DID: Department of Defense News, Procurement, Acquisition & Contracting, National Security Policy

Rapid Fire May 31, 2012: Defining Unmanned Missions

Olivier Travers — Thu, 31 May 2012 10:30:40 +0000

Northrop Grumman is pitching a fleet of 3 to 5 modified Global Hawks Block 30s to Canada. The call it “Polar Hawk”. It’s a good thing Microsoft is not in charge of their branding: “Global Hawk Cold Proof Starter Edition” doesn’t have the same ring to it.

RAND came up with methodologies to determine the future role and missions of UAVs.

IAI sales for Q1 2012 are up 5% from a year ago to $894M. Its backlog reached $9.7B. Exports and military sales represent 80% and 76% of total sales respectively. (more…)

QinetiQ’s Q-Net: Fabric Beats Rocket

Joe Katzman — Wed, 30 May 2012 15:30:14 +0000

M-ATV w. Q-Net
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No vehicle “cage armor” provides 100% protection, but even 50% effectiveness will save lives. QinetiQ’s Q-Net uses high-tech fabrics to replace metal cage armor, and protect against incoming rockets. In May 2012, QinetiQ North America in Watham, MA received an $11.7 million firm-fixed-price contract for 420 “rocket-propelled grenade defeating nets,” 420 battle damage Q-net kits, and proprietary tubes. Work will be performed in Franklin, MA, with an estimated completion date of Dec 13/12. One bid was solicited, with 1 bid received by the U.S. Army Contracting Command in Warren, MI (W56HAV-12-C-0240).

This isn’t the USA’s first Q-Net purchase. Kits have been created and fielded for HMMWVs, and for blast-resistant RG-31s and M-ATVs, but contracts to date had been handed out through the vehicle manufacturers. That isn’t entirely unreasonable, since any cage armor must be produced as a specific kit that protects a given vehicle type. As for Q-Net… (more…)

Australia and USA Collaborating on New Small-Ship Radars

Joe Katzman — Wed, 30 May 2012 14:18:52 +0000

Latest updates: Upgrade approved for 7 more ships; Details re: cost and date.

Upgraded ANZAC concept
(click to enlarge)

In August 2005, Australia’s Ministry of Defence reported that Australia and the United States had joined forces by signing a joint agreement to develop active phased array radar technology in Australia. The total development cost was estimated to be approximately A$ 30 million over 3 years. The hope was that it would kick-start a new Australian electronics and systems integration industry, based on S-band active array and X-band phased-array technology, sized for and applied to smaller ships like frigates and corvettes.

Both countries will share the development costs, technical expertise and benefits of the CEAFAR (3D) active phased array radar. This technology is being developed by ACT electronics company CEA Technologies, and has become part of Australia’s ASMD project to make its new Anzac-Class frigates survivable against supersonic cruise missiles. Other military and civil applications on land and sea are also possible, given the radar’s characteristics:

M-ATV: A Win, at Last, for Oshkosh

Joe Katzman — Wed, 30 May 2012 13:04:14 +0000

Latest updates: Improved protection for Special Ops vehicles.

Oshkosh M-ATV
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“The Government plans to acquire an MRAP All-Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV). The M-ATV is a lighter, off-road, and more maneuverable vehicle that incorporates current MRAP level [bullet and mine blast] protection. The M-ATV will require effectiveness in an off-road mission profile. The vehicle will include EFP (Explosively Formed Projectile land mine) and RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade panzerfaust) protection (integral or removable kit). The M-ATV will maximize both protection levels and off-road mobility & maneuverability attributes, and must balance the effects of size and weight while attempting to achieve the stated requirements.”
—US government FedBizOpps, November 2008

Oshkosh Defense’s M-ATV candidate secured a long-denied MRAP win, and the firm continues to remain ahead of production targets. The initial plan expected to spend up to $3.3 billion to order 5,244 M-ATVs for the US Army (2,598), Marine Corps (1,565), Special Operations Command (643), US Air Force (280) and the Navy (65), plus 93 test vehicles. FY 2010 budgets and subsequent purchases have pushed this total even higher, and orders now stand at over 8,800:

MQ-9 Reaper: The First Operational UCAV?

Joe Katzman — Wed, 30 May 2012 12:45:15 +0000

Latest updates: Arming the Italians.

Reaper, ready…
(click to view full)

The MQ-9 Reaper UAV, once called “Predator B,” is somewhat similar to the famous Predator. Until you look at the tail. Or its size. Or its weapons. It’s called “Reaper” for a reason – while it packs the same surveillance gear, it’s much more of a hunter-killer design. Some have called it the first fielded Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV).

The Reaper UCAV will play a significant role in the future USAF, even though its capability set makes the MQ-9 considerably more expensive than MQ-1 Predators, whose price benefits from less advanced design and volume production orders. Given these high-end capabilities, and expenses, one might not have expected the MQ-9 to enjoy better export success than its famous cousin. Nevertheless, that’s what appears to be happening. MQ-9 operators currently include the USA and Britain, who have both used it in hunter-killer mode, and Italy. Other countries are also expressing interest, and international deployments are accelerating. Then the US Air Force’s FY13 President Budget cut its requested order pipeline, all of a sudden:

The MQ-9 Reaper, and its Little Brothers
Program Highlights
- Future Planning & Developments
Contracts & Key Events, 2005 SDD – Present [updated]
OICU: MQ-9 Ancillaries
Additional Readings & Sources (more…)

ER/MP Gray Eagle: Enhanced MQ-1C Predators for the Army

Joe Katzman — Wed, 30 May 2012 11:44:07 +0000

Latest updates: OpEval funding; Article improvements.

ER/MP, armed
(click to view full)

In August 2005, “Team Warrior” leader General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. in San Diego, CA won a $214.4 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) of the Extended Range/ Multi Purpose Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System (ER/MP UAS). That was just the first step along the US Army’s $5 billion road to fielding a true Medium Altitude, Long Endurance, armed UAV, modified from the USAF’s famous MQ-1 Predator.

The ER/MP program was part of the US Army’s reinvestment of dollars from the canceled RAH-66 Comanche helicopter program, and directly supports the Army’s Aviation Modernization Plan. Its position got a boost when a 2007 program restructuring cut the Future Combat Systems Class III UAV competition, in favor of ER/MP. Next, the US Air Force saw this Predator derivative as a threat and tried to destroy it, but the program survived the first big “Key West” battle of the 21st century. Now the MQ-1C “Gray Eagle” is moving into full production, as the US Army’s high-end UAV. This FOCUS article offers a program history, key statistics and budget figures, and ongoing coverage of the program’s contracts and milestones.

The MQ-1C Gray Eagle, and its Band of Brothers
The Army’s ER/MP Program
ER/MP UAS – Enter the Warrior: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
Appendix A: US Army et. al. vs. USAF Over UAVs
Appendix B: Who Controls the UAVs? Readings & Primers
Additional Readings (more…)

Rapid Fire May 30, 2012: Air Control Coordination

Olivier Travers — Wed, 30 May 2012 10:40:17 +0000

Rafael is trying to increase the range of its Iron Dome rocket shields. The US plans to provide military aid to Israel to buy more of these counter-rocket systems, though so far numbers fluctuate widely between the Administration, the House and the Senate.

House Armed Services Committee member Silvestre Reyes [D-TX-16] lost the Democratic primary after serving 8 terms. He’s currently the Ranking Member of two subcommittees: Readiness, and Air and Land Forces.

Booz Allen Hamilton’s revenue for its FY 2012 grew by 4.8% to almost $5.9B. Their total backlog at the end of March was down $120M to $10.8B, though the funded part of the backlog gained ground to $2.9B vs. $2.4B a year earlier. (more…)

24-Year, GBP 1.5B contract to Maintain UK’s Hercules Fleet

Joe Katzman — Tue, 29 May 2012 18:33:37 +0000

Latest updates: Major deal adds HIOS segment to 2015.

UK C-130 C5
(click to view full)

In mid-2006 the UK MoD added another platform to the expanding list of long-term, performance-based, public-private, “contracting for availability” maintenance solutions for Britain’s key military platforms, by awarding Marshall Aerospace a GBP 1.52 billion contract ($2.86 billion conversion back then) to begin supporting its fleet of C-130 Hercules transport aircraft until 2030.

The deal has several segments, with mechanisms for price adjustments upward and downward as the contract continues. Britain’s SDSR plans may also cut the deal off early, if the entire C-130 fleet retires by 2022 as planned. As prime contractor, Marshall Aerospace is working in partnership with the Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO), the Royal Air Force, Lockheed Martin and Rolls-Royce to deliver the Hercules Integrated Operational Support (HIOS) programme. The HIOS programme will provide guaranteed levels of aircraft availability to a fleet that includes both older C3/C1 models (C-130K stretched and normal) and C4/C5 models (C-130J-30 and C-130J). (more…)

US Military Bringing a Switchblade to A Gun Fight

Joe Katzman — Tue, 29 May 2012 16:41:58 +0000

Latest updates: USMC tests & buys; Army finalizes initial contract; Training.

Switchblade out
(c) Aerovironment
(click to view full)

In late June 2011, the US Army gave Aerovironment a contract to begin fielding Switchblade UAV. Aerovironment’s new tube-launched, man-portable UAV will work for surveillance, and transmits live color video. It also functions as a kamikaze missile, however, which can be armed and locked on target by operator control. This makes it extremely useful against dug-in or fortified infantry positions, enemy missile teams, mortars, etc. After a set of 2011 trials, the US Marines added a contract of their own, even as the US Army gets ready to deploy the system to Afghanistan by summer 2012.

The US military’s interest is understandable. One of the key lessons of Israel’s 2006 war in Lebanon involved infantry use of guided anti-tank weapons as immediately-available precision artillery fire. Iran’s Hezbollah legionnaires frequently used Russia’s 1960s era 9K11/AT-3 missile designs for this purpose, while Israeli forces used the higher-tech Spike. Similar trends have been observed among American and British forces in Afghanistan, who use expensive Javelin missiles. With Switchblade, the US military has taken a step toward fielding a lower cost platoon level surveillance/strike weapon. The economics involved mean that they’re unlikely to be alone. (more…)

US Army Wants a Small Radar, for Small UAVs

Joe Katzman — Tue, 29 May 2012 15:11:56 +0000

NanoSAR on ScanEagle
(click to view full)

In May 2012, ImSAR, L.L.C. in Salem, UT received a $24 million firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to build, test, and assess a lightweight ultra wide band synthetic aperture (ground-looking) radar for use on small unmanned aerial vehicles. Work will be performed in Salem, UT, with an estimated completion date of May 31/17. One bid was solicited, with 1 bid received by U.S. Army Contracting Command in Natick, MA (W911QY-12-D-0011).

ImSAR’s NanoSAR radar has already tested on Boeing’s popular ScanEagle UAV, and the company began offering it as an official payload option on Feb 23/10. The US Army doesn’t use ScanEagle UAVs, but they do have options like the RQ-7B Shadow that could benefit from a small radar that was light enough to add in addition to the existing surveillance turret. ImSAR can offer them an improved NanoSAR B, or their new Leonardo radar that’s well-suited to tasks like convoy overwatch and land-mine detection.