Rapid Fire 2011-04-25: Energy Storage Systems

• Researchers find that helmets with 1/8 inch more foam padding would offer better protection against soldiers’ brain injuries.

• DoD issues 27 contracts totaling $191 million under the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative program for academic research projects [PDF] with potential military applications.

• DARPA is looking for industry help in developing “flexible/robust energy storage systems” that can use renewable energy sources for forward operating bases.

• Up to $163 million [PDF] to General Dynamics for demilitarization of 8 munitions families including high explosive bombs, improved conventional munitions, fuzes, Explosive D bombs and ammunition ranging for 25mm to 106mm calibers at the US Army Contracting Command in Rock Island, IL.

• Japan is seeking stronger military ties with the US, says Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa.

• AME conducts first test flight of Fury 1500 STUAS powered by a heavy-fuel engine at the Fort Hunter Liggett range on California’s central coast.

• Calibre gets contract worth up to $45 million contract to provide IT and program management support services to the Army National Guard’s Logistics and the Aviation and Safety Divisions.

• DoD wants to speed adoption of mobile and and cloud IT technologies, says Chief Information Officer Teri Takai.

Rapid Fire 2011-04-22: OPTARSS II Contract

• Up to $2.5 billion to 13 companies for mobilization and deployment planning support to the US Army Forces Command under the OPTARSS II contract.

• US Army to shut down Accessions Command, which oversees initial entry training programs for recruits.

• BAE Systems gets $62 million contract modification to provide energy absorbing seats, gunner protection, and laser designation for the US Army’s Bradley fighting vehicle.

• Fire and Brimstone: The US and French air forces are considering acquiring the MBDA’s Brimstone anti-armor missile used by RAF Tornado fighters in Libya.

• EU countries’ defense spending totals $280 billion, according to ASD Reports.

• South Korean F-15K Slam Eagles begin flying with their new Lockheed Martin Sniper surveillance and targeting pods. When did that contract happen?

• If you want to field a 2 foot long, 13 pound bomb for small UAVs, the first thing you need is a really good small warhead. Raytheon turned to Nammo Talley for its new STM Small Tactical Munition.

• The Indonesian Navy successfully tests Russian-made Yakhont anti-ship missiles for the first time. The P-800 (Russian)/ SS-N-26 (NATO) missile was used as the basis for the Indo-Russian Brahmos, and “Yakhont” is the name used for P-800 export versions.

• Is the US Army losing its best officers?

Rapid Fire 2011-04-21: Russia’s Ballistic Missiles, Helicopters

• Russia to invest $2.6 billion in ballistic missile systems with the goal of doubling production from 2013, says Prime Minister Putin.

• Aviation Week offers an overview of Russia’s planned military helicopter buys over the next few years, and notes an issue with Brazil’s November 2008 attack helicopter buy of Mi-35Ms.

• With the DDG-1000 Zumwalt destroyers ended at just 3 ships, BAE is proposing a 155mm “AGS-Lite” turret swap for their 5″/62 caliber Mk.45 MOD4 gun that now equips DDG-51 Arleigh Burke destroyers. It has no stealth, half the weight of the AGS turret, and less rocket-boosted, GPS-guided 155mm LRLAP ammunition in the magazine. It is offered as an option if the US Navy wants to begin reversing their huge decline in naval fire support capabilities. Meanwhile, Finmeccanica’s Oto Melara offers “Vulcano” [PDF] ultra-long range 127mm/54 caliber rounds with IIR or GPS guidance, compatibility with older 5″/54 caliber Mk.45 MOD2s on ships under DDG 80, and a parent firm subsidiary in the USA’s DRS.

• UK MoD shakes up management at its Defense Equipment and Support organization.

• Ukraine to field Stugna-P laser-guided anti-tank missile systems capable of destroying low-altitude aerial targets as well.

• Pentagon posts documents detailing security measures for a new annex building online.

• Northrop Grumman snags $99 million USAF contract to perform base security operations at overseas US air bases, and a $77.9 million US Army contract to development software for air and missile defense workstations.

• Up to $189.4 million to Booz Allen Hamilton to provide cyberspace technology integration for the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific.

• Virtual Corp. gets $49 million contract from DoD to provide disaster recovery software and services.

• Bell Helicopter flies its privately-developed “OH-58 Block II”, a testbed for technologies that could go into their Armed Aerial Scout competition entry – or circumvent AAS entirely via the Army’s proposed “OH-58F” reset & upgrade program.

• DCNS mates the fore and aft halves of its 1st Gowind Offshore Patrol Vessel, finishing the hull. The OPV is being built under a private development contract, followed by a service agreement with the French Navy for 3 years of operations. The goal? Endorsement and operational success, to boost export sales for the scalable OPV/ Corvette family.

• Booz & Co.’s strategy + business magazine on “Crafting Best-in-Class Business Intelligence.”

Rapid Fire 2011-04-20: Stanchion MEDEVAC

• The liberal-centrist hybrid warfare specialists at the Center for a New American Security think-tank release “Crime Wars: Gangs, Cartels and U.S. National Security“, and “Security Through Partnership: Fighting Transnational Cartels in the Western Hemisphere.” They are entirely correct to recognize crime cartels as near-state-level security threats, and their reports are worth attention.

• European Defence Agency is calling on members to reduce or eliminate reliance on outside suppliers for key technologies. Translation: buy American less often. The EDA’s effort is independent of issues with US export controls, but America’s combination of actions and inaction have made the EU’s reception warmer, and their task much easier.

• Keith Hennessey on why the USA’s upcoming debt-limit increase fight will be different than budget battles.

• Pentagon figures out that the services and industry has gamed its requirements process. Proposes new process. Wonder who can adapt faster?

• The Jihadis’ “Worlds of Warcraft”, and the intrinsic logic of “gamified” interaction systems.

• Georgia annuls agreement with Russia allowing Russian troops to transport military equipment across the country to a base in Armenia. Something to do with Russia trying to annul Georgia…

• Thales picks up a $50 million sub-contract for rifled 120mm mortar ammunition, as part of the US Marines’ EFSS program. The system was recently deployed in Afghanistan.

• United Technologies’ LifePort gets 5-year contract worth up to $45.5 million to provide Stanchion Litter Systems (stretchers) for US military medical evacuation.

• ASFT founder Anjan Dutta-Gupta agrees to plead guilty in U.S. District Court in Providence, RI to bribery of a public official in connection with an alleged kickback scheme of more than $9 million in Navy defense technology contracts.

• General Dynamics gets $13 million in contracts to supply 22 M61A2 20mm Gatling gun systems for the US Navy’s F/A-18E/F fighters and GAU-19/A Gatling gun spare items for the US Army.

• Pentagon procures Kevlar underwear and titanium athletic supporters to provide protection for US troops in Afghanistan from IEDs. Now that’s what we call protection!

$2 Bn for British EH101 Merlin Multi-Role Upgrades

Merlin & HMS Sutherland

The Royal Navy’s EH101 Merlin HM Mk1 helicopters will undergo GBP 1.15 billion ($2.04 billion at current conversion) in upgrades from original manufacturer AgustaWestland and Lockheed Martin UK. The Merlin Capability Sustainment Plus (MCSP) program will target 30 helicopters, with an option for a further 8. Originally built in the 1990s as an anti-submarine and search-and-rescue aircraft, the Merlin has taken on an increasingly wide range of roles. This extensive upgrade program is designed to give the Royal Navy upgrades in current capabilities, far greater operational flexibility, and reduced lifetime maintenance costs.

The Merlin HM Mk1s will be progressively upgraded and returned to service from 2010-2013 by adding a range of technological improvements to the helicopter’s avionics, control systems, sensors, and radar. The Royal Navy received 44 EH101 Merlin HM1s between 1998-2002 for training, surface attack and anti-submarine warfare duties, and has since lost 2 in accidents. The remaining 42 helicopters are now expected to remain in service until 2029. Another 28 EH101 Merlin HC3/ HC3A medium support helicopters currently serve with the UK Royal Air Force.

Rapid Fire 2011-04-19: Nunn-McCurdy Breaches

• South Korea to spend KRW 2-3 trillion (about 1.8-2.8 billion dollars) on air and missile defense system to counter North Korean missile threat.

• DoD tells Congress that 95 weapons programs had $64 billion in net cost increases; 7 major weapons programs are in “critical or significant” breach of the Nunn-McCurdy limits on unit cost growth.

• Pentagon chief Robert Gates plans to propose an additional $400 billion in defense cuts through 2023 to President Obama.

• The Canadian defense budget is predicted to grow at a meager 0.44% per year through 2015, reaching US$19.7 billion, according to ASD Reports.

• RAF Voyager transport/tanker aircraft, based on the Airbus A330 airframe with a wingspan of 60mm, arrives in UK; the Voyager will replace VC-10 and Tristar fleets.

• Staff Gasket in Alpine, NJ, and company President Eric Helf plead guilty to fraud in using foreign manufacturers, instead of US-based firms, to supply replacement parts to the US military.

• General Dynamics snags $33 million contract to supply high-explosive incendiary rounds (new production of PGU-13 D/B and remanufacture of PGU-13 HEI cartridges) for 30mm GAU-8 Avenger cannon used in the Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt attack aircraft.

US Military on the Move: Rugged Notebooks Lead the Way

“Where does it hurt?”

The US military is a military on the move. It also is a military on the computer and the network. Linking those two aspects together are notebook computers that can be taken on patrol as well as used on the flight line, at a command post, or in a field hospital.

But US military’s notebooks are not like everyday laptops. They are built to withstand the harsh conditions of Afghanistan or the demanding conditions of flight-line maintenance. They need to be rugged and able to withstand sand, water, wind, heat, cold, jarring impacts, and various chemicals and fluids.

This article examines the US military’s standards and criteria for rugged notebook computers, the environmental and work environments that the rugged computers must be able to endure, as well as assessments of how rugged computers respond in practice. But first, let’s examine what we mean by the term “rugged.”

• What is rugged equipment?
  
• Gold standard
  
• On the battlefield
  
• Flight-line use
  
• Procurement of rugged computers
  
• Key Contacts
  
• Additional Reading
  

Up to $600M to TASC to Support DTRA WMD Program

“Go Ahead, Make My Day”

The US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has undertaken an R&D effort to provide an integrated approach to combating weapons of mass destruction (WMD) known as the Research and Development Enterprise [PDF]. Their efforts are aimed at improving situational awareness about the WMD threat, controlling WMD materials and systems worldwide, reducing the threat to US troops, protecting the homeland, transforming the US nuclear deterrent, and controlling the threat of loose nuclear weapons in the world.

As part of this effort, DTRA awarded a contract April 18/11 worth up to $600 million to TASC in Chantilly, VA to provide advisory services to the agency’s effort in this area…

USAF Uses SABER to Modernize Facilities

Off we go…

The USAF uses its simplified acquisition of base engineering requirements (SABER) contract to fulfill engineering requirements on a variety of projects, ranging from small renovations to large scale infrastructure needs involving pipelines, electrical substations, and life safety issues.

The SABER contract’s main purpose is to expedite contract award of civil engineer requirements through the issuance of individual delivery orders. The contract contains a collection of detailed task specifications that include most types of real property maintenance, repair, and construction work. A number of SABER contracts have been awarded.

New Orleans Flood Control Infrastructure Contracts Keep Coming

Lake Ponchartrain
& New Orleans (shaded area)
(click to view larger)

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is in the process of doling out large contracts to repair and strengthen flood control infrastructure in New Orleans and the vicinity.

The contracts are being awarded under the Hurricane & Storm Damage Risk Reduction System (HSDRRS – formerly the Hurricane Protection System). USACE has developed an interactive map with the status of all of the projects under this program in the New Orleans area.

The USACE expects to complete construction under the HSDRRS in 2011.