January 28, 2019 | International, Aerospace
By: Valerie Insinna and Jeff Martin
EVERETT, Wash., and MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. — On the chilly morning of Jan. 25, just as the sun was beginning to rise, two KC-46 refueling tankers took offfrom Boeing's Everett, Washington, delivery center and began flying toward McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas. Later that day, it touched down, to cheers from airmen assigned to the base's 22nd Air Refueling Wing.
It took only minutes for the aircraft to taxi and take to the skies — a welcome lack of drama for a program that has seen prolonged challenges: a virulent competition between two companies, two years of schedule delays and more than $3 billion in cost overrunsthat manufacturer Boeing had to pay out of pocket.
The delivery of the first two KC-46 Pegasus planes was almost two decades in the making. As such, the event was treated as a momentous celebration by Boeing officials, who held a ceremony Thursday marking the occasion with its Air Force customer.
On Friday, Air Force leadership, congressional representatives and Boeing executives witnessed the aircraft's arrival at McConnell for yet another event.
“To me, its personal to bring on this capability,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said after arriving on base. “This is a big day for us.”
“I think we all know the journey over the last several years,” Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said Thursday. “It hasn't been easy. In fact, it's been hard. But this team stuck to it. This team worked together.”
At the Everett ceremony, Boeing brought in a band to play classic rock songs by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin before the ceremony, dispersed cookies and chocolate lollipops featuring the KC-46, and had a tanker-themed “selfie station” where visitors could take photos of themselves with the Pegasus on display.
Over the KC-46 flight test program, the aircraft clocked 3,800 hours in the sky and pumped more than 4 billion pounds of fuel, Muilenburg said.
Leanne Caret, who heads Boeing's defense business, said the delivery solidifies the firm's legacy as “the tanker company for the U.S. and the world.”
“We're looking at delivering not only great capability that works today, but we're looking at staying on that leading edge of technology going forward, and we will continue to lean in throughout this process,” she told reporters after the event.
But numerous obstacles remain. Boeing needs to correct the KC-46's deficient remote vision system — the series of cameras and sensors that are the sole source of situational awareness for boom operators trying to move fuel from the tanker to a receiver aircraft. The company is redesigning that system at its own expense, and Caret declined to comment on the projected costs of the upgrades.
In order to hit a contractually obligated milestone, it also needs to move forward with getting wing aerial-refueling pods certified by the Federal Aviation Administration, an event that Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson confirmed will not happen until 2020.
Despite those problems, Air Force officials sounded an optimistic note about the current status of the program.
Wilson, who previously criticized Boeing for seemingly not paying enough attention to the tanker's problems, touted the new capabilities the KC-46 will bring to the tanker force, such as infrared countermeasures, protection against electromagnetic pulses and armor that will make it more survivable in the field.
“This aircraft is able to defend itself in ways that the KC-135 can't. It also has some other capabilities that allow us to refuel completely in the dark,” she said. “So there are things about this aircraft that we're really keen to get into the hands of our airmen.”
Full article: https://www.defensenews.com/air/2019/01/25/the-air-force-gets-its-first-new-kc-46s-an-event-decades-in-the-making
July 20, 2023 | International, Aerospace
French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation said on Thursday its order intake dropped in the first six months of the year, as it did not generate orders for Rafale jets.
July 24, 2019 | International, Naval
By Diane Owens, Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic Public Affairs CHARLESTON, S.C. (NNS) -- Certified cybersecurity instructors at Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic's Cyber Education and Certification Readiness Facility (CERF) in Charleston are collaborating with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to train active duty military members and civilian employees in cloud computing. The training is part of the first Department of Defense (DoD) AWS academy and is offered to all branches of service. AWS Academy is a pathway for students and educators to gain AWS cloud computing skills and knowledge via AWS-authorized curriculum; the courses prepare students to pursue industry-recognized AWS certifications. “This is a tremendous honor and an incredible opportunity to lead the way in cloud computing education for DoD employees,” said Andrew Mansfield, NIWC Atlantic technical director. “Cloud computing is a key component of the next generation of IT and is critical to maintaining the military's technological advantage. It represents significant change – end-to-end.” CERF instructors met stringent requirements for certification as part of NIWC Atlantic's commitment to develop and retain a credentialed workforce. “The CERF team is providing active duty military members and civilian employees foundational opportunities to learn about and stay abreast of emerging technology domains such as cloud,” said Mansfield. Wesley Jones, NIWC Atlantic CERF instructor, taught the first one-week, face-to-face portion of the AWS Academy Cloud Foundations course to Marine Corps active duty members and civilian employees at the Pentagon June 10 – 14. The instructors used AWS-provided coursework including lectures, self-assessments and hands-on lab projects. In addition to classroom training, AWS Academy provides students with one-year online access to remote curriculum that supplements classroom training. Jones also distributed a step-by-step checklist he developed for self-study to help students pass the related AWS certification exam. He plans to track and encourage class members as they obtain certification. “The students loved the class; everyone was amped up,” Jones said. “Because I'm a government employee, it put them at ease. We were able to discuss and apply classroom concepts used in government projects during class.” The CERF has also partnered with AWS Educate, which makes a free online IT sandbox – Amazon Console – available to students for classroom labs and scenarios they create on their own. The students' sandbox and fresh expertise deploy and test networks, systems and applications relevant to their customers' requirements. “Bringing the instructor to the classroom to avoid having students travel to vendor training is convenient – and it's a huge cost avoidance,” said Jeff Hays, NIWC Atlantic Marine Corp team lead. “Classroom networking is also extremely beneficial; it allows students to discuss specific challenges from the perspective of a DoD environment and facilitates sharing experiences. You don't get that at vendor training.” NIWC Atlantic instructors Jones, Kamau Buffalo and Fred Bisel are working diligently to pass additional certification exams so they can teach more AWS courses as they are released. “The instructors are stars,” said Bisel. “They teach part-time and have other jobs as members of various integrated products teams – many involving cloud computing. Most of their certification study and classroom preparation occurs after business hours -- and they're also staying abreast of innovations that affect material in existing classes. It's a continuous learning process and they're highly motivated.” The second AWS Academy course for Marine Corps members took place at the Marine Corps Information Technology Center in Kansas City, Missouri, in July. To inquire about DoD cloud computing training, contact Bisel at earl.bisel@navy.mil. As a part of Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, NIWC Atlantic provides systems engineering and acquisition to deliver information warfare capabilities to the naval, joint and national warfighter through the acquisition, development, integration, production, test, deployment, and sustainment of interoperable command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, cyber and information technology capabilities. Get more information about the Navy from US Navy Facebook or Twitter. For more news from Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/spawar/. https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=110327
July 9, 2018 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR
By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — Congress is waging a public battle on the fate of the JSTARS recap program, but behind the scenes, the Air Force is quietly taking steps that will allow them to award a contract for a program that leaders say they don't need. The service received final proposal revisions for the JSTARS recap program on June 22, confirmed Air Force spokeswoman Maj. Emily Grabowski in a statement to Defense News. “The Air Force wants to be postured to move forward with JSTARS recap, if required. Therefore, we are continuing source selection while we continue to work with Congress on the way forward,” Grabowski said in a statement. Usually, the government solicits final proposals and pricing information from competitors just weeks before making a final downselect. Thus, if Congress decides to force the Air Force to continue on with the program, it's likely the service will be able to award a contract in very short order. The Air Force began the JSTARS recap program as an effort to replace its aging E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System ground surveillance planes with new aircraft and a more capable radar. The initial plan was to buy 17 new JSTARS recap jets from either Boeing, Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman. However, the service announced during February's fiscal year 2019 budget rollout that it preferred to cancel the JSTARS recap program and fund an “Advanced Battle Management System” that would upgrade and link together existing aircraft and drones, allowing them to do the JSTARS mission. The Air Force's continued source selection efforts are necessary due to Congress, which is split on the issue of whether to continue to the program. Both Senate defense committees have sided with the Air Force, and would allow it to kill JSTARS recap as long as it continues to fund the current JSTARS fleet. The Senate version of the defense spending bill also includes an additional $375 million to accelerate the ABMS concept with additional MQ-9 Reapers and other technologies. Meanwhile, the House version of the bill would force the Air Force to award an engineering and manufacturing development contract for JSTARS recap to one of the three competitors, which had been valued at $6.9 billion. However, some lawmakers have said they might be willing to accept a truncated recap program to bridge the way until ABMS is fielded. “All of the committees understand the need for moving to the advanced battle management system,” Gen. Mike Holmes, head of Air Combat Command, told reporters in June. “If there are disagreements between the committees, it's about whether we can move straight to that and hold onto our legacy JSTARS as a way to bridge until we do that, or do we need to do one more recap of that system” The timing of final proposal revisions actually puts source selection for JSTARS recap ahead of that of the still ongoing T-X trainer jet program, which as of late June had not reached that stage. However, Congress will likely need time to resolve the JSTARS recap issue — meaning a contract decision is far from imminent. The House and Senate armed services committees began the conference process in June, which could allow them to reconcile differences in the defense policy bill as early as this summer. However, only appropriations bills can be used to fund government programs like JSTARS recap, and spending legislation could be stuck in limbo for months past that. If deliberations stretch out, “the Air Force will continue to assess contract award timelines and approvals. If necessary, the Air Force will request an extension of proposal validity or updated pricing as appropriate,” Grabowski said. Meanwhile, lawmakers continue to debate the case in the public eye. In a July 3 editorial for The Telegraph, Republican Rep. Austin Scott, one of the biggest proponents of the recap program, argued that it would be more economical to proceed with JSTARS recap than to continue to do extensive depot maintenance on the legacy aircraft. “After 10 years of work, the Air Force is considering canceling the JSTARS recap program,” wrote Scott, whose district in Georgia is home to Robins Air Force base, where the JSTARS aircraft reside. “Their arguments do not take into account the significantly improved capabilities and increased capacity that the new aircraft will provide. The Air Force has ignored its own assessments in their recommendation for cancellation.” https://www.defensenews.com/air/2018/07/06/air-force-quietly-and-reluctantly-pushing-jstars-recap-source-selection-ahead/