Israel: $280M to Modernize Communications Hardware

(click to enlarge)

In September 2010, Elbit Systems Ltd. announced a $280 million communications modernization contract from the Israeli Ministry of Defense. About $140 million will be invested in new communications equipment over the next 5 years, with the other $140 million paid over 20 years to upgrade and maintain existing systems. Per Israeli requirements, a key part of the project will be performed in a “development area” (here, the Southern Israeli city of Arad), as part of the Israeli Government’s policy to develop industries in the periphery. Elbit Systems.

Israel has been implementing its Tsayad/DAP next-generation communications system over the last few years, in order to enable its different military branches to communicate more easily. It is currently nearing the end of Phase 1, and Elbit is the main contractor. This is not formally part of DAP, but it is complementary. Elbit and its subsidiary Tadiran Communications offer a wide range of radios, military computers, satellite terminals, and even battlefield command and control systems to the global marketplace. While they may lack the size and heft of Harris or Thales, they compete aggressively across a very wide range of systems, and have received substantial foreign orders.

US Military: The DLA’s Prime Vendor MRO Contracts, FY 2006-2011

Latest updates[?]: Explanation for drop in contract amounts; $105M more in SE region.

Advertisement

Around 1997/98, the Defense Logistics Agency changed their business practices, and entered into Prime Vendor long term sustainment contracts with various suppliers to provide materials needed to support the maintenance, repair, and operation (MRO) of its facilities. Items such as plumbing, electrical components, heating/ ventilation/ air conditioning (HVAC), lumber, fixtures, other hardware supplies, etc. would be included. The Prime Vendors need not make these items; the idea is to use purchasing power and commercial purchasing practices to consistently get the US Department of Defense the best prices on these civilian items, delivering them quickly and with little overhead.

These contracts are not small; collectively, they represent billions of dollars each year. Unless otherwise stated, the contracts are issued by the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP, now referred to as Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support) in Philadelphia, PA. Specific purchases then take place via orders under the overarching contracts described below, up to the limits mentioned. The USA is divided into a number of regions, and these contracts also include locations abroad; DID has used the same geographical groupings in describing these contracts, and the firms receiving them. Coverage will end at the end of FY 2011.

At present, awards seem to be dropping to 1/10 of previous levels. This is not a typo. The DLA says that it’s a series of bridge contracts, issued while they prepare solicitations for the next contract sets. Those solicitations are due out in about a month.

The USA’s 2009-11 HMMWV Orders

M1165 HMMWV

The US military’s Humvee jeeps have demonstrated severe payload and survivability limitations. Nevertheless, they remain a fixture in the fleet, and new orders continue. At one point, the US Marines’ objective was to restrict Hummers to use “inside the wire” of American bases in Iraq. Instead, a sharp reduction in violence within Iraq, and a lower vehicle threat level so far in Afghanistan, have given the HMMWVs a new lease on life. They are still seeing extensive use on the front lines, and the early wear created by the weight of their add-on armor has led to RESET maintenance programs for some Hummers and allied giveaways for others.

By mid-2007, the US Army had about 19,000 HMMWVs serving on the Iraqi front alone. As they wear out and are given away, or are sent to a depot, they must be replaced. Some replacement involves cycling vehicles from other units into theater, but those units must eventually have their lost vehicles replaced, in order to maintain their own readiness rates for deployment. Hence the necessity for ongoing buys of more Humvees, in the absence of a program to provide replacements on a fleet-wide basis. This Spotlight article covers the family’s newest variants, and chronicles the US military’s 2009-2010 purchases.

Rapid Fire 2011-09-28 | SK Defense Budget; DFARS Proposed Changes on Single Bids

• South Korea’s 2012 defense budget: +5.6% or roughly in line with total budget growth, pending parliamentary approval.

• British Secretary of State for Defence Dr Liam Fox says a 1% increase (in real terms) to the Defence Equipment and Support budget between 2015/16 and 2020/21 should give the ministry a “firm footing” to tackle long-term challenges.

• BRAC complete at Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA) in Texas – the largest installation in the US military.

• Can a US Army Program Manager get his USMC pals to benefit from his program even if it’s not a designated joint one? The answer is yes, through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the 2 services.

• DFARS Case 2011-D013 on what to do when acquisitions using competitive procedures receive only one offer is received has been reopened for comments until October 7. The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) objects to the unlimited waiver currently in the planned regulatory change, as well as to the exception provision for contingency operations, given the track record in Iraq and Afghanistan.

• US DoD Performance Based Logistics (PBL) 2011 award winners were announced recently:
• System Level “Gerald Beck” Award: Joint STARS Total System Support Responsibility Team/Northrop Grumman – USAF C2ISR Aerospace Sustainment Directorate/Warner Robins Air Logistics Center (WRALC)
• Sub-system Level Award: AH-64D Apache Sensors/Lockheed Martin – USA PEO Aviation/Apache Project Management Office
• Component Level Award: Tire Performance-Based Logistics Team/Michelin Aircraft Tire Company – USN Naval Supply Command Weapon Systems Support (NAVSUP WSS)
• Forthcoming hearings at US House Armed Services Committee: National Defense and the U.S. Military Ten Years After 9/11: Perspectives from Former Service Chiefs and Vice Chiefs (Oct. 4), Is the Financial Management Workforce Positioned to Achieve DOD’s Financial Improvement Goals? (Oct. 6). The latter should be fun for people who like to watch glaciers move, but it may beat the non-news that so far have emerged from the Super Committee.

• The Stimson Center notes contrasting visions of the future of the US Navy: stick to a strategy of forward presence and projection, or scale back to a position of “security guarantor of last resort.” The two approaches definitely come with a different price tag. Admiral Roughead argued in favor of the more asserting strategy in a roundtable at the Aspen Institute earlier this month (video below):