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04 Apr 24. Brown Calls for Togetherness, Collaboration Between DOD and Industry. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., called for increased togetherness and collaboration between the Defense Department and the defense industrial base during an award acceptance speech Wednesday evening.
Brown made his remarks after accepting the Dwight D. Eisenhower Award from the National Defense Industrial Association on behalf of DOD’s 2.1 m service members at a dinner held near the Pentagon.
“When it comes to the DOD and our defense industry partners, the only way to ensure our national security is to work together,” said Brown, who added that he sees collaboration as the “pathway to success.”
“As I like to say, success takes help; failure you can do alone,” he said.
In discussing the keys to achieve collaboration among defense stakeholders, Brown stressed it’s important to “communicate our priorities and align our equities.”
“Together, we need to be willing to put all the cards on the table — the good, the bad, the ugly — so we can work together on solutions,” Brown said. “We need to discuss not what’s best for one service what’s best for one company, but what’s best for the joint force, what is best for multiple companies, most importantly, what’s best for our national security.”
Brown emphasized that, despite industry and the military having slightly different needs— with the former being focused on building quality products and turning a profit and the latter focused on modernizing and remaining the most respected combat-capable force in the world — both entities need to be focused on contributing to national security together.
Brown also spoke of the travel he’s been doing across the U.S. since becoming chairman.
“Across our country, there are many patriotic Americans, in uniform and in industry, working every day to help keep our nation safe,” he said.
“And I believe, more than ever, we all have a role to play.”
NDIA and its predecessor organizations have given annual awards since 1979. The Dwight D. Eisenhower Award is the organization’s most prestigious award. It is “bestowed annually on an individual who best reflects President Eisenhower’s beliefs and support for a strong national security and industrial base,” according to NDIA’s website. (Source: U.S. DoD)
04 Apr 24. Statement from Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III on NATO’s 75th Anniversary. Seventy-five years ago today, on April 4, 1949, the United States and many of our closest allies signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, DC. In the aftermath of World War II, in the face of the new threat of Soviet aggression, the original 12 NATO Allies resolved to promote security in the North Atlantic area, to safeguard freedom and democracy, and to stand together for their collective defense. From that foundation, we have built the strongest, most successful Alliance in human history.
In the 21st century, NATO remains the bulwark of our common security—and America’s commitment to this great defensive alliance remains a sacred trust. Today’s 32-member alliance is larger than ever, after the historic recent addition of the proud democracies of Finland and Sweden; stronger than ever; and more united than ever.
Putin’s reckless and lawless invasion of Ukraine has brought war back to Europe on a scale that NATO’s founders had hoped to consign to history. Today, the world needs NATO as much as ever. When our leaders meet in Washington in July for NATO’s 75th-anniversary Summit, we will strengthen our resilience, accelerate the development of advanced technologies, advance the implementation of NATO’s most robust defense plans since the Cold War, and strengthen our collective deterrence and defense.
Today and every day, the United States and our NATO Allies reaffirm their bedrock commitment to view an attack on one ally as an attack on all allies. Our commitment to Article Five remains ironclad.
America’s network of Allies and partners—built and sustained by successive generations of wise and bipartisan postwar American leadership—remains a core strategic strength that no rival can match and that no foe should doubt. Today, we salute NATO’s achievements, and we pledge to build upon them. (Source: U.S. DoD)
03 Apr 24. US Navy ship programs face years-long delays amid labor, supply woes. Several of the U.S. Navy’s top shipbuilding programs are running one year to three years behind schedule, as the service and the industrial base grapple with workforce and management challenges.
Navy leaders conducted a 45-day review of its shipbuilding portfolio, following news in January that a first-of-class guided-missile frigate was behind schedule due in part to a workforce shortage at Fincantieri’s Marinette Marine shipyard in Wisconsin.
Coupled with existing delays to the Virginia-class attack submarine construction line and worries those delays might spill over to the top-priority Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro that month ordered an “assessment of national and local causes of shipbuilding challenges, as well as recommended actions for achieving a healthier U.S. shipbuilding industrial base that provides combat capabilities that our warfighters need, on a schedule that is relevant.”
A snapshot of delays
The review’s leaders, Navy acquisition chief Nickolas Guertin and Naval Sea Systems Command head Vice Adm. James Downey, told reporters April 2 the review provided a snapshot of shipbuilding delays and challenges.
Based on current performance, the Navy projects the first Columbia-class SSBN will deliver 12 to 16 months later than its contractual delivery date of October 2027. The submarine is built by General Dynamics’ Electric Boat and HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding.
This is particularly worrisome because the vessel is expected to deploy shortly after its post-delivery testing and training. The Navy is obligated to have 10 SSBNs ready to deploy, lurking beneath the oceans while carrying nuclear missiles. The service is counting on the lead Columbia boat to deliver in 2027 so it can go on its maiden patrol in 2031. With any delays, the Navy will dip below the requirement.
Guertin said the Navy took significant steps prior to the pandemic to reduce risk on this program and accelerate the schedule where possible.
Supply issues
“COVID happened. Supply chain changed. Workforce greening happened,” he said, but previous risk-reduction steps kept the pandemic impacts “as minimal as possible.” The Columbia program, the Navy’s top acquisition priority, is the least delayed of the new programs assessed in the shipbuilding review, Guertin said.
The review shows the Navy’s Block IV Virginia submarines, which were bought from fiscal 2014 to 2018, are running 36 months behind schedule. The attack submarines rely on the same shipbuilders and suppliers as the Columbia program, but they’ve taken the brunt of delays to keep Columbia on track.
There are signs of improvement, though, with the Block V boats bought from FY19 to FY23 projected to be about 24 months behind schedule.
Downey said the Navy put additional work into the Block V design, and a performance improvement plan created for the Block IV boats would also lead to shorter construction timelines for Block V.
The Navy’s next nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which relies on many of the same overburdened suppliers as the submarine programs and is also built at Newport News Shipbuilding, is also delayed. The future Enterprise, CVN-80, is expected to deliver 18 to 26 months late.
Defense News reported in October the ship was running about a year behind schedule. That has worsened, with Downey saying some key suppliers are behind in their deliveries to Newport News. As a result, the Navy is delaying buying subsequent ships CVNs 82 and 83, pushing their procurement from FY28 to FY30.
Downey noted that the next carrier in line, the Doris Miller, CVN-81, has been shielded from delays thanks to a two-carrier contract that’s allowed Newport News Shipbuilding to place material orders much earlier.
The first Constellation frigate, built in Wisconsin by Fincantieri’s Marinette Marine shipyard, will deliver 36 months later than its contractual delivery date.
Downey said this is due to a couple factors: Marinette Marine has gone from managing just one program at the small yard to now juggling three: finishing up the littoral combat ship program, building the multi-mission surface combatant for the Saudi navy, and now designing the Constellation-class frigate. The yard has a higher workload, has to manage programs at different stages, and has had to ramp up hiring even as it’s seen greater attrition than some other yards.
Downey said the Navy has taken some steps to better manage this program, including asking government, Fincantieri and subcontractor designers to all move to a single office at the Wisconsin shipyard so they can get through the remaining design work together as efficiently as possible.
As for the more mature surface ship production lines — the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock and America-class amphibious assault ships at Ingalls Shipbuilding, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers at Ingalls and General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works and the John Lewis-class oiler at General Dynamics’ NASSCO — the Navy notes these ships are predicted to deliver later than what’s outlined in their contracts, but in line with revised program manager estimates.These ship programs were “rebaselined” as the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent labor and supply disruptions wreaked havoc on schedules, but Downey said they’ve kept to these new post-COVID schedules.
Workforce challenges
Guertin said there were two buckets of challenges the team found during this review: lead ship issues, including design maturity, first-in-class construction challenges, and the size and skillset of the design workforce; and ship class issues, including acquisition and contracting strategies, supply chain weaknesses, shortage of skilled tradesmen, and gaps in the government workforce.
Guertin said some things are the new normal: “the supply chain is different now,” he said, and the Navy needs to ensure it and its shipbuilders buy materials farther ahead of the start of construction. The “greening of the workforce” — or replacing a highly experienced workforce that’s retiring in high numbers with less experienced employees — has also “changed dramatically” the realities of ship design and waterfront tradecraft work.
Guertin said this review revealed that the entire workforce — the government, the shipbuilders and the entire supply chain — ought to be viewed and invested in as a national strategic asset. He said the review also highlighted that risk-sharing between the government and shipbuilders had faltered and that the balance of that risk should be reconsidered for future contracts.
Downey added a few lessons of his own as it relates to the Navy’s government workforce. He said the review highlighted the need for more scrutiny in the design process and suggested the Navy might bring in some extra eyes beyond just the program offices involved. The Navy has been less involved in ship design over the years and has therefore seen a decrease in the size and skill of its own design workforce, which should be addressed. And he said the Navy has significant oversight responsibilities today, with more than 80 ships on contract, and that the oversight work is straining the current workforce. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
02 Apr 24. With more NATO allies, will the US store arms in Europe’s High North? The U.S. Army is considering pre-positioning stock in Europe’s High North amid Finland and Sweden officially joining NATO, according to the deputy chief of Army Materiel Command.
“We’ve incorporated two new NATO allies. So what does that mean for the High North in particular, and is there an expansion on the horizon for the High North from an [Army pre-positioned stock] standpoint?” Lt. Gen. Chris Mohan told Defense News in a March 27 interview at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Global Force Symposium here.
Army Materiel Command would be in charge of placing the service’s pre-positioned stock in the region, should the strategy dictate such a move. The command is contributing to the decision-making process, Mohan said, but the Army’s Pentagon-based team in charge of plans, operations and training is in charge of developing an Army pre-positioned stock strategy for the region.
Storing equipment and weapons in the region near the Arctic Circle would mean the Army could learn more about how extremely cold weather impacts materials and what the service would need to do in order to winterize capabilities, Mohan said.
Whether or not the Army decides to place stock in Scandinavia, it is still expanding its pre-positioned stock on the continent to reach a division-sized set.
Fiscal 2025 budget documents show the Army plans to spend $536m to enhance the pre-positioning of its stock with the division set to include corps-level enablers with two armored brigade combat teams, fires, air defense, engineer, sustainment and medical units.
In order to build out a division-level set, Mohan said, continued expansions will be made at existing Army pre-positioned stock locations. He noted the service will modernize equipment as new capability becomes available, such as tube-launched artillery. The Army will also consider other locations for expansion.
Some of the equipment, like tube-launched artillery and rocket artillery sent to Ukraine, is being back-filled into the Army’s pre-positioned stock as it comes off the production line, Mohan added.
The Europe-based stock has received a heavy workout since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Initially the U.S. Army moved a heavy brigade set from southern Germany to four positions in Poland as well as sites in the Baltic region for the 3rd Infantry Division to use, according to Mohan. The effort included multiple virtual rehearsals, which contributed to a streamlined process, he noted.
While that capability has since gone back to Germany, the Army is permanently moving an entire brigade set of equipment to Powidz, Poland, to a base built and funded by the host country and NATO. The infrastructure at the base was already significant; there is an airfield that is big enough to land a space shuttle, Mohan said.
But for the U.S. Army’s pre-positioned stock, Poland built a state-of-the-art facility there, upgraded rail lines and power infrastructure, and will conduct some standard maintenance on the equipment, he said.
The service is now preparing to issue its pre-positioned stock for this year’s Defender Europe, a large-scale annual U.S. Army exercise in Europe.
The Army’s pre-positioned stock historically has been designed so troops can rapidly draw from it in response to a regional conflict, but the service took a new approach roughly five years ago to use the equipment in military exercises in order to train more effectively how to draw the equipment as well as move it across challenging distances and a variety of borders.
“We want to focus [Army pre-positioned stock] as much on great power competition, to use those stocks in great power competition as much as we had planned on using those stocks for great power conflict,” Gen. Edward Daly, then-Army Materiel Command chief, said in 2020. He explained that meant the Army would exercise its pre-positioned stock much more. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
02 Apr 24. F-35A Lightning cleared to fly in lightning for first time in 4 years. The Air Force’s version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter can fly in lightning and thunderstorms again after the service lifted a restriction that had been in place for four years.
The F-35 Joint Program Office confirmed in an email that the 2020 standoff restriction placed on the aircraft, officially called the Lightning II, was lifted on March 19. The news was first reported by Breaking Defense.
The military stopped F-35As from flying within 25 miles of lightning after a problem was discovered with its Onboard Inert Gas Generation System, or OBIGGS, which is meant to keep the jet safe from strikes. OBIGGS pumps nitrogen-enriched gas into the F-35′s fuel tank to render it inert, and keep the fuel tanks from exploding if struck by lightning.
In 2020, maintainers conducting depot maintenance on an F-35A at Hill Air Force Base in Utah found that one of the tubes that distributes the gas to the fuel tank was damaged. Subsequent inspections found problems with tubes in multiple other F-35s, and the military restricted it from flying near lightning until a fix could be developed.
F-35Bs and Cs were not affected by the lightning problem and did not have their flying restricted.
In a statement to Defense News, F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin said, “The F-35 remains the most capable aircraft in providing global 21st century security that protects the United States and our allies.” BAE Systems, which makes OBIGGS, was not immediately available to comment.
The JPO said the fix included “a more robust” design for the fighters’ OBIGGS hardware, as well as updates to its software. The modification was tested both in the lab and in flight. It credited government and industry engineers for finding a solution to the lightning restriction problem. The JPO declined to further detail how the system was fixed, or how many F-35As have been modified, due to operational security concerns.
“The fix restores operational capability, while providing additional safety for the pilots and aircraft,” the JPO said. (Source: Defense News)
02 Apr 24. Counterfeit electronics allegedly supplied for US submarine, laser and missile systems. A US man has plead guilty to supplying more than US$3.5m in counterfeit electronics, which were intended to be used in a nuclear submarine, aircraft laser system and surface-to-air missile system.
United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California, alleges that Alameda County’s Steve H.S. Kim sought to defraud the US Department of Defense’s Defense Logistics Agency by selling fan assemblies to the DLA that were either counterfeit or misrepresented to be new.
According to court documents, Kim, 63, and Company A allegedly sold counterfeit fan assemblies to the DLA, including used and surplus fan assemblies that he claimed were new. In addition, it’s alleged that he created counterfeit labels and provided fake tracing documents, often signed using a false identity.
“Some of these counterfeit fans were installed or intended to be installed with electrical components of a nuclear submarine, a laser system on an aircraft, and a surface-to-air missile system,” a US Attorney’s Office statement said on March 28.
Kim has since plead guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of trafficking in counterfeit goods. Kim’s hearing for sentencing is scheduled for July 17.
“Through his company, Kim delivered counterfeit products to our armed services and tried to pass off non-conforming products with fake invoices,” said US Attorney Ismail Ramsey for the Northern District of California.
“Swindling our military is a sure way to find oneself in jail. This office is always on the lookout for fraudsters and will prosecute anyone caught cheating our military by providing products that endanger our service people or compromise our readiness.”
Kim faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the wire fraud count and 10 years in prison on the trafficking in counterfeit goods count.
“The defendant sold counterfeit and deficient fan assemblies for use in military systems to increase his profit,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
“Criminals who cheat the US military by selling deficient or counterfeit goods put our national security at risk.
“This case demonstrates the Justice Department’s commitment to protecting the military supply chain and Americans’ security.”
US officials said the supply of counterfeit products to the US Department of Defence, such as in this case, endangers the DOD mission, has the potential to harm effective combat operations, impacts mission readiness and betrays the public’s trust.
“The result of this joint investigation underscores the importance of our federal law enforcement partnerships and shows that by working together we can identify, prosecute, and dismantle businesses that supply the US military with fraudulent parts and services,” said Special Agent in Charge Keith K. Kelly of the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division’s (Army CID) Fraud Field Office.
“Our army communities and the public can rest assured that we are committed to pursuing anyone that would defraud the US government for their own personal gain and put combat readiness at risk.”
Assistant US Attorney Katherine Lloyd-Lovett for the Northern District of California, Criminal Division Fraud Section Assistant Chief Kyle C. Hankey, and Trial Attorneys Louis Manzo and David D. Hamstra of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.
Assistant Chief Adrienne Rose and Senior Counsels Jason Gull and Matthew A. Lamberti of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section provided substantial assistance with the investigation.
(Source: google/Defence Connect)
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