General Dynamics Team
Trimaran LCS Design
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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.

The latest additions include completion of LCS-2 builder tests, and plans to deploy LCS-1 ahead of schedule…

• LCS: Concept & Needs
• LCS: The Competing Teams
• LCS Solution = Standard Equipment + Mission Modules
• LCS: Controversies & Cautions
• LCS: Budgets and Program Structure
• LCS: Export Potential
• LCS: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• LCS Ancillaries: Mission Module & Weapon Contracts & Key Events
• Additional Readings & Sources [updated]
  
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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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Craney Island Fuel Terminal
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Mid Eastern Builders in Chesapeake, VA won a $36.4 million firm-fixed-price contract for replacement of fuel storage tanks at Craney Island Fuel Terminal in Portsmouth, VA. Mid Eastern Builders will demolition the 19 aged bulk storage tanks and build 6 new tanks.

The company expects to complete the work by August 2012. The contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with 6 proposals received by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Mid-Atlantic in Norfolk, VA (N40085-09-C-5037). According to Globalsecurity.org, Craney Island Fuel Terminal is the US Navy’s largest fuel facility in the United States…

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Campbell Ewald Co. won an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for advertising and marketing services for the Navy Recruiting Command in Millington, TN. This contract is worth $146.2 million over the base year, and 4 one-year options could bring its total value to $806.5 million.

Most of this work will be performed at Campbell Ewald’s Warren, MI, facility and the base year ends in May 2010. This contract was competitively procured via Navy Electronic Commerce Online, with 4 offers received by the Fleet and Industrial Supply Center Norfolk’s Contracting Department in Philadelphia, PA (N00189-09-D-Z040).

Campbell Ewald has been working with the Navy on recruiting-related contracts since 2000. In 2005, following a major account review, they scored a major $400+ million win. The firm is responsible for Navy campaigns like “Accelerate Your Life” and NavyforMoms.com, and has expanded the Navy’s reach into social networking communities. That Navy-related work has won over 80 industry awards since 2000. See also Campell Ewald’s release, which includes sample marketing segments.

USNS Sacagawea
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The entire T-AKE dry cargo/ ammunition ship program could have a total value of as much as $6.2 billion, and a size of 14 ships, as the US looks to modernize its supply fleet. The House Armed Services Committee put together an FY 2008 budget that added $456 million for another T-AKE ship – though this figure would not cover all of the internal systems etc. that must be added to make it operational. The FY 2009 budget added 2 more, bringing the total number of contracted ships to 12.

How do T-AKE ships fit into US naval operations? What ships do they replace? What’s the tie-in to US civilian industrial capacity? How were environmental standards built into their design? And what contracts have been issued for T-AKE ships to date? DID has answers in this FOCUS Article. Recent updates include a day in the life aboard T-AKE 5, and milestones for 3 ships of class…

• T-AKE Ships: Mission & Capabilities
• T-AKE Ships: The Civilian Industry Angle
• T-AKE Ships & the Environment
• T-AKE Ships: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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Booz Allen Hamilton in Norfolk, VA received a $25.6 million cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price contract to provide expertise in change management, organizational barrier identification and removal, and key enterprise performance metrics to the US Navy. This contract includes a base year and 4 one-year options, which if exercised, bring the total estimated value of the contract to $120.1 million.

Work will be performed in various locations around the continental United States (CONUS), and the base year will be complete by January 2009. Contract funds will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured though Government-wide Points of Entry, Navy Electronic Commerce On-line, and Federal Business Opportunities websites, with 3 offers received by the Fleet and Industrial Supply Center Norfolk (N00189-08-D-0022).

SSN Cassabianca
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France’s semi-private naval design & construction firm DCNS has signed a “purchase general contract” for R&D cooperation with Russia’s the Krylov Shipbuilding Research Institute, via Rosoboronexport. It is an amplification of the Letter of Intent the two companies signed during the 2006 Paris Euronaval exhibition.

Work is expected to include “technical relationships for hydrodynamic studies and experimentations… for surface ships as much as for submarines is within the R&D scope of the general contract.” DCNS release.

DID covered evolving US anti-submarine warfare strategy back in 2005, including the growing importance of dealing with super-quiet diesel-electric submarines in shallow-water littorals.

In response, one of the early-stage Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) approaches involves thinking entirely outside the sonar box. We talk about “submariner dolphins” – but maybe the creature they really need to emulate is the shark. Now a recent contract indicates that the US military is making real progress toward that goal…

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On November 7, 2006 The US Department of Defense has awarded a Raytheon/ US Navy partnership a Performance Based Logistics Award (sub-system level) for performance based logistics that has improved the availability, reliability and mission success of the AN/AAS-44(v) forward looking infrared system for the H-60 Seahawk helicopter. This FLIR system allows H-60 aircrews to detect, track, classify, identify and attack targets such as fast patrol boats, mine-laying craft, or even land targets. Along with Raytheon, the award recognizes Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), Fleet Readines Center Southeast, and the Naval Inventory Control Point.

Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (SAS) is in the fourth year of a 10-year firm fixed price contract valued at $123 million to provide performance based logistics and mission support for the AN/AAS-44(v) FLIR. “Performance-based logistics” is a global trend in advanced militaries; it can use a range of contract options, but its core focus is a shift from pay-per-part to paying for agreed-upon benchmarks of performance in reliability, availability, et. al. Award documentation notes that the Raytheon/ Navy AN/AAS-44(v) team has steadily maintained 100% availability and achieved a 40% growth in system reliability improvement. The program is also providing increased spares availability, a 65% improvement in logistics response time, and estimated savings and cost avoidance for the Navy of $31 million. Raytheon release.

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Adm. John B. Nathaman

Defense News conducted an extensive interview with Admiral John Nathman, commander of the U.S. Fleet Forces Command on Aug. 4, 2006, at Adm. Nathman’s headquarters in Norfolk, VA.

Subjects discussed included how the job of Fleet Forces Command has evolved since its creation in 2001, global piracy, the “thousand ship navy” concept, new directions in anti-mine warfare, developments related to the Littoral Combat Ship and its program innovations, et. al. The answers were substantive, and the interview is worth your while.

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