Clark’s Journal
May 2014
Indiana-Kentucky/George Rogers Clark Chapter NDIA Newsletter
Editor: Ted Markley
"I never worry about action, but only inaction."
- Winston Churchill
improve warfighting capabilities of the “Navy After
Chapter News and Commentary
Next.”
Next Commanding Officer for NSWC Crane
Selected
His personal decorations include the Defense
Captain Jeffrey "JT" Elder has been selected as the
Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal (individual
Commanding Officer, Naval
action), Joint Service Commendation Medal (with oak
Surface Warfare Center
leaf cluster), Navy Commendation Medal (with two gold
Crane, IN.
stars) and various campaign and service ribbons. He
has logged more than 2800 flight hours in military and
Captain Elder is currently the
civilian, rotary and fixed wing, aircraft.
Military Director in AIR-4.2,
the Cost and Analysis
Captain Elder, a native of St. Louis, Missouri, received
Department within the
his commission in August of 1989 and earned his
NAVAIR 4.0 Research &
Wings of Gold in August of 1990. He is married to
Engineering competency.
Cynthia Murray, a Texan, has two daughters, Courtney
and Carolyne, and two sons, Jonathan and James.
Prior to reporting to NAVAIR, he served as a
Secretary of Defense Corporate Fellow spending
Longtime Hoosier Defense Sector Advocate
one year at a host DoD industry partner learning
Recognized
corporate best business practices relevant to the
Following the Central Indiana
DoD.
Unit NDIA meeting on 14
March, the group paused to
Fleet tours include deployments with the Sea
recognize one of the
Griffins of HS-9 from Jacksonville, FL, the Wyverns
pioneering members of the
of HS-12 from Atsugi, Japan and the Dusty Dogs of
NDIA in Central Indiana.
HS-7 from Jacksonville, FL. Additionally, he served
Don Garrity, the founder of
as Air Boss in USS TRENTON (LPD-14), deployed
Garrity Tool Company was
out of Norfolk, VA, where he gained in-depth
honored upon the
experience in Marine Corps Expeditionary Warfare.
announcement of his retirement.
He joined the acquisition community in 2002 upon
becoming an Aerospace Engineering Duty Officer.
Don provided leadership and resources to the defense
His acquisition experience includes serving as
community in the Greater Indianapolis Area during
Deputy Director in the Special Communications
difficult times. Tackling the tough issues of expanding
Office and as Program Manager in the Advanced
the defense sector in Indiana and mentoring young
Systems and Technology Directorate leading DoD
people entering the manufacturing workforce, Don
and Intelligence Community classified acquisition
made a difference and inspired others. Don was
programs in the National Reconnaissance Office;
presented with a memento from the George Rogers
head of the Enterprise Systems Engineering
Clark Chapter of NDIA.
Division in the National Security Space Office; and
IPT lead for amphibious assault ship air/ship
Don plans to take a few months off and pursue his long
integration in PMA-251/AIR-1.2 at NAVAIR. A staff
neglected hobby…. riding motorcycles! Once his brief
tour as the Executive Assistant to the Principal
respite if over, he plans to reengage and continue his
Military Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for
work with mentoring the next generation. May fair
Research, Development and Acquisition provided
winds and following seas be with Don in all of his new
insight to the decision processes of the Navy
adventures! Bravo Zulu Don!
Service Acquisition Executive.
Captain Elder possesses Master of Science
degrees in Astronautical Engineering and Applied
Physics from the Naval Postgraduate School.
During his NPS tour he served with the CNO
Strategic Studies Group XVI developing concepts to
ICOD: 30APR14
The Mid-Skills Gap in Middle America
One of the most pervasive problems in the national
security community today is the skills gap. Irrespective
of the event or the audience someone will initiate a
discussion of finding job ready employees at the mid-
skills level. Don Garrity, mentioned in the article
above, is a bulldog in this arena.
Gil Perry (PTAC Counselor)
recently shared a report by
the AAR Corporation
addressing some of their
problems with “The MidSkills Gap in Middle
America”. One of their job
sites they reference is in
Indianapolis.
The report covers: 1) the
causes of the problem; 2) the consequences of the
problem; 3) the solutions to the problem; and 4) the
industry’s best practices. This is a great read and
AAR Corp. is engaged in solving the problem.
You can locate a copy of the report by clicking the
hyperlinks above.
Association of Old Crows Postponed
The 6th Annual Electronic
Warfare Capability Gaps and
Enabling Technologies
Operational and Technical
Information Exchange
scheduled for 20-22MAY14 has
been postponed. The new date
for the “Exchange” is 1821NOV14. POC for this event is Jim Hearn
812.797.5676,
Jimmy.hearn@stimulusengineering.com
Is it time for another Defense Asset Study?
To date there have been three assessments of the
defense/national security sector in Indiana. The first
was the “Indiana Defense Asset Study and BRAC
Affected Communities Analysis” (October 2007),
prepared by the Central Indiana Corporate
Partnership in response to the 2005 Base
Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission
results. It was ground breaking and the first of its
kind in the State of Indiana.
Chronologically, the second study on Indiana’s
defense sector was, “A Technical Analysis of the
Economic Impact of U.S. Department of Defense
Contracts in Indiana” completed by the Center for
Business and Economic Research, Ball State
University (September 2011).
The third study was, “Building National Security:
The Economic Impact of Indiana’s Defense
Industry” researched and compiled by the Kelly
School of Business, Indiana University (October
2011).
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
Each of the studies is a pioneering effort for this sector
of Indiana’s economy and well done. In spite of their
quality, the data that creates the foundation of these
studies are a bit dated. The most recent data used in
these studies is from 2010. In a rapidly changing
endeavor like national security and defense four years
can be an eternity. Perhaps it is time to update our
assessment of our “State of Defense”
Non Sibi Sed Patriae
Ted
Calendar
09MAY14 - Central Indiana – Monthly
Time: 0900-1100
Speaker: Joel Reuter, Director of Communications,
Rolls-Royce, North America
Location: Indiana National Guard Armory
Ft Ben Harrison, 9920 E. 59th St.
Lawrence (Indianapolis), Indiana
POC: Carl Boss cboss@garritytoolcompany.com
12-15MAY14 – AUVSI Unmanned Systems 2014
Topic: Unmanned Systems
Location: Orange County Convention Center, Orlando,
FL
16MAY14 – Northeast Indiana Defense Industry
Association (NIDIA)*
Time: 1000-1500
Topic: All-Member Meeting
Guest Speaker: Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann
and more
Location: IPFW Walb Student Union
2101 East Coliseum Blvd., Ft. Wayne, IN
Registration site: http://www.nidiaonline.org/
RSVP NLT 09MAY14
*Dues paying members of NIDIA only
20-22MAY14 – Special Operations Forces Industrial
Conference (SOFIC)
Theme: Strengthening the Global SOF Network
Location: Tampa Convention Center, Tampa, FL
Event Contact: Mrs. Meredith Hawley,
mhawley@ndia.org
(703)247-9476
20-21MAY14 – Michigan Defense Expo
Location: Macomb Community College Expo Center,
Warren, MI
Event Contact: michiganexpo@ndia-mich.org
19JUN14 – Chapter Board of Directors Meeting
Time: 1730-1900
Topic: Second Quarter Board Meeting
Location: TBD
2
27JUN14 – NSWC Crane Change of Command
and Retirement Ceremony
Colonel Alan M. Pratt, USMC will be
relieved by Captain Jeffrey T. Elder,
USN
Time: 1000
Location: Reviewing Area adjacent to Base Gym,
NSA Crane, IN
RSVP and additional will be forthcoming soon!
Study to Examine Growth Around NSA Crane
The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded a
$200,000 planning grant to
examine development
around the Naval Support
Activity-Crane in southern
Indiana. Radius Indiana
says the Joint Land Use Study will include five
counties.
(08APR14, Inside Indiana Business)
Contract Awards
Architura Corporation Wins Army Contract
Architura Corp. of Indianapolis and two additional
small businesses were
awarded a $10,000,000
firm-fixed-price, multiyear task order contract
for the acquisition of architecture- engineering
services (design and rehab) for the Illinois Air and
Army National Guard. Estimated completion date is
April 24, 2019.
(23APR14, DoD Press Release)
Indiana and Kentucky Firms Receive Navy Work
Custom Mechanical Systems Corp.,* Bargersville,
Ind.; Krempp Construction Inc.,* Jasper, Ind., ; and
Howard W. Pence,* Elizabethtown, Ky. , are each
being awarded a firm-fixed-price, indefinitedelivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple-award designbuild construction contract for construction projects
at Naval Support Activity Crane located primarily
within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command
(NAVFAC) Midwest area of responsibility (AOR).
(17APR14, DoD Press Release)
Allison Transmission Receives Army Contract
Allison Transmission Inc., Indianapolis, Ind., was
awarded a $51,444,025
modification to a multi-year
contract to acquire 99 X1100-3B
transmissions for M1A2 Abrams
tanks. Work will be performed in
Indianapolis, Ind. Estimated
completion date is Sept. 30, 2015.
(15APR14, DoD Press Release)
Kentucky Firm Receives DLA Contract
Carter Industries Inc., Olive Hill, Ky., has been
awarded a maximum $12,761,280 modification
(P00102) exercising the third option period on a
one-year base contract with three one-year option
periods for flyer’s coveralls. This is a firm-fixed-price
contract. Location of performance is Kentucky with
an April 15, 2015 performance completion date.
(10APR14, DoD Press Release)
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
Exelis Ft. Wayne Party to Army Contract
Exelis Inc., Fort Wayne, Ind.; General Dynamics C4
Systems Inc., Scottsdale, Ariz.; Harris Corp.,
Rochester, N.Y.; and Thales Defense & Security Inc.,
Clarksburg, Md., were awarded a $988,000,000 firmfixed-price contract for SRW Appliqué Radio Systems
for use by brigade combat teams. Funding and work
location will be determined with each order. Estimated
completion date is April 8, 2024.
(09APR14, DoD Press Release)
Purdue Research Park Receives DARPA Contract
DARPA (Defense
Advanced
Research
Projects Agency) has awarded a 24-month Small
Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II
contract worth $750,000 to fund a joint development
between Indiana Microelectronics LLC and San
Antonio-based Southwest Research Institute.
The award is to develop technology to protect the
armed forces' broadcast communications against
intentional interference such as jamming devices and
environmental interference such as adverse weather
conditions.
(07APR14, Inside Indiana Business)
Hopkinsville Firm to Design and Build Army
Medical Facilities
ABM Government Services LLC, Hopkinsville, Ky.
(W91278-14-D-0025) along with five additional firms
was awarded a $249,000,000 firm-fixed-price multiyear multiple-award task order contract to design and
build Army medical facilities. Funding and work
performance location will be determined with each
order. Estimated completion date is April 2, 2019.
(03APR14, DoD Press Release)
Navy Inks Deal With Columbia City Manufacturer
Columbia City-based Ultra Electronics USSI will share
a more than $13 million U.S. Navy
contract. The work involves
manufacturing sonobuoys and is
scheduled to be complete in June.
(02APR14, Inside Indiana Business)
3
Petroleum Traders Receive DLA Contract
Petroleum Traders Corp.,* Fort Wayne, Ind., has
been awarded a maximum $66,882,605 fixed-price
with economic-price-adjustment contract for fuel.
This is a
competitive
acquisition, and 34
offers were
received. This is a
three-year base contract with no option periods.
Location of performance is Indiana with an April 30,
2017 performance completion date. Using military
services are Army, Navy, Air Force, and federal
civilian agencies.
(01APR14, DoD Press Release)
Regional News
Mount Vernon Facility Part of Big Contract
North Carolina-based B&W
Nuclear Operations Group Inc.
says a portion of nearly $200
million worth of contract work
will be performed at a Mount
Vernon facility. The deals
involve components for nuclear submarines.
(30APR14, Inside Indiana Business)
Indiana Guard Unit Heading to Afghanistan
About 150 members of an Indiana National Guard
unit are heading to Afghanistan to help close and
tear down military bases that are no longer needed
as U.S. troops withdraw from the country.
More than 1,000 family members and friends
attended a deployment ceremony Sunday at
Franklin College for the 1413th Engineer Co. The
Franklin-based unit includes plumbers, electricians,
carpenters and masons who will be on the nearly
yearlong assignment.
(28APR14, Associated Press)
Crane Hosts ‘STEM’ Science Fair
Almost 100 kids from schools in Southern Indiana
spent today Wednesday
part in a ‘STEM’
(science, technology,
engineering and math)
science fair.
Hosted by Crane’s Westgate Academy, it gave
students an opportunity to apply ‘STEM’ subjects to
the real world.
(24APR14, wthitv.com)
Taylor Satellite Finally
Launches
Following three launch
delays, the Taylor
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
University nanosatellite was launched aboard a
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket this afternoon [18APR14] from
Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The small satellite, which had been designed and built
by Taylor University engineering students, blasted
away at 3:25 p.m., and was deployed shortly after
launch.
(18APR14, Inside Indiana Business)
Rangers Train for 20th Deployment to Afghanistan
at Fort Knox
So why is this happening
At Fort Knox? At Fort
Benning, the Rangers
share training facilities
with other more
conventional units.
"It can get crowded at times with a lot of the elements
there as you know the armor school used to be here
but moved to Fort Benning," explained [LTC Patrick]
Ellis.
With the Duke Brigade leaving Fort Knox, the Rangers
have their pick of places to train.
This will be the 3rd Ranger Battalion's 20th deployment
to Afghanistan; they leave this summer.
(16APR14, WDRB.com, Lindsay Allen)
New Navy Ship Has Hoosier Connections
A just-christened U.S. Navy destroyer is being
powered by
technology developed
in central Indiana.
Rolls-Royce Corp.
facility in Indianapolis
built the engine of the
USS Zumwalt and
one of the company's divisions designed and tested
some of the all-electric ship's systems.
(14APR14, Inside Indiana Business)
Fourth Air Force Commander to Visit Grissom
Brig. Gen. John C. Flournoy Jr., 4th Air Force
commander, along with Chief Master
Sgt. Brian Wong, 4th AF command
chief, will visit Grissom tomorrow.
Flournoy took command of 4th AF in
November 2013, and has been visiting
units under his command ever since.
"This is the general's first visit to our
base, and I am sure he'll be as impressed with the
wing as I am, said Col. Bryan Reinhart, 434th Air
Refueling Wing commander. "We truly have amazing
4
people who do amazing things each and every day,
and this visit will allow us to showcase that to the
general."
During his four-day visit here, Flournoy will meet
with senior leadership, chiefs, first sergeants and
junior Airmen as well as civic leaders and
congressional staffers.
(11APR14, 434th ARW Public Affairs, Tech. Sgt.
Mark R.W. Orders-Woempner)
Electronic Support Measures Repair Depot
Standup at Crane
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp.-Electronics
Sector, Linthicum, Md., is
being awarded $8,900,000
for firm-fixed-price order
0002 under previously
awarded Basic Ordering
Agreement (N00164-13-GWT15) to build two sets of AN/ALQ 240 (V) 1
weapons repairable assemblies in support of the P8A AN/ALQ 240 Electronic Support Measures
Repair Depot standup at the Naval Surface Warfare
Center (NSWC) Crane Division. Work will be
performed in Linthicum, Md., and is expected to be
completed by July 2016.
(11APR14, DoD Press Release)
Meeting Planned about Proposal to Explode
Some Mustard-Agent Projectiles at Bluegrass
Army Depot
A public meeting will be held Monday to answer
questions and solicit comments about a proposal to
explode mustard-agent
projectiles inside steel
detonation chambers at
Blue Grass Army Depot
in Madison County
A 2011 X-ray
assessment of the Blue Grass chemical weapons
stockpile confirmed the solidification of mustard
agent in a significant number of 155mm projectiles.
That renders them unsuitable for robotic
disassembly and processing in the pilot plant, under
construction at the depot that will be used to
destroy nerve agent.
These munitions require a different approach for
their destruction. Trying to remove the mustard
agent by hand, for instance, poses a greater risk to
workers than exploding the rounds in steel vessels.
(10APR14, Lexington Herald-Leader)
AM General Lawsuit Against SOCOM Rejected;
GD Starts Work on Special Ops Vehicle
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
On April 7, the US Federal Claims Court rejected
military vehicle maker AM General’s lawsuit against the
US Special Operations Command over its decision to
award a $562 contract to General Dynamics for the
Ground Mobility Vehicle 1.1 (GMV) program, ….
(09APR14, Defense News, Paul McLeary)
Senator Coats' Staffer Visits Grissom
As a key player in the nation's
defense, as well as the local
economy, there is a lot that goes on
at Grissom, and one U.S. senator's
regional director recently got a closeup look at the base and its mission.
Rebecca Holwerda, a regional
director for Sen. Dan Coats, toured
Grissom and met with 434th Air
Refueling Wing Airmen and
leadership during a visit to the north central Indiana
base March 27.
Shortly after arriving, Holwerda got a hands-on
experience with the 434th ARW's mission as she took
the controls of a KC-135R Stratotanker for both a
takeoff and landing in Grissom's state-of-the-art flight
deck simulator.
(04APR14, 424th ARW Public Affairs, Staff Sgt. Andrew
McLaughlin)
Indiana National Guard Aiding In Malaysian Jet
Search
Members of the 122nd Fighter Wing of the the Indiana
Air National Guard are helping in the search for
missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370.
The Fort Wayne-based wing is
helping the Royal Australian
Air Force load equipment
needed to continue the search
for the jet missing since March
8th. It's believed to be
somewhere possibly in the
South Indiana Ocean. Guard Spokesman Technical
Sgt. Kurt Briner says Australian air force members are
due to arrive in Fort Wayne for an equipment pickup
late Saturday morning.
Briner says they've run out of air drop listener devices
called sonar buoys. The devices are needed to detect
transmitter signals. Briner says Guard members will
help the Australians load up their C-17 with 21
containers that will contain 1008 sonar buoys. He says
it's a great opportunity for Fort Wayne to help in the
search and possibly touch the lives of those on the
other side of the world.
5
He says they'll help get the Australians back on
their way once they get the equipment. Briner adds
the Guard is not sending personnel abroad for the
effort. They're simply helping to load the equipment
provided by Ultra Electronics - UnderSea Sensor
Systems Inc., which is a defense contractor based
in Columbia City, Indiana.
(04APR14, WIBC.com, Mike Corbin)
Indiana-Ohio Officials Continue Work on Drone
Test Site
Despite the Ohio/Indiana region being overlooked
as an official FAA drone test site, area
congressmen are continuing to build relationships
between the states to showcase the region’s assets
for unmanned aerial vehicle research.
On Monday, Congressman Mike Turner, R-Dayton,
brought U.S. Rep. Todd Young, R-Indiana, to
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Today, Turner will
join Young on a tour of two military installations
where some drone systems developed in the
Dayton and Springfield region will go for real-world
field testing.
The Ohio/Indiana UAS Center is headquartered in
Springfield and oversees UAS testing at SpringfieldBeckley Municipal Airport, the National Center for
Medical Readiness at Calamityville, Wilmington Air
Park and the Buckeye/Brushcreek Military
Operating Areas here in Ohio as well as the sites
including Camp Atterbury and the Muscatatuck
Urban Training Center in Indiana.
(01APR14, Government Technology, Chris Stewart)
Business
New U.S. Arms Sales Policy Wants it All
A new U.S. conventional arms transfers policy
governing direct commercial and Foreign Military
Sales signed by president Barack Obama this year
is supposed to allow Washington officials to make
ad hoc decisions about military exports, including
industrial competitiveness, an official said last
week.
To be sure, the Presidential Policy Directive 27 on
Conventional Arms Transfers signed by Obama in
January is supposed to further entrench human
rights and arms proliferation considerations as part
of the exports approval process, according to an
April 23 speech by Gregory Kausner, deputy
assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of
Political-Military Affairs. The latest directive is an
update of a policy enshrined during the Clinton
administration.
But U.S. national security interests remain
paramount, and perhaps more than before,
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
industrial concerns also could play a more explicit role,
according to his comments. “If we hope to retain our
technological edge in a time of fiscal austerity, we must
continue to invest in research and development,” he
said. “By contributing to economies of scale, foreign
sales can help maintain U.S. investment in the defense
sector. While we do not approve transfers strictly
based on the health of the U.S. industrial base, we
would be foolish not to consider its impact.”
(30APR14, Aviation Week, Michael Bruno)
ATK-Orbital Deal May Signal Direction Of Defense
Sector Consolidation
…the decision of ATK managers to spinoff their rapidly
growing Sporting Group unit before merging with
another federal aerospace contractor may say
something about the limits of diversification as a
solution to waning Pentagon demand. When defense
companies generate more cash from mature
operations than they can productively reinvest in their
primary business, it is a natural impulse to spend some
of that money on properties in other markets —
markets less exposed to the defense business cycle.
But what the proposed ATK-Orbital transaction seems
to be saying is that shareholder value is not likely to be
maximized by submerging a strong commercial
business in an enterprise focused mainly on federal
customers.
(30APR14, Forbes, Loren Thompson)
M&A Activity in U.S. Arms Sector Rises as
Revenues Drop - Reports
Mergers and acquisitions in the U.S. weapons industry
are starting to edge up after a third year of declining
revenues across the sector in 2013, according to two
separate reports released on Monday.
"We are starting to see deal activity pick up in the A&D
sector as we have a modest improvement in an
uncertain environment," said Scott Thompson, who
heads PwC's U.S. aerospace & defense practice.
But he said uncertainty about the sector's outlook
beyond fiscal year 2015 continued to dampen deal
activity, since mandatory military budget cuts are due
to resume in fiscal 2016.
(28APR14, Reuters Andrea Shalal)
U.S. Navy Awards ‘Largest Shipbuilding Contract’
in Service History
U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command awarded a $17.8
billion contract for ten Block IV
Virginia-class attack submarines
(SSN-774) to prime contractor
General Dynamic Electric Boat in
the largest single shipbuilding
contract in the service’s history,
6
NAVSEA said on Monday in a late afternoon
statement.
to help contractors cope with production-line
disruptions caused by automatic budget cuts.
“The Block IV award is the largest shipbuilding
contract in U.S. Navy history in terms of total dollar
value and builds upon the Virginia-class program’s
successful Navy and industry relationship,” Vice
Adm. David Johnson, NAVSEA’s program
executive officer for submarines (PEO Subs) said in
the statement.
(28APR14, USNI News, Sam LaGrone)
A small fund, including $10 million that Congress
approved in this year’s defense policy bill, would be
used for targeted investments to make weapons
systems or components more effective if production is
stopped or interrupted under the funding reductions
called sequestration.
U.S. Clamps Down on Defense Exports to
Russia
The Obama administration announced Monday that
it would be preventing and potentially revoking
licenses of high-technology defense items in
response to Russia’s activities regarding Ukraine.
The restrictions will apply to items on the United
States Munitions List (USML), which regulates the
sale of sensitive defense materials overseas.
(28APR14, Army Times, Zachary Fryer-Biggs)
U.S.-Philippines Pact Could Modestly Boost
American Arms Sales
A new 10-year security pact between the United
States and the Philippines could lead to modest
increases in U.S. weapons sales in coming years,
especially for maritime surveillance equipment,
analysts said on Sunday.
The agreement, to be signed on Monday,
establishes a framework for an increased U.S.
military presence in the Philippines and is part of a
"rebalancing" of U.S. resources toward the fastgrowing Asia-Pacific region.
(28APR14, Reuters, Andrea Shalal)
Defense Contractors Fight for Their Slice
Defense contractors are going back to war to
protect their slice of a shrinking Pentagon budget.
Gone are the days of unity when giants like
Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman banded
together in 2012 to fight automatic defense cuts in a
campaign called Second to None. Now, with
another round of sequestration ahead and an
uncertain post-war era looming, contractors are
back to skirmishing with one another over every last
scrap of the defense budget.
(27APR14, PoliticoPro, Jeremy Herb)
Pentagon Has ‘Bandage’ to Help Contractors Facing
Cuts
The Pentagon office that monitors the defense
industry’s financial health is preparing an initiative
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
It’s a “bandage until sequestration goes away,” Elana
Broitman, deputy assistant secretary of defense for
manufacturing and industrial base
policy, said yesterday in an
interview. “As we saw sequestration
being a problem, the idea was to
have a very modest fund” that could
be put on contract faster than the
current Defense Production Act or
other legislation that allows for
targeted investments.
(25APR14, Bloomberg, Tony Capaccio)
Strong U.S. Defense Firm Profits Defy Regular
Gloomy Warnings
U.S. arms makers complain regularly that lower
Pentagon spending on ships, jets and other hardware
will hit their earnings, but a string of better-thanexpected results this week show that layoffs and costcutting have kept profits flowing, and growing.
Defense majors Lockheed Martin Corp, General
Dynamics Corp, and Northrop Grumman Corp have all
reported higher profits this week and raised their fullyear forecasts. In response, the Dow Jones index that
tracks the 10 biggest aerospace and defense
companies’ .DJUSDN rose 2.2 percent on Wednesday.
(23APR14, Reuters, Andrea Shalal)
Export Controls Threaten U.S. Edge in Foreign
UAV Markets
An Obama administration effort to relax strictures on
selling less-sensitive military hardware to foreign
countries virtually ignored the red tape unmanned
aircraft manufacturers must navigate when marketing
their products overseas.
Those reforms transferred some UAV components
from the International Traffic in Arms Regulations to
the less-restrictive Export Administration Regulations,
but failed to ease the rules governing unmanned
aircraft.
(22APR14, National Defense, Dan Parsons)
Technology, Exports to Drive Defense-Contractor
Growth, Northrop Grumman CEO Says
Despite belt-tightening at the Pentagon, defense
contractors can count on the military’s continuing need
7
for advanced technology and personnel training as
well as expanded opportunities for exports to allies,
Northrop Grumman NOC CEO Wes Bush said
Thursday [17APR14].
(17APR14, Market Watch, Tammy Thueringer)
Foreign Firms Chase African Deals With New
Facilities
In just the past three months,
five global defense
companies have announced
plans to open factories,
maintenance facilities and
marketing offices in four
southern and east African
countries.
The companies provide goods and services in the
fields of armored vehicles, military aircraft,
aerospace defense systems and naval shipbuilding.
Two have already started operations in their new
African bases.
Broadly speaking, the growing demand for defense
products in southern Africa is powered by the desire
to modernize forces, while countries in east and
west Africa are building up to confront evolving
trans-national security threats, said an African
defense market analyst attached to the Zimbabwe
Staff College of the Zimbabwe National Army.
(17APR14, Defense News, Oscar Nkala)
Should the Pentagon Rescue Ailing Suppliers?
“The service economy is great if you don’t have to
field an army,” the Army’s then procurement chief
Lt. Gen. Joseph L. Yakovac Jr., noted in 2005. “You
need some type of indigenous manufacturing
capability, and that’s been our problem,” he told a
gathering of industry executives. “Nobody wants to
hear it, but there have been some things we’ve
been slow to provide because there is no industrial
base, or there is just one supplier.”
(17APR14, National Defense, Sandra I. Erwin)
Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy, DoD’s
contracting policy arm.
“What the [Federal Acquisition Regulation] said was
the price has been determined to be fair and
reasonable, you need to know no further
documentation, you need to do no analysis,” Ginman
said.
Ginman issued a DoD policy dated March 13 that
requires contracting officers to determine whether
GSA’s prices are in fact fair and reasonable. The
policy, also known as a class deviation, will remain in
effect until it is incorporated into DoD’s acquisition
regulations or rescinded.
(11APR14, Federal Times, Nicole Blake Johnson)
Pentagon Contracts Decline 11% in March
Pentagon contracts fell 11 percent in March as the
military cut program spending and prepared to
withdraw from Afghanistan.
The Defense Department announced 245 contracts
with a maximum value of $35.1 billion last month, down
from $39.4 billion a year earlier, according to data
compiled by Bloomberg.
The pool of defense contracts has been shrinking since
2009, when the U.S. was fighting two wars. There are
no signs it will rebound this year as the military
removes combat forces from Afghanistan by December
and absorbs automatic federal budget cuts under a
process known as sequestration.
(10APR14, Bloomberg, Jonathan D. Salant)
DoD to Scrutinize GSA Prices
The General Services Administration promotes its
supply schedules as offering federal agencies the
lowest prices for commercial products and services.
Navy Axes Griffin Missile In Favor of Longbow
Hellfire for LCS
The Navy has traded Raytheon’s Griffin IIB missile for
Lockheed Martin’s
Longbow Hellfire AGM114L for the surface-tosurface missile for early
increments and testing for
the surface warfare (SuW)
mission package for the
Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), the outgoing program
manager for LCS Mission Modules (PMS 420), Rear
Adm. John Ailes told reporters on Wednesday.
But a growing concern of the
Defense Department — one of
GSA’s largest customers — is
DoD doesn’t always get the best
deals on GSA schedules. There
is wide variation in schedule
pricing, but the government’s acquisition regulations
tell contracting staff those prices are fair and
reasonable, said Richard Ginman, director of
The choice between the missiles — roughly equivalent
in size, range (about five miles) and warhead size —
came in part from the ability of the Army’s Longbow to
take targeting information from Saab’s Sea Giraffe
radar and use its onboard millimeter wave seeker to
find a target. The Griffin uses a semi-active laser
seeker that requires the ship’s crew to ‘paint’ a target
with a laser, limiting the number of missiles that can
engage targets at once.
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
8
(09APR14, USNI News, Sam LaGrone)
Raytheon Moving Out On Air Missile Defense
Radar
With a temporary work stoppage lifted, Raytheon is
working to develop its air missile defense radar
(AMDR) for the US Navy’s future Aegis destroyers.
“We’re two months into the
contract, but we’re more than
two years into technical
development,” Tad Dickinson,
Raytheon’s AMDR program
manager, said at the Navy
League’s Sea-Air-Space Exposition outside
Washington.
The company already has built a test array
structure, a roughly 14-by-14-foot array to check
fittings of the components of the electrically
scanned radar, which will replace SPY-1 radars
used on today’s Aegis ships.
The S-band AMDR will have more than 30 times
the sensitivity of the SPY-1, and is designed to
dramatically increase the fidelity of the system to
track ballistic missile targets.
(08APR14, Defense News, Christopher P. Cavas)
Marillyn Hewson Seeks to Diversify Lockheed
Lockheed Martin is best known as the $45 billion-ayear builder of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and
other such war machines.
But as the wars draw down and
defense money tightens,
company CEO Marillyn Hewson
has her sights set on everything
from cybersecurity to alternative
energy, hedging the company’s
bets against the politics of
austerity and the uncertainty of
the congressional budgeting process.
Still, there’s reason to be skeptical that a company
with 115,000 employees that makes 61 percent of
its sales with the Pentagon can really diversify
around the edges enough to truly transform itself in
a post-war era in which every defense contractor is
competing for a piece of a smaller pie.
(08APR14, Politico, Leigh Munsil)
Lockheed Pitching
Revamped Viking to Fill
Carrier Cargo and Tanking
Roles
Lockheed Martin is entering
the fray to replace the U.S.
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
Navy’s ageing fleet of Northrop Grumman C-2
Greyhound carrier onboard delivery (COD) aircraft.
The company is proposing to refurbish and modify
retired Lockheed S-3 Viking anti-submarine warfare
aircraft — currently in storage at Davis-Monthan Air
Force Base in Arizona — to fill the nascent Navy
requirement. The rebuilt aircraft would be designated
the C-3.
(08APR14, USNI News, Dave Majumdar)
Boeing 'Protecting' St. Louis Fighter Jet Line:
Executive
Boeing Co is self-funding procurement of some
materials needed to keep producing EA-18G electronic
attack planes for several months until the U.S.
Congress signals whether it will fund 22 more jets in
fiscal 2015, a company vice president said on Monday.
Boeing, the No. 2 U.S. arms maker, told reporters last
year that it needed to decide in March whether to
invest tens of millions of dollars to continue production
of the F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets and EA-18G Growlers,
which otherwise will cease at the end of 2016 unless
the company receives additional orders.
But Mike Gibbons, vice president of F/A-18 and EA18G programs, told Reuters at a Navy League
conference on Monday that the company had decided
to "protect" the St. Louis production line for several
more months until congressional plans become
clearer.
(07APR14, Reuters, Andrea Shalal)
Boeing Brings Forward C-17 Line Closure
Boeing has brought forward the closure of its C-17
Globemaster III production
line by three months, the
company announced on 7
April.
The line at Long Beach,
California, will now shut
down in mid-2015, having previously been slated for
closure in late-2015. Boeing expects inventory-related
charges of about USD50 million, which will be recorded
in the first quarter, as a result of this announcement,
the company said in a statement.
(07APR14, HIS Jane’s 360, Gareth Jennings)
Finmeccanica Proposes 76mm Gun for LCS
Finmeccanica is proposing
that the OTO Melara 76mm
gun be configured onto the
Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship
as part of an effort to improve
the lethality and survivability
of the shallow-water, multi9
mission vessel.
(02APR14, Forbes, Loren Thompson)
The naval artillery piece would replace the existing
57mm weapon now on board the LCS……
KBR Is Asked to Release Internal Corporate Files,
Signaling a Widening Fraud Investigation
Two members of a powerful
congressional committee on
Tuesday asked one of the
nation's largest government
contractors to produce numerous internal corporate
files, signaling a widening investigation into claims that
the company covered up reports of fraud.
Amidst an ongoing effort to develop alternative
proposals for a new small surface combatant, Navy
officials are busy exploring ways to make the LCS a
more survivable and lethal platform. A task force
has been stood up to study requirements and
technologies aimed at modifying the LCS or coming
up with a new ship design.
(07APR14, DoD Buzz, Kris Osborn)
End of Boeing Line Won't Damage Key
Suppliers-US
The Defense Department decided it could skip
further orders for Boeing's F/A-18 fighter jets and
EA-18G electronic attack planes after concluding
that a halt in their production would not jeopardize
suppliers for other big weapons programs, said
Elana Broitman, the Pentagon's top industrial base
official.
Rear Admiral Michael Manazir, director of the
Navy's air warfare division, last month said the
Navy decided to add the Boeing warplanes to its
wish list after classified studies showed the planes
would improve the effectiveness of the overall 44plane strike group on a carrier.
(06APR14, Reuters, Andrea Shalal)
Discipline And Imagination: How United
Technologies Chairman Louis Chenevert Keeps
His Powerhouse Humming
The performance of America’s manufacturing
sector in the postwar era is often depicted as a
chronicle of decline. A sector that generated 25%
of GDP in the 1950s now produces barely half that
share, and the nation’s industrial heartland is
littered with the ruins of once-great enterprises.
Baldwin Locomotives. Bethlehem Steel. Philco.
RCA. Zenith. All gone.
However, some U.S. manufacturing enterprises
have managed not only to survive but thrive despite
foreign competition, heavy regulation and the
indifference of popular culture. A case in point is
United Technologies Corporation, the $63 billion
industrial conglomerate headquartered in
Connecticut’s capital of Hartford. UTC, as it likes to
call itself (the ticker symbol is UTX), has managed
to stay on the leading edge of innovation in
building and aerospace technologies without
abandoning the place where it was born, without
oppressing workers, and without cutting corners on
matters of vital public concern such as
environmental compliance.
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
The members of the House Oversight and Government
Reform Committee sent a letter to the chairman of
KBR, William Utt. The lawmakers said they had
launched an inquiry into claims that the company
required employees seeking to report fraud to sign
confidentiality agreements.
Those agreements barred employees from speaking to
anyone about their allegations, including government
investigators and prosecutors, according to court
records and lawyers involved in the case. Those who
violated the agreement faced dismissal and legal
action.
(02APR14, The Washington Post, Scott Higham)
Exelis Spins Off Services Division
Exelis announced today that the new publicly traded
military and government services company that will
result from the planned spin-off will be named Vectrus.
Exelis previously announced the planned spinoff of its
Mission Systems division, currently part of the
company’s Information and Technical Services
segment, in December 2013.
As a pure-play services provider, Vectrus will capitalize
on more than 50 years’ experience in the services
market. With nearly 7,000 employees currently
operating in more than 100 locations in 18 countries,
Vectrus is well-positioned to continue to deliver its
broad range of capabilities as an independent entity.
(01APR14, Exelis Press Release)
Facing End of Tomahawk Production, Raytheon
Plays Industrial Base Card
The Raytheon Co. is
challenging the Navy’s
decision to halt
manufacturing of the
Tomahawk cruise missile
in 2016, and is counting
on its congressional allies to help keep the weapon in
production for the foreseeable future.
Executives will seek to make the case that the
Tomahawk supplier base of more than 300 companies
in 24 states would be weakened without new orders. If
10
the production line — based in Tucson, Ariz. — is
shut down, Raytheon officials contend, the Navy
might not be able to restart it at a later time.
(01APR14, National Defense, Sandra I. Erwin)
defense industrial bases to any great extent, but
possible reactions down the road do have analysts and
executives concerned.
(31MAR14, Aviation Week, Michael Bruno)
SpecOps Deal Tops $35 Billion in March Awards
A group of closely held companies received the
Defense Department’s biggest contract last month,
a potentially $10 billion award for special operations
equipment and services.
Inside the Beltway
The six companies, including Harrisonburg, Va.based Tactical & Survival Specialties Inc. and
Wellington, Fla.-based Source One Distributors
Inc., beat out more than a dozen other firms for the
potentially five-year contract from the Defense
Logistics Agency, according to the March 7
announcement.
The men announced their
intentions in a joint email to
agency personnel April 30.
The agreement is for the “special operational
equipment tailored logistics support program,”
which is used by both military services and civilian
agencies, the announcement states. It will provide
tactical and protective gear, search and rescue
equipment, safety items, diving and mountain
climbing products and more.
Flynn, the one-time top intelligence adviser to Gen.
Stanley McChrystal in Iraq and Afghanistan, has not
been shy about calling for change in DIA and in the
broader defense intelligence community — an
approach that insiders speculate may be behind his
departure.
“The program maximum allows for support in the
event of increased demand for items critical to the
Defense Department’s ability to conduct
contingency and/or emergency peacetime
operations,” Tonya Johnson, an agency
spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
(01APR14, DoDBuzz, Brendan McGarry)
Textron Relaunches Consolidated Simulations
Group
Following its late 2013 acquisitions of two
simulations companies, Textron announced
Tuesday that it was relaunching its consolidated
simulations group under the banner TRU Simulation
+ Training Inc.
The group, which includes parts of Textron’s prior
business that was part of AAI, represents revenue
of about $100 million and will be evenly split
between military and civil, as well as domestic and
international customers.
Textron isn’t the only company to look at the
training and simulation market as a rare growth
field, making the field increasingly crowded as firms
try to take market share from industry leader CAE.
(01APR14, Defense News, Zachary Fryer-Biggs)
Russia Sanctions Not Hurting Industry Yet
U.S. and European sanctions on certain Russians
have not impinged on Western aerospace and
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
DIA Director, Deputy to Step Down
Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael
Flynn and his deputy, David Shedd, will retire by early
fall, DIA officials confirmed.
Flynn has helmed DIA since July
2012, while Shedd joined as
deputy director in August 2010.
According to the Washington Post, Flynn is being
“pushed out” amid disagreements among intelligence
community and Defense Department leadership. One
of Flynn’s top goals since taking over at DIA has been
to herald a new era of intelligence operations — one
marked by collaboration and high-tech capabilities.
(30APR14, Army Times, Amber Corrin)
Cut the Pentagon’s Civilian Workforce
President Obama has set in motion a plan to cut the
rolls of the uniformed forces, mostly Marines and
soldiers, by about 7 percent (the Army is to be cut to as
little as 420,000 to 450,000 active duty soldiers under
the president’s budget request). The 2015 defense
budget request continues to reduce active duty forces
quickly, and continuing cuts mean that the National
Guard and Reserve rolls are also falling—albeit less
than the active component.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon civilian workforce has grown
by some 13 percent over the same time frame. From
2001 through 2010, the only employee group in the
Department of the Navy that grew was civilians—by
nearly 8 percent.
This unbalanced approach to defense spending
priorities reflects a broader problem within the
administration of favoring one workforce over another
and an inability to “rightsize” personnel to best execute
the missions of the Department of Defense.
(30APR14, Breaking Defense, Mackenzie Eaglen)
11
Senate Confirms Bob Work As Deputy Secretary
of Defense
Bob Work has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate
as the new Deputy Secretary of Defense, according
to a late Wednesday announcement from the
Center for a New American Security (CNAS).
Work’s former colleagues at the Washington, D.C.,
think tank praised his contributions to the
organization.
He served as the CEO of CNAS after stepping
down as the undersecretary of the Navy in 2013.
(30APR14, USNI News, Dave Majumdar)
Congress Wants More Control of Special Ops
Iron Man Suit
Lawmakers today moved to tighten congressional
control over U.S. Special
Operations Command’s
new “Iron Man” battle suit,
expressing concerns that
program officials are
already mishandling the
complex effort.
“The committee is concerned that these
requirements are not being properly coordinated
with related or complementary efforts at the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and
the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Command.”
“While USSOCOM is the proper authority to define
Special Operations Forces peculiar requirements, it
may not be the appropriate entity to lead such
developmental technology efforts, like TALOS,” the
bill’s language states.
(29APR14, DefenseTech, Matt Cox)
Human Rights Abuses Now a Factor In US
Weapon Export Decisions
In the wake of the US suspension on arms and
defense exports to Russia, a State Department
official said Washington’s classified Conventional
Arms Transfer Policy has been updated to make
clear that the US will not transfer arms, equipment
or training to countries that commit genocide,
crimes against humanity or violate international
humanitarian law.
The policy serves as a framework, not a formula, to
guide US decision-making on which defense
systems and arms exports will go to which countries
and under what conditions, said Gregory Kausner,
deputy assistant secretary of state for regional
security and security assistance.
(25APR14, Medill News Service, Mallory Black)
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
State Guard Generals Take Fight To Senate, Push
Freeze To Planned Cuts
After convening in Washington for briefings on the
Army budget and how to implement it, the state-level
commanders of the National Guard have instead
launched a new offensive against the Army plan to cut
their forces, flooding Capitol Hill with letters and
PowerPoint slides (embedded below). Their immediate
goal: Get the Senate to introduce counterpart
legislation to a House bill that would freeze all changes
to the Guard until an independent commission studied
the issue. Step two: Get that language in the 2015
National Defense Authorization Act.
(25APR14, Breaking Defense, Sydney J. Freedberg
Jr.)
DoD Details Planned Cuts If Budget Caps Remain
The Pentagon has laid out plans for how it would cut
$66 billion in procurement and research-anddevelopment projects between 2016 and 2019 should
US defense spending caps remain in place.
The cuts would affect dozens of Defense Department
programs, including the Lockheed Martin F-35 joint
strike fighter, Boeing KC-46 aerial refueling plane and
Airbus Light Utility Helicopter.
DoD’s 2015 base budget proposal conforms to
spending caps. However, the White House submitted
an additional $26 billion request in a separate measure
known as the Opportunity, Growth and Security
Initiative. The Pentagon’s five-year spending plan
submitted with its 2015 budget proposal is $115 billion
above defense spending caps.
(22APR14, Defense News, Marcus Weisgerber)
Stealth Vs. Electronic Attack
The U.S. Navy will need to use a combination of
stealth and electronic warfare capabilities to defeat
advanced anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) threats in
the future, chief of naval operations Adm. Jonathan
Greenert said on April 16 at the U.S. Naval Institute
annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
“[Stealth] is needed for what we have in the future for
at least ten years out there and there is nothing magic
about that decade,” Greenert said. “But I think we need
to look beyond that. So to me, I think it’s a combination
of having aircraft that have stealth but also aircraft that
can suppress other forms of radio frequency
electromagnetic emissions so that we can get in.”
(21APR14, USNI News, Dave Majumdar)
New US Navy Submarine's
Delivery Delayed
Problems with a parts supplier
and the need to modify certain
design features led the US Navy
12
to announce Wednesday that the commissioning of
the new nuclear-powered attack submarine North
Dakota won’t take place at the end of May as
scheduled.
“This decision is based on the need for additional
design and certification work required on the
submarine's redesigned bow and material issues
with vendor-assembled and delivered components,”
the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) said
in a statement.
The delay is a blow to the Virginia-class submarine
program, which has built a reputation not only for
on-time performance, but for delivering ships in
advance of the contracted delivery date.
(16APR14, Defense News, Christopher P. Cavas)
Defense Spending Dips in U.S., Rises Elsewhere
Defense spending fell in the United States last year,
but rose in many other countries around the world,
especially China and Saudi Arabia, according to a
new report.
Global defense expenditures totaled $1.7 trillion in
2013, a decrease of 1.9 percent in real dollars from
the previous year, driven largely by automatic
budget cuts in the U.S., according to a report
released Tuesday by the Stockholm International
Peace Research Institute.
(15APR14, DoD Buzz, Brendan McGarry)
Kendall: Pentagon Will Tie Budget Proposals To
Needs, Not Budget Caps
The US Defense Department will continue sending
Congress budget proposals that do not adhere to
federal spending caps and will instead opt to
develop budgets it believes are appropriate to
defend the country, a senior Pentagon official said.
DoD acquisition chief Frank Kendall said, “it is
extremely unlikely that we will ask for less money
than the president thinks he needs to defend the
country.” His comments came in a speech Tuesday
at a National Defense Industrial Association
conference.
Kendall stressed that no formal White House
decision had been made to submit cap-busting DoD
budgets down the road, but pointed to the
Pentagon’s 2015 budget proposal, which exceeds
the caps by $115 billion between 2016 and 2019.
(15APR14, Defense News, Marcus Weisgerber)
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
Official Seeks Larger Counter-Drug Fleet
The Coast Guard aims to seize 40
percent of the estimated 890 metric
tons of cocaine moving between
South America and the U.S. every
year, but it would take more than a
dozen additional ships to close in
on that goal.
An increased presence in the transit zone between the
U.S. and South America would be enough to stem the
tide of cocaine coming into this country, officials said
April 8 at the Navy League’s annual Sea-Air-Space
exposition outside Washington, D.C.
“We need about 16 ships, and in the words of [U.S.
Southern Command chief Marine] Gen. [John] Kelly,
they don’t need to be destroyers, they don’t need to be
fancy,” said Air Force Brig Gen. Steve DePalmer,
deputy director at Joint Interagency Task Force South.
“They just need to be something that floats, that can
trundle along, maybe launch a helicopter — and also
launch a Coast Guard law enforcement detachment.”
(13APR14, Navy Times, Meghann Myers)
US Army Explores Sea-Basing Helos
The US Army is considering certifying some of its
attack helicopters to operate
from ships — a mission
historically conducted by the
Marine Corps — as the
service looks to broaden the
role it would play in an AsiaPacific battle.
Operating from ships at sea “seems to be a growth
capability, and we do sense that there is increasing
demand out there” in South Korea and US Central
Command, said the Army’s director of aviation, Col.
John Lindsay, at an April 8 event at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies think tank.
The service has been running drills on landing AH-64
Apache helicopters on Navy ships in recent months,
but “we’ve gotta make sure that we have the
appropriate demand signal coming in from the
combatant commanders,” Lindsay said, to determine
“how much maritime capability does the Army need to
invest in.”
(13APR14, Defense News, Marcus Weisgerber)
The Slaughter
Bench of History
War has produced
bigger societies, ruled
by stronger
governments, which
have imposed peace
13
and created the preconditions for prosperity. Ten
thousand years ago, there were only about 6 million
people on earth. On average they lived about 30
years and supported themselves on the equivalent
of less than two modern American dollars per day.
Now there are more than a thousand times as many
of us (7 billion, in fact), living more than twice as
long (the global average is 67 years), and earning
more than a dozen times as much (today the global
average is $25 per day).
(11APR14, The Atlantic, Ian Morris)
Navy Leaders: Fleet Size Could Fall to 240 Ships
Without Budget Relief
Without relief from automatic budget cuts and
money from sources other than its shipbuilding
account to pay for the Ohio-class Replacement
program (ORP), the Navy could find itself sending
only four new ships in almost all classes to the fleet
sometime in the 2020s.
Testifying before the Senate Armed Services
Seapower Subcommittee on Thursday, Sean
Stackley, assistant secretary of the Navy for
research, development and acquisition, said that
would mean “entirely reshaping the Navy’s force
structure” and bringing the fleet down to 240 ships.
The Obama administration’s shipbuilding plan calls
for a fleet of 306 ships by the end of the decade.
The fleet size is now about 280.
(11APR14, USNI News, John Grady)
Navy Extends Trident II D5 Nuclear Missile
Service Life
The Navy is modernizing its arsenal of Trident II D5
nuclear missiles in order to ensure their service life
can extend for 25 more years
aboard the Navy’s nuclear
ballistic missile submarine fleet,
service leaders said.
The 44-foot long submarinelaunched missiles have been
serving on Ohio-class
submarines for 25 years, Vice
Adm. Terry Benedict, director of Strategic Systems
and Programs said April 7 at the Navy League’s
Sea Air Space exposition.
The missiles are also being planned as the baseline
weapon for the Ohio Replacement Program ballistic
missile submarine, so the Navy wants to extend
their service life for at least an additional 25 years,
Benedict said.
(11APR14, DefenseTech, Kris Osborn)
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
Defense Civilian Layoffs Won’t be Pleasant, But
They Are Necessary
Against the backdrop of an increasingly unstable world,
including the Russian invasion of Crimea, the ongoing
conflict in Syria, an agitated Iran, aggression from the
North Koreans and a militarized China, Defense
Secretary Chuck Hagel recently announced that he
would seek further cuts to our uniformed personnel.
President Obama’s fiscal year 2015 budget would
reduce the U.S. Army end strength to pre-World War II
levels and would come on top of a reduced Air Force,
Navy and Marine Corps. Our uniformed personnel
continue to absorb cuts while the secretary of Defense
ignores a significant portion of his budget that has
continued to grow without restraint – the Defense
Department’s civilian workforce.
From 2001 to 2012, the active duty military grew by 3.4
percent while the number of civilian defense
employees grew by an astounding 17 percent. Since
2009, the size of the Office of the Secretary of Defense
civilian workforce has grown to more than 2,000
people, an increase of nearly 18 percent. The Joint
Staff grew from 1,286 people in 2010 to 4,244 people
in 2012, a 230 percent increase. Currently the United
States has 1.3 million active duty military personnel as
compared to 770,000 civilian personnel, a ratio that is
out of balance. In 2003, during the conflicts in Iraq and
Afghanistan, for every 2.25 active duty personnel there
was one civilian worker in support. Incredibly, today,
the civilian concentration is even higher -- for every
1.79 active duty personnel there is now one civilian
worker in support.
(10APR14, Government Executive, Rep. Ken Calvert)
Inside the FBI’s Secret Relationship With The
Military’s Special Operations
With the war in Afghanistan ending, FBI officials have
become more willing to discuss a little-known alliance
between the bureau and the Joint Special Operations
Command (JSOC) that allowed agents to participate in
hundreds of raids in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The relationship benefited both sides. JSOC used the
FBI’s expertise in exploiting digital media and other
materials to locate insurgents and detect plots,
including any against the United States. The bureau’s
agents, in turn, could preserve evidence and maintain
a chain of custody should any suspect be transferred
to the United States for trial.
(10APR14, The Washington Post, Adam Goldman and
Julie Tate)
Why Is It “Easier” For DoD To Cut Forces But Not
Overhead?
Yet, even as the Pentagon shows the guts to propose
slashing the size and capability of the military and take
on a whole herd of sacred cows and special interests,
14
it has done relatively little to address the
longstanding problem of excessive overhead and
inefficient processes in defense operations and
acquisition. Yes, Secretary Hagel has ordered a 20
percent reduction in Pentagon staffs but that is a
drop in the bucket. There are nearly 800,000 civilian
employees of the DoD yet the majority of personnel
reductions are being taken by those in uniform.
(10APR14, Lexington Institute, Daniel Gouré)
several hundred Black Hawk and Lakota multi-use
helicopters in return.
“As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, we have
fought, and we have discussed many, many times,
these topics,” the National Guard Bureau chief, Army
Gen. Frank Grass, told the Senate Armed Services
Committee on Tuesday “And I provided my best
military advice. I’ve assessed the risk. I’ve given the
cost.
Senators Float Study to Avert Guard Cuts
Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee
on Tuesday indicated support for delaying a plan
that would shift resources and cut National Guard
personnel, over the clear objections of senior Army
officials.
“But the decision’s been made, Mr. Chairman,” he said.
“And my job now is to begin to look at the effects
across the states, and figure out how we’re going to
execute this plan.”
(08APR14, Defense News, McLeary)
The Army has finalized a decision to transfer all of
the Guard’s AH-64 Apache attack helicopters to the
active Army and replace them with 111 UH-60
Black Hawk helicopters. That change would result
in cuts of several thousand Guard personnel and is
part of a broader package that would lead to 19,000
soldiers cut from the Guard.
DoD To Shrink Nuclear-Capable Bombers, Modify
Subs to Meet New START Obligations
The Pentagon will shrink the number of its nuclear
weapon-carrying bomber aircraft and reduce the
number of submarine ballistic missile launch tubes as it
modifies its force posture to meet the limits of the New
START treaty with Russia, the US Defense
Department announced Tuesday.
But talk of a commission was hotly opposed by
Army officials who have backed the force structure
change plan and want to see it move ahead quickly.
According to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond
Odierno, who also testified at the hearing, these
and other adjustments to the air assets of the
National Guard would save $12 billion in the next
several years.
(08APR14, The Hill, Blake Neff)
The New START treaty, signed between Washington
and Moscow in 2010, sets lower levels for the number
of deployed and non-deployed nuclear weapons
allowed. Non-deployed status means the delivery
system, a bomber, a submarine or an intercontinental
ballistic missile (ICBM) launch silo is undergoing
maintenance and cannot fire a weapon.
(08APR14, Defense News, Marcus Weisgerber)
The Navy Is About To Transform Almost
Everything
Transformation is back, at least in the U.S. Navy.
Quietly, in some instances almost stealthily, the
Navy has been investing in an array of new
capabilities that when deployed will transform
operations on and from the sea. While not planned
or executed as a single, coordinated program, when
viewed holistically the Navy’s investments in new
ships, aircraft, sensors, weapons and networks
promises a geometric, even logarithmic,
improvement in capabilities.
(08APR14, Lexington Institute, Daniel Gouré)
US Army Guard Agrees to Controversial Apache
Plan
In a surprising move, the head
of the US National Guard
Bureau has given his blessing
to the US Army’s plan to move
all of the Guard’s Apache
attack helicopters into the
active force while receiving
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
Commentary: The Growing Shadow BRAC
The conventional wisdom that there won’t be another
Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round is
dangerously short-sighted. First, significant force
structure and basing decisions are already occurring
even without a formal BRAC round, what I call a
“Shadow BRAC.”
Second, there is a much greater chance that President
Barack Obama’s request for a BRAC round in 2017 will
be passed than most expect.
(07APR14, Defense News, Barry Rhoads)
Navy Preparing for More Aggressive Growler
Operations
The U.S. Navy
is shifting its
airborne
electronic attack
(AEA) focus
from disrupting
the enemy’s
targeting and
15
tracking of allied aircraft to actively helping friendly
forces find and eliminate enemy air defenses,
service officials said at the Navy League’s Sea-AirSpace Exposition 2014 at National Harbor, Md. on
Monday.
“Traditionally, the AEA role has been more of a red
kill chain disruption,” said Capt. Francis Morley,
Naval Air Systems Command’s F/A-18 and EA-18G
program manager.
“So now a Growler brings in a large piece of that
Blue kill chain part from that anti-access/area
denied stand-off target detection, tracking and ID.”
Morley said that the Navy had demonstrated some
of the new techniques at the Trident Warrior Fleet
Exercises 2013 (Flex 2013).
(07APR14, USNI News, Dave Majumdar)
Ripples From Crimea In Space: U.S. Seeks To
End Reliance On Russian Engines For
Satellite Launches
The stagnation of U.S. launch capabilities became
clear when the Space Shuttle fleet retired in 2011
and America became dependent on Russian
vehicles to lift its astronauts to the International
Space Station. Even before that powerful signal of
America’s declining space prowess was broadcast
to the world, though, the U.S. had begun relying on
Russian rocket engines to boost its nationalsecurity satellites into orbit. Last year, a majority of
U.S. medium and heavy launches reached orbit
using Russian first-stage boosters.
This trend was already a national embarrassment
before Russia annexed Crimea, but now it looks like
a potential threat to national security. If Moscow
were to stop exporting engines as it has
occasionally hinted it might, the U.S. space
program could be hobbled. America still builds the
most intricate, capable military and civil satellites in
the world, but without assured access to space that
expertise isn’t worth much. So how did the U.S. get
into this position?
(07APR14, Forbes, Loren Thompson)
anymore. And yet we did [in Iraq and Afghanistan]. And
when it comes to predicting where and how we’re
going to use military force next over the last 40 years
since Vietnam, we have a perfect record: We haven’t
gotten it right once …
If you had asked anybody in the United States in July
of 1990 the likelihood we would have half a million
soldiers in Saudi Arabia by the end of the year, they’d
have had you locked up. So you just can’t predict these
things, and we need to recognize our inability to predict
them.”
(05APR14, Stars and Stripes, Jon Harper)
Heed the Historical Warnings of Post-War
Budget Cuts
The biggest danger facing today’s military is not
terrorism, global instability or the proliferation of
weapons. It’s the danger of our ignorance if we let
history repeat itself. In our zeal to quickly cut federal
spending we have accepted an increased level of risk
to our national security because of unwillingness by
our political leaders to think twice before dropping
the ax.
We’ve been in this situation before, and we didn’t like
the outcome. In 1898, then-Brig. Gen. John J. Pershing
wrote about the state of post-Civil War defense
policies, noting that many people believed there would
never be another war. “Pacifism was predominant,” he
wrote. “As the national debt had grown, partly as a
result of pensions, retrenchment had been the political
cry of both parties, and appropriations for defense had
been constantly reduced. The people throughout the
country were almost exclusively occupied with their
own personal affairs to the neglect of such
considerations. Nobody listened to those who realized
the wisdom of maintaining an adequate army and
advocated it.”
Exclusive Interview: Former Defense Chief
Robert Gates on Wars and Washington
Former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates talked to
Stars and Stripes on Thursday about his new book,
"Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War," and ongoing
national security challenges. Here is what he said:
More than 100 years ago, the siren song of reductions
in defense manpower was luring the unsuspecting onto
the shoals of unpreparedness for future conflict.
Pershing’s reflection on post-Civil War defense
spending highlights a trend that began just after the
American Revolution, and seems to continue driving
contemporary decisions. This cycle of readiness
followed by unpreparedness has repeated itself all too
often throughout our history. Cuts are made with little
relationship to reality or logical predictions about future
defense requirements. In today’s lexicon, those cuts
and reductions are called “sequestration.”
(04APR14, Defense One, Gordon Sullivan)
“Everybody talks about we’re not going to do
insurgency anymore, we’re not going to fight certain
kinds of wars anymore. And I always smile when I
hear that because that’s exactly what I heard after
Vietnam: We’re not going to do any of that
Lawmakers Question Utility of Pentagon’s
Quadrennial Defense Review
Signaling a possible attempt to change the law
requiring a periodic review to Capitol Hill of the
Defense Department’s long-term measurement of risk
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
16
this session, the two senior Republicans on the
House Armed Services Committee expressed
skepticism over continuing the Quadrennial
Defense Review process at a Thursday hearing.
They did not detail what or how they would replace
it.
[Chairman Buck] McKeon, in his opening statement,
said this review “leads only to justification for
programs in [the president’s] budget” request for
Fiscal Year 2015 and accepts a 2012 defense
strategy of protecting the homeland, building
partner capacity and capability, and projecting
power while ignoring “$320 billion in cuts not
counting sequestration.”
(04APR14, USNI News, John Grady)
Pentagon Close to Selecting Specific Nuclear
Cuts Under New START Limits
Pentagon leaders expect
to soon give President
Obama a plan for specific
U.S. nuclear cuts to bring
the arsenal in line with
arms control caps.
A number of alternatives have been under
contemplation for reducing deployed bomber
aircraft and land- and submarine-based ballistic
missiles to meet a limit of 700 delivery systems and
1,550 warheads under the New START agreement,
which entered into force in February 2011.
At issue is how the Pentagon will alter its mix of
delivery vehicles for nuclear weapons -- groundlaunched Minuteman 3 missiles, submarinelaunched Trident D-5 missiles, and bombers -- to
meet limits of the New START agreement with
Russia. Beyond the 700-system cap, 100 delivery
platforms are allowed in reserve.
(04APR14, National Journal, Sebastian Sprenger)
SASC and HASC Leaders Ask Industry for Ideas
on DoD Reform
The top democrat and republican on the Senate
Armed Services Committee (SASC) and House
Armed Services Committee (HASC) signed the
letters to nine groups in total, including the
Aerospace Industries Association, National Defense
Industrial Association, Tech America, and the
Professional Services Council. The letters were
also signed by the frontrunner for the HASC gavel
next year, Vice Chairman Mac Thornberry, R.Texas.
The congressional leaders requested ideas for fixes
to eight areas of the defense acquisition system
including reducing cost, speeding up delivery time,
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
increasing oversight, and improving the acquisition
workforce.
The committees are asking for responses by July 10.
(04APR14, Defense News, Zachary Fryer-Biggs)
Marine Corps Scraps Tracks for Amphibious
Combat Vehicle
The Marine Corps is walking away from the high-speed
Amphibious Combat Vehicle it
envisioned – at least for the
time being – but Marine
Commandant Gen. James
Amos said a wheeled version
will have to do in this budget
environment.
“We elected to switch and go to a wheeled vehicle,”
Amos said on April 1 during a House Appropriations
Committee hearing. “These are commercial off-theshelf … they’re already being made by several different
manufacturers.”
Unlike the planned ACV, the vehicle the Corps now
calls the ACV 1.1 will not be able to deploy quickly
from ship to shore from up to 12 miles out and it will
not move on treads once landed. But what makes it a
sound alternative is that the Corps already has other
means to deploy it over water rapidly, Amos said. And
the fact it will move on wheels makes it more
survivable in a combat theatre.
(04APR14, DefenseTech, Bryant Jordan)
US to Send Two More Warships to Japan by 2017
American Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has said the
US will send two ballistic missile defence destroyers to
Japan.
The ships will join five US warships already stationed
in Japan by 2017.
Mr Hagel made the announcement during a visit to
Tokyo as part of efforts to counter recent missile tests
by North Korea.
In February Mr Hagel had already announced the
expansion of its missile defence capabilities in Asia,
with an additional radar planned in Japan that could
track any missile launched from North Korea.
(06APR14, BBC)
Marines Prepare for Smaller Force Due to Budget
Woes
Testifying before the Senate Armed Services
Readiness Subcommittee, Gen. John Paxton said
under that scenario there would be decreasing
readiness in training and equipment for Marines other
than the first to go and those next in line, and “we will
17
pay for it” in combat that “could result in more
casualties.”
During the surge to support operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan, the Marine Corps end strength
reached 202,000. He said the optimal size of the
Marine Corps would be 186,800, but the
sequestration-required cuts would put it at 175,000
in Fiscal Year 2019.
With whatever relief the Marine Corps receives from
sequestration, Paxton said, it will “buy back . . .
near- and mid-term readiness.”
(03APR14, USNI News, John Grady)
Spec Ops 3-star Leads List of 29 Flag Officer
Nominations
The 3-star tapped for the No. 2 job
at U.S. Special Operations
Command leads the list of 29 flag
officer nominations announced
Tuesday by the Pentagon.
Vice Adm. Sean Pybus was
nominated for reappointment to his
rank and for the deputy SOCOM commander post
by President Obama. He’s serving in Brussels as
commander, NATO Special Operations
Headquarters.
(02APR14, Navy Times)
U.S. Missile Defense System Could See Added
Costs, Delays: Report
The U.S. missile defense system could see
additional costs and delays after several test
failures and technical challenges in 2013, a
congressional watchdog agency warned in a new
report released Tuesday.
The U.S. government has already spent $98 billion
since 2002 to develop a complex, layered system to
defend against enemy ballistic missile attacks, with
an additional $38 billion to be spent through fiscal
2018, according to the report by the Government
Accountability Office.
(01APR14, Reuters, Andrea Shalal)
Congress Uneager for More Troops in Europe
Despite Russian Buildup
There is little support on Capitol Hill for beefing up
the U.S. military presence in Europe, despite
Russia’s buildup of troops along Ukraine’s border
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill say automatic spending
cuts known as sequestration make it difficult to
send more troops to Europe.
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
And the chairman of the Senate Armed Services
Committee argues that the move could provoke a fullfledged invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
“I’d be careful we’re not giving the Russians an excuse
to move. They could use any excuse, such as adding
troops, as an excuse to move into Ukraine if that was
their intent,” said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the panel’s
chairman. “I wouldn’t want to give them any excuse for
doing that.”
(01APR14, The Hill, Kristina Wong)
In the Field
Australian Special Forces Facing Uncertain Future
In more than a decade of conflict, Australia's elite
special forces have kicked in doors and eliminated
terrorist leaders and bomb makers.
The Australian Strategic
Policy Institute says their
future now is uncertain as
the Australian Defence
Force moves to what could
be a decade of peace.
The defence think tank says special operations
capability will remain relevant. SOF provides
Australia's key counter-terrorist force, able to operate
at home or abroad and can help other nations,
especially those in this region, develop their own
capabilities.
(30APR14, AAP)
Rising Suicide in Special Operations Forces
Prompts Call for Review
Concerned with the increase in commandos taking
their own lives, a subcommittee of the House Armed
Services Committee is calling for the Pentagon to
review Department of Defense efforts regarding suicide
prevention among members of the Special Operations
Forces and their dependents.
The call for a review is included in proposals by the
Military Personnel Subcommittee as part of the halftrillion dollar-plus military budget request for the fiscal
year beginning in October. If the measure passes,
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel would have three
months after passage of the budget to report the
findings to the House and Senate Armed Services
committees.
(29APR14, The Tampa Tribune, Howard Altman)
New U.S. Stealth Jet Can’t
Hide From Russian Radar
The F-35 Joint Strike
Fighter—the jet that the
Pentagon is counting on to be
the stealthy future of its
18
tactical aircraft—is having all sorts of shortcomings.
But the most serious may be that the JSF is not, in
fact, stealthy in the eyes of a growing number of
Russian and Chinese radars. Nor is it particularly
good at jamming enemy radar. Which means the
Defense Department is committing hundreds of
billions of dollars to a fighter that will need the help
of specialized jamming aircraft that protect nonstealthy—“radar-shiny,” as some insiders call
them—aircraft today.
itself cannot see because the engagement takes place
beyond the horizon.”
(26APR14, DefenseTech, Kris Osborn)
These problems are not secret at all. The F-35 is
susceptible to detection by radars operating in the
VHF bands of the spectrum. The fighter’s jamming
is mostly confined to the X-band, in the sector
covered by its APG-81 radar. These are not
criticisms of the program but the result of choices
by the customer, the Pentagon.
(28APR14, Daily Beast, Bill Sweetman)
The simulated sea assault from the Liaoning battle
group will be part of Taiwan’s large scale Han Kuang
military exercise which will simulate a full scale war
against the island country, according to a Wednesday
report in “Taipei Times” quoting an unnamed
Taiwanese defense official.
(25APR14, USNI News, Sam LaGrone)
Iran to Target Decoy U.S. Aircraft Carrier in
Drills
An Iranian newspaper is reporting that the country’s
military plans to target a mock-up American aircraft
carrier during upcoming war games.
The Sunday report by independent Haft-e Sobh
daily quotes Adm. Ali Fadavi, navy chief of the
powerful Revolutionary Guards as saying Iranian
forces should “target the carrier in the trainings,
after it is completed.”
(27APR14, Associated Press)
Navy Tests It’s Over the Horizon Cruise Missile
Defense System
The Navy is preparing for another test of a new
cruise missile defense system that can identify and
destroy threats from beyond
the radar horizon, Lockheed
officials said.
The system, called Naval
Integrated Fire Control –
Counter Air, or NIFC-CA, uses
a Standard Missile 6 and an airborne sensor to
track and destroy approaching cruise missiles at
much longer distances than existing technologies
can.
“The NIFC-CA capability pushes out the
engagement envelope that these ships have not
had previously. You are pushing the engagement
envelope beyond the radar horizon,” said Jim
Sheridan, director of Aegis U.S. Navy programs at
Lockheed Martin. “There’s an airborne sensor
that’s involved. Once the missile leaves the ship
you are actually firing it at something that the ship
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
Taiwan to Simulate Chinese Carrier Attack in
Upcoming Training Exercise
The Taiwanese military will train to repel an attack from
China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier and its battle group as
part of a planned May exercise, according to local
press reports.
U.S. Deploys First SM-3 Block IB Missile
The U.S. Navy and the Missile
Defense Agency have started to
deploy the Raytheon Standard
SM-3 Block 1B operationally, the
company said in a Wednesday
[23APR14] statement.
The deployment marks the start of the second phase of
the Phased Adaptive Approach (PAA) that was
adopted in 2009 to defend the U.S. and European
allies from ballistic missile threats purportedly
emanating from Iran.
(23APR14, USNI News, Dave Majumbar)
Hunt for Airliner Shows Limits of Satellite Imagery
The big question on the minds of
industry executives and others
attending the Defense Services
Asia (DSA) exhibition in the
Malaysian capital last week was
what effect the crash of flight
MH370 would have on defense spending priorities
here.
The disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines Boeing
777 in the southern Indian Ocean is posing questions
about the country’s military capabilities to track and
search for even civilian aircraft, let alone potentially
hostile military targets.
(19APR14, Defense News, Andrew Chuter)
DoD Quietly Expanding AFRICOM Missions
Just five years ago, the Pentagon considered Africa
such a strategic backwater that the global map of
combatant commands carved the massive continent
into two chunks and placed most of it under control of
the chief of U.S. European Command in Belgium.
19
Yet since the 2008 creation of U.S. Africa
Command, the military has conducted a quiet
buildup there and today has at least 5,000 troops
operating on the ground across the continent.
AFRICOM’s focus is the vast regions surrounding
the Sahara desert, the Maghreb to the north and
the Sahel to the south. Much of it is essentially
ungoverned and has become a sanctuary for some
of the most virulent strains of today’s radical Islamic
movements.
(16APR14, Defense News, Andrew Tilghman)
Poland Wants Larger US, NATO Troop Presence
Poland’s defense minister is calling for a larger US
and NATO military presence in his country to deter
the type of Russian aggression occurring in eastern
Ukraine.
(16APR14, Defense News, Marcus Weisgerber)
Marines Seek New Tech To Get Ashore Vs.
Missiles; Reinventing Amphib Assault
Cheap grey-market missiles and commercially
available radar kits are forcing the Marines to
reinvent amphibious warfare for the 21st century.
The new Corps concept, Expeditionary Force 21,
predicts long-range threats will force the fleet to
stay at least 65 nautical miles offshore, a dozen
times the distance that existing Marine amphibious
vehicles are designed to swim. The ramifications
are just beginning to ripple across tactics and
technology, starting with a radical overhaul of the
Marines’ Amphibious Combat Vehicle program and
a new emphasis on high-speed landing craft.
(16APR14, Breaking Defense, Sydney J.
Freedberg)
Rafael Looks at Iron Dome Enhancements
Rafael is looking at a number of enhancements to
the Iron Dome missile defence system as a result of
lessons learned over recent engagements, a
company official told IHS Jane's in early April.
Since its first successful interception on 7 April
2011, the Iron Dome has engaged more than 700
rockets with an official success rate at greater than
80% (some sources put this figure at 89%).
According to Gil S, the Iron Dome's concept of
operation has changed somewhat since its first
engagements, as the operators have learned to
have faith in the system. "In the beginning, the IAF
[Israeli Air Force] fired two missiles against every
inbound target, but now the confidence of the
decision-maker has changed and they no longer
need to do that," he said.
(16APR14, HIS Jane’s 360, Gareth Jennings)
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
Russia Will Begin Sea Trials of New Nuclear Subs
this Summer
Two of Russia’s newest
nuclear submarines will
begin sea trials this
summer, according to
state media reports.
Borey-class Vladimir Monomakh nuclear ballistic
missile submarine (SSBN) and the Yasen-class attack
boat (SSN) Severodvinsk will depart the Sevmash
shipyard in Northern Russia, pending ice melt.
“Once navigation at sea opens this summer, the
Vladimir Monomakh and Severodvinsk submarines will
begin tests. Operations on all Sevmash nuclear
submarines are run under the control of the leadership
of the Russian Navy,” the yard said in a statement.
The Russian Navy has plans to create eight of the new
Borey and at least three Yasen-class boats
submarines by 2020.
(15APR14, USNI News, Sam LaGrone)
Indonesia Equips Frigates, Corvette With Stealth
Radars
The Indonesian Navy
(Tentera Nasional Indonesia
- Angkatan Laut: TNI-AL) will
equip a total of four Ahmad
Yani (Van Speijk)-class
guided missile frigates and
one Kapitan Pattimura (Parchim I)-class corvette with
low-probability-of-intercept (LPI) naval radars.
The radars will be built by Indonesian naval sensor
manufacturer PT Infra RCS, company officials told
[i>IHS Jane's on 11 April.
The company describes its equipment, the IRCS LPI
Radar, as a stealthy sea-based X-band (SBX) radar
with frequency modulated continuous wave
technology.
"It has a maximum power output of only 10 W, making
it quiet and virtually invisible to radar warning receivers
on enemy vessels", said Prihatno Susanto, Technical
Advisor for the company. "This allows our warships to
detect hostile surface combatants without being
discovered".
(14APR14, IHS Jane’s 360, Ridzwan Rahmat)
China Has Begun Listening for American Submarines
China has begun installing sensitive hydrophones on the
floor of the China Seas in an effort to detect and track
submarines belonging to the U.S. and its allies.
20
Lyle Goldstein and Shannon Knight, both highlyrespected naval analysts, described the new listening
system as “startling” in a recent article in Proceedings,
a naval professional journal.
They claimed the “fixed ocean-floor acoustic array” is
evidence that Beijing has begun to take seriously the
incredible destructive power of enemy submarines—
especially American ones.
(14APR14, War Is Boring, David Axe)
Navy’s New 80-MPH Mini Combat Vehicle Can
Drop From the Sky
The U.S. Navy has certified the Phantom Badger, a
240-horsepower
combat support vehicle
that’s about the size of
a Mini and tough
enough to traverse
damn near anything.
It’s designed to fit
inside several different
aircraft, including the V-22 Osprey, and airdropped
to provide ground troops with superior mobility.
The vehicle, which looks a lot like a squished
HumVee, was developed by Boeing Phantom
Works with an assist from Motorsport Innovations.
Those guys are known more for their work on the
racetrack than the battlefield, and helped Boeing
develop an adjustable suspension system tough
enough for the rigors of battle. Together they
engineered a four-wheel steering system that gives
the Badger a 24-foot turning radius.
The Badger will hit 80 mph running flat out, and
unleash hell doing it. Weapon loads include a .50caliber machine gun or a 40mm automatic grenade
launcher bolted to the roll cage. The rear-facing
seats can be equipped with general-purpose
machine guns or ditched for hardware supporting
resupply or medevac duties.
(10APR14, Danger Room, Allen McDuffee)
Navy Seeks Sub Replacement Savings: From
NASA Rocket Boosters To Reused Access
Doors
As the US Navy tries to keep its crucial 1990vintage Trident D5
nuclear-capable
missile viable for
decades to come,
it’s working with
everyone from the
Royal Navy to the
US Air Force to
NASA to keep costs down and technology up to
date. Meanwhile, the design team for the new
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
nuclear missile submarine that will carry those Tridents
after 2031 is already down in such low-tech weeds as
salvaging launch tube doors from the existing Ohioclass nuclear subs as they retire from service.
(07APR14, Breaking Defense, Sydney J. Freedberg
Jr.)
Hard Evidence That Obama Has Started Arming
Syrian Rebels?
Fresh video from the
battlefields of southern
Idlib province show the
rebels using US-made
BGM-71 TOW missiles.
This weapon has never
been observed in rebel
use before. Coming on the heels
of much speculation that the Obama administration has
finally made the decision to aid the Syrian opposition
with weapons, the arrival of the TOW missile in Syria is
certainly suggestive. Former US Ambassador to Syria
Robert Ford recently stated that he expected a move
by the Administration to change the military balance in
Syria.
(07APR14, War on the Rocks, Jackie Mulcaire)
Coast Guard Wants Precision Machine Guns
The Coast Guard wants to make its deck-mounted
machine guns accurate
enough for
crowded American harbors.
To do that, Coast Guard
gunners need a weapon
mount that’s stable enough
to turn an M240 machine gun – a weapon designed to
kill area targets on the battlefield – into a precision tool
capable of putting every round on target.
The Coast Guard hopes to find the solution in a
commercially-available mount, Lusk said, who added
that the service might be able to start testing by 2016.
Coast Guard officials are evaluating Navy, stabilized
mount programs, but they are “designed for warfighter,
not necessarily the law enforcement officer,” CWO4
Lusk said.
(08APR14, DefenseTech, Matt Cox)
U.S. Could Add Third Army Brigade in Europe
As Russia appears moving closer to annexing more of
Ukraine, the U.S. is reportedly
considering stationing an
additional Army brigade in
Europe.
In recent years, the number of
Army brigade combat teams in
21
Europe has fallen from four to two. Currently, the
2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment is stationed in
Vilseck, Germany and the 173rd Airborne Brigade
Combat Team is based in Vicenza, Italy.
(07APR14, Army Times, Jeff Schogol)
Pro-Russians Call East Ukraine Region
Independent
Pro-Russian separatists who seized a provincial
administration building in the eastern Ukrainian city
of Donetsk proclaimed the region independent
Monday — an echo of events prior to Russia’s
annexation of Crimea. Ukrainian authorities called
the move an attempt by Russia to sow unrest.
The Interfax news agency said the activists
demanded that a referendum be held no later than
May 11 on the possible secession of the Donetsk
region, which borders Russia.
Speaking in a televised address, acting President
Oleksandr Turchinov called the events gripping
eastern regions — where pro-Russian activists
seized government buildings in at least three cities
Sunday — an operation undertaken by Russia to
sow instability
(07APR14, Associated Press, Peter Leonard)
US Defence Chief Hagel Tours China's Liaoning Aircraft
Carrier
US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has toured
China's first aircraft
carrier, the Liaoning, at
the beginning of a
three-day visit to China.
Mr Hagel, who arrived
in the port of Qingdao
from Japan, is thought to be the first senior Western
official to board the vessel.
China bought it from Ukraine in 1998 and has spent
10 years refitting it.
It is seen as a potent symbol of China's ambition to
modernise its navy, amid a strategic shift in the
region.
US officials said that the defence chief's visit to the
Liaoning at Yuchi naval base - which took place
after a US request - lasted about two hours.
(07APR14, BBC)
Despite Years of Research, Navy Still Relying
on Aging Anti-Mine Tech
A generation ago, the Navy vowed to get better at
finding and destroying sea mines.
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
The proclamation came months after the first Gulf War,
when Iraq’s use of more than 1,000 underwater bombs
overwhelmed the Navy’s fleet of anti-mine ships and
helicopters. Two U.S. warships were rocked by
explosions, and the Pentagon was forced to abort
plans for an amphibious assault on Kuwait, leaving
some 30,000 Marines stuck at sea.
More than 20 years after that embarrassment, the sea
service is still working to make good on its promise to
fully address a centuries-old threat that some analysts
have called the Navy’s Achilles’ heel.
(04APR14, The Virginian-Pilot, Mike Hixenbaugh)
Suspected N. Korean Drones Crude, Reflect New
Threat
South Korean experts say two small drones believed to
have been flown across the border by the North were
crude and decidedly low-tech — equipped with
cameras available on the Internet for hundreds of
dollars — but underscore a potential new threat that
must be taken seriously.
If the South Korean claims that the drones were from
the North on military surveillance missions are true,
they would be the first solid, public evidence that North
Korea is using its drones to infiltrate South Korean
airspace, including the skies over the capital Seoul and
its surroundings.
The captured drones were basic, at best.
(04APR14, Associated Press, Hyung-jin Kim)
Taiwan's Takeaway from Russian Annexation of
Crimea: We Must Modernize Military
Taiwan watched Russia’s invasion and annexation of
Crimea from Ukraine very closely. After all, the island
nation, which is claimed by China, has long feared
Beijing might do the same thing.
“We learned a very important lesson that we have to
modernize our military by spending [to] develop
[weapons and equipment] ourselves or working closely
with the Americans,” Andrew Hsia, Taiwan’s deputy
defense minister, said Wednesday at a Center for a
New American Security event in Washington.
(02APR14, Defense News, Marcus Weisgerber)
In Crimea, Russia Showcases a Rebooted Army
The soldiers guarding the entrances to the surrounded
Ukrainian military base here just south of the capital,
Simferopol, had little in common with their
predecessors from past Russian military actions.
Lean and fit, few if any seemed to be conscripts. Their
uniforms were crisp and neat, and their new helmets
were bedecked with tinted safety goggles. They were
sober.
22
And there was another indicator of an army
undergoing an upgrade: compact encrypted radio
units distributed at the small-unit level, including for
soldiers on such routine duty as guard shifts beside
machine-gun trucks. The radios are a telltale sign of
a sweeping modernization effort undertaken five
years ago by Vladimir V. Putin that has revitalized
Russia’s conventional military abilities, frightening
some of its former vassal states in Eastern Europe
and forcing NATO to re-evaluate its longstanding
view of post-Soviet Russia as a nuclear power with
limited ground muscle.
(02APR14, The New York Times, C.J. Chivers and
David M. Herszenhorn)
Pakistan Already Has US-Made MRAPs, New
Deal in Works
While controversy swirls
over reports that Pakistan
may receive some of the
excess Mine Resistant
Ambush Protected
(MRAP) vehicles that the
United States has sitting in Afghanistan, American
and Pakistani officials are on the verge of
completing a deal to send new and excess MRAPs
to Islamabad, Defense News has learned.
(02APR14, Defense News, Paul McLeary)
Analysis: Crimea Intervention - The Increasing
Sophistication of Russia's Military Resurgence
This whirlwind campaign seems to herald a new
sophistication in how Russian commanders conduct
military operations. The most distinctive feature of
the Russian operation was its emphasis on
economy of effort. Unlike previous interventions in
Afghanistan in the Soviet era, or Chechnya and
Georgia more recently, where Russian
commanders relied on mass employment of tanks
and artillery, the Crimea intervention featured fewer
than 10,000 assault troops lined up against 16,000
Ukrainian military personnel. The heaviest fighting
vehicle employed by the Russians against the
Ukrainians was the wheeled BTR-80 armoured
personnel carrier (APC).
Speculation has shifted to Moldova - and its
adjacent, unrecognised Russian-speaking enclave
of Transnistria or the Pridnestrovian Moldavian
Republic (PMR) - as the next test of Western
resolve in the face of possible intervention by Putin.
A potential justification or pretext for a Russian
incursion here is the small self-declared republic's
wish to become part of Russia and the disputed
presence of a battalion of 400 Russian peacekeeping troops.
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
(01APR14, HIS Jane’s 360, Tim Ripley and Bruce
Jones)
Technology
French 'Flying Car' Undergoes Testing for Special
Forces
In “Live and Let Die,” a black-clad James Bond silently
flies in the night in a black hang glider and lands on a
mountain.
More than 40 years later, French
special operations forces seek to
do something similar, this time
using a combination hang gliderdune buggy under development.
A prototype flying dune buggy designed for the military
is going through tests at an air base, said Jerome
Dauffy, chairman of Vaylon, a start-up company that
developed the vehicle.
The prototype is a light all-terrain vehicle that can take
off and fly in powered flight and paraglide.
(30APR14, Defense News, PierreTran)
Driver Caught Using Cell Phone Jamming Device
The Federal Communications Commission says that
Jason R. Humphreys used a phone jammer in his
vehicle during his daily commute on I-4 between
Seffner and Tampa for about two years before he was
caught.
Metro PCS alerted the Feds of an issue in April of
2013. The company noticed that its cell phone tower
sites had been experiencing interference during the
morning and evening commutes.
Agents from the FCC used direction finding techniques
to find that strong wideband emissions were coming
out of a blue Toyota Highlander SUV driven by
Humphreys.
The FCC says that Hunphreys admitted to using the
jammer to keep people from talking on their phones
while driving.
(30APR14, myfoxny.com, Luke Funk)
Black Hawk Drone: Army’s Iconic Helicopter Goes
Pilotless
The Army’s most iconic helicopter is about to go
pilotless.
The U.S. Army and defense contractor Sikorsky
Aircraft demonstrated hover and flight capability in an
“optionally piloted” version of the Black Hawk
helicopter last month. Its part of the Army’s effort to
reduce troops and costs, in this case by letting the five-
23
ton helicopter carry out autonomous expeditionary
and resupply operations.
Sikorsky has been working on the project since
2007 and convinced the Army’s research
department to bankroll further development last
year.
(30APR14, Wired, Allen McDuffee)
Group Links Military to Cyber, Robotics
Innovators
Outside groups are stepping in to help match the
U.S. Defense Department and other federal
agencies with small businesses and entrepreneurs
– a process the military has struggled with in the
past.
Recent budget cuts to planned defense spending
has made it even more difficult for the military
services to take chances on smaller businesses
versus the larger defense firms like Boeing and
Lockheed Martin that the Defense Department has
come to depend on.
However, military leaders acknowledge much of the
innovation they will need for future modernization
programs is being developed by these smaller
companies. Agencies like the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency were stood up to foster
these ideas and help bring entrepreneurs into the
fold, but they also have needed assistance.
(24APR14, DoD Buzz, Michael Hoffman)
Pentagon’s Superpowered Autopilot Will Do the
Work of 5 Crew Members
The Pentagon’s research arm [DARPA] is
developing a sophisticated,
drop-in autopilot that can
replace as many as five crew
members of a military aircraft,
and turn the pilot into a highlevel “mission supervisor”
issuing commands through a touch screen.
The Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System
(ALIAS) program is a tailorable, removable kit that
will assist in all phases of aircraft flight — even
dealing with emergency system failures in-flight.
The agency says the system will reduce pilot
workload, augment mission performance and
improve aircraft safety.
(22APR14, Wired, Allen McDuffee)
Repurposing Old Drones to Bring Wi-Fi to War
Fighters
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
is a step closer to perfecting the repurposing of
aging surveillance drones into high-bandwidth
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
mobile hotspots designed to ensure warfighters have
aerial Wi-Fi access in the most remote places on
Earth.
(15APR14, Nextgov, Frank Konkel)
U.S. Plans to Build a Stealth Dirt Bike
U.S. military leaders have
approved funding to develop
a hybrid, stealth motorcycle to
be driven by special
operations teams in the not
too distant future.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has
issued a grant to integrate a multiple fuel, hybridelectric power plant into a dirt bike built by BRD
Motorcycles. The hybrid electric engine will be built by
Logos Technologies.
DARPA leaders foresee an electric bike that can drive
for an extended range while producing nearly zero
engine noise.
(15APR14, DefenseTech, Mike Hoffman)
DARPA Turns Aging Surveillance Drones Into Wi-Fi
Hotspots
A fleet of surveillance drones once deployed in the
skies over Iraq is being repurposed to provide aerial
Wi-Fi in far-flung corners of the world, according to
Darpa.
Darpa’s Mobile Hotspots program retrofits retired
Shadow drones with pods that will be able to transfer
one gigabyte per second of data — the equivalent of
4G smartphone connectivity — so that soldiers in
remote areas will have the same access to tactical
operation centers and mission data that others in more
central theaters have.
(15APR14, Danger Room, Allen McDuffee)
Sense-And-Avoid Still Causing Triton Turbulence
The U.S. Navy continues to assess its options to
replace a sense-and-avoid radar that was to be used
on the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton unmanned
aircraft, but failed to meet expectations.
Exelis was selected by Northrop to provide the radar,
but the Navy put a stop-work on the contract one year
ago and began an assessment of alternatives. No
alternative is available off the shelf, says Sean Burke,
Navy deputy program manager. The problem was
miniaturizing the advanced, electronically scanned
array (AESA) radar technology and providing sufficient
cooling and power within the available weight and
space. It was a “technical solution that turned out to be
very challenging for us,” Burke said.
(08APR14, Aviation Week, Amy Butler)
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Navy and Coast Guard Eyeing 3D Printing
For now, the Navy has been pushing forward
through 25 different organizations working on 50 or
more projects, Verrastro said. He also said the
service is beginning to bring these organizations
together to share information and ensure there are
not “500 different networks aboard ship” using
different additive manufacturing processes.
Eventually, it will be chartered. The Navy does “not
want to re-create the wheel.”
“Most of the work is being done in polymers. Metal
is the next big step” in 3-D printing. He added the
biggest breakthroughs so far have come in the
medical field.
Thomas Campbell, a research an associate
professor at Virginia Tech, cited work being done to
in printing cartilage implants and research into
printing human organs “right on ship” as advancing
the uses of 3D printing in the near future. 3D
printers now aboard Essex are printing disposable
medical supplies.
(08APR14, USNI News, John Grady)
US Navy: Converting Seawater Into Fuel a
'Game-Changer'
The US Navy believes it has finally worked out the
solution to a problem that has intrigued scientists
for decades: how to take seawater and use it as
fuel.
US experts have found out how to extract carbon
dioxide and hydrogen gas from seawater.
Then, using a catalytic converter, they transformed
them into a fuel by a gas-to-liquids process. They
hope the fuel will not only be able to power ships,
but also planes.
That means instead of relying on tankers, ships will
be able to produce fuel at sea.
(07APR14, Defense News, Agence France-Presse)
Marines Fly Helicopters With Mini-Tablet
U.S. Marines recently landed K-MAX and MH-6
Little Bird helicopters autonomously using an i-Pad
like mini-tablet device during a demonstration at
Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., Navy and Corps
officials said.
“With one touch of a mini-tablet in their hand, they
have been able to autonomously land a full-size
helicopter onto an unprepared landing site,” said
Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, Chief of Naval
Research.
Clarks Journal: May 2014
ICOD: 30APR14
The technology, called Autonomous Aerial Cargo/Utility
System or AACUS, uses advanced algorithms in
conjunction with LIDAR and electro-optical/infrared, or
EO/IR, sensor technology, Klunder explained.
(05APR14, DoDBuzz, Kris Osborn)
DARPA’s Robots Could Soon Assemble Satellites
in Space
Building satellites in the future could be as easy as
sending robots packed with hardware into orbit, if a
new project from Darpa takes off.
Under its new Phoenix program, which recently
completed Phase 1 testing, Darpa is totally rethinking
how the U.S. builds and maintains its satellite fleet.
The idea is for robots to assemble modular satellite
architecture, called satlets, that weigh about 15 pounds
and contain the satellite functionality such as the power
supply, controls and sensors. All of this is delivered on
the Payload Orbital Delivery (POD) system, which is
meant to be easily and quickly deployable.
(04APR14, Danger Room, Allen McDuffee)
The U.S. Military Is One Step Closer to Having
Invisibility Cloaks
Researchers are one step closer to creating shields
that could render parked tanks and aircraft
virtually invisible.
Debashis Chanda of the University of Central Florida
and his fellow researchers have developed a technique
to much more quickly create the “metamaterials” with
the potential to bend light rays around objects,
creating, in effect, invisibility.
(02APR14, Defense One, Patrick Tucker)
Chapter Contacts:
Board of Directors:
President – Dan Cabel, NSWC Crane
Senior Member – Tom Myers, WisdomTools
Senior Member – Steve Hewitt, Cummins
Member - Jeff Hauser, Indiana State University
Member – Matt Konkler, National Center for Complex Operations
Member – Jonathan George, Comanche Farms
Member – Gil Perry, Partners in Contracting Corp
Member - Jerry Hadley, Indiana PTAC
Member – Tim Wagler, Stimulus Engineering
Central Indiana Unit Officers:
President – Carl Boss, Garrity Tool Company
Vice President – Mark Hillenburg, MSP Aviation
Secretary – Deanna Dennison, Target Corporation
Treasurer – Ted Markley, Markley Farms
Crane Unit Officers:
President – Jeff Johnson, NSWC Crane
Vice President – Sue Davis, Computer Science Corporation
Secretary – Sherrie Johnson, NSWC Crane
Treasurer – Matt Kavgian, JRC, Integrated Systems
25