Daily business intelligence for the global aerospace and defense industry since 1963
Friday, July 6, 2007
vol. 223, no. 4
Inside
■ Senate appropriators decry administration support for NOAA......... 2
■ Aurora develops high-flying, longendurance UAV for Army ......... 3
■ Dawn launch slips to July 8 ... 3
■ Orbital Express mission
drawing to a close ................. 4
■ Small code designation makes
big difference in net-centric
contracts................................ 5
■ Charts: DOD Inspector General
on USAF’s NETCENTS -- Information Assurance and Contract
Bundling (2 Pages).............. 6-7
■ Chart: Program Acquisition
Costs By Weapon System -Munitions Programs – Air Force –
Sensor Fuzed Weapon (SFW) .. 8
In Brief
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The Pentagon’s research and engineering director unveiled a competition July 5 to develop a wearable electric power system for warfighters. The
competition will take place in the fall of
2008 and will award $1 million for first
place, $500,000 for second place and
$250,000 for third place. The prize
objective is a wearable, prototype system that can power a standard
warfighter’s equipment that produces
20 watts average power for 96 hours
but weighs less than 4 kilograms (8.8
pounds). Current batteries being carried weigh 40 pounds.
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NASA may move up
Mars sample return mission
NASA is looking for a way to accelerate its long-planned Mars sample return
mission, possibly by fitting upcoming landers like the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory with sample caches that could be
retrieved and delivered back to Earth later.
A new Mars astrobiology strategy recommended by the National Research
Council’s Space Studies Board sets “analysis of a diverse suite of appropriate samples” as the highest priority Mars-science
objective. In keeping with that recommendation, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate has ordered studies that could lead to
the launch of a sample-return mission to
the Red Planet as early as the 2018 planetary launch window.
Alan Stern, associate administrator for
science, says the studies are very preliminary and intended primarily to support a
“major budget decision down the road.”
But by accelerating work on a samplereturn mission now, the U.S. Mars-exploration program can stake a better claim to
the funds that would be needed to fly it
later.
“The Mars program represents 46 percent of the planetary division’s budget, and
it’s my assessment that the Mars program
needs to really turn heads if it’s going to
continue to have that level of budget support,” Stern says. “So I challenged the program to come up with something that’s
worth the investment over the next decade. Let’s either go find life or let’s bring
rocks home.”
NASA has planned a Mars-samplereturn mission for years, but as the
agency’s focus has shifted to human
Mars Mission, Page 2
F-22 export to Japan would highlight
competition with JSF, CRS says
Exporting F-22 Raptors to Japan
would likely underscore the growing competition between the aircraft and the F-35
Joint Strike Fighter for funds and other resources, according to a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.
“A final industrial base issue pertains
to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF),” says
the June 29 report. “Although originally intended to be complementary aircraft, F-22
and JSF capabilities, development, and
production have converged. Implicitly if
not explicitly, these aircraft are competing
for scarce procurement funds. Extension
of F-22 production would likely bring these
aircraft into even sharper competition.”
Japan has expressed interest in purchasing the F-22A Raptor aircraft from the
U.S., the report says. “Although the export
of the plane is now prohibited by U.S. law,
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Congress has recently and may again consider repealing this ban.”
Arguments for the sale include the
potential benefits to U.S. industry, contribution to the defense of Japan and the region, and promotion of U.S. interoperability
with the Japanese military, CRS says. Arguments against the transfer include concerns about technology proliferation and
the potential for undermining regional stability.
The Department of Defense is officially neutral on whether the F-22 should be
exported, but senior leaders have suggested that they favor foreign sales of the fighter, the report says.
“Japan faces a challenging regional
context: both direct and potential security
threats, as well as suspicion from other
F-22, Page 2
Page 2
Mars Mission, Page 1
exploration of the moon, the notional launch date of such a mission has slipped into the 2022-2024 timeframe. Now, says Stern,
it might be possible to advance that launch to 2020 or even 2018.
One approach may be to outfit the 2009 Mars Science
Laboratory – an advanced rover building on the success of the
Mars Exploration Rovers still in operation – with a sample cache
that could be filled as the rover moves across the surface and
later retrieved by a sample-return mission.
The European Space Agency is interested in cooperating
with NASA on a Mars-sample-return mission as part of its
Aurora program, and the U.S. agency has raised the possibility
of installing a cache on ESA’s ExoMars rover as well.
Friday, July 6, 2007
“The reason that Mars sample return has failed to happen
over the past 30 years is that it always runs into budgetary problems because of requirements creep, and it gets out of control
and it ends up unaffordable and it gets set back a decade,”
Stern says. “I like to tell people you can have 70 percent of
something or 100 percent of nothing. Which do you want?”
The purpose of the sample return would be to find chemical evidence of life or its absence on Mars, says Bruce Jakosky,
chair of the panel of scientists that produced the astrobiology
strategy. Scientists would have much more flexibility to find that
evidence in their labs on Earth than by trying to guess what
robotic equipment to send to Mars for in situ analysis, he says.
- Frank Morring, Jr. ([email protected])
F-22, Page 1
states that changes to Tokyo’s defense policy indicate a return
to its militarist past,” the report says. “North Korea poses a particularly acute and proximate threat to Japan, heightened by
Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear device tests in 2006.”
There are pluses for the U.S., the report says. Exporting F22s to Japan is one way to keep the F-22 production line running
after U.S. Air Force procurement ends, which would help prime
contractor Lockheed Martin reduce per-aircraft costs. DOD and
U.S. taxpayers would only benefit from reduced per-aircraft
costs, however, if the Air Force were to purchase more F-22s
after those produced for Japan, and in addition to the 183 air-
craft currently planned.
“It is unclear whether the United States and Japan could
come to terms on the capabilities to be offered in the export
variant of the F-22,” the report says. “Japan would likely want an
aircraft the same as, or similar to, that flown by the U.S. Air
Force. Japan would likely prefer to license or co-manufacture
the aircraft, which gives them more opportunity to acquire engineering and design knowledge, and technology transfer.
Presumably, DOD would desire to export a less capable aircraft.’”
- Michael Fabey ([email protected])
Senate appropriators decry administration support for NOAA
It provides $172.3 million for the National Environmental
Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS), which operates
NOAA’s satellites and collects and archives the data they produce.
In the $331 million allocated to the National Polar-orbiting
Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), committee lawmakers added $30 million above the administration’s
request for restoring climate sensors that were cut in last year’s
Pentagon recertification of the troubled civil/military weather
satellite program (DAILY, July 2).
The committee remains “extremely concerned with regard
to NOAA’s satellite programs,” the report said. “The committee
believes that continuous oversight by Congress is necessary
given NOAA’s track record, and has provided a general provision
to the bill that is similar to the Defense Department’s NunnMcCurdy certification procedures.”
The next-generation Geostationary Operational Environmental
Satellite (GOES-R) system, which is expected to release a draft
request for proposals this month (DAILY, July 5), receives $264 million under the bill. The money added to NPOESS’ climate sensors
was taken from the GOES-R request, which had allocated more
than a quarter of its budget for “Government Program Office
Operations,” lawmakers said. “The committee feels that these
reserves provide a false sense of security for the program managers,” they said in explaining the reduction.
- Jefferson Morris ([email protected])
In its report accompanying the fiscal 2008 Senate
Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) appropriations bill, the
Senate Appropriations Committee renewed its criticism of the
Bush administration’s budget requests for the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
“Given the growing fiscal demands on the Department of
Commerce’s budget, namely the 2010 census, and ever
increasing satellite costs at NOAA, the committee is doubtful
this administration will ever show the leadership and bold thinking required to address the true needs of our planet’s oceans
and atmosphere,” the committee said.
Though the administration at the beginning of 2007
unveiled its “most robust NOAA budget ever,” analysis revealed
that many of the increases came at the expense of other NOAA
programs, and overall the FY ‘08 budget request was $268.7
million below the FY ‘07 enacted level, the committee said.
The NOAA spending bill approved by Senate appropriators
last week provides $4.2 billion for NOAA, $137 million above the
FY ‘07 enacted level and $405 million above President Bush’s
budget request. It includes $636 million for the National Ocean
Service, $927 million for the National Weather Service, $1 billion
for satellite programs and $439 million for research.
COPYRIGHT © 2007 THE MCGRAW-HILL COMPANIES, INC.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Aurora develops high-flying,
long-endurance UAV for Army
Aurora Flight Sciences’ deal with the U.S. Army to develop ultra-long endurance unmanned air systems (UAS) could
reach $27.7 million, the company said July 5.
A recent Army Space and Missile Defense Command
contract modification for continued development of the
company’s Orion HALL (High Altitude, Long Loiter) comes
as Army and Navy leaders battle with Air Force leaders
inside the Pentagon over a renewed Air Force proposal to
take over high-altitude UAS development and acquisition
(DAILY, June 18).
For now at least, the primary mission for Aurora’s Orion
HALL is to serve as a test bed for an advanced hydrogen
propulsion system, according to Aurora. The Manassas, Va.headquartered company already is testing a Boeing hydrogen
engine in its ultra-high altitude test facility there.
The Boeing engine is supposed to allow the Orion HALL
to carry payloads up to 400 pounds to altitudes of up to
65,000 feet for more than 100 hours, Aurora said. The two
companies have been partnering on the work since 2004.
A conventionally powered version of Orion HALL also is
under study, the company said. That version could have an
endurance approaching two weeks at altitudes of around
20,000 feet.
Key congressional defense leaders on Capitol Hill have
been complaining for years that the Defense Department’s
unmanned aircraft efforts are splintered, seemingly redundant and growing. The military services have “repeatedly
Dawn launch
slips to July 8
NASA will attempt to launch the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory’s Dawn solar-electric powered asteroid orbiter on
a Delta II heavy booster from Cape Canaveral no earlier than
July 8 after a one-day delay due to inability to complete propellant loading on Launch Complex 17B because of lightning
in the area.
The launch window on Sunday, July 8, extends from 4:04
to 4:33 p.m. EDT, although afternoon thundershowers could
pose a threat.
NASA has until about July 11 to launch Dawn, and then
3-4 more days later in July, before it must postpone the
launch until September to enable Delta II workers to switch
Page 3
resisted collaborating,” sparking the ongoing public spat over
who controls military unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) development and acquisition, congressional auditors testified in the
spring (DAILY, April 23).
Executive agent
This year, Air Force Gen. Michael Moseley, chief of staff,
proposed his service become the executive agent for UAVs
operating a few thousand feet or more above ground. Army
aviation officials in particular said the Air Force should essentially mind its own business (DAILY, March 26).
In particular, the services have been fighting over the similar Predator and Warrior drones, both of which are made by
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems. Democratic defense
committee leaders were moving to mandate a decision, but
generals and admirals succeeded in getting them to give
DOD’s Joint Requirements Oversight Council a chance first.
Meanwhile, while development of Orion HALL began last
year, Aurora maintained it builds upon more than a decade of
earlier design experience accumulated in developing the
Perseus and Theseus high-altitude aircraft for NASA.
The company is promoting Orion HALL - which features
a bulbous fuselage with wings on top and a propeller in front
- for missions ranging from ground-tracking of military targets
to climate change research. The unmanned aircraft could
monitor hurricanes and other severe storms, with the goal of
improving track forecasting accuracy, Aurora said.
A year ago, Aurora said Orion HALL was slated for first
flight next year. But the company now says the two Orion
HALL systems are being built with first flight in 2009.
- Michael Bruno ([email protected])
to processing of another Delta II launcher on Pad 17A for
the Phoenix Mars lander. Phoenix is set for liftoff Aug. 3 in a
launch window that extends only until late August (DAILY,
July 2).
MILSATCOM CENTER: Lockheed Martin is opening a new
$3 million milsatcom center of excellence in Rockville, Md. The
facility, which will be dedicated in a ceremony July 10, “will
enhance development efforts for Department of Defense customers,” the company says. The 20,000 square foot facility will
house a secure, state-of-the-art software development, integration and testing environment and will bring together
Lockheed Martin employees currently in Gaithersburg and
Clarksburg, Md.
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Page 4
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Friday, July 6, 2007
Orbital Express mission
drawing to a close
The Orbital Express mission is coming to a close and both spacecraft are
expected to be decommissioned next week, according to the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
A joint effort between DARPA, the U.S. Air Force and NASA, Orbital Express
was launched in March on a three-month mission to demonstrate on-orbit
satellite servicing techniques.
The two Orbital Express spacecraft - Boeing’s Autonomous Space
Transport Robotic Operations (ASTRO) and Ball Aerospace’s NextSat - completed several mating/demating maneuvers, despite a May flight computer failure
that kept the spacecraft separated for nearly eight days at distances much
greater than planned (DAILY, May 22).
No extended mission
There had been discussion about NASA possibly using the satellites after
their primary mission was over to explore techniques useful to a possible future
Mars sample return mission – for which the sample return canister would have
to dock with a mother ship in Mars orbit for the journey back to Earth.
“DARPA had discussed the possibility of NASA or Air Force perhaps conducting additional experiments following the end of the DARPA demonstration
mission,” DARPA spokeswoman Jan Walker said. “Once it was determined that
NASA and the Air Force had no additional experiments that they wished to conduct, DARPA decided to decommission the satellites.”
The mission met all its objectives, according to Walker, including satellite
rendezvous and capture, refueling and component exchange through the use
of standardized interfaces.
“The Orbital Express demonstration proved that on-orbit servicing is possible, and showed the maturity of the technology,” Walker said. “We are confident that future satellite designers and operators will be able to benefit from
this knowledge as they develop new space systems.”
Following the decommissioning, NextSat is expected to re-enter Earth’s
atmosphere and burn up in 3-5 years, and the heavier ASTRO in 12-15 years.
- Jefferson Morris ([email protected])
AIM spacecraft returns
first views of noctilucent clouds
NASA’s Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) spacecraft has returned
its first images of noctilucent clouds - wispy accumulations of what is believed
to be ice crystals that form in summer at altitudes of about 50 miles over the
polar regions.
First spotted from the ground this year on June 6, in recent years the
clouds have been forming more often and at lower latitudes than previously,
leading some researchers to theorize there is a link in the high-altitude changes
they represent and changes at lower altitudes linked to global warming.
“These observations suggest a connection with global change in the lower
atmosphere and could represent an early warning that our Earth environment
is being changed,” says AIM Principal Investigator James Russell III of
Hampton University, which manages the project along with NASA’ s Goddard
Space Flight Center.
AIM was launched April 25 on an Orbital Sciences Corp. Pegasus XL.
COPYRIGHT © 2007 THE MCGRAW-HILL COMPANIES, INC.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Page 5
Small code designation makes
big difference in net-centric contracts
The code doesn’t cover network modernization, equipment upgrade and replacement, providing network defense
and management tools, increasing transmission system
capacity, installing fiber, or performing work at sites or installations, according to the IG. The classification includes only
operating and maintaining facilities that provide communications and furnishing communications by using their own
facilities.
Old notice
In making the determination, the contracting officer and
Electronic Systems Command Small Business Office used a
Small Business Administration (SBA) Notice, the IG reported.
“We do not believe the contracting officer should have
relied on a Small Business Administration Notice that
expired 14 years before the NETCENTS contract was awarded,” the IG said. The 2002 definition of wired telecommunications carriers is different from the 1990 definition. It is
important for contracting officers to use current publications
in determining which NAICS code to select.”
Pentagon buying regulations, the IG pointed out, do “not
allow contracting officers to choose the largest size standard and code for the purpose of maximizing small business
participation.”
The IG also questioned whether the following contracts
should count as small business awards:
• Multimax, about 300 employees and $58 million in
2004 revenue;
• NCI, about 1,400 employees and $171 million in 2004
revenue;
• Telos Corp., about 434 employees and $117 million in
2004 revenue; and
• Centech Group, about 300 employees and $40 million
in 2005 annual revenue.
- Michael Fabey ([email protected])
U.S. Air Force program officials for the service’s
Network-Centric Solutions (NETCENTS) contract had the
best intentions for picking the product code they did to
describe the work the agreement would cover.
But according to a June 29 DOD Inspector General’s
report (DAILY, July 5), the NETCENTS officials picked the
wrong code, shutting out potential contractors and leading
to the management nightmares the IG says are haunting the
program.
One significant affected program, the IG says, is the
Combat Information Transport System (CITS), which is the
primary Air Force program to install complete, secure fiber
optic infrastructure supporting critical fixed-based missions.
“CITS modernizes network defenses, network management, and fixed network information transport,” the IG
report says.
NAICS code
NETCENTS program officials said the North American
Industry Classification System (NAICS) code chosen - Wired
Telecommunications Carrier - was selected based on the
greatest percentage of work projected for NETCENTS and
because it was more liberal than other codes in allowing
more small businesses to compete, the IG reported.
“However, a different NETCENTS program official provided an original ceiling estimate with telephony requirements accounting for approximately 15.5 percent of the ceiling and the greatest percentage of work going to the
Combat Information Transport System (CITS) at 63.1 percent,” the report says. “Based on the description of CITS, we
believe the NAICS code Wired Telecommunications Carrier
is not appropriate.”
Simulator system to study
pilot response to lasers
The U.S. Air Force, FAA and Northrop Grumman have
developed a one-of-a-kind laser positioning system in a
Boeing 737 flight simulator to study flight performance while
aircrews are exposed to lasers.
Military and federal civil aviation authorities have
become concerned about the possibility that terrorists could
use lasers to temporarily blind pilots during critical takeoff or
landing moments, causing crashes or other incidents. Such
lasers are easily obtained, and there have been several incidents in which commercial pilots have said they were “hit”
by lasers.
Northrop Grumman’s Information Technology (IT) sector
team, which included partners Taboada Research
Instruments and Cherokee CRC, assisted the Air Force and
FAA in creating the system, which will help define how pilots
respond to lasers when pointed at aircraft during flight.
The researchers integrated eye-safe lasers in the 737
flight simulator to monitor pilots’ reactions so that new flight
safety measures can be developed to counter the threat.
“The team’s technological contribution to the flight simulator will lead to improvements in cockpit procedures so
commercial and military pilots can concentrate on safely flying their aircraft should a laser be pointed at them,” said Jim
Barry, vice president of Technology Integration & Application
for Northrop Grumman IT’s Defense group. “We look forward to continued development of technological enhancements with the Air Force and the FAA to create new defensive mechanisms against laser threats.”
Work on the contract was conducted at Brooks City
Base, San Antonio, Texas, and at the FAA’s Mike Monroney
Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City, Okla.
COPYRIGHT © 2007 THE MCGRAW-HILL COMPANIES, INC.
Page 6
Friday, July 6, 2007
DOD Inspector General on USAF’s NETCENTS
Information Assurance
In a recent report (DAILY, July 5), the DOD Inspector General concluded that the U.S. Air Force’s NETCENTS
contracts were not “complete or consistent” with respect to information assurance (IA) and contracting
requirements. This table describes five IA requirements that were omitted from the NETCENTS contracts,
and the effect of each omission.
Missing Policy/Clause
“Continuation of Essential
DoD Contractor Services
During Crises”
DFARS1 207.105(b)(19)(c),
DoD Instruction 3020.37
“Disclosure of Ownership or
Control by a Foreign
Government”
DFARS 252.209-7002
“Protection Against
Compromising
Emanations”2
DFARS 252.239-7000,
DFARS 239.7103
“Personal Identity
Verification of Contractor
Personnel”
FAR3 52.204-9,
FAR 4.1301
“Contractor Information
Assurance Certifications”
DoD Directive 8570.1,
DoD Manual 8570.01-M
Description of Requirement
This clause must be included to
identify which services have
been declared so essential that
they must continue during a
crisis situation outside the
United States.
This clause provides contractor
disclosure of any interest a
foreign government has in the
contractor when that interest
constitutes control by a foreign
government. In addition, no
contract under a national
security program may be
awarded to an entity controlled
by a foreign government if that
entity requires access to
proscribed information to
perform the contract.
This clause must be used in
solicitations and contracts
involving information
technology that requires
protection against compromising
emanations.
This clause must be placed in
solicitations and contracts when
contract performance requires
contractors to have physical
access to a federally controlled
facility or access to a Federal
information system.
Existing contracts must be
modified to specify certification
requirements.
Effect of Omitting Policy/Clause
DoD may not be capable of
supporting these systems necessary to
contain and manage threats.
Contractors owned by a foreign
government could have access to
sensitive information, cause
substantial harm to U.S. interests and
national security, and reveal defense
capabilities and weaknesses.
DoD systems may not be protected
against compromising emanations.
The physical security of federally
controlled facilities and Federal
information may not be maintained.
Certification requirements may not be
communicated at the contract level so
that contractors can train and provide
proper personnel.
Source: DOD IG
COPYRIGHT © 2007 THE MCGRAW-HILL COMPANIES, INC.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Page 7
DOD Inspector General on USAF’s NETCENTS
Contract Bundling
The DOD IG concluded that NETCENTS program officials bundled the contract without justification. According
to government regulations, contract bundling is a consolidation of two or more requirements for supplies or
services, previously provided or performed under separate smaller contracts, into a solicitation for a single
contract that is likely to be unsuitable for award to a small business. This table breaks down the bundling definition from FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulation) Subpart 2.1 and compares it to the NETCENTS contract.
Breakdown of FAR
Definition of Bundling
Contract is a consolidation
of two or more
requirements for supplies
and services
Contract was previously
provided or performed
under separate smaller
contracts
Consolidation of
requirements into a
solicitation for a single
contract
Not suitable for small
business award due to the
diversity, size, or
specialized nature of the
elements of the
performance specified
Not suitable for small
business award because of
the aggregate dollar value
of the anticipated award
Not suitable for small
business award because the
contract performance sites
are geographically
dispersed
NETCENTS Description
According to the scope of NETCENTS, requirements for
hardware, information technology services, software, and
telecommunications have been consolidated.
Program officials from the Office of the Air Force Chief
Information Officer stated one obstacle to standardization for
NETCENTS is often that the Air Force bases use small local
contractors for information technology services. Therefore, each
base may have had separate smaller contracts.
NETCENTS is an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity
contract which is considered a single contract for this definition.
The NETCENTS contract is to provide the Air Force, DoD
Components, and other Federal agencies a primary source of
networking equipment and system engineering, installation,
integration, operations, and maintenance.
NETCENTS has a $9 billion ceiling with a 3-year term with two
1-year option periods.
NETCENTS is a worldwide contract.
Source: DOD IG
COPYRIGHT © 2007 THE MCGRAW-HILL COMPANIES, INC.
Page 8
Friday, July 6, 2007
Program Acquisition Costs By Weapon System
Munitions Programs – Air Force
Sensor Fuzed Weapon (SFW)
Description: The Sensor Fuzed Weapon (CBU-97/B) is a cluster munition
designed for direct attack against armored targets. The SFW is manufactured by
Textron Defense Systems, Wilmington, MA.
Mission: The objective of the SFW is to develop and produce a conventional
munition capable of multiple kills per pass against operating armored vehicles, air
defense units, and other support vehicles.
FY 2008 Program: The FY 2007 program terminates production of the SFW.
Program Acquisition Costs
($ Millions)
FY 2006
(Qty) Amt
FY 2007
(Qty) Amt
Procurement
(332) 118.8
(305) 118.4
(-)
-
TOTAL
(332) 118.8
(305) 118.4
(-)
-
Source: Department of Defense
COPYRIGHT © 2007 THE MCGRAW-HILL COMPANIES, INC.
FY 2008
(Qty) Amt
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avionics
outlook
October 29, 2007 • Hyatt Regency • Phoenix, AZ
A rapidly changing aviation landscape and
evolving standards are driving advancements
in avionics. Synching integration strategies with
innovation is resulting in big proﬁt.
Register now to learn how an enterprise-wide
avionics-enabled strategy can result in
increased revenue, optimized operations
proﬁciency, and heightened safety.
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innovation
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Uncover how these trends are driving avionics
technology and what impact they will have on
future development:
•
Modernization of air trafﬁc control and
Air trafﬁc management
•
Rise of UAVs
•
Bizjet boom including VLJs
•
Environmental impact reduction
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