Continued flaws with a program designed to track the cost of the military’s largest weapon system are eating into Lockheed Martin’s bottom line. Late last week, Lockheed learned the military is halting an ongoing review of its internal audit program, the earned value management system (EVMS). Along with that decision, the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) will withhold 5% of the price of the fifth lot of fighter jets — the maximum penalty.
ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy is eyeing technology that could reduce wear and increase the performance of certain towed-array components through the development of shape-changing polymers being referred to as “metal rubber” by their manufacturer. NanoSonic, a Virginia-based company, is spearheading the effort through Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding. The morph-on-demand towed array outer hosewall for sonar arrays can temporarily and repeatedly change its shape, the company says.
NEW DELHI — India plans to build another indigenous aircraft carrier in addition to the INS Vikrant, which is expected to join the country’s navy in 2016. “The indigenous aircraft carrier [IAC] program is planned to be [a] continuing process over the next decade-plus, with the Indian navy’s medium-term aim being to have at least two fully operational and combat worthy carriers available at any given time,” says Chief of Naval Staff Adm. Nirmal Verma. The second planned IAC could weigh about 65,000 tons and is likely to be christened INS Vishal.
ARMY Harris Corp., Government Communications Systems Division, Palm Bay, Fla., was awarded a $47,050,513 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. The award will provide for the sustainment and support services for the AN/GSC-52 modernization program’s family of satellite communications earth terminals and associated equipment. The work will be performed in Palm Bay, with an estimated completion date of March 11, 2014. One bid was solicited, with one bid received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Alexandria, Va., is the contracting activity (W91QUZ-12-C-0013).
FORT WORTH — Lockheed Martin plans to conduct intercept flight tests with its Extended Area Protection and Survivability (EAPS) counter-rocket, artillery and mortar system in the second half of this year, says Jonathan Crawford, international business development analyst for Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. Lockheed Martin is under contract with the U.S. Army to develop EAPS as part of a competitive program. Northrop Grumman also is working on a concept.
EDWARDS AFB, Calif. — A heavily modified version of the Boeing X-48 blended wing body (BWB) remotely piloted research aircraft is set to begin a six-month flight-test program next week at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif. The X-48C is a rebuilt, twin-engine derivative of the three-engine X-48B tested between 2007 and 2011. In this new configuration the engines are mounted farther forward from the trailing edge and shielded between vertical tails that are moved inboard and replace wingtip-mounted tails.
EDWARDS AFB, Calif. — Boeing and its X-51A team partners are ready to attempt a third test of the scramjet-powered hypersonic demonstrator following modifications to avoid problems that cut short the last flight in June 2011. The missile-like vehicle is being prepared at Boeing’s Palmdale, Calif., facility and will be transferred to nearby Edwards AFB for the flight, which will take place over the Pacific test range after launch from a B-52H carrier aircraft. “The vehicle is nearly ready for shipping,” says Boeing X-51A Program Manager Joe Vogel.
NEW DELHI — India’s government on June 22 approved acquisition projects for its armed forces worth $4 billion, ranging from aircraft and missiles to guns and command-and-control systems. The Defense Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defense Minister A.K. Antony, authorized the Indian army to receive 14 Dornier reconnaissance aircraft from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., and eight regiments of Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missiles (QRSAMs), a ministry official says. The Dornier aircraft order is worth around $200 million, he adds.
HOOD RIVER, Ore. — The U.S. Navy is moving to integrate the Harpoon anti-ship weapon on the P-8 maritime patrol aircraft, replacing the SLAM-ER previously slated for that role. The change is linked to weapons availability, says Fred Smith, director of business development for surveillance and engagement for Boeing. India also will receive the Harpoon. The P-8 also will be able to employ the Mk. 54 torpedo.
As U.S. Special Operations Command (Socom) shifts its money from contingency war operations to its core budget, the command also is focusing more on training overseas partners to keep from spreading its operators too thinly across the globe.
The U.S. Air Force is gearing up to set another round of firsts with the pending third launch of the Boeing X-37B, but what those milestones may be will remain as much of a mystery as it has been with the recently completed second flight. Looking relatively pristine after its fiery reentry through the atmosphere, the second X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-2) completed a record-breaking 15-month classified mission with a textbook autonomous landing at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., on June 16.
Leaders of the congressional defense committees can agree on this much regarding the threat of steep budget cuts looming next year: it’s time to reach for a deal. Last August, Congress passed a law calling for $1.2 trillion in federal deficit reduction. In the absence of an agreement on how to reduce the deficit, the law institutes a $1.2 trillion across-the-board federal budget cut in January 2013.
Smarter strategies in spending, allocation and technology investments will be required to offset the coming reduction in U.S. defense spending, a new study argues. “Strategy in Austerity,” released June 21 by Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment (CSBA), also argues for exploiting better military technologies, solidly linked to new operations theories, which can allow the U.S. to field a more effective force for the same cost.
As the U.S. Navy invests more in biofuel development, questions are starting to arise about just how important — or affordable — that effort might be. “An important policy question for Congress may be whether a domestic biofuel industry is necessary for national defense, and whether proceeding under the authority of the DPA (Defense Production Act of 1950) offers the necessary stimulus,” the Congressional Research Service (CRS) says.
NEW DELHI — India is set to issue a global tender to buy air defense missiles for its army, with the contract expected to be worth 100 billion rupees ($1.8 billion). “A decision to procure Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missiles (QRSAMs) will be taken soon by the government to replace the age-old Russian Kvadrat systems,” a defense ministry official says. The proposed deal could also contain partnership and knowledge transfer clauses that would enable an Indian company to make certain major equipment for the missile, he says.
EYES ON THE SKY: The Pentagon’s largest ground-based telescope and a smaller cousin are back online at the Maui Space Surveillance Complex in Hawaii after a two-year modernization effort by Boeing. The U.S. Air Force declared initial operational capacity on the 75-ton, 12-ft.-dia. Advanced Electro-Optical System (AEOS) and a 1.6-meter telescope at the same complex on Mount Haleakala. Both are used to track and image satellites and manufactured space debris in near-Earth and deep-space orbits, according to Boeing.
