Kendall warns against imitating Chinese hypersonic weapon efforts. (Defense Daily) ““We don’t have the same target set that they’re worried about so we have to think about what’s most cost effective for us,” Kendall said… “I think there’s a validity in that assumption but we have to figure out how that’s going to be done,” he said of ABMS… ABMS Increment 1 and the upcoming Increment 2 “are important things to do on the path to getting that operational capability, but they aren’t it,” Kendall said.”
Space Force is creating its own culture but will be ‘tightly coupled’ to the Air Force. (Space News) “For example, the Space Force has a goal of being a “digital service” that uses cutting-edge data analytics and information technology. “I think that’s a worthy goal. And one that the larger department hasn’t really caught up with yet, and hasn’t done as much as it could,” Kendall said. “So there is an attempt to establish a unique culture, but also to keep it tightly coupled to the Air Force as a whole.””
Anduril nabs $1B contract for anti-drone work with SOCOM. (Fed Scoop) “This work will be done “in various locations within and outside the continental U.S.” over the next decade following an initial $1 million award, according to the contract notice. Anduril beat out 11 other bidders.”
China is still ‘three or four generations’ away from developing latest semiconductor tech, IDC says. (CNBC) ““So, if you look at leading edge, we’re talking about 16-nanometer or 14-nanometer and below. The majority of that comes, primarily, from Taiwan and Korea, and to a certain degree in the U.S., with Intel,” Morales added… “They have capabilities to support 28-nanometer and they’ve started some sampling of 14-nanometer,” Morales said. “But, the reality is that they need customers to really scale that capability, and a lot of the Chinese ecosystem is just not using that technology.””
Army IBCS passed F-35 sensor data to artillery system at Project Convergence. (Breaking Defense) “IBCS, made by [Northrop], is the Army’s future air and missile defense backbone, designed to connect disparate radars, combine their targeting data and pass that information to the correct launcher. The program has been under development since 2009 and the Army recently awarded the defense giant a $1.4 billion contract for low-rate and full-rate production.”
Evolution of Aegis weapon system could underpin joint all-domain operations. (Defense News) “Past investments in the Aegis Common Source Library, or CSL, are paying dividends now, said Joe DePietro, Lockheed’s vice president… The CSL was established in 2012 and has since expanded from the original Aegis system to also include the Ship Self-Defense System that runs on aircraft carriers and amphibious ships, which Raytheon Technologies originally developed but Lockheed Martin later won a contract to continue managing. CSL made possible the COMBATSS-21 system, which runs on some littoral combat ships and will go on the Constellation-class frigate, and which is a somewhat scaled-down version of the combat system that runs on larger cruisers and destroyers.”
Space Force’s data transport layer is linchpin of JADC2: Raymond. (Breaking Defense) “This is because “linking sensor to shooter” requires “being able to take data and transport that data to decision-makers and I really believe that the work that we’re doing on the force design for a data transport layer will really be a key part of that.””
Here’s the armament for the Navy’s Constellation-class frigates. (National Interest) ““The ships will perform surface warfare, electromagnetic warfare, and air warfare,” said Capt. Kevin Smith, Frigate Program Manager at the 2022 Surface Navy Association Symposium. “In a lot of ways it is like a DDG (destroyer)… these frigates will be armed and combat-capable warships equipped with over-the-horizon Naval Strike Missiles, Rolling Airframe Missiles, and the Mk 110 57 millimeter gun.”
Multi-domain unmanned systems for future warfare at the tactical edge. (Breaking Defense) “The OMFV will not have a direct line-of-sight fire weapon like a cannon or a machine gun. Rather, it’s going to have a battery of Switchblade 300 and 600 loitering missiles that can be fired without even seeing the enemy. They can fly for 100-plus kilometers, identify the target, and then engage way beyond visual line of sight. Another example is our teaming with Kratos where we put Switchblades inside the belly of one of its larger, unmanned drones called the UTAP-22 Mako as part of the Air Force’s Skyborg program.”
Space Force submitting ‘bold’ budget request for 2023. (National Defense Magazine) “When asked by National Defense to elaborate on what the budget will include, Raymond declined, saying the plan had not yet received final approval and he didn’t want to get ahead of the administration… The Space Force has requested $17.4 billion for 2022, a 13.1 percent increase in funding compared to 2021. The ongoing CR, which generally freezes program funding at 2021 levels.”
Aerial networks summit provides roadmaps for JADC2, ABMS. (Air Force) “The summit provided a forum for leaders from Air Staff, Air Combat Command, Air Mobility Command, the Air Force Research Laboratory, AFWC, the Rapid Capabilities Office, and multiple Air Force Life Cycle Management Center acquisition directorates and program offices to meet face-to-face at the appropriate level… “This summit was an opportunity for us to align our efforts and refine our requirements, and then we can turn to our industry partners and tell them exactly what we need them to work on for our military to stay ahead of our adversaries.””
New software factory aims to digitally transform AFRL. (AF Materiel Command) “Hangar 18 joins 16 other Department of the Air Force software factories—including the first, Kessel Run—that have sprung up across the nation… “[The Air Force has] to own the data—it’s not enough for us to just have unlimited rights to the data; that’s not sufficient. We have to own the data, the processes and the stack; so, we need better control of the technology that houses data. And the second thing we need is a focus on agile practices; we need to do a much better job of employing agile methodologies in our engineering practices. We have to move fast and be adaptive.”
New bill aims to cut the price of spare parts for DoD. (Defense News) “The inspector general and lawmakers on Wednesday criticized TransDigm’s business model, saying the firm identifies and acquires companies with highly-engineered sole-source spare parts, making them the exclusive provider to DoD. The recent audit found TransDigm made excess profit on 105 spare parts through 150 contracts… “Congress must act to empower contracting officers when they’re negotiating with greedy contractors like TransDigm,” (Rep.) Maloney said… “The IG failed to acknowledge that the majority of the audited parts have commercial equivalents and that, on average, DoD received a 25% discount,” (TransDigm’s) Stein said.
Space Force taps Air Force Research Lab leader for key acquisition post. (Space News) “Col. Eric Felt was named deputy executive director of the Space Force’s architecture, science and technology directorate at the Pentagon… [coming from AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate] A key experiment advocated by Felt is a solar power satellite for beaming power from space. He also championed the Navigation Technology Satellite-3 experiment to develop a next-generation navigation satellite more technologically advanced than the Global Positioning System.“
FAA rejects FedEx proposal to install missile-defense system on Airbus planes. (New York Post) “In October 2019, FedEx applied for approval to use a feature that emits infrared laser energy outside the aircraft as a countermeasure against heat-seeking missiles, the FAA disclosed Friday… For decades, the airline industry and several governments have been grappling with the threat to airliners from shoulder-fired missiles known as Man-Portable Air Defense Systems, or MANPADs… According to the US State Department, more than 40 civil airplanes have been hit by MANPADs since the 1970s.”
Navy cryptologic warfare officers cannot do cyber. (USNI) “Leadership and management for Navy cyber is currently divided among cryptologic warfare officers (CWOs), information professionals (IPs), and cyber warfare engineers (CWEs)… IPs have some technical depth but not enough for the more intricate cyber defense tasks, such as malware reverse engineering. CWEs have the expertise to do everything cyber, but are too few in number (currently only 68 personnel)… The CWO community (roughly 900 officers), the de facto primary cyber community, also provides expertise for signals intelligence and all information operation missions (electronic warfare, operational security, military deception, and military information support operations). It is diffcult enough for one officer community to develop expertise in each of these missions, let adding the cyber mission… Often, CWOs are deemed cyber experts and put in charge of a Cyber Mission Force teams after a single course.”
Kratos defense’s ‘Demogorgon’ class of combat drones is in the works. (Interesting Engineering) “The company’s newest unveiling, Demogorgon, would be difficult to fit into the definition of dispensable though. According to a slide accessed by The Drive, at $8 million, this class of combat drones is priced twice as much as the Valkyrie.”
Sikorsky-Boeing’s FLRAA platform completes first mission profile. (Breaking Defense) “… including low-level flight operations and confined area landings. The successful flight test for the SB>1 DEFIANT platform comes as the Army prepares to choose between the Sikorsky-Boeing team and another team from Bell Textron [DEFIANT X] in the third quarter of fiscal 2022 for the FLRAA competition.”
Navy should be ‘offended’ by its own maintenance and manning faults, admiral says. (Defense News) ““If I went into conflict, high-end conflict where I had to repair numerous ships simultaneously, I don’t have enough capacity. I don’t have enough dry docks, and I don’t have enough shipyards to get after that,” Caudle said. “So it’s a wartime problem, and it’s a peacetime problem any time we have something that’s unplanned.””
Auditors question improper Pentagon payments. (Roll Call) “… in November, the Pentagon’s latest report, which covered its fiscal 2021 finances, said the situation had improved markedly. The November report said improper payments were down to $2.5 billion — still a sizable sum but nearly $9 billion less than the previous year. The decrease was mostly due, the report said, to “corrective actions” in payroll accounts.”
DoD may need to reprogram funds to pay $1.5B fuel bill. (Inside Defense) “Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord made news last week when he said historic inflation rates driven by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have left the U.S. military with an unexpected $1.5 billion fuel bill. “I have had to approve two increases in our [fiscal year] 2022 fuel prices — a first increase on Oct. 1, 2021, and a second on Jan. 1, 2022 — to keep our working capital fund solvent in response to higher fuel prices.””
Army Corps of Engineers gets $14B to help ease supply chains. (Military.com) “The spending stems largely from President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure deal… Among the projects being funded for the Army Corps of Engineers is $858 million to replace locks on the Ohio River so that water levels are high enough for large cargo ships… Wednesday’s announcement includes $470 million for a new lock in Michigan that is key for shipping iron ore… On the climate front, the Army Corps of Engineers will spend $1.1 billion to preserve the Everglades in Florida.”
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