WANTED: stuff like this…

US Army initiatives. (Jan 18/12)

On July 25/06 Al-Anbar commander and U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Richard Zilmer submitted an MNF-W priority 1 request. It pointed to the hazards inherent in American supply lines, and noted that many of the supply convoys on Iraq’s roads (up to 70%, by some reports) were carrying fuel. Much of that fuel wasn’t even for vehicles, but for diesel generators used to generate power at US bases. That is still true, and Afghanistan has even more daunting logistics. By some estimates, shipping each gallon of fuel to Afghanistan requires 7 gallons of fuel for transport.

A number of Pentagon projects use alternative energy at various installations, but Zilmer’s request is believed to have been the first formal request from a front-line commander. Not to mention the first formal request that acknowledges the security dimension of alternative energy sources, in response to the growth of “systempunkt” terrorism and the non-linear battlefield. It has not been the last.

• The Need on the Ground
• Options and Considerations
• Contracts and Key Developments [updated]
• Additional Readings
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T-50 Golden Eagle

Iraqi, US, Israeli & Polish opportunities; ROKAF places 1st FA-50 order. (Jan 4/12)

Korea’s defense industry is advancing on all fronts these days. On the armored vehicle front, vehicles like the XK2 tank and K9/K10 self propelled howitzer are beginning to win export orders, and its XK-21/KNIFV amphibious infantry fighting vehicle may not be too far behind. All fill key market niches, promising performance at a comparatively inexpensive price. Its shipbuilding industry, one of the world’s busiest, is beginning to turn out LHDs, and December 2008 saw its first-of-class KDX-III AEGIS destroyer accepted into service on time and on budget. Now its aerospace industry is in flight abroad with the already-exported KT-1 trainer. Not to mention a clever entry into an incipient market.

Enter the T-50 Golden Eagle family, which offers a supersonic high-end trainer and light fighter aircraft at an attractive price. The aircraft is hitting the international market just as many of the world’s jet training fleets are reaching ages of 30 years or more, and high-end fighters are pricing themselves out of reach for many countries. The TA-50 LIFT variant and FA-50 lightweight fighter are especially attractive as lightweight export fighters, and the ROKAF’s own F-5E/F Tiger II and F-4 Phantom fighters are more than due for replacement. Now the key question for the platform is whether it can find corresponding export sales…

• T/F/A-50: The Program
• T/F/A-50: The Program [updated]
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings [updated]
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UK Sea King SAR

New plan: UK SAR without the armed forces. (Nov 28/11)

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) provide a 24-hour military and civil helicopter Search and Rescue (SAR) service for the UK and local regions from 12 bases, typically at 15 minutes notice. At present, this SAR helicopter service is provided by about 40 Royal Navy and Royal Air Force Mk 5 Sea Kings and civilian helicopters under contract to the MCA, though other British forces are equipped for these tasks in emergencies. These machines must cover 11,000 km of coastline, and 3.6 million square km of ocean.

There has been a global trend toward public-private partnerships to perform some Coast Guard and SAR functions, including Australia’s billion-dollar Coastwatch program. Now Great Britain is jumping into the fray with a related approach.

• Britain’s Helicopter Search and Rescue: SAR-H and Beyond [updated]
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings [updated]
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• The US Senate unanimously approved the Combating Military Counterfeits Act (S 1228) as an amendment to the FY12 Appropriations bill. It involves criminal penalties and is part of a broader effort to tighten the military supply chain after the revelation that suspect electronic parts from China had been installed on a variety of military systems. Another approved amendment (S 1025) intends to give the National Guard a seat at the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Similar language is already in the House’s version of the bill so this has significant chances of making it through reconciliation, whenever that will finally happen. CJCS Martin Dempsey thinks it’s a bad idea.

• Michele A. Flournoy, US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, published DoD procedures on how to share information with the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security (DoDI 3025.19 PDF).

• The US Government Accountability Office finds there’s too much overlap and not enough coordination between the 5 federal agencies with cybersecurity personnel. That’s what happens when everyone think they’re in charge.

• Can the US government lease to own? Sure. See also the primer [PDF] on aircraft leasing published by the Defense Acquisition University in 2005. As an aside, in 2006 DoD categorized rent-to-own loans to servicemembers as predatory lending but reverted that position the next year.

• Quartermaster soldiers at Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq are packing the last pallets of nonrolling stock out of the country, either back home or to Afghanistan. That includes computers, radios, or even medical equipment. See this entry from early November for a video of rolling stock logistics shot in the same location.

• Australia formally decommissions HMAS Kanimbla. With typhoon season beginning, the event underscores the importance of RMAS Choules’ (ex-Largs Bay) planned mid-December arrival.

• European Defense Ministers have their semiannual meeting today. Bruxelles2 covers the agenda [in French] which should span sea piracy (a topic that seems to concern Europeans much more than Americans) and the escalation of the spat between Great Britain and Iran. The momentous issue in the background though is sovereign debt and government funding stability over the years to come.

• Also in French (aren’t you happy DID makes you practice your rusty foreign languages?), the fun video below by Swiss TV channel TSR on the country’s ongoing fighter competition:
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Future Lynx naval

1st landing on a ship; Timeline added. (Nov 7/11)

In 2006, Finmeccanica subsidiary AgustaWestland received a GBP 1 billion (about $1.9 billion at 02/07 rates) contract from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) for 70 Future Lynx helicopters. The Lynx is an extremely fast helicopter that entered service in the 1970s and has seen several versions and upgrades over the decades. Lynx helicopters have been used in a number of British Army [AH7 & AH9] and Fleet Air Arm [Mk 8] roles, from reconnaissance and attack to casualty evacuation & troop transport, logistical support, anti-submarine operations; and even command post functions.

The Future Lynx program reflects that. The original goal was 40 Battlefield Reconnaissance Helicopters (BRH) for the British Army, and 30 Surface Combatant Maritime Rotorcraft (SCMR) for the Royal Navy, with an option for another 10 helicopters that could be split in any way desired. At present, contracts have been issued for 34 AW159 BRHs, and 28 AW159 SCMR naval helicopters. This is DID’s FOCUS Article for the AW159 Lynx Wildcat Program, describing its improvements, schedules, and related contracts…

• The Future Lynx Helicopters
• Future Lynx: The Program [updated]
• Future Lynx: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
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NH90: TTH & NFH

French NH90 NFH “Caiman” operational; 1st Fremch Army NH90 TTH delivered. (Dec 9/11)

The NH90 emerged from a requirement that created a NATO helicopter development and procurement agency in 1992 and, at almost the same time, established NHIndustries (62.5% EADS Eurocopter, 32.5% AgustaWestland, and 5% Stork Fokker) to build the hardware. The NATO Frigate Helicopter was originally developed to fit between light naval helicopters like AW’s Lynx or Eurocopter’s Panther, and medium-heavy naval helicopters like the European EH101. A quick look at the NFH design showed definite possibilities as a troop transport helicopter, however, and soon the NH90 project had branched into 2 versions, with more to follow. The nearest equivalent would be Sikorsky’s popular H-60 Seahawk/ Black Hawk family, but the NH90 includes a set of innovative features that give it some distinguishing selling points.

While battlefield damage to composite airframes can be more difficult to repair in the field, the combination of corrosion-proofing, lower maintenance, greater troop or load capacity, and the flexibility offered by that rear ramp have made the NH90 a popular global competitor. As many business people discover the hard way, however, success can be almost as dangerous as failure. NH Industries has had great difficulty ramping up production fast enough to meet promised deliveries, which has left several buyers upset. Orders currently stand at 507 machines, on behalf of 14 nations.

• The NH90 Platform(s)
• The NH90 Production Program [updated]
• Contracts & Key Events, 1995-present [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
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B-52H: to 2030?

BAE contract; Rust never sleeps. (Sept 26/11)

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 JCAA
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Aging Aircraft: Some Additional Readings [updated]
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CGC Sanibel

Contract for 4 more FRCs. (Sept 22/11)

On Sept 16/05, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Lockheed Martin/ Northrop Grumman joint venture Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) completed the preliminary design review for a program to buy 58 Fast Response Cutters (FRC). “The FRC is being designed to provide the Coast Guard with a state-of-the-art patrol craft that is capable of conducting simultaneous missions,” said ICGS Deepwater’s FRC program manager Mike Duthu.

That success was surrounded, and eventually overwhelmed, by delays and failures on multiple fronts. More than 2 years after the Coast Guard asked ICGS to accelerate the Fast Response Cutter (FRC) program timeline by more than 10 years, in order to hasten replacement of their deteriorating Island Class patrol vessels, the Coast Guard was still waiting for replacements of any type to arrive. Hull cracking in the first 8 refurbished Island Class ships had made that stopgap unfit for service. Even as delays and technical problems tossed the FRC program about.

When the Island Class refurbishment program was terminated in June 2005, 41 Island Class vessels still plied US and international waters. Their time is running out, but their initial replacement program fared little better. In February 2006, the Coast Guard’s Deepwater system-of-systems Program ‘temporarily’ suspended design work on the FRC-A program due to technical risk. FRC-A was eventually canceled in favor of an off-the-shelf buy, and on March 14/07, ICGS lost responsibility for the Deepwater Fast Response Cutter-B off-the-shelf acquisition as well. What happened next? DID discusses the programs, their outcomes and controversies, the fate of the Island Class and FRC programs, and the work underway to replace them…

• Behind the Programs: The Modernization Imperative
• FRC Plan B: The Sentinel Class
• Program Updates & Contracts [updated]
• Appendix A: Down on the Islands – The Suspended Modernization
• Appendix B: FRC-A’s Not-So Fast Response: The Catch With Composite Cutters
  • March 2007: What Next?
• Appendix C: Additional Readings – Background
• Appendix D: Additional Readings – News, Official Reports & Statements
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Mk 48: Before and After
(click for full sequence)

Major US contract; ASROC Presolicitation. (Sept 19/11)

The Mk-48 is the standard heavyweight torpedo used by the US military, and is mounted primarily on submarines. Surface ships use the smaller Mk46 or Mk50. The Mk-54, in contrast, stemmed from the need for a smaller, lighter, and cost effective advanced torpedo – one that could be dropped from helicopters, planes, and smaller ships. In recent years, the US has moved to modernize and maintain its Mk-48 inventory; the Mk-54 also requires servicing and spares.

Many of these contracts were issued under a total enterprise partnership between Raytheon and the US Navy called Team Torpedo, dedicated to meeting the needs of U.S. and allied naval fleets. Team Torpedo combines Raytheon’s manufacturing, design engineering, and support services expertise with the systems engineering and testing capabilities of Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) operations in Newport, RI, and Keyport, WA. Now, a new provider has entered the picture. DID has the complete set of contracts below… plus more details regarding the torpedoes involved, and the answer to the question “what the heck is CBASS standard”?

• Heavyweight & Flyweight: Mk-48 ADCAP and Mk-54
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
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AEDC at work: X-29

Another $208.5M. (Sept 8/11)

The Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC), named for U.S. Air Force pioneer Gen. Henry “Hap” Arnold, bills itself as “The World’s Premier Flight Simulation Test Facility.” Nearly half of the AEDC’s 58 test facilities are unique in the U.S., and 14 are unique in the world. These specialized test facilities have played a crucial role in the development and sustainment of virtually every high performance aircraft, air-to-air and air-to-ground weapon, missile, and space system in use by all four of the U.S. military services today. The Center has also been involved in the development of every NASA manned space system, many satellites, and numerous commercial aircraft and spacecraft systems.

In 2003, the Air Force consolidated the test operations contract and the base services contract into a single contract for operations, maintenance, information management, and base support, which was awarded to Aerospace Testing Alliance (ATA) in Tullahoma, TN…

• AEDC Services
• AEDC Contracts [updated]
• Additional Readings
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