Ukraine makes it obvious DoD has to change how it buys weapons

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  December 9, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Germany in talks with Lockheed Martin over ‘fragile’ missile defense program

  By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany – German defense officials are negotiating with contractors Lockheed Martin and MBDA Deutschland about a bid proposal for a next-generation antimissile program that the government believes is missing crucial components, according to a new defense ministry report. Information about the status of the high-profile TLVS program, short for Taktisches Luftverteidigungssystem, is included in the latest, unclassified portion of a biannual assessment by the defense ministry on the progress of key military acquisition programs. The document constitutes the defense ministry's first public evaluation of the U.S.-German industry consortium's second and final bid, submitted in June. “The analysis of the second offer shows that the proposal still falls short of the government's requirements because key elements and services were not included, some of which had been previously agreed,” the document states. Additionally, some performance requirements, which are left unexplained in the report, were not addressed in the industry bid, it adds. Talks with the companies are ongoing to clarify outstanding issues by the end of 2019, the defense ministry wrote. Overall, the government considers the program to be “fragile” based on a high degree of technological and managerial complexity. That is compared to a more upbeat assessment in the previous report, dated June, which found “significant progress” had been made over the previous six months. The defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment on what elements the Lockheed Martin-MBDA proposal was lacking. A Lockheed spokesman referred questions to the German government, writing in an email, “It is a matter for the German MoD to comment on the content of its latest project report and position relating to TLVS.” The report offers an explanation for why defense officials have been unable to articulate a time table for submitting the multibillion-dollar program to the German parliament for consideration. For one, the government must first wait for a foreign military sales process to play out with the United States over access to key performance data of the Lockheed-made PAC-3 MSE interceptor, the primary missile of the TLVS system. Germany launched the petition for the requisite goods and services in April 2019. In addition, officials are unable to formulate a path for integrating a secondary interceptor into the system, the IRIS-T SL, to be made by Germany's Diehl Defence, officials wrote. That is because the most recent Lockheed-MBDA proposal lacks the detailed interface documentation that would be needed to integrate such an interceptor into TLVS. Without that information, however, officials are unable to solicit a bid from Diehl, according to the report. German officials consider the ability to use IRIS-T missile a must-have for TLVS because those missiles are domestically made and because they are cheaper. Amid the runaway program complexity giving officials headaches, the government still appears to believe in the promise of the TLVS system as a replacement of the country's fleet of Patriot batteries. If it can be made to work, the military expects a “technological advantage” that will position the country as a NATO leader in missile defense, the report states. Officials will make decisions about the way ahead after ongoing talks with industry come to an end, it adds. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2019/12/06/germany-in-talks-with-lockheed-martin-over-fragile-missile-defense-program

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  August 1, 2018 | International, Aerospace

  Air Force begins in-house JSTARS maintenance amid Northrop Grumman’s shortfalls

  By: Kyle Rempfer The Air Force began conducting its own depot maintenance for JSTARS July 17 at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, in an effort to field the Air Force's primary ground surveillance and battle management aircraft quicker, despite contractor shortfalls. Maintenance for the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System aircraft was previously done exclusively by Northrop Grumman at a facility in Louisiana, but the service has said the maintenance was too slow. Now, Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex will supplement the contractors to speed up the process. “Historically, the contractor has averaged about 400 days per aircraft,” Air Force Material Command spokesman Derek Kaufman told Air Force Times. “The driver has been to increase the number of aircraft available for operations and training. The Air Force intends to fly JSTARS into the mid-to-late 2020s, while the follow-on Advanced Battle Management System [ABMS] is developed," Kaufman said. The Air Force has not released exactly what the ABMS entails, but it will fuse information from satellites, drones, ground sensors and manned ISR aircraft. Because Robbins AFB is also playing host to the initial elements of the ABMS program, Kaufman said the base will continue to play a role in the command and control mission. In the meantime, maintenance delays for existing JSTARS must be streamlined, according to the press release announcing the push. “We've been focusing intensely for a couple of years on improving contractor-led depot performance, but aircraft are still remaining in depot too long,” said Steven Wert, the Air Force's program executive officer for battle management, who oversees these efforts. “We have to find ways to increase throughput and overall depot capacity, and we believe this option is well worth exploring.” The work done at the new facility will help the Air Force better understand the costs of performing JSTARS depot maintenance on its own. “Should this first organic induction prove successful, we currently plan two more JSTARS aircraft to be inducted, one per year,” Kaufman said. It's important to note that this maintenance plan is separate from efforts to retire the Air Force's fleet of 17 JSTARS. The 2019 defense authorization bill allocates funds for the ABMS program, but the Air Force will not be able to retire any of these planes until the second phase of that program is declared operational, according to Congress' bill. As a result, service officials are anxious to get more JSTARS into the air for operations and training while waiting to bring the ABMS program online. In addition to slow delivery, Northrop Grumman has had some issues with their maintenance in the past. An Air Force investigation released in March 2017 showed that contract maintainers left drainage holes covered on the bottom of a JSTARS' radome during depot maintenance between March 2015 and July 2016. This caused the radome to collect water and inflicted $7.35 million worth of damage to the aircraft. That damage was discovered on July 28, 2016, when the JSTARS aircraft assigned to the 116th Air Control Wing at Robins experienced radar failures during checks conducted by Air Force radar specialists. “When the specialists opened the radome for the radar, they discovered portions of the radar immersed in standing water with visible corrosion damage,” the report states. In the future, inducting more aircraft into the Air Force's own depot maintenance facility could offer some advantages, according to the service. The program office, operational wings, functional check flight crews and Air Combat Command's flight test detachment are all co-located at Robins. These locality benefits could help cut down on transportation costs. Additionally, start-up costs should be minimal because Robins already hosts the E-8C operational wings, according to the Air Force. “Our dedicated professionals and mission partners have extensive experience in overhauling and modifying large aircraft like the C-130, C-17 and C-5 fleet. I'm confident our team can leverage this experience and help the JSTARS community improve aircraft availability,” said Brig. Gen. John Kubinec, commander of Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex, in another press release. “Our team is excited about this opportunity and we stand ready to support this effort by working closely with the PEO and Northrop Grumman.” The Air Force still has an agreement with Northrop Grumman that runs through 2022, called a Total System Support Responsibility contract. The depot maintenance at Robins “would supplement, not supplant," the work being done by the existing contract, the Air Force clarified. “In fact, the Air Force will need Northrop's help to successfully execute this proof of concept,” according to the release. https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2018/07/31/air-force-begins-in-house-jstars-maintenance-amid-northrop-grummans-shortfalls/

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  July 9, 2021 | International, Aerospace

  Les Armées face au défi des drones

  Faisant suite aux deux rapports parlementaires à l'Assemblée nationale et au Sénat, Le Figaro consacre une double page aux drones militaires. Pour la ministre des Armées, la menace des drones « s'accroît et s'accélère », a-t-elle déclaré en assistant, à Biscarrosse, à un premier tir antidrone par laser. « C'est un véritable enjeu technologique, car il s'agit de faire face à une menace qui ne peut pas toujours être prise en compte par notre défense aérienne classique : elle est trop petite, trop lente, trop basse et avec une signature radar trop faible » poursuit la ministre. Pour y répondre, les systèmes Milad ou Bassalt conçus avec le groupe ADP ont déjà été utilisés à l'occasion de la fête nationale ou du sommet du G7 à Biarritz. En outre, le système Arlad est capable de détecter un objet volant entre 700 mètres et 1 kilomètre et d'orienter un tir de destruction automatique. Toutefois, la « chaîne détection-identification-neutralisation n'est pas encore consolidée » reconnaissent les armées. Les régiments vont donc aussi s'équiper de fusils brouilleurs Nerod. Dans le domaine offensif, la France cherche à rattraper son retard. « Nous allons multiplier le nombre d'aéronefs au sein de l'armée de terre par plus de 10 pour passer de 250 en 2017 à 3 000 en 2023 », explique le lieutenant-colonel Pierre-Yves. Par ailleurs, s'agissant des munitions rôdeuses, le général François Lecointre, chef d'état-major des armées, s'est montré clair : « l'emploi de munitions rôdeuses n'est pas acceptable d'un point de vue éthique. Les drones que nous utilisons permettent de contrôler la munition tirée sur la cible qui est identifiée précisément jusqu'au moment du déclenchement du tir ».