DID recently covered the Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) UAV program, and the effects its ambitious requirements and quest for a new operating system might have on the project as a whole. As part of their system’s development, Lockheed has introduced an innovation to the traditional pole model process for radar signature testing et. al.
Advances in the USA’s littoral warfare capabilities include mine hunting lasers, UUVs, and Littoral Combat Ships. As the US Navy’s program executive officer for Littoral and Mine Warfare, Rear Admiral William E. Landay III oversees many of these developments. Landay is also responsible for finding ways to detect and destroy the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that have killed or maimed hundreds of Marines and soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan; DID has covered those, too: ICE, JIN, Warlocks, iRobots, and more.
Seapower Magazine recently interviewed Rear Admiral William E. Landay III at his offices in the Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC.
As part of the US military’s organizational transformation, the Bush administration has pushed to create more flexibility within the Department of Defense’s personnel system with a streamlined appeals processes, more market-based compensation, merit pay, et. al. DID has covered the fight being waged by DoD employee unions against these proposals, and the legal difficulties encountered by similar proposed changes at the amalgamated Department of Homeland Security. GovExec.com has the latest update in that saga, which is widely seen as having some implications for DoD-related reforms as well.
“To be sure, Congress made a judgment that it wanted DHS to have flexibility,” said Justice Rosemary Collyer, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “But not at the expense of ensuring that employees could engage in collective bargaining.” Collyer’s ruling comes in response to a lawsuit brought by the National Treasury Employees Union, the American Federation of Government Employees and three other labor unions. The lawsuit addressed only the labor relations portion of DHS’ personnel reforms, and not any classification or compensation issues, such as pay-for-performance. Read the details, and find links to related articles, at GovExec.com
The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southern Division in North Charleston, SC continues to issue contracts related to post-Katrina cleanup at US military facilities. Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root Services in Arlington, VA recently received a pair of modifications to contracts it had already been granted.
These task orders were issued under contract # N62470-04-D-4017, a $500 million contract specifying unusual capability requirements; these two task orders alone now total $104.7 million. Modifications included:
Batteries. So many things in the modern soldier’s kit seem to require batteries that their combined weight has started to become an issue. Meanwhile, batteries are necessary to keep many of those high-tech gew-gaws working. Staff America Inc. in Valdese, NC received a maximum $6.5 million definite-quantity/ indefinite-delivery, firm-fixed-price contract for non-rechargeable lithium batteries for the US Army, Navy, and Marine Corps. The contract will end on Sept. 7, 2009, and was issued by the Defense Supply Center Richmond (DSCR) in Richmond, VA (SP0441-05-D-1652).
