Air Force PEO looks to speed up program start, testing for Wedgetail. (Air Force Magazine) “Looking to get ahead of any potential problems, the Air Force has submitted an above threshold reprogramming request, seeking to take a limited amount of funding from fiscal 2022 to speed up the contracting process and get the Wedgetail program officially started… The United Kingdom is currently buying three E-7s to replace its own AWACS fleet, and the aircraft is expected to be in service by 2023. “Much of the testing can actually be done on a U.K. E-7 or a Wedgetail. So tremendous opportunities, especially with test and evaluation.””
NRO, Air Force may co-fund future space-based ISR tech, Kendall. (Breaking Defense) “The issue of how to divide Space Force and Intelligence Community (IC) responsibilities for ISR has been a debate ever since the new military service stood up in December 2019. In particular, Congress has been skittish about overlaps and gaps between the space service and NRO, as well as potential IC turf infringement by the Space Force… the Space Force has launched a classified effort to build an on-orbit GMTI sensor, and further is considering hosting ISR payloads on commercial birds. Asked if Kendall’s plan was to replace the Air Force’s ISR capabilities with the Space Force’s space-based systems, the department spokesperson didn’t directly address the question.”
Components from the United States, Japan, Switzerland, Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, and South Korea were found in Russian cruise missile and air defense systems. (GaGadget) “The report of Royal United Services Institute states that 450 foreign-made components were found in Russian weapons used in Ukraine. After taking apart the cruise missiles and missiles of Russian air defense systems, the experts managed to establish that the majority of the 27 weapons are based on Western components. Approximately 66% foreign parts are produced by American companies. A quarter of them are electronics from Analog Devices and Texas Instrument… At the same time, both processor giants say they are sticking to sanctions and have stopped supplying components to Russia. Identical statements were made by Analog Devices, Texas Instruments and Infineon AG…However, experts from Royal United Services Institute found about 80 chips subject to U.S. export controls.”
DARPA updates on its sea train and NOMARS USVs. (Naval News) “The ACTUV program (Sea Hunter was the name of the ship, not the program) explored the development of the first USV. That doesn’t mean all the hard problems are solved. Specifically, NOMARS is addressing the ‘next-gen’ problem of designing and demonstrating a USV that is optimized for three design considerations simultaneously: 1) Optimizing unmanned ship design for maximum performance when all human survivability constraints are removed from the platform (there will be no people on NOMARS at any time when away from the pier); 2) Maximizing the reliability of the design, with the goal that the ship can operate for a year between maintenance cycles; and 3) maximizing the maintainability of the design – e.g. when the ship goes into port for a maintenance cycle, how do we design the ship to make that turn-around as cost efficient and scalable as possible, enabling a future with large numbers of such ships?”
China unveils game-changing electronic warfare drones. (Asia Times) “… the FH-95 last month completed a successful test at an undisclosed air base… Global Times also learned from ATFTC that the FH-95 could provide electromagnetic interference to cover an attack by FH-97 stealth drones to penetrate and destroy air defenses, followed by an attack using more traditional FH-92A attack drones. Electronic warfare drones may devastate high-tech forces reliant on networks and unmanned combat systems… Advances in radar warning receiver electronics can make the FH-95 an early warning platform, as these components become smaller and may be mounted on lighter platforms.”
Unmanned program could suffer if Congress blocks F-22 retirements, Hunter says. (Defense News) “A congressional push to block the U.S. Air Force’s plan to retire 33 F-22s could have ripple effects for one of the service’s top priority programs, the Collaborative Combat Aircraft… which aims to field a fleet of unmanned aircraft to augment NGAD and other fighter aircraft during combat missions… The Air Force requested $51.5 million in fiscal 2023 to transition technologies matured through the Skyborg program — the service’s effort to demonstrate the utility of teaming fighters and unmanned aircraft — to the Collaborative Combat Aircraft effort… Not only did lawmakers reject the plan to cut the aircraft, they called for the older-model jets, which are used primarily for training missions, to be upgraded to the newest F-22 configuration… A 2019 analysis projected it would cost about $50 million per jet, but White said a number of variables, including supply chain constraints, could change that estimate.”
Lawmakers propose changes to SBIR as program renewal deadline nears. (Breaking Defense) “In the first proposal, the Senate Small Business Committee would restrict eligibility to the SBIR/STTR programs based on the total number of awards received from the inception of the program. The second proposal, also from the committee, would restrict eligibility to the programs based on the number of awards received over a five-year period. In the third proposal, the House Small Business Committee restricts eligibility based on enhanced requirements associated with the existing Phase I to Phase II transition rate and the Phase III commercialization benchmarks. In her response, Shyu expressed the benchmarking requirements present “significant concerns” for DoD.” “The Department, as well as the SBA and other agencies, respectfully disagree with the argument that multiple awards represent a significant problem and that having multiple awards ‘crowds out’ or limits competition,” Shyu said.”
Pentagon advisers was DoD to build out agreements between small and large defense businesses. (Federal News Network) “The annual protégé surveys from the Defense Contract Management Agency for 2012 to 2021 show significant increases in revenues, contract awards, and employment at the protégé firms,” the report states. “In addition, over half of all of the MPP’s 1,200 former protégés continue to serve as suppliers to the DoD and represent approximately 5% of DoD’s $83.4 billion in small business contracting.” Former protégés make up about $4 billion in current DoD small business contracts. Current protégé contracts come to about $162 million… DoD has allocated about $30 million to the program in the last few years for reimbursable funds.”
Pension deadline could speed retirement of experienced Boeing engineers. (The Seattle Times) “Boeing may see hundreds of veteran engineers retire this fall ahead of a pension adjustment that will dramatically slash the payouts to those who choose to take the money in a single lump sum. The interest rates used to determine the lump sum will be updated in November, after which one 35-year Boeing employee calculates that his payout will be cut by more than $200,000… A high-grade engineer designated an associate technical fellow, he’s only 57 and loves his job. “It’s been fun,” he said. But he now plans to retire at the end of November… When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Boeing cut about 2,900 engineering and technical employees in the region through attrition and voluntary buyouts.”
Will Boeing and Northrop win $82 billion from NASA? (Motley Fool) “Late last month, NASA announced a new contract opportunity for space companies, advising that it plans to invite bids for Exploration Production and Operations Contract (EPOC) work on at least five — and perhaps as many as 20 — upcoming launches of its new Space Launch System megarocket… the total potential value of these 20 anticipated launches boggles the mind: $82 billion. With a capital B… This $82 billion dollar space contract is going to be “effectively be sole-sourced” to Deep Space Transport LLC — the name of the new joint venture between Boeing and Northrop… NASA says its objective here is to reduce the cost of SLS by 50% or more — NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations Kathy Lueders even suggested that she’d like to get costs down to “between $1 billion and $1.5 billion” per mission.”
Loitering munitions proliferate as tech changes battlefield. (National Defense Magazine) “National Defense spotted the first “non-improvised” flying munition created by an Eastern European contractor at the IDEX trade show in 2009. More than a dozen years later, the technology is proliferating both at defense exhibitions and on battlefields. Vendors from all over the world came to Eurosatory to exhibit the latest in loitering munitions technology”
This infantry squad vehicle is getting a laser to destroy drones. (Defense News) “The U.S. Army is trying to integrate a 20-kilowatt laser onto its GM Defense-made Infantry Squad Vehicle that could potentially destroy drone threats. The program, dubbed Army Multipurpose High Energy Laser, or AMP-HEL, would serve as a means to protect infantry brigade combat teams from small drones. SAIC is the lead integrator per an other transaction authority agreement that allows for rapid prototyping over a five-year period… That office [RCCTO] is also preparing to field its first directed-energy short-range air defense systems — a 50-kilowatt laser mounted on a Stryker combat vehicle — by the end of the fiscal year… The office is also preparing to deliver the first prototypes of the Army’s Indirect Fires Protection Capability-High Energy Laser system, which features a truck-mounted, 300-kilowatt laser, by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024.”
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