The Insider

Inside the Army highlights
By Sebastian Sprenger
March 28, 2016 at 9:05 AM

Some must-reads from this week's issue of Inside the Army:

1. The Army may be looking for an eventual replacement of its Patriot sensors, but that time is considered so far in the future that modernization investments for the legacy equipment are due sooner, a senior official said.

Full Story: Long-term 'bridging strategy' eyed for Patriot-radar replacements

2. A joint program meant to reinvent military lift platforms while satisfying individual service requirements has begun to attract interest from foreign governments and could address civil aviation needs as well, according to Army Training and Doctrine Command's capability manager for Future Vertical Lift.

Full Story: Helicopter plans spark interest across DOD, among foreign governments

3. Though Congress is blocking the reprise of a controversial missile-defense blimp this fiscal year, the Army still hopes to get a second shot at the program come October.

Full Story: Army not giving up on antimissile blimp despite congressional opposition

4. Funding for the Army's Research, Development and Engineering Command has been "relatively protected" in the current constrained budget climate, but that insulation "comes with an expectation to deliver," according to its commanding general.

Full Story: Commander says stakes are high for Army research-and-development arm

Inside the Navy highlights
By Lee Hudson
March 28, 2016 at 9:00 AM

Some must-reads from this week's edition of Inside the Navy:

1. Despite work Lockheed Martin has conducted to reduce the number of false positive reports for the Joint Strike Fighter's logistics system, the program will not incorporate automation of some maintenance reporting as part of the system development and demonstration phase, leaving the services and international partners to use a manual work around until the program resolves the issue, according to a letter obtained by Inside the Navy.

Full Story: Despite reduction in ALIS reporting false positives, workaround is in place

2. Navy strategists are developing an integrated plan to guide the selection, design and execution of war games, as well as how the lessons gained from such events should be shared across the service.

Full Story: Navy developing integrated wargame plan to better share lessons learned

3. Marine Corps officials are studying two courses of action for how the future force should be organized, with one course outlining incremental, "evolutionary" alterations, while the other advocates for "revolutionary" change.

Full Story: Marine futurists examining 'evolutionary' versus 'revolutionary' change

The INSIDER daily digest
By John Liang
March 25, 2016 at 2:42 PM

Coverage of the Pentagon's latest Selected Acquisition Report summary, the Joint Strike Fighter and more are in this Friday INSIDER Daily Digest.

The Pentagon's latest Selected Acquisition Report summary is out. Here's our coverage so far:

DOD sends Congress annual weapons report card; F-35 costs down for third consecutive year

The Defense Department reported a net increase of $4.5 billion over the last year in total program cost for its entire portfolio of major weapon system programs -- a collection of 79 big-ticket projects that accounted for $73 billion in the fiscal year 2016 budget -- with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, the Pentagon's single biggest acquisition, notching the largest reduction in estimated acquisition cost.

Air Force plan to extend JSF service life adds $45B to lifecycle O&S costs

A decision by the Air Force to extend the intended service life of the F-35 by six years added $45 billion to the program's most recent life cycle operation and sustainment cost estimate -- an increase the program's top official says masks a 2 to 4 percent drop in real sustainment costs.

More JSF news:

Marines will have 70,000 additional F-35 flight hours

As part of the decision by the Navy and Marine Corps to extend the life of the Joint Strike Fighter by six years, the Marines will have an additional 70,000 flight hours for the aircraft, according to a service spokeswoman.

Despite reduction in ALIS reporting false positives, workaround is in place

Despite work Lockheed Martin has conducted to reduce the number of false positive reports for the Joint Strike Fighter's logistics system, the program will not incorporate automation of some maintenance reporting as part of the system development and demonstration phase, leaving the services and international partners to use a manual work around until the program resolves the issue, according to a letter obtained by Inside Defense.

Looks like the United Kingdom could be getting more maritime surveillance planes:

U.S. approves $3.2 billion FMS for P-8 spy plane to U.K.

The State Department has approved a possible $3.2 billion foreign military sale to the United Kingdom for up to nine Boeing-made P-8A patrol aircraft, according to a March 25 notice from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

There's a hiring freeze within the Office of the Secretary of Defense:

Pentagon suspends 'Fourth Estate' hiring

The Defense Department has suspended all civilian hiring for the Office of the Secretary of Defense and related agencies until the Pentagon's deputy chief management officer can identify which positions will be eliminated as part of an ongoing effort to reduce and consolidate the so-called "Fourth Estate," according to a memo from the Pentagon's No. 2 official in charge.

Document: DOD memo on OSD hiring freeze

SAIC CFO to retire
By Marjorie Censer
March 25, 2016 at 11:29 AM

John Hartley, Science Applications International Corp.'s chief financial officer, is set to retire this summer, and the company has begun seeking a successor.

SAIC said this week that Hartley, who has been with the company and its legacy parent since 2001, will depart June 30.

Check out Inside Defense's recent coverage of SAIC:

SAIC CEO: Acquisitions are 'not top of mind'

SAIC reports sales boost, profit decline

BAE and SAIC both win contracts for USMC next-gen amphib vehicle

Pentagon sends ISIL report to Congress
By Tony Bertuca
March 25, 2016 at 10:29 AM

The Defense Department has complied with the law and sent Congress a report on the U.S. strategy to counter violent extremism in the Middle East, but the plan has left House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) far from satisfied.

"Over a month after it was due, today the administration sent the committee a document entitled 'Strategy for the Middle East and to Counter Violent Extremism,'” he said in a statement Thursday night. “As we have unfortunately come to expect from this administration, the seven page document fails to provide much new information and fails to address all the elements required by law, such as identifying which groups must be engaged to counter violent extremism.”

Thornberry also criticized the Obama administration for sending the strategy “just after Secretary Carter testified before the Armed Services Committees so that he could not be questioned about it.”

Carter testified before Thornberry's committee on Tuesday -- the same day the world was reeling from deadly terrorist attacks in Brussels for which the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed credit.

The DOD report, however, comes as Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford prepared to address the media Friday at the Pentagon regarding a reportedly successful U.S. airstrike against a high-level ISIL leader.

Inside the Air Force highlights
By John Liang
March 25, 2016 at 9:00 AM

Some must-reads from this week's issue of Inside the Air Force:

1. A decision by the Air Force to extend the intended service life of the F-35 by six years added $45 billion to the program's most recent life cycle operation and sustainment cost estimate -- an increase the program's top official says masks a 2 to 4 percent drop in real sustainment costs.

Full story: USAF plan to extend JSF service life adds $45B to lifecycle O&S costs

2. The F-35 joint program office has established a "Red Team" of Air Force, Navy and academic experts tasked with validating the root cause of a sensor stability issue that has caused delays to testing and fielding of the program's latest software block.

Full story: F-35 JPO commissions 'Red Team' to study cause of software instability

3. The Air Force Research Laboratory is seeking a platform with fighter capabilities to host its autonomous Loyal Wingman technologies, Kris Kearns, autonomy lead at AFRL, told Inside the Air Force.

Full story: AFRL searches for fighter capable platform for Loyal Wingman testbed

4. The Air Force is disputing a report from the Pentagon's top weapons tester stating a radio suite on the CV-22 helicopter was not acceptable and argues the way tests were conducted on the radio suite yielded sub-optimal results.

Full story: Air Force: Nature of tests yielded poor results for CV-22 radio frequency

Modeling and simulation
By John Liang
March 24, 2016 at 3:10 PM

The Pentagon's chief tester wants the services to ensure their major testing plans take modeling and simulation fully into account.

In a March 14 memo, Defense Department Operational Test and Evaluation Director J. Michael Gilmore writes:

In some instances, modeling and simulation (M&S) has been and will be an important element contributing to my evaluations. For example, the testing of new systems, such as those designed to operate in an anti-access/area denial environment, as well as the testing of systems of systems, will involve the use of M&S to examine scenarios that cannot be created using live testing. Whenever M&S is used for operational test and evaluation, I need to have the same understanding of and confidence in the data obtained from M&S as I do any other data collected during an operational or live-fire test. Thus, I expect to see validation, and accreditation approaches described in sufficient detail in Test and Evaluation Master Plans (TEMPs) and Test Plans, and the validation approach should employ statistically rigorous design and analysis techniques wherever possible.

In addition to describing a system's M&S capability in detail, Gilmore wants to see:

* The response variables and/or mission-level metrics of interest.

* The range of conditions over which the M&S will be validated.

* The plan for collecting the necessary live and simulation data for M&S validation.

* An analysis of statistical risk.

* The validation methodology.

For more details, check out the memo here.

The INSIDER daily digest
By John Liang
March 24, 2016 at 2:16 PM

In-Q-Tel, DOD's counter-ISIL strategy, the Joint Strike Fighter and more highlight this Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest.

Keep an eye out for more news from government-funded In-Q-Tel:

DOD wants Silicon Valley's help to hunt for nuclear-tipped mobile missiles

The Defense Department, in its first pilot project funded through In-Q-Tel -- the government-financed investment entity that operates similar to a venture capital firm -- is looking to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to assist with one of the U.S. military's most vexing technical challenges: the ability to find, track and destroy nuclear-tipped, mobile missiles.

The Pentagon still hasn't submitted a counter-ISIL strategy to Congress:

House authorizers call for Carter to submit overdue ISIL strategy

House authorizers are pushing for the Pentagon to submit an overdue strategy to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

News from this week's congressional hearing on the Joint Strike Fighter:

F-35 acquisition cost estimate drops $12.1B

The Pentagon's newest F-35 Joint Strike Fighter cost analysis projects the program's total acquisition cost at $379 billion, $12.1 billion less than last year's projection.

Bogdan: F-35 follow-on development will be delayed if Block 4 is required to be a separate program

The F-35 joint program office believes follow-on development will be delayed by six months to one year if the Block 4 modernization effort is required to be a separate acquisition program.

(Want more JSF news? Check out our Notification Center, where you can sign up to receive email alerts anytime a related story is posted.)

A sneak peek at DOD's IT budget for FY-17:

DOD seeks $38.2B for information technology programs in FY-17

The Defense Department is seeking $38.2 billion for its information technology programs in fiscal year 2017 -- a slight increase over the amount enacted last year, according to the IT budget request released this month.

Keep an eye out for a DOD IG report on the Navy's electronic-warfare capabilities:

DOD IG launches study on Surface EW Improvement Program

The Pentagon's inspector general is launching a study this month to determine whether the Navy is effectively managing a program that provides enhanced electronic-warfare capabilities to help improve anti-ship missile defense.

Raytheon has a contract in hand to refurbish two Conventional Air Launched Cruise Missiles:

Raytheon inks $10 million contract for CHAMP payload work on two CALCMs

The Air Force has awarded Raytheon a $10 million contract for work on a computer-killing missile project, the first major contract activity on the program since the Air Force Research Laboratory successfully demonstrated the system in 2012.

Inside the Pentagon highlights
By Tony Bertuca
March 24, 2016 at 12:11 PM

Here are a few must-reads from this week's issue of Inside the Pentagon:

1. The head of the House Armed Services Committee is urging Pentagon leaders to submit their recommendations for how to modify the Goldwater-Nichols Act before lawmakers mark up the fiscal year 2017 defense authorization bill.

Full story: Thornberry urges DOD to send Goldwater-Nichols reform proposals ASAP

2. The State Department's top official charged with overseeing arms control and international security struck a different tone from some Pentagon officials Tuesday when she defended the U.S. foreign military sales system that has often been characterized as sluggish and inefficient.

Full story: State arms control official casts FMS criticisms as 'mythology'

3. U.S. Special Operations Command is asking Congress for additional funding in fiscal year 2017 to begin experimentation on an Airborne High Energy Laser intended for precision strikes during clandestine operations, according to an "unfunded requirements" memo obtained by Inside Defense.

Full story: SOCOM seeks additional funding for 'clandestine' airborne laser

Protest spotlight
By Marjorie Censer
March 24, 2016 at 9:00 AM

(This regular feature highlights protests decided by the Government Accountability Office.)

Agency: Army Contracting Command

Awardee: URS Federal Services

Protester: DynCorp International

What GAO found: DynCorp protested an Army award to URS for a contract to provide aviation field maintenance support services, contesting the agency's evaluation of the technical proposals as well as its best value tradeoff decision.

DynCorp and URS provided two of the six proposals the Army received, according to the GAO report.

"In comparing DynCorp’s and URS’s proposals, the [source selection authority] acknowledged that DynCorp’s proposal was more highly rated under the non-price factors," the report says. However, "the SSA concluded that "'the more favorable Technical rating does not warrant a $5.5 [million] (12.5%) price premium.'"

DynCorp had proposed a price of $49.4 million, compared to the URS price of nearly $44 million.

In its protest, DynCorp made six main arguments, including that the agency failed to give it credit for certain strengths, that the companies' technical proposals were evaluated "in an unequal manner" and that the best value tradeoff "failed to adequately compare the benefits of each proposal," according to the document.

"Although our decision does not address all of DynCorp’s arguments in detail, we have fully considered each of them and find that none provides a basis to sustain the protest," GAO wrote.

Read the decision: http://www.gao.gov/assets/680/676027.pdf

House lawmakers introduce electronic-warfare legislation
By Tony Bertuca
March 23, 2016 at 3:51 PM

Two House lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan bill aimed at enhancing U.S. electronic-warfare capabilities.

The bill, authored by Reps. Rick Larsen (D-WA) and Jackie Walorski (R-IN), seeks to give the Pentagon "more flexibility, making it easier to modernize legacy systems and develop new EW technologies," according to a statement from the lawmakers.

The bill would also provide "leaders in the Pentagon with more and better tools to more rapidly acquire advanced EW technology" and calls on the Defense Department's EW Executive Committee to report to Congress on a strategy intended to increase U.S. electronic-warfare capabilities, according to the statement.

A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate by Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).

The INSIDER daily digest
By John Liang
March 23, 2016 at 3:22 PM

A former ULA executive's remarks about a space launch contract, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, and Goldwater-Nichols news highlight this Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest.

It's official, DOD's inspector general is looking into the Pentagon's treatment of the United Launch Alliance:

DOD inspector general launches ULA probe

The Defense Department's inspector general has officially opened an investigation into "assertions" made by a former United Launch Alliance executive about the Pentagon's treatment of the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture.

Document: DOD IG memo on ULA investigation

The Army is looking at potentially deploying the THAAD system to multiple combatant commands:

Army juggling demand for upper-tier antimissile equipment

Besides a potential deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system to South Korea, the Army also is weighing requests from U.S. European Command and U.S. Central Command for the capability, a key official said.

Rep. Thornberry wants DOD to send recommendations on reforming the Goldwater-Nichols Act soon:

Thornberry urges DOD to send Goldwater-Nichols reform proposals ASAP

The head of the House Armed Services Committee is urging Pentagon leaders to submit their recommendations for how to modify the Goldwater-Nichols Act before lawmakers mark up the fiscal year 2017 defense authorization bill.

A preview of the possible acquisitions the Army's combat support program office is looking at:

Program executive office adjusts its acquisition stance

HUNTSVILLE, AL -- The program executive office for combat support and combat service support has begun using "whiteboards" to generate a broad-based outline for new programs "before we put pen to paper" on any acquisition, according to its chief.

DOD and the Navy can't seem to agree on how many Littoral Combat Ships are needed:

Littoral Combat Ship sparring between top officials continues in Congress

The dispute between Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus over the number of Littoral Combat Ships needed by the maritime service continued last week, with a top senator siding with Carter's decision to cut the LCS program.

At least one lawmaker wants to see WIN-T funding increased:

Lawmaker seeks to undo cuts slated for major Army network program

Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-MA) has asked the House Appropriations defense subcommittee to increase funding for the Army's Warfighter Information Network-Tactical, which is in line for cuts under service plans for fiscal year 2017.

(Want more WIN-T news? Check out our Notification Center, where you can sign up to receive email alerts anytime a related story is posted.)

McCord: DOD 'looking hard at service contractors'
By Marjorie Censer
March 23, 2016 at 1:16 PM

Facing questions about the status of a report on services contractors, Mike McCord, the Pentagon's comptroller, said this week the Pentagon is "looking hard" at that area.

At a Tuesday House Armed Services Committee hearing, Rep. Madeleine Bordallo (D), the delegate from Guam, asked about a report that would inventory all services contracts.

"In this extremely constrained fiscal environment, can we expect to see the department leverage the clear cost savings found in civilian personnel versus contractors?" she asked.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter told Bordallo DOD is "committed to reducing the strength, particularly of headquarter staffs, both civilian and contractor and, for that matter, military."

"Are we getting better at understanding how we're doing the spend for services contracting?" he added. "Yes, we are getting better at that."

McCord added that Peter Levine, deputy chief management officer at DOD, is leading the department's look at services contractors. However, he said he doesn't know the status of the report.

"You really look at whether you really need everything that you're doing," he said. "And that is an important part of our efficiencies effort for this budget."

As Inside Defense reported at the time, McCord first mentioned the DCMO-led review in February.

CRS issues report on future Navy weapons
By Justin Doubleday
March 23, 2016 at 11:38 AM

A new Congressional Research Service report suggests the Navy could be poised to make a revolutionary leap in the way it approaches missile defense thanks to three game-changing technologies under development.

The March 18 report, "Navy Lasers, Railgun, and Hypervelocity Projectile: Background and Issues for Congress," first obtained by Secrecy News, states:

Any one of these new weapon technologies, if successfully developed and deployed, might be regarded as a "game changer" for defending Navy surface ships against enemy missiles. If two or three of them are successfully developed and deployed, the result might be considered not just a game changer, but a revolution. Rarely has the Navy had so many potential new types of surface ship missile-defense weapons simultaneously available for development and potential deployment.

Although the Navy in recent years has made considerable progress in developing [Solid-State Lasers], [Electromagnetic Railgun], and [Hyper-Velocity Projectile], a number of significant development challenges remain. Overcoming these challenges will likely require years of additional development work, and ultimate success in overcoming them is not guaranteed.

Rear Adm. Pete Fanta, the director of surface warfare in the office of the chief of naval operations (N96), says lasers and railguns have to prove they can compete with the weapon systems currently installed on surface combatants, Inside the Navy reported earlier this month.

"Right now, the technological development of those two systems … are still probably a few years out before they're seriously able to compete with the current systems I have onboard," Fanta said March 2 at a naval engineering conference in Arlington, VA. "I will continue their development. I will continue their testing. In fact, we have demos scheduled from now until the next two or three years to demonstrate the utility of those and we are all in, but before you actually land on one of my ships, you have to replace the system that you're touting you can."

Oshkosh receives JLTV order
By Courtney McBride
March 23, 2016 at 11:17 AM

Joint Light Tactical Vehicles are set to begin rolling off the production line after the Army on March 22 issued a $243 million contract modification for low-rate initial production.

Oshkosh Defense, which in August won the competition to build the humvee successor for the Army and the Marine Corps and later survived a Government Accountability Office protest and legal challenge from Lockheed Martin, will manufacture the vehicles in Oshkosh, WI.

The cost will be met using fiscal year 2016 “research, development, testing, and evaluation; other procurement (Army); and other procurement funds” obligated at the time of the award, according to the contract announcement.

The order includes “657 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles; 25 trailers; 2,977 kits; 12 months of system engineering and program management; test support; 175-test hardware; and one technical data package,” the announcement states.

Program executive officer for combat support and combat service support Scott Davis told reporters March 15 that the program is “fully operational and running.” During a roundtable discussion at the Association of the United States Army's Global Force Symposium in Huntsville, AL, Davis said the Army expects the first JLTV deliveries to begin by October 2016.