Nouvelles

By: Ian Williams In 2017, I helped author the CSIS report “Missile Defense 2020,” a broad look at the history, status and future of the U.S. homeland missile defense system known as Ground-based Midcourse Defense. The report argued that the establishment of GMD had put the United States in an advantageous position relative to the North Korean missile threat, but this advantage would be short-lived if the United States failed to improve GMD through incremental milestones and regular testing. GMD has had some notable achievements with this strategy. The Pentagon, however, seems to be moving away from this proven approach to GMD, attempting great leaps rather than manageable steps. This riskier approach could make the United States less secure over the near and long term. Until recently, GMD had been following a well-defined road map, with good results. After a series of flight-test failures from 2010-2013, the Missile Defense Agency began a rigorous effort to root out anomalies within the system's Ground-Based Interceptors, or GBI. MDA carried out a successful intercept in 2014, followed by intercepting an intercontinental ballistic missile-class target for the first time in 2017. In 2019, GMD engaged an ICBM target with a salvo of two GBIs, marking another first for the system. MDA also expanded the fleet to 44 GBIs and is constructing a new Long Range Discrimination Radar in Alaska to provide the system much-needed sensor support. These achievements were supposed to be followed by an incremental modernization of the GBIs. The plan was to incorporate a new Redesigned Kill Vehicle around the year 2020. The RKV would be similar in concept to those currently deployed but incorporate new technologies and nearly 20 years of lessons learned. Another part of the plan was to give the GBIs a new booster, one that gave the war fighter the option of using either two or three stages, thereby providing the system more time and space to engage incoming missiles. MDA also set its sights on a set of longer-term objectives. These goals included a space-based sensor layer for tracking missile threats, and a GBI equipped with multiple kill vehicles that would greatly expand the capacity of the GBI fleet. While the volume kill concept had great appeal, MDA recognized the need for a developmental step between the current kill vehicles and a more advanced, unproven concept. Historically, U.S. missile defense has done best when pursuing steady, achievable goals. The highly successful Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense program, for example, has consistently adhered to the mantra: “Build a little, test a little, learn a lot.” The RKV program, however, ran into delays. Yet, rather than continue trying to fix the program, the Pentagon opted to abandon it and skip directly to a more advanced, multi-kill vehicle approach called the Next Generation Interceptor. NGI is an ambitious, 10-plus year endeavor that carries significant risk. In the near term, it means that the president's goal to add 20 more GBIs to the fleet will go unmet, as those GBIs were supposed to be capped with RKVs. Any expansion to the GBI fleet before 2030 will require the design and construction of a modernized unitary kill vehicle of some kind. Absent any effort to expand or modernize the GBI fleet, homeland missile defense will likely fall behind the North Korean missile threat while NGI matures over the next 10 years. The decline will increase U.S. vulnerability to coercion by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a time when the U.S. military is scrambling to address Chinese and Russian aggression. Furthermore, a major delay of NGI a decade from now (or worse, a failure for NGI to materialize at all) would leave the United States with a fleet of GBIs falling rapidly into obsolescence, squandering decades of resources and effort. To be clear, the United States should continue developing NGI. Missile threats to the U.S. homeland continue to grow at an alarming pace, in quantity and complexity. But the Pentagon and Congress should support these longer-term efforts while still investing in nearer-term options that keep U.S. homeland defenses current to North Korean missile capabilities, hedge against NGI failure and preserve U.S. investments in the GMD system. A potential path forward may lie in the Senate's version of the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which contains draft language that would require the deployment of 20 additional GBIs equipped with an interim, unitary kill vehicle by 2026. Three years ago, we titled our study of GMD “Missile Defense 2020” because we believed that this year would be the start of a new chapter in U.S. homeland missile defense. Obviously, much has changed with the cancellation of RKV. Yet, despite all its challenges, this year may still provide the opportunity to make the kind of decisions that will strengthen our national security in the near and long term. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/06/24/countering-missile-threats-means-addressing-the-present-while-planning-for-the-future/

Andrew Eversden The Department of Defense would be required to establish a threat intelligence sharing program with the defense industrial base under the Senate Armed Services Committee's version of the annual defense policy bill. The committee's version of the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, released June 23, also includes other several other provisions designed to give the department increased insight into the cyber hygiene of its contractors. For example, the legislation would direct the Secretary of Defense to establish a threat intelligence program “to share threat intelligence with, and obtain threat intelligence from, the defense industrial base.” This program would be required to include a mechanism for developing shared and real-time insight into the threat environment, as well as a “joint, collaborative, and co-located analytics.” The program would also direct the DoD to invest in technology to advance automated threat detection and analysis capabilities for defense contractors. The program proposed in the Senate NDAA stems from a similar recommendation made by the Cyberspace Solarium Commission's final report, a congressionally mandated document that suggested a comprehensive overhaul of U.S. cyber strategy. That group recommended the DoD force contractors to participate in a threat intelligence sharing program. “The program's ideal end state is to leverage U.S. government intelligence collection to create a better understanding of adversaries' intelligence collection requirements,” the report read. “This action would help DoD and the intelligence community anticipate where adversaries will seek to collect against DIB targets, and then communicate that information to DIB network owners and operators so that they can proactively defend against impending adversary activities.” Under the Senate bill, participation in the program would be based on cybersecurity levels assigned to contractors under the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification initiative, a new program pushing new cybersecurity requirements on contractors. To increase the participation in the program, the DoD would also have to “prioritize” available funding and support to help affect organizations participate. The department would be required to produce a report on the program by March 2022. The Senate bill also included language that would direct the DoD's principal cyber adviser to develop a plan to deploy commercial-off-the-shelf sensors to DIB networks to monitor the cybersecurity of their public-facing websites by February 2021. In addition, the bill directs the department to assess the feasibility of threat hunting on DIB networks by December 2021. https://www.c4isrnet.com/cyber/2020/06/24/senate-wants-better-threat-sharing-between-pentagon-and-industry/

Nathan Strout The Senate's annual defense policy bill would authorize an additional $120 million toward a space-based sensor layer capable of tracking hypersonic weapons, despite the fact the Department of Defense did not seek more funding for the project in its fiscal 2021 budget requests. The Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor is DoD's answer to the growing threat posed by hypersonic weapons being developed by China and Russia. Hypersonic weapons present a significant challenge to the United States' current missile warning architecture. Not only can these weapons maneuver around ground based sensors, they're too dim to be picked up and tracked by space-based sensors in higher orbits. HBTSS theoretically solves this problem via a proliferated constellation of Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) sensors operating in low earth orbit. At that lower orbit, the sensors will be able to pick up and track the otherwise dim objects. But because the satellites are closer to the earth and have a limited field of view, the system will need to pass off custody responsibility from sensor to sensor as the weapons traverse the globe. Hence the need for a proliferated constellation. HBTSS will plug into the Space Development Agency's National Defense Space Architecture, a new system of satellites operating in low earth orbit. The Missile Defense Agency awarded $20 million contracts to four companies in October to develop HBTSS prototypes: Northrop Grumman, Leidos, Harris Corporation and Raytheon. The Senate's version of the National Defense Authorization Act would authorize the Missile Defense Agency $120 million in research, development, testing and engineering funds for HBTSS. If passed, this would be the second consecutive year the department did not include money for HBTSS in its annual budget request, but Congress allocated money for the project anyway. In 2019, MDA put the program at the top of its unfunded priority list, seeking $108 million for that effort. Congress fully funded that request in the legislation that passed in December. The decision to give the HBTSS funding to the Missile Defense Agency in fiscal year 2021 continues a 2019 battle between the administration and Congress over which agency should lead the program's development effort. While lawmakers wanted to place MDA firmly in charge of the effort, the White House argued that it was too soon to put one agency in charge. Ultimately, Congress included a provision putting primary responsibility for the development and deployment of the system in MDA's hands. Just three months after that legislation passed, lawmakers expressed frustration and confusion over MDA's FY2021 budget request, which sought to transfer HBTSS funding responsibility to SDA. While MDA Director Vice Adm. Jon Hill tried to assure legislators at the March hearing that his agency was fully in charge of developing the sensor for HBTSS, skepticism has continued. According to Hill, funding for the effort would be allocated to SDA, who would in turn provide the funding to MDA. As currently drafted, the legislation de facto rejects DoD's request to transfer funding responsibility to SDA. Furthermore, it specifically assigns principal responsibility for the development and deployment of HBTSS through the end of FY2022, after which it may be transferred over to the U.S. Space Force. It's not the only legislative proposal emphasizing Congress' desire for MDA to be in charge of the system. The House version of the FY2021 defense bill made public in June asks for the Secretary of Defense to certify that MDA is indeed in charge of HBTSS. According to a defense official, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin sent a letter signed May 29 certifying that MDA was in charge of payload development. Griffin has since resigned, stating that he has received an opportunity to work in the private sector. The Senate version requires on orbit testing of HBTSS to begin by December 31, 2022, with full operational deployment as soon as technically feasible. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/06/24/senate-bill-adds-120m-for-hypersonic-tracking-satellites/

Nathan Strout The Navy has purchased its first two MQ-9A Reaper drones, awarding General Atomics Aeronautical Systems nearly $27 million on June 22 for the unmanned air systems and associated ground control equipment. The MQ-9A Reaper is a multimission, medium-altitude, long-endurance aircraft that is remotely piloted. According to the June 22 contract announcement, the Reapers will be used for intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance missions as well as persistent strike efforts. The contract procures two MQ-9A Reapers, one dual-control mobile ground control station, one modular data center and one mobile ground control station. This is the first time the Navy has purchased Reapers, but it's already been using the unmanned aircraft overseas. According to fiscal 2020 fiscal 2021 budget documents, the two MQ-9A aircraft the Navy is purchasing have been used by the Marine Corps in a contractor-operated, contractor-owned arrangement since September 2018 to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support to Task Force Southwest in Afghanistan. Because they are used, the Reapers will cost less than brand-new systems. The FY21 budget request estimates the cost of each system as being just under $12 million. Work is expected to be completed by December 2020. https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2020/06/24/navy-buys-two-used-mq-9a-reapers/

By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — The most widely used variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is currently unable to fly in thunderstorms after the discovery of damage to one of the systems it uses to protect itself from lightning, its prime contractor Lockheed Martin said Wednesday. To safely fly in conditions where lightning is present, the F-35 relies on its Onboard Inert Gas Generation System, or OBIGGS, which pumps nitrogen-enriched air into the fuel tanks to inert them. Without this system, a jet could explode if struck by lightning. However, damage to one of the tubes that distributes inert gas into the fuel tank was discovered during routine depot maintenance of an F-35A at Hill Air Force Base's Ogden Logistics Complex in Utah, Lockheed said in a statement. Lockheed temporarily paused F-35 deliveries June 2-23 as the company validated whether it was properly installing OBIGGS systems. However, “it appears this anomaly is occurring in the field after aircraft delivery,” Lockheed said in a statement. Lockheed has since delivered two F-35s, company spokesman Brett Ashworth said. Because it cannot be confirmed that the OBIGGS system would function properly if the jet was hit by lightning, the F-35 Joint Program Office has opted to institute flight restrictions. “As a safety precaution, the JPO recommended to unit commanders that they implement a lightning flight restriction for the F-35A, which restricts flying within 25 miles of lightning or thunderstorms,” Lockheed said. “We are working with the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) on a root cause corrective action investigation to determine next steps.” The issue only seems to affect the F-35A conventional-takeoff-and-landing variant, which is used by the U.S. Air Force and the majority of international customers. The OBIGGS design is slightly different on the F-35B short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing variant due to the aircraft's lift fan, and the problem has not been observed on F-35C carrier-takeoff-and-landing aircraft, Ashworth said. Bloomberg, which obtained a JPO memo dated June 5, reported that flawed tubes were found in 14 of the 24 “A” models inspected. The JPO did not respond immediately to a request for comment. For a plane nicknamed “Lightning II,” the F-35′s lightning protection systems have, ironically, become an embarrassing problem issue for the jet at times throughout its development. The F-35 was prohibited from flying within 25 miles of lightning in the early 2010s after the Pentagon's weapons tester discovered deficiencies with the original OBIGGs system in getting enough inert gas into the fuel tanks. Those restrictions were rescinded after the OBIGGS was redesigned in 2014. https://www.defensenews.com/air/2020/06/24/the-f-35-lightning-ii-cant-fly-in-lightning-once-again/

Nathan Strout Peraton will provide commercial satellite communications services for U.S. Central Command after receiving a new $56 million contract, the company announced June 18. Under the contract, which was awarded by the Space Force's Future Commercial SATCOM Acquisition program, Peraton will provide mission support for mobile platforms It will also provide bandwidth for mission operations, survivability, and diversification within the area of responsibility. “Peraton has served as a trusted solution partner to U.S. Central Command for over 10 years and is proud to continue providing satellite-based services tailored to their specific mission requirements,” said David Myers, president, Peraton Communications sector. “As a neutral technology agnostic mission capability integrator, Peraton takes great pride in developing solutions that leverage the best available spacecraft and network platforms from across the commercial satellite industry.” The $56 million contract for Central Command SATCOM services follows a $219 million contract awarded to Peraton earlier this year. Announced March 3, that five-year contract required the company to secure commercial satellite services for U.S. Africa Command and its mission partners in the region. That task order was the first of its kind to be awarded under the Future Commercial SATCOM Acquisition program. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/06/23/peraton-to-acquire-satcom-for-us-central-command/

Nathan Strout The Space and Missile Systems Center will award ride-share contracts to six small launch providers under the Defense Production Act, providing support to a market the Pentagon has repeatedly said is vulnerable to coronavirus-related financial restraints. The six companies approved by the Industrial Base Council are Aevum, Astra, X-BOW, Rocket Lab USA, Space Vector and VOX Space. Each company will be awarded sole-source contracts for two ride-share missions to be conducted over the next 24 months. The value of the contracts was not included in the announcement originally posted on SAM.gov on June 16. Funding for the 12 ride-share missions will come from the Defense Production Act Title III funding effort, which is backed by the recently passed coronavirus relief act. The Pentagon has singled out the small launch market as being particularly hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic over the last few months. On April 20, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord warned that the small launch market was one of three sectors she was most worried about. In a later statement to C4ISRNET, the Space and Missile Systems Center elaborated on her remarks. “There is concern that the current financial and market constraints resulting from the COVID-19 have reduced funding sources necessary to continue development and operations for the nascent small launch industry,” said Col. Rob Bongiovi, director of SMC's launch enterprise directorate. “Much of the industry have limited flight capability or are in the critical transition from development to flight and this funding restriction may prevent or delay these systems. The Space and Missile Systems Center is evaluating the impacts to the small launch industrial base to consider actions to enable a robust U.S. launch industrial base.” In response, the Space Force Acquisition Council held an emergency meeting with representatives from the U.S. Space Force, the National Reconnaissance Office, the Space Development Agency and others. A survey was sent out to members of the Space Enterprise Consortium to see how the Defense Department could help. SMC Commander Lt. Gen. John “JT” Thompson hinted earlier in the week that Defense Production Act awards would be forthcoming for the small launch market. “In the small launch environment, Secretary Lord and [U.S. Space Force Service Acquisition Executive Will] Roper have both commented about how important small launch is to our enterprise, and I can't give you the details right now but I would anticipate here very shortly some very critical Defense Production Act awards to our small launch providers to keep that industry going,” Thompson said. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/06/19/space-force-invokes-defense-production-act-to-prop-up-small-launch-market/

Lynn, MA, June 22, 2020 – GE Aviation has been awarded a five-year, $180 million contract by the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) to repair and overhaul T700 rotorcraft engines in support of the U.S. Navy's MH-60 Seahawk, and the U.S. Marine Corps' AH-1Z Viper and Bell UH-1Y Venom/Huey helicopters. “GE is grateful for the opportunity to provide T700 overhaul and repair support to the US Navy and Marine Corps fleets for another five years,” said Harry Nahatis, vice president and general manager of GE Aviation's Rotorcraft & Turboprop Engines. “This contract will allow GE to work closely with the Navy to improve fleet readiness while reducing cost.” Upon service entry in 1978 in the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, the T700 quickly proved its mettle in helicopter service, and its operational benefits also made it an ideal derivative as a turboprop powerplant. Today, the T700/CT7 family of turboshaft and turboprop engines power 15 types of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft with more than 130 customers in more than 50 countries. The T700/CT7 family has surpassed 20,000 units delivered and more than 100 million total flight hours. The T700/CT7 engine line has become increasingly more powerful and reliable during its history. Many technological advances have been incorporated into the subsequent growth versions. Current models in the 2,000-3,000 shaft-horsepower range retain all the proven features and operating characteristics of earlier versions while delivering enhanced performance. The highly reliable T700/CT7 design has proven itself in the harshest environments, logging more than five million flight hours in hot-harsh combat zones like Iraq and Afghanistan. T700/CT7 helicopter engines power a variety of civil aviation and military applications including transport, utility and attack, medical evacuation, air rescue, firefighting, special operations and marine patrol. They serve five branches of the U.S. military, numerous international customers and civil aviation operators. Prime turboshaft applications include the Sikorsky Black Hawk, Seahawk, Jayhawk, Pave Hawk, S-70, S/H-92, CH-148, HH60-W CRH, and VIP transport helicopters; the Boeing AH-64 Apache, Bell UH-1Y Huey, AW-1Z Super Cobra,214ST Super Transport and 525 Relentless, Kaman SH-2G Super Seasprite, NHIndustries NH90, Leonardo AW101 and AW189 and KAI Surion. About GE Aviation GE Aviation, an operating unit of GE (NYSE: GE), is a world-leading provider of jet and turboprop engines, components and integrated systems for commercial, military, business and general aviation aircraft. GE Aviation has a global service network to support these offerings. For more information, visit us at www.ge.com/aviation. Follow GE Aviation on Twitter at http://twitter.com/GEAviation and YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/GEAviation # # # For further information, contact: Nick Hurm 513.484.4450 nick.hurm@ge.com View source version on GE Aviation: https://www.geaviation.com/press-release/military-engines/ge-awarded-180-million-contract-support-t700-engines

June 18, 2020 - Austal Limited (ASX:ASB) is pleased to announce that the United States Department of Defense has awarded Austal USA a modification to a previously awarded Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) contract. The modification provides Austal with a total potential additional value of US$43,362,000 (approx. A$62,700,000). Work is expected to be complete by June 2021. The contract modification exercises options for LCS Class design services, material to support LCS Class design services and the US Navy's Integrated Data Product Model Environment (IDPME). Austal will provide LCS Class design services to all LCS ships and services may include program management, fitting out services, change processing, software maintenance, engineering and lifecycle efforts. Austal will also maintain an IDPME that shall enable Navy access to enterprise LCS data management. This ASX announcement has been approved and authorised for release by David Singleton, Austal Limited's Chief Executive Officer. -ENDs- Media Contact: Cameron Morse +61 433 886 871 cameron.morse@fticonsulting.com FURTHER INFORMATION Contact: Austal Phone: 61 8 9410 1111 Fax: 61 8 9410 2564 Email: media@austal.com View source version on Austal Limited: https://www.austal.com/news/austal-usa-awarded-us43m-lcs-contract-modification