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Inside the Pentagon - 11/27/2008
- Inside the Pentagon - 11/27/2008
Memo signed
JROC APPROVES PLANS TO ACQUIRE SMALL, TACTICAL DRONES FOR SERVICES
The Defense Department’s powerful Joint Requirements Oversight Council has approved the way ahead for a Marine Corps-led effort to acquire small, tactical unmanned aerial systems that could be used by multiple services, Inside the Pentagon has learned.
In a Nov. 18 memo to Pentagon acquisition chief John Young and the No. 2 uniformed leaders in the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright approved the capability development document for the Tier II Unmanned Aircraft System, validated key performance parameters for the program and formally designated the Marine Corps the lead component for the effort.
The Marine Corps has been granted “approval authority for non-key performance parameter changes,” according to the memo, a copy of which was obtained by ITP. Should the Marines encounter costs exceeding 10 percent of the approved acquisition program baseline or 25 percent of the original program baseline, the service will return to the JROC prior to reprogramming or budgeting additional funding into the program, the memo says.
The memo notes the capability development document for the drone was approved with a “joint potential designator” of JROC interest. That designation applies to major programs with capabilities that have a significant impact on joint warfighting or those that might have an impact across services or relate to interoperability in allied and coalition operations.
The drone effort -- known in naval circles as the Tier II/Small Tactical Unmanned Aerial System (Tier II/STUAS) program -- arose from the merger of similar Navy and Marine Corps programs, both aimed at addressing tactical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance shortfalls. The naval services have addressed such shortfalls by leasing ScanEagle unmanned drones and UAS operators from Boeing and the Insitu Group. The new program, however, aims to replace those vehicles in the field with systems owned and operated by the military.
The documents reviewed by ITP indicate the Air Force might also end up buying the Tier II systems. However, unlike the Marine Corps and Navy elements of the program, which are funded in the fiscal year 2010 long-term budget, known as the program objective memorandum (POM) in Pentagon parlance, the Air Force element remains an unfunded issue to address in the POM-12 process, the documents say.
The program plan calls for the Marine Corps to buy 32 drones in the coming years (one in FY-10, four in FY-11, five in FY-12, seven annually in FY-13 and FY-14 and eight in FY-15).
To accomplish this, the Marines would spend a total of $332 million over these years, including procurement, research and development and operations and maintenance funds. This includes $35.2 million in FY-10, $41.2 million in FY-11, $56.9 million in FY-12, $70.1 million in FY-13, $61 million in FY-14 and $68.4 million in FY-15.
The Navy plans to buy a total of eight tactical drones (three in FY-10 and one annually from FY-11 to FY-15). To accomplish this, the Navy would spend $324 million spread across those years -- starting with $51 million in FY-10.
The charts also say the Air Force is slated to buy 14 of the systems between FY-12 and FY-17 (three annually in FY-12 and FY-13, five in FY-14 and three in FY-15). That is estimated to cost a total of $293 million, spread across those years -- beginning with $53 million in FY-12. But the service has not yet allocated that money in a POM-12 plan, according to the documents.
Naval officials expect the new program to provide ISR support for tactical level maneuver decisions and unit force protection for Navy ships and Marine Corps land forces, according to service officials. Specifically, the new ISR systems will participate in missions that include building the recognized maritime picture, maritime security operations, maritime interdiction operations and supporting Navy units in counterterrorism operations.
Naval Air Systems Command is planning to issue a new draft request for proposals for the program, according to a Nov. 13 notice on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site. This will include a statement of objectives, statement of work and a performance-based specification. The flight demonstration will be conducted no earlier than March 1, 2009, the notice says. -- Carlo Muñoz
PENTAGON-24-48-1
- 25. AIR FORCE WORKING TO PUSH LINK-16 DATA OVER TTNT WAVEFORM
Inside the Air Force November 21, 2008
The Air Force will test a technology that will let special operators use software-based radios to broadcast Link-16 messages over the secure Tactical Targeting Network Technology waveform at a series of networking experiments in Nevada, according to service planners.
At next year’s Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment at the Nellis Air Force Range in Nevada, service officials will equip a special operator with a small Quint Networking Technologies software radio -- similar to a Joint Tactical Radio System -- that is running the TTNT waveform. Using this system, the operator will push Link-16 data to a strike aircraft, unmanned drone and even a simulated incoming net-enabled weapon -- all of which will be equipped with the software radios.
This will give the soldier the “capability to redirect the [weapon’s] path, to strike the target that [he] is seeing,” said John Sopher a technical advisor at the Global Cyberspace Integration Center (GCIC) at Langley Air Force Base, VA during a Nov. 13 telephone interview.
The major advantage of using TTNT for this mission is that the Internet-based waveform is difficult to jam and detect -- something that is critical to special operations forces, according to Sopher.
The secure waveform can also communicate much more easily with other software-based communications assets on the Global Information Grid, added Sopher.
“The benefit of using Internet Protocol is that I can put a gateway on the ground or [in the air] and because it uses Internet Protocol, I can easily pass that information to other units [such as command and control], essentially you can pump that information into the GIG,” said Sopher.
While the team will be testing out the TTNT waveform at this year’s JEFX, the software radio can also run the wide area network waveform that will be used by JTRS -- allowing even greater collaboration with other aircraft or ground troops, according to Col. Stephen Moulton, director of modernization and innovation at the GCIC.
Moulton’s team plans on using a C-12 Huron carrying essentially a seeker head from an Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile as a stand-in for the net-enabled weapon in the experiment, according to Moulton. The strike aircraft and unmanned drone have yet to be decided on, added Moulton.
While TTNT was recently axed as the communication waveform of choice for stealth jets, it is still being evaluated for its use in environments where the United States has air dominance, according to Moulton. -- John Reed
Role in operations should be ‘minimal’
49. NAVY SECRETARY DEFENDS USE OF CONTRACTORS IN SUPPORTING ROLE
Inside the Navy November 24, 2008
Navy Secretary Donald Winter last week defended the use of contractors to conduct some military missions, but said the services should look to reduce outsourcing on the front lines.
“For those that suggest that contractors should never be involved directly in operations, that the role of the military is reserved solely for those in uniform, I would refer you back to our Constitution and discussions of the issuance of letters of marque,” Winter said during a Nov. 17 speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “The concept and the role of privateers in terms of military activities and defense of our nation, really goes back to the 18th century, when privateers were a big part of U.S. naval capability.”
Further, the secretary noted Daniel Boone and Sacagawea acted as guides and interpreters for U.S. military missions.
“This is something that is not new, perhaps what is new is the way in which this concept has evolved over the last several years,” Winter said.
One of the difficulties with the use of contractors providing technical support to leased equipment on the battlefield is the proximity of the hired help to danger, he said. Unlike in the past, counterinsurgency operations like those conducted in Iraq do not have a well-defined “rear area” where contractors can operate without being in the direct line of fire, Winter noted.
“I don’t like the fact that I can go out to forward-operating bases and find contractors there operating [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] assets like the Scan Eagle system out past the normal areas of safety for contractors,” Winter explained.
Scan Eagle is a small, long-endurance autonomous unmanned system that can spy on its surroundings. The system has already been used in Iraq to support Marine Corps forces and has deployed aboard Navy ships in the Persian Gulf.
Right now, the Navy and Marine Corps address ISR shortfalls by leasing the Scan Eagle drone and the services of the people who operate these drones from Boeing and The Insitu Group.
“What we have is the result of recognizing the criticality of these assets,” Winter said last week. “It’s very hard to convert programs like Scan Eagle to programs of record into the inventory and train uniformed personnel on their operations so we can transition from a contracted service to a military capability.”
The Navy leases the drones through Boeing and The Insitu Group with an indefinite quantity contract, issued through separate task orders, worth a maximum of $143.2 million, according to Navy spokesman Lt. Clay Doss. The contract expires in November 2009.
“We have an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract with Boeing Corp. to provide persistent unmanned aerial system ISR services in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom sea-based deployments and land-based detachments, using contractor-operated and -maintained Scan Eagle unmanned systems,” Doss explained in an e-mail.
In turn, Winter last week said, in a supporting role, contractors should continue to have a place in military operations.
“The volunteer force did not volunteer to do the laundry, they did not enlist in the military to clean latrines,” he said. “We cannot treat them they way we did the conscripts in World War II and Korea.”
Additionally, the secretary said the military retiree community is an excellent resource for training.
“Contracting is a mechanism for tapping the retiree population for training activities,” he said. -- Zachary M. Peterson.
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