February 3, 2020 | International, Aerospace
By: Richard Matlock
Over the past five years, missile threats have evolved far more rapidly than conventional wisdom had predicted. Best known is North Korea's accelerated development and testing of sophisticated, road-mobile ballistic missiles. But the U.S. National Defense Strategy requires renewed focus on greater powers. China has adopted an anti-access strategy consisting of new offensive missiles, operational tactics and fortifications in the South China Sea. Russia, too, has developed highly maneuverable hypersonic missiles specifically designed to defeat today's defenses.
Grappling with these sobering realities demands change. The 2019 Missile Defense Review called for a comprehensive approach to countering regional missiles of all kinds and from whatever source, as well as the increasingly complex intercontinental ballistic missiles from rogue states. But programs and budgets have not yet aligned with the policy. The upcoming defense budget submission presents an important opportunity to address these new and complex challenges.
The Missile Defense Agency's current top three goals are sustaining the existing force, increasing capacity and capability, and addressing more advanced threats. The first two are necessary but insufficient. The third goal must be elevated to adapt U.S. missile defense efforts to the geopolitical and technological realities of our time.
For the last decade, less than 2 percent of MDA's annual funding has been dedicated to developing advanced technology, during which time our adversaries have begun outpacing us. As President Donald Trump said last January, we “cannot simply build more of the same, or make incremental improvements.”
Adapting our missile defense architecture will require rebalance, discipline and difficult choices. Realigning resources to develop advanced technologies and operational concepts means investing less in single-purpose systems incapable against the broader threat. It also requires we accept and manage new kinds of risk. Indeed, meeting the advanced threat may, in the short term, require accepting some strategic risk with North Korea.
The beginning of this rebalance requires more distributed, elevated and survivable sensors capable of tracking advanced threats. The most important component here is a proliferated, globally persistent space layer in low-Earth orbit consisting of both passive and active sensors. MDA may be the missile defense-centric organization best suited to developing and integrating this capability into the architecture, but there is considerable opportunity for partnering with others to move out smartly, as recently urged by Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Hyten. Partnerships with the Space Development Agency and the Air Force can be supplemented by collaborative efforts with commercial space companies.
We need not do this all at once. Space assets could be fielded in phases, with numbers, capability (sensors, interceptors, lasers), missions, and orbits evolving over time. MDA demonstrated a similar paradigm with the Delta experiments, Miniature Sensor Technology Integration series and the Near Field Infrared Experiment in the past.
Meanwhile, other sensors could alleviate the cost of building new, billion-dollar radar on islands in the Pacific Ocean — efforts which continue to suffer delay. Adding infrared tracking sensors to high-altitude drones, for instance, has already been demonstrated experimentally in the Indo-Pacific theater with modified Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles. These need not be dedicated assets. Sensor pod kits could be stored in theater to be deployed aboard Reapers or other platforms during heightened tensions.
We must revisit boost-phase defenses and directed energy. In 2010, the Airborne Laser program demonstrated that lasers could destroy missiles in the boost phase, but deploying toxic chemical lasers aboard large commercial aircraft was fiscally and operationally untenable. Fortunately, considerable operational promise exists with recently developed solid-state lasers (the cost of which is around $2 of electricity per shot). We must move these systems out of the laboratory and build and test operational prototypes.
Near-term actions to better manage risk against the rogue-state ballistic missile threat must not overtake the pursuit of these larger goals. Although the Pentagon is currently considering a 10-year, $12 billion program for a next-generation interceptor, nearer-term, cheaper options are available. Replacing each existing kill vehicle on the Ground-Based Interceptors with several smaller kill vehicles would multiply each interceptor's effectiveness dramatically. The U.S. has been developing this technology since 2006, including a “hover” flight test in 2009. Affordable solutions like this must be found.
Missile defense cannot do it all. Denying, degrading and destroying enemy missile systems prior to launch must be part of the mix. But left-of-launch activities can be expensive and difficult, and reliance on a cyber magic wand carries risk, too. We need to broaden our approach to attack all parts of our adversary's kill chain.
The National Defense Strategy urges that we contend with the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be — or as it previously was. To meet the threats of today and tomorrow, we must radically transform our U.S. missile defenses. It falls to the 2021 budget to do so.
September 27, 2022 | International, Aerospace
"The odds are against it happening" by 2030, John Venable of the Heritage Foundation said. "In the last 25 or 30 years, nothing's come in on time.'
May 7, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence
AIR FORCE Vital Link Inc., Sealy, Texas, has been awarded a $228,843,057 indefinite-delivery requirements contract for the sustainment of Air Force noise suppressors. This contract provides for the repair, refurbishment and relocation of noise suppressors. Work will be performed at Air Force locations worldwide, and is expected to be complete by Nov. 5, 2029. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and one offer was received. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity (FA8534-19-D-0003). The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $35,800,000 delivery order for Radar Modernization Program (RMP) Common Configuration General Purpose Processors (GPP3) and Waveform Generators (WFG). This contract provides for 57 GPP3s and 11 WFGs to ensure a common configuration of the APG-82(v)1 radar, as well as 14 spares. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be complete by Oct. 31, 2023. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2019 procurement funds in the amount of $17,686,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Fighter/Bomber Directorate, F-15 Division, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8634-19-F-0009). Metis Solutions LLC, Arlington, Virginia, has been awarded a $10,301,762 fixed-price level-of-effort contract for financial services. This contract provides for counter-threat finance services to U.S. Central Command, U.S. Africa Command, and the U.S. European Command areas of responsibility. Work will be performed in several locations worldwide, and is expected to be complete by Oct. 20, 2019. This award is the result of a non‐competitive bridge acquisition and one offer was received. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the full amount are being obligated at the time of award. Headquarters Air Combat Command, Acquisition Management and Integration Center, Joint Base Langley‐Eustis, Virginia, is the contracting activity (FA4890‐19‐C-A007). (Awarded March 20, 2019) CORRECTION: The contract announced on May 2, 2019, for Engility Corp., Andover, Massachusetts (FA8650-19-C-6024), for research and development, included an incorrect award amount. The correct award amount is $57,296,527. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Shore Terminals LLC, doing business as NuStar, San Antonio, Texas, has been awarded a $227,733,110 firm-fixed-price contract to receive, store and ship various types of jet fuel. This was a competitive acquisition with one offer received. This is a four-year base contract with one five-year option period. Locations of performance are Texas and California, with a May 6, 2023, performance competition date. Using customers are Navy and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SPE603-19-C-5006). Point Blank Enterprises, Pompano Beach, Florida, has been awarded a maximum $92,881,740 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contract for enhanced small arms protective inserts. This contract 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-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Florida, with a March 31, 2021, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2020 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-19-D-1154). CORRECTION: The contract announced on May 2, 2019, for Raytheon Co., McKinney, Texas, was announced with an incorrect delivery order number and incorrect basic ordering agreement number. The correct delivery order number is SPRPA1-19-F-CB01 and correct basic ordering agreement number is SPRPA1-19-G-CB01. ARMY Eagle Eye - Enviroworks JV,* Anchorage, Alaska (W9128F-19-D-0034); Ahtna-CDM JV,* Irvine, California (W9128F-19-D-0035); IE- Weston Federal Services JVB LLC,* Pasco, Washington (W9128F-19-D-0036); and Relyant Global LLC,* Maryville, Tennessee (W9128F-19-D-0037), will compete for each order of the $95,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for rapid disaster infrastructure response. Bids were solicited via the internet with 19 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of May 5, 2024. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, Nebraska, is the contracting activity. Cray Inc., Seattle, Washington, was awarded a $22,549,000 firm-fixed-price contract for Department of Defense High Performance Computing Modernization Program's Technology Insertion. Four bids were solicited with four bids received. Work will be performed in Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 5, 2025. Fiscal 2018 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $22,549,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W912DY-19-F-0296). Cray Inc., Seattle, Washington, was awarded a $14,549,000 firm-fixed-price contract for Department of Defense High Performance Computing Modernization Program's Technology Insertion. Four bids were solicited with two bids received. Work will be performed in Vicksburg, Mississippi, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 5, 2025. Fiscal 2018 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $14,549,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W912DY-19-F-0298). AAI Corp., doing business as Textron Systems, Hunt Valley, Maryland, was awarded an $8,928,378 cost-plus-fixed-fee Foreign Military Sales (Australia) contract for logistics support. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 7, 2020. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W58RGZ-19-F-0407). U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND n~Ask Inc., Fairfax, Virginia, was awarded a $7,816,490 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (H92401-19-C-0014) for demonstration of a prototype, modular intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance small-satellite in support of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). Fiscal 2019 research and development funds in the amount of $2,000,000 were obligated at time of award. The work will be performed primarily at the n~Ask Colorado facility. The period of performance is scheduled to run through September 2020. USSOCOM headquarters, Tampa, Florida, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1838303/source/GovDelivery/
July 6, 2021 | International, Naval
Turkish defense company Roketsan is to develop a vertical launching system for the country’s first locally made frigate, after American sanctions disrupted original procurement plans, said naval platforms acquisition official Alper Kose.