s larger HV911 Eagle Eye. That had been the Korea Aerospace Research Institute partnership until the US Coast Guard program ended in 2005, and Bell dropped out of the partnership. KARI has worked on the “Smart UAV” for 9 years now, and recently partnered with Sikorsky.

• Dial-A-Boom: Lockheed Martin’s 227mm GMLRS+ rocket successfully tests its new variable effects warhead. The new GPS-guided rocket extends the firing range from 70km (GMLRS) to 120km (GMRLS+), and the new warhead allows the rockets to be used in a wider range of situations.

• ATK Awarded $20 Million UltraFlex Solar Array Contract from Orbital Sciences Corp. The destination is NASA’s Cygnus cargo vehicle.

• Meanwhile, Raytheon receives the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s 2011 Large Business Prime Contractor of the Year Award. Nice job.

• Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) posted a video about their Procurement Management System.

• The US Senate passed the FY12 defense authorization bill (S. 1867) after blinking in the face of White House veto threats and agreeing to an amendment on detainees accused of terrorism. Next step: conference with the lower chamber to agree on a common version of the bill. Don’t feel rushed, we’re only 2 months into the fiscal year. The House intends to adjourn on Dec. 16 so little will probably be done before early 2012 now.

• Huntington under pressure to keep its Avondale, LA yard open reports Bloomberg.

• The US House Committee on Transportation had a hearing about Coast Guard operations in the Arctic. Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA), the Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation and also a member of the Armed Services Committee, objects to decommissioning the Coast Guard’s two heavy icebreakers. GAO also released its latest observations on the topic.

• Speaking of the Coast Guard, here’s a DOD video about their National Security Cutters:
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The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Tactical Technology Office has 3 major focus areas. Advanced Platforms does a lot of work in robotics, from load carriers that walk like a dog (LS3) to UAVs designed to stay up for months (Vulture). They also do work in areas like hypersonic vehicles, however, and helicopter rotors that work better by changing their shape. Advanced Space Systems deals with programs like MOIRE flat-lens surveillance, and F6 fractional/clustered satellites. Advanced Weapons Systems covers projects like the naval LRASM missile, the Triple Target Terminator missile for fighters, or guided small-caliber sniper rounds (EXACTO).

In October 2011, US Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR) Atlantic in Charleston, SC issued a multiple-award contract for FY 2012, whose options could drive it to $150 million, and extend work through FY 2014.

M777: dragon’s breath

Negotiations in India; Request from the Saudis; US Order. (Oct 4/11)

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 the USA’s M777 LWH co-development partner, but Canada became the first country to field it in combat, thanks to an emergency buy before their 2006 “Operation Archer” deployment to Afghanistan. Customers now include the US Army & USMC, Australia, and Canada – but not Britain. This is DID’s FOCUS article covering the M777 program…

• M777: Capabilities and Upgrades
• M777: Program
• M777: Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  Continue Reading… »

• The US Army is looking to change its physical fitness test (shorter but harder), and may add a combat readiness test before deploying. Army readers, you may want to adjust your PT.

• Leadership failure: A Marine Corporal and a US Army Captain charge together into enemy fire, repeatedly, to retrieve their fellow soldiers’ bodies. The Marine is getting the Medal of Honor. The Army Captain… nothing?!? Wouldn’t want to make the officers in the TOC, who denied them fire support, look bad.

• Australia and Canada will now work together on mutual defense procurement issues (vid. Australia transcript | Canada release). The F-35 fighter program’s cost & schedule risks, and their respective problems with their unready Collins Class and Victoria Class submarine fleets, are obvious places to start.

• The UK’s DSTL introduces its latest research project: Super Bainite perforated armoring steel. It will be manufactured in Britain by India’s Tata Steel.

• Boeing hands Australia the keys to its 5th C-17A heavy airlifter, while L-3 assumes responsibility of RAAFB Amberley’s C-17 Training System for pilots, loadmasters and maintenance personnel.

• Who let the dogs out? Gen. Petraeus. Now the US Army (TEDD) and USMC (IDD) each have funded programs from 2012-2014, to put more K-9 teams on the front lines in Afghanistan. Canine PTSD remains a top issue.

• Portuguese Ministry of Defense José Pedro Aguiar-Branco told the local press that some programs were under review [in Portuguese], given the country’s fiscal difficulties. Last month, El Pais was reporting [in Spanish] that neighboring Spain’s Ministerio de Defensa was facing a tough financing hurdle in years to come to pay for committed armament acquisitions. Reflecting its stronger fiscal position, Germany’defense ministry is set for a modest 2012 budget increase, pending parliamentary approval.

• DoD Comptroller and CFO Robert F. Hale asked Congress to reprogram $3B of funding, in part in anticipation of likely delays with the FY12 OCO budget.

• The Aerospace Industries Association launched yesterday a public relations campaign dubbed “Second to None” (video below). Meanwhile POGO is not convinced by contractor math. Both organizations, among plenty of interested parties, will no doubt want to have the ear of the Defense Business Panel recently created by the House Armed Services Committee.

• The Deficit Supercommittee will have its first closed-door meeting today (Thursday).
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• On the 10th anniversary of the attacks that came as the first shots in the current war with al-Qaeda and its allies, see: Pentagon mini-site | Britain’s PM | Canadian MND statement | French PM (video).

• The Long War Journal asks: How many al Qaeda fighters are in Afghanistan again? The numbers don’t seem to add.

• Meanwhile, ISVG points out that “open-source information indicates that while the United States and its allies have been highly effective at killing or capturing high-level members of [al Qaeda Central], the central leadership of [al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula] remains largely intact.”

• At WIRED’s Danger Room, David Axe chronicles 10 (American) military jobs that barely existed on Sept 10, 2001 – but do now.

• The US military’s 1st JHSV catamaran is launched and christened at Austal’s Mobile, AL shipyard. Meanwhile, the Austal-built USS Independence Littoral Combat Ship has finished repairs for its corrosion issues, and steamed into St. Petersburg.

• India’s 5th stretched C-130J special operations transport flies out to AFS Hindan.

• Boeing is cooperating with Dalhaousie University in Halifax, NS, Canada, as part of its required industrial offsets for sales of C-17A Globemaster heavy aerial transports, CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopters, and ScanEagle UAVs. Foci include advanced materials development, engineering graphics on mobile electronics, and visual and text analytics.

• House Armed Services Committee hearings coming up this week: The Future of National Defense and the U.S. Military Ten Years After 9/11 (today), Organizational Challenges in Achieving Sound Financial Management and Audit Readiness and Sustaining GPS for National Security (both on 9/15/11).

• Ronald O’Rourke at the Congressional Research Service releases the latest version of “Navy Force Structure and Shipbuilding Plans: Background and Issues for Congress”, based on information in the proposed FY12 budget, the Navy’s 30-year plan and CBO’s costing of it. Older versions are available for free thanks to Open CRS.

• Andrew S. Erickson of the China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) gave a book lecture at the Naval War College museum on Chinese aerospace power and maritime roles. 1-hour video embedded below:
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M240L

FN Manufacturing, LLC in Columbia, SC received a $28.1 million firm-fixed-price contract for 3,053 of their M240L 7.62mm general purpose machine guns. Work will be performed in Columbia, SC, with an estimated completion date of Sept 30/12. One bid was solicited with one bid accepted by the U.S. Army Contracting Command in Picatinny Arsenal, NJ (W15QKN-09-C-0108).

The M240 is widely used within NATO, and aside from a few carrying annoyances, it’s a good gun: reliable, with good accuracy and rate of fire. It can be mounted on vehicles and helicopters, or carried on foot, and the gun is convertible between these modes. The M240 has moved into a more central role with US forces in Afghanistan, where engagements often take place at 300+ meter ranges. At those ranges, the platoon’s M240 GPMGs and 7.62mm designated marksman rifles may be the only truly effective guns they have. Fortunately, the M240L improves on the M240B by using titanium alloy in key sections, with a chrome carbo-nitride coating to resist galling, and a ceramic-based top coat. The result? Same gun, but at 22.3 pounds/ 10.1 kg, it weighs 5 pounds/ 2.27 kg less. At about $9,200 a pop, they aren’t cheap. Still, when you’re humping your M240L over 5,000+ foot total elevation changes in the course of a day, at medium to high altitudes, it feels like money well spent.