10 juin 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

Army Study Asks: How Much Modernization Can We Afford?

The Army's drive to modernize by 2035 is too big for traditional five-year spending plans, acquisition chief Bruce Jette said. So he's reviving long-term economic forecasting used in the Cold War.

By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.on June 09, 2020 at 12:37 PM

WASHINGTON: The Army's acquisition chief says the service is sticking with its 34 top-priority programs – in the face of budget pressure from the pandemic. But most of those programs will only move from prototypes to mass production in the second half of the 2020s; then they stay in service for decades with repeated upgrades. So, assistant secretary Bruce Jette says, the Army needs to exploit new technologies like 3D printing and modular upgrades to reduce long-term costs – but also revive long-term economic forecasting techniques largely neglected since the Cold War.

“At this point, we're remaining on schedule with the ‘31 plus 3,'” Jette said during an Association of the US Army webcast yesterday. (The Army divides the 34 programs this way because 31 of them, from intermediate-range missiles to smart rifles, are managed by Army Futures Command, but three of the most technologically challenging – hypersonic missiles and two types of missile defense lasers – belong to the independent Rapid Capabilities & Critical Technologies Office).

But the service needs to do more planning: “A second thing in the background that we are doing is taking a look at a holistic model, an economic model of the Army.”

“We are taking some steps to provide additional data in case there's a prioritization that does come down the road, due to changes in the budget profiles,” Jette said. “That business requires us to have this long-term full understanding of economics, which is what we're focused on trying to develop over the next year.”

That study will help inform Army leaders if they have to make a hard choice on which of the 34 priority programs to put first – and, while Jette didn't say so aloud, which may be cut back or canceled entirely.

Beyond 2026

The Pentagon normally builds its annual budget two years ahead of time. Congress is now considering the 2021 request, largely drafted in 2019. Those budgets include a less-detailed annex, called the Future Years Defense Program (FYDP) that outlines the five years ahead.

Now, some of the Army's new weapons will enter service in that timeframe, in limited numbers, including new hypersonic and intermediate-range missiles in 2023. But many, including some of the most expensive, will take longer. So new armored vehicles won't enter service until 2028, new high-speed aircraft not until 2030. Actually building enough to equip a sizable combat force takes even longer. The Army aims to build a decisive counter to Russian aggression by 2028, but expect a force adequate to counter China only by 2035.

“I have to have a much longer view of the battlespace, the economic battle space,” Jette said. “The objective [is] to lay a foundation upon which we can take a serious look at what the long-term implications of owning a piece of equipment,” he said.

So “I'm working with the G-8 [the Army's deputy chief of staff for resourcing]. In fact, we just had a meeting on this last week to pull out some models that were actually used more in the Cold War, that we sort of let wane [during] Iraq and Afghanistan.... Next week I go up to West Point to have ORSA [Operations Research/Systems Analysis] cell up there that specifically is focused on economics.”

New Tricks

Now, the Army doesn't plan to simply repeat its Cold War past. The Reagan-era “Big Five” – the M1 Abrams and M2 Bradley armored vehicles, Apache and Black Hawk helicopters, and Patriot missile defense system – have been repeatedly upgraded since their inception. But these platforms are running out of room for more horsepower, armor protection, and firepower, and they were never designed to allow the constant upgrades required to keep pace with modern advances in electronics.

The M1 Abrams, for instance, is literally hard-wired. “There are literally, in a tank, over a couple of tons of cabling, all tremendously expensive and all very, very structured,” said Jette, a former tanker himself. “So if you want to change something ... you have to re-cable large portions of it.”

The Army must account not only for the up-front cost to research, develop, and build the new weapons, Jette emphasized, but also the much larger long-term bill to operate, maintain and upgrade them. “If we don't think about how it's going to be enhance-able, upgradable, and modified for different uses over a period of time,” he said, “we're missing things, because we do keep them for 30, 40 years.

“For industry, if you have a good idea and a new component, how do we get them in a vehicle without having to replace half of the components?” he asked. That requires a new approach called modular open systems architecture that allows you to plug-and-play any new component as long as it meets certain technical standards. “By getting this much more open architecture in place on these vehicles,” he said, “we think that we're going to be able to keep them growing to the future over that 30 to 40 year period.”

The Army is also eager to use digital designs, 3D printing, and other advanced manufacturing techniques so it can print out spare parts as needed, rather than stockpile vast quantities of everything it might need for every system. (Jette just visited the Army's 3-D printing hub at Rock Island Arsenal, he said enthusiastically). But this vision raises complex issues of not only managing the technical data but wrangling out the legal rights to use it. Many companies depend on the long-term revenue from selling spares and upgrades, and they're not

It's a knotty intellectual property issue that Jette is keenly aware of, being a patent-holder and former small businessman himself.

“I do understand ... what type of risk it is. I'll frankly admit that many of the people in the military who fundamentally only been in the military don't understand,” Jette said. “If the risk is totally on you, and it makes no economic sense, I recommend you not answering the RFP.”

If too few companies respond to an official Request For Proposals, Jette said, that provides valuable feedback to the Army that maybe it's doing something wrong – feedback he can use in his own quest to educate the service. “Sometimes,” he said, “challenges to RFPs are a good way for you to help me to make sure that people understand that this is too much risk we're asking of industry.”

https://breakingdefense.com/2020/06/army-study-asks-how-much-modernization-can-we-afford

Sur le même sujet

30 novembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial

France: Armée de l'air : le général Lavigne dévoile son plan de vol
Par Alain Barluet L'espace, les effectifs, la protection aérienne du territoire et le système de combat du futur sont les priorités du nouveau chef d'état-major de l'armée de l'air. «Ce n'est pas un plan de rupture», prévient le général Philippe Lavigne. Arrivé à son poste début septembre, le nouveau chef d'état-major de l'armée de l'air (Cemaa) a tracé ses perspectives stratégiques sur la base des travaux largement entamés par son prédécesseur. Néanmoins, précise-t-il, «il m'appartient d'infléchir la trajectoire de l'armée de l'air pour lui permettre de prendre en compte les nouveaux enjeux des prochaines années». C'est ce «plan de vol» - une expression parlante pour tous les aviateurs - que le nouveau Cemaa a présenté jeudi à l'École militaire. Un projet qui, souligne-t-il, «s'appuiera sur l'ADN des aviateurs: agilité, précision, audace et passion». Selon la formule, directe, du général Lavigne, «l'objet de la mission sera de vaincre et protéger ensemble par les airs». Parmi ses priorités: le rôle futur de l'armée de l'air vis-à-vis de l'espace, qui s'affirme comme un thé'tre de conflictualité entre les puissances. «Nous devons désormais répondre à l'enjeu de ... Article complet: http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2018/11/29/01003-20181129ARTFIG00299-armee-de-l-air-le-plan-de-vol-du-general-lavigne.php
27 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - April 24, 2020
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Sysco Raleigh, Selma, North Carolina, has been awarded a maximum $120,930,698 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-quantity contract for full-line food distribution. This was a competitive acquisition with one response received. This is a two-year base contract with two 18-month option periods. Location of performance is North Carolina, with an April 19, 2022, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2022 defense working capital funds. The contracting agency is Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-20-D-3269). EFW Inc., Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a maximum $79,054,850 firm-fixed-price contract for hand stations, gunner hand stations and circuit cards for the Bradley fighting vehicle. 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 three-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Texas, with an April 30, 2023, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Warren, Michigan (SPRDL1-20-D-0019). Oshkosh Defense LLC, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, has been awarded a $57,989,530 firm-fixed-price contract for engines with containers. This is a two-year four-month contract with no option periods. This was a competitive acquisition with one response received. Location of performance is Wisconsin, with an Aug. 8, 2022, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2022 Army working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Warren, Michigan (SPRDL1-20-C-0109). Thales Defense & Security Inc., Clarksburg, Maryland, has been awarded a maximum $19,317,824 firm-fixed-price contract for airborne low frequency sonar spare parts. 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 three-year four-month contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Maryland, with an Aug. 30, 2023, performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2023 Navy working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPRPA1-20-C-Y025). American Water Military Services LLC, Camden, New Jersey, has been awarded an $8,704,164 modification (P00014) to a 50-year contract (SP0600-18-C-8324), with no option periods, for water and wastewater utility services at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. This is a fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract increasing the obligated value from $18,232,817 to $19,190,974. Locations of performance are Missouri and New Jersey, with an April 30, 2069, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2069 Army operations and maintenance funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Seiler Instrument and Manufacturing Co., Inc.,* St. Louis, Missouri, has been awarded a maximum $8,465,640 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for M119A1 light towed howitzer infinity collimators. This was a competitive acquisition with three responses received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Missouri, with a May 24, 2025, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2025 Army working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Warren, Michigan (SPRDL1-20-D-0091). AIR FORCE Raytheon Corp., Marlborough, Massachusetts, has been awarded a $117,543,944 modification (P00110) to contract FA8705-14-C-0001 to exercise the production option contract line item numbers 0005, 0006, 0009, 0050AC and 0050AF for a global aircrew strategic network terminal. This modification brings the total cumulative value of the contract from $542,640,854 to $660,184,798. Work will be performed in Largo, Florida, and is expected to be completed by June 24, 2022. Fiscal 2020 other procurement funds in the amount of $117,543,944 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Material Command, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity. Huntington Ingalls Industries, Fairfax, Virginia, and Des Moines, Iowa, has been awarded a $64,076,424 contract for Air National Guard operational training support. This contract provides for support of the Distributed Training Operations Center (DTOC). The primary mission of the DTOC is to provide expertise and staffing for the execution of Distributed Mission Operations (DMO) events and tests, and to provide technical and analytical expertise in support of networked operations. This effort includes technical and program management, scenario development, DMO mission execution, data collection, data reduction and analysis, technical and analytical support of networked operations, cybersecurity, test planning and reporting, requirements definition, system engineering, system software quality assurance/configuration control tasks and verification, validation and accreditation tasks. Work will be performed in Des Moines, Iowa, and is expected to be complete by April 30, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition under the Training Systems Acquisition III multiple award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract where two offers were received in response to the Fair Opportunity Proposal Request. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $8,119,379 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8621-20-F-6258). NAVY The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded a $75,141,193 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract in support of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter aircraft Service Life Assessment Program and Service Life Extension Program, Phase C follow-on effort. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri (50%); and El Segundo, California (50%), and provides non-recurring engineering to assess the fatigue life of the aircraft as well as its subsystems and structures to extend the service life of the F/A-18E/F beyond the original design of the 6,000 flight hour service life. Work is expected to be complete by April 2025. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-20-D-0051). Hydroid Inc., Pocasset, Massachusetts, is awarded a $39,414,560 modification to previously-awarded firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00174-19-D-0010) to exercise Option Year One for production support for the MK-18 Family of Systems – Unmanned Underwater Vehicle systems. Work will be performed in Pocasset, Massachusetts, and is expected to be complete by April 2024. This contract was awarded on a sole-source basis in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulations 6.302-1(a)(2), with only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. No additional funds are being obligated at the time of this action. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division, Indian Head, Maryland, is the contracting activity. ARMY Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Florida, was awarded a $67,647,172 modification (P00001) to Foreign Military Sales (India, Taiwan) contract (W52P1J-20-F-0225) for modernized target acquisition designation sight/pilot night vision sensors and its subcomponents on the Apache 64D/E helicopter. 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 April 24, 2023. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity. Tabcon Inc.,* Queen Creek, Arizona, was awarded a $15,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for roofing repair and replacement work on various buildings at Fort Riley, Kansas. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of April 24, 2025. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City, Kansas, is the contracting activity (W912DQ-20-D-4003). Cepheid, Sunny Vale, California, was awarded a $12,075,000 firm-fixed-price contract for swabs and test kits to support COVID-19. 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 April 23, 2021. The U.S. Army Health Readiness Contracting Office, Joint Base San Antonio – Fort Sam Houston, Texas, is the contracting activity (W81K04-20-D-0008). (Awarded April 23, 2020) BAE Systems Ordnance Systems Inc., Kingsport, Tennessee, was awarded an $8,118,623 modification (P00712) to contract DAAA09-98-E-0006 to design a flashing furnace type treatment technology, including the necessary air-pollution control systems and support building(s) for the purpose of thermal treatment of appropriate waste streams. Work will be performed in Kingsport, Tennessee, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 31, 2021. Fiscal 2020 procurement of ammunition, Army funds in the amount of $8,118,623 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity. Luhr Bros Inc., Columbia, Illinois, was awarded a $7,633,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide stone subaqueous paving grade stone B at six locations. These sites are considered emergency work locations where bank degradation is threatening the integrity of the levee system. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of July 17, 2020. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-20-F-0116). Alstom Renewable US LLC, Greenwood Village, Colorado, was awarded a $7,009,487 modification (P00005) to contract W912EF-17-C-0024 for design, fabrication and delivery of a new upper bearing bracket for the Little Goose Dam. Work will be performed in Dayton, Washington, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 25, 2022. Fiscal 2017 and 2021 blanket purchase agreement funds in the amount of $7,009,487 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla, Washington, is the contracting activity. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE EDUCATION ACTIVITY Global Connections to Employment Inc., Pensacola, Florida (HE1254-20-C-1001), is being awarded a fixed-price contract for custodial services and labor support in the amount of $14,376,570. The place of performance will be Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The period of performance is one 12-month base period and four 12-month option years. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funding in the amount of $2,844,568 will be obligated on this award. This contract was awarded as a mandatory source through the AbilityOne program in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 8.7 (Acquisition from Nonprofit Agencies Employing People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled). The contracting activity is the Department of Defense Education Activity, Alexandria, Virginia. *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2164680/source/GovDelivery/
13 février 2020 | International, Aérospatial

Pentagon seeks to cut F-35s, other equipment to pay for Trump’s border wall
By: Aaron Mehta , Valerie Insinna , David B. Larter , and Joe Gould WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is seeking to divert $3.8 billion, largely from its fiscal 2020 weapons procurement budget, in order to fund President Donald Trump's border wall, according to a reprogramming request to congress obtained by Defense News. Among the victims of the cuts: a mass of aircraft purchases including F-35 joint strike fighters, C-130J cargo aircraft, MQ-9 Reaper drones and P-8 maritime surveillance planes, as well as ground vehicles and naval priorities. Overall, the plan would shift $2.202 billion in FY20 defense appropriations and $1.629 billion in FY20 Overseas Contingency Operations funding towards the wall, a key priority from president Donald Trump ahead of the November presidential elections. Air Force and Navy aviation spending takes the brunt of the cuts proposed by the Pentagon, with aircraft procurement going down by $558 million for Navy and Marine Corps and $861 million for the Air Force. Importantly, all of the funding decreases target items that were specifically added by Congress during the budgeting process, which could incur rancor from lawmakers. For the Navy, the Pentagon would cut two of the six F-35B short takeoff and landing aircraft added to the FY20 budget by Congress and two MV-22 Ospreys, stating that “current funding is more than sufficient to keep the production line open.” It also seeks to eliminate funding for one of the nine P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft funded in FY20, stating that the additional aircraft is “[in] excess to the 117 aircraft required.” In the Air Force's budget, the Pentagon slashed funding for the four of the eight C-130Js added by Congress for the reserve and Air National Guard. The department stated that funding for those planes can be rescheduled to fiscal year 2021, when the period of performance for the associated contract starts. The request would eliminate eight MQ-9 Reaper drones, culling most of the funding added by Congress for an increase of 12 MQ-9s. “The program is currently undergoing a strategic review,” the department stated in written justification, referring to an ongoing debate within the Air Force about how many Reapers to buy and retain over the next decade. “Procurement, if necessary, can be rescheduled to a later fiscal year.” Combatant commanders have consistently said they need more surveillance assets around the globe. It also strips $156 million for advanced procurement for the F-35A and removes $180 million for light attack aircraft for the Air Force, which the service has decided against procuring but has been widely supported by lawmakers as a low-cost alternative for the counter-terrorism fight. The Army would stand to lose $100 million in funding for national guard Humvee modernization and $194.5 million in Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck funding. However, with the Humvee set to be replaced by JLTV, the Army is unlikely to be heavily impacted by these funds being shifted around. The reprogramming request also cuts $650 million in advanced procurement funding for an America-class Amphibious Assault Ship, LHA-9, which is being built in Mississippi at Ingalls Shipbuilding. On its website, Huntington Ingalls Industries says the advanced funding provided by Congress, “enables a hot production line and a supplier base of 457 companies in 39 states to build this powerful warship.” The reprogramming also cuts funding one expeditionary fast transport ship, which is built in Alabama at Austal USA, which has been an area of interest for the powerful Republican Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Richard Shelby. The ship was deemed “excess to current programmatic need,” the reprogramming document says. “The procurement exceeds the program-of-record requirement,” the document reads. “This is a congressional special interest item.” In addition, the national guard and reserves would lose about $1.3 billion in what the reprograming request describes as unnecessary funding, given historic underexecution of prior year funds. A spokesman for the Pentagon declined to comment. Last year, the defense department had budgets, largely for military construction projects, diverted into funding a stretch of the wall project. Those projects cut included the rebuilding of several DoD schools both in the U.S. and abroad, special operations training centers in Europe and Hurricane Maria relief for Puerto Rico National Guard facilities. Overall, more than 100 projects had funding delayed. Asked on Tuesday about a potential reprograming of defense funds to pay for the wall, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said “We did receive the request from DHS, that's all I'll say right now. We're working our way through the process, we're doing all those things we need to do. So when we're ready to make an announcement, we'll make an announcement.” Word that the Pentagon may once again be raided to pay for the wall came in mid-January, and at the time seemed to catch Republican supporters in Congress off-guard. “I wish they wouldn't take [wall funding] out of defense. I want to build the wall, I supported direct appropriations for it and fought for it — but we have to evaluate what this does to the military, what it affects, where and how,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Richard Shelby, R-Ala, at the time. But he added that nobody should be surprised the administration repeated the tactic, after it worked last year. https://www.defensenews.com/breaking-news/2020/02/13/pentagon-seeks-to-cut-f-35s-other-equipment-to-pay-for-trumps-border-wall

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