BAE Systems Australia welcomes $30 million periscope contract

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  April 23, 2019 | International, Naval

  The US Navy, seeking savings, shakes up its plans for more lethal attack submarines

  By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy is shaking up its plan for acquiring a new, much larger and more deadly version of its Virginia-class attack submarine it aims to start buying this year. The plan heading into this year was to start a contract on the 5th block of Virginias in October, beginning with an upgraded version of the block-four Virginia (a “straight-stick” Virginia), then the second boat in 2019 would be the first boat with the added with 84-foot section known as the Virginia Payload Module, designed to expand the Virginia's Tomahawk strike missile load-out from 12 to 40. The rest of the 10-ship buy was suppose to have the VPM, a move designed to offset the retirement of the four 154-Tomahawk-packing guided missile submarines in the mid-2020s. But the Navy is looking for savings and things have changed heading into the 2020 budget cycle. Instead of nine of 10 block-five Virginias being VPM boats, the Navy is proposing to Congress that they add a third Virginia in 2020, but the first boat will be another “straight-stick.” Then in 2021, the Navy will return to buying two Virginias, but the first boat again will be a straight-stick and the second will have VPM. All the block five boats, VPM and otherwise, will have acoustic upgrades. The net effect will be one fewer Virginia Payload Module in the block-five buy. Instead of nine of 10 boats in the buy having VPM, the Navy is proposing that eight of 11 boats have the VPM, deferring the VPM presumably to Virginia Block Six, which is slated to begin in 2024. The last-minute shuffling of the deck on Virginia, which includes pushing out VPM boats for which Congress had already appropriated advanced procurement money, shifts what was originally supposed to be the end of the straight-stick Virginias this year to buying one new straight stick a year for the next three years. This has raised concerns among those in the submarine building industry because of the potential for disruptions in the workflow at the yards, which is carefully planned out years in advance, and could even bleed over into the new, strategically vital Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program. “Just like there is one rule in real estate (‘location, location, location'), there is one rule in building ships: Predictability, predictability, predictability,” said Dan Gouré, a former Bush Administration defense official and military analyst with the Arlington-based Lexington Institute. “And they are messing with that now, for the first time in quite a while. And that makes no sense.” The late changes have also affected the timeline for contract negotiations, and a source with knowledge of the details said a planned April contract date for block five is now unlikely. The date had already slipped from the beginning of the fiscal year in October, according to 2018 budget documents. The Virginia-class program has begun seeing creeping delays which the Navy acknowledged this year will likely be between four and seven months on each boat for the foreseeable future. The service says it has struggled to meet more aggressive construction timelines because of issues within the supplier base, which are causing delays. A spokesman for the Navy's research, development and acquisition office said he wouldn't comment on precisely what savings would be achieved with the strategy, citing ongoing negotiations, but said the move of a matter of competing priorities within the budget. He also said the changes in the VPM schedule were not part of ongoing supplier challenges. “To support the Navy's PB-20 request the decision to delay VPMs in FY-20 and 21 was based on competing requirements,” said Capt. Danny Hernandez, RD&A spokesman. “This was not based on any issues with shipbuilding or supply chain.” Added Wrinkle The third boat in 2020 also adds a wrinkle to the schedule. According to the Navy's justification books, the third boat will not start construction until 2023, which is the year before the service plans to buy a second Columbia-class boomer. That means the shipyards will be building three Virginias in 2023. The Virginia Payload Module strategy of continuing to buy straight-stick Virginias into 2021, ensures that General Dynamics Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Newport News will be building both straight sticks and Virginia Payload Module Virginia-class boats and the Columbia class simultaneously through 2026 and beyond, according to Navy budget documents. That will stress the yards and the supplier base, raising the risk that Columbia could run late, according to an industry source who spoke on background. “The juxtaposition of Virginia VPM and Columbia will be an added challenge for the shipyards,” the source said. “VPM and Columbia will have no learning curves when both projects are started. As we saw with Seawolf and Virginia (and every other first of a class ship the Navy has ever built) first ships are late and over cost. “Unfortunately, with the delay to the original program, Congress and the Navy have run the clock down, so there is no margin for Columbia to be late.” The mounting challenges within the submarine building enterprise prompted RD&A chief James Geurts to stand up a new program office specifically for the Columbia class, which was previously organized under Program Executive Office Submarines. Rear Adm. Scott Pappano is heading the new enterprise. “My concern was with Columbia being our No. 1 acquisition priority and all the other submarine activities we have going on, do we have enough leadership bandwidth available to oversee and run all those programs simultaneously?” Geurts said in an early March roundtable with reporters. “As I understand the challenges going forward, [I wanted to] get PEO-level support to that program as it starts ramping up. And I didn't want to wait for a crisis for that to occur; I wanted to make sure we are proactively working the program.” https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2019/04/04/the-us-navy-seeking-savings-shakes-up-its-plans-for-more-lethal-attack-submarines/

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  August 5, 2019 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR

  Acorn Growth Companies Acquires Robbins-Gioia

  OKLAHOMA CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Acorn Growth Companies, a private equity firm investing exclusively in aerospace, defense and intelligence, announced today the investment and controlling interest in Robbins-Gioia, a market leader in providing unique systems modernization and enterprise solutions focused on enhancing capabilities and improving performance and readiness for the federal government and industry. “Our investment in Robbins-Gioia represents our ongoing commitment in supporting the nation's requirements to modernize, streamline and secure its information technology architecture,” said Rick Nagel, managing partner of Acorn Growth Companies. “Robbins-Gioia's expertise in complex, enterprise-wide systems modernization, as well as the deeply embedded nature of its proprietary software products in critical military MRO systems have positioned the company for strong future growth. As the federal government continues to focus on systems modernization and warfighter readiness, we expect Robbins-Gioia will continue to deliver thought leadership and innovative solutions in support of these missions.” Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, Robbins-Gioia was the first firm to specialize in systems modernization solutions for the federal government and industry – transforming how they deliver and maintain readiness. The firm has evolved to be globally recognized for delivering purpose-built solutions to diverse challenges in business and government that modernize, secure and make its information technology architecture more efficient and effective through managed services, management consulting and innovative software tools, including The Jaguar Family of Advanced Scheduling Tools (JFAST™). JFAST is Robbins-Gioia 's premier suite of software tools for planning, analysis and management of complex, mission-critical activities for defense organizations. Robbins-Gioia enables the readiness of some of the nation's most critical military assets – keeping aircraft flying and ships sailing, using its JFAST scheduling systems. “We're excited to be partnered with Acorn Growth Companies,” said Brad King, CEO of Robbins-Gioia. “Acorn has a strong track record of success investing in and enabling the growth of companies within aerospace, defense and intelligence. With its tremendous network and planned investments in our people, processes and products, we see this partnership with Acorn as a key driver in the achievement of our vision to be the leader in delivering modernization and transformation for the federal government and similarly complex enterprises.” Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. About Robbins-Gioia Founded in 1980, Robbins-Gioia was the first firm specializing in program management services for the federal government. Today, they are the market leader in providing unique systems modernization and enterprise solutions focused on enhancing capabilities and improving performance and readiness for the federal government and industry. They deliver purpose-built solutions to diverse challenges in business and government through managed services, management consulting and software tools including JFAST™, RG's premier suite of software tools for planning, analysis, and management of complex, mission-critical activities for defense organizations. www.teamrg.com Acorn Growth Companies is a middle market private equity firm focused exclusively on Aerospace, Defense and Intelligence. Acorn invests solely in operating companies that strive to enhance global mobility and protect national interests. Acorn has a formidable reputation in the industry and is recognized for its deep understanding of the aerospace & defense markets, with proprietary access to the best companies within these sectors. With operational expertise and its ability to lead and manage investments through variable economic and industry cycles, Acorn works in tandem with management to build its portfolio companies into significant market leaders. AcornGrowthCompanies.com https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190805005409/en

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  March 12, 2019 | International, Land

  The US Army is preparing for major changes to force structure

  By: Jen Judson Update: This story has been updated to reflect Lt. Gen. Eric Wesley's correct title. WASHINGTON — The Army is preparing to make what it deems as necessary, and major, organizational changes to its force structure within the next five years, according to the Futures and Concepts Center director. “There is going to be a fundamental change in the organizational structure to fight the way we are describing,” Lt. Gen. Eric Wesley told an audience at the Center for a New American Security in Washington on March 4. “The Army has relied on counterinsurgency operations over the past 15 years that depended greatly on the Brigade Combat Team. But now, with a new focus on large-scale ground combat operations anticipated in the future operating environment, “that will require echelons above brigade, all of which will solve unique and distinct problems that a given BCT can't solve by itself,” Wesley said. A new organizational structure is necessary, according to Wesley, to align better with the service's new warfighting doctrine under development — Multidomain Operations or MDO. The Army rolled out the first iteration of its new doctrine over a year ago and debuted a revised version — MDO 1.5 — shortly after the Association of the U.S. Army's annual convention in Washington last fall. The new doctrine addresses how the service plans to operate in the future against adversaries that have learned to engage in provocative behavior in a gray zone that doesn't quite classify as conflict, and who have gone to school on U.S. capabilities, developing equipment and operating concepts that threaten the U.S.'s long-standing capability overmatch. The Army is now focused on ensuring that its capabilities match its new doctrine, standing up a new four-star command in Austin, Texas — Army Futures Command — to accomplish such a goal and syncing its other major commands together to focus on six top modernization priorities. Wesley noted that the organizational realignment needed would “probably be even a bigger problem than the materiel requirements" to create a force designed for multidomain operations. “You will see us seek to build out echelons above brigade — the Division, the Corps, even potentially a field Army — to get into theater that can manage these theater problems that otherwise wouldn't be achieved,” he added. The Army will likely have to make trades across the active and reserve forces, Wesley said, “so we have the ability to have a force posture that can rapidly transition if necessary.” But with all of these other dramatic changes, it's inevitable that the force structure change with it, according to Wesley, and that is going to have to happen sooner rather than later, he stressed. The Army has to “dive in” and start putting plans in place in the next five-year budgeting cycle “because if you want to achieve what the secretary and the chief has said, to be an MDO capable force by 2028, you have to start doing some of these organizational changes early,” Wesley told a group of reporters following the event at CNAS. And organizational changes need to align with the service's plans to field first units with newly modernized equipment and in some cases, units are slated to receive this equipment in very short order, according to Wesley. “You need some place for that stuff to land,” he said. “When you talk about long-range precision fires, for example, having an appropriate theater fires command. When you talk about air-and-missile defense and first unit equipped, what kind of force structure do we have to enable that? And it can't just be at the brigade level ... It has to transcend echelons.” Wesley said while he couldn't discuss specifics yet, he believed evidence of major organizational changes will likely be seen toward the end of the next five-year budget period. The three-star also said he believed the Army would need to increase the level of units stationed abroad. “The National Defense Strategy talks about the contact and blunt forces,” Wesley said. “Contact are those that are in theater all the time — either rotational or permanent — and blunt [forces] are those that can rapidly move into theater as necessary.” Getting the right mix between contact and blunt forces will be necessary, Wesley said. "You have to have contact forces. What we are working on is how to optimize what that balance is. You have to have headquarters and fires commands and that can be a deterrent effect immediately.” Over the next few years, the Army plans to war-game the right mix, but “regardless, I think you are going to find that at some point there will have to be a debate on the degree to which we have forward presence, potentially increased, in the future,” Wesley said. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/03/06/major-army-force-structure-changes-afoot/