US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

TerraN_EmpirE said:

Augmented reality allows that. it would virtually cloak an aggressor in a enemy skin and "heighten reality" I remember a few years back NATO was looking into doing something similar. and shouldn't be to long before they start being able to do it for ground forces to.

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The US Air Force (USAF) has issued a draft request for proposals (RfP) for a new penetrator warhead to replace its current BLU-109/B and BLU-109C/B systems.

The draft RfP for the BLU-137/B Penetrator Warhead, released on 2 December, covers low-rate initial production (LRIP) and four full-rate production (FRP) lots totalling 15,000 bombs.

Intended to be in the same 2,000 lb class of warhead as the BLU-109/B and BLU-109C/B, the BLU-137/B will be procured in an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract running from fiscal year (FY) 2017 to 2021. LRIP will number 1,000 warheads, with the four follow-on FRP contracts numbering 3,500 each and spanning one year apiece. A second IDIQ award may be granted after FY 2021.

No technical specifications for the BLU-137/B were given in the draft RfP, except to say that it is intended to provide improvements in capability and survivability over the BLU-109/B and BLU-109C/B.

Responses to the draft RfP are to be submitted no later than 14:00 Central Time on 16 January 2017.

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President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said he wants to cancel the plan for a new Air Force One design.

At 8:52 a.m. EST,

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: “Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!”

The US Air Force selected Boeing to design the next presidential transport aircraft in 2015. The company has put forth a heavily modified 747-8 design, and the service intends to have two of the new Air Force Ones flying by 2024.

While based on an existing design, the price for an Air Force One are massive compared to what a basic 747-8 commercial jet would cost, due to the electronic suites and defensive systems needed on the presidential plane.

Boeing's stock closed Dec. 2 at $152.25, and opened Dec. 5 at $153.24, closing that day at $152.16. As of 12:33 a.m. EST on Dec. 6, the stock sat lower at $151.45 .

Todd Harrison, a budget expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies,

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: “To be clear, it's $4B for two planes that operate as a flying command post for POTUS in a national emergency, have EMP protection, etc.”

Harrison later noted that the Air Force's budget plan shows $2.9 billion in research, development, test and evaluation funding through fiscal 2021. Procurement is expected to come in at about $1 billion, getting essentially to the $4 billion figure cited by Trump. A request for information from the Air Force was not immediately returned.

Boeing released a statement Tuesday, saying: "We are currently under contract for $170 million to help determine the capabilities of these complex military aircraft that serve the unique requirements of the President of the United States. We look forward to working with the U.S. Air Force on subsequent phases of the program allowing us to deliver the best planes for the President at the best value for the American taxpayer."

Leanne Caret, president and CEO of Boeing’s Defense, Space & Security arm, said in a Dec. 3 interview with Defense News TV that she is confident in how the program is moving along.

“We’re working currently with the customer on their aircraft procurement and on the actual outfitting of the aircraft,” Caret said. “It’s very exciting to be part of this history and this legacy.”

For more from Caret, watch the Dec.18 edition of

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.

For the record, Trump has not always been critical of Boeing's work. Looking at previous tweets, the next president has recommended Boeing as a stock several times and praised the company's 757 design.

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Jura said:

...

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ehm ehm "The Pentagon asked for $10.5 billion for 63 of the F-35 fifth-generation fighters ..."

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Senior defense officials suppressed a study documenting $125 billion worth of administrative waste at the Pentagon out of fears that Congress would use its findings to cut the defense budget, the

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late Monday.

The report, which was issued in January 2015 by the advisory Defense Business Board (DBB), called for a series of reforms that would have saved the department $125 billion over the next five years.

Among its other findings, the report showed that the Defense Department was paying just over 1 million contractors, civilian employees and uniformed personnel to fill back-office jobs. That number nearly matches the amount of active duty troops — 1.3 million, the lowest since 1940.

The Post reported that some Pentagon leaders feared the study's findings would undermine their claims that years of budget sequestration had left the military short of money. In response, they imposed security restrictions on information used in the study and even pulled a summary report from a Pentagon website.

"They’re all complaining that they don’t have any money," former DBB chairman Robert Stein told the Post. "We proposed a way to save a ton of money."

Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work, who originally ordered the study, told the paper that the plan laid out in the report was "unrealistic."

"There is this meme that we’re some bloated, giant organization,” Work said. “Although there is a little bit of truth in that ... I think it vastly overstates what’s really going on."

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook echoed Work's claim in a statement to Fox News, which said that the DBB report "had limited value" because it "lacked specific, actionable recommendations appropriate to the department."

Work claimed that some of the report's recommendations were being implemented on a smaller scale and would save an estimated $30 billion by 2020. However, the Post reported that most of the programs had been long-planned or unreleated to the Defense Business Board report.

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Jura said:

Nov 18, 2016
and now this is very interesting:
CNO: Navy to Take Steps to Protect Ohio Replacement Program From CR

source:

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The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee introduced a continuing resolution today that would fund the government through April 28, 2017, at last fiscal year’s spending levels – with several critical exceptions, among them a provision that would allow work to continue uninterrupted on designing the Ohio Replacement Program ballistic missile submarines.

So-called “clean” continuing resolutions require money in the new fiscal year to be spent exactly how it was in the previous year, line by line. In the Navy’s case,

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, chief among them being that the Ohio Replacement Program, also called the Columbia-class SSBN, was set to move from research and development funding into shipbuilding and conversion funding.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) proposed a CR with a slew of provisions that would alter how FY 2016’s of $1.07-trillion topline gets spent.

Noting the bill “includes provisions needed to prevent catastrophic, irreversible, or detrimental changes to government programs, to support our national security, and to ensure good government,” Rogers said in a press release Tuesday night that his legislation would allow “funding to be used for the Ohio Class Submarine Replacement program to avoid delays that would increase costs.”

The CR also allows money to be used for Army Apache and Black Hawk helicopter multiyear procurement and to keep the Air Force’s KC-46A tanker program on track. Under a clean CR, multiyear procurement contracts cannot be initiated and new-start programs cannot begin, since they were not funded in the previous year’s spending bill. For the past several years, Congress has forced the government to start the fiscal year under a clean CR of short duration, and the military services have responded by planning to award new contracts during the second quarter or later of the fiscal year to avoid potential problems. This year’s CR will last more than half the fiscal year, though, and could be extended further come the spring, so these “anomalies” that allow acquisition programs to move forward are critical to the programs’ success.

House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee ranking member Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) said in a statement Tuesday night that “the Columbia–class program would face critical delays and ballooning costs without this needed adjustment to the CR. I was encouraged by the bipartisan cooperation that ensured the inclusion of this provision, and will continue to do all I can to support the design and construction of these submarines that are vital to the United States’ strategic deterrence capabilities.”

Last month

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to the chairs and ranking members of the House Appropriations Committee and its defense subcommittee to call for the Columbia-class anomaly.

Ultimately, other Navy programs will still face challenges as a result of operating under at least seven months of a CR, and Rogers called on lawmakers to ensure that a proper spending bill is passed in April to allow these programs access to the funding they need to move forward as planned.

“This Continuing Resolution is the necessary step for an operating and functioning government over the next four months. However, this type of short-term spending absolutely should not be the final answer to funding the federal government for the year,” he said in his press release.
“This legislation is just a band aid, but a critical one. It will give the next Congress the time to complete the annual Appropriations process, and in the meantime, take care of immediate national funding needs.”

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Jura said:

wow
Trump Tweets US Should Cancel Air Force One Replacement

source is DefenseNews

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will be interesting to see what he says once realizes Thursday at 9:54 PM

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Jura said:

wow
Trump Tweets US Should Cancel Air Force One Replacement

source is DefenseNews

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will be interesting to see what he says once realizes Thursday at 9:54 PM

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Jura said:

Jul 20, 2016

and

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source:

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The KC-46 program, one of the Air Force’s top three procurement priorities, will likely remain on track even as Congress presses forward with a continuing resolution that will extend current funding levels until next April.

Congressional Republicans unveiled a short-term budget extension Tuesday evening that will boost KC-46A funding to the levels requested in the fiscal 2017 budget: about $2.9 billion for procurement, up from $2.4 billion in 2016. The program is one of the few military acquisition programs to receive such consideration and will keep the Air Force from having to pay a penalty to manufacturer Boeing.

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James warned in August that a long-term continuing resolution would cap KC-46A production at 12 aircraft, which could push back initial operational capability. Because the service had entered into a fixed-price contract with Boeing, it is contractually obligated to buy 15 aircraft in FY17 or risk paying a $331 million penalty, said Defense Department Comptroller Mike McCord in a memo obtained by

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.

Although the terms of the CR give some relief to the KC-46 program in particular, other Air Force programs could be adversely affected by the measure, which prevents production increases and keeping new-start programs from kicking off.

“Overall, a long-term CR would fund the Air Force at about $1.3 billion less than the amount we requested in FY17 and cause many, many [issues] in our system,” James said in August. For instance, funds for the B-21 bomber would remain stagnant, which could impact its delivery schedule. Upgrades to the MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial system, C-130 cargo transport aircraft, and the B-52 and B-2 bombers would also receive less funding than planned, she said.

Lawmakers must pass a continuing resolution by the end of the week, or a government shutdown will be triggered. The proposed CR would extend until April 28.

Shortly after the Pentagon approved the KC-46A for low-rate initial production (LRIP) this summer, it awarded Boeing a $2.8 billion contract for the 19 tankers that make up the first two LRIP lots.

The company now is contractually obligated to deliver the first 18 certified aircraft in January 2019, as technical challenges made it impossible for Boeing to meet its initial August 2017 deadline.

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TerraN_EmpirE said:

This is a issue for being Commander in Tweet. The AF1 replacement program is not yet in actual procurement it's actually in the design stage work with the contractor looking into ways to reduce costs.

Additionally point here is that if they did cancel the AF1 replacement it would only be a annoyance for the VIPs.

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TerraN_EmpirE said:

F35 however is another issue altogether. It's an actual standing mission need due to the age of current gen fighters reaching the end of there operational lives and limits of their mission capacity and despite the hate mail there is no real option put forward that could with in budget, time and that covers mission scope alternative program option to fill the gaps.

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F–35 Sustainment​

The committee recognizes the importance of the F–35 Lightning
II Program as the future of tactical air for the Department of Defense.
With total life-cycle costs estimated to be more than $1.2
trillion, just under $900.00 billion of those costs are estimated to
come from the operation and support of the aircraft. In July 2015,
the Marine Corps declared its F–35B aircraft both operational and
deployable. However, the committee notes this declaration was
made without meeting certain operational criteria required by the
Marine Corps and without comprehensive deployability testing of
the aircraft. The Marine Corps’ deployment of its first squadron of
aircraft to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, in 2017, will
be the first opportunity to prove operational concepts not only for
the Marine Corps, but also global sustainment concepts for the Air
Force and Navy, who will deploy the F–35 after the Marine Corps.
Given the significance of the F–35 program to the future of tac-
tical air for the military, and the Department’s need to operate and
deploy the F–35 on a widespread basis in the coming years, the
committee directs the Comptroller General of the United States to
provide a preliminary briefing to the House Committee on Armed
Services on the following factors, not later than January 17, 2017,
with a report to follow. The briefing and report should review the
Department’s ongoing F–35 deployment planning efforts and in-
clude:
(1) To what extent has the Department developed plans to sup-
port its initial F–35 deployment to Marine Corps Air Station
Iwakuni, including those related to personnel, aircraft support
equipment, infrastructure, and spare parts;
(2) To what extent will the Marine Corps’ initial deployment to
Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni enable U.S. Pacific Command to
meet its operational requirements;
(3) What challenges does the F–35 program face with its initial
deployment to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and to what ex-
tent does the Department have plans to measure success, chal-
lenges, and share lessons learned with the Air Force and Navy; and
(4) To what extent is F–35 support equipment, including the Au-
tonomic Logistics Information System, prepared to deploy to over-
seas and austere locations.

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Jura said:

as to the first part
I now read
Trump’s Air Force One Tweet Rattles the Defense Industry

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as to the second part
I found what's currently the official, in
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT
FOR FISCAL YEAR 2017

in the bottom of p. 110, going on at p. 111:


it's 146/707 in the document

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let's wait and see

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