President Obama’s campaign donors at Lightsquared still have a big problem with GPS interference, according to the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Executive Committee, and the American FAA. The company didn’t mince words in its reaction: “the process used [...] was rigged by manufacturers of GPS receivers and government end users to produce bogus results”. Yeah, those evil FAA types, who want to be able to use GPS for civil aviation.
French naval personnel recently got an up-close evaluation of the MV-22 Osprey, aboard USS Bataan [LHD 5]. Even if they don’t buy it, it’s a step toward possible joint operations involving French ships.
The Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff released the Joint Operational Access Concept (JOAC) [PDF] to describe how to gain operational access against modern Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) means.
US Congressman Maurice Hinchey [D-NY-22] who sits on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense will retire at the end of this Congress.
Lockheed Martin is shedding 90 electronics systems jobs in Maryland while CSC will lay off 114 people in Ohio.
Adm. John C. Harvey, Jr. Commander, Fleet Forces Command in the US Navy wants his officers to know their ships and how they evolve: recommended video from last week’s SNA National Symposium.
Construction of a solar farm has started at the Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) on the huge China Lake site in California.
Researchers at the San Antonio Military Medical Center think they have an E-75 vaccine targeting HER2/neu, that can reduce recurrence of breast & prostrate cancers. Big breakthrough? “Let’s test a vaccine for early-stage cancer on non-terminal patients!”
The latest US GAO reports on the DOD: how to increase competition in procurements that use the national security exception; Arctic capabilities. Note that the GAO recently redesigned their website for the better, these report pages are significantly more legible than in the past.
Consultancy ICF International studied the potential for solar energy generation on DOD bases in California and Nevada and found that there’s plenty of usable space suitable for solar development, to the tune of 25,000 acres (10,000 hectares). Edwards AFB and Fort Irwin are the 2 sites with the largest potential. PDF report.
Kim Jong-Il’s death makes North Korea a big question mark given the youth of his apparent heir Kim Jong Un, presumably born in 1984.
The US Senate approved last Friday the FY12 omnibus appropriations bill that had already been passed by the House. This wraps up work for the Senate in 2011.
Dyke D. Weatherington, Deputy Director, Unmanned Warfare, sees the focus for UAV acquisition shifting to improving existing platforms rather than launching new programs, at least in the short term.
The US Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) is working with the Air Force to increase use of commercial-grade Jet A fuel instead of military grade JP8. The latter freezes at a lower temperature but using commercial fuel will lower costs for little operational impact. DLA uses 3 additives to meet military requirements.
It’s also in part to mitigate rising fuel costs that the USAF has opened a KC-10 cargo load training facility at the Travis AFB in California.
Syria gets its shore batteries of 72 supersonic P-800/SS-N-26 Yakhont missiles, in the midst of a growing civil war with demonstrators and a Turkish-supported Free Syrian Army. Maybe introducing the missiles wasn’t the best idea right now? And maybe supporting the Kurdish PKK wasn’t Syria’s best idea ever?
Bangladesh inaugurates its new Chinese HQ-7/FM90 short range air defense missiles at Kurmitola Air Base. The MBDA Crotale knockoff is a first for Bangladesh. Not the first Chinese weapons, the 1st surface-to-air missiles.
The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) signed a contract to purchase 450,000 gallons of biofuel made from used cooking oil and algae. The fuel will be used by the US Navy. next summer during the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC). The biofuel is “drop in”, which means engines can use it without modifications, and it will be mixed with aviation gas or marine diesel fuel.
Fuel is expensive not just to consume, but also to deliver. Up to $400 a gallon in Afghanistan says the WSJ, once you factor in airdrops and parachutes that don’t open.
Speaking of which, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) think tank released a policy brief [PDF] advocating a change of mission in Afghanistan.
Cambridge Design Partnership and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’s (DSTL) Centre for Defence Enterprise (CDE) won this year’s Engineer Technology and Innovation Awards in the UK for an oxygen concentrator powered by a micro-diesel engine rather than a heavy battery. The idea is to produce a lighter device so that oxygen can more readily be administered to soldiers wounded in the field.
Lockheed Martin signs a mentor-protege agreement with Chicago’s Sciacky, in partnership with Morehouse College and the University of Texas at El Paso. Sciacky has a unique “Electron Beam Direct Manufacturing” (material printing) technology. Direct/Additive manufacturing can make parts to any configuration, with near-zero waste and little finishing; Lockheed thinks it may have a future for the F-35’s hard-to-make titanium parts. See the video after the jump:
The US DoD acquisition office hosted the 1st Product Support Manager (PSM) Conference last week. Among the material presented there, we recommend this overview [PDF] of Open Systems Architectures (OSA) and data rights. “Data rights are rights granted to the government for technical data and computer software” which can help DoD maintain competition over the life of a program, among other benefits.
Also of interest from the PSM event: sustainment metrics [PDF]; this primer [PDF] on the role of PSMs, a position created under Section 805 of the FY10 defense authorization bill. Per DTM 10-015 [PDF], all ACAT I/II major programs must have a PSM supporting them.
Conundrums can arise when safety procedures meet environmental concerns in the life of a military base. For instance, US DoD policy requires periodic aircraft hangar fire suppression foam system nozzle discharge checks to make sure these systems will perform when needed. But these necessary checks generate nontrivial amounts of wastewater, a liability and another burden to deal with. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Engineering Service Center think they have an answer with their “NoFoam” design [PDF].
Meanwhile the US Army is trying to scale its renewable energy efforts through its recently-created Energy Initiatives Task Force (EITF).
If you’re a US military member preparing to enter the federal or private sector workforce, this US Navy primer will help.
The WSJ reports that the CIA has made concessions about how it uses UAVs for strikes in Pakistan.
Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew J. Shapiro gave a speech last Friday summarizing the nature of American military support for Israel, which receives $3B per year in funding for training and equipment under Foreign Military Financing (FMF), or 60% of a total $5.5B spread among 70 countries.
Transfield Services (Australia) Pty Ltd wins A$ 90 million Comprehensive Maintenance Services (CMS) contract for all Defence establishments in South Australia, from 2011-2014, with options to 2017.
The US Air National Guard has approved the new LITENING G4 surveillance and targeting pod for fielding on its F-16s.
Bloomberg has a wrap-up on the F-35, one of the few programs that have been identified by name in recent budget cut talks.
The Pentagon wants to radically change the terms of the F-35 contract, and have Lockheed Martin pay for problems discovered through testing, and fixes to already-produced aircraft. Suddenly, the Pentagon’s plan to start production before testing is done has a contractor downside, not just a political engineering upside.
Hackers hit Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which makes Japanese fighters and missiles, and license-builds Patriot PAC-3 missiles. PCs were infected with a Trojan application designed to send data to an outside server, and an internal investigation found signs that the stolen information had been transmitted.
Boeing delivers the US Navy’s 12th C-40A transport aircraft, derived from the 737. They’re replacing C-9s (DC-9).
Denmark is working to narrow choices for its next naval helicopters. The AW159 Lynx Wildcat could succeed its Lynx predecessor, or Denmark could turn to Eurocopter’s AS565 Panther or Sikorsky’s larger S-70/MH-60 Seahawk.
The French Ministry of Defense submitted its annual report [PDF, in French] to parliament on armament exports. France received 5.12 billion euros in orders last year (about $7.2B at current exchange rates), the lowest amount in years and a 37% drop from 2009’s record 8.16 billion euros ($11.4B) order book.
The US Army would benefit from working with energy utilities to lower its installation costs, according to the RAND Corporation.
The US has more offensive nukes than Russia, according to data collected under the START treaty.
VT Halter Marine holds a dedication ceremony for Egypt’s 1st Ambassador III Class Fast Attack Craft, S. Ezzat. The class is only 63m long but armed like a corvette, with Harpoon Block II ship/land attack missiles, a RAM missile launcher for air defense, a MK15 Phalanx Block 1B 20mm CIWS (Close-In Weapon System, vs. boats or even missiles), and an Oto Melara 76mm gun. See model.
EMALS electro-magnetic aircraft catapult shore site launches an E-2D Advanced Hawkeye AWACS plane, as it widens its aircraft compatibility testing. EMALS will equip the new USS Gerald R. Ford super-carrier, replacing the Nimitz Class’ steam catapults.
Will playing with Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) spending serve as the Super Committee’s escape hatch? The committee had a public hearing yesterday and there’s still a significant gap before an agreement is reached.
The Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee also had a hearing yesterday on Army acquisition and modernization, discussing the network portfolio (WIN-T, JTRS, SoSE…), combat vehicles (GCV, AMPV, PIM, JLTV, HMMWV Recap), soldier modernization, and aviation (OH-58, armed Aerial Scout). Video below:
With Qaddafi dead, NATO operations in Libya are set to wind down quickly.
Northrop Grumman Electronics Systems to cut 800 jobs in Maryland and other states (further details are lacking). Meanwhile the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) won’t have to lay off people but they may have to use furloughs.
India, Brazil and South Africa are in early talks of trilateral defense cooperation.
US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey made the case for better energy efficiency. Warfighting energy use is at an all-time peak: 22 gallons of fuel per soldier per day, 400 pounds of batteries for your typical 30-man 72-hour infantry mission (about 6kg/soldier). So-called smart and micro grids may be part of the answer.
Contractors such as SAIC at looking at ramping up dual-use with the sale of miltech to civilian law enforcement agencies.
C-5M Super Galaxy flies straight from the US East Coast to Afghanistan in less than 14 hours, refueling over England by a KC-135R Stratotanker and skipping the usual overnight stay in Germany. Better planning takes the credit. Not credited but probably equally at work: better avionics.
The candidate bases for a single active-duty US Air Force MQ-1/9 Remote Split Operations Squadron are: Davis Monthan Air Force Base, AZ; Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii; and Shaw AFB, SC. This base will host ground control stations, not the UAVs themselves.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had an interview with ABC News on the difficult relationship with Pakistan.
Katherine Hammack, the US Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations, Energy, & Environment), presented “US Army Power & Energy” [PDF] last week during AUSA.
MBDA announced that it is pitching its Taurus air-to-ground missiles in answer to a Request for Information from the Indian Air Force.
According to the New York Times, the Obama administration considered using cyber warfare during the war in Libya, but balked because of legal concerns and to avoid setting a precedent.
South Africa’s Department of Defense discloses the value of its assets but the country’s Auditor General could not audit that statement, reports DefenceWeb. This sounds familiar.
South Korea’s Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) is reportedly working on a tilt-rotor UAV.
If Scotland were to break up from the United Kingdom – an event that is actually under serious consideration – what would be its defense policy?
US Rear Admiral Craig Faller, Commander of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 3, muses over the value of a CSG in terms of power, flexibility and mobility.
The Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) released a briefing [PDF] on the state of Iran’s chemical,
biological, and nuclear capabilities. The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) also published several updates about Iran’s nuclear facilities and centrifuges.
Winslow T. Wheeler from the Center for Defense Information (CDI) takes US SecDef Leon Panetta to task on the latter’s assertion that “the American military today is without question the finest fighting force that has ever existed.” Wheeler’s contention: “We got this smaller, older, less ready force not because of less money but because of more.” While some may object to Wheeler’s tone, he’s summoning accurate facts to support his rebuttal: the US Navy does have fewer ships than it used to, and USAF planes are indeed aging on average.
Video below of a Q&A with Dmitri Trenin at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Russia where Putin is likely to again become President:
Finmeccanica’s AgustaWestland, following in BAE’s footsteps, will cut up to 375 jobs in the UK. The company’s plant in Yeovil manufactures AW159 Lynx Wildcats for the MoD. However, while AgustaWestland’s license to manufacture Chinooks as ICH-47Fs that led to sales in Italy also covers Britain, it lost to Boeing when the MoD decided to get more helicopters, so the job cuts were predictable. ADS, the UK’s aerospace & defense trade association, warns that there’s potential for significantly more cuts ahead.
Closer, but no cigar. UAW workers rejected Oshkosh’s latest 5-year contract terms on Saturday. They don’t see eye to eye on temps.
Stan Soloway, president and CEO of the Professional Services Council, reviewed US federal spending on services during the first half of the previous fiscal year (i.e. Oct 2010 to March 2011) and notes that for the first time in a decade, orders for professional, administrative and management services have been decreasing. According to Soloway the US Army alone accounts for a 3rd of the federal total and saw a 15% decline, at least based on preliminary data.
US Air Force Research Laboratory Propulsion Directorate came up with cheap vibration dampers to preempt much more expensive engine maintenance.
Frank Kendall listed his priorities [PDF] as acting USD AT&L: rapid procurement and efficient logistics to support deployed troops, program affordability and acquisition efficiency, and strengthening the industrial base and the acquisition workforce. Sounds like a direct continuation of Ashton Carter’s policies.
Attorney William Welch notes that at the US GAO they’re not big fans of redundant, frivolous protests. Speaking of the GAO, it states that logistical challenges remain in Afghanistan, including RFID tracking shortcomings, customs clearance slowdowns, and difficulties in collecting information on all incidents of pilferage and damage.
According to Danger Room a virus has infected UAV ground control stations (GCSs) at Creech Air Force Base, ND, probably while map updates where loaded from removable drives. Some Wired readers countered: “psyops!” but the fact video from Predators was intercepted in the clear with cheap software less than 2 years ago is not reassuring. Once “wiped” from a computer network a virus is not supposed to “keep coming back” when you know what you’re doing.
Meanwhile The Economist argues that the “future of air power belongs to unmanned systems” and calls for tighter monitoring of their use. The New York Times calls it an arms race.
The US House of Armed Services Committee (HASC) will have a busy week with no less than 5 hearings: “future of defense” follow-ups, national Guard and reserve component acquisition and modernization, nuclear weapons modernization in Russia and China, and aerial refueling including KC-46A. Members of the recently-formed HASC Defense Business Panel visited Rock Island Arsenal last Friday to discuss how to increase small business participation in defense contracts. Finally, HASC Chair Buck McKeon (R-CA) stuck to his portrayal of reduced increases as “cuts” in the 1st video embedded below.
Video of amazing cranial reconstruction work done by US Army doctors also embedded below. Warning in case you just had breakfast and don’t like the color red: it’s pretty graphic at times.
James Hasik looks at future options for the American super-carrier fleet, and delivers a preliminary cost analysis for various scenarios – including a scenario that involves halting the new CVN-21s after the 2nd-of-class CVN 79, mothballing 2 existing Nimitz Class boats, and dropping to 8 operational carriers.
Today’s video (embedded below): the Panel on Defense Financial Management and Auditability Reform’s hearing last week with the House Armed Services Committee. Among the issues is whether the branches (let alone DoD at large) are able to reconcile their books with the Department of Treasury. Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller Jamie M. Morin [PDF bio] says the USAF is now achieving 99.99% accuracy on its 1 million+ records/month ledger.
