June 14, 2018 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR
The U.S. House of Representatives issued a rebuke to the Air Force's long-awaited space object tracking system in the annual defense authorization bill, which passed May 24.
An amendment to the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act restricted all funding to theAir Force's Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) Mission System (JMS) until the Pentagon can show Congress that the program's contract embraces “best-in-breed” technology to fill gaps in current space situational capabilities.
The White House objected to the decision from Congress, arguing that excessive oversight will impose a burden on the Air Force, further delaying the already time strained program.
“This provision will add additional cost and schedule to [JMS] and delay delivery of a critical space situational awareness capability to the warfighter,” administration officials said in a statement.
A final version of the bill must pass both chambers of Congress.
The Government Accountability Office released a report May 24 detailing the continued setbacks of the second increment of JSpOC JMS. The report says the program has been delayed by two years and 11 months and attributed the slip to the $18.9 million in funding reductions through fiscal years 2013 and 2014.
The GAO has said the total cost of the second increment of the program is about $320 million.
The JMS will replace the Air Force's Space Defense Operations Center (SPADOC), a system long begrudged by officials as dilapidated and difficult to maintain. Gen. John Hyten, the former head of Air Force Space Command, once described the legacy system as “that ancient engine that can't take data from anywhere unless it's one of ours.”
Despite continued calls for system upgrades, the new system is currently scheduled to be launched in June 2019, almost three years later than its original schedule date of July 2016. In the GAO's analysis of the program, the congressional watchdog was unable to obtain performance data from JMS because the program is still in an “early development” phase.
In September 2016, after missing a key deadline, the Air Force issued to Congress a critical change report regarding the JMS, formally eliminating several of the program's capability goals and delaying its estimated delivery date from July 2016 to May 2019.
The JMS is part of a larger effort from the Air Force to modernize the Joint Space Operations Center, the processing center of U.S. military space operations. The program aims to replace or upgrade the hardware and software currently used for space surveillance, collision avoidance, launch support, and providing more precise and timely orbital information from data gathered the service's object tracking system, known as Space Fence.
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June 23, 2020 | International, Land
By: Seth J. Frantzman JERUSALEM — Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has joined Poland's Ottokar-Brzoza tank-destroyer program, offering its line of anti-tank guided missiles for the country's ground forces. Rafael would co-produce the weapons with Polish conglomerate Polish Armaments Group. The Israeli company unveiled a new multi-missile launcher laid out in a configuration of eight Spike non-line-of-sight missiles, which Poland could incorporate onto its BWP-1, a 1960s Soviet-era tracked armored vehicle, or its KTO Rosomak, a Polish variant of the Patria eight-wheel drive armored vehicle. Poland has hundreds of these vehicles in different variants, and wants to replace some aging ones for its anti-tank regiments. Poland launched the competition to be prepared to confront a major threat, such as a mass amount of armored vehicles. The tender is potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars if the country outfits a large number of its vehicles with launchers. Rafael's NLOS launcher has a standoff range of 32 kilometers and is part of the company's Spike family of weapons, which is on more than 45 different platforms globally, according to the company. Mounted on a fixed rail, the launcher's operator inside a vehicle uses a target consul and coordinates from a target bank or forward observer, such as a UAV. The missiles have a unique data link and do not need GPS to fly to their target. The passive surprise element of the missile (it does not use laser designators) makes it less likely the enemy will see the volley coming. Other missiles, such as the MBDA Brimstone and Lockheed Martin's Hellfire, are also reportedly under consideration, and a variety of vehicle concepts with these weapons are available. These may include a launch station by Wojskowe Zakłady Motoryzacyjne; a chassis by OBRUM; a K9P chassis by Huta Stalowa Wola; the Borsuk tracked future armored vehicle; AMZ-Kutno's Bobr-3 vehicle; or Rheinmetall Defence's armored multipurpose vehicles. Other Spike variants are already used by Poland, including the Spike LR and LR2. A 2015 order from Poland for 1,000 Spike missiles was estimated to be worth $150 million, and an earlier one in 2002 that was reportedly for thousands of missiles was worth about $250 million. The missile type is already produced in Poland by Mesko, which Rafael says provides an existing infrastructure “for the future Polish production of the SPIKE NLOS missile as well as the launchers.” “As part of the its general vision and particularly now at this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a dramatic effect on all industries and economies, Rafael is continuously working to leverage industrial cooperation by contributing and operating with local industries,” the company said. Poland wants to make a qualitative leap in tank-destroyer units, according to local reports, to put a stop to a potential invasion. This would likely require the country to buy the latest generation of armored vehicles, including those with active defense capabilities. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/06/22/rafael-offers-new-multi-missile-launcher-for-polands-tank-destroyer-program/
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