September 23, 2020 | International, Land, Other Defence

After munition worker deaths, Army floats $16 billion plan to modernize production

WASHINGTON ― U.S. Army officials told lawmakers Tuesday they are seeking a new 15-year, $16 billion strategy to modernize and automate the military's aging munitions plants following nearly a dozen worker deaths and injuries over recent years.

In Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee testimony, Army officials suggested workers who handle dangerous materials could be replaced by robotics and computers as part of their ambitious plan. The testimony came as lawmakers are deliberating over a proposed reshaping of the Pentagon's explosives oversight body, as part of the 2021 defense policy bill.

“We're essentially making the explosives in a manner very much like we did in World War I in some cases, World War II in others,” Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology Bruce Jette told lawmakers. “We literally have people standing under machines that are full of 1,500 pounds of molten explosives, drooling it into artillery shells to fill them up, and then they push the carts away. We don't have automation, we don't have robotics.”

Lawmakers described the ammunition industrial base as fragile because of its dependence on foreign sources of materials and because its aging facilities need of safety upgrades. (Munitions production facilities are contractor operated, with some owned by the government.)

Army officials largely agreed, saying they rely on 55 foreign suppliers for certain equipment and materials ― such as a TNT-replacement 2,4-Dinitroanisole, which comes from India ― because costs, environmental regulations and legal liabilities make many of them harder to develop in the United States. The Army even relies on a small volume of detonators and pyrotechnics from China, Jette said.

The Army is studying how to wean itself from foreign suppliers. At the same time, Jette has not ruled out supplies from Canada, Mexico and elsewhere, if a surge is needed, adding that he personally visited a South Korean factory that once supplied the U.S. with bullets at .50 caliber and below.

Calling safety a top priority, Army officials said human handling of the energetics, explosives and acids associated with munitions can be replaced with “process automation or other technology solutions, freeing the workforce to focus on technical oversight.” More than 80 percent of major mishaps at munitions facilities were caused by human error, they said.

“Three deaths in the last ten years on our facilities, two of them were related to the manufacturing process: We don't need to have that happen anymore,” Jette said. “I do not want to be the ASAALT and get another phone call that there's another death on something I could have provided the improvement to.”

Jette said the 2017 death of Lake City Army Ammunition Plant worker Lawrence Bass, 55, “should not have occurred,” and that Bass ― killed while handling an explosive component called tetrazine ― was performing his duties in accordance with procedures.

“His death is in fact a catalyst in transforming our approach, as opposed to modernizing under current circumstances. He should never have been in that close proximity where that event could have happened,” Jette said. “Should it happen with a machine, I can buy another machine.”

Still, modernizing in the way Army officials seek would require Congress appropriate roughly $1 billion per year for 15 years, which is more than twice what the Army has asked over the last three years. It's an open question whether Congress would be as inclined to support the munitions productions facilities, if they support fewer jobs.

“The idea of making it safer for workers, there's no doubt about that, but because these plants have grown up since the '40′s," said Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee Chairman Donald Norcross, D-N.J. "You eliminate many of those jobs, there's potential of that support also going.”

Asked what more industry could do to shoulder the cost of modernizing facilities, Jette suggested it would be better if the government made the investments upfront as industry would only pass the costs on later.

“This is the United States military's industrial base for munitions. We need to own that, not have anything beholden IP-wise or any other way to the defense industry or any other supplier," Jette said.

https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2020/09/22/after-munition-worker-deaths-army-floats-16-billion-plan-to-modernize-production/

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January 18, 2023 | International, Aerospace

CAE USA continues Fixed-Wing Flight Training Service with U.S. Army
CAE announced today that CAE Defense & Security has been awarded the competitive re-compete for Fixed-Wing Flight Training Service by the United States Army. The contract provides comprehensive initial and recurrent training for more than 600 U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force fixed-wing pilots annually. The firm-fixed-price award has an approximate total value of US$250 million through 2032 distributed from an initial base period and seven single-year options. “We are honored that the U.S. Army has once again selected the CAE Dothan Training Center to support the readiness of their future fixed-wing aviators,” said Dan Gelston, Group President, CAE Defense & Security. “The training center is a prime example of delivering live, virtual and constructive training with adaptive technologies and agile learning to deliver the highest quality instructional solutions to our military customers.”  CAE Defense & Security has provided Army Fixed-Wing training at the company-owned company-operated Dothan Training Center in Alabama since the initial contract award in 2016.  The state-of-the-art facility, near the U.S. Army’s Aviation Center of Excellence (USAACE) at Fort Rucker supports initial and recurrent training for transitioning Army rotary-wing aviators and Army initial-entry fixed-wing students. “CAE provides a world-class training program that balances academics, simulation, and aircraft flight training,” said Merrill Stoddard, Vice President and General Manager, CAE Defense & Security Readiness Solutions. “We leverage modern training solutions to deliver scenario-based training specific to the Army’s fixed-wing requirements.” The Fixed-Wing Flight Training Service program features academic, simulation and aircraft flight training, including the CAE Trax Academy which augments the current ground-based training assets with self-paced virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) training in both the C-12 and Grob G-120TP.  CAE also provides Grob G120 TP flight training devices and a suite of desktop trainers and courseware in addition to a fleet of C-12U King Air aircraft owned and maintained by the U.S. Army and operated by CAE instructors to deliver C-12 King Air aircraft flight training.
August 27, 2020 | International, Aerospace

GA-ASI Selects 18 Businesses to Participate in Virtual Blue Magic Belgium
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January 6, 2024 | International, Land

Marine Corps’ Mahlock takes reins of Cyber National Mission Force
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After munition worker deaths, Army floats $16 billion plan to modernize production

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Marine Corps’ Mahlock takes reins of Cyber National Mission Force Maj. Gen. Lorna Mahlock now leads a force she said is "competing daily against a threat that is very real, but which few can comprehend, quantify or see.”

Marine Corps’ Mahlock takes reins of Cyber National Mission Force
Maj. Gen. Lorna Mahlock now leads a force she said is "competing daily against a threat that is very real, but which few can comprehend, quantify or see.”