Wittman says patience wearing thin on F-35 sustainment plan

On the same subject

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  September 23, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  A consensus-driven joint concept for all-domain warfare will fall short

  Mark Gunzinger Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Hyten recently announced a new U.S. Department of Defense joint war-fighting concept will summarize capabilities needed for future all-domain operations and eliminate artificial lines on the battlefield used to deconflict U.S. operations in the past. Hyten also noted the concept will seamlessly integrate “fires from all domains, including space and cyber,” to overwhelm an enemy. While these aspirations are laudable, there are indications the concept could fall short of what is needed to inform cross-service trade-offs that must be made in an era of flat or declining defense budgets. The DoD creates operating concepts to define preferred approaches to perform specific missions or execute a campaign to defeat an enemy. They also provide a foundation for the services to assess new technologies, force alternatives and resource priorities. Said another way, they are the tissue that connects top-level National Defense Strategy guidance to actual plans and programs. While a joint all-domain war-fighting concept is urgently needed, Hyten has not made it clear the one in development will lead to trade-offs that maximize the DoD's war-fighting potential. For instance, Hyten has said it will call for every service to conduct long-range strikes: “A naval force can defend itself or strike deep. An air force can defend itself or strike deep. The Marines can defend itself or strike deep. ... Everybody.” This could mean the concept will support a degree of redundancy across the services that has never existed. Setting aside tough trade-offs that eliminate excessively redundant programs will waste defense dollars and reduce capabilities available to U.S. commanders. More specifically, the concept might endorse the Army's plan to buy 1,000-mile-plus, surface-to-surface missiles that cost millions of dollars each. Doing so would ignore analyses that have determined using large numbers of these weapons would be far more expensive than employing bombers that can strike any target on the planet for a fraction of the cost, then regenerate and fly more sorties. Furthermore, the Army's long-range missile investments could be at the expense of its ability to defend U.S. theater air bases against missile attacks. Not only has air base missile defense long been an Army mission — it has long neglected and underfunded the mission. Chinese or Russian strikes against under-defended air bases could cripple the United States' primary combat sortie-generation operations. If the concept does not consider these kinds of trade-offs, it could be due to the approach used to create it. The Joint Staff's doctrine development process is notorious for seeking consensus instead of making cross-service trade-offs necessary to maximize the DoD's war-fighting potential. Assuring bureaucratic service equities versus optimizing combat lethality can lead to operating concepts that fail to create clear priorities or — worse yet — declare everything a priority. If everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority. Moreover, each service was asked to develop a subordinate concept that will be integrated into the whole. This piece-part approach could result in the services ladening their subordinate concepts with their own equities instead of working together to develop the most effective, decisive options. In short, a bottom-up, consensus-driven concept for all-domain warfare would not be an effective baseline to compare the DoD's force structure and capability alternatives. Three things could help to avoid this mistake. First, the secretary of defense should approve a new all-domain war-fighting concept, and the secretary's staff should be deeply involved in its development. Some say the latter is inappropriate, believing the military, not DoD civilians, should create war-fighting concepts. However, it is entirely appropriate for the secretary's staff to be part of the concept's creation if its purpose is to shape the DoD's plans and programs. Second, DoD leaders should rigorously examine the services' existing roles and missions during the concept's development, and make changes to reduce excessively redundant responsibilities, forces and capabilities. This may need to be driven by congressional language. Finally, the DoD should jettison the word “joint” as part of the concept's title. This would stress the concept is focused on integrating operations across all domains, not on the services that provide forces to combatant commanders. The point is not for all to participate, but instead for all options to be considered, and those that provide best combat value be prioritized. Otherwise, it becomes a case analogous to all the kids chasing a soccer ball. The 2018 National Defense Strategy was the beginning of the effort to shift the DoD toward preparing for peer conflict. Given that dollars and time are short, the DoD must now get a concept for all-domain warfare right. Like the National Defense Strategy, the concept must be top-down driven, not a bottom-up, consensus-driven product that fails to make trade-offs across the services and provides a rationale that supports what each service desires to buy. Rather, its ultimate objective should be to seek best-value capabilities and expand theater commander options to defeat peer adversaries. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/09/22/a-consensus-driven-joint-concept-for-all-domain-warfare-will-fall-short/

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  August 30, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  Germany, seeking independence from U.S., pushes cyber security research

  BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany announced a new agency on Wednesday to fund research on cyber security and to end its reliance on digital technologies from the United States, China and other countries. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told reporters that Germany needed new tools to become a top player in cyber security and shore up European security and independence. “It is our joint goal for Germany to take a leading role in cyber security on an international level,” Seehofer told a news conference with Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen. “We have to acknowledge we're lagging behind, and when one is lagging, one needs completely new approaches.” The agency is a joint interior and defense ministry project. Germany, like many other countries, faces a daily barrage of cyber attacks on its government and industry computer networks. Full article: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-cyber/germany-seeking-independence-from-u-s-pushes-cyber-security-research-idUSKCN1LE1FX

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  May 22, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - May 21, 2020

  U.S. TRANSPORTATION COMMAND Marine Terminals Corp., San Pedro, California, has been awarded a $95,835,034 firm-fixed-price contract (HTC711-20-D-R046) providing stevedoring and related terminal services at ports in Northern California. Work will be performed at the Military Ocean Terminal, Concord, California; and the Port of Oakland, California. The contract period of performance is from Aug. 7, 2020, to Aug. 6, 2025. Fiscal 2020 transportation working capital funds were obligated at award. U.S. Transportation Command, Directorate of Acquisition, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, in the contracting activity. NAVY AECOM-BAKER-CARDNO NAVFAC Atlantic Planning JV, Arlington, Virginia, is awarded a $95,000,000 maximum amount, firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, architect-engineering contract for architect-engineer services for preparation of Navy and Marine Corps planning and engineering services for work located primarily in the continental U.S. east coast, but also worldwide. The work to be performed provides for: (a) Plans: global shore infrastructure plans; installation development plans; regional integration plans; functional plans; maintenance and sustainment plans; integrated product support plans; encroachment action plans; family housing and bachelor quarters comprehensive neighborhood plans; activity overview plans; and installation appearance plans; (b) Project Planning Documents: the preparation of military construction project planning documentation; preparation of construction cost estimates, preliminary and parametric cost estimates and siting-land use studies/analyses; special site approvals; economic analyses; asset evaluations; basic facility requirements documentation; facilities planning documents; preliminary hazard analyses; preliminary hazard lists, and sustainable design studies; (c) Studies: concept studies; special planning studies, business case analysis studies and traffic/parking/movement studies; facilities planning studies, feasibility studies, safety studies and air installation compatible use zones; range air installation compatible use zones studies; site studies; facilities life cycle studies; activity planning and management models and electronic land use/planning tools/studies. Work is expected to be complete by May 2025. No task orders are being issued at this time. The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) (O&M,N) contract funds in the amount of $10,000 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by O&M, N. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website and two proposals were received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N62470-20-D-0006). Lockheed Martin Corp. Rotary and Mission Systems, Baltimore, Maryland, is awarded a $48,965,154 firm-fixed-price modification to previously awarded contract N63394-20-C0004 to exercise options for launch sequencer MK 5 Mod 2 production units in support of the Vertical Launch System. Work will be performed in Oldsmar, Florida. The Vertical Launch System provides area and self-defense, anti-air warfare capabilities, counter-air and land attack cruise missile defense and surface and subsurface warfare capabilities. Work is expected to be complete by April 2022. Fiscal 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $48,965,154 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. The Boeing Co., Seattle, Washington, is awarded a $27,770,370 modification (P00174) to previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract N00019-14-C-0067. This modification procures integrated logistics support for the Boeing P-8A Poseidon warfare aircraft for the Navy, the government of Australia, and the government of the United Kingdom. Work will be performed in Seattle, Washington (68%); Jacksonville, North Carolina (16%); Whidbey Island, Washington (4%); Sigonella, Italy (3%); Kadena, Japan (2%); Bahrain, Bahrain (2%); Misawa, Japan (2%); Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii (2%); and various locations within and outside the continental U.S. (1%). Work is expected to be complete by March 2023. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,391,473; Royal Australian Air Force cooperative program funds in the amount of $256,187; and Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $133,083 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. DRS Laurel Technologies, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, is awarded a $26,047,878 firm-fixed-price modification to previously-awarded contract N63394-20-C-0002 to exercise options for launch control unit Mk 235 Mod 11 and Mod 12 production units in support of the Vertical Launch System (VLS). Work will be performed in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. This option exercise is for the manufacture, assembly, test and delivery of additional production units of the VLS launch sequencer launch control unit Mk 235 Mod 11 and 12, part numbers 7104280-119 and 7104280-129, respectively. The VLS provides area and self-defense, anti-air warfare, surface and subsurface capabilities, counter-air and land attack cruise missile defense, and is equipped with two redundant launch control units, each of which is electrically interfaced with all of the launch sequencers in the system. Work is expected to be complete by February 2021. Fiscal 2020 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $26,047,878 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. Management Services Group Inc.,* doing business as Global Technical Systems, Virginia Beach, Virginia, is awarded a $24,385,746 firm-fixed-price modification to previously-awarded contract N00024-20-C-5608 for procurement of network, processing and storage (NPS) technical insertion (TI) 16, modification (MOD) 1 production equipment, which provides computer processing and memory, data storage and extraction, network systems and input/output interfaces to host software applications of Navy combat systems. This contract combines purchases for the Navy (62%) and the government of the Commonwealth of Australia (38%) under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. Work will be performed in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The NPS program consists of enterprise products in use across surface Navy combat systems which introduce powerful, commercially available, off-the-shelf processors as part of a general strategy to achieve a modular and open architecture design. NPS is comprised of two different common processing system enclosure assemblies and three variants: advanced storage area network, core computing system, and air-cooled processing and storage subsystem. Aegis weapon system Aegis modernization upgrade equipment systems are also included in this procurement and align requirements to include the Aegis local area network interconnect system, Aegis conversion equipment group Input/Output 1 and 2, and digital video display system. Work is expected to be complete by December 2021. Fiscal 2020 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds; FMS Australia funds; 2015 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds; 2016 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds; and 2020 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $24,385,746 will be obligated at time of award, and funds in the amount of $39,356 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. Innovative Defense Technologies LLC,* Arlington, Virginia, is awarded a $22,506,572 modification (P00007) to previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract N00014-19-C-1054 for the Cloud to Edge Environment. This modification adds Options 5 through 10, and exercises Options 5, 9 and 10, which increases the contract value by $22,506,572. Under this modification, the contractor will continue work to deliver a secure development and operations (SecDevOps) environment enabling cloud-based collaborative development, simulation, testing and certification of evolving Navy software systems. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia (68%); Mount Laurel, New Jersey (23%); Washington, D.C. (6%); Rhode Island (2%); and various places below 1%. Work is expected to be complete by February 2022. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $77,844 are obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $20,453,641 are obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity. Alere San Diego Inc., doing business as Immunalysis Corp., San Diego, California, is awarded a $7,066,152 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for U.S. Food and Drug Administration and quality management documented fentanyl/norfentanyl immunoassay reagent kits for use with the currently installed Beckman Coulter AU5800 series systems for the Department of Defense Drug Demand Reduction Program. This is a two-year single award contract, and deliveries are expected to be complete by May 2022. Fiscal 2020 defense-wide, one-year operations and maintenance funds will be obligated on decentralized individual delivery orders during the base period. No funds will be obligated at the time of award and the minimum guarantee under the contract is 100 kits. The contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, and three offers were received. The Naval Medical Logistics Command, Fort Detrick, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N62645-20-D-5004). ARMY Raytheon Co., Tewksbury, Massachusetts, was awarded a $92,370,000 hybrid (cost-no-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and firm-fixed-price) contract for sustainment, maintenance, training, refurbishment, overhaul, engineering services and spares to support ongoing operations of the National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 14, 2024. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-20-D-0008). AECOM Management Services Inc., Germantown, Maryland, was awarded a $10,507,113 modification (0001BW) to contract W52P1J-12-G-0028 for logistics support services, including maintenance, supply and transportation. Work will be performed at Fort Polk, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 17, 2020. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $10,507,113 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity. Integration Innovation Inc.,* Huntsville, Alabama, was awarded an $8,310,128 modification (000117) to contract W31P4Q-18-A-0089 for the International Apache Technical Lifecycle Support task order. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of June 4, 2021. Fiscal 2020 Foreign Military Sales (Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Netherlands, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Republic of Korea, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom) funds in the amount of $8,310,128 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Creighton AB Inc.,* Reidsville, North Carolina, has been awarded a maximum $12,080,120 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for men's and women's dress coats. This was a competitive acquisition with two responses received. This is a one-year base contract with four one-year option periods. Locations of performance are North Carolina and New York, with a May 20, 2021, performance completion date. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-20-D-1274). AIR FORCE LinQuest Corp., Los Angeles, California, has been awarded an $11,008,552 firm-fixed-price modification (P00047) to contract FA8819-15-F-0001 for the Space and Missile Systems Center technical support follow-on task order bridge extension. This modification provides continued technical support services for the Special Programs Directorate, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California. Work will be performed at Los Angeles AFB, California, and is expected to be completed May 31, 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $856,651; and fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $3,000,000 are obligated at the time of award. The U.S. Space Force, Space and Missile Systems Center, Special Programs Directorate, Los Angeles AFB, California, is the contracting activity. Central Coast Water Authority, Buellton, California, has been awarded a $7,600,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity delivery order to provide Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and outlying municipalities with potable water. Work will be provided at Vandenberg AFB, California, and is expected to be completed June 14, 2032. The cumulative value of this contract is $165,443,388. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $7,593,715 are being obligated at the time of award. The 30th Contracting Squadron, Vandenberg AFB, California, is the contracting activity (F04684-92-D-0013). *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2194990/source/GovDelivery/