Galileo concept

2nd large contract series; EC: We want another EUR 7 billion; New build site opened; 1st operational launch; Major article updates. (Feb 2/12)

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
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Just 5 in 2013? (Feb 1/12)

Northrop Grumman’s E-2C Hawkeye is a carrier-capable “mini-AWACS” aircraft, designed to give long-range warning of incoming aerial threats. Secondary roles include strike command and control, land and maritime surveillance, search and rescue, communications relay, and even civil air traffic control during emergencies. E-2C Hawkeyes began replacing previous Hawkeye versions in 1973; they fly from USN and French carriers, from land bases in the militaries of Egypt, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, and Taiwan; and in a drug interdiction role for the US Naval Reserve. Over 200 Hawkeyes have been produced.

The $17.5 billion E-2D Advanced Hawkeye program aims to build 75 new aircraft with significant radar, engine, and electronics upgrades in order to deal with a world of stealthier cruise missiles, saturation attacks, and a growing need for ground surveillance as well as aerial scans. It looks a lot like the last generation E-2C Hawkeye 2000 upgrade on the outside – but inside, and even outside to some extent, it’s a whole new aircraft.

• From E-2A Hawkeye to the E-2D
• E-2D Advanced Hawkeye: Program
  • American Budgets
  • Industrial Partners
• E-2D Advanced Hawkeye: Contracts & Key Events, Full History [updated]
• Additional Readings
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Networking the Navy

Northrop Grumman wins CANES. (Feb 1/12)

The US Navy’s Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) program is designed to streamline and update shipboard networks to improve interoperability across the fleet. It will replace 5 shipboard legacy network programs to provide the common computing environment on board for command, control, intelligence and logistics. The primary goal of the CANES program is to build a secure shipboard network required for naval and joint operations, which is much easier when you consolidate and reduce the number of shipboard networks. That consolidation can also lower costs and maintenance requirements and reduce training needs, if good choices are made.

In 2010, the US Navy awarded 2 contracts, with a potential value of $1.7 billion, for the design and development of the CANES common computing environment. Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin are competing, and a single prime contractor was expected to be picked in 2011. It took until early 2012, but Northrop Grumman won.

P-8A: Sonobuoy drop

Buys for USN and Taiwan; Chart of buys 2009-2012. (Jan 27/12)

Sonobuoys are used to detect and identify moving underwater objects by either listening for the sounds produced by propellers and machinery (passive detection), or by bouncing a sonar “ping” off the surface of a submarine (active detection). They usually float, or have at least some part of them that does. Specialized sonobuoys can also detect electric fields, magnetic anomalies, and bioluminescence (light emitted by microscopic organisms disturbed by a passing submarine); as well as measuring environmental parameters like water temperature versus depth, air temperature, barometric pressure, and wave height.

Sonobuoys are generally dropped from aircraft or helicopters that are equipped with a means to launch them, and electronic equipment to receive and process data sent by the sonobuoy. They can also be launched from ships. This entry will discuss some of the new sonobuoys in use, and cover related contracts:

• Sonobuoy Types [updated]
• Contracts & Key Events, 2006 – Present [updated]
• Additional Readings
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AAF Cessna T182Ts

The Afghan Air Force has been growing slowly, but it is moving closer to independence. Learning to fix their own machines, and moving fixed-wing and helicopter training in-house, are major steps toward that goal. Making that goal happen requires Air Traffic Control and Landing System and navigational aids, and the USAF has contracted with Kuanta Insaat Taahhut Elektronik Tur, San VE TIC.A.S. in Ankara, Turkey to provide it. The $7.4 million firm-fixed-price contract will support the flying training program at Shindand Air Base, Afghanistan, and work is expected to be complete by December 2015. The USAF’s ESC/HBAK at Hanscom AFB, ME, manages the contract (FA8730-12-C-002).

The AAF’s flying training is currently built around Cessna 182 Turbo Skylane light aircraft, and MD-530F helicopters, both of which began arriving in country in September 2011. Helicopter pilots go on to fly the AAF’s Mi-17s and Mi-35s, while fixed wing pilots will go on to fly the AAF’s larger Cessna 208 light transport and surveillance planes, its new C-27A transports, one of the AAF’s few remaining L-39 Albatros jet trainer and light attack aircraft, or the eventual winner of the contested Light Air Support contract in the United States.

ScanEagle launch

USMC contract; RQ-21 replacement draws closer. (Jan 25/12)

ScanEagle’s base Insight UAV platform was originally developed by Washington state’s Insitu, Inc. to track dolphins and tuna from fishing boats, in order to ensure that the fish you buy in supermarkets is “dolphin-safe”. It turns out that the same characteristics needed by fishing boats (able to handle the-water environment, low infrastructure launch and recovery, small size, 20-hour long endurance, automated flight patterns) are equally important for naval operations from larger vessels, and for battlefield surveillance. A partnership with Boeing took ScanEagle to market in those fields, and the design has carved out a market-leading position in its niche.

This article covers recent developments with the ScanEagle UAV system, which is quickly evolving into a mainstay with the US Navy and its allies. Incumbency doesn’t last long in the fast-changing world of UAVs, however. The RQ-21 Integrator, also from Insitu, is getting set to push the ScanEagle aside…

• The ScanEagle Family [updated]
• Contracts and Key Events: 2008 – Present [updated]
• Additional Readings
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• According to Bloomberg the FY13 President Budget submission date has been postponed from Feb. 6 to Feb. 13. Meanwhile House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is suggesting to chip at sequestration one year at a time if rolling back the whole 10 years proves too much of a hurdle.

• Sen. Claire McCaskill [D-MO] is pushing for FAA commercial certification of a civilian “BC-17” heavy transport aircraft. DoD Buzz doesn’t seem to understand that there’s a significant global market for outside cargo delivery, and that the C-17’s short takeoff & landing capabilities could be useful to industries like mining, that operate in austere locations with smaller airstrips.

• US Army installations get together to share progress toward “NetZero” energy & waste goals.

• The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI) looks at [PDF] the tax revenue implications of defense acquisition choices and finds that “the tax revenues are significant; they can yield to the Exchequer [DID: i.e. Treasury] over a third of the value of the contract.”

• France just bought [in French] 29 small Cobra Mk2 robots from Eca Robotics in Toulon, for use in finding and detonating land mines.

• US SOCOM’s 75th Ranger Regiment deploys to Afghanistan with GD’s AN/PRC-154 JTRS HMS Rifleman Radio, and Android-based Itronix GD300 wearable computers.

• Even a dying satellite has lessons to teach. GPS-IIA satellite SVN-30 is doing just that for the USAF.

• The US National Weather Services’ Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) is now operational at the NWS Omaha Weather Forecast Office, the 1st of 135 forecast sites to upgrade. It’s a Raytheon system.

Canada joins WGS; So do Denmark, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and New Zealand; Successful launch of WGS F4, 1st block II sat. (Jan 19/12)

The US military needs a bigger data firehose. In an era of streaming data from proliferating UAVs and other persistent surveillance platforms, and the need for control of those systems anywhere in the world, bandwidth is almost as important as fuel. Commercial satellite communications (SATCOM) can fill some of the gaps, but it’s expensive, and may not be available when needed. The Wideband Gapfiller SATCOM (now Wideband Global SATCOM) program began as a way to ease these problems in the near term, using a derivative of an existing commercial satellite, alongside secure satellite efforts like AEHF. That role expanded after the T-SAT program’s cancellation, as AEHF and WGS became the twin pillars of US military communications. Satellite numbers increased, and some American allies are becoming part of these programs.

WGS is a set of 13-kilowatt spacecraft based upon Boeing’s model 702 commercial satellite. These satellites will support the USA’s warfighting bandwidth requirements, supporting tactical C4ISR (command, control, communications, and computers; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance); battle management; and combat support needs. Upon its 2007 launch into geosynchronous orbit, WGS Flight 1 became the U.S. Department of Defense’s highest capacity communication satellite. WGS F4, scheduled for launch in January 2012, will offer further improvements.

This is DID’s FOCUS Article covering the WGS program’s specifications, budgets, travails, international partnerships, and contracts, with links to additional research materials…

• WGS: Capabilities & Role
• The WGS Program & Schedule [updated]
• WGS Program: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
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• J. Michael Gilmor, the Director of Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E) within the US DoD released his FY2011 report. Among other changes made in recent months, he notes that his organization now has input at the Joint Capabilities Integration Development System (JCIDS) level to help make sure requirements for new programs are measurable and testable. For reference: FY2010 report.

• The latest think tank memos [all PDFs]: CSBA delivers two trendy topics in one swoop on defeating Iran’s anti-access/area-denial threats; CSIS offers a new security architecture for the Arctic; and the Lexington Institute predictably asks the military to limit its industrial roles.

• US defense acquisition regulation is updated with a waiver allowing procurement from the UK of certain items that normally have to be sourced from the national [i.e. American] technology and industrial base. This waiver is effective for a year beginning on February 1st and covers air circuit breakers, small welded shipboard anchors and mooring chains, gyrocompasses, electronic navigation chart systems, steering controls, pumps, propulsion and machinery control systems, and totally enclosed lifeboats.

• DefenceWeb: The USAF says that it knows what went wrong with the RQ-170 Sentinel stealth UAV that Iran captured, and continues to use the type.

• Speaking of long-range drones, Israel has just blocked a sale of Aeronautics DS’ Dominator XP UAV to… Abu Dhabi. An unspecified export contract was reported in July, but most of us didn’t think of the United Arab Emirates. Perhaps this will open an opportunity for the Predator XP?

• Lockheed Martin acquired Procerus Technologies, a designer of UAV avionics created in 2004 and based in Utah.

• Britain is beginning work on a National Space Security Policy, which will seek to cover both military and civil use of space.

• Raytheon delivers its 30th SSDS ship combat system, and keeps its record of always delivering early.

• The ARGUS wide-area surveillance system, deploying to Afghanistan soon aboard Boeing’s A160T Hummingbird ultra-long endurance helicopter UAVs, collects 6 trillion bytes of information a day. Which is why technologies to manage that information firehose are so important.

• Can games-maker Electronic Arts use the likeness of aircraft like the MV-22 and AH-1Z in its games, or does it needs the manufacturer’s permission? That’s the subject of a recent lawsuit.

• House Armed Services Committee (HASC) member Todd Platts (R-PA-19) announced he won’t seek reelection.

• Video of yesterday’s HASC panel on business challenges within the defense industry embedded below, with John Shoraka of the Small Business Administration (SBA), Linda Hillmer who chairs the Small Business Division at the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), and Lynn M. Schubert, President of the Surety & Fidelity Association of America. Hillmer complained about bundling squeezing small businesses in sub-contracting positions:
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ER/MP, armed

Support for front-line QRC detachments. (Jan 17/12)

In August 2005, “Team Warrior” leader General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. in San Diego, CA won a $214.4 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) of the Extended Range/ Multi Purpose Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System (ER/MP UAS). That was just the first step along the US Army’s road to fielding a true Medium Altitude, Long Endurance, armed UAV, modified from the USAF’s famous MQ-1 Predator. Now, the MQ-1C Gray Eagle has entered low-rate production as the Army’s high-end UAV.

The ER/MP program is part of the US Army’s reinvestment of dollars from the canceled RAH-66 Comanche helicopter program, and directly supports the Army’s Aviation Modernization Plan. ER/MP could be a $1 billion effort, and its position got a boost when a 2007 program restructuring cut the Future Combat Systems Class III UAV competition in favor of ER/MP. Now, in FY 2011, the MQ-1C “Gray Eagle” prepares to move into full production, following the first big “Key West” battle of the 21st century between the USAF and US Army…

• The MQ-1C Gray Eagle, and its Band of Brothers
• The Army’s ER/MP Program
• ER/MP UAS – Enter the Warrior: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Appendix A: US Army et. al. vs. USAF Over UAVs
• Appendix B: Additional Readings – Who Controls the UAVs?
• Appendix C: Other Additional Readings
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