Defense Navigation Capabilities: DoD is developing PNT technologies to complement GPS. (GAO) “DOD’s alternative PNT science and technology portfolio explores two approaches: improved sensors to provide relative PNT information, and external sources to provide absolute positioning and navigation. Relative PNT technologies include inertial sensors and clocks to allow a platform to track its position and keep track of time without an external signal like GPS… Absolute PNT technologies allow a platform to use external sources [such as] celestial and magnetic navigation as well as the use of very low radiofrequencies or low Earth orbit satellites to transmit information… Officials from across DOD and experts told GAO that alternative PNT solutions are not prioritized within DOD.”
Bernie Sanders blasts defense contractors over soaring costs, vows tougher oversight. (Washington Post) ““We have a very powerful military industrial complex, and I don’t think they get the scrutiny that they deserve” Sanders said… He added that the chief executives of the major defense contractors earn close to 100 times more than the secretary of defense “despite the fact that in the case of Lockheed Martin and others, the lion’s share of their revenue comes from the federal government.” “In many ways, something like Lockheed Martin really is a federal agency,” he said.”
Marine Commandant finding a way to modernize with flat budgets. (Breaking Defense) ““We’ve shrunk the size of our headquarters by 15%, we’ve cut legacy programs with the support of Congress”… To keep up the pace of a modernization effort that includes things like mounting Naval Strike Missiles on the back of JLTVs in order to hit ships from land, and buying new generations of drones, Berger has divested the Corps of Abrams tanks and will shed 12,000 Marines, along with towed artillery, aircraft and helicopters. He has also pledged to reduce the number of F-35s in squadrons while questioning the role the aircraft will play in his plans going forward.”
AFCENT can now generate air tasking orders in the cloud. (Air Force Magazine) “For example, by being able to access Slapshot and Jigsaw, KRADOS can link the range and armament of F-15s with the availability of KC-135s to quickly plan operations and build the ATO from anywhere with less people… “We took some risk in AFCENT because it’s not the system of record yet, not programmed as a system of record,” he said. “We’re taking a little risk or a little trial and error to get there, but it’s really effective and it’s working.””
Aerospace industrial base can’t handle the future: Mitchell Institute. (Breaking Defense) ““To field advanced capabilities at the speed that our warfighters need, the defense industry needs to expand and business models must shift away from sustaining the past toward developing the future”… It also recommends that the Air Force “resist future participation in any joint aircraft procurement or development programs.””
Oversight, Delegation, and Assuming Responsibility. (AiDA Blog) “When everyone is in charge, no one is. When you must go to many oversight boards that drive towards consensus over bold decisions, “one no can stop the show.”… Now as a PEO, knowing you were just one of a series of layers of reviews, you would review the strategy to ensure sufficient quality, given the extensive visibility, but not spend too much time knowing the schedule pressure and additional reviews ahead.”
GM Defense pursuing JLTV contract. (GM Authority) ““By producing [the JLTV], we can also reduce the risk for the Army. We can bring in our industrial commercial base to bear on those pieces, we would love to have a split buy. That’s probably what we will propose for the JLTV, that [the Department of Defense] split it and we take 30-50 percent of it,” [interim president of GM Defense Tim] Herrick said.”… “We purchased or rented two JLTVs. We actually took one of them… And then we brought it back and tore it down in Warren.”
Mini Sub carriers Navy SEALs: Dry combat submersible specs, pics. (Popular Mechanics) “The Dry Combat Submersible (DCS) is a fully enclosed mini-sub designed to keep SEALs safe and warm as they travel to their objectives. The 30-ton sub can carry up to eight SEAL commandos for 24 hours or more.”
Aerojet Rocketdyne’s new 3D printed rocket engine passes NASA hot-fire testing. (3D Printing Industry) “During the trials, the company’s new RL10C-X upper-stage engine, featuring an additive manufactured injector and combustion chamber, demonstrated ignition and long-term durability within in-space simulations. Developed alongside the United Launch Alliance (ULA), the RL10C-X has been built to propel its next-gen Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle.”
Vigor wins US Navy availability contract for Independence-class LCS. (Naval News) “Vigor will begin work on Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) in June, and USS Omaha (LCS 12) in September. Approximately 165 employees are expected to work on the ships during their stays. The overall contract for both vessels is valued at up to $110 million.”
Tanking goes automatic. (Airbus) “The automatic refuelling system was called A3R and the idea behind it was clear: reduce air refuelling operator (ARO) workload, improve safety and optimise the rate of air-to-air refuelling (AAR) transfer in operational conditions to maximise aerial superiority. Everything at the ‘simple’ push of a bottom. Revealed to the public in 2018, the A3R has met every milestone, including several aeronautic ‘world firsts’ such as the first automated contacts.”
Air Force can retire KC-135, Transcom commander says. (DoD) “Since that time, the United States Air Force has done some incredible work, first to make sure that Boeing is signed up to complete the work that they’re under contract to complete. Second, to work through some interim capability releases to allow us to use the KC-46 in operations.”
New NASA administrator, citing China missions, calls for sustained support in Congress. (CBS News) “China plans to send multiple landers to the south pole of the moon in the not-too-distant future, the same area NASA is targeting in its Artemis program… “I want you to see this photograph,” he said in the virtual hearing, holding up a photograph taken this week by China’s Zhurong rover, which successfully landed on Mars last week.”
SOCOM CIO to industry: rethink you business models. (C4ISRNET) “Think about not necessarily always proposing a full stack solution, but instead focusing on providing infrastructure as a service, data as a service, algorithms as a service, and keeping those separate so that we can mix and match them for the next unknown mission.”
Special Operations Command is now seeking a high-speed VTOL aircraft. (The Drive) “Special Operations Command (SOCOM), and the AFWERX technology incubator have also teamed up to explore the potential for HSVTOL aircraft. The aim of this AFWERX “challenge” is to gain ideas on new platforms that would combine high performance with helicopter-like characteristics and offer “optimal agility in austere environments,” according to AFWERX… submissions for HSVTOL have been broken down into Integrated Solutions (covering system concepts, design, and architecture) and Subsystem Solutions (including advanced propulsion and novel technologies).”
Rapid acquisition benefits special operations, DoD official says. (DoD) “One of the department’s first middle tier pathway programs was the special operations forces combat diving program… As a result, the operator gains the ability to sustain untethered long-duration exposure… In total there are 74 programs currently using the middle tier of acquisition, 59 of them are rapid prototyping and 15 are rapid building, she [Stacy Cummins] noted, adding that the department plans to expand it.”
DARPA likely to demo only 2 blackjack payloads. (Breaking Defense) “Blackjack satellites probably will end up carrying a radio frequency (RF) system capable of both communications and geolocation, and an overhead persistent infrared (OPIR) missile warning payload… More than a dozen companies — from defense behemoths to tiny startups — are currently under Blackjack contracts.”
Senators introduce bill to penalize Pentagon for failed audits. (The Hill) “The bill would require military agencies to pass a full independent look at their finances every year beginning in fiscal 2022. Each year that any of the agencies fails to obtain a clean audit, one percent of their budget would be returned to the Treasury Department.”
US Air Force’s sixth generation fighter engine completes testing. (Aerospace Magazine) “The GE engine, called XA100, uses an adaptive cycle design that provides a high-thrust mode for maximum power and a high-efficiency mode for fuel savings and loiter time… These innovations increase thrust 10%, improve fuel efficiency by 25%, and provide significantly more aircraft heat dissipation capacity, all within the same physical envelope as current propulsion systems.”
Raytheon, Kongsberg complete first AMRAAM-ER live-fire tests. (Janes) “The tests also provided critical flight data that will be used to improve the AMRAAM-ER’s future software algorithm development… AMRAAM-ER is set to expand the NASAMS engagement envelope with a 50% increase in maximum range, and a 70% increase in maximum altitude.”
Teledyne-FLIR merger creates tactical drone powerhouse. (Breaking Defense) “Teledyne builds a range of watergoing drones, both Unmanned Surface Vehicles (robot boats) and Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (mini-subs), with the largest being the 18-foot-long SeaRaptor. FLIR builds a host of small aerial drones and ground robots, from the tiny Black Hornet, which can take off from your hand, to the Kobra, whose mechanical claw can lift 330 pounds… The combined company isn’t imposing a single common set of standards on all its projects – although many already use commercial open architectures. But it’s pushing for a new design philosophy it calls “advanced common software systems architectures.” The goal, Wells told me, is for everything to be “interoperable and integratable out of the box,” not only with other Teledyne-FLIR products but with ongoing military programs such as the handheld ATAK and the IVAS goggles.”
Aircraft competing to be the new SpecOps ‘armed overwatch’ plan now face a tough series of tests. (Military.com) “The Armed Overwatch program wants to field about 75 flexible, fixed-wing aircraft that could be deployed to austere regions and need only a light logistical footprint to operate… these planes could help keep pressure on violent extremist organizations operating in remote places with uncontested airspace, such as parts of Africa.”
Here’s how the Army will use 120,000 Microsoft HoloLens headsets in battle. (Fast Company) “IVAS is said to help soldiers sight and identify enemy combatants, as well as provide night vision and thermal imaging. One application, he suggests, is putting the sensors—rather than soldiers—in harm’s way. The sensors will act as external eyes, their view accessible through the headset.”
US Army aviation exercise unveils unprecedented progress as services preps for future war. (Defense News) “The crew at exercise Edge 21 received Integrated Visual Augmentation System, or IVAS, goggles as well as tablets that provided to-the-minute mission updates based on real-time intelligence collected from air-launched effects sensors. In the past, “you got an update before you got on an aircraft and then flew for a half hour, 45 minutes, maybe an hour. Whatever it was, it was what it was when you got there.”
Defense Innovation Unit selects ABL Space to launch DoD mission. (Space News) “ABL advertises a $12 million price tag for an RS1 rocket. The company did not disclose the value of the DIU agreement. The RS1 launch vehicle has a deployable ground system which allows the company to launch from many different locations… The company’s first orbital launch of the RS1 is projected for 2021.”
Parsons wins $185 million Space Force contract for technology services. (Space News) “The five-year deal expands Parsons’ existing contract in support of the “integrated solutions for situational awareness” — a government-owned software suite used by DoD and other agencies.”
Hudson Institute launches the Hamilton Commission on Securing America’s National Security Innovation Base. (Hudson) Includes Arthur Herman, Nadia Schadlow, Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), Ellen Lord, Bryan Clark, and others. “The Commission will convene to propose policy recommendations that reduce U.S. dependence and advance American leadership in the following areas: lithium-ion batteries, semiconductors, and advanced composite materials.”
DoD seeks clean acquisition data for better policy oversight. (FCW) “”There’s a little bit of a struggle there in terms of what data and how they are going to get transparent data from the services to be able to make smart decisions from an OSD level for those programs,” Oakley said.”
We are lost in the woods on acquisition reform. (Defense News) “While every aspect of the defense acquisitions process has been lamented, studied, overhauled and altered over the last 50-60 years, the one relatively unchanging constant in the equation is Congress’ archaic institutional processes and traditions. Congress’ committees are stovepiped, incentivized to consolidate and hold power, and loathe to collaboration across jurisdictional focus.”
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