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Air Force will move off Russian engines, general says

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The head of U.S.

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says there is no sure way to estimate the cost of a shift away from the Russian-built RD-180 rocket engine for national security space launches, because it is unclear what shape the U.S. launch industry will be in when the transition is completed in the early 2020s.

“The number is going to be in the billions; there’s no doubt about that,” Gen. John Hyten told the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee March 15. “But exactly where it comes out I don’t know. So planning for uncertainty is not a good place to be.”

Hyten said uncertainty about the way forward in the U.S. launch industry is behind his service’s wide range of estimates of the cost of a shift away from the RD-180, which powers the workhorse Atlas V. Air Force Secretary Deborah James has told the Senate Armed Services Committee the figure could be as low as $1.5 billion, or as high as $5 billion.

“In reality, we don’t know what that will cost us,” Hyten said. “The reason we don’t know what it will cost us, and the estimates are so huge, is because we have so many assumptions about what the future’s going to look like. Are we going to have a Falcon 9 Heavy in the interim period between 2019 and 2022? What is the industry going to look like between ’19 and ’22? All of those questions we don’t know the answer to.”

The service is in a showdown with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who chairs Senate armed services panel in his legislative chamber, over the Russian engine. The Air Force wants 18 RD-180s over the next five years. But McCain, who is also at odds with key members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, wants to ban imports of the Russian engines altogether.

If that happens, Hyten said, the Air Force will not be able to launch Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) missile-warning satellites or Advanced Extremely High Frequency (

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) jam-resistant military communications satellites until they can be adapted to launch on United Launch Alliance’s other vehicle, the Delta IV.

“We’d have to do the engineering analysis, and maybe reconfigure those satellites, and reconfigure the interfaces to do that, which means we’ll have to store AEHF and SBIRS for a certain period of time,” Hyten testified. “All that costs us money in the near years. Then Delta will be more expensive. There’s no doubt Delta will be more expensive.”

Hyten said the Air Force believes there can be alternate launch vehicles flying with the Blue Origin BE-4 and the

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Rocketdyne AR1 engines by 2022-23, based on new contracts to support integration of the developmental engines and “the progress made by those two companies.” The delay, while expensive, will allow the service and other national security launch customers time to make the necessary adjustments in their payloads, which could lower the cost.

“The implications to us are the same that the Air Force has, and I think one of the big things will be the timing,” said Frank Calvelli, principal deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office. “So for example, I’ve got unique vehicles that were designed around flying on an Atlas. If I was told, like, tomorrow, they could not go on an Atlas, the cost would be higher. If it’s a gradual transition over a period of years, the cost would be lower, so it all depends on the time frame of the decision.”

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The Aircraft Carrier Industrial Base Coalition has asked lawmakers for “design for affordability” research and development dollars to reduce the cost of building carriers and for advance procurement funding for a block buy of CVN-80 and 81 materials.

The organization, and employees of companies from all tiers of the aircraft carrier supply chain, made five requests during a two-day visit to Capitol Hill, which included private meetings with lawmakers and an open-mic breakfast during which a dozen congressmen expressed support for aircraft carriers and the companies that build them.

Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), whose district border stops just shy of the Newport News Shipbuilding yard, spoke about the importance of aircraft carriers and the need to find a smarter way to buy them.

“Our forward presence depends on that aircraft carrier. As you know, our base presence around the world continues to shrink for a variety of reasons, that’s the future. If we are going to influence world events and do the things we need to do as a nation and make sure that we protect American interests, it is the aircraft carrier that is the centerpiece of that,” he said Thursday at the breakfast.

“We need to look at dual-ship purchases. I’d like to be purchasing aircraft carriers two at a time – if not, at the very least purchasing the equipment … for both of those ships in blocks. I think that’s an important way to do that. It creates economies for purchases, we’ve seen that historically and we ought to be doing more of that. Plus, it creates certainty” for the industrial base.

The dual-ship buy is one of the five ACIBC talking points for this year’s event. Coalition chairman Richard Giannini told USNI News at the breakfast that the organization is asking for $293 million to be pulled forward into the Fiscal Year 2017 budget to support advance procurement for both CVN-80, the future Enterprise, and 81.

Tthat will help us to consolidate the buying efforts,” said Giannini, who is also president and CEO of Milwaukee Valve Company.

“They’re going to start with this first block on the real long lead time stuff, the bigger equipment, and then over the next several years we’ll do the same thing with the suppliers that have shorter lead times. And what that will do is save about $400 to $500 million off the cost of the carrier.”

The group is also asking for $20 million in research in development money for a “design for affordability” initiative, which aims to find more efficient ways to build the ship. A similar effort for the Virginia-class attack submarine program saw a five-to-one return on investment, he said.

The coalition also wants to see advance procurement funding for the next refueling and complex overhaul – not for USS George Washington (CVN-73), set to start this fall, but for USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) after that. Giannini said part of the rationale was that starting the design effort now – and actually naming Stennis in the defense policy and budget bills starting this year – would help keep the design effort moving forward in the event of future continuing resolutions, which creates an inefficient stop-and-go work flow at the beginning of the fiscal year for programs not explicitly funded in the previous year’s budget.

And finally, the coalition is pushing members to continue supporting the carrier-related funds in the Navy’s FY 2017 request and supporting an 11-carrier requirement for the fleet.

The bulk of the new funds requested are actually “money coming probably out of (FY) 18 or 19 into 17,” Giannini said.

“What we’re really looking for is a stable, consistent funding so that suppliers can add things together and get more business at once, which will lower cost, and keep the shipyard from having a lull in between where materials don’t get there on time, which just adds cost.”

The congressmen who attended the event said they were concerned about gaps in carrier presence overseas, which began occurring again last year after a period of time during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars when four carriers might be out operating at any given time.

“We’re seeing for the first time in years that our combatant commanders in the Pacific and in the Middle East are going months without carriers,” House Armed Services seapower and projection forces ranking member Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) said at the event.

“We had a briefing the other day with Gen. (Lloyd) Austin from Central Command and the question he was asked was, so how’s that (carrier gap) going? And it’s extremely challenging, trying to juggle the mission of our country in those critical areas of the world without carriers for a couple months.”

That carrier gap “sends a message to potential adversaries and allies about our readiness and ability to continuously project strength,” House Armed Services Committee member Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) said.

“This is why we must prioritize three things: funding for our shipyards, enabling the Navy to follow the Optimized Fleet Response Plan (training and deployment cycle), and provide for advance procurement of our ships.”

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The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is seeking $71.8 billion in its fiscal year (FY) 2017 budget request for research and development, including $3.6 billion dedicated to war-gaming and testing the Pentagon’s so-called third offset strategy developed to help maintain U.S. military superiority over peer competitors such as China and Russia.

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to information obtained by Defense News, the Pentagon has dedicated $18 billion in its Future Years Defense Program (FYDP) to researching and developing third offset technologies and operational concepts in the years to come.

Money allocated includes $3 billion on researching Anti-Area/Access-Denial (A2/AD) technologies, $3 billion on submarine and undersea challenges, $3 billion on human-machine collaboration and teaming, $1.7 billion on cyber and electronic warfare, $500 million on guided munitions challenges, and $500 million on wargaming and the testing of third offset operational concepts.

With $71.8 billion, the FY 2017 budget request is just four percent higher than the $69 million allocated for research and development in FY 2016. U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work already cautioned in December 2015 not to expect a massive increase in funds allocated towards third offset technologies and operational concepts.

Back in December, Work

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that the Pentagon’s third offset focus in FY 2017 will be on autonomous deep learning machines and systems to strengthen the Pentagon’s analysis capability; human-machine collaboration to support decision making processes; assisted-human operations in order to help humans operate more effectively on the battlefield through new technologies like exoskeleton suites; advanced human-machine teaming where soldiers work with unmanned platforms; and semi-autonomous weapons systems.

However, the third offset strategy will not merely rely on new military technologies to guarantee military superiority in a future conflict but also focus on merging new with legacy technology, as well as new with old warfighting methods. As I explained previously (See:

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), a third offset strategy could include robot weapons and remote-controlled warfare on the one hand, as well as conventional military hardware, like the new M109A7 Paladin (see:

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) – capable of firing precision munition, on the other hand.

“As competitors seek to reduce our technological advantage, DoD will accelerate adoption of advanced capabilities that offset adversary investments, reshape the nature of international military competition, and cost-effectively extend the U.S. advantage while imposing cost on our competitors,” notes a FY 2017 budget request factsheet published by the Pentagon.

There is little doubt that the Pentagon’s third offset strategy primarily aims to offset recent advances in military technologies made by China and Russia. The Pentagon lists both countries as two out of five strategic challenges that the United States will have to remain focused on in the new fiscal year.

The new defense budget request “responds to Chinese military modernization by taking prudent steps to preserve and enhance deterrence for the long term, including through targeted investments in emerging capabilities to sustain our military edge in the Asia-Pacific,” the Pentagon fact sheet reads.

“With regard to Russia, Countering Russian offensive capabilities through prudent, targeted investments in emerging capabilities today to ensure that we will retain our conventional superiority over near-peer competitors such as Russia for decades to come,” according to the fact sheet.

While the Pentagon’s third offset strategy is not just about countering Russian and Chinese military technological capabilities, both countries nevertheless will remain the proving ground for any new concepts given their relative technological lead over other competitors such as Iran and North Korea in the military field. During the presentation of the FY 2017 defense budget request on February 9, Work

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that is will be prudent for the Pentagon to “be prepared for a period of increased competition over the next 25 years” with both countries.

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Austal USA was awarded a $14 million Littoral Combat Ship contract modification by the U.S. Navy to conduct special studies and analyses, the Navy announced this week. This is the second $14 million LCS modification contract for Austal USA this month.

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The U.S. Navy concluded a successful light-off test of its upgraded Periscope Detection and Discrimination (PDD) capability for the AN/SPQ-9B Anti-Ship Missile Defense Radar onboard USS Lake Champlain (CG 57) March 12. The upgraded PDD capability represents a noteworthy improvement in submarine detection in support of the Navy's overall anti-surface warfare efforts.

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On March 16, an Ohio class ballistic missile submarine assigned to Submarine Group 10, completed a Follow-on Commander's Evaluation Test (FCET) with the launch of three Trident II D5 missiles.

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Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group (IKECSG) completed a multi-ship, live-fire exercise with the Standard Missile (SM-2), March 15. The dynamic exercise was part of the strike group's final preparation for the composition training unit exercise (COMPTUEX) that certifies all strike groups prior to deployment.

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Lockheed Martin is reopening the MK 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) production line at its Middle River, Md., facility, the company announced in a March 18 invitation to the media.

The MK 41 VLS is “the only launching system capable launching anti-air, anti-submarine, surface-to-surface and strike missiles and can receive orders from multiple weapon control systems to handle every warfighting mission, “ the release said.

Ships of 13 navies are equipped with the MK 41, which is the main weapon launched for the U.S. Navy’s existing Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers. The launcher also is used at the Navy’s Aegis Ashore ballistic missile-defense site in Romania.

MK 41 VLS production supports nearly 150 highly skilled jobs in Baltimore County and will continue for years to come thanks to a $253 million U.S. Navy production contract awarded in December 2014, the release said.

Attendees at the March 24 ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Middle River plant in Baltimore County will include U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., and Maryland Department of Commerce Secretary Mike Gill.

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navyreco said:

Austal receives $14 Million Littoral Combat Ship Special Studies and Analyses modification

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US Navy Cruiser Conducts 1st Test of AN/SPQ-9B Periscope Detection & Discrimination Capability

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US Navy Ohio Class Ballistic Missile Submarine Launched 3 Trident II D5 missiles in Test

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Video: A Group of Six US Navy AEGIS Vessels Fire SM-2 Surface to Air Missiles During Exercise

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US Navy purchases CAEW-based Gulfstream 550 for range support

The US Navy has ordered a single Gulfstream G550 business jet based on the special-mission Israeli airborne early warning type for adaptation into a long-range, high-speed test range support aircraft.

A navy contract notification published on 18 March, US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) paid $91.9 million for a green aircraft with air vehicle modifications for airborne early warning, with delivery scheduled by December 2018.

The navy has been considering this purchase since October 2013 when it released a notice calling for a replacement range support aircraft to be flown by Air and Test and Evaluation Squadron VX-30, which is based at Point Mugu, California and currently operates the radar-carrying Lockheed NP-3D "Billboard" Orion as well as KC-130Fs and S-3B Vikings.

Israel Aerospace Industries
The navy’s G550 will receive the same military-grade conformal airborne early warning (CAEW) structural modifications as the types now operated by the air forces of Israel, Singapore and Italy.

The navy selected the airframe in October 2014 and is contracting separately for integration of telemetry data-gathering systems and sensors to support a range of missions such as flight testing of naval missiles and rockets.

Israel’s CAEW aircraft provides 360° L-band active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar coverage. It entered development in 2003 and was delivered to the Israeli Air Force in 2007.

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USAF to begin converting L-model Back Hawks into HH-60Gs

The US Air Force expects to begin converting 21 second-hand US Army L-model Black Hawks to the HH-60G Pave Hawk standard for combat rescue missions “later this year”.

Introduced during the Reagan administration in 1982, the Sikorsky H-60-based Pave Hawk fleet has depleted from 112 to 97 helicopters since the type's introduction. Fifty of those remaining 97 platforms have sustained battle damage over the course of 15,000 rescue missions since 2001, mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The air force has already spent $372 million developing and purchasing modification kits for those 21 Black Hawks and another $71 million is earmarked in the service's fiscal year 2017 and 2018 budget plans to complete the project and insert them into the pararescue force, service budget documents note.

In written testimony to a congressional panel on rotorcraft modernisation on 16 March, the service says $91.4 million has been requested for fiscal 2017 to support modernisation of the HH-60G fleet, even as the new Sikorsky HH-60W combat rescue helicopter enters development for fielding in 2020. Of that money, the majority begins conversion of the analog-cockpit UH-60Ls by adding Pave Hawk capabilities like an air refuelling probe, colour weather radar and forward-looking infrared sensor.

Pave Hawk capacity has been a major problem for the air force since its cancellation of the combat search-and-rescue (CSAR-X) programme, which would have procured 141 Boeing HH-47 Chinooks.

HH-60G operators have “repeatedly landed in contested areas to recover 5,400 injured American and Coalition soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines” since 2001. Because of their age and high operational tempo, 37 Pave Hawks underwent unscheduled depot maintenance in 2015, or 38% of the fleet.

Separately, the air force will put Bell-Boeing on contract in June to build a single CV-22B Osprey that Congress funded as an attrition reserve. It will be delivered “in the first quarter of fiscal 2020”.

Operated by US special operations forces, one CV-22B has been lost in combat and one in training. There are currently 46 in Air Force Special Operations Command's (AFSOC) inventory out of a required 50 aircraft, and the remaining four will be delivered by Bell-Boeing “later this calendar year”.

AFSOC chief Lt Gen Bradley Heithold recently called for “another two or three" CV-22Bs before production slows down or goes cold.

The CV-22B carries significantly more defensive systems and armour than the US Marine Corps MV-22B type and has a unique supply base.

“We didn’t build attrition into the force,” Heithold said at the Air Warfare Symposium last month.

In another development, the Air Force Research Laboratory is preparing to trial a more compact version of its "degraded visual environment" sensor that will allow helicopter pilots to land safely in brownout conditions.

The "high-resolution three-dimensional imagine laser detection and ranging (LADAR) system" was successfully demonstrated in 2014, and a new version has been produced that can be integrated into a modified AAQ-29 FLIR turret for the Air Force HH-60G Pave Hawk. The AAQ-29-compatible LADAR will be flown at the US Army's Yuma proving ground in Arizona in April, according to the air force.

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