April 27, 2020 | International, Aerospace
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon has created a “war room” to ramp up production of hypersonic weapons from a handful of prototypes over the last decade to “hundreds of weapons” in the near future, a senior official said Wednesday. Those weapons will range from huge rocket-powered boost-glide missiles, fired from Army trucks and Navy submarines at more than Mach 10, to more compact and affordable air-breathing cruise missiles, fired from aircraft at a relatively modest Mach 5-plus.
“It isn't an either-or,” said Mark Lewis, modernization director for Pentagon R&D chief Mike Griffin. “It isn't rocket-boost or air-breathing, we actually want both, because those systems do different things.”
Right now, however, US combat units have neither. Inconsistent focus and funding over the years means that “we had a number of programs in the department that were very solid technology development programs, but at the end of those programs, we would have prototypes and we'd have weapons in the single-digit counts,” Lewis said during a webcast with the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute. “If you've got a program that delivers eight missiles and then stops, well, which of the thousand targets in our target set are we going to use those eight missiles against?”
With hypersonics now a top priority for both Undersecretary Griffin and Defense Secretary Mark Esper, the Pentagon is trying to improve that stop-and-go track record with a new “hypersonic acceleration plan” – no pun intended, Lewis said. Griffin likes to compare the effort to the Cold War, when the US had a massive nuclear weapons infrastructure capable of building complex components by the tens of thousands.
“We want to deliver hypersonics at scale,” Lewis said. “That means hundreds of weapons in a short period of time in the hands of the warfighter.”
Mass-production, in turn, requires production facilities – but today hypersonic prototypes are basically hand-crafted by R&D labs like Sandia. Lewis and his counterpart in the Pentagon's acquisition & sustainment directorate, Kevin Fahey, are “co-chairing what we're were calling a war room ... looking at the hypersonic industrial base,” he said. “That's not just the primes, but the entire industrial base” down to small, specialized suppliers.
Controlling cost is both essential to large-scale production and a huge challenge, Lewis acknowledged. “We don't know what these things cost yet,” he said. “We've asked the primes to consider costs as they're developing.”
Which hypersonic weapons the Pentagon buys also makes a major difference. “There are some technology choices we can make that lead us to more cost-effective systems,” he said. “I'm especially enthusiastic about hypersonic weapons that come off the wings of airplanes and come out of bomb bays, [because] I think those are some of the keys to delivering hypersonic capabilities at scale and moderate cost.”
Likewise, “[there's] larger investment now in the rocket boost systems,” Lewis said, “[but] one of the reasons I'm so enthusiastic about scramjet-powered systems, air-breathing systems is I think that, fundamentally, they can be lower-cost than their rocket-boosted alternatives.”
Why is that? Understanding the policy, it turns out, requires a basic understanding of the physics.
Breaking Defense graphic from DoD data
Four Types of Hypersonics
“Hypersonics isn't a single thing,” Lewis said. “It's a range of applications, a range of attributes, [defined by] the combination of speed and maneuverability and trajectory.”
To put it in simple terms – and I'll beg the forgiveness of any aerospace engineers reading this – there are two kinds of hypersonic projectile, based on how they fly: one is an air-breathing engine flying through the atmosphere, like a jet plane or cruise missile; the other is a rocket booster arcing to the edge of space, like an ICBM. There are also two kinds of platform you can launch from: an aircraft in flight high and fast above the earth, or a relatively slow-moving vehicle on or below the surface, like an Army truck, Navy warship or submarine.
Combine these and you get four types. Lewis thinks all four could be worth pursuing, although the Pentagon currently has programs – that we know about – for only three:
Each of these has its own advantages and disadvantages, Lewis explained.
Rocket boosters are proven technology, offering tremendous speed and range. The Minuteman III ICBM, introduced in 1970, can travel over 6,000 miles at Mach 23. Their one drawback is that ICBMs can't steer. Once launched, they follow a predictable course like a cannon ball, which is why they're called ballistic missiles. The big innovation of boost-glide weaponry is that it replaces the traditional warhead with an agile glider. Once the rocket booster burns out, the glide body detaches and coasts the rest of the way, skipping nimbly across the upper layers of the atmosphere like a stone across the pond.
But boost-glide has some big limitations. First, once the rocket booster detaches, the glide body has no engine of its own so it just coasts, losing speed throughout its flight. Second, precisely because the rocket launch is so powerful, it puts tremendous strain on the weapon, whose delicate electronics must be hardened against shock and heat. Third, the booster is big, because a rocket not only has to carry fuel, it has to carry tanks of oxygen to burn the fuel.
Breaking Defense graphic from DoD data
An air-breathing engine, by contrast, can be significantly smaller. It just has to carry the fuel, because it can scoop up all the oxygen it needs from the atmosphere. That means the whole weapon can be smaller, making it much easier to fit on an aircraft, and that it can accelerate freely during flight instead of just coasting, making it more maneuverable.
But while conventional jet engines are well-proven technology, they don't function at hypersonic speeds, because the airflow pours their intakes far too fast. So you need a sophisticated alternative such as a scramjet, a complex, costly technology so far found only on experimental vehicles, like the Air Force's revolutionary Boeing X-51.
Even with a scramjet, you can't fly too high because the air doesn't provide the needed oxygen. That means air-breathing weapons can't reach the same near-space altitudes as boost-glide missiles. They also can't fly nearly as fast. Lewis expects air-breathers will probably top out around Mach 7, half or less the peak speed of a boost-glide weapon. (That said, remember the glider will have slowed down somewhat by the time it reaches the target).
Sandia National Laboratories glide vehicle, the ancestor of the Army-built Common Hypersonic Glide Body
The platform you launch from also has a major impact on performance. Warships, submarines, and long-bodied heavy trucks can carry bigger weapons than aircraft, but the weapons they carry need to be bigger because they have to start from low altitude and low speed and go all the way to high-altitude hypersonic flight. By contrast, an air-launched weapon doesn't need to be as big, because it's already flying high and fast even before it turns on its motor.
All these factors suggest that the big boost-glide weapons are probably best launched from land or sea, the smaller air-breathing ones from aircraft in flight. But since boost-gliders go farther and faster than air-breathers, you still want them as an option for your bombers for certain targets. On the flipside, while a naval vessel or ground vehicle has plenty of room to carry boost-glide weapons for ultra-long-range strikes, it can also use the same space to carry a larger number of the smaller air-breathers for closer targets.
“We're interested in basically the full range,” Lewis said. “We've got some ideas of things we want to put into play quickly, but we're also extremely open-minded about future applications, future technologies.”
https://breakingdefense.com/2020/04/hypersonics-dod-wants-hundreds-of-weapons-asap/
June 10, 2022 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
“Reducing America’s dependence on gas and oil is critical to U.S. national security,” DepSecDef Hicks said.
November 1, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is being awarded a sole-source, cost-plus-incentive-fee contract modification (P00345) under previously awarded contract HQ0276-10-C-0001. The total value of this contract modification is $139,663,509. The total value of the contract increases from $3,024,726,153 by $139,663,509 to $3,164,389,662. This modification provides for scope supporting Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense, including additional upgrades to Baseline 5.4, flight test, ground test, post-certification engineering, in-service support, and future studies. This contract modification contains a three month option period which, if exercised, will increase the cumulative value of this contract to $3,210,363,559. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey, with an expected completion date of July 31, 2020. If all options are exercised, the period of performance would extend through Oct. 31, 2020. Fiscal 2019 and 2020 research, development, test and evaluation; fiscal 2018, 2019 and 2020 procurement defense wide; and fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $12,080,453 will be obligated at the time of award. The Missile Defense Agency, Dahlgren, Virginia, is the contracting activity. NAVY General Dynamics Mission Systems, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is awarded a $90,686,673 cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price contract for sustainment of the Littoral Combat Ship Integrated Combat Management System and associated combat system elements. The work includes development, integration, test and delivery of future combat system baseline upgrades for in-service ships; supporting ship integration, installation and checkout; developmental test/operational test; developing training and logistics products; providing field technical support for the combat system; providing hardware engineering and equipment procurement; providing life-cycle supportability engineering; and providing fleet support for fielded baselines. Work will be performed in Pittsfield, Massachusetts (79.4%); San Diego, California (19.3%); and Mobile, Alabama (1.3%), and is expected to be completed by October 2024. This contract includes options, which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $393,837,142. Work is expected to be complete by October 2024. Fiscal 2018 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $1,013,124 will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1); only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia., is the contracting activity (N00024-20-C-5603). Management Services Group Inc., doing business as Global Technical Systems,* Virginia Beach, Virginia, is awarded an $83,726,453 cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price, and cost-only contract modification to previously awarded contract N63394-19-C-0008 to exercise options for the sustainment of the Common Processing System. This option exercise is for production and installation of ordnance alteration (ORDALT) kits and associated engineering services, logistics and incidental materials in support of the Common Processing System. ORDALT kits are anticipated to be installed on Aegis destroyers, Aegis cruisers, Landing Helicopter Deck, Landing Ship Dock, aircraft carriers and Japanese destroyers. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia (21%); San Diego, California (16%); Yokosuka, Japan (11%); Honolulu, Hawaii (8%); Dahlgren, Virginia (6.5%); Wallops Island (6.5%); Aegis Ashore (5%); Everett, Washington (5%); Mayport, Florida (5%); Moorestown, New Jersey (5%); Port Hueneme, California (5%); Washington, District of Columbia (3%); Rota, Spain (3%); Deveselu, Romania (2.5%); and Redzikowo, Poland (2.5%), and is expected to be complete by October 2020. This contract includes options, which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $116,436,973 and be complete by July 2024. Fiscal 2014 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding for $1,483,823 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division, Port Hueneme, California, is the contracting activity. Dyncorp International LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $56,496,749 modification (P00033) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-reimbursable contract (N68936-17-C-0052). This modification exercises an option that provides aircraft maintenance, modification and aircrew support. This modification includes organizational-level aircraft maintenance and logistics support on aircraft, systems/subsystems, aircrew systems, search-and-rescue equipment and support equipment for P-3 Orion, C-130 Hercules, F/A-18 Hornet, E/A-18 Growler, AV-8B Harrier II and H-60 Seahawk for the Naval Test Wing Pacific. Work will be performed in China Lake, California (50%); Point Mugu, California (40%); Hickman Air Force Base, Hawaii (2%); Lemoore, California (2%); Patrick Air Force Base, Florida (1%); Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico (1%); Patuxent River, Maryland (1%); Yuma, Arizona (1%); Miramar, California (1%) and North Island, California (1%), and is expected to be completed in October 2020. Fiscal 2020 working capital (Navy) funds for $42,121,234 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division, China Lake, California, is the contracting activity. General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., Fairfax, Virginia, is awarded a $46,103,818 modification (P00024) to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (W15QKN-15-D-0001) to execute Award Term 4 for integrated logistics support for multiple Foreign Military Sales customers. Work will be performed at Patuxent River, Maryland (52%); Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania (5.5%); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (5.5%); Jacksonville, Florida (2.5%); Pensacola, Florida (2.5%); various other locations within the continental U.S. (4%); Kuwait City, Kuwait (24%); Atsugi, Japan (1%) Iwakuni, Japan (1%); Koahsiung, Taiwan (1%); and Cairo, Egypt (1%), and is expected to be completed in October 2020. No funds will be obligated at time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Boston Consulting Group, Bethesda, Maryland, is awarded a $16,054,435 modification (P00007) to a previously issued firm-fixed-price order (N00421-19-F-0106) against a General Services Administration, Federal Supply Schedule contract (GS-10-F-0253V). This modification exercises the option to continue the implementation of a new Naval Sustainment System (NSS) to include the development of governance, coordination and accountability mechanisms across the Naval Aviation Enterprise. The Commander for the Fleet Readiness Center's contribution to the NSS will deploy commercial maintenance best practices, tailored to the Navy's operational requirements and starting position; in order to reduce component repair and heavy maintenance periodic maintenance inspection turnaround times and better enable aviation readiness recovery. Work will be performed in Bethesda, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in April 2020. Fiscal 2020 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds for $16,054,435 will be obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Raytheon Co., Tewksbury, Massachusetts, is awarded an $11,517,079 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to a previously awarded contract N00024-17-C-5145 to exercise options for DDG 1000 ship class integrated logistics support and engineering services. The DDG 1000 ship class is a multi-mission surface combatant designed to fulfill volume firepower and precision strike requirements. DDG 1000 combat systems provide offensive, distributed and precise firepower, and long ranges in support of forces ashore, while incorporating signature reduction, active and passive self-defense systems and enhanced survivability features. Work will be performed in Portsmouth, Rhode Island (51%); Tewksbury, Massachusetts (21%); San Diego, California (11%); Nashua, New Hampshire (6%); Bath, Maine (5%); Los Angeles, California (3%); Marlboro, Massachusetts (2%); and Fort Wayne, Indiana (1%), and is expected to be completed by October 2020. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); and operation and maintenance (Navy) funding for $3,164,948 will be obligated at time of award, and funds for $712,934 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded a $10,000,353 modification (P00003) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00019-19-C-0016). This modification extends the period of performance and increases scope to include obsolescence redesign in support of the production and delivery of Harpoon Block II missiles for the government of Saudi Arabia. Work will be performed in McKinney, Texas (63.46%); Minneapolis, Minnesota (21.61%); and St. Louis, Missouri (14.93%), and is expected to be completed in November 2019. Foreign Military Sales funds for $10,000,353 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Physical Optics Corp.,* Torrance, California, is awarded an $8,631,282 firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides for the design, test, production and delivery of up to 503 C-Band radar tracking transponders in support of the Aerial Targets program. Work will be performed in Torrance, California, and is expected to be completed in October 2024. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured as a small business set-aside via an electronic request for proposal; three offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-20-D-0005). Sealift Inc., Oyster Bay, New York, is awarded an $8,592,948 modification under a previously awarded firm, fixed-price contract (N32205-17-C-3510) to fund the third one-year option period. The option will continue to provide one U.S. flagged vessel (M/V Bernard Fisher) for prepositioning and transportation of cargo for the Department of the Air Force. The current contract includes a 12-month base period, four 12-month option periods, and one 212-day option period. Work will be performed worldwide, and is expected to be completed by Nov. 5, 2020. This contract option will be funded by fiscal 2020 working capital funds for $7,747,740; and fiscal 2021 for $845,208, for a total amount of $8,592,948. Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N32205-17-C-3510). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Raytheon Co., Marlborough, Massachusetts, has been awarded a maximum $36,306,061 firm-fixed-price contract for multiple radar equipment components. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a one-time procurement contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are Virginia and Massachusetts, with a June 14, 2022, performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 Navy working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania (SPRMM1-20-F-DK02). Rockwell Collins Inc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been awarded a maximum $35,902,768 firm-fixed-price contract for control display units. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Iowa, with an Oct. 31, 2024, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 Army working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (SPRRA1-20-D-0003). AIR FORCE The Boeing Co., Layton, Utah, has been awarded a $22,571,000 firm-fixed-price contract modification (P00009) to previously award contract FA8204-19-C-0001 for ICBM Cryptography Upgrade Increment II (ICU II) production. This modification exercises production Lot 2, Option 1 and provides the government 54 A-4 drawers. Work will be performed at Huntsville, Alabama; Huntington Beach, California; and Layton, Utah, and is expected to be completed by Jan. 12, 2022. The total cumulative face value is $104,213,725. Fiscal 2019 missiles procurement funds in the amount of $1,826,000; and fiscal 2020 missiles procurement funds in the amount of $20,745,000 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, ICBM Contracting Division, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity. Raytheon Co., Tewksbury, Massachusetts, has been awarded a $22,250,138 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract modification (P00039) to previously awarded FA8730-15-C-0002 for the Qatar Air Missile Defense Operation Center (ADOC). The contract modification is for the procurement of the outside continental U.S. transfer of ADOC prime mission equipment (PME), installation of ADOC PME, integration activities, training of ADOC operators, and development of a communications cabinet. Work will be performed in Tewksbury, Massachusetts; and Qatar, and is expected to be completed by May 31, 2020. This modification involves 100 percent foreign military sales to Qatar. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $303,037,178. Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $22,250,138 are being obligated at the time of the award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity. L3Harris Technologies Inc., Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded a $9,331,526 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract modification (P01025) to a previously awarded contract F19628-02-C-0010 for sustainment of the Ground-Based Electro Optical Deep Space Surveillance (GEODSS) weapons system. Work will be performed at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico; Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory; Maui, Hawaii; and Colorado Springs, Colorado, and is expected to be completed by June 30, 2020. The total cumulative face value is $9,331,516. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $3,463,000 are being obligated at time of award. The Space and Missile Systems Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado Springs, Colorado, is the contracting activity. ARMY Olsson Industrial Electric Inc., Springfield, Oregon, was awarded a $14,644,904 firm-fixed-price contract to replace the four main unit 15kV switchgear line-ups, replace the 480V station service switchgear, replace the unwatering/sump pumps and motors, transformer deluge containment, rehab of transformer fire protection system, replace the governor kidney loop system and install new generator step up transformers at the Robert S. Kerr Reservoir Powerhouse. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work will be performed in Keota, Oklahoma, with an estimated completion date of July 31, 2021. Fiscal 2010 operations and maintenance; and civil works funds in the amount of $14,644,904 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Tulsa, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity (W912BV-20-C-0002). Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors,* Houma, Louisiana, was awarded an $8,731,775 firm-fixed-price contract for planning, scheduling, engineering, construction, testing and delivery of an inland z-drive workboat. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Olmsted, Illinois, with an estimated completion date of March 9, 2022. Fiscal 2019 civil works and civil construction funds in the amount of $8,731,775 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville, Kentucky, is the contracting activity (W912QR-20-C-0002). *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2005134/source/GovDelivery/
September 10, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
Today