Military Media Gal

I'm moving!

2010-12-31T17:40:00.003-05:00

Change is inevitable!

It's official - I've outgrown my little plot of land here at blogger, and have purchased new space which will allow me to continue to cultivate military media/news.

My new "home" is up (and pseudo-running).

Be forewarned, however - there are still glitches here and there. Please bear with me as I continue to work through them (what can I say, it's not easy to port 500+ posts somewhere!).

The good news it that you will now be able to subscribe directly to my feeds - and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

My new claim on the web can be found at www.MilitaryMediaGal.com
(OF NOTE: ON JANUARY 1, 2011, I WILL NO LONGER BE POSTING HERE ON BLOGGER)

I hope that you enjoy the new look and feel. =)

BAE’s Diverse MRAP Orders

2010-12-31T15:31:00.013-05:00

The USA’s Mine-Resistant, Ambush Protected (MRAP) program has been a long road for BAE Systems. In the wake of the US Army’s belated realization that mine protection was critical for vehicles in theater, BAE’s designs, long-standing experience in the field, and production capacity had made them an early favorite. Early results were a deeply humbling experience for the firm, but a combination of acquisitions, persistence, and product development combined to recover 2nd place status by the time MRAP orders ceased.

BAE MRAP: The Vehicles

The RG-33L’s unique features make it a very strong contender for Explosive Ordnance Disposal roles, route-proving, and other classic MRAP Category II tasks that need a larger vehicle. It is a 6×6 vehicle designed to maximize interior space and visibility, while remaining well-protected and transportable by C-130 Hercules. At 38,700 pounds empty, it’s a close fit, and a fully-loaded vehicle can weigh up to 58,000 pounds. Compare this with an up-armored Hummer’s 9,000 pound empty weight and 12,000 pound total weight when fully loaded.

The optional robotic arm is probably the RG-33L’s most recognizable feature, allowing it to probe, remove, and/or place destruction charges near possible land mines from a safe distance. This feature helped the vehicle win the US Army’s 2,500 vehicle MMPV competition to equip its engineer and EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) units. It can be fielded without the arm, and some variants like the RG-33L MEDEVAC Ambulance variant are never equipped with it.

The RG-33L’s standard armor is designed to offer protection up to medium machine gun fire, while its monocoque v-hull is designed to deflect blasts away from the vehicle offer protection against IED land mines. Its windows use TRAPP transparent armor, and the vehicle is equipped to handle the weight of additional tailored armor packages if desired. It is also equipped with run-flat tires, multi-positional mine protected seating, and other survivability equipment such as extinguishers.

An hydraulic ramp, a transparent armor gunner’s shield, dedicated space for equipment stowage, and enough power generation to operate mission electronics and air conditioning round out the RG-33L’s key features. That last item may seem like a luxury, but when it’s 110 degrees outside the vehicle and you’re wearing body armor or a full explosives protection suit, air conditioning is necessary in order to arrive in a fit state to perform one’s duties… like defusing touchy explosives. The vehicle can carry up to 14 people, including the driver & front seat.

The shorter 4×4 RG-33 has 90% commonality with its larger cousin, and is the same width and height, but loses the robotic arm. It weighs 29,700 pounds empty, with a maximum weight fully loaded of up to 38,000 pounds. They are BAE’s high-end Category I patrol vehicle offering, designed to carry up to 8 people. They are also used in reconnaissance roles, and have been equipped with hydraulic masts that carry electro-optical long-range surveillance/ infrared/ laser-targeting turrets. A special variant of the RG-33 serves with US Special Operations Command as their MRAP vehicle of choice.

RG-33 MRRMV

BAE’s 40-ton MRRMV recovery vehicle is also based on the RG-33. As militaries internalize the need for mine-protection on combat vehicles, a couple of corollaries become obvious. One is that heavier blast-resistant vehicles need heavy wheeled recovery vehicles that can tow them out of mud, canals, et. al. – or haul a vehicle that has had an axle destroyed by land mines back to base. The other corollary is that recovery vehicles intended to work in in areas where land mines are a common weapon of war must also be blast-resistant.

The privately-developed MRRMV carries a 2-man crew, plus equipment and spare parts to conduct on-site vehicle repairs, including field maintenance tasks that require lifting, welding, cutting and heating. It also maintains space to carry 2 recovered crew, and other combat spares. The MRRMV is capable of up-righting, winching and towing Hummers and M1117 ASVs, plus all MRAP, MMPV and Stryker class vehicles. Indeed, BAE claims that it has the capacity to recover all types of U.S. tracked and wheeled combat vehicles, with the exception of M1 Abrams battle tanks and the M88 Hercules tracked recovery vehicle.

MRAP Caiman Driving

BAE’s new subsidiary Armor Holdings was offering the Caiman MRAP vehicle before the acquisition, and is now known as BAE Tactical Vehicle Systems (BAE-TVS). Caiman is a v-hulled capsule design, mounted on the US Army’s standard FMTV medium trucks. This is not entirely surprising; one of the salient features of the trend toward mine-resistant vehicles is the use of truck chassis instead of standard automotive bases, in order to accommodate the extra armor and body weight associated with these kinds of vehicle designs. It also allows BAE to offer mine-protected cargo carrier versions of its vehicle in future.

Compared to the RG-33 family, the Caiman is slightly narrower (94 vs. 96 inches) and not quite as tall (111 vs. 136 inches). As a “v-capsule” design, Caiman acquires some of the classic drawbacks of easier “mobility kills” and a potentially higher center of gravity, in exchange for easier production due to commonality with the popular and successful FMTV truck that makes up the backbone of the US Army’s medium truck fleet.

While there are technically 2 types of Caiman on offer for the MRAP program, they are actually the same vehicle with different numbers of seats installed inside. A smaller Caiman version did not make it through testing, and the decision was made to use the larger CAT-II vehicle design and install fewer seats to create the CAT-I offering. Caiman vehicles can carry up to 10 soldiers, including the driver and front seat.

More Caiman variants may be on the way. BAE spokespeople have confirmed to DID that the firm’s MRAP-II vehicle contender, which was one of only 2 vehicles to pass through initial testing against a wider range of threats, is based on the Caiman platform. Moving in the other direction, the firm’s “Caiman Light” is designed to be smaller and provide more mobility in Afghanistan. A further step was taken with a Caiman M-ATV design that lightens the vehicle further and lengthens its nose to provide better balance for all-terrain mobility, but reduces the number of troops that can be carried.

BAE MRAP: The Current Tally

Despite their status as early favorites, by June 20/07 contracts had been issued for 3,266 Category I patrol & Category II squad-sized MRAP vehicles, fully 42% of a the program’s planned 7,774 orders. Force Protection had racked up orders for 1,780 Cougar vehicles, and Navistar/Plasan Sasa had come out of the tests at Aberdeen with orders for 1,216 of its MaxxPro joint design. BAE sat in 4th place with orders for just 90 vehicles – 2.8% of the total. It had to be a humbling experience for the firm that went into 2004 as the world leader in the field.

BAE has worked hard to catch up, even as the number of MRAPs in the program more than doubled to over 15,000. The final tally gave them a wide 2nd place lead over 3rd place firm Force Protection. It also made them one of just 2 firms with a foothold under new MRAP-II qualifications, which includes protection against EFP (explosively-formed projectile) land mines that fire the equivalent of a cannon shell at the vehicle, in addition to the standard under-body blasts.

As of December 2007, more than 2,000 BAE Systems employees in the United States and 400 in South Africa (BAE OMC, producing General Dynamics’ entry) were producing vehicles with the support of suppliers in more than 30 states across the United States. Key production locations include York, PA; Fairfield, OH; Aiken, SC, and Sealy, TX, with production assistance from partners Spartan Motors Chassis and Demmer Corporation.

Of the envisaged 15,771 vehicles in the MRAP-I program as of March 31/08, all have now been ordered – and follow-ons have grown the total further, even as related programs like the more mobile M-ATV and the Army’s MMPV engineer vehicle have grown the overall fleet of blast-resistant platforms. Thus far, BAE has directly received basic MRAP contract orders for 5,218 vehicles:

    * 31 RG-33 MRAP CAT-I
    * 436 RG-33 MRAP CAT-I SOCOM variant
    * 1,710 RG-33L (MRAP CAT-II w. optional robotic arm)
    * 181 RG-33 HAGA Ambulance variant
    * 2,178 BAE-TVS Caimans, CAT-I seating internally
    * 684 BAE-TVS Caimans, CAT-II seating internally
    * Caiman Ambulance variant in development

Based on these orders, BAE remains 2nd place in the initial MRAP CAT-I/II race, with 29.6% of all orders to date. This is a major improvement from its position earlier in the competition, and its own high-end RG-33 vehicles now own a respectable 13.3% share. General Dynamics Land Systems has also been contracted to supply RG-31 MRAP program vehicles to the US military, in partnership with the Canadian government and BAE OMC of South Africa. RG-31 orders actually began before the MRAP program, and are not included in the above figures. If RG-31 MRAP program orders are also folded into BAE’s share, it rises to 38.9%.

The leader is still Navistar with 42.7%, a lead that widened recently when its lighter “MaxxPro Dash” was selected by the US Army in recent orders for the Afghan theater. One-time MRAP leader Force Protection has slipped to a distant 3rd place at 17.5% and is unlikely to receive further MRAP orders.

To learn more about the history of this program, click here.

Boeing's A160T to support Marines in Afghanistan

2010-12-31T07:47:00.003-05:00

The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has awarded Boeing a contract worth close to $30 million for the delivery of unmanned cargo aerial vehicle services supporting U.S. Marine Corps in Afghanistan. Under the contract Boeing will provide two A160T Hummingbird unmanned vehicles, three ground control stations, spares, training and support. The A160T aircraft designated for the contract are being completed at the new production line launched by the company in Mesa, Ariz., March 2010.

These unmanned vehicles will be owned by the government-owned, but will be supported by the manufacturer under the new contract. The contract calls for a period of predeployment operations at a military facility in the continental United States, followed by options for a six-month deployment to Afghanistan.

EaglePicher to supply advanced lithium ion aircraft battery to Navy

2010-12-30T13:38:00.002-05:00

The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., are awarding a $3.1 million contract to EaglePicher Technologies LLC in Joplin, Mo., to develop an advanced lithium ion battery for aircraft as part of a project to increase the mission performance, operational capabilities, reduce the total ownership cost, and improve system readiness of naval air vehicles.

Awarding the contract for this aircraft battery last week were officials of the NAVAIR Propulsion and Power Engineering Department, Science ,and Technology Office.

The award is in response to a broad agency announcement (BAA N68335-09-R-0204) to provide NAVAIR with several kinds of new air vehicle technologies related to prognostics, diagnostics, and health monitoring systems for propulsion, power and drive systems, as well as advanced aircraft power systems, fuel technology, and aircraft energy conservation and environmental compliance.

Dyneema's HB80 Composite Material Selected for Helmets

2010-12-30T10:19:00.006-05:00

DSM Dyneema has been awarded a contract for the development of an improved combat helmet based on advanced Ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) material solution. DSM Dyneema has been focusing on research and development of new UHMPWE series of materials to substantially lighten the load for military and law enforcement. As part of the contract the company will develop new unidirectional (UD) materials suitable for the improved combat helmet next generation improved combat helmet application, offering superior ballistic performance at lower weight.

The company launched the Dyneema HB80 in June 2009. Initially known as Prototype Dyneema X31, this UD composite material has undergone extensive ballistic and secondary property testing, demonstrating the potential to significantly lighten the load carried by soldiers, providing greater comfort and mobility for soldiers wear protective gear. HB80 offers over the highest ballistic performance on the market today. With 35 percent greater protection against fragmentation threats and its advanced ballistic properties, SWAT helmets made of HB80 could be produced with half the weight of today’s models. This material has now been selected for both body and vehicle armor applications where ultra-light weight and enhanced performance are required.

The HB80 has been extensively tested and evaluated in different helmet constructions and is currently in the final development testing phase of ECH program. The ECH will use manufacturing techniques different from those associated with resin-impregnated para-aramids while the UHMWPE uses advanced thermoplastic processing.

According to DSM Dyneema the company is already working with all major helmet manufacturers involved in the Enhanced Combat Helmet (ECH) program. Unlike previous models made of Kevlar, Improved versions of the ECH will employ the high tech UHMWPE developed specifically to address the requirements of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. The program is a joint PEO Soldier/Marine Corps Systems Command developmental effort that will provide increased protection against ballistic and fragmentation threats. Previous reports about the ECH mentioned that the new lightweight helmet will match or exceed the ballistic fragmentation resistance of current helmets offering a significant weight reduction of approximately 20%, which means above 0.5 pounds as compared to the older designs.

British-Israeli JV to Produce Nanotubes for Defense Applications

2010-12-30T10:06:00.002-05:00

A new company established today in Israel will produce carbon nanotube fibre for the enhancement of body armor and composite armour systems for vehicles. The new material is stronger than Kevlar and other ballistic fabrics, but still flexible and lightweight. TorTech Nano Fibers Ltd. The company is a joint venture company owned by Israel’s world leading armor and survivability company Plasan and University of Cambridge spin-out company Q-Flo. According to the agreement, Plasan will have exclusive sales and marketing rights to defence-orientated materials, whilst Q-Flo will retain rights for other potential applications.

“We believe Q-Flo’s carbon nanotubes have the potential to revolutionise the defence industry through a new range of lightweight, flexible and incredibly strong armored material” Said CEO of Plasan Group, Dan Ziv. “Through Tortech, we intend to produce a carbon nanotube-based yarn, which can be woven into the strongest-ever manmade material. Plasan’s expertise will then enable the design and production of a revolutionary new range of body and vehicle armor” said According to Q-Flo’s CEO, Dr. Dai Hayward.

This is the first time the technology will be scaled up for industrial production. The current process for making the fibre is only capable of turning out one gram per day.

Prof Alan Windle and Dr Martin Pick, who spun out Q-Flo in 2004, developed a process that winds fibre from an ‘elastic smoke’ consisting of floating carbon nanotubes. The smoke is created by growing carbon nanotubes on tiny floating iron catalysts inside a reactor. The floating nanotubes entangle, and create an ‘elastic smoke’. This smoke can then be wound up into a continuous fibre using Q-Flo’s specially designed machine. The fibre is so thin that it is barely visible to the naked eye.

It is believed the fibre could be used to make ropes, cables, fabric and composite materials, as well as body armor. While the material’s axial strength and stiffness is in the range of conventional carbon fibre, its toughness exceeds Kevlar by three times. At the same time it is also lighter in weight. Its yarn-like nature also means that it can be successfully woven into the matrix resin of composites.

UAV is latest Air Force plane tested to run on alternative fuel

2010-12-29T17:42:00.003-05:00

By Anna Mulrine

A drone that runs on alternative fuels?

That's the latest from the Air Force, which has been running tests to see how its aircraft perform burning something other than straight jet fuel. The initiative is aimed not only at shrinking its carbon footprint and spurring alternative fuels development, but also at strengthening national security.

Monday's alternative fuel test of the Global Hawk UAV was considered one of the most challenging yet for the Air Force.

The drone that flies at high altitudes and low temperatures was one of the last that the Air Force needed to test in its current spate of trial runs before its fleet is certified to run on a 50-50 blend of jet fuel and alternative fuels.

The ultimate gauge of success is that the aircraft flies without incident, and moreover, that “the pilots can’t tell any difference” in the performance of their respective planes, says Gary Strausburg, the Air Force’s chief of environmental public affairs.

The Air Force burns about the equivalent of a single midsize commercial airline each year, or about 2.5 billion gallons. For that reason, it can help encourage innovation in the development of alternative fuels.

But partnerships with industry are vital, too, because for many biofuels “the tricky part is the cost,” says Timothy Bridges, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for environment, safety and occupational health. The science, too, is a challenge, since the Air Force ultimately wants to be able to pump biofuels – including plant extracts and animal fats – into aircraft without changing out any parts.

There is also the issue of space. Growing crops that ultimately could become biofuel for the Air Force requires considerable land. It also takes time. Algae has proved particularly promising because it grows quickly – and can sometimes be harvested in just 24 hours, says Michael McGhee, who serves in the office of the deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for energy.

Biofuels could ultimately give the military a more flexible and reliable source of energy, allowing it to abandon crops that may have been hit by a drought and buy up cheaper fuel made from crops that had a banner year and might be selling at a lower price.

This has a flip side, however: As the price of oil decreases, developing alternative fuels – and building the plants it takes to process them – can become less economically appealing, says Mr. McGhee, which can hold up production.

Greenhouse gas emission legislation is another variable. Industry, McGhee points out, is carefully watching the outcome of legislation making its way through Congress to see if new environmental standards become law, “before they invest too deeply in production.”

In the meantime, the hope is that the Air Force’s interest in alternative fuels will help drive industry, says Bridges – particularly since the Air Force has set a goal of certifying its fleet to use a blend of alternative and fossil fuels by 2011. Looking ahead, it aims to be able run a 50-50 blend incorporating biofuels in all of its planes that operate in the continental United States by 2016.

The Air Force has also taken other more immediate steps to increase its energy efficiency both in the US and abroad. It has found shorter flight routes, and has scoured the fleet to get rid of extra weight – including, for example, losing thick binders filled with information that can easily be put on a computer instead – to make the fuel go further.

The point “is not to be saddled with a dependence on foreign oil,” Bridges adds. “That’s a national security issue.”

Army unit flies new unmanned aircraft in Iraq

2010-12-29T12:55:00.004-05:00

By Spc. Roland Hale, PAO eCAB, 1st Inf. Div.

An Army unit deployed to Camp Taji, Iraq, is shaping the future of the Army's unmanned aircraft systems program with a handful of its newest aircraft, the MQ-1C Gray Eagle.

The unit, known as Quick Reaction Capability 1-Replacement 1, deployed this June to use the Gray Eagle in combat before the Army fields the aircraft to all of its aviation brigades in the next few years. It is one of two deployed Army units currently flying the Gray Eagle, and it is the only one using it in Iraq.

The unit is attached to the Enhanced Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, an all-in-one aviation brigade from Fort Riley, Kan. The Gray Eagle's mission is similar to the mission of the brigade's Apache and Kiowa helicopters, but as an unmanned aircraft, has stronger ties to the intelligence community. The QRC1-R1 operators are working with aviators from the brigade's Apache battalion to integrate their mission into the aviation realm.

The Gray Eagle is an extended-range, multipurpose unmanned aircraft designed primarily to provide ground commanders a set of "eyes in the sky." The aircraft is built on the same platform as the Air Force's Predator drone, and will provide the Army easy access to the type of support usually provided by Predator-type aircraft.

"The Army needed more UAS support, there was a gap in coverage," said Capt. Michael Goodwin, the unit's commander, and a native of Cedar Island, N.C. "Predator based platforms are spread too thin to meet all of the Army's needs…we're the Army's answer to finding a quick solution to that problem."

The Army purchased its first batch of Gray Eagles from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems while the aircraft was still in the developmental stage. Forming the QRC units allowed the Army to get a head-start on introducing the aircraft to combat.

The unit has not identified any significant flaws in the aircraft, which has yielded impressive results during the first six months of their deployment, said Goodwin.

The unit has flown nearly 7,000 accident free hours, more than 350 combat missions, produced over 16,000 surveillance-type images, and maintained a systems operational readiness rate of about 93 percent, according to the unit's reports.

Soldiers of the QRC unit are not only developing the Gray Eagle and its systems, but often help introduce its technology to the commanders and ground troops it is designed to benefit.

"One of the biggest things we try to do is educate other units about our capabilities," said Goodwin. "A lot of units have the ability to use our assets, but they don't know what we can do."

One of the most useful tools the unit offers ground troops is education on a portable system known as the OSRVT, or One Station Remote Viewing Terminal. Ground commanders using the system can access the Gray Eagle's video feed from a laptop. The OSRVT can be carried in a backpack and is designed to be used in most military vehicles. Access to the Gray Eagle's feed through the system provides ground commanders a firsthand, bird's eye view of the battlefield, said Goodwin.

"We're finding that a lot of units have the OSRVT, but don't know what it does for them," said Goodwin. "Our company helps train the ground guys on the system, on how to access our feeds and use our aircraft to support them."

"It's such a new technology that - just like our aircraft - most people don't know how great the technology is," said Goodwin. "If I were a ground commander, I wouldn't roll out without it."

In addition to the OSRVT, the Gray Eagle and its operators are perfecting several technologies that are new to the Army's spy-plane arsenal.

Older Army UAS platforms have typically only served as a middle-man in engaging targets, providing attack helicopters, planes, or ground troops with a target. With the Gray Eagle, the Army's UAS family can now do both. The unit is working to prepare the aircraft to carry hellfire missiles, and is scheduled to conduct a live test of the missiles in Iraq this January.

Sgt. Brent Randal, a Gray Eagle operator deployed with QRC1-R1 and a native of Las Vegas, Nev., said that one of the aircraft's best features is its new Synthetic Aperture Radar, or SAR. Mounted underneath the Gray Eagle's nose, the SAR can compare high resolution images of a location taken at different times to determine whether objects have been removed from or placed at a scene.

"Using the SAR we can fly by a site, fly by several hours later, and if anything changes we'll see it," said Randal.

The technology comes particularly useful in locating buried IEDs and weapons caches, said Randal.

The Gray Eagle can also help ground troops communicate with their headquarters over long distances.

"We've had a couple situations where ground troops were out of communications range from their higher headquarters, so we used our radio systems in the aircraft to retransmit their signals to their headquarters," said Randal. "In essence we bounce their signal back to their base."

Staff Sgt. Raymond Ballance, of Beaufort, S.C., the unit's senior enlisted trainer and master gunner, has a unique perspective on the company's mission with the Gray Eagle.

Ballance recently hit his 11 year mark in the Army, but has only operated unmanned aircraft for the last five years. Before he turned to flying drones, Ballance spent the invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq as a scout on the ground. His mission was to travel ahead of infantry units to find the enemy, observe their activity, and provide his commanders with firsthand intelligence.

Ballance and many other scouts became unmanned aircraft operators when the Army did away with their original field in 2005.

"We're still the eyes on the battlefield, now it's from above," said Ballance. "It's a lot safer, too. You no longer have that three man team out there hours away from help hiding in the bushes."

"You can never fully replace the human element on the battlefield, but what I used to do has evolved into what the Gray Eagle does now," he said.

Since switching jobs Ballance has flown several of the Army's unmanned aircraft, including the Predator drone for Task Force ODIN, the Army's first unit to fly that aircraft. The success of that task force helped pave the way for the Army's acquisition of the Gray Eagle, said Ballance.

"The Army saw the success of the Predator in the skies of Iraq and Afghanistan and decided to go full production with their own," said Ballance. "I've seen it evolve from there: better engines, better payloads, better systems."

The Army plans to provide 12 Gray Eagles to each of its aviation brigades when the aircraft is fully developed. The aircraft are likely to work closely with the Army's scout helicopters, but will remain strongly connected to intelligence and ground combat units.

"Ten years ago the Air Force had Predators and they were working for three-letter agencies," said Ballance. "When this thing goes full production, every aviation brigade is going to have it."

Army Awards Raytheon Order for Common Sensor Payload

2010-12-29T09:58:00.006-05:00

Raytheon Company has been awarded a $42.9 million delivery order for 57 Common Sensor Payload electro-optical and infrared sensor systems. The order is part of a contract awarded by the U.S. Army in November 2007, with options worth up to $1.2 billion.

The systems will actively support U.S. troops engaged in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom as they work to maintain stable civil environments. The sensor helps security forces on the ground recognize threats early and respond quickly and accurately.

"The Common Sensor Payload is a high-performance, cost-effective solution for the U.S. Army, providing soldiers with accurate targeting, high-resolution and full-motion video," said Tim Carey, vice president, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Systems. "This sensor can be employed on a variety of aircraft, allowing soldiers to accurately assess threats and effectively engage targets."

Since winning the initial development contract, Raytheon has delivered 28 system development and demonstration units to the U.S. Army. The day and night imaging sensor is designed for installation on numerous platforms, including manned, unmanned, and rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft. It passed Milestone C review (conducted by the U.S. Defense Acquisition System's Milestone Decision Authority) in June 2010, enabling the program to move into the low rate initial production manufacturing phase.

SOCOM Orders Mk46/48 Machine Gun Variants

2010-12-28T17:41:00.003-05:00

FN Manufacturing in Columbia, SC received an $11.5 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the MK46 MOD1 lightweight machine gun and MK48 MOD1 lightweight machine gun, along with spare and repair parts in support of the U.S. Special Operations Command. Work will be performed in Columbia, SC, and is expected to be complete by November 2015. $25,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/11. FN is the only firm that makes these weapons, so this contract was not competitively procured by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division in Crane, IN (N00164-11-D-JN65).

Both the MK46 LMG and MK48 lightweight GPMG are designed specifically for US special ops requirements. The Mk46 is a variant of the ubiquitous 5.56mm M249 “Minimi” Squad Automatic Weapon, but adds some features and removes about a pound of weight. The Mk48 is a heavier 7.62mm variant, whose longer lethal range is very useful in environments like Afghanistan.

New capabilities propel unmanned aircraft systems

2010-12-28T12:59:00.013-05:00

By Barry Rosenberg

For a technology that barely existed a decade ago, unmanned aircraft systems have proven to be indispensable in providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The military’s growing reliance on unmanned aerial vehicles was illustrated in April when the Army Unmanned Aircraft Systems Project Office said the service had flown 1 million flight hours. Eighty eight percent of those hours were logged in combat situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the office.

Since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, unmanned aircraft systems have evolved from platforms that carried little more than a basic video camera or electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor to ones that are equipped to fire missiles and carry advanced sensors, such as synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target indicator radar. The Army’s latest UAS, the Sky Warrior Extended Range/Multi-Purpose (ER/MP) system, is an example of how far these ISR tools have come in a decade.

“As quantities of these fielded systems increase and as we improve the capabilities of these aircraft, their ability to support the warfighter also increases,” said Col. Gregory Gonzalez, project manager for Army unmanned aircraft systems. “Unmanned aircraft such as the ER/MP [have] fundamentally changed the accuracy and lethality of our soldiers’ weaponry, increased the safety of our soldiers, and even changed the way soldiers see and understand the terrain and situations they face during conflict.”

The growing capabilities of unmanned aircraft can be seen in a sampling of recent developments that are being tested or moved into production from the companies that produce the aircraft and supporting systems for the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.

Dismount Detection

For example, General Atomics completed a series of flight tests in May to demonstrate the ability of its Lynx synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target indicator radar to detect people walking or running on the ground. The flight of the Lynx Advanced Multi-Channel Radar on a Predator B marks the first time that radar dismount-detection capability was demonstrated on a Predator-class aircraft, said Linden Blue, president of General Atomics' Reconnaissance Systems Group.

“The ability to detect and track dismounts and slow-moving vehicles over large areas and to cross-cue the onboard video sensor to areas of interest is an emerging military and civilian surveillance requirement,” Blue said, referring to the enhanced capabilities of the aircraft and its EO/IR sensor.

Also in May, General Atomics introduced the Sea Avenger UAS, a carrier-based derivative of its Predator C Avenger, to fulfill the Navy’s need for an unmanned carrier-launched airborne surveillance and strike system. The company formally proposed Sea Avenger to the Naval Air Systems Command through a request for information submitted in April.

And in July, General Atomics began low-rate initial production of its MQ-1C Sky Warrior UAS in support of the Army’s ER/MP UAS program. The Sky Warrior will carry more and larger payloads than the Predator, and it is also planned to be a communications link for communications on the move in the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical program. Through contracts worth almost $400 million, General Atomics will deliver 34 Sky Warrior aircraft, beginning in December 2011, and 16 One System Ground Control Stations manufactured by AAI. The contract also includes delivery of airborne and ground tactical control data link equipment produced by L-3 Communications West, in addition to other items such as automatic landing systems, spares and ground support equipment.

The Sky Warrior program is moving forward as Predator A production is concluding, said Frank Pace, president of General Atomics' Aircraft Systems Group. An earlier version of the Sky Warrior was fielded in 2008 as a quick-reaction program, with the latest version of the ER/MP including four Hellfire missiles and auto-land, takeoff and deicing capabilities.

Unmanned Aerial Refueling

As reliance on unmanned aircraft increases, so does the need to refuel them. Northrop Grumman received a $33 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in early July to demonstrate aerial refueling of a NASA Global Hawk by a sister ship. The program, designated KQ-X, will demonstrate a number of firsts, including the first aerial refueling of a UAV, first autonomous aerial refueling operation, and first flight of high-altitude long-endurance UAVs in formation.

“Demonstrating the refueling of one UAV by another is a historic milestone,” said Carl Johnson, vice president of advanced concepts at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. “It opens the door to greatly expanded operational utility for UAVs, and, as a side benefit, it promises to increase the safety and reliability of aerial refueling between manned aircraft by reducing pilot workload.”

Through the KQ-X program, Northrop Grumman will retrofit two Global Hawks so that one can pump fuel into the other in flight through a hose-and-drogue refueling system. Major subcontractors on the program include Sargant Fletcher and Sierra Nevada.

Pilots from NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Northrop Grumman will fly the Global Hawks from the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

Multinational Configuration

Vendors also are redesigning UAS platforms to meet increasing demands to work with allied forces. For example, the Euro Hawk, a derivative of the Global Hawk that Northrop Grumman builds for the U.S. Air Force, made its first flight in June, soaring 32,000 feet over Northrop Grumman’s Palmdale, Calif., manufacturing facility before landing nearly two hours later at Edwards Air Force Base. The company developed Euro Hawk in a partnership with EADS Defence and Security under a 2007 contract from the German Defense Ministry.

“The Euro Hawk marks the first international configuration of the RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance UAS and strengthens Northrop Grumman’s first trans-Atlantic cooperation with Germany and EADS Defence and Security,” said Duke Dufresne, sector vice president and general manager of the Strike and Surveillance Systems Division at Northrop Grumman’s Aerospace Systems sector.

Based on the Block 20 Global Hawk, Euro Hawk will carry a new signals intelligence mission system developed by EADS Defence and Security that can detect electronic and communications emitters. EADS also will provide a signals intelligence ground station that receives and analyzes data from Euro Hawk. In addition to the aircraft, Northrop Grumman also will supply a ground station for mission control, launch and recovery.

The German Defense Ministry plans to use the Euro Hawk as a replacement for its aging fleet of manned Breguet Atlantic aircraft, which have been in service since 1972 and are scheduled to be retired in 2010.

In addition to working on the Euro Hawk, Northrop Grumman is developing the X-47B unmanned combat aircraft vehicle for the Navy. The X-47B is designed to autonomously take off and land from the deck of an aircraft carrier. Earlier this year, the Navy and Northrop Grumman tested the integration of existing ship systems aboard USS Abraham Lincoln with the hardware that will be necessary to launch and recover an X-47B.

With a 62-foot wingspan and 38-foot length, the X-47B is about 87 percent the size of F/A-18C aircraft that fly from Navy carriers. The first flight of an X-47B from a carrier is scheduled for 2013.

U.S. and European suppliers aren’t the only companies capitalizing on the revolution in UAS development. One of the pioneers in UAV development, Israel Aerospace Industries, recently reported that Australian, Canadian, French, German and Spanish armed forces in Afghanistan are using UAVs that IAI manufactures.

The Canadian and French air forces have used IAI's Heron UAS, while the Spanish army uses IAI's Searcher III UAS. The German and Australian air forces began to operate the Heron this year. The Heron is a medium-altitude, long-endurance UAS for strategic and tactical missions. With a wingspan of about 54 feet, the Heron UAV can reach an altitude of 30,000 feet and can remain airborne for 50 hours.

Accommodating Heavy Fuel

Another factor in UAS development is the reliance on heavy fuels. One of the primary requirements of Navy and Marine Corps UAS platforms is that air vehicles must burn heavy fuel. Heavy fuel refers to kerosene-based fuel, such as JP5 and JP8 used in diesel or jet aircraft engines. Because ships don’t carry motor gasoline, the Navy has made the development of a heavy-fuel capability for UAVs a high priority to satisfy safety concerns and streamline logistics for remote deployments.

Earlier this year, Boeing’s Insitu subsidiary flight-tested an electronic fuel injection, heavy-fuel engine on its Integrator unmanned aircraft. The Integrator is one of four unmanned systems vying for the Navy and Marine Corps' Small Tactical UAS/Tier II contract, under which the services will phase out the contractor-owned ScanEagle UAV, which Insitu also manufactures. The services will transition to a military-run program of record with a new platform. Other companies in the competition include AAI and its Aerosonde Mk. 4.7, a Raytheon/Swift Engineering team and its Killer Bee, and a General Dynamics/Elbit team with its Storm UAV.

“We have now demonstrated [electronic fuel injection, heavy-fuel] engine performance on both of our Insitu unmanned aircraft, ScanEagle and Integrator,” said Bill Clark, Insitu's vice president of emerging programs. “Heavy fuel with electronic fuel injection provides a 40 percent improvement in mission endurance over the previously demonstrated capability. It represents the next generation of our [heavy-fuel engine] technology, providing a more reliable, safer and easier to operate and maintain engine, and positions us well for our initial deployments later this year.”

According to Insitu, Integrator has demonstrated capabilities such as a communications relay payload, which enables mobile ground units to exchange secure voice and data when line-of-sight obstructions exist, and a Rover 4- and Rover 5-compatible encrypted digital data link, allowing ground forces to securely view real-time data streams on small laptop devices.

Enhanced UAS Capabilities

Another approach to enhancing the flight range of unmanned aircraft is with wing extension kits. AAI, a unit of Textron Systems, recently began delivering extended wing kits for its Shadow tactical UAS.

With the wing kit, the Shadow’s wingspan increases from 14 to 20 feet, which permits a larger fuel cell that increases aircraft endurance from six to nearly nine hours.

“Increasing mission endurance will reduce the number of mission launches and recoveries in a given day, likewise reducing workload for our warfighters in the field,” said Russell Walker, AAI division vice president of tactical unmanned aircraft systems.

The redesigned wing also includes hard points for external stores, which will permit it to carry other payloads beyond EO/IR sensors and full-motion video cameras.

Additional enhancements to the aircraft include wiring harness and software modifications to enable the Shadow to accept a new laser designator payload.

The Army has ordered 100 extended wing kits for distribution to Army and Marine Corps units. The RQ-7B Shadow is the Army’s most widely employed UAS, and Shadow flights accounted for nearly half of all the 1 million UAV flight hours the service has racked up during the last decade.

Another of the Army’s widely used UAVs, the RQ-11 Raven from AeroVironment, is also undergoing an improvement in capabilities. As an Army program of record, the Raven systems will receive digital data links to replace existing, analog systems. The upgrade will let the system transmit additional ISR data in a secure environment.

The Raven is a 4.2-pound, hand-launched sensor platform that provides real-time video imagery during the day or night for over-the-hill and around-the-corner reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition. The military services use Raven systems extensively for missions such as base security, route reconnaissance, mission planning and force protection.

Advanced Combat Capabilities

Suppliers also are upgrading the combat capabilities of unmanned aircraft. In mid-July, BAE Systems unveiled a prototype unmanned combat aircraft developed for the U.K. Ministry of Defence. BAE, Rolls Royce, QinetiQ and GE Aviation are developing the concept aircraft, named Taranis, after the Celtic god of thunder.

“Taranis has been three and a half years in the making and is the product of more than a million man-hours,” Nigel Whitehead, group managing director of BAE’s Programs and Support business, said at the event to introduce Taranis. “It represents a significant step forward in this country's fast-jet capability. This technology is key to sustaining a strong industrial base and to maintain the U.K.'s leading position as a center for engineering excellence and innovation.”

About the size of a BAE Hawk Jet, Taranis is jointly funded by the U.K. Ministry of Defense and industry, and is managed by the ministry’s Unmanned Air Systems Project Team at the Defence Equipment and Support organization.

Initial ground-based testing started in 2010, with a first flight expected to take place in 2011.

Micro Manifestations

Meanwhile, smaller, more agile aircraft are reaching new levels of maturity. Known more for its avionics systems and aircraft engines, Honeywell also manufactures the T-Hawk micro air vehicle, which was initially developed for the Army’s Future Combat Systems program and was one of the few FCS elements to survive the program’s cancellation.

In mid-June, Honeywell said the T-Hawk micro air vehicle had recorded its 10,000th flight since its introduction in 2007. That particular flight was part of an explosive ordinance disposal evaluation exercise in Iraq.

The T-Hawk gets its propulsion from a ducted fan, allowing the 14-inch round, 17-pound vehicle to hover and stare with EO/IR payloads for real-time surveillance, without exposing soldiers to enemy fire. The vertical takeoff and landing vehicle can fly as far as 10,000 feet at 46 miles per hour and has an endurance of about 40 minutes.

“Honeywell’s T-Hawk has been used successfully to search for improvised explosive devices, to protect convoys and to hover over an objective area for continuous monitoring in advance of warfighter units,” said Prabha Gopinath, strategic director of the T-Hawk at Honeywell Aerospace.

T-Hawk was introduced and fielded in Iraq in 2007.

From the handheld Raven UAS to the medium-altitude ER/MP UAS, militaries around the world are relying on unmanned systems for their most critical ISR needs. And there’s no going back, most observers say.

“We’ll look back 20-30 years hence and realize we witnessed a revolution in aviation in this switch to unmanned capabilities,” said Chris Ames, director of strategic development at General Atomics. “At the heart of it, we’re delivering persistent situation awareness, which is really the most valued of commodities. That creates a transparent battlefield where you know where the threats are and can counter them.”

UPDATE: ER/MP: An Enhanced Predator for the Army

2010-12-28T09:49:00.001-05:00

This is an update to a previous post, which can be found here.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. in Poway, CA receives a $31.9 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract, providing incremental funding to cover an extension of the ER/MP system development and design contract. Work will be performed in Poway, CA, with an estimated completion date of Dec 31/10. One bid was solicited with one bid received by U.S. Army AMCOM Contracting Center in Redstone Arsenal, AL (W58RGZ-05-C-0069).

Announced System Development & Demonstration contracts covered here, not including any UAV buys or any support contracts, now stand at $253.4 million.

UPDATE: Bringing Home the BACN to Front-Line Forces

2010-12-27T15:52:00.011-05:00

This is an update to a prior post, which can be found here.

A $34.1 million contract modification to extend BACN payload maintenance and support incurrent theaters of war. At this time, $10 million has been committed (FA8726-09-C-0010; P00020).

Army looks to Rodale Electronics for antennas

2010-12-27T13:35:00.007-05:00

Electronic warfare specialist Rodale Electronics Inc. in Hauppauge, N.Y., will provide the U.S. Army with a variety of military antennas under terms of a potential $13.5 million contract announced Wednesday from the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime segment in Warren, Mich.

Rodale will do the work in Hauppauge, N.Y., and should be finished by December 2016. Rodale is an electronic warfare (EW) company that specializes in countermeasures dispensing systems, air-to-air electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM) training, counter improvised explosive device (IED) systems, shipboard and airborne radar test and evaluation, and tactical self protection ECCM and standoff jamming.

The company sells primarily to the U.S. government, as well as to the governments of Canada, the United Kingdom, Norway, Australia, Thailand, Switzerland, Sweden, and NATO.

Iron Rakkasans find, destroy 2 IED caches

2010-12-27T12:54:00.002-05:00

By U.S. Army 1st Lt. R.J. Peek Task Force Rakkasan Public Affairs

One of Task Force Iron Rakkasan's missions is to find and destroy insurgent improvised explosive device materials before the enemy is able to use them to damage vehicles or injure coalition or Afghan forces or civilians. TF Iron Rakkasan Soldiers found two caches during the last month, keeping IEDs out of the hands of enemies.

In mid-October, Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry, 3rd Brigade Combat Team (Task Force Rakkasan), 101st Airborne Division, worked with special forces to find and destroy 3,000 pounds of homemade explosives in western Andar District of Ghazni Province. That quantity of explosives is enough to make about 100 IEDs, according to explosives experts in the battalion, said U.S. Marine Capt. Stuart Scheller from Cincinnati, Task Force Iron Rakkasan counter-IED officer.

Soldiers of 2nd Platoon, Company C, 3 Bn. 187th Inf., conducted a patrol Nov. 22 in Do Shakhah Village near the first cache location and found two insurgents involved with indirect fire attacks. Although no one was at the qalat when the combined patrol of American troops and Afghan Uniform Police arrived, the effort was not in vain.

Soldiers found 120 two-gallon paint cans filled with HME materials in an abandoned house. The AUP stored the material to prevent its use by insurgents until security forces could destroy it.

Three days later, 2nd Platoon, Co. B, 3 Bn. 187th Inf., escorted an explosive ordinance disposal team to the house to destroy the cache.

"This amount of substance, once completed, would supply 1,200 pounds of explosive materials, or 30 IEDs' worth," Scheller said. "The Iron Rakkasans have become very good at finding the insurgents' hidden caches. This makes it much more difficult for the insurgents to store materials and continue the fight through the grueling winter season."

The EOD team on site was able to safely burn the material. The result was a very large fireball seen for miles.

"This was a successful operation by everyone involved," said U.S. Army 1st Lt. Matthew Ward from Herndon, Va., platoon of 2nd Platoon leader, Co. B, 3 Bn., 187th Inf. "The combined actions of multiple Task Force Iron assets prevented many future IEDs and helped to ensure our freedom of movement in the upcoming months."

"We expect that this accomplishment will have more long-term effects on the enemy than short," said U.S. Army Capt. Robert Kellum from Nashville, Tenn., intelligence officer for 3 Bn., 187 Inf. "We'll see the reduction in IEDs come late in the winter and early next spring as the insurgents will struggle to resupply themselves."

Called forward : Cavalry unit quickly assumes mission in Iraq

2010-12-26T15:47:00.003-05:00

By Staff Sgt. Garrett Ralston

Troop F, 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment arrived Nov. 26 at Contingency Operating Site Delta in southeastern Iraq, to begin conducting missions in support of Operation New Dawn.

Soldiers of the Army's "Only Armored Cavalry Regiment," are deployed across southern Iraq conducting advise and assist missions with Iraqi Security Forces and are now joined by their fellow Soldiers of Fox Troop.

"Fox Troop is here to train and work alongside the Wasit Iraqi Police Forces and enable our Stability and Transition Teams," said Capt. Gerardo Menal, commander of Troop F, from San Antonio. "Past deployments were more of a kinetic fight."

When most of the regiment deployed to Iraq in August, Fox Troop was assigned to rear detachment duties at Fort Hood, Texas. The troop was brought forward to provide more support to 2nd Squadron's mission in Wasit Province. Once given the order, Fox Troop gathered its Soldiers and equipment, and after only hours in an airplane, the unit had arrived, ready to get started.

Early the next day, Soldiers began unpacking all the equipment they had brought on the flight. A wide range of tactical vehicles and other equipment had to be inspected and signed over to Fox Troop from those already on COS Delta.

"We have a lot of preparation and setup to do right now," said Pfc. Zephaniah Martinez, a cavalry scout from Topeka, KS, deployed for the first time. "I like it so far, and I am proud to be here with Fox Troop."

Some members of Fox Troop have seen the regiment, and even the troop itself, come full circle in the last seven years. Fox Troop has been at the center of combat operations in Iraq for years and now takes on this new mission with the same professionalism and dedication.

"This is my fourth deployment with Fox Troop to Iraq," said 1st Sgt. Gary Villalobos, first sergeant of Troop F, originally from Santa Maria, CA. "We're here now in a strictly support role. Before we leave, we have to ensure the Iraqis have a good hold on things."

Despite having only been in Iraq for 24 hours, the Soldiers of Fox Troop were motivated and getting into the swing of a new mission in a new environment.

"Fox Troop will assist Iraqi Security Forces so that they can operate on their own," said Menal. "There will be an Iraqi presence attached to everything we do."

Face Shield May Prevent Military Brain Injuries

2010-12-26T13:15:00.002-05:00

Content provided by Rachel Ehrenberg

Adding a face shield to the standard-issue helmet worn by U.S. troops could help protect soldiers from traumatic brain injury, the signature wound of the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A new study that models how shock waves pass through the head finds that adding a face guard deflects a substantial portion of the blast that otherwise would steamroll its way through the brain.

The study, to appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is part of a spate of new work tackling traumatic brain injury. An estimated 1.5 million Americans sustain mild traumatic brain injury each year, and nearly 200,000 service members have been diagnosed with it since 2000, according to the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center in Silver Spring, Md. While direct impact, such as banging the head, clearly can injure the brain, the forces endured when explosives send shock waves crashing through the head are much more difficult to characterize.

In the new study, researchers led by Raúl Radovitzky of MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies created an elaborate computer model of a human head that included layers of fat and skin, the skull, and different kinds of brain tissue. The team modeled the shock wave from an explosion detonated right in front of the face under three conditions: with the head bare, protected by the currently used combat helmet and covered with the helmet plus a polycarbonate face shield.

The results showed that today's helmet doesn't exacerbate the damage, as some previous research had suggested. But at least in terms of blast protection, the current helmet doesn't help much either. Addition of a face shield would improve matters, the team reports.

"The face shield contributes a lot to deflecting energy from the blast wave and not letting it directly touch the soft tissue," says Radovitzky. "We're not saying this is the best design for a face shield, but we're saying we need to cover the face."

To validate the model, researchers at MIT and elsewhere will have to conduct experiments in the real world. But the work points to an intrinsic flaw in the current helmets.

"These helmets weren't designed to stop a pressure wave; they were designed to stop bullets," says Albert King, director of the Bioengineering Center at Wayne State University in Detroit. "Just like a football helmet wasn't designed to stop a concussion, but to stop skull fracture."

Designing a blast-resistant helmet requires a better knowledge of what happens in the brain when an explosion washes over it. Soldiers experiencing explosions often describe a wind or wave that makes them see stars. "I really got my bell rung," is a common report.

The resulting "mild" traumatic brain injury doesn't lead to long-term loss of consciousness, and brain scans yield normal results. But labeling these injuries as mild is a misnomer, says Douglas Smith, director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

"It is not mild; that term has led people astray," says Smith. "It is something very serious that can lead to severe dysfunction."

Smith and his colleagues have been working on a sensor that could be placed in a helmet or vehicle and that, like the radiation badges worn by nuclear-plant workers, would indicate exposure to blast forces likely to cause brain injury. The sensor is described in a paper to be published in NeuroImage.

While a sensor would indicate exposure to blast forces, it still isn't clear exactly how that energy translates into brain trauma. Under everyday conditions, the brain can easily withstand a little jostling. "Plop down in your chair and your brain blobs around like Jell-O," Smith says. But at tremendously high speeds, instead of gently stretching, brain cells can snap and break (SN: 3/13/10, p. 11) like glass.

The long-term effects of these busted brain cells are largely unknown. In addition to chronic headaches, vertigo and difficulty remembering words, research suggests that when the brain shuts down for even a few minutes, depression is more likely down the road.

Scott Matthews, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Diego, who studies mild traumatic brain injury in returning veterans, notes that causality can't be established. But among soldiers who were exposed to combat, he sees depression twice as often in people with traumatic brain injury.

"There's more and more evidence that loss of consciousness changes the brain," Matthews says.

Unraveling cause and effect and designing useful experiments to illuminate traumatic brain injury and its aftermath remains extremely challenging. And translating those scientific findings into meaningful policy can be just as difficult. Even implementing something as simple as a helmet with a face shield poses problems, says Smith.

"How do you deploy something like that?" he asks. "There are practical things like temperature issues. And then there's wanting soldiers to be able to meet and greet in villages without looking like spacemen."

The USA’s Cooperative Threat Reduction Program

2010-12-26T12:52:00.004-05:00

Through the Co-operative Threat Reduction program, the Department of Defense provides equipment, services, and technical advice to Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine to assist them in eliminating (or in the case of Russia, reducing) the weapons of mass destruction remaining from the Soviet era, preventing proliferation, and dismantling the associated infrastructure or transforming portions of it to engage in peaceful civilian activities.

The U.S. objectives in the CTR program as established by Congress are to cooperate with the Newly Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union to:

    * Destroy nuclear, chemical, and other weapons of mass destruction;
    * Transport, store, disable, and safeguard weapons in connection with their destruction;
    * Establish verifiable safeguards against proliferation of such weapons;
    * Prevent diversion of weapons-related expertise;
    * Facilitate demilitarization of defense industries and conversion of military capabilities and technologies; and
    * Expand defense and military contacts between the United States and the NIS.

These objectives are inextricably linked with each other. Meeting the objective of safeguarding nuclear weapons in Russia, for example, would also help prevent proliferation, a growing concern in light of ongoing reports of nuclear material smuggling.

CTR has faced significant challenges, not least of which is a level of corruption and non-cooperation that makes success in Russia very difficult.

You can read more about the history of the program here.

Tots share treats with troops, Afghan kids

2010-12-25T11:00:00.004-05:00

By Staff Sgt. Jeff Lowry, Indiana National Guard

A child's desire to help, a chance meeting and military connections resulted in more than 300 pounds of candy being sent to an Indiana National Guard Soldier deployed to Afghanistan.

Cooper Walchle, a Carmel resident and fourth grade student at Cherry Tree Elementary School, was instrumental in collecting Halloween candy and having his fellow students do the same.

"I hope you guys are all so proud of what you have done at this school; this is just awesome," said Army Reserve 1st Lt. Jamie Bowman during a school-produced TV show. "My husband thanks you immensely for all this."

She also thanked Walchle and his peers for their efforts.

"Cooper thanks for starting this off with just one bag of candy that has grown to all those boxes outside. That is great, and believe me, this candy is going to go to those little kids over in Afghanistan, and I'm sure they are going to greatly appreciate it. Thank you all."

Bowman's husband, Sgt. 1st Class Andrew D. Bowman, an Indiana National Guard Soldier deployed with the 3-19th Agribusiness Development Team in Afghanistan, plans to use the candy as sort of an icebreaker with young Afghan children while on patrols.

"The candy is simply a small tool that we can use to gain access that we may otherwise not have," wrote Bowman in an e-mail from Afghanistan. "What it hopefully will mean to the Afghan children is a better future and a better way of life. When we go outside the wire on our missions and we see the children along the roadsides, we see smiling faces, children waving and giving us two thumbs up."

Cooper did not start with this grand plan, he just wanted to gather candy to send to troops. Soon he and other Cherry Tree Elementary students had collected 180 pounds of candy, but no way of getting it to the Army.

Cooper's mother, Christy, was close to her wits end, but her father suggested going to Defense Finance and Accounting Service building that Christy works near.

"I just pulled in the front and rolled down my window, saw Spc. Lewis and the other gentlemen and said 'excuse me, I was wondering if I could ask you something.' I told him about this one bag of candy, and now all these kids donated all this candy and do you have any suggestions of what I could do with it or how I could ship it."

Indiana National Guard Spc. Anthony Lewis was on break, but had to return to work. However he said he'd call Christy back when he had time.

"So he called me, and he said 'it's so ironic because two weeks ago I got an e-mail from Sgt. Bowman, and he said from what we do we come into contact with so many kids it'd be great to have candy as an icebreaker,'" said Christy. "So then Spc. Lewis met me, and I happened to have all this candy."

To the deployed Bowman, Christy Walchle meeting Spc. Lewis, who he recruited in 2006, represents the part of "The Circle of Life."

"So, what started out as one nine-year-old boy wanting to donate his Halloween candy to the Army has become a much greater gift," wrote Bowman in an e-mail. "Because the right people jumped on board and helped the train get moving in the right direction down the tracks. I call it 'The Circle of Life' - everything in life happens for a reason, and there is always a silver lining."

Bowman also helped in moving the train in the right direction. He e-mailed photos of himself and the Afghan children he met while deployed.

The adults were inspired by the children who wanted to help other children more than 7,000 miles away.

"It's just one thought, just one random act of kindness and what it could lead to and how it's going to reach halfway around the world to kids," said Christy. "It's not like a big fundraiser; it was about candy from one group of kids to another group of kids. It was about candy something that all kids could relate to."

During the TV broadcast Lewis was also moved by Cooper and the Cherry Tree students.

"What you have in here," said Lewis motioning to his heart. "Is always more valuable than anything that you have right here," Lewis said as he held out an open hand. "Selfless service is one of the Army's core values, and the thing that I saw when I spoke to your mom Cooper was that you have that value. You picked it up and ran with it. We have that (selfless service) in common."

SAIC Awarded Contract by Navy for C4I

2010-12-24T15:44:00.006-05:00

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) announced today it was awarded a prime contract by the U.S. Navy Program Executive Office (PEO) for C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence) to support the Command and Control Program Office (PMW 150) with tactical data link (TDL) engineering and technical support. The follow-on contract has a one year base period of performance, four one-year options and a total value of more than $42 million if all options are exercised.

PEO C4I acquires, fields and supports C4I systems across multiple Navy, Marine Corps, joint and coalition platforms. This includes managing acquisition programs and projects that cover all C4I disciplines: applications, networks, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems. PMW 150's mission is to provide the U.S. Navy and other customers with integrated C4I applications, capabilities and systems, and develop, procure, field, and provide life cycle support of tactical, maritime operational, defensive, and support command and control systems. Under the contract, SAIC will provide TDL systems engineering in support of the development, testing and certification of new capabilities. The company will also provide fielding management services in support of interoperability.

"We look forward to continuing to provide quality engineering and technical services to help rapidly field interoperable TDL capabilities to fulfill the evolving requirements of Naval warfighters," said Tom Baybrook, SAIC senior vice president and business unit general manager.

Schramm's Contract for Navy Water Well Drilling Requirements

2010-12-24T15:24:00.000-05:00

Schramm, Inc., a leading manufacturer and global supplier of mobile hydraulic drill rigs, today announced it was awarded a multi-million dollar contract with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Troop Support, America’s combat logistics support agency. Schramm will design and build 12 T450MIIA Top Head Drive, truck mounted hydraulic drilling rigs for use by the U.S. Navy in drilling of water wells. The deal, which includes support vehicles and accessories, is the first for Schramm with the U.S. Navy.

The contract was awarded based on technical specification and a competitive bid. Schramm competed against multiple suppliers to receive the lucrative contract award. The rigs will be custom designed from Schramm’s T450MIIA base model, which is used by water well contractors worldwide.

Project criteria included drilling a 12” Diameter Hole to depths of 1,200 feet using mud rotary, and 6” Diameter Hole to a depth of 1,500 feet through rock formations. In addition, the rigs had to fit into a C-17 aircraft for worldwide transportation. As part of the agreement, Schramm, Inc. will provide 12 of the following: Water Well Drilling Packages; Schramm Model T450MIIA Drilling Rigs; Water Well Drilling Rig Support Vehicles and Water Well Drilling Rig Accessory Packages for the Naval Facilities Expeditionary Logistics Center in Port Huememe, CA.

“This is a significant contract for Schramm because it establishes an important new relationship with another branch of the U.S. Military,” says Fred P. Slack, Vice President of Business Development for Schramm. “We have long standing relationships with other branches of the military delivering drilling rigs to their demanding specifications. This contract to supply the U.S. Navy allows us to demonstrate our capabilities in producing high-quality, rugged truck mounted drill rigs for water well applications in demanding conditions worldwide.”

The Schramm T450MIIA is a truck mounted drill rig engineered primarily for applications using combination air rotary, mud rotary and DTH hammer drilling methods. The truck engine provides reliable power for all hydraulic, mud and air systems. Rugged top head drive rotation and efficient pipe handling provides high productivity on diverse job sites.

Pentagon seeks flying snakes' secret

2010-12-24T09:05:00.002-05:00

By Marc Kaufman

An unusual breed of Asian snakes can glide long distances in the air, and the Defense Department is funding research at Virginia Tech to find out why.

Most animals that glide do so with fixed wings or a winglike part. But not the "flying snakes" of Southeast Asia, India and southern China - at least five members of the genus Chrysopelea.

As video of the reptiles show, they undulate from side to side, in almost an air-slithering, to create an aerodynamic system. It allows them to travel from the top of the biggest trees in the region (almost 200 feet high) to a spot about 780 feet away from the tree's trunk.

"Basically . . . they become one long wing," said John Socha, the Virginia Tech researcher who has traveled extensively in Asia to study the snakes and to film them.

"The snake is very active in the air, and you can kind of envision it as having multiple segments that become multiple wings," he said. "The leading edge becomes the trailer, and then the trailer become the leading edge."

It gets stranger. During a technique not yet understood, some of the snakes can actually turn in air. What's more, they all take a flying leap off their perch to get airborne, then drop for a while to pick up speed before starting the motion that keeps them aloft much longer than they would otherwise.

Socha's initial research was sponsored by the National Geographic Society, but his most recent work and paper were funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The agency is involved in advanced military technologies of all kinds, and Socha said the physical dynamics of snake flight (and how other creatures stay in the air) is of great interest to the agency.

DARPA did not respond to an e-mail asking for more information. But Socha's upcoming paper on the dynamics of gliding snakes in the journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics does list DARPA as its financial sponsor.

Socha was a featured speaker Monday at the annual meeting of the American Institute of Physics.

The snakes, Socha said, spend most of their lives in the trees. They are between two and three feet long and about as wide as a finger. The larger snakes, he said, generally cannot glide as far as the smaller ones.

The snakes are mildly venomous, he said, but "won't hurt a human, though they can be fatal to a gecko."

While the prospect of a flying snake seems strange today, current scientific theory says that birds evolved from dinosaurs, which were reptiles.

Alion's Contract to Engineer SpecOps Systems in Theatre

2010-12-23T17:23:00.013-05:00

To help deployed Special Operations Forces (SOF) meet shifting threats, Alion Science and Technology, an employee-owned technology solutions company, was awarded an $18 million task order to provide quick responses to SOF needs for repairs and improvements to critical weapons systems by engineering and prototyping the enhancements in-theatre.

The “Mobile Technology Complex-Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MTC-MRAP) Proof-of-Concept Exercise Engineering” program, now called simply the Mobile Technology and Repair Complex (MTRC), brings a portable manufacturing facility to the point of use.

Alion engineers will enhance equipment, from weapons and night vision mountings to more sophisticated electronic sensor adaptation, bringing mission-specific technologies closer to the warfighter. Currently, it can take months to communicate a problem or need, assess it, make modifications, conduct testing and deploy a solution. With the MTRC, these steps can be performed as needed, putting the improvements in the hands of front line forces more quickly. The enhancements will also be delivered to SOF commands for inclusion into future deployments of the systems.

“Connecting our mobile engineering team, many of whom are former SOF, directly with warfighters, gives us the insight to quickly design and enhance equipment to better meet their needs,“ said Chris Amos, Alion Senior Vice President and Manager of the company’s Technology Solutions Group. “For example, a newly deployed military vehicle sat 8 inches higher than previous models, which caused a problem with standard mine-detection equipment. Alion specialists were able to build, test and employ a bracket to attach the mine-detection equipment to the vehicle which allowed continued use of this essential piece of life-saving equipment—all in two weeks. The long-term benefits of Alion's work will be a decrease in the time from technology development to deployment.”

The work was awarded as a task order under the Weapon Systems Technology Information Analysis Center (WSTIAC) contract vehicle. The period of performance runs from September 28, 2010 through September 27, 2013.

WSTIAC, operated by Alion, is one of the nine Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) Information Analysis Centers (IACs). The IACs house libraries of information that are focused on specific technology areas, in addition to providing technical expertise in these areas. DTIC is headquartered at Fort Belvoir, VA, and serves the Department of Defense (DoD) by providing access to scientific and technical information for DoD personnel and contractors, including researchers, designers and engineers.

Agilent Technologies wins contract by Navy for handheld spectrum analyzers

2010-12-23T15:24:00.003-05:00

Agilent Technologies Inc. won a $1.8 million contract by the U.S. Navy. Under the terms of the contract, Agilent will supply handheld spectrum analyzers (HSAs) to the Navy for five years. The instruments will help the Navy’s technicians install, monitor, and maintain RF electronic systems in the field.

Agilent will provide the Navy with the N9342CN and N9342CNTG HSA instruments, two special versions of its 7-GHz N9342C HSA, specifically tailored to meet Navy requirements. The N9342CN and N9342CNTG HSAs make field testing easier by providing faster, more precise measurements, improved ease of use, and a range of user-customization and ergonomic features.

Agilent’s HSAs feature a rugged design, which enables users to make measurements in tough field environments. The performance ensures they can make the high-quality RF measurements necessary to discover small signals and capture intermittent interferences, says a company representative. Field test automation enables users to cut test setup time by up to 95 percent.

“This win is the result of great teamwork and our commitment to delivering high-value products,” says Guy Sene, vice president and general manager of Agilent’s Microwave and Communications Division. “The U.S. Navy contract signals a breakthrough in the highly competitive, radio-frequency handheld spectrum analyzer market. We remain firmly committed to further developing best-in-class RF test solutions to help customers stay ahead in their industries.”

Foursquare, other geolocation services could endanger troops

2010-12-23T12:54:00.006-05:00

By Henry Kenyon

Web-based geolocation services are popular with civilian users because they tell them and their friends exactly where they are. This has the Air Force very worried.

The service has warned its personnel to be careful about using popular geolocation services such as Facebook Places, Foursquare, Gowalla, and Loopt because they could inadvertently reveal their location to the enemy. According to the Associated Press, this was spelled out earlier this month in a post on an internal Air Force website warning that “careless use of these services by airmen can have devastating operations security and privacy implications.” The message was also sent to top commanders, who were directed to alert their forces.

Information Week reported that Defense Department officials worry about the possibility that the enemy could make use of geolocation sites to track individuals’ smart phones and gain tactical advantage by anticipating operational movements. The AP noted that the Army plans to circulate a similar directive about location services to top officers next week.

But this isn’t the first time that DOD has been concerned by the potential threat presented by location-based applications riding on commercial handheld devices. GCN has reported that security experts have raised concerns about other features such as browser plug-ins that allow users to identify the location of photographs tagged with geotags. Other software tools can be used to track a smart phone through GPS and display the device’s location on Google Maps.

Army's portable power looks to charge battlefield

2010-12-22T16:50:00.007-05:00

By Henry Kenyon

The Army consumes scores of batteries to power communications equipment, night vision systems and battlefield sensors that soldiers use in the field.

Powering all those systems requires troops to carry batteries in the field and strains logistics systems. The service is now developing a variety of technologies to power soldiers’ kits and shorten supply lines.

Much of the tactical-level power research is the responsibility of the Army’s Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center at Fort Monmouth, N.J. Speaking at a recent CERDEC event, Rafael Casanova, battery team leader at the command’s Army Power division, outlined some of his organization’s research.

CERDEC is developing new power sources for the Army’s Brigade Combat Team Modernization program, and Casanova said renewable energy is one of the thrusts of that research. The work focuses on three areas: solar power systems, rechargeable batteries and fuel cells.

The Army has sent one solar-powered battery-charging system to Afghanistan for an in-theater evaluation. The Rucksack Enhanced Portable Power System kit consists of a 55-watt solar panel, a charge controller, an AC/DC adapter, plugs and charging-related gear. It is designed to let warfighters charge batteries or power equipment in the field. Casanova said REPPS has received a lot of positive feedback and requests from warfighters in the field, adding that it should be available in the Army’s inventory by year's end or early 2011.

Reducing the weight of troops’ equipment is another part of the division’s work. Casanova’s team is developing a half-sized battery that might replace existing batteries used in tactical radios. The BA-6590 battery is designed to have half the weight and occupy half the space of the BA-5590, the most widely used military battery. In addition to having half the weight and size, he said the BA-6590 provides the same power capacity that the older battery does.

CERDEC scientists are examining two chemistry formulas for the BA-6590. The first is lithium carbon monoflouride, the furthest along in development. Casanova said the battery has undergone some field evaluations with warfighters, and that version of the battery has the potential to be available to soldiers in the next two to three years.

Another battery chemistry is lithium air, which offers higher capacity. It would provide double to triple the capacity of the full-sized BA-5590 battery but in half the size. However, Casanova cautioned that this work is still at a preliminary testing phase. He said he expects the technology to be available to warfighters in the next five years.

CERDEC also is working with the Army Research Laboratory to develop a wearable battery that fits onto a soldier’s body armor to power equipment such as night vision goggles and radios. Because that battery is lightweight and out of the way, it provides more flexibility and mobility, Casanova said.

The wearable battery program is a joint effort of ARL and the Natick Solider Systems Center, and the laboratory is evaluating four different designs. Casanova said he expects a light unit test of the four designs in November. He said those systems are working prototypes, and some limited field tests using prototypes were conducted during the C4ISR On-The-Move exercise at Fort Dix, N.J. The command will evaluate some of those designs in November at a live user test at Fort Riley, Kan.

Researchers also are working on fuel cells. CERDEC is developing fuel cells that range from 25-watt portable devices to 500-watt fuel cell systems that can power equipment in a tactical operations center. Another research effort is developing a 300-watt fuel cell that will be ready for evaluation in the field in November. Casanova said there are three different designs, each using a different type of fuel.

Boeing's SDS System

2010-12-22T15:23:00.008-05:00

The Boeing Co. Directed Energy Systems segment in Albuquerque, N.M., is introducing the Surveillance Detection System (SDS) that identifies when forces are being monitored or targeted by cameras, binoculars, sniper scopes, or other optical means. The Boeing SDS provides near-real-time 360-degree detection of optical threats. The SDS can be adapted to track counter-surveillance; snipers; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; and improvised explosive devices.

The SDS combines sensing and processing components in a compact, rugged package. The system provides the range and GPS position of detected threats in a prioritized database built on real-time target interrogations to greatly increase situational awareness and identification. Boeing military laser engineers used the company's own money to develop the SDS on a U.S. government test range within two months of the release of initial customer requirements, and completed field testing over the past year.

"Combining Boeing's advanced pointing and tracking solutions and real-time processing with our rapid-prototyping experience, this system is able to provide warfighters with the tactical advantage they need in hostile environments," says Mike Rinn, vice president of Boeing Directed Energy Systems.

SureFire Awarded Major Contract for USSOCOM VBL-IIInavy,

2010-12-22T12:38:00.008-05:00

SureFire, LLC, manufacturer of high-end illumination tools and tactical products, has been awarded a contract for a Visible Bright Light III (VBL-III) in support of the U.S. Special Operations Command weapons accessories program. The $14.9 million contract, for an indefinite quantity of SureFire weapon-mounted lights, was awarded by officials of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, in Crane, Indiana.

The objective of the VBL-III is to provide improved illumination capability for the small arms used by special operations forces. SureFire will be fulfilling the contract with its new “V-Series” LED WeaponLights, specifically, the M620V Scout Light® and M720V RAID™ light, both of which feature high-output white-light and infrared illumination from the same sealed unit. Unlike incandescent weapon-mounted lights, which require an infrared filter to produce enough infrared illumination for use with night vision devices, V-Series LED lights require no IR filter. To convert from white to IR light (or vice versa), the user need only twist the light’s self-locking selector ring, even on the fly.

Work on this contract will be performed by SureFire at their Southern California facilities and is expected to be completed by September of 2015.

Remote device might become battlefield angel

2010-12-21T21:44:00.002-05:00

By William Welsh

The Air Force Research Laboratory is working with industry to develop a device that can remotely determine a warfighter’s health status under combat duress with sensors that can be either worn or digested, reports Elizabeth Long with the Air Force’s 711th Human Performance Wing.

AFRL is working with QinetiQ North America’s Technology Solution Group to refine the Battlefield Automatic Life Status Monitor (BALSM). The device allows pararescue personnel or medics in a different location to monitor the physiologic life status of warfighters for triage or rescue purposes. It also produces a health status history over time for each warfighter being monitored.

The primary sensor, designed to be worn against the forehead in a headband or helmet, is a wireless pulse oximetry unit that measures the amount of oxygen in the blood and estimates heart rate and respiration.

A secondary sensor is ingested into the body via a wireless capsule to measure core body temperature. The information collected is transmitted through radio receiver and monitoring software to a computer.

The pulse oximetry sensor emits both visible and infrared light that reflects off the skull to obtain the pulse. Normally pulse oximetry is read through the finger, but researchers wanted to use a different location on the body that would not interfere with the use of hands or arms.

What’s more, the pulse oximetry sensor contains an accelerometer that can determine whether a person is standing, sitting, lying down or moving. This enables pararescue personnel to determine whether the heart rate and respiration rate are normal for the level of physical activity the warfighter is undertaking.

The 711th Human Performance Wing within AFRL’s Human Effectiveness Directorate is coordinating the effort.

Bomb-sniffing rats impress military team

2010-12-21T20:07:00.007-05:00

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer

When Army Maj. John Ringquist first encountered an African giant pouched rat in Tanzania, he was surprised by how affectionate it was.

“They’re gentle, friendly animals,” said Ringquist, a history instructor at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., who specializes in sub-Saharan Africa. “They’re relatively charming.”

But interest in the African giant pouched rats goes well beyond their cuddle factor. Ringquist and Cadet Kayla Khan recently traveled to Tanzania to watch the rodents demonstrate their ability to sniff out land mines and see if there is any potential use for the animals in the U.S. military.

“I regarded the trip as proof that they are effective,” Ringquist said.

At first, he and Khan had no idea what to expect, having experienced only the urban variety of rat that people tend to avoid.

But before the demonstration, the rat handlers at APOPO, an African humanitarian organization that runs the training project, asked Ringquist and Khan if they would like to hold the rats.

“The rat scurried up my shoulder and wrapped its tail around my neck,” Ringquist said. “They like to lick your fingertips.”

The African rats will work for food — preferably banana paste — and have a big advantage over dogs in field environments: They weigh only about 6 pounds, so they won’t set off mines and other explosives when they step on them.

In the APOPO program, the rats are trained from birth not only to sniff out explosives but also diseases such as tuberculosis, or even humans who may be trapped after an earthquake or tornado.

After a disaster, it can take a week to set up a lab to test for tuberculosis. The rats provide a diagnosis immediately.

They can also scurry and climb in tight spaces, such as tunnels, and are much cheaper than mine-clearing vehicles or dogs. One drawback: They can cover only about 100 square yards a day.

The handlers have them sniff cigarette-sized filters doused in the scent of TNT, then train them to look for it. Land mines dot Tanzania’s borders; the rats are being trained to find those old mines. When they find one, they start to dig in that spot.

After seeing the rodents in action, Ringquist proposed a research project to the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, which sent a team to watch operations in Mozambique, where the rats look for real bombs.

“They were also convinced that it’s highly effective,” Ringquist said, adding that the rats could be effective for humanitarian missions, border control or in explosive ordnance detection as the U.S. leaves Iraq, for example.

Armorworks' 3D Camoflage

2010-12-21T10:12:00.007-05:00

ArmorWorks recently introduced an innovative 3D camouflage applique called TactiCam that has the potential to reduce vehicle signature in radar, infrared and visual spectrum.

The new material has already demonstrated effective signature reduction in tests and is undergoing optimization. The outer layer of the TactiCam material is shaped in randomly generated three-dimensional pattern displaying varying geometric shapes, in different depth levels.

This digitally generated random pattern surface reflects energy from the vehicle in an irregular pattern, disrupting the detection of the vehicle by electro-optical and millimeter-wave radar sensors.

The material can be applied with infra-red or radar absorbing suppressing materials, and be filled with insulation that can both suppress emissive spectral frequencies, while reducing solar heat gain.

According to Gary Sopko, Director of vehicle programs at ArmorWorks, the new, lightweight material operates passively, and as an insulating layer, also contributes to reducing the thermal signature emitted by the vehicle’s surface, wheels and engine.

Visual camouflage can be applied over the outer layer matching camouflage patterns used by the military or adapted to operational requirements. Sopko added that the TactiCam could eventually be integrated into armor panels in production, or as retrofit to any ground vehicle.

The company plans to include the material with a ceramic basis layer, providing additional ballistic protection to the vehicle. TactiCam was displayed at AUSA 2010 applied onto the improved Stryker wheeled armored vehicle at the General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) stand.

MK 41 Naval Vertical Missile Launch Systems

2010-12-20T13:04:00.010-05:00

The naval MK 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) hides missiles below decks in vertical slots, with key electronics and venting systems built in. A deck and hatch assembly at the top of the module protects the missile canisters from the elements, and from other hazards during storage. Once the firing sequence begins, the hatches open to permit missile launches of various types.

Lockheed Martin is the system’s prime contractor, and BAE Systems Land & Armaments also makes components and canisters for the MK 41 system.

A Naval Swiss Army Knife: The MK 41 VLS

The MK 41 VLS can hold a wide variety of missiles: anti-air and ballistic missile defense (Sea Sparrow, ESSM, Standard family), anti-submarine (VLASROC), land-attack (Tomahawk) and more. One simply drops different missile cannisters into the MK 41’s common interface. The acquisition and upgrade program is currently under the leadership of U.S. Navy Project Manager Mr. Toan Nguyen.

Lockheed notes that the MK 41 VLS is itself available in three different sizes to meet differing hull and mission requirements:

    * The Strike length MK 41 is the largest system accommodating the widest variety of missiles, up to and including SM-3 ballistic missile defense and Tomahawk cruise missiles. In future, it also has the potential to carry Harpoon anti-ship missiles, if a VL-Harpoon is developed. Its capabilities cover every threat in naval warfare, including anti-air, anti-submarine, ship self-defense, land attack and ballistic missile defense.

    * The Tactical length Mk 41 is over 7 feet shorter than the Strike length and can accommodate a variety of missiles up to approximately 18.5 feet in length. The SM-2 and Evolved SeaSparrow air defense missiles, and VL-ASROC anti-submarine missiles, will fit in a tactical length cell.

    * The Self-Defense Launcher (SDL) is specifically designed for ship self defense. SDL is shorter and lighter than the other variants. Its size and weight are designed to accommodate smaller ships like corvettes and frigates, as well as aircraft carriers with limited deck and hull space.

More than 11,000 MK 41 VLS missile cells have been delivered, or are on order, for use on 186 ships and 19 ship classes, in 11 navies around the world. This system currently serves with the US Navy as well as the Australian, Canadian, Dutch, German, Japanese, New Zealand, Norwegian, South Korean, Spanish, and Turkish navies.

The system’s leading competitor is DCNS’ Sylver family of launchers. They equip the French Navy’s Charles de Gaulle nuclear aircraft carrier, the Franco-Italian Horizon Class frigates, the UK’s Type 45 destroyers and Saudi Arabia’s LaFayette-derived Sawari II frigates. In 2005 the Sylver launcher was selected for the multi-role Franco-Italian FREMM frigates, which have been ordered by France, Italy, Algeria, and Morocco.

The MK 41’s most recent Baseline VII upgrade was rolled out in 2004, upgrading the module’s electronics. Advances include cell-based architecture, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) processors, a modern real-time operating system, programming written in the object-oriented C++ format, ethernet communications, and fiber optic channels, all within an open architecture approach. These changes opened the door to compliance with the US Navy’s Open Architecture Initiative, added RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile capability, and improved life cycle maintenance and future upgradability. Note that the RIM-162 ESSM can be “quad packed” in a Mk 41 launcher, allowing a single cell to contain 4 air defense missiles.

This Baseline VII configuration is currently fielded on new U.S. Navy destroyers (DDG 91 and later); efforts are underway to modernize the USA’s CG-47 Ticonderoga Class missile cruisers, and eventually older Arleigh Burke Class destroyers as well.

To learn more about the history of this program, click here.

Army IT Agency pushes technology transformation

2010-12-20T12:43:00.006-05:00

By Amber Corrin

The Army Information Technology Agency (ITA) may only represent one of the four military services, but it’s responsible for much of the IT operations in the Pentagon and nearby offices. Like the rest of the federal government, the Defense Department is taking measures to increase efficiencies in energy and spending, and the Army IT Agency is at the forefront of many of them.

One of the top priorities is complying with the federally mandated data center consolidation program.

“We’re an Army office, so we really need to understand the other parts of the Pentagon – it’s really one massive data center,” said Don Adcock, director of the IT agency. That means examining enterprise data life-cycle management and re-architecting server hosting – while keeping vital data moving and alive, a big part of the ITA's mission, he said.

Under the federal data center consolidation work, ITA is working to gain efficiencies by merging disparate data entities, according to Adcock.

“We’re a major data hub, so we’re a major player,” he said, adding that ITA will work as a host data center to achieve the efficiencies. “We’re saying, ‘Bring us your data, let us host and standardize and help gain those efficiencies,” Adcock said.

Another key part of realizing compliance will be keeping track of efficiencies gained, which is part of ITA’s “migrate, modernize, optimize,” or M2O, plan. “We’re still in transformation,” Adcock said. “We’re seeking opportunities to reduce duplication.”

Collapsing duplicate networks and capabilities is also part of the M2O plan. To support the shifting of Army headquarters to Fort Belvoir, Va., as required by the Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC), ITA will collapse separate IT infrastructures located around the Washington area and bring those operations in-house under ITA management.

The agency also wants improve contracting and acquisition by merging redundant acquisition capabilities into a single ITA directorate for acquisition of full-spectrum IT, including hardware, software and services, Adcock said.

Those plans will take place in a phased approach, according to Adcock. It will be an iterative process taking place in increments, with tweaks between the increments, throughout the year, he said. That approach will allow for better planning and budgeting rather than doing everything at “crunch time,” on deadline, he said.

“This transformation is about baselining and building a foundation,” Adcock said. “It’s a process.”

ITA is also working to bring voice over IP into the Pentagon, and is approaching 100 percent, according to the director.

“It’s a hot issue,” Adcock noted. “We need unified communications,” whether it’s to support uninterrupted communication during BRAC movement or maintaining open lines with the theater.

“The movement between locations [under BRAC] is a major burden on our infrastructure,” he said. “It’s a juggling act, between needs and requirements and implementation needed to achieve unified communications.”

Those unified communications mean no network outages. “It needs to be a highly sophisticated and durable network to withstand outages,” Adock said. “This is the most significant job on Earth – protecting the United States. We need redundant, secure, robust infrastructure to do that.”

The 2nd Annual Clarity GovCon Industry Trends Event

2010-12-19T11:51:00.001-05:00

Watch the replay here.

Wyle Awarded Contract to Support Army Unmanned Aircraft Systems

2010-12-19T11:41:00.006-05:00

A contract with a potential value of $66.9 million has been awarded to Wyle to provide program support to the Army's Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Project Office. The new five-year task order is a follow-on contract to Wyle's Express Task Order from the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command.

The Wyle CAS Group support to the program office includes systems engineering and integration support, airspace management activities, information assurance, earned value management services, configuration support, C4I activities, modeling and simulation support, international cooperation activities/homeland security/counter unmanned aircraft support, and business management.

The contract will support all Army UAS programs including Gray Eagle UAS, Hunter UAS, Improved Gnat UAS, Shadow UAS, Raven UAS, Unmanned Systems Airspace Integration Concepts, Family/Common Systems Integration, Gasoline Micro Air Vehicle, and emerging UAS programs.

Wyle's CAS Group, headquartered in Huntsville, Al., has supported the Army's UAS Project Office since 2005. Wyle's subcontractors on this contract include Belzon, Camber, CSC, Dynetics, EnRgies, Navigator, Westar, Quantitech, S3, SAIC, WBB Consulting, Aerodyne, Logzone, Inc., SDI, Sigmatech and Trident World Systems.

Kinetic Energy Net (KEN) Structual Armor for Airborne Applications

2010-12-18T10:16:00.007-05:00

Lockheed Martin is developing a new Kinetic Energy Net (KEN) armor concept for military rotorcraft and aircraft, which could also find application in future combat vehicles. In April 2010 the company has won a US$1.5 Million from the U.S. Army Applied Aviation Technology Directorate to continue continue development of the KEN armor design.

KEN is a modular, lightweight composite armor system offering high protection weight levels lighter than current aircraft armor. One of the advantages of KEN is its integration into the aircraft structure, instead of attaching plates to the fuselage. By applying advanced ballistic materials and experimental strike faces, current KEN applications save about 13 percent of weight, compared to advanced ceramic and composite armor designs. Lockheed Martin’s goal is to achieve further weight reduction up to 40 percent in the next phase of development, without losing protective capability.

The company’s Missiles and Fire Control division also develops the TekShield – a unique ceramic design claimed to be superior and lighter than legacy ceramic armor. TekShield provides a balanced protection from blast and ballistic threats, including high speed projectiles and fragments. This new armor technology is scalable to meet specific threats, from small caliber rifles and mid-range cannons to IEDs and other explosive devices.

DARPA to test new lightweight armor solution from Kairos

2010-12-18T10:09:00.003-05:00

Kairos Partners, Inc announced today it was selected by DARPA to participate in the “Armor Challenge for Vehicles” with its new lightweight vehicle armor. The solution proposed by Kairos uses cutting edge technologies which combine metal matrix composites (MMCs) and three-dimensionally woven fiber composites into a uniquely effective passive armor solution that can be produced in any shape or thickness. The new lightweight material can be produced in high volume production, offering cost effective protection for current vehicles, as well as for future land, air, sea, and space platforms.

A ‘breeding ground’ supporting development and testing of innovative vehicle armor solutions, ‘DARPA Armor Challenge’ is identifying promising new armor concepts for military vehicles. Among the goals of Armor Challenge DARPA is seeking to identify advanced, lighter and cheaper vehicle armor, capable of defeating certain armor piercing rounds and fragment projectiles. The Vehicle Armor Challenge is primarily designed for inventors and small organizations that have limited resources to initiate full-scale armor development programs. “DARPA has given us a chance to prove our technology, and truly presents us with opportunity.” said Don Akers, President and CEO of Kairos Partners.

Design trends in backplane enclosures revolve around high performance, small size, and thermal management

2010-12-18T09:16:00.005-05:00

BY John Keller

When it comes to backplane enclosures and chassis for embedded computing applications, things are getting smaller, hotter, and more powerful, which is putting pressure on technological approaches like small rugged connectors, advanced thermal management, and the latest high-speed serial switch fabrics.

Designers and integrators of embedded systems, more than ever before, are demanding higher performance in smaller packages; extremely low-cost and low-power processors and circuit cards; the most efficient thermal management possible in the smallest packaging possible, and even backplane enclosures and board products that are smaller than today's 3U systems.

"There are two classes of CPU architectures going into embedded systems–really high performance or really low-power applications," says Bob Sullivan, chief technology officer of Hybricon Products, a Curtiss-Wright Controls Electronic Systems company in Littleton, Mass.

"One of the trends we see is smaller form factors and higher performance. New architectures such as 3U VPX are very attractive for applications such as UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] and small robotics," explains Justin Moll, director of marketing at Elma Bustronic Corp. in Fremont, Calif.

Functional densities of embedded computing power continue to shrink as systems designers seek to cram ever-more computing power onto small platforms such as UAVs, ground robots, and soldier systems. The other side of that coin, however, involves small systems where performance is not so much an issue as is cost and low power consumption.

"The other trend is a very SWaP [size, weight, and power]-constrained, low-power computing solution that is small, light, and inexpensive. This seems to be something people want to leverage," says Jacob Sealander, chief architect of embedded systems at Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing in San Diego.

Small size and low power usually mean high heat, which in backplane enclosures and chassis is putting a premium on electronics cooling and thermal management. Complicating this picture is the widespread adoption of the latest powerful microprocessors from Intel Corp., which tend to be hot chips. The push to small form factors also puts pressure on making systems rugged.

RF Micro Devices to improve gallium nitride power electronics technology

2010-12-18T08:57:00.005-05:00

Scientists in the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) in Arlington, Va., needed gallium nitride (GaN) microelectronics work that includes developing materials, device fabrication, and high power circuits. They found their solution from RF Micro Devices in Greensboro, N.C.

ONR awarded RF Micro Devices a $1.5 million research and development contract for power electronics work to improve GaN technology, which "offers unprecedented performance advantages to advanced military applications, including radar, mobile communication and electronic warfare (EW) systems," says Jeff Shealy, vice president and general manager of the RF Micro Devices (RFMD) Defense and Power business unit.

In addition to military systems, RFMD's GaN RF power technology delivers enhanced performance in commercial power amplifier applications, including private mobile radio, 3G/LTE wireless infrastructure, and CATV transmission networks, company officials say.

Single-board computers for Navy next-generation Vertical Launch System

2010-12-17T20:14:00.002-05:00

U.S. Navy officials are choosing Dynamics Research Corp. (DRC) in Andover, Mass., to supply embedded computing board products for the MK 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS), Next Generation (NG-2) equipment and to perform environmental testing, Navy officials announced Tuesday.

DRC will supply 10 single-board computer circuit card assemblies, 30 video circuit card assemblies, and 44 transition modules for the next-generation VLS system under terms of a contract that the company will negotiate with the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, Philadelphia Site.

Although Navy officials intend to negotiate a sole-source contract for the circuit card assemblies with DRC, interested companies may communicate their interest and capabilities, or submit proposals within the next 30 days. Send written proposals to the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division Philadelphia Office, 5001 South Broad St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19112-1403, Attn: Anthony V. Ricciardi, Code 3353.

The MK 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS), built by the Lockheed Martin Corp. Naval Mission Systems and Sensors (MS2) Marine Systems unit in Baltimore, is a standard in shipborne missile launching system that fires missiles for anti-air warfare, antisubmarine warfare, ship self-defense, strike warfare, and anti-surface warfare.

The Navy deploys MK 41 VLS on AEGIS-equipped Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Spruance- and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, and will use this system aboard next-generation surface warships to fire munitions such as the Standard Missile, Tomahawk missile, and Evolved SeaSparrow Missiles (ESSMs).

VLS is able to fire missiles quickly from canisters against hostile threats. The missile launcher consists of an eight-cell missile module able to launch missiles used against hostile aircraft, missiles and surface units. The Mk 25 Quad-Pack enables the system to store and fire four ESSMs in a canister space that normally contains one missile.

Lightweight surveillance radar system for Sky Warrior UAV

2010-12-17T11:33:00.005-05:00

U.S. Army officials needed small, lightweight radar systems for the Army's MQ-1C Sky Warrior Extended-Range Multi-Purpose unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). They found their solution from the Northrop Grumman Corp. Electronic Systems segment in Baltimore. The Army awarded Northrop Grumman a contract option to supply 40 AN/ZPY-1 STARLite wide area surveillance radars with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and ground moving target indicator (GMTI) capabilities for the MQ-1C UAV.

The MQ-1C UAV from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. in San Diego, is a variant of the Predator UAV, and provides the Army with a long-endurance, persistent surveillance and tactical strike capability featuring a heavy-fuel engine.

The AN/ZPY-1 STARLite, meanwhile, is a small, lightweight tactical radar for mission critical tactical reconnaissance, including all-weather, wide area surveillance; and stationary and moving target detection. The STARLite weighs 65 pounds, occupies 1.2 cubic feet, and requires less than 750 Watts of power.

Northrop Grumman will deliver the STARLite radar to the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) at Fort Monmouth, N.J., beginning in March 2011 and conclude in March 2012.

Each STARLite radar comes with a software package for interfacing with the U.S. Army systems, enabling operator control of the SAR maps and ground moving target detection features on standard Army maps.

US, Iraqi Army donates school supplies

2010-12-17T10:00:00.002-05:00

By Sgt. Raymond Quintanilla, 305th MPAD, USD-S PAO

A special visit from the United States and Iraqi armies brought excitement to Iraqi children at one of Basra"'s primary schools as part of the Army"'s civic action development.

Maj. Kyle Upshaw, a native of Fort Lauderdale and the advisor to the Iraqi Army"'s 14th Division, assigned to 1st Battalion, 68th Armored Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, accompanied Iraqi Army Col. Mohammad Tahir, the civil military operations officer with the 14th IA Div., in delivering school supplies to the children of Al Fatih Al Mubien Primary School in Al Zharnar district, Basra.

"It"'s a new type of mission," Upshaw said. "The goal is to do the first two missions with the U.S. alongside the Iraqi army, with the third on their own."

Upshaw said backpacks filled with school supplies were donated by the IA in an effort to establish rapport between them and the community.

"Our intent is to partner the Iraqi army with their local schools," Upshaw said. "To place them in a good light, be a positive role model for the local children."

"We need to put a positive spin on the Iraqi army as a future profession," said 2nd Lt. Joseph Marshall, a native of Boyers, Pa. and Baker Co., 2nd platoon leader.

"More than anything," Upshaw said, "it"'s an opportunity for the children to see their military"'s ability to provide security for them, as well as some of their basic needs."

"These missions demonstrate the new Iraqi army"'s willingness and capabilities to assist them through food drops and school supplies," Marshall said. "It increases community support that will allow them to prosper in the future."

Marshall said by delivering the school supplies, the mission also emphasizes the importance of education.

"I believe the mission helps Iraqi children," Marshall said, "It illustrates the importance of an education and will be a huge piece of laying the foundation for a free Iraq that will last for generations to come."

As some children lined up for backpacks handed out by Tahir, Iraqi soldiers distributed additional school supplies amongst the children.

For the Iraqi army, although they have done similar missions in the same district such as food drops, Tahir said the school was chosen because of its special conditions, with many of the children coming from low income households.

"We selected this school in the same area to help the children here," Tahir said. "The school is very old and in need of repairs. Some students sit on the floor, because the lack of desks."

Teachers attempted to maintain classroom discipline, but the students were overcome by excitement.

Although the mission was spearheaded by the IA, one American Soldier could not help but share a special moment with the anxious children and their new school supplies as he went from room to room.

Al Fatih Al Mubien Primary School currently has approximately 650 students from 6-to-12 years of age.

"These civic act exhibits the coming generation of Iraq," Marshall said, "a positive memory of their new government and the U.S. forces, strengthening the future of our working relationship."

Rugged XMC module introduced by X-ES

2010-12-16T14:12:00.007-05:00

Extreme Engineering Solutions Inc. (X-ES) in Middleton, Wis., is shipping the XPort9100 rugged XMC module that supports eight 28-volt general-purpose input/output (GPIO) channels for embedded computing control subsystems within military aircraft and military vehicles.

The XPort9100 is for avionics, as well as for ground vehicle and shipboard electronics applications, to control subsystems such as fire control and target acquisition systems.

The XPort9100 features eight 28-volt avionics-level GPIO channels; each GPIO is configurable as either an input or an output; each I/O signal is optically isolated; and a conduction-cooled XMC form factor.

Each input channel of the XPort9100 can be configured to generate an interrupt, and each output channel is capable of pulse-width modulation (PWM).

UPDATE: General Dynamics Wins MRAP Orders of Its Own

2010-12-16T09:55:00.006-05:00

This is an update to a previous post, which can be found here.

A $ 21.2 million firm-fixed-priced contract modification for 485 block upgrade kits. Each kit includes a fire resistant self sealing fuel tank and relocation kit; a driver controlled rear door kit; an “increased crew ventilation” kit; and an exterior door handhold kit. The contract also buys 691 block upgrade kits for Skydex flooring, which helps cushion shock, vibration, and blast forces. Work is expected to be completed October 2011 (M67854-07-D-5028).

DARPA Looks for a Triple Target Terminator

2010-12-16T09:39:00.009-05:00

In early FY 2010, DARPA awarded a pair of initial contracts for something called the Triple Target Terminator. In their own words:

“The Triple Target Terminator (T3) program will develop a high speed, long-range missile that can engage air, cruise missile, and air defense targets. T3 would be carried internally on stealth aircraft or externally on fighters, bombers and UAVs. The enabling technologies are: propulsion, multi-mode seekers, data links, digital guidance and control, and advanced warheads. T3 would allow any aircraft to rapidly switch between air-to-air and air-to-surface capabilities. T3’s speed, maneuverability, and network-centric capabilities would significantly improve U.S. aircraft survivability and increase the number and variety of targets that could be destroyed on each sortie.”

Oddly, T3 sounds very similar to an ongoing Air Force Research Laboratory project – and seems to confirm a trend toward multi-guidance, multi-role smart weapons…

T3: Tracking the Trends

There are a couple of trends at work here.

One is related to Moore’s Law, and electronics miniaturization. As these trends play out, it becomes possible to improve the quality of seekers, memory, and processors, even as they shrink in size. The natural corollary is weapons with multiple guidance modes that can be correlated by onboard computers. At its simplest, this trend manifests itself as dual-mode GPS/laser guided bombs. Beyond that, tri-mode weapons like the GBU-53 Small Diameter Bomb II, and the forthcoming JAGM missile, offer designs and capabilities that would not have been possible before.

T3 will need to go after very different sets of targets, and it would be very advantageous to be able to use different modes including GPS, radar, imaging infrared/multispectral, and/or laser guidance, while possessing enough computer power and memory to be effective against maneuvering supersonic fighters, stealthy cruise missiles, and ground-based vehicles. Needless to say, those are very different problem sets. There are unconfirmed reports of dual ground/air, ramjet powered missile design back in the 1970s, proposed as an alternate approach for the AMRAAM air-to-air missile competition, but it was pushed aside. As computing power and electronics have improved, that very approach looks to be coming around again.

The other trend at work involves stealth fighters, which carry their weapons internally in order to keep their radar signatures low. While the F-22A Raptor and F-35A/B/C Lightning II are the best known examples, emerging upgrades like the F-15SE Silent Eagle, and F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet International Road Map, are beginning to offer internal carriage for legacy fighters.

The problem is that they cannot currently carry dedicated air defense suppression weapons like the AGM-88 HARM/AARGM internally, relying instead on GPS-guided or laser-guided weapons with shorter ranges and less precise attack modes. A missile that combined the air-to-air capabilities of the AIM-120 AMRAAM, and the radar-killing capabilities of missiles like the AGM-88E AARGM, within the carriage size at or very close to an AMRAAM missile, would solve a lot of problems for stealth fighters. Not only would it give them a stealth-compatible SEAD missile, it would offer a versatile weapon for carriage in the aircraft’s limited internal spaces, ensuring onboard options against a wide variety of threats. Especially if it uses ramjet propulsion for extended rage, like MDBA’s Meteor air-to-air missile.

The USAF Research Laboratory has been tracking the same trends, of course, and appears to have a competing program called the Joint Dual Role Air Dominance Missile (JDRADM). FY 2011 budget documents [PDF] submitted in February 2010 have JDRADM integrated design beginning in 2011, with demonstration flights around end 2011-2012.

Boeing received a Phase 2 technology demonstration award in March 2007 for the control and propulsion systems. That firm is also developing a JDRADM shaped charge warhead under the MR ROKM program, and guidance sensor and fuze technology under the SITES program. Aerojet has reported successful tests of a JDRADM solid fuel ramjet. Separate but similar projects like the SWIFT multi-fuzing and directional warhead might also become part of an eventual T3/JDRADM system development and demonstration effort, if they receive funding and prove successful.

At this stage of development, given the minor costs involved, that kind of parallel effort isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Parallel programs offer redundancies if particular technology subsets don’t work out in one program or the other, and may allow a difference in overall approaches and ambitions. DARPA is known for demanding extreme technological ambitions, for instance; AFRL isn’t as rigid about that.

To learn more about the history of this program, click here.

FPGAs for low-power and high-performance applications

2010-12-15T20:09:00.000-05:00

Military FPGA specialist Xilinx Inc. in San Jose, Calif., is introducing two families of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) that are qualified for aerospace and defense applications. The Spartan-6Q family is for low-power, low-cost, and secure-communications applications like military communications, missiles, and munitions, while the Virtex-6Q family is for ruggedized, anti-tamper applications that need high performance and logic density up to the military temperature range.

Xilinx defense grade FPGAs are pin compatible to their commercial equivalent, and are tested and qualified to operate in extreme temperatures, while the Virtex-6Q device's ruggedized plastic packaging using standard lead content eliminates tin-whiskering concerns. Xilinx introduced the devices in anticipate of the MILCOM trade show this week in San Jose, Calif.

Xilinx's Spartan-6Q family meets the needs of military communications (MILCOM) customers who require a low power, low cost, secure communications platform, while offering missiles and munitions customers a small form factor in a low power secure platform for targeting and data processing in extended temperature ranges. The Spartan-6Q FPGAs are the first in their class to offer a low power, low cost information assurance and anti-tamper platform.

Xilinx's Virtex-6Q family offers secure SWaP-C benefits while providing anti-tamper in a ruggedized solution for applications that need high levels of performance and logic density up to the military temperature range.

The 40-nanometer Virtex-6Q FPGAs Virtex-6Q devices deliver DO-254 enabled solutions with high reliability and low power for avionics; high performance DSP solutions with high reliability and low power for electronic warfare (EW) and intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance (ISR) applications; third-generation anti-tamper capabilities (DOD 5000 Series); I and M tested temperature range operation; ruggedized packaging; and long-term support with mask set control.

Built using third-generation Xilinx ASMBL architecture, the Virtex-6 FPGA family delivers 50 percent lower power and 20 percent lower cost than the previous generation. The devices operate on a 1-volt core voltage with an available 0.9-volt low-power option and are supported by a generation of development tools delivered by ISE Design Suite and a vast library of IP already available for the 65-nanometer Virtex 5 FPGA family to ensure productive development and design migration.

Spartan-6Q and Virtex-6Q FPGAs make up the silicon base of the Xilinx targeted design platforms for aerospace and defense applications. The Spartan-6Q Family and Virtex-6Q Family will be available in industrial-temperatures from -40 to 100 degrees Cslsius, as well as Q and M temperatures from -40 to 125 C (Spartan-6Q only), M: -55 to 125 C (Virtex-6Q only)). The devices will be available in spring 2011.

Bandwidth limits a concern as UAV use grows

2010-12-15T16:50:00.000-05:00

By Henry Kenyon

The U.S. Air Force is facing a dilemma: The need and utility of unmanned aircraft continues to grow, but the technology could also limit the service’s operational responsiveness. However, while current technologies may be reaching their limits, the Defense Department is also investing in future systems that will vastly increase the capabilities of robot aircraft through increased autonomy.

Ongoing operations in Southwest Asia continue to drive the voracious demand for pilots, support personnel and bandwidth above all, said Air Force Col. J.R. Gear, speaking at the recent C4ISR Journal Conference in Washington. Gear said that the military needs additional 24-hour surveillance and close air support orbits by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The Air Force Times reported that the service already provides 44 such orbits; that number is scheduled to expand to 65 by 2013.

Increased automation could help the Air Force increase the number of platforms and missions while keeping personnel numbers down. Multiaircraft control technology allows a pilot to manage several UAVs, while autonomous fight software can provide robot aircraft with the ability to carry out their missions with minimal supervision. The two capabilities could dramatically cut the number of personnel required to maintain an airborne presence in the region. Gear said some 570 pilots are currently required to manage 50 UAV orbits. The new technology could cut this number to 150 pilots, he said.

This increased autonomy comes with a price. Gear said the bandwidth required to support these capabilities may actually limit commanders’ operational flexibility because they may have to choose between large numbers of relatively static surveillance missions or a few very flexible multi-mission operations.

But additional autonomy could cut the need to transmit huge streams of data back to analysts and personnel in the United States. Gear said that one way the Air Force has maneuvered around this issue was by moving additional personnel to the field to allow data to be filtered and analyzed more quickly instead of storing it for later study in the United States. New technologies that will soon enter the theater, such as the Gorgon Stare system which uses nine sensors per aircraft and high definition video, coupled with automated data and priority filtering systems may also help cut personnel numbers and increase operational capability, he said.

The Air Force has pondered the long-term impact of these issues. In its most recent “Technology Horizons” – an analysis of new technologies and trends affecting the service – the Air Force indicated that there is a need to develop more autonomous technologies and systems to increase operational capabilities and manpower efficiencies and cut costs.

But achieving these gains depends on new ways to trust autonomous systems through verification and validation (V&V) tools. The document concluded that because highly autonomous systems have an immense number of variables, it is not even possible to test more than a very small fraction of them at the present time. “Development of such systems is thus inherently unverifiable by today’s methods, and as a result their operations in all but comparatively trivial applications is uncertifiable,” the document concluded.

New means of certifying V&V will be required to develop autonomous systems that meet Air Force requirements. The document concluded that this is a vital need because autonomous systems represent a major operational tool and force multiplier for the Air Force.

Another conclusion is that the enormous volumes of data are overwhelming human operators and analysts.The report concluded that by 2030 technology will have reached the point that humans will be the weakest part of the system. Humans and machines will have to work more closely through new types of interfaces and by directly augmenting human performance. This could include drugs or implants to improve memory, alertness and cognition. The service is even considering the use of human brain waves or genetics to control and manage systems.

But the U.S. military’s move to develop UAV capabilities is part of a global trend. In a study of the global UAV market World Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems, Market Profile and Forecast 2010, the Teal Group noted that spending on robot aircraft will double over the next decade, from $4.9 billion to $11.5 billion annually. The report estimates total spending for the next decade to be slightly over $80 billion. The report noted that much of the market growth is being driven by U.S. military needs and a general trend towards information warfare and network centric systems.

The study found that in the next decade, the United States will account for 76 percent of global UAV research and development spending, and about 58 percent of procurement costs. Report author Steven Zaloga noted that after the United States, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region will be the two other major markets for UAV procurement and development.

The coming battles over the defense budget

2010-12-15T15:47:00.000-05:00

Peter Juul Center for American Progress

The battle lines for the most contentious defense budget process in decades are already being drawn. The first shots have been fired, with various deficit commissions issuing proposals for significant cuts in defense spending in the coming days. These groups include the official, White House-approved National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. On the other side, the presumptive House Armed Services Committee Chair Howard McKeon (R-CA) already declared defense spending cuts to be a “redline.”

The upcoming defense budget process will be more contested than any in 20 years. The post-Cold War defense budget debate wasn’t over whether or not to cut the defense budget. It was assumed that it would be cut, and the main debate was over how much should or could be cut.

Today the defense budget has become a prime political battleground in a way it was not after the collapse of the Soviet Union with two continuing wars, overbudget acquisition programs, aging equipment, and increased political competition over national security issues overlaid on timeless parochial political interests.

The main front, as in times past, will be between progressives led by the Obama administration calling for manageable defense budgets and conservatives agitating for continued increases. Washington’s deficit hysteria and the apparent openmindedness of some conservatives to reduced or capped defense spending adds a potentially interesting wrinkle to the debate and creates a potential cross-ideological alliance in Congress—but the proof will be in the pudding. One thing, however, is certain: The politics of defense spending are back with a vengeance after being absent or submerged for the last 20 years.

Defense spending politics has many layers. The most visible is the parochial political interests of individual members of Congress. Senators and representatives will fight to defend defense programs that create jobs in their states or districts. Last year’s battle over building additional F-22 Raptor fighter jets brought this dynamic into relief. Democratic senators from California, Connecticut, and Washington joined Republicans from Georgia and Texas in voting to keep production of the advanced interceptor going. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) was the only senator from a state producing F-22 to vote against the plane.

Yet the F-22 may not be quite dead. Republicans have control of the House and Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) is seeking to resurrect the fighter. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is stumbling and the Air Force is now floating the idea to purchase more F-22s alongside additional F-16s—the Air Force’s current workhorse—to make up for delays.

Two legs—the military and Congress—of what defense budget analyst Gordon Adams calls the “Iron Triangle” are now shaping up, and if the third leg, industry (in the form of F-22 manufacturer Lockheed Martin), gets behind the push for more Raptors the F-22 could become the latest defense program to have reports of its demise exaggerated.

But the F-22 is only the most prominent example of the parochial politics behind this defense budget. The other big case study is the Air Force’s benighted, decade-long effort to buy a new tanker aircraft. Representatives from Washington state and Kansas want the tanker built by Boeing, which will produce it in those states. Representatives from Alabama, on the other hand, want EADS to get the tanker contract and build it in Mobile.

This sort of political competition occurs across the defense spending spectrum. The Defense Department finds larger projects like shipbuilding easier to manage by splitting ship construction between different shipyards in different states—as it does for the Virginia-class submarine and its DDG-1000 and DDG-51 destroyers.

Defense spending is clearly first and foremost about jobs that the defense industry provides to home states and districts of elected officials. And after an election driven by the poor economic situation senators and representatives are likely to fight tooth and nail against defense cuts that would hit their districts. Their success will depend on how widely a particular system’s manufacturer has distributed the work on the system across the country, which makes a viable coalition on behalf of that system possible.

Even smaller coalitions can keep a defense program alive if they involve key people in leadership positions in Congress. But the political competition for defense spending and the local jobs it creates is a perennial issue exacerbated by the current economic situation.

What will make the new Congress more excitable than usual on the defense budget are the political conflicts. This is the “extra” layer. There’s the predictable conflict between progressives and conservatives, of course, but there’s also potential conflict within the conservative camp. A number of conservatives in the next Senate are calling for defense spending to be on the table when it comes to reducing the deficit, including Tom Coburn (R-OK), Bob Corker (R-TN), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Mark Kirk (R-IL).

At the same time, they’re vague on what they would cut and usually point to waste. Eliminating waste alone, however, will not yield the savings conservatives expect: Cuts in procurement, force structure, or personnel are the only real ways to bring about savings. Conservatives calling for a leaner defense budget will thus have to bite the bullet and name programs or aspects of the defense budget they are actually willing to cut. If not, they may be deficit peacocks when it comes to defense spending.

It’s also not hard to imagine these conservatives backing off defense cuts beyond “waste” given the preventive strike Washington’s conservative foreign policy establishment has mounted. The conservative foreign policy establishment—constituted of think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the new Foreign Policy Initiative—came out swinging against defense cuts even before the election. One op-ed written by two AEI defense experts explicitly targeted the so-called Tea Party’s antispending rhetoric.

The conservative foreign policy establishment isn’t targeting wayward right-wingers alone, though. A Wall Street Journal op-ed written by the heads of AEI, Heritage, and the Foreign Policy Initiative was as much a shot across the bow of the Obama administration as it was anyone else.

The conservative foreign policy establishment’s goal of shielding defense spending is seen most clearly, however, in the "Defending Defense" project run by AEI, Heritage, and the Foreign Policy Initiative. Again, this is in part directed against the administration. But it is also likely targeted at conservatives questioning defense spending and how it contributes to the deficit.

Both the "Defending Defense" project and the Wall Street Journal op-ed underscore the main point of conflict in the coming battle over the defense budget: the fight between the conservative foreign policy establishment and the Obama administration. President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have tried to get defense spending under control by ending or cutting certain programs like the F-22, airborne laser, or the new presidential helicopter while allowing for modest growth. Gates views these cuts as a prophylaxis for deeper ones later but the conservative foreign policy establishment views even these modest attempts to rein in defense spending as “weakness” on defense.

President Obama and Secretary Gates no doubt will be accused of cutting the defense budget and “gutting” the military by the conservative foreign policy establishment regardless of what they do. This despite the fact that President Obama has twice requested increases in the tens of billions of dollars in the base defense budget. Conservatives will also claim that domestic spending is what really needs to be cut—as the Wall Street Journal op-ed did—so that they can rally around a common budget agenda and drive away whatever differences appear to exist between them on defense spending.

Conservatives will likely unite, too, on missile defense in the coming budget battles. The one concrete defense budget measure in the GOP’s pre-election “Pledge to America” was to “fully fund” missile defense. They presumably want to do this along the lines envisioned by the Bush administration. The pledge justifies missile defense funding by citing the presumed threat from Iran, but President Obama’s missile defense plan counters this threat with more reliable technology that will be deployed faster than President Bush’s ill-conceived and unproven scheme.

Both the conservative foreign policy establishment and conservatives making noise about reducing defense spending will agree that missile defense spending should be increased. Tea Party candidate John Raese of West Virginia even made a name for himself during the campaign by calling for a 1,000-laser missile defense system at the cost of $20 billion. Of course, these groups likely want missile defense for different reasons. The foreign policy establishment wants it because it gives the U.S. military greater freedom of action overseas and the Tea Party because it means we don’t need alliances with foreign powers.

These partisan and ideological battles will take place alongside the ages-old parochial political considerations of members of Congress. How these crosscurrents will interact and shape the next defense budget is anyone’s guess at this early stage. But the process is sure to be wild.
This article was published by the Center for American Progress.

Peter Juul is a Research Associate at American Progress, where he specializes in the Middle East, military affairs, and U.S. national security policy.

URS to Provide Aircraft Maintenance Services to Navy

2010-12-14T15:30:00.008-05:00

URS Corporation recently announced that it has been awarded task orders from the Department of Defense to provide maintenance support services for U.S. Navy aircraft at Naval Air Stations in California, Washington and Virginia. The five two-year task orders, which were awarded under URS' Contract Field Teams (CFT) Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract with the Department of Defense, have a maximum value of $120.5 million to URS.

Under the task orders, URS will provide flight line support, organizational level maintenance, corrosion control, tool room management and services to support approximately 300 aircraft.

Commenting on the contract, Randall A. Wotring, President of Federal Services for URS, said: "We are pleased to have been selected for these task orders, which allow us to continue and expand our work for the U.S. Navy through the important Contract Field Teams program. These awards highlight URS' experience and skill in supporting the maintenance and upkeep of a variety of essential Navy aircraft."

Rugged PC/104-Plus military power supply introduced by Parvus

2010-12-14T13:04:00.005-05:00

Parvus Corp. in Salt Lake City is introducing the ACS-5180 PC/104-Plus MIL-STD-1275/704 power supply module for embedded systems in military vehicles and aircraft. Parvus recently introduced the rugged DC-DC converter power electronics card.

The small form factor card is designed as the bottom card in a PC/104 system stack to operate without heat sinking or any active cooling. The power supply can supply 80 Watts of power over the PC/104 (ISA) bus, PC/104-Plus (PCI) bus, or screw clamp terminal.

The ACS-5180 operates in temperatures from -40 to 85 degrees Celsius, withstands the effects of high shock and vibration as well as demanding voltage transient conditions. The power electronics card meets the guidelines of MIL-STD-1275D and MIL-STD-704F, and withstands the effects 250-volt spikes and 100-volt surges.

Parvus is introducing the ACS-5180 as a stand-alone card and integrated into DuraCOR mission computers and DuraNET routers and switch subsystems. Featuring MIL-STD-461 EMI filtering, the card typically will eliminate the need for additional in-line power conditioning/EMI filtering integrated into such embedded systems, company officials say.

Navy readies NGEN for prime time

2010-12-14T09:32:00.000-05:00

By Henry Kenyon

Work on the Navy’s massive new computer network is set to begin next year. The goal of the Next Generation Enterprise Network is to build on the existing Navy Marine Corps Intranet to provide users with secure, network-centric data and services.

Because the program is so large, with contract awards worth an estimated $1.9 billion for fiscal 2011, careful acquisition planning is essential for a timely deployment.

The Navy laid much of the groundwork last year with the approval of the program’s system design requirements, said Capt. Tim Holland, NGEN program manager. After the service outlined the program's overall parameters, the next step was to cover the transition from NMCI with a bridge contract, Holland said. As a part of the transition from NMCI to NGEN, the Navy is buying back its infrastructure from Hewlett-Packard, the prime contractor for NCMI. He said that change will essentially involve only replacing contractor help-desk staff members with government personnel.

Holland said the program is following two paths. The first is an acquisition strategy that will provide increased competition and promote security as an important part of the contracting process. The second track focuses on the network architecture. He said the Navy wants to increase its ability to conduct increased command and control of network activities and support additional network operations with decision-making authority via the network.

NGEN has a segmented acquisition strategy that divides the process into five sections:

    * Independent security operations oversight and assessment.
    * Transport.
    * Hardware.
    * Software.
    * Enterprise services.

Holland said the Navy approved the request for proposals for the independent security operations oversight and assessment segment in late October. The transport segment covers infrastructure such as local-area and wide-area networks. He said the Defense Information Systems Agency manages the existing WAN between Navy and Marine Corps bases. Under NGEN, the Navy will own that infrastructure, which facilitates competition for future upgrades, he said.

The hardware segment focuses on equipment such as laptop and desktop PCs and other office IT systems. Program managers are working with the Marine Corps to acquire all equipment through a single purchasing vehicle. That structure will also help standardize technology and security requirements.

In the software portion of NGEN’s acquisition strategy, a software licensing plan will provide a standard process across the Navy and Marine Corps. Holland said the software licensing will take place under DOD's Enterprise Software Initiative. For enterprise services, the work will cover areas such as supporting and migrating existing thick-client architecture to server farms. Holland said those services are being virtualized through a separate initiative that is not part of NGEN. He added that an RFP will be issued next year.

Another difference from NMCI is acquisition. The Navy wants to hold more and shorter competitions aligned with the service’s four- or five-year technology refresh cycles. The added competition will allow new ideas and concepts to make their way more rapidly into the program, Holland said. He added that from an enterprise perspective, the goal is to follow an industry model used by most Fortune 1,000 companies for software licensing and acquisition.

NGEN Next Steps

Here is the acquisition timeline at press time, by segment, for the Next Generation Enterprise Network.

Independent Security Operations Oversight and Assessment:
RFP: First quarter, fiscal 2011.
Award: Third quarter, fiscal 2011.

Transport:
RFP: Start of second quarter, fiscal 2011.
Award: Start of second quarter, fiscal 2012.

End-User Hardware:
Continuity-of-services contract affords the flexibility to purchase hardware from Hewlett-Packard as appropriate.
Award: Start of second quarter, fiscal 2012.

Enterprise Software Licensing:
Procurement via Defense Department's Enterprise Software Initiative.
Award: End of second quarter, fiscal 2012.

Enterprise Services:
RFP: Fourth quarter, fiscal 2011.
Award: Fourth quarter, fiscal 2012.

Military embedded computer from Kontron enhanced with DC power

2010-12-13T20:03:00.000-05:00

Kontron in Poway, Calif., is announcing several improvements to its Computer Brick Alternative (COBALT) embedded computer, including a DC power supply customizable I/O for rugged and harsh-environment demands of control systems in military vehicles.

The COBALT small, low-profile box-level system aims at military size, weight and power (SWaP) requirements and features a no-backplane design. The Kontron COBALT is a fanless, enclosed design that measures 6.5 by 9.725 by 2.95 inches, and weighs less than 5.5 pounds.

The COBALT comes with one, two, or four gigabytes of DDR2 RAM, optional solid state drive with as much capacity as 512 gigabytes, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, 2x USB, and 5x RS-232/422, with optional 1x ARINC 429, 1x MIL-STD-1553, GPS, and GPIO as well as an integrated 8-port Ethernet switch (managed or unmanaged) via rugged mil-spec connectors.

The embedded computing module offers processing power ranging from a low-power Intel Atom to a powerful Intel Core2 Duo. The rugged embedded computer can be configured for either 28 volts DC (complying to MIL-STD-1275 or MIL-STD-704) or 115 volts AC input power for ground vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), manned aircraft, ships, or submarines.

The Kontron COBALT systems are configurable with Linux or Windows operating systems and can be tested to assure conformance with program-specific software.

DOD plugs alternative power sources into battlefield

2010-12-13T12:56:00.007-05:00

By Ron Houle

Because the Defense Department is the nation’s single largest consumer of energy, it is taking aggressive measures to improve energy efficiency. That effort cuts across every application of energy consumption, including installations, ships, aircraft, combat vehicles and support equipment.

The work even reaches down to the level of the individual soldier. New technologies are being fielded for recharging batteries and operating radios and other communications gear. It's clear that DOD is committed to reducing fuel consumption by inserting technologies in every branch of service, and the department will be a leader in technologies that other federal departments and commercial markets will adopt.

The evidence of that commitment is visible with the establishment of the department’s newly created office for operational energy plans and programs. The office's first director, Sharon Burke, began work recently. Burke describes operational energy as the energy used to move, train and sustain weapons, forces and equipment for military operations. As much as 70 percent of all the energy consumed by the department fits into this definition.

Although delivering fuel has always been a problem, our war in Afghanistan is a stark reminder that this period of sustained conflict will often have us operating in austere environments. Harsh terrain, troops and equipment widely dispersed, underdeveloped road networks and lack of nearby ports amplify the problems for reliable distribution.

Let’s look at one mission area that is already seeing the benefits of increased efficiencies.

Power generation in the tactical environment has always been a huge consumer of fuel. Forward operating bases, command posts of all sizes, isolated life support areas, communications nodes and other facilities all need reliable power when commercial grids aren't available. Here, we are seeing all of the services examining ways to distribute power to the battlefield consumer while simultaneously reducing fuel consumption. DOD has determined that the single greatest consumer of fuel on the battlefield is for power generation — far exceeding the requirements for vehicles and aircraft. As such, it is imperative to focus on this area to make significant progress.

In the Army, the Communication-Electronics Research and Development Command has sponsored projects to investigate near-term applications for mobile, networked power grids for command posts and forward operating bases. The Marine Corps’ Energy Office has sponsored similar projects under its test bed named the Experimental Forward Operating Base. That work has been especially promising. With a networked grid, the supply of power more evenly matches the demand, so generators are being turned off and on as power requirements change. That approach to power management for a mobile grid can occur automatically, with remote monitoring and controls, and can even have a Web-enabled capability to monitor loads and predict maintenance cycles.

More improvements in the delivery of battlefield power are possible when other technologies join a grid that is usually limited to diesel-powered generators. Renewable energy sources can contribute to the grid. Deployable solar panels can be arrayed, sheets of photovoltaic can be used for tactical shelters and better insulation can be added to shelters. These are all parts of a total solution which, when combined with a networked grid of generators, can reduce fuel consumption by 50 percent or more.

From biofuel for our jet fighters to man-portable solar arrays, DOD is aggressively seeking solutions for better energy security. Many of those solutions apply technologies available today or in the near term and only require the support, resources and integration into existing equipment. Exciting times are ahead, and we will soon be seeing a wide application of innovative alternatives to how the military consumes energy.

CACI Awarded Contract to Support Military Entrance Processing Command

2010-12-13T09:30:00.005-05:00

CACI International Inc recently announced that it has been awarded a $75 million contract by the Department of Defense Business Transformation Agency to support the U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command’s (USMEPCOM) Virtual Interactive Processing System (VIPS). The standalone contract was awarded for a base period and option periods totaling 3.5 years. This is new work for CACI and will support USMEPCOM’s efforts to streamline its accession process for military applicants.

A joint military and civilian organization, USMEPCOM provides a gateway for applicants entering the armed services. Headquartered in Illinois, it operates 65 military entrance processing stations to meet its mission. One of the most advanced, service-oriented, open architecture-based systems in the federal government, the VIPS system will modernize and automate the infrastructure that is used to qualify, evaluate, and process applicants for the uniformed services, Coast Guard, and National Guard. Once implemented, the paper-free system will make recruiting processes more responsive, flexible, and efficient, and will ultimately reduce the cycle time to induct enlistees and save millions of dollars annually. As an enterprise system, VIPS will interface with the core recruiting systems of each military service. Its modular open systems integration approach and extensive use of biometric components will enable deployment of rapid operational capabilities with near-term benefits.

The award strengthens CACI’s functional core competencies in Business System Solutions and Cyber Solutions, drawing on a significant record of success implementing federal business systems. CACI’s in-depth understanding of the Department of Defense’s open architecture-based systems makes it an ideal candidate for this work. Not only has CACI attracted critical partners to build a team with unrivaled expertise in military accessions processes and medical records systems, but they have cultivated useful enterprise relationships with world-class vendors in business software and hardware systems as well as biometrics.

According to Bill Fairl, CACI’s President of U.S. Operations, “With this new contract to support USMEPCOM, we will directly enhance the ability of the nation’s armed forces to bring the most qualified men and women into their ranks. Our expertise in government transformation efforts makes us an ideal fit to build one of the most advanced systems for the Department of Defense within a robust, standards-based, and service-oriented architecture.”

CACI President and CEO Paul Cofoni said, “CACI’s core commitment to contributing materially to the transformation of government now includes this important new work for the Business Transformation Agency and USMEPCOM. Our proven approaches and innovative solutions in implementing federal business systems will help strengthen and streamline our nation's ability to ensure the best and the brightest come into our military services, year after year.”

ManTech Awarded Contract by Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division

2010-12-12T14:58:00.000-05:00

ManTech International Corporation, a leading provider of innovative technologies and solutions for mission-critical national security programs, recently announced the company has received a $24 million contract with the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD). The contract, which is a follow on to ManTech’s Engineering and Technical Services in support of Combat Identification and Air Traffic Control Systems, has a one-year period of performance with four, one-year option periods.

Under the contract, ManTech will continue to provide a wide variety of engineering and technical services in support of combat identification and air-traffic control systems, including design, development, integration, test and evaluation, installation, fielding, certification, maintenance and logistics support.

NAWCAD supports research, development, test, evaluation, engineering and fleet support of Navy and Marine Corps air vehicle systems and trainers. NAWCAD is the steward of the ranges, test facilities, laboratories and aircraft necessary to support Naval acquisition requirements. It is one of two product centers within the Naval Air Systems Command.

“ManTech has more than 18 years of experience providing engineering and technical support to Combat Identification and Air Traffic Control systems in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division,” said Terry M. Ryan, president and chief operating officer of ManTech’s Systems Engineering and Advanced Technology group. “We offer a history of strong support, extensive experience in non-cooperative target recognition and our full commitment to continued support of NAWCAD’s vital mission.”

Army chaplains attend Spiritual Fitness Initiative conference in Iraq

2010-12-12T11:55:00.003-05:00

By Capt. Efrem Gibson, PAO eCAB, 1st Inf. Div.

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq - Chaplains from across Iraq and Afghanistan gathered on Camp Victory, Iraq, Nov. 15, to attend a five-day conference designed to promote a new approach to improving Soldiers' spiritual wellness.

The conference was led by the founders of the Spiritual Fitness Initiative, retired Lt. Col. Dr. Glenn Sammis and the Rev. Dr. Chrys Parker. Both chaplains specialize in the treatment of sexual assault, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and psychodrama.

SFI was created about 10 months ago to improve Soldiers' well-being through spirituality. SFI teaches the development of a Soldier's spiritual health first, with the belief that other aspects of their health can improve after becoming spiritually resilient. The founders of SFI stress that the program is not meant to be an alternative, but rather a supplement to other methods for improving Soldiers' resiliency.

"We want to intervene at the front of Soldiers' lives, not at the back of their ambulance," said Parker.

For years, chaplains in the military have assisted service members who go through a traumatic experience. SFI views chaplains as the primary facilitators of the program and focuses its training towards the chaplain corps.

"Most traumatic events have an element of soul wounding," said Parker. "Quite frankly, the chaplains have the expertise on how to deal with the spiritual damage that is inherent in trauma."

Maj. Thomas Bruce, the brigade chaplain for the Enhanced Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, attended the conference and said he recognized the need for his chaplains to get training on how to aid in the healing process of Soldiers.

"Healing from trauma is more than just physical," said Bruce. "There is a spiritual component of healing. Our vision is to see chaplains participating in a holistic approach to treating trauma."

During the conference, SFI methods were taught without the use of electronic interfaces, such as videos and slideshows. Training was mostly conducted through hands-on exercises and group discussions.

"The root of the training and education is experienced-based in nature," said Sammis. "We want people to learn by doing. They should see, hear, and feel what they are learning."

The training centered around four principles: command, control, communication, and collaboration. The intent was to expand the skill sets chaplains already possess to build a Soldier's resiliency by giving them a way to help Soldiers take ownership of their spiritual life. The principles also teach people to be honest with God, cope with stress, and be a positive influence to themselves and others.

"The training was helpful and had a positive impact on me," said Pvt. Jeremy Armstrong, a chaplain's assistant assigned to the Enhanced Combat Aviation Brigade. "I learned a lot about people and myself. I'm glad I got the chance to attend the training," said Armstrong.

SFI has been implemented in a few units in both garrison and deployed environments. Parker and Sammis hope to ultimately have the concept taught Army-wide.

"We are very much interested in and enthused about SFI," said Lt. Col. William T. Barbee, Deputy Director for the Center for Spiritual Leadership at Fort Jackson, S.C., who worked with Parker and Sammis at the conference.

A study is set to begin next year to measure the effects of SFI and its impact on Soldiers.

2011 Contract Trends to Watch

2010-12-12T09:25:00.004-05:00

By Sami Lais

The economy — and specifically the federal market — might seem stuck in dirge mode, but it is changing, in subtle, sometimes dissonant ways. And woe to the company that doesn’t alter its step to match the new tune.

To record and distill those changes, Washington Technology talked for several hours with four federal business gurus to create a chapbook for federal contracting in 2011.

Get any group of experts together, and differences of opinion and points of agreement will arise. So it was with our four: Ray Bjorklund, senior vice president and chief knowledge officer at FedSources Inc.; Philip Kiviat, partner at Guerra Kiviat Inc.; Kevin Plexico, senior vice president of research and analysis services at Input Inc.; and Warren Suss, president of Suss Consulting Inc.

On some points, such as opportunities for the big score, they were unanimous: It ain’t happening.

“We’re definitely seeing a shift away from large-scale, single-award contracts that are intended to build, develop or integrate something,” Plexico said.

“Most of the top opportunities in this year’s [Input top 20 opportunities for 2011] were multiple-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity vehicles,” he added.

“Many of the contracts that have driven our community in past years have been the large single-award programs that companies around the Beltway are geared up to respond to,” Suss said. But “the world is going to change, and companies will need to come up with different models to respond to a larger number of small opportunities.”

“Fiscal 2011 will be the year of the task order,” Suss said.

Our gurus also gave politics a stronger new emphasis in their calculations.

“The most important thing I can say when I talk to IT people — who tend to view IT as the most important thing in the world because it’s changing everything — is that IT is important, but it’s not immune to the influence of politics,” Kiviat said.

The recent shift of power in the House will especially bear watching, Bjorklund said. “The White House submits a budget, but Congress does the appropriating,” he added.

And with the collective Republican eye on reducing the federal budget, “everything in IT contracting is a target for political scrimping,” Kiviat said.

“We’re already seeing fewer large procurements” as a result of the Office of Management and Budget’s suspension in June of new financial systems at major agencies, he said.

In September, OMB canceled upgrades at the Small Business Administration and Veterans Affairs Department and is trimming financial IT projects at the Environmental Protection Agency and Housing and Urban Development Department.

The Army’s Enhanced Army Global Logistics Enterprise (EAGLE) contract, set for award in the second quarter of fiscal 2011, has been touted as a $30 billion opportunity, subsuming five programs and about 200 other contracts.

“But when we added up what’s being spent on the contracts it’s replacing, we came up with more like $10 billion, which is still a lot of money,” Bjorklund said. “But it’s not $30 billion.”

EAGLE has a big IT component, although its emphasis is not on conventional IT, such as networks. The contracts that EAGLE replaces have research and development projects, but the new contract has no R&D component, Bjorklund pointed out in FedSources’ Army EAGLE Reality Check report.

OMB’s system slashing is an effort “to reduce the size of large programs, make them more manageable and reduce the risk of failure,” Kiviat said. But it also will contribute to less innovation, he said.

“Whenever you do anything large or innovative, you increase risk,” he said. “Democrats did try to increase innovation, which means increasing risk-taking — what’s the saying? If you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough.”

However, Kiviat added, “failures could well be fodder for political grandstanding, so agencies will tend to put themselves up as targets less often, which means less innovation. That’s bad for contractors, especially those companies that are innovators. It will also take people who are interested in innovation and make them look elsewhere: in the commercial market.”

Bad, Getting Worse

To recap for a moment, we’ve got fewer single, big-dollar opportunities, politics stirring the pot more than ever before, trimmed budgets and less risk-taking. Look for those trends to alter the competitive landscape, put pressure on established federal market players and create openings for new ones.

Together with the general pinch and sag of the U.S. and global economies, “overall contract spending dropping by 4.8 percent,” Bjorklund said. “Whenever that happens, many new interests flock to federal government contracts, believing they’re going to be the saving grace for their business.”

Not all will succeed. “Particularly in the federal space, there are steep barriers to entry,” Plexico said. “But once you’re in, you have the credibility you need for agencies to spend contracting dollars.”

Many of the large IDIQ contracts, from the General Services Administration’s $65 billion Alliant to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s $5 billion CDC Information Management Services, have already been awarded.

Contracts that are still to be awarded, in addition to EAGLE, include the Health and Human Services Department’s $30 billion CIO-Solutions and Partners 3 and the Defense Department’s $15 billion DOD Language Interpretation and Translation Enterprises.

Getting on those contracts guarantees nothing. But whether new to the federal market or an old hand, getting on them “is important from a positioning point of view,” Plexico said. “Take an agency like the Homeland Security Department, which may do 40 percent of its work through [DHS' Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading Edge Solutions contract]. If you’re not on EAGLE, you don’t have the opportunity to compete.”

But even when the contract is in place and the money ostensibly is there, it can disappear.

“Companies are going to have to be much more careful in qualifying prospects,” Kiviat said. “It’s not just about: Are the dollars there? But will they stay there? Some already planned procurements may be canceled because of the unknown emphasis of what Republicans will do.”

Take OMB’s halting and trimming of financial system modernization projects, he said. “That could happen to any large enterprisewide modernization project. Say an agency says it wants to modernize human resources management in all its subagencies. The question a contractor has to ask is: Will that project withstand congressional oversight, or could it get frozen?”

Agencies will be showing up not only with smaller purses but also with bigger demands, including tighter margins and greater use.

“DOD wants to avoid having military organizations develop their own systems,” Suss said. “They want to be able to invest once in a new utility or capability, then allow its use many times by all DOD users. For example, the Army, rather than go with its own enterprise e-mail systems just handed over [that acquisition] to DISA.”

The increased competition and decreased budgets will help ensure that big protests will continue. The lack of a government acquisition workforce that is large enough and experienced enough will contribute to protests.

“Take the recent protest by Google over the Interior Department contract, which mandated use of Microsoft software,” Kiviat said. “Everyone in procurement knew that protest was coming. As long as you have acquisition people who do something like that and don’t figure out how to do deal with it beforehand, you’ll continue to have protests.”

Transform Yourself

Once hardware-heavy, contracts increasingly are shifting to services — by 50 percent during the past four to five years, according to Input.

“When contracts were for hardware, all you’d have to do was deliver it. You didn’t even have to know what it did,” Kiviat said. “In services, it’s important to know what they need to have done and how to do it.”

For those companies that know that, there will be more opportunities for providing managed services at a fixed price, Suss said. A shift to cloud-based services “will drive companies to make more upfront investments in infrastructure and technology before realizing a return,” he said. “That may create a significant disequilibrium in the federal environment.”

Thinking about cloud must go beyond the hype, beyond the buzzwords to be a viable technology for government, Plexico said. “Agencies — and contractors hoping to win their business — have to ask themselves: What’s the agency’s exit strategy for dealing with sensitive data if there’s an incident?”

It’s also “going to require a different bidding model than the current [time-and-materials] model,” Suss said. “In this new environment, shops will have to deliver quick turnarounds on proposals,” a feat not all companies will be able to pull off.

More than ever before, success in the federal market will require a defined goal and an informed strategy for attaining it, our experts said.

“Big companies sometimes have a strategy,” Kiviat said. “Small companies don’t have them; they just fight each battle as it comes up. This is time for some strategic thinking, no matter what size you are.”

With so many potential pitfalls, it’s important to keep your sense of perspective, Plexico said. “The federal space is still a healthy and vibrant market as compared to the rest of the economic environment.”

Here also, our experts found agreement. The status quo is transitory, existing only for an instant and not to be confused with a promise.

“There are going to be losers,” Suss said. “Some companies that are in business now won’t be able to stay in business next year.”

But when a window closes, a door opens. “It’s going to create a fertile ground for mergers and acquisitions, and I think we’ll see an increase in that area,” Suss said.

DDC Receives Lockheed Platinum Level Preferred Supplier Award

2010-12-11T13:29:00.000-05:00

Data Device Corporation (DDC), a leading international supplier of high-reliability data interface products and a long-time supplier for Lockheed Martin, has been elevated to the Platinum level in the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control Preferred Supplier Program.

Platinum level represents an elite circle of suppliers who have continuously achieved superior Performance, Responsiveness, Business System Review, LSS (RPA) Assessment, and Process Control. Performance criteria include achievement of 100% Quality and On-time delivery. This is the third award that DDC has received from Lockheed Martin in recognition of superior performance, previously achieving Gold and STAR supplier status, and DDC is honored now to be recognized with a Platinum level award, Lockheed Martin’s highest preferred supplier rating. Each increase in level, from Silver to Gold to Platinum, represents not only a significant increase in business performance, but also requires companies to maintain this high level of service over an increasingly longer span of time. DDC, with over four decades of experience supporting the extended life cycles and high reliability demands of military and aerospace programs, internalizes these criteria within every area of design, manufacturing, and customer service, to ensure that our customers continually receive the highest quality, dependability, and support.

“DDC earned this award, which only four other companies have received to date, based upon continually achieving 100 percent quality and on-time delivery performance, as well as for its demonstrated commitment to excellence”, announced Teresa Scanlan, Materials director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.

“DDC is proud to have achieved the high standards required by Lockheed Martin to become a Platinum Level Preferred Supplier, and we look forward to continuing to support Lockheed Martin with our decades of MIL-STD-1553 experience and long standing commitment to reliability and superior support”, stated John Haynes, DDC’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

Navy selects contractor for maritime drone support

2010-12-11T11:49:00.010-05:00

By William Welsh

Science Applications International Corp. will furnish technical and engineering support to the Navy office that manages unmanned aircraft systems that conduct maritime surveillance under a task order potentially worth $39 million over five years.

Specifically, the company will provide systems engineering, analysis and development for the Persistent Maritime Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program Office in support of the development, production, fielding and sustainment of maritime UAS. The contractor also will assist with the integration, testing and introduction of these systems, the company said in a Nov. 8 announcement.

The program office’s mission includes the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance UAS, related demonstrator programs and other high-altitude, long-endurance UAS. BAMS UAS is a multi-mission system designed to support strike, signals intelligence, and communications relay efforts.

The company will perform the work at Patuxent River, Md. The Naval Air Systems Command awarded the task order through the Navy’s Seaport-e program.

Raytheon’s APG-79 AESA Radars

2010-12-11T11:44:00.012-05:00

The F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet’s current radar is Raytheon’s all-weather, multimode AN/APG-73, but the revolutionary new Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) APG-79 radar offers significantly greater capability, reliability, image resolution, and range. Unlike the “mechanically scanned” APG-73, the APG-79’s AESA array is composed of numerous solid-state transmit and receive modules that are fixed in place, eliminating a common cause of breakdowns. Other system components include an advanced receiver/exciter, ruggedized commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) processor, and power supplies. With its open systems architecture and compact COTS parts, it changes what the aircrew can do with the radar – and does so in a smaller, lighter package.

Boeing and Raytheon debuted the F/A-18F Block II Super Hornet equipped with the AN/APG-79 AESA radar system at a St. Louis ceremony in April 2005. That was the first step toward fulfilling the Navy’s roadmap to expand the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet’s capabilities for future operations. In October 2006, the first Super Hornet Block II squadron attained the requisite “safe for flight” designation, certifying that they were ready for independent operations with the new equipment. The radar will also be featured on the USA’s related EA-18G Growler electronic jamming aircraft, as it enters service…

The AN/APG-79 AESA Radar

Featuring a fixed array with active electronic beam scanning that scans near the speed of light, the AESA will, for the first time, enable pilot and crew to conduct simultaneous air-to-air and air-to-surface operations. In air-to-air mode, the radar allows targets to be engaged at very long ranges, permitting weapons launch at maximum range to take full advantage of new longer-range air-air missiles and air-ground weapons. The system also offers high-resolution ground mapping at long standoff ranges for air-to-surface tracking’ its high-resolution SAR (synthetic aperture radar) images can be used to designate multiple targets at once, or identify unplanned ground targets and engage them. Prior to the introduction of the APG-79 radar, it had only been possible for pre-mission planned ground targets to be attacked.

AESA radars have a number of additional advantages, some of which are being publicized as time goes on. In addition to having no moving parts that serve as sources of failure, AESA radars’ inherent redundancy allows them to fly and perform well even if some of the individual modules need replacing. They also have the potential to perform offensive electronic warfare functions, high-bandwidth communications, and probably a few more capabilities that the government prefers not to talk about yet.

Since the original contract award in 2001, the APG-79 program has met all its milestones on time, and the system has performed well in flight tests.

The AN/APG-79 radar will replace Raytheon’s AN/APG-73 on the new F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet Block II aircraft, and equip the derivative EA-18G “Growler” electronic warfare aircraft as they enter service. The U.S. Navy plans to buy over 400 APG-79 AESA systems, and potential foreign sales span 7 countries now using the F/A-18 aircraft; Australia’s purchase of 24 F/A-18F Block II aircraft made them the radar’s first foreign customer.

For additional history on this program, click here.

DARPA wants tech to connect soldiers in barren lands

2010-12-10T16:15:00.004-05:00

By Henry Kenyon

In its ongoing efforts to eliminate the fog of war, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is planning to develop battlefield networking technologies that will connect individual soldiers, even where there is no infrastructure.

The goal of the agency’s recently announced Advanced Wireless Networks for the Solider program is to create a highly scalable and adaptable tactical communications network that can adapt to changing conditions and mission needs. DARPA wants to build its new network around advanced soldier radios that can automatically adjust their frequency, modulation scheme, operating power and network topology, especially at the physical and link layers.

In its announcement, DARPA stated that the AWNS program will seek to use the best parts of commercial technologies to ensure rapid updates at low cost to the government. The program’s research will also compliment and build upon ongoing work in the agency’s Wireless Network after Next program.

The AWNS effort is built around four research activities. It will use WNaN development as the baseline for platform integration; integrate defense specific communications technologies such as WNaN hardware, firmware and networking software; take advantage of commercial technologies; and integrate advanced data processing network services.

Besides developing a variety of networking and waveform technologies, AWNS is part of a larger DARPA effort that includes WNaN to develop a cognitive radio that automatically adapts to its environment. As a part of this work, AWNS will work on a system strategy reasoner, which will select the radio’s most efficient operating mode for its environment, adapt local links and larger networks to minimize interference, minimize battery use, select appropriate antennas on the soldier to maximize performance and choose modes to minimize bit error or packet error rates. AWNS will also integrate smart antenna technology into the WNaN radio.

Codan Receives JITC Certification for 2110 HF Manpack

2010-12-10T15:31:00.007-05:00

Codan recently announced that it has received certification from the Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) for the Codan 2110 high frequency (HF) manpack transceiver.

According to the notification, the Codan 2110 manpack is certified as conforming to the Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) requirements of Military Standard (MIL-STD)-188-141B, Interoperability and Performance Standards for Medium and HF Radio Equipment.

The JITC certification enables interoperability between Codan and other HF radio brands and establishes a common waveform for ALE operation. This is important in coalition and Partnership for Peace (PFP) operations and the extension of HF networks for emergency preparedness and disaster relief.

“JITC certification is a major differentiator for Codan HF radios and we are pleased to support the MIL-STD-188-141B in both our NGT and 2110-based systems,” said Andrew W. Sheppard, vice president and general manager, Codan US, Inc. “Codan is committed to supporting the need for critical interoperability between coalition and Partnership-for-Peace (PfP) countries and expansion of these requirements within Central Asia, the Middle East and developing world countries.”

Within minutes of a radio operator initiating a call, ALE chooses the best frequency and signals the operators on both ends so they can begin communicating with each other immediately. One of the many benefits of ALE is that it eliminates the need for repetitive calling on pre-determined time schedules and monitoring static on HF radios.

Lockheed tapped for new anti-ship missile

2010-12-10T13:04:00.000-05:00

By Jim Wolf

Lockheed Martin Corp is to develop within 2 1/2 years a new long-range anti-ship missile, the Defense Department said on Wednesday.

The work falls under a $157.7 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, which has been responsible for some of the Pentagon's biggest technology breakthroughs, including the Internet's precursor.

The goal is to develop rapidly and demonstrate a ship-launched weapon that can knock out other ships "at significant stand-off ranges," an item in the Pentagon's daily contract digest said, without elaborating.

The work is expected to be completed by April 2013 in a joint effort between DARPA and the Office of Naval Research, the announcement said.

Development of a new weapons system sometimes takes a decade or more. Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier by sales, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The project comes amid Pentagon concerns over China's development of antiship ballistic missiles capable of holding U.S. aircraft carriers and other warships at risk.

China also has been expanding its military edge over Taiwan and boosting the lethality of its short-range ballistic missiles while raising the risk of "misunderstanding and miscalculation," the Pentagon said in its latest annual report to Congress on China's growing military power.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in a May 3 speech to the Navy League of the United States, said a virtual U.S. monopoly on precision-guided weapons was eroding, "especially with long-range, accurate anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles that can potentially strike from over the horizon."

"This is a particular concern with aircraft carriers and other large, multibillion-dollar blue-water surface combatants," he said.

Navistar to provide 250 MAXXPRO MRAP

2010-12-10T12:47:00.011-05:00

Navistar Defense, LLC recently announced that it received a delivery order for 250 International® MaxxPro® Recovery vehicles from the U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command. The $253 million order was placed under the company’s Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) indefinite delivery / indefinite quantity contract and includes contractor logistics support. This is Navistar’s eighth major MRAP variant.
Navistar originally unveiled the MaxxPro Recovery vehicle, also known as a wrecker variant, in February 2009 as a new utility vehicle offering.

“We believe that part of industry’s role is to recognize a potential need before it becomes an absolute necessity,” said Archie Massicotte, president, Navistar Defense. For Navistar, that meant extending MRAP-level survivability to those running vehicle recovery and other support missions.”

Just last month, Navistar expanded its MRAP family of vehicles again with the launch of the MaxxPro Tractor and MaxxPro Dash Ambulance. The company’s ability to grow its vehicle portfolio, with little lead time, occurs through the use of the existing commercial vehicle platforms.

The MaxxPro Recovery vehicle is based on the same International® WorkStar® platform that lends its flexibility to the company’s growing family of vehicles. MRAP ballistic, mine and improvised explosive device (IED) protection will now aid two- to three-man crews as they retrieve damaged or mission-disabled vehicles and carry out other support missions.

The vehicle is powered by the MaxxForce® 9.3D engine. Production of MaxxPro Recovery units will be completed by fall 2011.Since receiving its original MaxxPro MRAP contract in May 2007, Navistar has emerged as one of the leading providers of MRAP vehicles. To date, the company has been contracted to produce more than 7,800 units.

“Winning orders like this is consistent with our plans to be a $1.5 to $2 billion annual business,” said Massicotte. “Not only do we have flexible vehicle platforms at the ready, but we have a growing network of engineers along with strong parts and sustainment organizations to keep us on target.”

Trimble introduces next generation Nomad outdoor rugged handheld

2010-12-10T07:22:00.004-05:00

Trimble introduced today the next generation of the Trimble® Nomad® outdoor rugged handheld computers. The Nomad 900 series adds a 5MP auto-focus camera with flash, enhanced GPS performance, and new Wi-Fi® capabilities. These new features, along with its rugged construction and computing power, make the Trimble Nomad 900 series ideal for mobile workers in forestry, public safety, surveying, construction, mapping, field service, utilities, and other outdoor or service-related fields.

Powered by an ultra-fast 806 MHz processor and Trimble’s optimized graphics processing, advanced caching and proprietary high-speed journaling file system, the Trimble Nomad 900 series handhelds are some of the fastest Windows Mobile® computers on the market today. The 900 series offers top-of-the-line performance with a 5200 mAh rechargeable lithium ion battery, up to 6 GB of Flash memory and a sunlight visible VGA touch screen display. The Trimble Nomad 900 series meets MIL-STD-810F standard for drops, vibration and temperature extremes and comes with an IP67 rating. In addition, users can take advantage of the Trimble Nomad 900 series CompactFlash (CF) and Secure Digital (SD) slots to add more devices, such as SD/SDHC memory and RFID.

Trimble has designed the Nomad handheld to be the ultimate all-in-one computing device for asset management. With the Trimble Nomad 900 series handheld’s improved camera and flash, low light and night images are crisp and bright so that mobile workers can capture and geotag assets with confidence?even the fine print associated with an asset, such as a fire inspection tag, can be easily read. Tuned to maximize the integrated GPS receiver’s performance, the Trimble Nomad 900 series handheld has an enhanced antenna design which provides a rapid Time-to-First Fix (TTF) to improve GPS productivity in difficult GPS conditions. The handhelds ship with the Windows Mobile® 6.1 operating system, featuring a redesigned user interface, enhanced security, simpler email and Bluetooth setup, and more.

“Reliability is a huge challenge for field-to-office connectivity which is a key reason that customers have chosen the Trimble Nomad handheld,” said Bill Martin, general manager for Trimble’s Mobile Computing Solutions Division. “With the addition of a higher resolution camera, enhanced GPS, as well as enhanced connectivity and security with Wi-Fi, the next generation Trimble Nomad handheld sets a new standard in rugged mobile computing, providing a highly dependable way to increase productivity through field-to-office connectivity.”

"Our customers depend on us to not only recommend a mobile device that meets their technical needs, but also one that's going to stand up to their rugged environments,” said Steve Leuschner, president of Cardinal Tracking, a Trimble authorized dealer. “The Trimble brand is synonymous with reliability and the Nomad series delivers on that promise. A complete and rich feature set and an unmatched ultra-rugged design is a win-win for Cardinal and our customers.”

The Trimble Nomad 900 series handhelds are available in a variety of configurations. The series features multiple language options including, English, French, German, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), and Spanish. The series also features an auto-switching AC battery charger with four wall outlet adapters; and numerous certifications to compliance with international standards in the Americas, Europe and Asia ensure it is ready for worldwide use.

For GIS data collection and asset management activities, the Trimble Nomad 900G series handhelds are available in a variety of configurations. The 900G series feature a 6 GB of Flash storage ideal for field GIS applications with large geospatial datasets, and the GPS receiver enhancements in the 900G series allow GPS data to be postprocessed to an accuracy of 1 to 3 meters. In addition, the Trimble Nomad 900G series handhelds are compatible with the entire portfolio of Trimble Mapping & GIS field and office software products. To support the international user community, operating system downloads for the 900G series are available in English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish, as well as Italian, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese and Russian.

The entire line of Trimble Nomad 900 and 900G series outdoor rugged handheld computers are expected to be available in the fourth quarter of 2010 from Trimble's Mobile Computing Solutions and Mapping & GIS authorized distributors.

Boeing Tests New Rotor Blade For CH-47F

2010-12-09T19:02:00.002-05:00

By Graham Warwick

Boeing has completed wind tunnel tests of a new rotor blade for the CH-47F Chinook that is designed to generate 2,000 lb. more lift without degrading the heavy-lift-helicopter’s forward-flight performance.

Results of scale-model tests of the latest blade configuration are “promising,” says Pat Donnelly, CH-47F/G program manager. “We are seeing the lift we are looking for with little or no degradation in forward flight.”

Increased rotor lift usually comes at the expense of higher drag in forward flight. New airfoil sections and tip shape improve the performance of the new blade, Donnelly says.

The new swept dihedral-anhedral blade tip is similar to that developed for the canceled Boeing/Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche scout/attack helicopter, Donnelly says.

Where the current design uses two airfoil sections, for the main blade and tip, the new blade has three, two of them first used on the Comanche and experimental Boeing 360, he says.

Having completed wind tunnel testing of the final configuration, Boeing will now produce several full-sized blades for dynamic and fatigue testing, Donnelly says. Flight tests are scheduled for 2014 and the new blade is planned to be retrofitted to in-service CH-47Fs and MH-47Gs and become standard on new-production Chinooks.

Boeing also has completed testing of an upgraded digital advanced flight control system (Dafcs) for U.S. Army special operations MH-47Gs. The Dafcs was developed for the CH-47F and the upgrade adds such features as control laws for inflight refueling.

The “fat tank” MH-47G has slightly different inertia characteristics to the “skinny tank” CH-47F, Donnelly says, but some of the new Dafcs features will be available for international Chinook customers.

Donnelly says Boeing and the Army’s program office are looking at features, including an embedded-roller cargo-handling system, that could be incorporated into the CH-47F under a second multi-year procurement.

The configuration will be finalized in June 2011 for deliveries beginning in 2014, although the multi-year – planned to cover five annual production lots – is far from certain because of funding constraints, he says.

DARPA kicks off battlefield networks project

2010-12-09T13:00:00.008-05:00

By Bob Brewin

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has launched a $20 million project to leverage commercial technologies for development of Advanced Wireless Networks for the Soldier, which will serve as both a battlefield network and a data-rich soldier information system.

DARPA plans to build the network around handheld radios developed by the BBN Technologies division of Raytheon under an earlier research program, the $10 million Wireless Network After Next Project, started in 2007.

Among other things, the BBN radios include software that helps soldiers automatically locate data and information on a network. In the AWNS project, DARPA wants to use that capability as the basis for a soldier information system in which the radios would work as computers linked in a wireless environment.

Bernie Skoch, a communications consultant and retired Air Force general with extensive experience in communications, said the idea makes sense because "the distinction between radios and computers no longer exists." Today's software-based radios -- such as those under development for the military's Joint Tactical Radio System -- also are computers, Skoch said.

DARPA, in a broad agency announcement for the AWNS program, said it is seeking proposals from industry on how to tap into the networked computer resources of nine Wirelesses Network after Next radios.

The agency also wants industry's help in adapting the multiple antenna technology used in the latest standard of consumer Wi-Fi, 802.11n, to advanced radios. This multiple-input and multiple-output technology helps capture weak signals, and Skoch said it is well suited for use in urban environments where traditional antennas cannot always receive signals.

The MIMO antenna DARPA wants to use in its next generation radios and networks will differ significantly from traditional vertical metal antennas. The agency said it needs help in developing antennas that would be distributed around the uniform of the soldier. Skoch said they might be built into patches that could be attached, for example, to a shoulder pad.

While traditional military radios work on selected frequencies, DARPA said it wants to develop a software-based "strategic reasoner" that will help the radios select the best frequency for a given location.

Mike McCarthy, director of the mission command complex of the Army Future Force Integration Directorate at Fort Bliss, Texas, said the AWNS project fits with the Army's work to adapt smart phone technology for battlefield use.

McCarthy said that later this year he plans to test tactical cellular gear from Sirran Communications at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. He also plans to test cellular systems from XG Technology Inc. that can seek out and operate on unused frequencies.

McCarthy said he is working closely with DARPA on the AWNS project and noted that development of advanced battlefield systems has the strong backing of Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff.

Will Robo-Copters Carry Wounded Troops to Safety?

2010-12-09T09:21:00.007-05:00

By Spencer Ackerman

The next time Marines find themselves in a tight spot in any clime or place, they might make a quick call to a drone to ferry them out. And the Navy wants that communication to occur like David Hasselhof summoning Kitt: a Marine below talking to a robot above.

As part of a call for research, the Navy says it wants a software package that can get troops barking orders to drones when things go wrong in a warzone — without relying on any remotely-situated pilots. “There is currently interest in the idea of using an Unmanned Air System (UAS) to deliver cargo to marines in the field or to provide casualty evacuation or extraction,” the solicitation reads.

To be clear, the Navy doesn’t want interested companies to build it a new drone. The military wants better communications with certain kinds of drones — the kinds that don’t even have pilots controlling them through joysticks miles away. But those allegedly “autonomous” systems might compound the difficulty of getting Marines out of tight spots.

Cargo drops aren’t as big a deal: they’re soon to be in the standard drone wheelhouse. Last year, the Air Force put out bids for totally autonomous drones to supply remote bases; the Marines have long coveted a helicopter version. But medevac or quick-escape may be a different story.

Any piloted aircraft in the U.S. military arsenal has a way of talking to the ground, with varying layers of intermediaries. It doesn’t matter if that pilot is in a cockpit flying a plane or in a refrigerated metal box steering a drone through a video game-like console. The Air Force embeds go-betweens called Joint Terminal Attack Controllers with ground units in case there’s a need for air support. Drone operators can even IM with those intermediaries to keep track of what’s happening 20,000 feet below their drones.

But the Navy wants its drones to be truly pilot-less. As the solicitation puts it, the military is looking to developing drones and drone-control systems with “a very high degree of on-board autonomy” and “little or no human supervision” that can fly through “possible threats, high winds, and complex terrain/landing conditions including landing on slopes and around man-made and natural obstacles, people, water, and soft terrain.” It’s already demonstrated that human-free drones like the Fire Scout robo-copter can do what programmers tell them to do.

But with an autonomous-drone future come challenges in getting Marines out of firefights. There are “limitations in the current and projected state-of-the art in autonomy,” as the Navy solicitation notes, making it likely that the Marines in need would have to give the drones “guidance… beyond that required by pilots of manned aircraft performing a similar mission.” That means telling the drones where to land, what dangers their flight paths or their landing zones entail, and “high-level directions and spatial and temporal information” about where they’re going to touch down.

The solicitation imagines a simple interface, loadable on “ruggedized laptop computers [or] smaller PDA-like devices,” and something that doesn’t require much “heads down” time looking at a screen, since people might be shooting at the operator. Talking to the drone could occur through Madden-esque “whiteboard” functions where Marines sketch digital maps on a stylus or through voice recognition — whatever’s easiest — as long as companies don’t “develo[p] new approaches to speech recognition, sketch input, etc.” (Natural, casual human-robot vocal interaction is still a ways away, as the Octavia robot funded by the Navy demonstrates.)

Then there’s the fact of actually lifting wounded Marines out of battle. One option is the cargo drone-copter that the Marines are eyeing, the Kaman K-MAX helicopter, can carry up to 6000 pounds. Whether it can safely ferry wounded troops without medical personnel on board and get them to a doctor within the so-called “golden hour” — the first hour after injury — has yet to be tested.

Pulling the stunt off technically will be just one of the things the robo-copter will have to do. They’ll also need to reassure troops, somehow, that they’re in good (mechanical) hands: “Operator trust will play an important role in the usefulness of these tools and that must be considered in the development of the approach.” The robots may be autonomous, but they’re still going to have to work with us humans.

Raytheon Reaches Milestone in Naval SATCOM Program

2010-12-08T23:21:00.000-05:00

Raytheon Company achieved a key milestone in its Navy Multiband Terminal program with the first production order for next-generation NMT satellite communication terminals. The U.S. Navy award follows a successful field test and "Milestone C Review," which marks the completion of complex system development.

The initial production award is for 22 systems, consisting of 15 ship, five submarine and two shore terminals, along with other services and products; it is valued at $37.6 million. With the procurement of terminals during a five-year production period, the program's value of system development and production could potentially reach $1 billion.

NMT is a family of multibanded ship, submarine and shore communications terminals providing the Navy and international partners, with the possibility of selected Army and Air Force users, a powerful and reliable new capability in support of its net-centric architecture. The terminals will provide all Navy military-band satellite communications up to five times the bandwidth and less size, weight and power than the systems they will replace.

"NMT gives the Navy secure communications connectivity to the latest satellite constellations that users can absolutely depend on, in a smaller package, and at much lower cost," said Brian McKeon, vice president, Raytheon Integrated Communications Systems. "This success keeps the promise we made to our armed forces to develop, demonstrate and deliver a multibanded, secure terminal utilizing the Advanced Extremely High Frequency waveform."

NMT integrates its Extremely High Frequency/Advanced Extremely High Frequency (EHF/AEHF) capability with two-way military Ka- and X-band, and the Global Broadcast Service. NMT operates in the EHF/AEHF low data rate, medium data rate and AEHF extended data rate communication modes.

In addition, NMT is compatible with Wideband Global SATCOM, backward compatible with legacy satellite systems, and interoperable with legacy Navy and other service terminals.

Raytheon was initially awarded the competitive NMT prototype development phase in August 2003 and won the down select for the engineering development model phase, which is drawing to a close, in October 2007.

Maneuver Battle Lab evaluates modified rear sight for MK19

2010-12-08T21:24:00.000-05:00

By Vince Little, The Bayonet

The Maneuver Battle Lab just wrapped up a weeklong evaluation of a modified rear sight for the MK19 40mm grenade machine gun, comparing its effectiveness to the current version from mounted and dismounted platforms.

Ten Soldiers from B Company, 2nd Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment fired the weapon using both sights at Ruth Range and then took it to Buckner Range for vehicle exercises aimed at testing the new sight's durability. The experiment began Sept. 30 and ended Thursday.

Steve Howard, a project officer for the Maneuver Battle Lab's Soldier team, said the upgraded sight incorporates new scale increments that are a closer match to the current ammunition ballistics and is redesigned to lower fabrication and maintenance costs. The Army wants to enhance precision and reduce potential collateral damage on the battlefield, he said.

Developed by General Dynamics, the modified rear sight has 27 fewer parts and doesn't require a slide for determining target ranges.

"This sight could potentially take out a whole step in the firing process -- there's no slide to move up and down," he said. "We think that's going to make it a faster transition between targets. Theoretically, it could speed up engagement times for Soldiers."

Under the existing configuration, Soldiers in combat often save time by setting the slide on 400 meters and adjusting fire as needed, said Staff Sgt. Caleb Lisenby, an MK19 instructor with the company.

"You can see where the bursts hit," he said. "Then, the spotter or TC gets a fix and you just walk the gun on target. (The modified rear sight is) a little more accurate because of the offsets. In that aspect, it might be quicker getting close on targets."

Staff Sgt. Thomas Taylor of the Maneuver Battle Lab was among four Soldiers who conducted initial shoots with the prototypes earlier this year. Based on feedback, modifications were made to the range "fan" -- engineers added a 400-meter view because the sample product's span went from 200 to 500 meters, he said.

"You're doing away with a lot of maneuvers of the sights," said Taylor, who attended the assessment as an observer. "There was a lot of adjusting with the old sight. That takes time. With the new sight, you find it, target it and shoot it. You're just locating targets within the sight; there is no adjustment time.

"Right now, the new one seems to be working very well. It's a lot easier for the Soldiers to put rounds on a target in less amount of time."

Howard said the evaluation's main objectives included testing accuracy and getting average interval times of Soldiers shifting between targets. The Soldiers' input could lead to additional design changes to any final product, he said, but no decision has been made on whether the modified rear sight will be fielded.

Guidance Needed to Improve Management of Major Weapon System Subcontracts

2010-12-08T20:05:00.010-05:00

This is coming straight from the GAO:

According to some Department of Defense (DOD) and industry experts, consolidation of the defense industry along with a shift in prime-contractor business models has resulted in prime contractors subcontracting more work on the production of weapon systems and concentrating instead on systems integration. Based on some estimates, 60 to 70 percent of work on defense contracts is now done by subcontractors, with certain industries aiming to outsource up to 80 percent of the work. At the same time, there is evidence that subcontractor performance may contribute to cost and schedule delays on weapon system programs. Congress has raised questions about the extent to which primes are awarding subcontracts competitively and about the government's insight into the process prime contractors use for determining what work to make in-house and what work should be bought from subcontractors (make-or-buy decisions). In the 2009 Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act (WSARA), Congress directed DOD, as part of efforts to improve competition throughout the life cycle of major defense programs, to ensure that contractors' make-or-buy decisions are fair and objective. Specifically, the Secretary of Defense was directed to require prime contractors to give full and fair consideration to qualified sources other than the prime contractor for the development or construction of major subsystems and components of major weapon systems. These actions were to be taken by November 22, 2009. Congress also directed DOD to revise its acquisition regulation regarding organizational conflicts of interest (OCI). In response to both of these requirements, DOD has drafted revisions to its acquisition regulation that are pending final approval. The 2010 National Defense Authorization Act required us to study the structure and management of major subcontracts under contracts for the acquisition of selected major weapon systems. In response to this mandate and given the reliance on subcontracts and the possible implications for government oversight, we (1) examined how government and prime contractors defined "major" subcontract, and the number and value of those considered major, (2) analyzed prime contractors' approach to selecting and managing major subcontractors, (3) examined the extent to which the government has visibility into major subcontracts and, finally, (4) examined how potential OCIs are addressed and the government's role in selecting the approach chosen.

While the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provides dollar thresholds for reporting on subcontracts, there is no set definition for major subcontract. Prime contractors and various government entities (program and contracting offices, as well as DCMA and DCAA) define "major" subcontract differently, for example based on a certain dollar value or on the criticality of the item being purchased. These differing definitions could affect levels of government or prime contractor insight, particularly with regard to contractor subsidiaries or affiliates, which the primes did not always consider to be subcontractors. The number and value of major subcontracts also varied considerably among programs in our review--particularly when affiliates and subsidiaries were included. One program had as many as 364 major subcontracts, representing 58 percent of the total value of all subcontracts. Another program had 13 major subcontracts, but they made up over 90 percent of the total value of all subcontracts. Prime contractors did not always include subsidiaries or affiliates in their definitions of major subcontract, even when they were managed as such. (2) Prime contractors in our review told us they structure their subcontracts to provide the required items, while reducing their risk exposure and maximizing their profit potential. For example, prime contractors generally attempted to shift cost risk onto their subcontractors through the use of fixed-price subcontracts even when their own contract with the government was cost-reimbursement. Primes also use make-or-buy processes to define what products and services must be retained internally to exploit their core competencies, and what should be outsourced to qualified suppliers to achieve cost efficiency. While primes define work performed by affiliates as part of their company's core competency--that is "make" activities--they often select and manage affiliates using similar methods to those used with external subcontractors. (3) The FAR emphasizes the prime contractor's responsibility in managing its subcontractors. Officials in our case studies underscored the limited role of the government in selecting and managing subcontracts. Prior to contract award, the government's visibility into subcontracts is restricted to the minimum amount of information necessary to determine that subcontract costs are fair and reasonable. To a great extent, the prime contract approach has implications on the degree of government's visibility into subcontract costs. For prime contracts awarded competitively, programs generally rely on the prime contractor to evaluate subcontractor proposals (even when subcontracts are not awarded competitively). For prime contracts awarded noncompetitively, the government has greater visibility into subcontract costs by validating noncompetitively awarded subcontractors' cost and pricing data over certain thresholds. Four of the six prime contracts we reviewed were competed in the development phase, and all six low-rate production contracts are planned to be awarded on a sole-source basis. In addition, when the prime contractor designates a subcontract as a commercial item, the government's visibility is significantly limited, including DCMA's postaward monitoring. (4) Most programs we reviewed displayed limited concern about the potential for organizational conflicts of interest (OCI) in their contracts. Although the FAR requires contracting officers to identify and evaluate potential OCIs, government officials told us that it was the prime contractors' responsibility to identify an OCI at both the prime and subcontract level. Some contracting officers also stated that they assume the OCI clauses are included in any support contracts, such as for testing and evaluation, and that they saw no need to include the clause in the weapon system contract itself. Consequently, most programs did not use contract clauses as a means to prevent an OCI.

Air Force Requests $5.7B for 144 More Predators

2010-12-08T19:58:00.002-05:00

The USAF announced plans to spend $5.7 billion over the next five years to buy roughly 144 of GA Aeronautical Systems’ Predator UAVs – enough to add 12 squadrons of 12 robotic aircraft each, plus 36 support packages including ground control station, satellite terminals and other equipment. The USAF has accepted 114 Predators as of last month, and lost 26 Predators in combat since 2002. This brings overall losses of the unmanned aircraft from all causes to 46.

“This [procurement] increase,” the Air Force said, “is in response to the escalating demand for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability in the war on terrorism.” The aircraft would be designated for use in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and other combat areas.

The Predator was recently upgraded from Advanced Technology Demostrator to Initial Operating Capability, clearing the way for more extensive deployments. The Air Force currently operates three active-duty Predator squadrons based at Nellis Air Force Base and Indian Springs Auxiliary Field, both near Las Vegas, NV. The Air Force plans to set up new Predator squadrons in Texas and Arizona in 2006 and 2007 and in New York state in 2009. Under a “future total force” initiative, the Air Force plans to determine staffing and training requirements for its expanded Predator fleet.

Hughes 9450-C11 uses the smallest mobile antenna on market

2010-12-07T19:16:00.002-05:00

Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), the global leader in broadband satellite networks and services, today announced the availability of the Hughes 9450-C11 BGAN land mobile satellite terminal for operation over Inmarsat’s Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) satellite service. Hughes has the only Class 11 BGAN terminal, on the global market, with the smallest mobile BGAN antenna of its kind and built-in Wi-Fi.

The Hughes 9450-C11 provides high performance, mobile satellite connectivity for the most demanding environments. Budget-friendly and feature rich, the 9450-C11 is ideal for global relief work organizations (NGOs), government, first responders, public safety, mobile healthcare, and remote mobile fleet personnel in industries such as utility, oil and gas, forestry, cable, and telecommunications.

“The Hughes 9450-C11 sets a commanding new level of capabilities in the land mobile satellite market,” said Graham Avis, vice president and general manager of mobile products group at Hughes. “It’s truly a game changer, delivering high performance and more features such as integrated Wi-Fi, in a smaller and superior package, than the competition.”

Users can collaborate reliably and efficiently using video, voice, and data simultaneously. The terminal is IP-based and offers selectable, dedicated Quality of Service (QoS) levels. In addition to being the only mobile BGAN terminal with an integrated Wi-Fi Access Point, the Hughes 9450-C11 has two RJ-11 ports, one for voice and one for fax, plus four (PoE) power over Ethernet ports to connect multiple devices. The terminal also supports ISDN circuit-switched voice calls, 3.1 KHz audio and 64 kbps ISDN data.

S-70i Black Hawk helicopter completes test flight program

2010-12-07T13:44:00.003-05:00

The first S-70i Black Hawk helicopter from Sikorsky Aircraft in Stratford, Conn., has completed production flight testing and will begin development and flight testing of options that will be made available to international users. The aircraft has flown more than 50 hours in its production flight test program. It will undergo extensive flight testing in the coming months as options are integrated into the aircraft.

"The next phase of the program will expand the capability of the aircraft, transitioning it from a baseline configuration to a multi-faceted platform," says Debra A. Zampano, S-70i senior program manager, International Military Programs. "The aircraft has performed to all program requirements and has made a smooth transition from its production build in Poland through Sikorsky's rigorous flight test program in Florida. The next phase of development will produce a Black Hawk helicopter that the global marketplace has never seen before."

The S-70i Black Hawk helicopter incorporates the latest technology with advanced features such as a fully integrated digital cockpit with a dual digital automatic flight control system, and coupled flight director. It also features an active vibration control system that will smooth the overall ride of the aircraft. The dual GPS/INS system with digital map provides accurate and redundant navigation for tactical environments.

"The aircraft has undergone a detailed ground and flight test program involving a number of systems, including dual exportable radios, exportable transponder, emergency locator transmitter, embedded dual GPS/INS navigation, and electromagnetic compatibility testing," says Peter Ladyko, chief of test for the S-70i helicopter program. "We look forward to expanding the platform to incorporate additional options in the next phase."

The options that will be developed for the S-70i will enable customers to perform missions such as humanitarian relief, search and rescue, medical evacuation, command and control, and armed patrol. Deliveries to the launch customer of the S-70i helicopter program are slated to begin by mid-2011.

The S-70i helicopter utilizes a global supply chain and is the first Black Hawk helicopter ever to be assembled in Europe. The aircraft are being manufactured at PZL Mielec, Sikorsky Aircraft's company in Poland.

Sponsor Nugget

2010-12-07T12:41:00.005-05:00

As most of you know, I am a HUGE proponent of animals. As such, I can't not post some of these stories:

Nugget is an active, playful 6 year-old male yellow lab who served the U.S. military in Iraq as a contracted working dog. In Iraq, Nugget helped coalition forces by detecting terrorist’s explosives. But Nugget was forced to retire early when he was diagnosed with Epilepsy. Nugget is still in Iraq, confined in a dog run waiting for someone to care enough to give him a new home. Today, Nugget spends his days confined to a bare dog run with few friends to visit him. With your help, SPCA International can bring Nugget to the United States, find him a loving home and give him the retirement he deserves. Your sponsorship will help SPCA International save Nugget and other retired working dogs who have served coalition forces with true heroism.

To help, please click here.

High-tech war requires innovation from home

2010-12-07T11:41:00.006-05:00

By Amber Corrin

When engaged in asymmetric warfare, the soldiers on the ground need more than the latest technology -- they need technology that is collaboration-ready, and they need to get it quickly, according to one senior Defense Department official.

This is especially an issue in Afghanistan, because the U.S. force is part of a coalition of 44 nations fighting the insurgency. This effort requires supreme collaboration and the technologies to support it, said Air Force Lt. Gen. John Koziol, deputy under secretary of defense (intelligence) for joint and coalition warfighter support, and the director of the DOD intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) task force.

“That’s why we have the ISR task force. If we don’t have that, we will have stove pipes systems throughout the [area of responsibility], and we can’t have that,” said Koziol, speaking Nov. 3 at the GeoInt 2010 Symposium in New Orleans.

Beyond ISR technology itself, DOD needs tools for collecting, managing and sharing the data it gathers, Koziol said. With so many sensors deployed, the military is struggling to take the massive amounts of data being collected and turn it into actionable intelligence, he said.

To face the challenge, he’s helping usher in a wealth of new systems to help the coalitions in Afghanistan process, exploit and disseminate data to the theater.

“We have to integrate and synchronize,” Koziol said. “It’s all about the communications and infrastructure.”

The military is preparing to roll out advances in full-motion video, light detection and ranging (LIDAR) remote sensor systems, as well as wide-area surveillance that increases visibility into the theater and ground moving-target indicators that distinguish moving targets from the clutter around them.

“We’re upgrading and emerging platforms, and we’re improving architecture and tools,” Koziol said.

In another important development, the Air Force will deploy its long-awaited Gorgon Stare airborne surveillance system, which will fly over Afghanistan in MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles. Gorgon Stare’s scope and quality will be a significant improvement over the current “soda straw” views provided by electro-optical cameras, DOD officials said today at GeoInt.

Apache night vision sensor modernization contract

2010-12-06T18:41:00.008-05:00

The U.S. Army awarded Lockheed Martin a $65 million contract to continue modernization of the Apache helicopter's Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor (M-TADS/PNVS) system. The total contract value includes the $22 million base, plus options.

Under the Phase II, four-year, fixed-price contract, Lockheed Martin will finish modernizing the Apache's legacy Day Sensor Assembly (DSA) and associated electronics.

"The Modernized DSA replaces vintage 30-year-old hardware -- addressing obsolescence, reliability, and capability gaps," says U.S. Army Apache Sensors product manager Lt. Col. John Vannoy. "These improvements will make the Apache a more lethal and survivable aircraft on the battlefield well into the future."

M-DSA includes upgrades to the multi-mode laser rangefinder/designator, visible color sensor, laser spot tracker, inertial measurement unit, modernized day sensor structure assembly and a potential for future laser pointer marker compatibility. This modification resolves obsolescence issues and supports improvements in sustainability and maintainability, enabling two-level maintenance (compatible with M-TADS/PNVS Performance Based Logistics). M-DSA also increases reliability by enhancing M-TADS/PNVS mean time between failure rates.

"M-DSA will expand the M-TADS/PNVS' ability to fully accommodate future weapons, providing a tremendous capability to our Warfighters for many years to come," says Matt Hoffman, M-DSA program manager at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.

Fielded since 2005, the M-TADS/PNVS, also known as Arrowhead, provides Apache pilots advanced pilotage and targeting capability when conducting day, night and adverse-weather missions.

Demand for counter-IED technology expected to decline

2010-12-06T13:35:00.004-05:00

Global demand for aerospace and defense systems able to detect, map, and destroy improvised explosive devices (IEDs) is expected to decline over the next decade after hitting a peak of $7.7 billion in 2009, although the counter-IED market still will retain a high value because of the importance of dealing with roadside bombs and other kinds of IEDs, say analysts at market researcher Visiongain in London.

Demand for IEDs over the next decade will decline from the high levels of 2009 U.S. and allied withdrawal from Iraq and the imminent drawdown in Afghanistan, Visiongain analysts predict in the report, The Counter-IED Market 2010-2020: Systems and Technologies for Force Protection.

The U.S. has by far spent the most in counter-IED systems, and major Western-allied powers like the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia have followed suit in investing heavily in counter-IED systems, Visiongain analysts say. Countries like India, which faces its own terrorist groups who are using increasing numbers of IEDs, also are likely to become key markets in the future, analysts say.

IEDs are responsible for thousands of deaths of military personnel and civilians. The U.S. and its allies have responded to the IED threat by spending billions of dollars on vehicles, equipment, personnel and training for counter-IED and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) missions.

Visiongain's report analyzes the global market for mine-resistant vehicles, electronic countermeasures mainly in jammers, IED detection equipment, and unmanned systems designed for counter-IED, as well as examines corporate announcements and news accounts, policy documents, reports of relevant contracts and original expert views from industry.

Santa Clause is a Paratrooper! Elves gear up for Operation Toy Drop

2010-12-06T12:41:00.000-05:00

By Staff Sgt. Sharilyn Wells, USACAPOC(A) PAO

As the paratroopers of the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne) gear up for what will be the biggest airborne operation held by the U.S. Army, one thing remains first on their minds, it's for the kids.

"For me, Toy Drop means that for Christmas morning, a child who doesn't usually get any sort of presents will be able to open one and play with that toy all day long," said Hipenbecker. "That child wouldn't have gotten that toy if it wasn't for these caring paratroopers."

The annual Randy Oler Memorial Operation Toy Drop has become the largest combined airborne operation held by the U.S. Army Reserve's USACAPOC(A) with the help of Pope Air Force Base's 43rd and 440th Airlift Wings, the participation of Soldiers from Fort Bragg's XVIII Airborne Corps, 82nd Airborne Division and Special Operations Command. This year's event takes place December 10th and 11th at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and hopes to raise more than 6,000 toys for families in need.

Here's how it works. Paratroopers bring an unwrapped toy to donate in exchange for the opportunity to earn foreign jump wings from allied soldiers from around the world. This year's event will host allied jumpmasters from 10 different countries. Joining the returning allied jumpmaster favorites from Germany, Canada, Poland, Ireland, and Chile, are jumpmasters from Botswana, Thailand, Estonia, Israel, and Latvia.

Elves, including Hipenbecker, collect and sort the toys by age and gender, wrap the toys, and deliver them to wherever they are needed.

The event incorporates airborne training, foreign military jumpmasters and local charities into one event. Toys are distributed to social service organizations and children's homes throughout central and Eastern North Carolina as well as the Pediatrics section of Womack Army Medical Center, and military Families in need.

The first Operation Toy Drop in 1998, with the help of Marine pilots, was very small and collected around 200 toys, but in the years to follow the operation continued to grow, grossing up to about 35,000 toy donations since the beginning of Operation Toy Drop. Last year, the event drew more than 2,000 paratroopers, 2,900 toys, and 24 allied jumpmasters. Started by then Staff Sgt. Randy Oler, a jumpmaster for USACAPOC(A), the event has become a tradition for Fort Bragg's paratroopers. The operation was renamed in Oler's honor after his sudden death from a heart attack in 2004.

This year's event is promised to be even bigger, allowing more toys to be given to Families in need. USACAPOC(A) has reached out to the communities surrounding Fort Bragg and toy collection boxes have been placed in area businesses. In addition, the local hockey team, the FireAntz, will be collecting toys during their military appreciation games, Dec. 3 and 4.

"Families should come out and see the airborne operation, see what their paratrooper does, and join in on all the activities that will be available," explained Hipenbecker. "It's a great opportunity to get the community involved and join in on the holiday spirit."

For more information about Operation Toy Drop and how you can help or participate, visit www.optoydrop.net.

Army brigade creates leader development program in Iraq

2010-12-06T11:57:00.002-05:00

By Spc. Roland Hale, PAO eCAB, 1st Inf. Div.

CAMP TAJI, Iraq - An Army aviation brigade deployed to Iraq has created a seven-day program designed to develop the full spectrum of leadership skills for future noncommissioned officers.

The program, known as the Demon Academy, was created by the Enhanced Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. The first class of students began at the academy on Nov. 14, and several more classes are scheduled to be held before the brigade leaves Iraq this spring.

Soldiers attending the academy are taught and mentored in both combat and noncombat aspects of military leadership. Classes include physical fitness, communication skills, resiliency training, risk management, weapons training, leadership philosophies, map reading, and military history.

The academy is the first step many of these soldiers will take in the NCO Education System (NCOES), a series of schools implemented to develop NCOs' leadership skills throughout their careers. Classes at the Demon Academy are specifically tailored to prepare junior leaders for the Warrior Leader Course, the first official school in the NCOES.

"Our NCO corps is the best in the world of any military," said Master Sgt. Harvey Player, the NCO in charge of the academy. "There has to be an education system so that NCOs can continue to lead and improve."

Most of the students hold the rank of specialist and are preparing for promotion to the rank of sergeant, the first rank of the NCO corps. Some of the students, however, already have experience as leaders.

"This course is a good way to re-energize and refocus," said Sgt. Seth Poulin, a student at the academy. "It gives us a chance to get back on track with the whole leader concept of not just leading in combat, but taking care of your subordinates and their families, as well."

Days start early at the academy for Poulin and the other students. The first block of training begins before sunrise with an hour of physical training, followed by several blocks of classroom and hands-on instruction.

Staff Sgt. Christopher Gilliland, an instructor and small group leader at the academy, said that the program is essential in preparing junior leaders for promotion.

"A day in this course is absolutely great," said Gilliland. "This is the first step in their NCO career, and something like this can set the tone for the rest of their career."

The classes changed the meaning of military leadership for Spc. Steven Switzer, who before attending the academy had planned to leave the enlisted ranks to become a commissioned officer.

"I was thinking about becoming an officer, but I'm not sure about that after being in this course and seeing the NCO side," said Switzer. "Even if I do become an officer, I want to get the experience as an NCO first; I want to have the direct impact on soldiers that an NCO can have."

"Coming up through the ranks you always remember that one NCO who you want to strive to be like," said Switzer. "This course teaches you how to be that NCO."

Lockheed to tailor SMSS vehicle for UK forces

2010-12-06T09:15:00.003-05:00

By Stephen Harris

Lockheed Martin is looking to adapt a robotic vehicle that carries combat troops’ equipment for use by UK forces.

The autonomous Squad Mission Support System (SMSS) vehicle can carry up to 545kg – the equivalent of kit for seven soldiers – and is due to be trialled by the US Army in Afghanistan in the first or second quarter of 2011.

The US-owned defence and security firm is now hoping to win a UK government competition by developing the unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) to meet the British Army’s security and safety needs at its facility in Ampthill, Bedfordshire.

Dr Paul Townsend, research and technology lead for LMUK, said: ’Because SMSS is autonomous, it can be placed into a hide prior to an incursion, given some way points and be called forward without operator intervention to resupply the team.

‘Casualty evacuation is a futuristic concept at the moment but SMSS can travel faster than two men with a stretcher, so if it carried a casualty you wouldn’t have two guys taken out of battle.’

The six-wheeled open-top UGV is powered by a diesel engine and has a range of around 100 miles. Lockheed Martin is also planning to develop hybrid and full electric versions of the SMSS.

It navigates using GPS, a video camera and the optical remote sensing system LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) and, when autonomy isn’t required, a teleoperator can control up to four vehicles using a handheld unit.

Townsend said that adaptations were needed because the US and UK had different philosophies regarding autonomous vehicles.

‘Safety has to be built into such a platform at a very fundamental level and we are looking to understand – we’ve got some internal research and development – the UK needs,’ he said.

This article was amended on 11/11/2010. Lockheed Martin intiailly told The Engineer the SMSS was currently being trialled in Afghanistan. However, a spokesperson later said this was incorrect and the trials were not due to start until 2011.

TCS to provide satellite communications for Military Sealift Command

2010-12-05T18:51:00.001-05:00

Officials of U.S. Military Sealift Command (MSC) in Washington needed shipboard satellite communications capability to replace the command's Afloat Bandwidth Efficient Satellite Transport (BEST) commercial satellite communications infrastructure. They found their solution from TeleCommunication Systems Inc. (TSI) in Annapolis, Md.

TeleCommunication Systems maritime communications experts will provide the Military Sealift Command’s Next Generation Wideband commercial satellite communications infrastructure and service under terms of a potential $315 million contract awarded 3 Nov. from the U.S. Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization at Scott Air Force Base, Ill.

The BEST system has provided MSC with robust secure and non-secure service connectivity for voice, data, and imagery for classified and unclassified missions. More than 70 Military Sealift Command vessels have their voice and data networks connected to the MSC Ashore Enterprise via BEST.

MSC has implemented the BEST solution as an overlay to its existing legacy International Maritime Satellite (Inmarsat) infrastructure. Nevertheless, Navy officials are replacing BEST because its infrastructure is no longer able to satisfy expanding MSC mission requirements; the current BEST satellite communications terminals are reaching end-of-life; and the supporting Inmarsat satellite constellation is nearing end-of-life.

TeleCommunication Systems specializes in reliable and secure mobile communication technology in E9-1-1, text messaging, commercial location, and deployable wireless communications. TCS is involved in new mobile cloud computing services providing wireless applications for navigation, hyper-local search, asset tracking, social applications and telematics.

iRobot gets Seaglider contracts from the Navy

2010-12-05T18:28:00.006-05:00

Bedford, Mass - iRobot Corp. said it has received two contracts from the Naval Oceanographic Office at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

The Seaglider is a deep-diving Unmanned Underwater Vehicle that has the capacity to perform missions that last many months and covering thousands of miles. The Seaglider was recently used in the Gulf of Mexico to collect data for scientists researching the effects of the catastrophic oil spill from earlier this year, noted a press release from iRobot, which makes a range of robot products, from robots that scout battlefields to robots that perform household chores such as vacuuming a living room.

"The first contract calls for the delivery of iRobot Seaglider Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs), for a total value of up to $920,000, including options," iRobot said. "The company also received a contract valued at up to approximately $900,000, including options over three years, to refurbish, upgrade and support NAVOCEANO's (Naval Oceanographic Office's) existing fleet of Seaglider systems."

Military increasing investment in algae fuels

2010-12-05T17:19:00.000-05:00

Associate Press

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (AP) — The forest green algae bubbling in a stainless steel fermenting tank in a suburban warehouse may look like primordial pond scum, but it is a promising new source of domestically produced fuels being tested on the nation's jets and warships.

In a laboratory just a few steps away from the warehouse, white-coated scientists for a company called Solazyme are changing the genetic makeup of algae to construct a new generation of fuels.

These "bioengineered" algae are placed into tanks, where they get fat on sugar beets, switch grass or a host of other plants. The sun's energy, which is stored in the plants, is transformed by the hungry algae into oil, which can be refined into jet fuel, bio-diesel, cooking oil or even cosmetics.

While it may sound far-fetched, the U.S. Navy in September ordered more than 150,000 gallons of ship and jet fuel from Solazyme and the company received a $21.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy last year to build a new refinery in Riverside, Penn., to help push production to commercial levels.

"Most of the planet is producing some kind of plant matter, even in the oceans," said Jonathan Wolfson, the CEO and co-founder of Solazyme. "(Our) unique microbial conversion technology process allows algae to produce oil in standard industrial fermentation facilities quickly, efficiently and at commercial scale."

The U.S. military hopes to run 50 percent of its fleet on a mixture of renewable fuels and nuclear power by 2020. As part of this drive, the Department of Defense has been investing in companies like Solazyme to help jump-start the young industry.

The military as a whole uses more than 90 percent of the energy consumed by the federal government, officials said. The federal government uses about 2 percent of the energy consumed by the U.S.

The U.S. Navy has already tested Solazyme's algae fuels on part of its fleet, with promising results, and plans to have its entire non-nuclear fleet tested by the end of 2012.

Focusing on making fuels for the military was an easy choice for Solazyme — the biofuels market for passenger cars has taken a backseat to electric vehicles as the focus of the future consumer market.

However, billions of dollars of military aircraft and ships will not be replaced anytime soon, so finding a cleaner, domestically produced source of fuel compatible with the current generation of equipment is the best way to decrease reliance on foreign sources of oil.

"These alternative fuels provide some strategic advantages," said Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Navy for Energy Tom Hicks.

"We purchase fuels today from some parts of the world that are not very friendly to the U.S. Having sources to replace those unfriendly fuel barrels with domestically grown fuel barrels is (important)."

Fuels made from algae oil burn cleaner than fossil fuels and require no drilling to acquire, which means fewer greenhouse gas emissions from the beginning to the end of the fuel's life cycle. Wolfson said Solazyme's diesel fuels can reduces greenhouse gas emissions by more than 85 percent versus petroleum diesel, when you take into account the drilling, shipping and refining required in traditional fuel.

Currently, only about 1 percent of the fuels used by the Navy would be considered renewable by most standards. Sixteen percent of the Navy's energy and fuel needs are achieved through nuclear power, with the rest from traditional sources.

For the Navy to achieve its 50 percent goals alone, production of algae and other renewable fuels will have to increase exponentially. Hicks said the Navy will need 8 million barrels of renewable fuels in 2020 to achieve its goals.

The U.S. government's interest in algae fuels is nothing new. The first spike in attention to algae's potential for making oil spiked in the 1970s as a response to the energy crisis.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has been researching algae oils and fuels since the 1980s, but in the 1990s the effort was curtailed as petroleum prices dropped and algae fuels were considered too costly to compete.

However, this decade's rise in petroleum prices and an increased interest in moving the nation away from foreign sources of oil has brought algae back.

Initial efforts at converting algae to oil required large ponds, where algae were exposed to sunlight to create oil. By replacing sunlight with plants, which have already processed the sun's energy through photosynthesis, Solazyme does not need large ponds. The algae and plants put together in a vat and placed in a dark room will create oil faster and cheaper than ponds, Wolfson said.

Solazyme's use of plants to create its algae based fuels have raised some concerns from environmental groups. The sustainability of other biofuels like ethanol or bio-diesel encountered the same problem because each rely on a specific crop, such as corn or soy beans, which can take a lot of energy to grow.

"Solazyme still faces all of the same landscape challenges that traditional biofuels face," said Nathanael Greene, director of renewable energy policy at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

"Today they are using sugar cane or beets, so they need the same plant matter that today's biofuels do."

CEO Wolfson said the company's research has shown that Solazyme's algae don't rely on a specific crop to make oil, which means a host of different plants can be used, providing a flexibility that other biofuel types do not.

"We've demonstrated that the process works, and you end up with exactly the same oil off of all of these different (plants)," Wolfson said.

Century Inc produces first ever light weight MMC drum for Military

2010-12-04T21:21:00.003-05:00

Century, Inc., a Veteran Owned – HUBZone Certified – Small Business, announced today that one of their divisions, Century / 3 Plus, LLC., successfully cast the first ever light-weight, Aluminum Metal Matrix Composite (MMC) Brake Drum for a Military Vehicle - the FMTV.

Weight reduction and survivability are top priorities of the Department of Defense. Century, Inc. has been working in conjunction with the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) to find ways to light-weight vehicle components. Century’s drum is expected to save the FMTV up to 300 lbs of un-sprung weight, a weight savings almost unheard of for one component. The TARDEC/Century Drum weighs 45% less than its cast iron equivalent and lasts significantly longer. The lighter weight and longer life cycle equate to increased mobility, fuel savings, vehicle efficiencies, and lower maintenance costs for the vehicle.

“This is an historic day and a fine example on how business and the government can work together to answer the needs of our men and women serving in the U.S. Military. As a Veteran Owned – Small Business, it’s an honor to have the opportunity to demonstrate our technology and contribute to the mobility and the survivability of our Soldiers and their vehicles”, said Jim McManus, New Business Development Manager, Century / 3 Plus, LLC.

Century’s Light-Weighting™ Technology enables the transition of properties found in cast iron and heavy steel to the use of light-weight alloys such as aluminum or magnesium for select components through the use of Metal Matrix Composites. Century’s technology allows for the consistent mass production of the ceramic materials used in MMC’s. TARDEC is testing the light-weight drums which should be completed by the end of the year.

Navy Awards Raytheon Contract for Helicopter Protection System

2010-12-04T17:46:00.005-05:00

The Department of the Navy's Naval Air Systems Command has awarded Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) a $14.8 million contract to produce dual pod countermeasures dispensers for U.S. Marine Corps CH-53 heavy-lift helicopters. Raytheon Technical Services Company LLC (RTSC) will manufacture the units at its Indianapolis operation.

Aircrews will use the pods to dispense chaff and flares to counter incoming missiles. The dual pods will replace current single-pod dispenser systems on the aircraft, enhancing the protection provided to crews and passengers.

"The CH-53 dual pod system will improve survivability of the aircraft in the combat zone," said Wayne Iurillo, RTSC vice president of customized engineering and depot support. "But most important, it will save lives of our warfighters."

ATK Receives Contract for LUU Flares

2010-12-04T15:28:00.002-05:00

ATK was awarded a $71 million contract by the Department of Defense to provide LUU-2D/B and LUU-19B/B illuminating flares supporting the military efforts of the United States and its allies.

The contract includes production and delivery of the flares for three years, with the first deliveries in 2011. The primary end user will be the U.S. Air Force. The LUU flares are aircraft-deployed and provide illumination for battlefield operations, search and rescue, ground targeting, and other missions. The LUU-2D/B provides visible light illumination, while the LUU-19B/B provides infrared energy.

"These flares are important tools in our military's defense," said Mark Messick, Vice President and General Manager Advanced Systems, ATK Aerospace Systems Group. "ATK continually updates the illuminating flares we produce to make them safer, more effective, and more reliable. Supporting our warfighters gives us a great sense of national pride."

ATK is a premier aerospace and defense company with operations in 24 states, Puerto Rico and internationally, and revenues of approximately $4.8 billion.

SureFire Wins USSOCOM Contract for HellFighter WeaponLight

2010-12-04T12:40:00.004-05:00

SureFire, LLC, manufacturer of high-end illumination tools and tactical products, has been awarded a major military contract to produce the VBL-H (visible bright light heavy) fire control device for the crew-served weapon systems used by U.S. Special Operations Forces. The $16.6 million contract, for an indefinite quantity of SureFire HellFighter heavy-gun WeaponLights, was awarded by officials of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, in Crane, Indiana.

The primary objective of the VBL-H program, a subsystem of the Miniature Day/Night Sight - Crew Served Weapons project of the U.S. Special Operations Command Weapon Accessories program, is to provide increased optical augmentation to crew-served operators. This increased optical augmentation is expected to help crews with target detection, recognition, and identification in low-light/observation conditions on the battlefield.

SureFire’s HellFighter WeaponLight—designed specifically for the M2HB .50 caliber machine gun, M134 Mini-Gun, and M240—generates 3,000 lumens of focused, HID (high intensity discharge) light capable of reaching hundreds of yards into the darkness. HellFighter has been used in combat operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan and has proven to be an effective target illuminator and searchlight, as well as a non-lethal escalation-of-force preventer. In addition to mounting to the .50 caliber M2HB, M134 Mini-Gun, and M240-variant machine guns, HellFighter can also be hand carried as a searchlight or mounted to a vehicle or watercraft.

Work on this contract will be performed by SureFire at their Southern California facilities and is expected to be completed by September of 2015. For more information on the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, visit www.navsea.navy.mil/nswc/crane/default.aspx. To learn more about the SureFire HellFighter, go to www.surefire.com/heavygunweaponlight.

For more information on the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, visit www.navsea.navy.mil/nswc/crane/default.aspx. To learn more about SureFire or their V-Series LED WeaponLights, visit www.surefire.com.

Rugged computers and software to Army by GDC4 Systems

2010-12-03T17:10:00.005-05:00

The U.S. Army is asking General Dynamics C4 Systems in Taunton, Mass. to provide rugged computer servers, handheld computers, network hardware, data storage, printers, displays, software applications, and other tactical computer gear under terms of a $187 million contract announced Friday.

The contract is part of the $2.7 billion (CHS-3) program to supply U.S. military force with command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) hardware and software for constructing network-centric architectures across the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and other federal agencies.

Under the Army/General Dynamics C4 Systems contract, General Dynamics provides rugged and commercial computer and networking equipment to support battlefield and benign environments, as well as support all products by a global logistics infrastructure. Awarding the contract are officials of the Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) Contracting Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

The CHS-3 program provides state-of-the-art, qualified, interoperable, compatible, deployable, and survivable hardware and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software for command, control, and communications at all echelons of command for the Army and other DOD services, including technology insertion to refresh the network-centric architectural building blocks continuously, add new technology, and prevent hardware obsolescence.

The idea is to provide new computer products that comply with technology advances such as IPv6 can be added to other CHS-3 offerings. Three standardized environmental categories (V1, V2, and V3) define hardware ruggedization and qualification test certification for the customers.

Army issues revised RFP for ground combat vehicle

2010-12-03T15:49:00.002-05:00

By Katherine McIntire Peters

The Army on Tuesday asked industry to submit proposals for developing a new infantry fighting vehicle that could be used across the full spectrum of battlefield operations, from counterinsurgency to ground combat.

The request for proposals follows the August cancellation of a similar solicitation after Defense Department acquisition officials questioned the service's requirements and strategy for buying a new ground combat vehicle. Army leaders have struggled with the best way to fill the service's need for tactical vehicles after Defense Secretary Robert Gates scuttled that portion of the wide-ranging Future Combat Systems program last year.

"The Army and [Defense acquisition officials] have worked through this and are firmly committed to getting this kicked off," Col. Andrew DiMarco, ground combat vehicle project manager, said in a conference call with reporters.

Michael Smith, the official in charge of developing concepts and requirements for the vehicle, said the Army is looking for a vehicle that can be adapted "on the fly" to changing battlefield requirements and threats.

The infantry fighting vehicle must be able to carry nine soldiers and their gear, and it must have a modular armor system that can be tailored to specific situations, according to Smith.

The technical development phase will have full and open competition, DiMarco said, adding the Army could select up to three contractors for the initial award. To control costs, the Army has set a spending ceiling of $450 million for the development phase. Per unit manufacturing costs are to be between $9 million and $10.5 million with a life-cycle cost target of $200 per operating hour.

Proposals are due Jan. 21, 2011, and the Army expects to announce awards in April, said DiMarco.

The Army eventually plans to buy about 1,800 vehicles, he said.

Persistent surveillance capability for small UAVs

2010-12-03T13:45:00.007-05:00

U.S. Navy researchers are asking persistent surveillance experts at Logos Technologies Inc. in Arlington, Va., to build prototype persistent surveillance systems for small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for field evaluation.

Officials of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in Arlington, Va., awarded Logos Technologies a $9.5 million contract this week to develop and produce four prototype Lightweight Expeditionary Airborne Persistent Surveillance System (LEAPS) 59-megapixel persistent surveillance systems for field testing.

Logos also is working with the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, at Lakehurst Naval Air Station, N.J., to develop aerostat-based persistent surveillance to provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability that is quick to deploy, easy to relocate, and less expensive than orbiting satellites.

LEAPS is a lightweight expeditionary airborne persistent imagery surveillance system that Logos developed under ONR supervision that will enable Navy and Marine Corps. surveillance experts to observe, record, and analyze activity over city-sized areas. Logos demonstrated the LEAPS system last spring during tests in Swansboro, N.C.

Current LEAPS technology weighs less than 50 pounds, and can be flown on a variety of manned aircraft, says Logos President Greg Poe. "By reducing weight to less than 50 pounds, we are able to conduct persistent surveillance from many smaller UAVs that support our military forces.," Poe said after last spring's tests, during which the system collected more than 20 hours of data over five sites, where it recorded exercise activities in rural and densely populated areas.

Lockheed Martin to build 31 F-35 joint strike fighter aircraft

2010-12-03T13:33:00.004-05:00

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Fort Worth, Texas, will build 31 F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter (JSF) combat jets under terms of a $3.5 billion contract modification from the U.S. Navy, announced late Friday. Lockheed Martin will build 10 conventional take-off and landing JSF for the U.S. Air Force; 16 short take-off vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft for the U.S. Marine Corps; one STOVL aircraft for the United Kingdom Royal Navy; and four carrier variant aircraft for the U.S. Navy.

The contract modification, which converts Lockheed Martin's F-35 contract type from a cost-plus-incentive-fee to a fixed-price-incentive (firm target), also will pay for ancillary mission equipment, flight test instrumentation, and manufacturing support equipment.

The contract modification combines purchases for the Air Force ($1.1 billion -- 31.6 percent); the Marine Corps ($1.7 billion -- 48.4 percent); the Navy ($582.1 million -- 16.6 percent); and the Royal Navy ($117.6 million -- 3.4 percent). Lockheed Martin will build the 31 joint strike fighter aircraft in Fort Worth, Texas, and should be finished by March 2013.

The F-35 program has about 900 suppliers in 45 states, and directly and indirectly employs more than 127,000 people, Lockheed Martin officials say. F-35 partner countries, which have invested more than $4 billion in the project, are the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark, and Norway.

The F-35 is a supersonic, multi-role, 5th generation stealth fighter. Three F-35 variants are in production, each derived from a common design, developed together and using the same sustainment infrastructure worldwide. Lockheed Martin is developing the F-35 with its principal industrial partners, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems.

Awarding the contract modification were officials of the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md. For more information contact Lockheed Martin Aeronautics online at www.lockheedmartin.com/aeronautics, or Naval Air Systems Command at www.navair.navy.mil.

Bradley Vehicle Extension

2010-12-03T11:12:00.006-05:00

BAE Systems will extend the lives of 552 Bradley Fighting Vehicles by replacing old and damaged components under a $91 million contract modification from the U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command.

"Bradley Combat Systems continues to serve at the forefront of U.S Army operations around the world," says Joe McCarthy, vice president of the Heavy Brigade Combat Team at BAE Systems. "The readiness and sustainment support we provide to and for our customers through the vehicle reset process keeps this highly survivable combat system in the field helping soldiers successfully complete their missions."

The reset process includes replacing obsolete equipment with updated components, restoring the vehicle to pre-combat condition. In addition, the reset of the Bradley vehicles will incorporate a variety of survivability enhancements.

BAE Systems has refurbished more than 3,390 vehicles since 2007 through robust readiness and sustainment activities. The contract modification is in addition to another contract the company received in March 2010 for $145 million, along with earlier funding of $242.5 million. Work will be performed by the company's existing workforce at its facilities in Fayette and York, Pa., as well as the Red River Army Depot in Texarkana, Texas. Vehicle deliveries began in August 2010 and are anticipated to end in October 2011.

Bradley Combat Systems continue to provide survivability, mobility, and lethality to U.S. soldiers in close-combat urban situations as well as in open-combat. The Bradley fulfills five critical mission roles -- infantry fighting vehicle, cavalry fighting vehicle, fire support vehicle, command vehicles, and engineer squad vehicle -- for the Army's Heavy Brigade Combat Teams.

XTAR to deliver X-band capacity to manpack terminals

2010-12-02T18:46:00.005-05:00

XTAR LLC, a U.S.-based commercial provider of satellite services in the X-band frequency, won a bandwidth contract from Intelsat General Corp. XTAR will provide Intelsat General with 16MHz of high-power, X-band services from its XTAR-LANT satellite stationed over the Atlantic Ocean. The capacity will be employed in support of military, mobile, manpack terminals prior to deployment into the field.

The contract expands the relationship between the two companies that began with a master sales agreement in May. According to Kay Sears, president of Intelsat General, “This agreement with XTAR will enable both companies to satisfy the customer’s unique requirements for flexible and advanced X-band satellite capacity.”

Philip Harlow, XTAR president and COO, hailed the contract award as a significant development in his company’s relationship with major satellite operator Intelsat General: “XTAR is committed to the success of all its customers by providing a superior experience which exceeds the unique mission requirements of governments worldwide. We are dedicated to providing highly secure, reliable services supported by consultative relationships and operational independence for our partners and clients.”

XTAR-LANT, located at 30 degrees W, entered service in April 2006, carrying eight 100W wideband X-band transponders in both right- and left-hand circular polarization. The flexible payload makes it well suited for X-band services in North America for homeland security applications and enables one-hop connectivity to Europe and the Middle East. The satellite covers a large geographic area with two global beams and three spot beams that can be relocated within the satellite’s coverage area.

“We continue to see demand for X-band services from U.S. and Allied governments to help fulfill their constantly growing need for high-capacity bandwidth to support a wide range of military applications, including communications on the move and high-capacity video among others,” Harlow states. “As governments keep looking to commercial providers for satellite bandwidth, they are increasingly turning to X-band providers as other frequency bands become more limited in availability. The X-band frequency is designated uniquely for government use and is therefore readily available to government customers without competition from commercial users, with no need to change user equipment from that normally used for WGS satellite operation.”

Army moves to equip troops with handheld technologies

2010-12-02T17:03:00.007-05:00

By Henry Kenyon

As U.S. forces become increasingly network-centric, one of the most difficult challenges has been to connect individual soldiers to battlefield communications and sensor networks. In a series of announcements last week, the Army launched initiatives to provide soldiers with lightweight handheld electronics. However, this only represents the latest stage in a decades-long process to link individual troops to networks.

The effort began more than 20 years ago with Land Warrior, which, after decades of development, finally fielded equipment in battle in Iraq in 2007. Solider feedback led to further work to cut the system’s weight from 16 pounds to eight pounds and to simplify some of the software and command and control applications with an emphasis on hands-free controls, reported Wired Magazine’s Danger Room blog.

The latest iteration of this system is Nett Warrior, originally known as the Ground Soldier System. Nett Warrior resembles its predecessors, consisting of a wearable computer, navigation system, control unit, radio, microphone, headphones and an eyepiece that provides the wearer with the illusion that they are viewing a 17-inch monitor.

Unlike Land Warrior or the GSS, which were intended to equip every soldier in a squad, Nett Warrior is only for squad or section leaders. The system is designed to interoperate with other equipment in the development pipeline, such as the Joint Tactical Radio System’s Rifleman Radio that will link every individual soldier into the network.

Prototype Nett Warrior equipment is undergoing operational exercises at Fort Riley, Kan. The Army has awarded contracts to three firms: General Dynamics, Raytheon and Rockwell Collins. All three companies were also involved in the development of Land Warrior.

National Defense Magazine reports that the Army is scheduled to make a final contract decision in March or April 2011 to determine which contractor or combination of contractors will produce the final version of Nett Warrior. If the program rolls out according to plan, the Army will begin fielding the gear within two years with the goal of issuing up to 20,000 systems to 30 infantry brigade combat teams by 2016.

But while the Army continues to develop lightweight battlefield electronics for its troops, some of its leaders are growing impatient with the slow pace of progress. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, Army vice chief of staff, has championed issuing variants of commercially available smart handheld devices such as iPhones to every soldier. The service is already moving forward with tactical field tests of smart phones at Fort Bliss, Texas and the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

In an interview with NextGov, Chiarelli said that the ease and flexibility of handheld devices such as smart phones and tablet computers make them essential tools for all soldiers. Because it is easy to write applications for these devices, recently demonstrated in the recent Apps for the Army project, developers and sometimes even the combat troops themselves can quickly create a variety of applications for these devices. According to Chiarelli, this programming flexibility, combined with the economies of scale that an Army-wide procurement would have would provide troops with valuable new capabilities to do their jobs more efficiently or to conduct business such as communicating with medical or mental health personnel.

Other parts of the Defense Department are already taking steps to provide warfighters with smart handheld devices. U.S. Special Operations Command has issued a request for proposals for technologies to keep Special Forces troops connected. Known as the Tactical Situational Awareness program, it seeks to develop a suite of software applications to provide reliable and standardized peer to peer data networking between handheld devices over mobile ad hoc wireless networks without centralized servers.

SOCOM plans to use commercial equipment, specifically smart phones using the Android operating system. Potential vendors must be able to provide mapping functions, chat applications, multicast file transfer, multitouch whiteboarding, and the ability to display H.264/MGPEG 4 video streams individually and simultaneously. The deadline for TactSA submission is December 15.

Operation Gratitude to Hit Unprecedented Milestone December 11

2010-12-02T15:29:00.000-05:00

By Carolyn Blashek

Operation Gratitude, the non-profit, volunteer-based organization that sends care packages to troops deployed in harm's way, will have cause for celebration as the 600,000th package rolls off the assembly line on Saturday, December 11, 2010.

Director of Operations Charlie Othold expects the milestone 600,000th package to hit the assembly line around 11:15 a.m., to the cheers of up to 1,000 volunteers, Military members, legislators, and celebrities.

In addition to standard items and personal letters provided by more than 250 Corporate Sponsors and Friends and tens of thousands of individual donors across the country, "The 600,000th Care Package will include a classically American surprise generously donated by one of our Corporate Partners," exclaimed Carolyn Blashek, who started the organization in 2003. A special delivery of the 600,000th Package is being arranged. Five previous Operation Gratitude milestone packages contained the keys to new vehicles.

The five winners of the online Halloween "Guess the Candy Weight 2010 Contest," will also be announced and awarded prizes. The Contest remains open to enter through December 5.

Military and political dignitaries, along with representatives from many of the organization's Corporate Sponsors, will join the Operation Gratitude volunteers to assemble thousands of troop gifts in addition to the 600,000th Care Package. Delicious product samples and a hearty lunch will be provided by Corporate and local business donors.

Media are invited to attend the Milestone Celebration and the Lunch following the ceremony.

WHAT: Operation Gratitude Volunteers assemble the 600,000th Care Package

WHEN: Saturday, December 11, 2010
            Care Package Assembly starts at 9 a.m.
            The 600,000th Package Assembly and Celebration will occur: 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

WHERE:   California National Guard Armory
               17330 Victory Boulevard
               Van Nuys, CA 91406
               Corner of Victory and Louise; parking available on adjacent lot

Volunteers (ages 12 years and older) are welcome to assist in the on-site care package activities.

Financial donations are still needed to help pay the assembly and postage expenses of $15 per package. Every tax deductible donation of $15 sends another care package, personally addressed to an American hero in harm's way, and filled with 50+ assorted snack, entertainment and personal care items valued at $100 or more.

Online donations can be made here: Donate

Donations by check can be made payable and mailed to:
Operation Gratitude
16444 Refugio Road
Encino, CA 91436

About Operation Gratitude

Operation Gratitude annually sends 100,000+ care packages filled with snacks, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation addressed to individually named U.S. Service Members deployed in harm's way. The organization's mission is to lift morale, bring a smile to a service member's face and express to our Armed Forces the appreciation and support of the American people. Each package contains donated product valued at ~$125 and costs the organization $15 to assemble and ship. For safety and security, assembling of packages occurs at the Army National Guard armory in Van Nuys, California. Since its inception in 2003, Operation Gratitude volunteers have shipped more than 595,000 packages to American Military deployed overseas. The 600,000th package will be assembled and shipped on December 11, 2010.

Learn more about Operation Gratitude by visiting:

Web:          http://www.OperationGratitude.com
Twitter:     http://www.twitter.com/OpGratitude
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/OperationGratitude
Blog:          http://OpGrat.wordpress.com
YouTube:   http://www.youtube..com/OpGrat

Boeing Phantom Ray UAV completes low-speed taxi tests

2010-12-02T15:27:00.002-05:00

The Boeing Phantom Ray unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) completed low-speed taxi tests on Nov. 18 at Lambert International Airport in St. Louis. Phantom Ray is designed to support potential missions that may include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; suppression of enemy air defenses; electronic attack; strike; and autonomous aerial refueling.

"Phantom Ray did exactly what it was supposed to do," says Craig Brown, Phantom Ray program manager for Boeing. "It communicated with the ground control station, received its orders and made its way down the runway multiple times, allowing us to assess its performance and monitor the advanced systems on board.

The tests were the first for the Phantom Ray UAV following its rollout ceremony in May. Boeing now will prepare Phantom Ray to travel to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on top of one of NASA's modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. At Edwards, Phantom Ray will undergo high-speed taxi tests before making its first flight. The flight-test program will last approximately six months.

Boeing's portfolio of UAV systems includes the A160T Hummingbird, Integrator, ScanEagle, SolarEagle, Phantom Eye, and Phantom Ray.

USV will be able to track enemy submarines

2010-12-02T01:07:00.003-05:00

Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) experts at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington want to develop an unmanned surface vessel able to track quiet enemy diesel-electric submarines worldwide in nearly all environmental conditions. They are finding their solution from QinetiQ North America Technology Solutions Group in Waltham, Mass.

DARPA awarded QinetiQ a $2 million contract late last week for the first phase of the Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) program to develop a first-of-its-kind unmanned naval vessel for theater or global independent deployment that is optimized to provide continuous overt trail of threat submarines.

This unmanned ASW surface vessel will operate under a sparse remote supervisory command and control model, with a shore based supervisor providing high level mission objectives and monitoring autonomous performance through an intermittent beyond line of sight communications link.

The ACTUV will be able to navigate safely at sea according to maritime law, as well as to international regulations for avoiding collisions at sea. Not only will the vessel be able to navigate by itself around the world in all kinds of ocean conditions, but it also will be able to employ its sensor suite autonomously and carry out appropriate tactics based on target behavior environmental conditions.

In particular, the ACTUV system will be able to operate on long deployments with no underway human maintenance or repair, unlike current unmanned surface vessels, which are launched and recovered from manned ships, tele-operated from manned ships, and are limited to direct support of manned ship missions.

The program is architected to achieve three primary objectives, DARPA officials say: design, build, and demonstrate an X-ship on which no person steps aboard at any time during operations; show the technical viability of an independently deploying unmanned naval vessel under sparse remote supervisory control; and combine the unmanned surface vessel with a suite of sensors capable of tracking quiet modern diesel electric submarines.

This is the first part of a four-phase program. Phase 2 will involve integrated hardware-in-the-loop testing, phase 3 will fund construction of an integrated prototype vessel and initial sea trials, and phase 4 will involve mission-oriented sea trials.