AFA 2019: US Air Force will maintain F-35 buy as it pursues Digital Century Series

On the same subject

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  March 12, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Key piece of F-35 logistics system unusable by US Air Force students, instructor pilots

  By: Valerie Insinna EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — The F-35 fighter jet's logistics backbone has proven so clunky and burdensome to work with that the U.S. Air Force's instructor pilots, as well as students learning to fly the aircraft, have stopped using a key piece of the system, Defense News has learned. The Autonomic Logistics Information System, built by F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin, was supposed to consolidate training, maintenance and supply chain management functions into a single entity, making it easier for users to input data and oversee the jet's health and history throughout its life span. ALIS has been a disappointment to maintainers in the field, with updates coming behind schedule and many workarounds needed so it functions as designed. But the Air Force's F-35A instructor and student pilots at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, were so disappointed with the performance of ALIS' training system that they bailed entirely, confirmed Col. Paul Moga, commander of Eglin's 33rd Fighter Wing. “The functionality in ALIS with regards to TMS — the training management system — was such a source of frustration and a time waste to the instructor pilots and the simulator instructors and the academic instructors that we at [Air Education and Training Command] in coordination with us [at Eglin] and Luke made a call almost a year ago to stop using the program,” Moga said during a Feb. 26 interview. Moga said the command's F-35 training squadrons are “not going to start using TMS again until it works.” So in the meantime, F-35A training squadrons have adopted a legacy system, Northrop Grumman's Global Training Integrated Management System. GTIMS is used by the Air Force, Army and Navy across a number of aircraft inventories to manage training schedules and cut the man-hours and costs associated with doing that work, according to a Northrop fact sheet. At this point, GTIMS provides a more agile, efficient user experience than ALIS' training management system, Moga said. But it doesn't sync with ALIS, so pilots and instructors must do “double data entry” so that each system has a record of flight records, currencies and qualifications. Full article: https://www.defensenews.com/air/2019/03/08/key-piece-of-f-35-logistics-system-unusable-by-us-air-force-students-instructor-pilots/

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  September 14, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  U.S. Cyber Command looks to grow its acquisition capacity

  By Lauren C. Williams The Defense Department's newest combatant command is nearly a decade old but still doesn't steer its own acquisitions. That could change in fiscal 2019, however, as U.S. Cyber Command staffs up its contracting office and seeks a bigger acquisition budget. "Acquisition authority is limited at the moment. It's capped at $75 million and has a sunset date, currently, of 2021," said Stephen Schanberger, command acquisition executive for U.S. Cyber Command during a panel at the Billington Cybersecurity Summit Sept. 6. "So the command is actively pursuing getting that increased on the ceiling amount as well as the sunset date." Cyber Command has only had acquisition authority for two fiscal years, but Congress extended that authority through 2025 in the fiscal year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act. That advances the authority four years from the original sunset date of 2021. Cyber Command awarded only one contract in fiscal 2017, Schanberger said, partly because it lacked a contract writing system and technical personnel to get things done. Things improved this year with $40 million in contract awards and Schanberger expects to reach the $75 million cap sometime in 2019. "We are really hamstrung at the moment in relying on the current [contracting] vehicles out there from others," he said. "And in some cases we've had to adjust our scope to match up to the contract versus waiting for them to put another whole contract vehicle or task order onto a contract." Schanberger seeks to more than triple Cyber Command's acquisition to $250 million to allow for multi-year contracts. Congressional scrutiny has been the main impediment to securing additional acquisition funds because the command needs to prove its contracting abilities, but Schanberger said increasing staff and getting things right will help. "Congress would like us to show that we actually can use our authority the way it's supposed to be and start to stand on the backbone of what it takes to be a contracting organization," particularly regarding contract types, use other transaction authorities, competitive bids versus sole source, and partnering with small businesses, he said. Schanberger told FCW he wasn't concerned about additional congressional scrutiny surrounding the Defense Department's use of other transaction authorities because "our efforts are nowhere near the big efforts that they're looking for." But overall, Cyber Command's contracting office is growing. Schanberger now leads a team of about five people, including himself, consisting of a contracting officer, specialist, and supporting contractors. He hopes to double the team's capacity by year's end. "We are in our infancy from an acquisition perspective, we are putting down the foundation of the personnel and the skills," he said, with the goal "to be able to activate, put together solicitation packages, plan our contracting strategy for [multiple] years, and be able to effectively implement and put out RFPs on the street without making a mess out it." Schanberger said they are looking at capabilities that can benefit all of the service components, such as analytic development. Cyber Command released a request for proposals for an analytic support program dubbed Rainfire on Sept. 4. "Once we get the skills in place, I think we'll be able to demonstrate to everyone around us that we can execute the authorities we have and grow them responsibly," he said. https://fcw.com/articles/2018/09/13/cybercom-aquisition-williams.aspx

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  October 1, 2018 | International, Land

  India approves S-400 buy from Russia, amid expectations for more bilateral deals

  By: Vivek Raghuvanshi NEW DELHI — India has quietly approved a $5.43 billion program to buy five S-400 Triumf air defense systems from Russia, just a week before Russian President Vladimir Putin's Oct. 5 visit to the country. The program was approved earlier this week by the Indian government's highest defense approval body, the Cabinet Committee on Security headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. When asked about India's decision in relation to U.S. objections over the purchase, a top Ministry of Defence official said: “We already have communicated our stand on the subject to Washington.” A formal government-to-government contract is expected to be announced during the 19th India-Russia summit on Oct. 5. “Apparently, the Indian defense establishment is convinced that S-400 Triumf system is ideally suited to fill a critical gap in our existing capabilities. That being the case, there is no reason for India to buckle under the U.S. pressure to roll back procurement of hardware from Russia,” said Amit Cowshish, a former former financial adviser on defense acquisition for the MoD. U.S. embassy diplomats were unavailable for comment. Indian defense forces have been apprehensive about the fate of armament supplies from Russia following U.S. sanctions on Russian entities under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, or CAATSA. India and Russia signed an intergovernmental agreement on the sale of five S-400 units during 17th India-Russia summit in October 2016 in Goa in the presence of Putin and Modi. The Russian-built S-400 is capable of intercepting and destroying airborne targets at a distance of up to 400 kilometers (250 miles) and can simultaneously engage up to six targets. Each S-400 unit comprises tracking and search radar systems, eight launchers, 112 guided missiles, and command and support vehicles. The first missile system will be delivered by the end of 2020. Further cooperation India is also expected to announce a $2.2 billion government-to-government contract with United Shipbuilding Corporation of Russia for two Krivak-class stealth frigates. In addition, an intergovernmental agreement will be inked for the joint production of AK-103 assault rifles in India. U.S. sanctions against Russia compelled India early this year to freeze payments of more than $2 billion, temporarily halting several ongoing defense programs receiving assistance from several Russian defense original equipment manufacturers. Until last month, CAATSA also affected India's purchase of spare parts, components, raw materials and other assistance for which Indian entities are dependent on Russia for domestic licence manufacturing and maintenance of existing equipment, according to another MoD official. Following an April 7 verdict by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, India's national bank, the State Bank of India, stopped all payments to Russian arms trading company Rosoboronexport. “This [problem] is more or less rectified now," the official added. India now wants a new 10-year framework agreement with Russia to manufacture and upgrade at least a dozen types of Russian armament systems in India, including for Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fighters, Mi-series helicopters, Kamov helicopters, T-90 tanks, artillery guns and Smerch multi-barrel rocket launcher systems. Cowshish noted that India cannot afford to distance itself from Russia, if for no other reason than the fact that it requires Russia's continued support to maintain and operate in-service equipment, a large proportion of which is of Russian-origin. Russia remains the largest defense supplier to India, but its share of the Indian market has fallen sharply. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2018/09/28/india-approves-s-400-buy-from-russia-amid-expectations-for-more-bilateral-deals