• Early retirement? Defense News says USS George Washington (CVN 73) might be decommissioned in 2016, instead of going through refueling and overhaul. This is based on 2 unnamed Pentagon sources and was not officially confirmed or denied.

• Early homeporting? Floridian Democrat Senator Bill Nelson, Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Congressman Ander Crenshaw asked Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Greenert to consider advancing the move of a nuclear aircraft carrier to Naval Station Mayport from FY19 to FY16. Currently the 5 Atlantic Fleet CVNs are all homeported at Norfolk, VA, which, some say, contributes to an over-reliance of the Hampton Roads region on defense. Related: GAO report (March 2011), CRS backgrounder [PDF, May 2011].

• Newport News Shipbuilding is expanding its shipyard where parts of Virginia Block III SSN 787 are currently being built.

• ITT Corporation’s board of directors approved the spinoffs of its defense and water businesses which will be known respectively as ITT Exelis and Xylem. The separation is to be completed by the end of the month.

• Oshkosh has reached a tentative deal with the UAW Local 578 union which will hold a vote tomorrow. The truck manufacturer also named John Urias, a former Army major general, President of its defense segment.

• Food fight. During a hearing of the Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight she chairs, US Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) complained that some contractors supplying food to military bases and other facilities don’t pass along savings from supplier rebates through to the government.

• US SecDef Leon Panetta listed guidelines to decide when to end the war in Libya: Gadhafi’s forces have to really be out, including in his hometown Sirte, and “opposition forces [should be] able to provide security” in the country. That latter statement sounds rather open-ended.

• The US Office of USD Acquisition, Technology and Logistics published its annual Industrial Capabilities report [PDF] to Congress earlier this week. Among FY11 highlights: the Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) Industrial Base Sustainment Plan (see also this PDF report) and an assessment of rare earth oxide (REO) supplies. The conundrum is that REOs come overwhelmingly from China, but defense accounts for only around 7% of North-American demand. For reference, last year’s Industrial Capabilities report [PDF].

• Yesterday’s US House Armed Committee hearing was on DoD’s financial management workforce. Video below:
  Continue Reading… »

Fluor builds LOGCAP housing
in southern Afghanistan

$313 million to KBR for LOGCAP work in Iraq; 2009 contracts backfilled. (Aug 3/11)

The US Army’s sole provider LOGCAP 3 contract, which provided food, housing and fuel for U.S. troops worldwide, generated lots of controversy because government audits of the sole supplier’s (Halliburton-KBR) work were unable to fully account for millions of dollars or justify all charges to the Pentagon’s satisfaction.

To address perceived problems of LOGCAP 3, the Army awarded the follow-on contract, LOGCAP 4, to 3 companies – KBR, DynCorp and Fluor – who compete for task orders.

The LOGCAP 4 contracts are indefinite-quantity/ indefinite-delivery contracts with 1 base year and 9 option years. Each contract has a maximum value of $5 billion per year. This allows the Army to award a total annual maximum value of $15 billion and a lifetime maximum value of $150 billion…

• Obama administration’s fiscal year 2012 budget [PDF] boosts defense spending by $22 billion over FY 2010 appropriations, to $671 billion, while projecting $78 billion in “savings” through 2016.

• Russia’s armed forces rely on aging equipment, lack transport capability, and suffer from manpower shortages, according to a NATO report cited in a leaked US diplomatic cable.

• Which is true now, and even Russian analysts agree. But Moscow is increasing spending, and roughly doubled annual arms exports from 2005-2010. Meanwhile, Germany’s Rheinmetall is about to build an Army training center in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

• Ceradyne’s new Enhanced Combat Helmet may be twice the price, but it looks like a 70% plus increase in head protection over the current American ACH design, with a new ability to stop close rifle shots. The USA plans to buy 200,000 ECH helmets, beginning in the fall of 2011.

• Canada’s DND freezes benefits for deployed soldiers and next-of-kin, but isn’t moving to end double-dipping by senior officers. Not exactly leadership.

• You can find it in those deployed ranks, though. Kudos to Canadian Master Corporal Shawn Grove, who taught himself Pashto and became a big asset to the Afghan campaign, without any help from his military.

• UK soldiers get new lightweight ration packs for troops on patrol under a GPB 140 million contract with Purple Food Services.

• Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush backs easing of high-tech export controls.

• Israel’s IAI looks to work with Bombardier as well as Gulfstream, unveiling a maritime surveillance Dash-8 mockup at Aero India 2011, and considering Airborne Early Warning planes based on Bombardier’s Global Express jets.

• 2 Thai F-16s crash during Cobra Gold 2011. The pilots are safe, and the country’s F-16 upgrade program should be unaffected.

• General Dynamics snags $9.3 million task order to perform network systems integration for the Marine Corps Systems Command under the $9 billion NETCENTS contract vehicle.

• Recent WikiLeaks revelations re: Saudi Arabia have reignited the peak oil debate. Joe Lazarro says we may or may not have hit peak oil, but we can say goodbye to cheap oil.

• US, French defense chiefs ink agreement on space situational awareness.

• Global defense firm are vying for a piece of India’s defense industry, which Boeing expects to be worth $31 billion in 10 years.

• Bridge over the River Arghandab?: Portable bridges produced by Alpha Composites help British troops in Helmand province, Afghanistan, cross short gaps in terrain.

• AAR to shut down former Blackwater operations in Currituck County, NC, affecting 260 employees.

• USMC Captain Eric Schmidt sentenced to 6 years by federal judge for skimming nearly $2 million using fraudulent military equipment orders.

• Would you like some Bubba Gump Shrimp?: The US Defense Commissary Agency is buying up Gulf seafood to serve at 72 base commissaries along the East Coast to boost the Gulf’s fishing industry.

• L-3 Communications to redeem $650 million in notes due 2015.

• US administration has been slow to implement cybersecurity protection for critical infrastructure, CSIS says [PDF].

• Do. Not. Mess. With a Gurkha. Not even if you have 39 friends behind you. Good on his regiment, too…

• GAO reports: DoD is having trouble counting [PDF] all of its service contractors; Defense Business Transformation initiative [PDF] has flaws; and ballistic missile defense plan for Europe has unrealistic cost estimates [PDF].

• Is Pentagon chief Robert Gates planning to stay for awhile?

• GE’s joint venture with China’s Avic, to produce advanced open architecture avionics, is raising some eyebrows.

• Oskhosh is adding 650 to 750 jobs to handle increased orders for US military vehicles.

• Czech defense spending expected to increase 4.15% in 2011, as country increases deployments in Afghanistan, according to BMI.

• French defense spending is predicted to increase at a modest rate of below 2% per year, reaching EUR 52.9 billion in 2019, according to BMI.

• UK MOD bottled water plant bottles 48,000 liters of water per day from hard coral strata beneath Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

• Chinese President Hu Jintao confirms 1st flight test of J-20 stealth fighter jet. The debate about it is robust. Some analyses see it as a serious threat to the entire American concept of operations; effectively, a Chinese FB-22. Others point out the ancillary components required to be really effective, and David Axe has a good roundup and a full Diplomat article that calls it “over hyped.” Then, there’s the Russian view...

• ITT’s decision to split into 3 companies was spurred by expected slowdown in defense segment.

• South Korea wants to expand purchases of UAVs, missiles, radar, and missile defense systems from Israel, according to Haaretz.com. Our readers have seen that trend coming...

• Israel’s IAI rumored to be working with India on an unmanned Dhruv helicopter.

• India’s 3rd IL-76 Phalcon AWACS plane will have some extra features, courtesy of IAI…

• EADS CEO Louis Gallois tells press he expects the company to return to profitability next year.

• The US Army’s Umatilla chemical depot gets Oregon state OK to increase incineration of chemical mustard agent to 100% of capacity, up from a previous 75% level.

• USAF will continue using the F-4 Phantom II fighter, in a new mission.

• The SEIU union says documents it obtained shows Sodexo’s $1.2 billion USMC food service contract has suffered from cost overruns and audit problems; apparently, the union and the company have an ongoing feud.

• Not learning from history: US government’s rush to cut defense spending ignores the lessons of history, warns author Mark Helprin.

• 2010 was mixed year for defense and aerospace industry stocks.

• Research and Markets: The French defense budget is expected to grow at an anemic 1.5% annually, dropping from 2.3% of GDP in 2009 to 2% of GDP by 2015.

• Shopping spree: BAE Systems continues cybersecurity acquisition hunt with DKK 1.2 billion purchase of Denmark’s ETI.

• Germany to set up a cybersecurity defense center after cyber attacks tripled this year.

• GTEC snags $48 million contract to provide USMC expeditionary field kitchens.

Tastes like (Parmesan) Chicken…

2010 contracts. (Nov 1/10)

The Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP) in Philadelphia, PA issues contracts for American field rations, known as Meals Ready to Eat (MREs), and for Humanitarian Daily Rations (HDRs) used when providing aid in emergency situations abroad. This Spotlight article covers related contracts during the slice of time from FY 2007 – 2011.

While there are reports that the French RCIR (Ration de Combat Individuelle Réchauffable) has superior trade value on the front lines, MREs are generally considered to be a significant improvement over earlier US rations. DID readers with a high fright threshold might wish to view a set of comparative photos of modern army rations from various militaries. Even if you knew nothing about China, you could guess that their soldiers are draftees – but scroll down in the post, as well as look at the link; things may be improving. In the USA, see below for field anecdotes, including MREs as RPG defenses, and what happens when celebrity chefs try MREs.

• Field Anecdotes: USA
• Contracts and Key Events, 2007 – Present [updated]
  Continue Reading… »

• To Russia, With Request: The Israeli defense minister travels to Moscow to sign a military cooperation accord and to ask that Russia not sell supersonic P-800 Yakhont cruise missiles to Syria and S-300 air defense systems to Iran.

• Anglo-French Entente Cordiale: British, French defense ministers meet to talk about sharing military equipment, such as the A400M military transport plane; reports about sharing aircraft carriers are “entirely unrealistic,” says British minister Fox.

• Faking It: US Navy buys counterfeit computer chips from China, San Jose Mercury News reports. The GAO detailed [PDF] the problem of DoD buying counterfeit parts earlier this year.

• China needs to develop more “carrier-killing” capabilities to challenge US naval dominance in the Pacific, according to the state-controlled Global Times. The country is currently testing its upgraded DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile.

• The South Sudan military takes delivery of first shipment of 4 Mi-17 military transport helicopters from Russia; a total of 10 for $75 million have been ordered.

• The Boeing/Raytheon team’s 2nd government-funded JAGM missile test goes well.

• US federal prosecutors drop fraud charges against Agility over contracts to supply food and logistics to the US military in Kuwait and Iraq after a US judge blocks charges against its Kuwait-based parent company.

• Can We Share? The Times of London is reporting that the UK and France are discussing an agreement to share aircraft carriers because of severe defense budget constraints in both countries, although the Wall Street Journals says the two sides are only talking about coordinating carrier retrofits so that one carrier is always available from the European theater.

• Chinese Surprise: Was a recent Chinese space maneuver using 2 satellites, the SJ-12 and SJ-06F, in preparation for a space exploration program or a space warfare program? Wired.com examines the question.

• Cool, Clear Water: Aqua-Chem gets DLA contract worth up to $386 million to supply water purification systems that provide fresh drinking water for US soldiers in remote locations.

• Up to $219 million to Northrop Grumman to provide personnel to operate the C-RAM anti-mortar defense systems at forward operating bases in Afghanistan.

• CSC snags subcontract worth up to $50 million to provide analysis support for threat detection of attacks on DoD’s networks.