18 mars 2024 | International, Aérospatial
14 juin 2018 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR
House wants better tech at the Air Force’s space ops center
The U.S. House of Representatives issued a rebuke to the Air Force's long-awaited space object tracking system in the annual defense authorization bill, which passed May 24.
An amendment to the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act restricted all funding to theAir Force's Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) Mission System (JMS) until the Pentagon can show Congress that the program's contract embraces “best-in-breed” technology to fill gaps in current space situational capabilities.
The White House objected to the decision from Congress, arguing that excessive oversight will impose a burden on the Air Force, further delaying the already time strained program.
“This provision will add additional cost and schedule to [JMS] and delay delivery of a critical space situational awareness capability to the warfighter,” administration officials said in a statement.
A final version of the bill must pass both chambers of Congress.
The Government Accountability Office released a report May 24 detailing the continued setbacks of the second increment of JSpOC JMS. The report says the program has been delayed by two years and 11 months and attributed the slip to the $18.9 million in funding reductions through fiscal years 2013 and 2014.
The GAO has said the total cost of the second increment of the program is about $320 million.
The JMS will replace the Air Force's Space Defense Operations Center (SPADOC), a system long begrudged by officials as dilapidated and difficult to maintain. Gen. John Hyten, the former head of Air Force Space Command, once described the legacy system as “that ancient engine that can't take data from anywhere unless it's one of ours.”
Despite continued calls for system upgrades, the new system is currently scheduled to be launched in June 2019, almost three years later than its original schedule date of July 2016. In the GAO's analysis of the program, the congressional watchdog was unable to obtain performance data from JMS because the program is still in an “early development” phase.
In September 2016, after missing a key deadline, the Air Force issued to Congress a critical change report regarding the JMS, formally eliminating several of the program's capability goals and delaying its estimated delivery date from July 2016 to May 2019.
The JMS is part of a larger effort from the Air Force to modernize the Joint Space Operations Center, the processing center of U.S. military space operations. The program aims to replace or upgrade the hardware and software currently used for space surveillance, collision avoidance, launch support, and providing more precise and timely orbital information from data gathered the service's object tracking system, known as Space Fence.
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23 juin 2022 | International, Aérospatial
Boeing Eyes 2023 Contract Signing For German Chinook Purchase
Boeing hopes to secure a contract early next year for Germany's future fleet of Chinook transport helicopters as it works to finalize requirements for the rotorcraft.
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7 mai 2019 | International, Aérospatial
NAVAIR: New Presidential Helicopter Production to Start Soon
By: Ben Werner NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—Naval Air Systems Command has a handshake deal in place to start production of the Sikorsky VH-92A, the next generation presidential helicopter, officials said on Monday. NAVAIR has already taken possession of three VH-92A aircraft and the program is scheduled to have a milestone decision meeting at the end of the month with Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition James Geurts. Based on the feedback from test pilots, VH-92A production is expected to start soon after the milestone meeting, Marine Maj. Gen. Gregory L. Masiello, the program executive officer for Air anti-submarine warfare, assault and special mission programs (PEO (A)) said during a presentation at the Navy League's 2019 Sea Air Space exposition. “I believe that things went reasonably well,” Masiello said of the recent VH-92A testing. “The reason I say that is because I know where the aircraft took off from every day and I know where they landed every day, and it was where it was supposed to. The feedback was relatively positive.” In one instance, a VH-92A flew into Washington D.C., swooping low over the National Mall on an otherwise quiet Saturday morning, and practicing landing on the White House lawn. That VH-92A was the first helicopter delivered to NAVAIR. The initial operational capability is expected to occur in late 2020, and the full production line is on track to complete in 2023. Assuming the end of May meeting with Geurts is positive, Masiello said the plan is to award Sikorsky a production contract and executive options to build the VH-92 throughout the life of the program as needed, Masiello said. As part of the Presidential Helicopter Replacement Program, Sikorsky was in 2014 awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build a fleet of six helicopters to start, but with options for the Navy to purchase up to 17 more helicopters. This is the second attempt to replace the current decades-old VH-3Ds presidential helicopters currently in use. In 2005, Lockheed Martin's proposed VH-71 helicopter beat the Sikorsky helicopter in the competition to build the Presidential helicopters. Years of delays and cost overruns caused the Pentagon to scrap the project in 2008 and start the process over with a new round of bidding, according to a Congressional Research Service report. A decade later, Sikorsky won a new competition with its VH-92A design, a variant of the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter which is used by 11 other nations to transport their heads of state. Lockheed Martin purchased Sikorsky for $9 billion in 2015. https://news.usni.org/2019/05/06/navair-new-presidential-helicopter-production-to-start-soon