TWT Ampliers Help Boost Decoy Radar Reflectivity to Fool Enemy Missiles

TWT, conceptual

Traveling wave tube (TWT) amplifiers are used to amplify radio signals to high power. They are commonly used by the US military in satellite transponders, radar, and electronic warfare systems.

The US Navy uses the TWT ampliers for electronic countermeasure (ECM) systems on aircraft. One application is to increase the radar reflectivity of a decoy deployed by an aircraft. The enhanced decoy fools an enemy surface-to-air or air-to-air missile into thinking that the decoy is the aircraft.

The Navy recently awarded a $13.2 million contract to small business qualifier dB Control to supply TWT ampliers for aircraft ECM systems…

Rumors Fly in Advance of USA’s 2011 Budget

Reuters reports that draft FY 2011 budget documents show the Pentagon targeting at least 7 programs for cancellation. Nothing is final yet, and the Pentagon will not comment, but here’s the rundown.

Two of those programs are familiar. One is the F-35′s alternate-engine F-136 sub-program. The other is the C-17. The USAF has been trying to cancel production of this heavy transport plane for years, but lack of faith in the Pentagon’s mobility requirements studies, and frequent testimony that airlift into theater is a bottleneck, have led Congress to add funds to the final military budget year after year. Those efforts have had an export spinoff as well, as open production lines have allowed new orders from Australia (4), Britain (3 more), Canada (4), NATO (3), Qatar (2), and The UAE (6), with India expressing interest of its own (10) in late 2009. FY 2011 seems set to give the Department of Defense another attempt to end the program, which is currently set to go out of production at the end of FY 2012.

Other programs Reuters marks for the chopping block include:

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US Navy Beefs Up Commercial Satellite Capacity for Ships

Intelsat satellite

In the early weeks of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the US military satellite communications capacity was overwhelmed by the demand from US troops for satellite bandwidth to transmit voice and data communication. In response, the US military dramatically increased its use of commercial satellite capacity to meet the explosion of demand.

A study by the Satellite Industry Association found that 80% of all US military satellite communication during the Iraq invasion was carried on commercial satellites. Then-US assistant secretary of defense for networks and information integration, John P. Stenbit, estimated that the US military purchased between $200 million and $300 million worth of commercial satellite services during the first year of the war.

Recognizing the military’s reliance on commercial satellites, the US Navy undertook an effort, called the Commercial Broadband Satellite Program (CBSP), to develop and deploy satellite communication terminals specifically designed to increase the Navy’s commercial satellite communications capability…

$81M to CACI to Support C4ISR Consolidation at Aberdeen Proving Ground

CACI International received an $81 million task order from the US Army to support the consolidation of Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) resources to the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.

CACI will assist in consolidating C4ISR resources from Fort Monmouth, NJ; Fort Belvoir, VA; Eatontown, NJ; Huntsville, AL; and Fort Knox, KY, to Aberdeen as required by the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission.

The company’s support includes the planning/preparation, disassembly, transport, and synchronized reconstitution of components involving information technology, systems engineering, and network automation…

Rapid Fire 2010-01-25: Elbit Laser Designators

• EMB-314 Super Tucano turboprops for Indonesia? How about Britain?

• Human Terrain System intel program, rebooted.

• UAE doubles down on Italian Commandanti Class variant corvettes. Original $117 million order for 2 placed during IDEX 2009.

• USAF announces shift in C-17′s sustainment plans.

• SBIRS-High missile warning satellite program inches ahead.

• RQ-7 Shadow UAVs for Pakistan.

• Another month, another Predator UAV crash.

• Elbit laser designators to Israel, “North American customers”.

• US Army incorporates front-line lessons into a standardized advanced marksmanship course.

• Oshkosh to research light aluminum/ magnesium alloys with the strength of cast steel.

• Tweets from spaaaaace!

LMSRs: Keeping US Troops Abroad Supplied with Heavy Equipment

USNS Gordon [T-AKR 296]

US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan rely on the timely delivery of supplies and equipment to carry out their missions. One of the primary movers of heavy military equipment to that area of the world is the large medium-speed roll-on/ roll-off ship (LMSR) operated by the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command.

These ships need to head out at a moment’s notice. They require operation and maintenance support to keep them in top shape, ready to deliver supplies in theater when needed. To provide this support, the Navy awards large contracts to private companies…

D/SIDDOMS 3: $8B Medical IT Contract That’s a Mouthful

Delicate operation

When you think of military healthcare, you might picture MASH doctors performing surgery on wounded soldiers. Or you might picture a US soldier injured by an IED being rehabilitated in a hospital state-side.

You probably don’t think of computers, networks and Web sites. But modern healthcare, whether military or civilian, depends on information technology for all of the advanced medical technology to work together seamlessly.

To procure military IT, the US Department of Defense developed a contract vehicle called the Defense Medical Information Systems/Systems Integration, Design, Development, Operations and Maintenance Services (D/SIDDOMS 3) contract. Just rolls off the tongue, don’t it.

While hardly Shakespeare, the contract vehicle enables US military services and the US Department of Veterans Affairs to buy medical IT equipment and services through task orders from a group of eager contractors operating under an $8 billion contract ceiling…

DCGS-A: Bringing It All Together for the Commander

US military commanders in the field want information and they want it now. The more information they can gather on enemy positions and movement, and the faster they can get it, the more chance of success they will have.

But there are so many information sources available to the commander, it is hard to sort through it all. That’s where the Distributed Ground System-Army (DCGS-A) comes in. The DCGS-A integrates intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) data within a single system to streamline the US Army’s ability to process and disseminate the data to commanders in the field.

Recently, Textron unit Overwatch received a contract, worth up to $48.5 million, to develop and maintain the DCGS-A Application Framework (DAF), the DAF Software Development Kit (SDK), and major system components such as the Tactical Entity Database, messaging/ interoperability, and visualization/ analysis tools…

The Major’s Email: British Harrier Support in Afghanistan, Revisited

GR7s & Eurofighter

Close air support remains an especially live issue on the modern battlefield, and it is once again affecting procurement discussions in Britain. “Field Report: British British GR7 Harrier IIs in Afghanistan” addressed the positive benefits of Britain’s Harrier force in theater. A 2006 controversy over their performance in the wake of a soldier’s email deserves equal attention, and has broader implications. In September 2006, newspaper reports described a leaked email from a British Major serving in Afghanistan, who created a tempest when he said that:

“Twice I have had Harriers in support when c/s on the ground have been in heavy contact, on one occasion trying to break clean. A female harrier pilot ‘couldn’t identify the target’, fired 2 phosphorous rockets that just missed our own compound so that we thought they were incoming RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades), and then strafed our perimeter missing the enemy by 200 metres.”

Nor is that all. He reportedly added that “the US air force had been fantastic”, and “I would take an A-10 over Eurofighter any day.” The UK MoD responded at the time. Now, it seems that the controversy described back in 2006 is influencing procurement recommendations from the very top…

• Responses, and Updates [NEW]
  
• Appendix A: DID Thoughts/ Op-Ed (September 2006)
  

Fire Down Below: US Navy Uses Contractors for Fire-Watch Support

Fire watcher on duty during
USS Carl Vinson overhaul
(click to view larger)

British sailors on wooden warships used to sing a sea-shanty called the “Fire Down Below.” The song – sung while sailors were raising the anchor, pumping out the bilge, or hauling ropes – was about fighting a fire onboard a ship.

Ever since the era of wooden sailing ships, fires onboard ships have been a major concern for the world’s navies. In the era of steel ships, the fire danger might not be as ever-present. But it remains, especially when repair and overhaul work is being done.

That type of work requires the use of welders. And where welders work, there is a risk of fires starting. To monitor the welders’ work during ship overhauls, the US Navy uses fire watchers…