Galileo concept
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The European Union is cooperating with a number of outside investors to replace the USA’s free Global Positioning System service with an alternative under their own control. In addition to civilian GPS (the Open Service), services to be offered include a paid Commercial Service (with accuracy greater than 1 meter), and a Public Regulated Service (PRS)/ Safety of Life Service (SoL) for use by security authorities (police, military, etc.) and safety-critical transport applications (air-traffic control, automated aircraft landing, etc.). 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 2013-14 – and doubts persist in several quarters about its economic model, even as security issues arise regarding China’s COMPASS project. After a public-private partnership model failed to agree among themselves or with the EU’s desired terms, the organization gained initial-stage approval for its plan to finance the program with tax dollars instead of the expected private investments. Political issues were overcome, albeit with some protest, by raiding other EU accounts for over EUR 3 billion (about $5.35 billion) in funds, rather than asking for more money from member states.

The latest set of updates cover developments in Galileo, and in related programs like GIOVE and EGNOS. While the project’s base funding is now more secure, its ability to remain within budget faces issues, as does the expected launch timetable. Recent events may even lead to a smaller Galileo constellation…

• Galileo: Goals, Structure & Costs
• “Eppur, Si Bloccare”: Trials & Tribulations [updated]
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Appendix A: The EU Proposal – Going Forward (2007)
• Appendix B: Additional Readings [updated]
• Appendix C: Additional Readings – The Security Dimension
  
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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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SAC 01: Come to Papa!
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The long-range C-17 Globemaster III heavy transport aircraft remains the backbone of US Air Mobility Command inter-theater transport around the world, and its ability to operate from shorter and rougher runways has made it especially useful during the Global War on Terror. Recent buys by Australia, Britain, and Canada have broadened the plane’s its global use. Now NATO, who has relied on the SALIS arrangement and its leased super-giant AN-124s from Russia, is looking to buy and own 3 C-17s as NATO pooled assets with multinational crews. Participating countries will receive allocated flight hours relative to their participation, and thus far they include 12 nations: Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, and the United States.

This order will not materially change the coming shut-down of C-17 production, but it does look like the inauguration of a pool that will fill a gaping hole in Europe’s defense capabilities – its complete lack of heavy airlift. This article covers NATO C-17 acquisition program, including its structure and ongoing announcements.

Program is now an adequate name, as NATO SAC has signed a contract, 2 of 3 aircraft have been delivered, and a SAC C-17 has completed its first operational mission to Afghanistan…

• The NATO C-17 Pool
• Contracts, Notifications & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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Not anymore.
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Northrop Grumman’s E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (J-STARS) uses a powerful ground-looking Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) mounted on a Boeing 707-300 airframe, in order to give American commanders outstanding battlefield surveillance and communications relay capabilities. The Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) system aimed to create a similar capability as a pooled NATO asset, based on a mix of smaller Airbus A321 airframes and RQ-4B Gobal Hawk UAVs, coupled with ground stations. In the end, however, the program was slashed by deleting its manned aircraft and advanced radar entirely.

This will become DID’s FOCUS Article covering the AGS program, from its platforms to its program structure to its procurements. The most recent item is the signing of the AGS Programme Memorandum of Understanding (PMOU)...

• The Need for AGS
• NATO AGS: Program & History
• NATO AGS: Platforms & Technologies
• NATO AGS: Contracts and Key Events
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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Global Express
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In late June 2009, the USAF awarded Northrop Grumman Defense Mission Systems Inc., of San Diego, CA an urgent requirement contract for its Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) System. At present, Northrop Grumman will help the USAf deploy BACN in 4 Bombardier BD-700 Global Express (see also BACN-modified photo) ultra-long-range business jets for immediate fielding, and in 2 RQ-4B Global Hawk Block 20 UAVs for sustained deployment through 2015.

BACN is an airborne communications relay that extends communications ranges, bridges between radio frequencies, and “translates” among incompatible communications systems. That may sound trivial, but on a tactical level, it definitely isn’t…

• The BACN System
• Contracts & Key Events
  
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The Haskell Company in Jacksonville, FL won a $11.6 million firm-fixed-price contract to design and build a headquarters building for US Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) at the Naval Support Activity in Norfolk, VA. The multi-story building will contain administrative areas, space for commercial food service vendors, open storage/secret, a sensitive compartmented information facility, conference rooms, data processing areas, storage areas, and an emergency generator.

The contract contains 3 unexercised options, which, if exercised, would increase the cumulative contract value to $16.5 million. Haskell expects to complete construction by January 2011. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with 13 proposals received by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Mid-Atlantic in Norfolk, VA (N40085-09-C-5093).

USJFCOM is 1 of 10 US Department of Defense (DoD) combatant commands and has several roles in transforming the US military’s capabilities…

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Austal MRV/JHSV concept
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“UAVs, Blimps, and HSV-2, Oh My!” covered the USA’s leased Incat TSV/HSV wave-piercing catamaran ship designs, while other articles covered the Marines’ very successful use of Austal’s Westpac Express high-speed catamaran. These Australian-designed ships give commanders the ability to roll on a company with full gear and equipment (or roll on a full infantry battalion if used only as a troop transport), haul it intra-theater distances at 38 knots, then move their shallow draft safely into austere ports to roll them off. Unsurprisingly, their use has attracted favorable comment and notice from the US Navy, Marines, and Army alike.

So favorable that the experiments have resulted in a $1.6 billion program called the Joint High Speed Vessel, which could involve up to 10 ships. These designs may even have uses beyond simple ferrying and transport. DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record, and this article covers JHSV from its inception onward. The program has picked a winner, and early contracts for ships 2 & 3 are beginning…

• The US Military’s HSV/TSV Experience
• The JHSV Program
• Contracts & Key Events
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems in Suffolk, VA won an $18.2 million indefinite-quantity contract with cost reimbursement and fixed-price ordering provisions for analysis and assessment of command and control (C2) interoperability in support of the U.S. Joint Forces Command’s (USJFCOM) Joint Systems Integration Center (JSIC). This contract includes a base year and 4 one-year option periods, which if exercised, bring the total estimated value of the contract to $101.9 million. General Dynamics will perform the work in Suffolk, VA and expects to complete it by June 2010. This contract was competitively procured, with 4 offers received by the Fleet and Industrial Supply Center Norfolk, Contracting Department, Philadelphia Division (N00189-09-D-Z050).

DID has more on the C2 interoperability work being done at the JSIC…

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Raytheon: C4ISR Future?
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As video communications is integrated into robots, soldiers, and UAVs, and network-centric warfare becomes the organizing principle of American warfighting, front-line demands for bandwidth are rising faster than the US military can add it. The Transformation Communications Satellite (TSAT) System is part of a larger effort by the US military to address that need, and close the gap.

DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record – and TSAT is certainly significant. The final price tag on the entire program has been quoted at anywhere from $14-25 billion through 2016, including the satellites, the ground operations system, the satellite operations center and the cost of operations and maintenance. Lockheed Martin and Boeing each won over $600 million in risk reduction contracts to develop key TSAT SS satellite system technologies, and TSAT’s $2 billion TMOS ground-based network operations contract was already underway.

The TSAT constellation’s central role in next-generation US military infrastructure makes it worthy of in-depth treatment – but its survival was never assured. There was always a risk that outside events and incremental competitors could spell its end, just as they spelled the end of Motorola’s infamous Iridium project. This FOCUS article examines that possibility, even as it offers an overview of the US military’s vision for its communications infrastructure, how TSAT fits, the program’s challenges, and complete coverage of contracts and significant events. New additions are highlighted in green for your convenience.

The latest developments revolve around the end of the program. Despite a positive recent report from the GAO, key components of TMOS/TSAT are being canceled outright as part of the program’s planned termination…

• Key Background – Why TSAT Is Thought to be Necessary (i.e. continue reading…)
• Key Background – The Big Picture: TSAT and the Transformational Communications Architecture
• Briefing – What Is TSAT?
• Briefing – TMOS: TSAT’s Ground Component
• Briefing – TSAT: Issues & Decisions
• Briefing – The AEHF Alternative, and Lessons Learned for TSAT
• Briefing – TSAT: Program
• Analysis – TSAT’s Competitors – and Its Fate
• News – TSAT: Timeline and Ongoing Developments [updated]
• Appendix A – Additional Readings & Sources
  
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JTAC w. ROVER
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TJ Drafting and Design, Inc. in Christmas FL received an estimated $20.9 million firm-fixed-price contract from the Marine Corps System Command, Orlando, FL, to advance the training capability, operational readiness, and tactical proficiency of Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTACs), Joint Forward Observers (JFOs), and Forward Air Controllers (FACs). Demands for air support remain high in the current war, and widespread proficiency in these skills is essential for effective combined arms operations.

The training scenarios will require the placement of tactical ordnance on selected targets using Joint Close Air Support (JCAS) procedures and observed fire procedures for Naval Surface Fire Support (NSFS), artillery and mortar fire to perform destruction, neutralization, suppression, illumination/coordinated illumination, interdiction, and harassment fire missions. Work will be performed at multiple Marine Corp bases worldwide, and work is expected to be complete on August 31/11. Contract funds in the amount of $12.3 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured, with 4 offers received (M67854-09-C-8031).