Rapid Fire Feb. 28, 2013: Light Air Support Reawarded to Sierra Nevada / Embraer

• The US Air Force awarded again its $427M contract (with a $950M maximum) for light air support (LAS) aircraft for the Afghan forces to the team which had already won last year, before the Company Now Known as Beechcraft contested the acquisition and the Air Force cancelled the award..

• After having run a series of articles heavily criticizing big-ticket US weapon systems, Bloomberg puts procurement in perspective: it’s personnel costs driven by healthcare that have really jacked up spending at the Pentagon through the past decade. In comparison, jeremiads about acquisition, while justified, are decades old. Defense departments across industrialized countries are facing at a smaller scale the same tightening demographic and fiscal constraints faced by these nations as a whole.

• The Washington Post boils down guidance [PDF] from the Office of Personnel Management for federal employees about to face furloughs. Yes, you should come to work tomorrow.

Rapid Fire Feb. 27, 2013: Chuck Hagel’s Weak Confirmation

• As expected Republican Senators softened their opposition to allow Chuck Hagel’s nomination as US Secretary of Defense. The 58-41 roll call stands in contrast with the entirely smooth confirmations of Leon Panetta (100-0) by the previous Congress, or more recently John Kerry by the 113th (94-3).

• Whereas Robert Gates used the freedom coming with retirement to sound the alarm on low defense spending by NATO European members, Panetta is leaving with a whisper.

• Congressman Randy Forbes [R-VA, Chairman of the Seapower Subcommittee] is working on legislation that would allow the US Navy to shift money to ship repairs within the current Continuing Resolution. The Hill.

UAE Looking to Become a Regional C2 Leader

Saab S340-AEW

The 21st century has seen a quiet transformation of the UAE’s armed forces. Advanced AWACS airborne early warning planes and air and missile defense systems are just the outward signs of a push from a collection of purchased weapon systems, to an integrated defense force that can cope with the most modern threats.

Making that happen requires more than just planes, or missiles. It requires extensive back-end systems that help turn information from advanced radars and airborne surveillance into a coherent whole, and allow command staff to direct battles based on that information. DID explains the larger picture and where things stand now, as the UAE continues its strong Command, Control, Computing, & Communications (C4) push.

Johns Hopkins APL: Staff Hours on the Cutting Edge

Latest updates[?]: Pentagon-wide deal for up to 10 years, $4.9 billion.

JHU/APL photo

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory is a not-for-profit division that works closely with the US military on a range of research topics. As a Navy University Affiliated Research Center, these capabilities have been established and maintained at the JHU/APL since the 1940s, when the proximity-fused shell was developed for fleet defense. More recent examples of their involvement include the AEGIS system’s successful intercepts of ballistic missile targets using SM-3 missiles, successful OPEVAL and transition to industry of the APL-conceived Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC), the Littoral Warfare Advanced Development project, artificial arm research, engineering issues around underwater launches from SSGN stealth strike submarines, the Precision Engagement Transformation Center, space-based laser communications, the Global Information Grid (GIG), and more.

JHU/APL has received several billion dollars in contracts since 2002, and a 2013 contract looks set to cement that relationship over the next 5-10 years.

Rapid Fire Feb. 26, 2013: US Dept of Bridge Selling Sees No Govt Waste

• Republicans plan to introduce legislation today that would give the Administration discretion in how to implement sequestration, whereas the original Budget Control Act cuts indiscriminately across budget accounts. The executive branch says they are already pretty efficient so cuts, no matter where they’re done, will affect muscle and bone, not just fat. Senator Coburn [R-OK], who is drafting the legislation, says there is plenty of waste and low-priority projects that can be cut without affecting core governmental functions.

• In the meantime Janet Napolitano at Homeland Security is promising delayed port entry for container ships and long lines at customs for foreign travelers, an impressive synergy with the Department of Transportation’s planned furloughing of air controllers.

• If you are somehow tuning in only now on the sequester: 15 things you need to know about it.

• The center-left Brookings Institute is lining up proposals to make the federal budget, including its military component, more efficient. Here is their paper [PDF], authored by Cindy Williams (not that Cindy Williams) on how to make defense affordable. In short: start from genuinely vital national security interests, which leads to more restricted defense policy goals (i.e. not “policing the world”), translating into a smaller force structure. See also a video of a panel last Friday where Williams and former defense and budget officials discussed the paper.

IOTV: Interceptor’s Incremental Improvement

IOTV: key features

The USA’s Interceptor OTV (Outer Tactical Vest) Body Armor, and its SAPI/ESAPI ceramic plate inserts, offer a significant improvement over its 1990s predecessors in terms of both weight and protection. After episodic issues with production ramp-up and quality control, this gear is widely fielded with the US Army and several allied militaries (the US Marines replaced it with the MTV). In May 2007, controversy regarding the armor’s effectiveness boiled over in the wake of a TV news feature. The US Army responded with rare public claims about a competing product, even as several high-profile legislators advocated independent civilian tests to ensure that US soldiers were really getting the best system.

Meanwhile, improvements were being made to the OTV system in response to feedback from the field. Hence the Improved OTV, whose Generation II model is now in production.

Canada’s C$ 2.9B “Joint Support Ship” Project, Take 3

HMCS Protecteur
(click to view larger)

The Canadian supply ships and oilers HMCS Protecteur, and HMCS Preserver have contributed to humanitarian aid missions in Florida and the Bahamas, peace-making off Somalia and East Timor, and have been poised for the evacuation of non-combatants from Haiti, to name but a few of their recent endeavors.

As part of its spate of military modernization announcements issued just before Canada Day (July 1) 2006, the Canadian government issued an RFP that began the process of defining and building 3 “Joint Support Ships.” The aim was to deliver 3 multi-role vessels with substantially more capability than the current Protecteur Class oiler and resupply ships. In addition to being able to provide at-sea support (re-fueling and re-supply) to deployed naval task groups, the new JSS ships were envisioned as ships that would also be capable of sealift operations, as well as amphibious support to forces deployed ashore.

This was expected to be a C$ 2.9 billion (USD $2.58 billion) project. This article describes the process, the industry teams participating, and some of the issues swirling around Canada’s very ambitious specifications. Specifications that ultimately sank the whole project, twice, in a manner that was predictable from the outset. Leaving Canada’s navy with a serious problem. Will another go-round in 2012-13 help any?

Rapid Fire Feb. 25, 2013: If You Don’t Yield On Sequester, We’ll Kill This Dog

Rejected draft cover

President Obama used his weekly address to lay the whole responsibility of the sequester on Republicans in Congress. There is a good dose of scare tactics thrown in, including at the Department of Transportation where they apparently can’t execute a 2% budget reduction except by disrupting flights across the US.

• Suddenly the White House has very granular data on the sequester scourge, down to the state level (here’s Virginia [PDF] for instance). The Washington Post has a round up.

• But some Republicans in Congress would rather see sequestration happen than yield further on the tax/spend mix, and defense industry support in Congress is no longer what it used to be. NYT | Politico.

Canada’s CH-148 Cyclones: Better Late, or Never?

CH-148 Cyclone

Canada’s Maritime Helicopter Replacement Program has been a textbook military procurement program over its long history. Unfortunately, it has been a textbook example of what not to do. While Canada’s 50-year old Sea King fleet aged and deteriorated to potentially dangerous levels, political pettiness and lack of concern turned a straightforward off-the-shelf buy into a 25+ year long odyssey of cancellations, lawsuits, rebids, and more. Eventually, the Canadian military settled on Sikorsky’s H-92 Superhawk as the basis of its new CH-148 Cyclone Maritime Helicopter, which will serve from the decks of Canada’s naval ships and bases.

The civilian S-92 has gone on to some commercial success. To date, however, Canada has been the H-92′s only military customer – with all of the associated systems integration and naval conversion burdens that one would expect. After a long series of badly missed milestones and delivery delays, there are also deeper questions being raised concerning both the machines’ fitness, and DND’s conduct of the program as a whole. This article covers the rationale for, history of, and developments within Canada’s Maritime Helicopter Program.

Grand Salaam! Eurofighter Flies Off With Saudi Contract

RSAF Eurofighter

In 2005 talks were underway for a Saudi purchase of Eurofighter Typhoon Tranche 2 advanced air superiority and strike aircraft from Britain’s BAE Systems – with an important (albeit denied) set of conditions on the Saudi side.

December 2005 saw confirmation that Saudi Arabia had ordered Eurofighter Typhoons, but the 72-plane deal started sinking into the tar sands shortly thereafter. Investigations from Britain’s Serious Fraud Office swirled around a GBP 43 billion oil-for-planes deal from the 1980s called Al-Yamamah (see Appendix A); in return, the Saudis played some hardball of their own. The investigation was eventually called off at the highest levels of government, and later confirmed by the House of Lords. After a period of uncertainty, a contract was finally signed on Sept 11/07. Ironies aside, the price was a bit lower than many expected; even so, it comes with support arrangements that are likely to push the final value quite a bit higher.

This DID Spotlight article covers the Saudi Eurofighter deal, its associated controversies, and related developments.