September 30, 2020 | International, Aerospace
WASHINGTON — The Defense Department and Lockheed Martin reached a handshake agreement that will require the defense giant to invest about $70.6 million to fix an ongoing problem with F-35 spare parts, one that resulted in increased government labor costs, the department announced Sept. 29.
For the past few months, Lockheed and the Defense Contracts Management Agency have been locked in a dispute over more than 15,000 F-35 spare parts sent to the U.S. military with incorrect or incomplete “electronic equipment logs” or EELs, which allow the parts to be absorbed into the F-35′s logistics system and installed on the jet.
Lockheed and the Defense Contracts Management Agency expect a final agreement to be formalized sometime within the next two weeks or so, said DCMA spokesman Matthew Montgomery, who confirmed the $70.588 million deal to Defense News.
The use of EELs — which allow the government to track the usage and lifespan of major F-35 parts — is unique to the joint strike fighter program and is meant to help inform smarter, more cost-effective maintenance and buying practices.
But when parts are delivered with inaccurate EEL information, it can take hours for military maintainers and Lockheed support personnel to track down the correct data that will allow a part to be uploaded into the system and installed in the aircraft.
Instead of paying back the government directly for the added costs associated with the EELs, Lockheed will “compensate the government with Lockheed Martin investments” that will ultimately ensure spare parts are delivered with accurate electronic logs, said Lockheed spokesman Brett Ashworth.
“We appreciate the partnership with the Defense Contract Management Agency and the F-35 Joint Program Office, and we remain focused on ensuring the warfighter has the support they need to employ the F-35′s game changing capabilities,” he said.
The final sum of the agreement is less than half of the $183 million sum that DCMA initially projected that the government had spent to correct wrong or incorrect EELs since 2015. It was not immediately clear why DCMA had agreed to a compensation deal worth so much less than the department's estimated costs.
During a July hearing, lawmakers from the House Oversight and Reform Committee chastised Lockheed for its failure to deliver parts ready to fly.
“That's $183 million that the American taxpayers were forced to pay because Lockheed Martin failed to meet the requirements of its contract,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the committee's chairwoman.
But Greg Ulmer, Lockheed's vice president for the F-35 program, said then that the company should not take all of the blame for the spare parts problems.
“It's not all associated with Lockheed Martin performance. There are many aspects associated with [parts that are] not ready for issue,” he said.
September 5, 2024 | International, C4ISR, Security
New cross-platform malware KTLVdoor targets Chinese trading firm, using Alibaba servers. Earth Lusca linked to attack.
October 12, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
Today
July 19, 2019 | International, Land, Other Defence
By Matthew Cox Army modernization officials are getting help from the Navy to make the service's High Energy Laser program more than twice as powerful for fending off aerial attacks from swarms of enemy drones. Currently, the Army's High Energy Laser Tactical Vehicle Demonstrator (HEL TVD) features a 100-kilowatt laser designed to fit on Family of Medium Tactical Vehicle (FMTV) trucks. The service plans to conduct a demonstrationof the system's target acquisition, tracking and other capabilities against a range of targets in 2022. Meanwhile, the Army's Rapid Capabilities Office plans to take advantage of the Navy's 250-kilowatt laser program, a system that could be adapted to fit on the FMTV platform, Army Lt. Gen. Paul Ostrowski told an audience Tuesday at an Association of the United States Army Institute of Land Warfare breakfast. "The intent is to work with the Navy, and we are doing that right now, in order to increase the power of that laser system from beyond 100-kilowatt up to maybe the 250-kilowatt mark," said Ostrowski, the military deputy to the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology. The Army's 100-kilowatt HEL TVD is being designed to provide air and missile support to forward operating bases and airfields, Ostrowski said. The service also plans to field a platoon of four 50-kilowatt lasers, known as Maneuver Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) that will be mounted on a Stryker combat vehicle in fiscal 2022. The advantage of the laser is having an "unlimited magazine" for unmanned aerial systems, as well as rockets, artillery and mortars, instead of "shooting $100,000 missiles at $7,000" unmanned aerial systems, Ostrowski said, adding that the Army hopes to expand the potential use of lasers on the battlefield beyond air defense. "We want to be able to put that capability on our tanks to potentially get after targets that our combat vehicles can go after, so this is just the beginning ... of where we see lasers going in the future," he said. One of the challenges of working with lasers, Ostrowski said, is controlling the heat buildup generated by the power source. "It's not just the ability to create the energy to fire the laser, but it's also to dissipate the heat," he said. It's still uncertain whether the Navy's 250-kilowatt laser program will work for the Army, but "we are not going to ignore" its potential for dealing with more complex enemy air attacks, Ostrowski said. "The power piece is extremely important. If you don't have the power, you don't have that unlimited magazine, and that unlimited magazine makes a difference in a swarm environment where you have multiple targets and you have to be able to ... recharge quickly and be able to shoot them all down," he said. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/07/16/army-eyeing-navys-high-powered-laser-fight-enemy-drone-swarms.html