The Insider

The Army has awarded BAE Systems a $153.6 million contract for 53 M88A2 Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lift Evacuation System (Hercules) vehicles and three sets of spare parts, according to a Sept. 26 government notice.

Work will be performed at the company's plant in York, PA, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2016, according to the Defense Department notice. Approximately $79.4 million of the Hercules money will come from the Army's fiscal year 2013 budget, and $74.2 million will come from the service's FY-14 budget, the notice states. The Hercules is the only vehicle capable of towing an Abrams tank.

Inside the Army reported in May that the Army planned to release a sole-source solicitation to BAE Systems to produce at least 57 M88A2 vehicles, with a contract expected to cover FY-14 to FY-16, and options to procure up to an additional 88 vehicles and spares.

BAE has signaled in the past that its M88 industrial base will be at risk as the Army decreases vehicle spending in the coming years, and Congress has sought to inject new funding into the program.

For instance, in May the House Armed Services Committee authorized $74 million for the M88 in its version of the FY-15 defense authorization bill, while the Senate Armed Services Committee authorized $126.4 million for the vehicle in its version of the bill, though the Army only requested $2 million.

The Army, however, indicated in April a desire to buy an additional 23 M88 vehicles in its $10.6 billion unfunded priorities list for FY-15.

BAE also won a $150 million contract for the purchase of 49 Hercules vehicles in August 2013. A spokeswoman for BAE told ITA at the time that the injection of cash would help the company keep the York M88 production line running until October 2015.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has blocked a Defense Department reprogramming request to shift $104.5 million in fiscal year 2014 wartime appropriations toward the development of a modification to the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, according to a recent reprogramming document.

Development of the 30,000-pound bunker-buster bomb was on hold while the Air Force completed a Hard Target Munitions AOA. The request signals the service's intention to pursue a MOP capability upgrade to meet operational requirements.

The congressional defense committees have not blocked a related $16.5 million transfer that supports MOP modification procurement.

In related news, InsideDefense.com reported earlier this week that the House Appropriations defense subcommittee had rejected a request by the Office of the Secretary of Defense to realign $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2014 wartime spending to buy eight F-35s to replace Air Force F-15 and Marine Corps AV-8B training and combat losses:

That request aimed to secure additional orders to ramp up production despite fiscal constraints in the base budget.

Furthermore, the 110 or so aircraft that have already been delivered continue to operate under a restricted flight envelope following an engine malfunction in June that caused a fire onboard an A-model F-35 at Eglin Air Force Base, FL.

The joint program office and F135 engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney are working to deliver a fix that would be retrofitted on new production and delivered engines. Aircraft and engine production continues despite the incident, program officials have said.

We now have a version of the reprogramming that shows the sections of the request that were blocked by lawmakers. View it here.

The Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division plans to buy a Swordfish variant of the REMUS unmanned underwater vehicle from Pocasset, MA-based Hydroid LLC, according to a Sept. 20 announcement in Federal Business Opportunities.

The center gave the following reasons why the purchase "is not suitable for full and open competition":

a. This contract is necessary to provide an additional Mk 18 Mod 1 UUV for use in evaluation of future capabilities to improve the performance of the fielded MK 18 Mod 1 Systems. The MK 18 Mod 1 Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) are based on Hydroid's commercially available Remote Environmental Monitoring Units (REMUS) 100 UUV.

b. Hydroid Inc. is the only U.S. licensed manufacturer of the REMUS UUV variants and maintains the proprietary design and all data rights to the REMUS.

Inside the Navy reported in June that Senate authorizers were in agreement with their House counterparts that creating a separate fund for developing UUVs are a critical national security interest, according to a report accompanying the Senate's mark of the fiscal year 2015 defense authorization bill:

As for UUVs, the committee is "concerned" the Navy may not be able to develop the necessary capabilities to achieve its goal of deploying the "large-displacement" UUV squadron on independent missions by 2020. The Navy refers to the LDUUV as the large-diameter UUV.

"Further, the committee believes that budget constraints may further hamper the development of these critical capabilities," the report reads. "Particularly with respect to the LDUUV project, the committee encourages the Navy to take full advantage of existing expertise and infrastructure at the public shipyards."

Public shipyards may be able to assist with engineering, configuration management, acquisition support, technical problem solving, and operations and logistics support, including life-cycle maintenance and mission package support.

The committee directs the Navy to submit a report no later than Sept. 30, 2014, detailing how the service is using and plans to use the public shipyard infrastructure and expertise for UUV research, development, engineering, configuration management, acquisition support, technical problem solving, and operations and logistics support.

A group of House lawmakers wants House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to call for a vote to authorize the use of military force against Islamic terrorists in Iraq and Syria once Congress returns to session after the November elections.

In a Sept. 18 letter, the lawmakers write:

We believe the terms of the July 25th concurrent resolution approved by the House have been met and that U.S. Armed Forces are engaged in sustained combat operations in Iraq, and there is an increasing bipartisan recognition that the time has come to take up and debate an authorization regarding U.S. military operations in Iraq. We encourage you to inform the members of the House when such a debate will occur and to direct the appropriate committees of jurisdiction to consult with the Administration on the scope of such an authorization.

The letter was signed by Reps. James McGovern (D-MA), Tom Cole (R-OK), Walter Jones (R-NC), John Garamendi (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Richard Nugent (R-FL), Paul Broun (R-GA), Steve Stockman (R-TX), Peter Welch (D-VT), Keith Ellison (D-MN), John Lewis (D-GA), and John Duncan, Jr. (R-TN).

The Air Force this week initiated an evaluation process to determine which base will host the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center -- a new organization that will consolidate all major command installation management functions under Air Force Materiel Command and eliminate 923 staff positions across the service.

According to a Sept. 16 Air Force press statement, 10 bases are currently being assessed for suitability against a selection criteria approved by the chief of staff recently.

The statement reads:

All [continental United States]-based MAJCOM headquarters, any CONUS installation with an existing installation support [field operating agency] with more than 50 authorizations and the National Capital Region will be evaluated as potential candidates to host the AFIMSC Headquarters. The 10 installations include Barksdale Air Force Base, LA; Ellsworth AFB, SD; Hurlburt Field, FL; Joint Base Andrews, MD; Joint Base Langley-Eustis, VA; Joint Base San Antonio, TX; Peterson AFB, CO; Scott AFB, IL; Tyndall AFB, FL; and Wright-Patterson AFB, OH.

The Air Force plans to narrow the field and identify candidate bases this fall ahead of a more rigorous evaluation to determine "preferred and reasonable alternative" sites by early 2015, according to the statement. Those sites will be included in the environmental impact analysis process.

The creation of the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center (AFIMSC) was announced in July along with the results of the Air Force's Management Headquarters Review, which identified 2,536 staff positions across the service's higher headquarters that will be eliminated.

Lawmakers from the states most affected by the headquarters reductions have already begun expressing their preference to host the AFIMSC headquarters within their districts. Members of the Virginia congressional delegation wrote to the Air Force secretary in July to push Joint Base Langley-Eustis as the best site because that base is being most affected by the reorganization and staff position reductions, with 742 positions eliminated there.

Along with assuming responsibility for installations management, the AFIMSC will be the parent organization to several field operating agencies.

The press statement identified those agencies as the Air Force Security Forces Center, Air Force Civil Engineer Center, Air Force Installation Contracting Agency, Air Force Cost Accounting Agency/Financial Management Center of Expertise, Air Force Financial Services Center and the Air Force Personnel Center Services Directorate.

House lawmakers late this afternoon approved a continuing resolution by a 319-108 vote that would fund the government through December. They also approved an amendment introduced by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) by a 273-156 vote that would include money to train Syrian rebels.

McKeon put out the following statement:

"Today a bi-partisan majority of the House agreed to the President's request for authority to train and equip moderate Syrian opposition forces.  This authority would allow those forces to fight ISIL terrorists.  The President requested this authority and -  after we shaped it to include robust oversight mechanisms- the House gave it to him.  I hope the Senate quickly follows suit.

"While we voted to approve the authority in large numbers, none of us believe that this program alone can achieve the President's objective to 'degrade and destroy' ISIL. A more robust strategy will be required from the President to do that. I hope that, with the support of Congress and the American people, he adopts one."

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) had this to say:

"By authorizing the Department of Defense to help train and equip the Syrian opposition, this measure represents an important, initial step forward in taking on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). ISIL represents a direct threat to the safety and security of the United States, and House Republicans are firmly committed to doing everything we can to help keep America safe.

"This year, the House worked methodically to pass seven annual appropriations bills. Senate Democrats didn't even bother -- they passed zero. Unfortunately, that's the kind of inaction we've also seen from them on more than 40 House-passed jobs bills. This bill preserves previous spending reductions and keep the government running at current levels past the end of this month. And importantly, it ensures the ban on internet access taxes does not expire on November 1. I urge the Senate to act on it quickly."

In December 2013, Marines flew from Twentynine Palms, CA to Ft. Hood, TX in a V-22 Osprey exercise. Inside the Navy sat down recently with Maj. Scott Cuomo, who was the infantry officer course commanding officer during the exercise:

During this experiment, the Marines were tasked with a nighttime, long-range embassy reinforcement mission. Cuomo's team used a tablet connected to a Blue Force Tracker global positioning system during the flight to receive updates about the situation on the ground.

"We have a very expensive aircraft that can do all sorts of crazy stuff, in a good way, but you still have the same situational awareness when you get off the aircraft as you did in Vietnam," he said. "With that tablet you can text like you do on your phone. If I'm in one aircraft and it's a four aircraft launch into the objective area I can share information laterally between the area through certain radios and waveforms."

The enemy situation changes between the time a unit takes off until the time it gets on the ground. "Today, throughout the DOD you can't take a tablet and hook it up to any networks because there is a policy standing in the way of that," Cuomo said.

The Marine Corps will participate in Bold Alligator 2014 from Oct. 29 through Nov. 14, according to an information paper reviewed by ITN.

The experiment will be virtual and constructive, a scenario-driven coalition exercise designed to rapidly deploy a command element, task organized surface-air-ground forces, operate across a full spectrum of naval amphibious operations from foreign disaster response to limited force entry and crisis response.

There will be demonstrations of a fly-in integrated command element, cyberspace electromagnetic warfare coordination cell concept, and the Joint High Speed Vessel.