Sponsored by Bertin Exensor
www.exensor.com
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
27 Jun 24. Next-gen homeland defense interceptor plans are risky, watchdog says. Interceptor to replace current interceptors in the ground as part of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System that protects the homeland against intercontinental ballistic missiles from Iran and North Korea. (Artist rendering courtesy of Lockheed Martin).
The Government Accountability Office said the Missile Defense Agency’s development plan for its next-generation interceptor for homeland defense carries both schedule and funding risk, according to a June 26 report from the watchdog.
MDA is developing the Next-Generation Interceptor after canceling a previous effort to field a redesigned kill vehicle in August 2019 for the ground-based interceptors which make up the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system (GMD) designed to protect the U.S. homeland from intercontinental ballistic missiles from Iran and North Korea.
MDA wants to field NGI by 2028, but Congress is pushing for an earlier deadline and industry teams have said they could deliver initial interceptors by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2027, one year ahead of schedule.
“The NGI program is on track to start product development in 2024 but the program is planning to overlap design and production activities to accelerate flight testing,” the GAO report states. “Any major design issues could disrupt this strategy.”
GAO found NGI’s schedule to be “already optimistic when compared to development timeframes of similar weapon systems,” and added that the agency is also struggling to meet testing goals across the board, which could further derail the ambitious schedule.
The program’s cost has also gone up by hundreds of ms of dollars in the last year, the GAO found. Even so, it has yet to rise above planned funding levels.
Yet the GAO said, “MDA officials expect further increases due to supply chain issues and rising material costs.”
On time
MDA is working to field NGI by 2028 as threats grow rapidly in complexity and capability.
While the NGI program is meeting schedule goals now, GAO showed skepticism that NGI would maintain its timeline. Historically, the office said, comparable technology development has taken longer.
The agency is buying long lead materials for the interceptors, particularly for ones to be used in upcoming flight tests, but GAO notes NGI designs “are not yet mature, and any changes could necessitate rework on interceptors currently in early production.”
The agency was carrying two teams through a competitive design phase. Lockheed Martin and its Aerojet Rocketdyne partner completed the preliminary design review for its NGI in September 2023 and a Northrop and RTX team passed through the same design review at the end of January.
But nearly a year prior to a deadline for two competing teams to reach a critical design review phase, MDA chose Lockheed Martin in April to move forward rather than continue with both teams into the next phase of technology development.
According to the GAO report, both NGI contractors “made progress developing critical technologies” and MDA plans to assess NGI’s critical technology maturation status prior to a product development decision expected in the third quarter of FY24.
NGI’s schedule has flight tests beginning roughly six years after MDA awarded the development contracts. GAO noted that a 2019 study by a federally funded research and development center found “kill vehicles, satellites and strategic systems” take roughly seven years from contract award to first flight.
Flight test schedules will have an impact, the GAO said, and MDA has not been able to stay on track even for GMD testing. NGI production, the GAO notes, is contingent on completing three intercept flight tests within two years.
“GMD program has never successfully executed more than two intercept flight tests within a span of 2 years since the program started testing operationally configured GMD interceptors in 2006,” the report states.
“NGI might face similar challenges, in part, because DOD plans for NGI flight testing to increase in difficulty with each successive test,” it adds.
On budget
The GAO found the NGI program’s development cost has already increased in its “early stages.” The Pentagon has anticipated the program cost to be “a few bn dollars higher” than MDA’s early estimates, which is in line with the Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) office’s independent cost assessment in 2021.
“NGI’s costs remain within the program’s current funding level, but the cost growth accumulated in the first 3 years of the program has reduced the government’s funding margin as a result of accelerated schedules,” GAO states. Moreover, GAO said typically the most significant cost growth happens later in development and production.
The rising cost, according to the office, is mostly due to contractors taking steps to mitigate schedule risk as well as growing material costs “which directly related to supply chain issues and were further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
While MDA has traded cost for schedule in the first phases of the program, the agency did acknowledge that will not be “sustainable going forward,” the GAO notes.
Technical risk
In 2022, the Pentagon’s research and engineering branch found technical risk in the NGI program. MDA “disagreed” with a large portion of that assessment and GAO said the agency has “taken limited steps to address the identified risks.”
GAO reported MDA has completed all required survivability testing on component-level parts, but the agency “is not fully addressing risks associated with NGI’s threat requirements.”
And MDA is not “fully developing” models and simulation that it needs to verify technology maturity and performance, the report states.
GAO found other DOD components like GMD’s Technical Direction Agent, U.S. Northern Command, MDS Operational Test Agency and the DoD’s director of operational test and evaluation were concerned about the lack of modeling and simulation capabilities for the program and the agency’s ability to get the needed capabilities developed in time for ground testing expected in FY26.
“CAPE officials told us in February 2024 that foregoing adequate simulation capabilities directly amplifies risks to the program because MDA will be relying on these same models and simulations for verification activities in lieu of more extensive flight testing,” the report states. “CAPE officials added that insufficient modeling and simulation would potentially leave some of the most critical questions regarding NGI’s performance unanswered.”
But MDA told GAO that it would ensure “NGI-specific requirements for the MDS-level modeling and simulation framework are identified, planned for, and implemented,” according to the report. This includes aligning development of an all-digital MDS-level simulator with the program.
“DOT&E officials told us this new digital simulator will be essential for conducting NGI operational assessments because it will provide significantly greater simulations capabilities, once developed,” the GAO states. (Source: Defense News)
27 Jun 24. House shoots down amendment to cut F-35 purchase. Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee are lambasting appropriators who want to buy additional F-35 fighter jets in fiscal 2025 above the Pentagon’s budget request.
The House’s FY25 defense spending bill would procure 76 new F-35s, eight more than the 68 requested by the Defense Department. This puts the spending bill at odds with the House’s FY25 National Defense Authorization Act, passed 217-199 earlier this month, which would cut F-35 procurement down to 58 aircraft.
“At a projected total lifecycle cost of over $2trn dollars, the F-35 is the largest program in DoD history despite routinely not meeting cost, schedule, and performance metrics,” Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the committee, said in a Wednesday statement with Rep. Donald Norcross of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the tactical air and land forces panel.
“This is unacceptable program execution and Congress should not reward this behavior by buying additional aircraft above the President’s budget request,” the statement read.
Smith and Norcross highlighted that the Defense Department stopped accepting F-35 deliveries from manufacturer Lockheed Martin last year “until the enterprise could successfully deliver, test, and field the next version of the Operational Flight Program” — a benchmark it has not yet met nearly a year later.
The two Democrats and Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., introduced a bipartisan amendment that would have cut F-35 procurement in the spending bill and bring it in sync with the 58 F-35s authorized in the National Defense Authorization Act.
But the House Rules Committee, which oversees amendment votes, opted not to put Smith’s proposed F-35 reduction on the floor for a vote. The new House Appropriations Committee chairman, Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., previously chaired the Rules Committee.
Smith’s proposed reduction of 18 fighter jets from the spending bill would have amounted to a roughly $2 bn procurement cut for the Air Force and Navy.
The Smith amendment would have shifted funds in the form of $526 m to the Air Force to help address F-35 performance issues with development, production and testing.
“It is the duty of Congress to support the long-term viability of the F-35 program and ensure the vast sums of taxpayer money footing the bill are spent where they can ensure program success,” said Smith and Norcross. “A simple short-term reduction in acquisition rates would enable us to mitigate the known systemic problems, correct course and get the F-35 program and workers up and running at full speed.”
Lockheed Martin has faced intense bipartisan scrutiny from the Armed Services Committee for repeated F-35 delays, most recently with the Technology Refresh 3 upgrades. The TR-3 hardware and software upgrades would provide F-35s with better displays, computer memory and processing power.
Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., attempted to amend the NDAA with a provision that would have authorized the defense secretary to seize intellectual property from Lockheed Martin and open it up to competition, taking aim at the F-35′s software problems.
Moulton sought a vote on the amendment when the Armed Services Committee marked up the legislation in May but had to withdraw it after a Congressional Budget Office cost determination. But multiple committee members, including several Republicans, said they would support Moulton’s efforts to seize intellectual property from Lockheed Martin in the years ahead should F-35 issues persist.
Smith urged caution on Moulton’s efforts, despite his shared frustrations with Lockheed’s execution of the F-35 program.
“In law, we would possibly have to compensate them for that, which would be really, really, really expensive,” Smith said.
Despite efforts from Smith and his fellow Armed Services Committee members to cut F-35 procurement next year, appropriators will have the final word on how many of the aircraft to buy in the defense spending bill.
Further compounding the uncertainty, the Senate version of the FY25 NDAA would procure 68 F-35s — the same number requested by the Pentagon. It remains unclear how many F-35s Senate appropriators seek to procure, as they have yet to release their FY25 defense spending bill.
(Source: Defense News)
26 Jun 24. Pentagon to identify next Replicator capability set this summer. The Pentagon will decide later this summer what capabilities to focus on in the next round of Replicator, its push to quickly field high-need technology at scale.
The first phase of the effort, championed by Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, is focused on attritable drones and other uncrewed systems. The goal is to deliver thousands of these platforms by the summer of 2025, and in the 10 months since it was announced, the Pentagon has solicited and selected systems and started fielding them.
With the first round of Replicator in full swing, Hicks told C4ISRNET June 25 that the Defense Innovation Working Group — which vets and recommends systems for the effort — has been discussing what the next round, Replicator 2.0, will look like.
“We are beginning those discussions at my level,” she said during an interview at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla. “They’re more mature at lower levels already. The DIWG are actively having conversations about 2.0. The fact that there’s a lot of enthusiasm for different potential capability areas just shows that there is buy-in to the value of the process.”
Hicks wouldn’t offer any insight into what specific capabilities the group is considering, but highlighted several attributes Defense Department leaders will factor into their decision. The systems should meet a near-term operational need, she said, and should be a capability that would benefit from senior leader backing.
“It’s not just happening on its own . . . it could benefit from this attention and focus at the senior level and probably across the enterprise,” Hicks said. “It’s that it’s senior and that it’s synchronized across multiple different areas that affect capability delivery.”
If the department identifies a capability that meets those criteria, it will work to include funding in its fiscal 2026 budget proposal, which the Pentagon will submit to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget in September.
“We would be proposing to include it in the ‘26 budget,” she said. “Of course, it’s the President’s budget, but that would be how we would envision including it.”
The Pentagon plans to spend a total of $1 bn on the first round of Replicator in fiscal years 2024 and 2025 with funds drawn from various sources including prior year appropriations, a reprogramming request, a national security supplemental approved in August and the department’s yet-to-be approved FY25 budget proposal.
The FY25 request didn’t include projections for future-year funding, but Hicks said the Pentagon will provide those to Congress as part of its FY26 request.
“We’re now inside the normal budget process, and so we will be able to put into the ‘26 budget and display for Congress how we plan to fund any follow-on Replicator efforts,” she said.
Hicks said she’s confident the Pentagon will meet its schedule and delivery targets for the first iteration of Replicator, noting that she thinks its performance to this point validates that the process is working.
“That is clearly bearing fruit in terms of the years we’re shaving off the timeline,” she said. “The ability to stick to schedule and cost itself is a significant improvement over what we too often see in the department.” (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
25 Jun 24. Pentagon Spokesman Eric Pahon provided the following readout:
Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks visited U.S. Central Command headquarters on MacDill Air Force Base today to meet with USCENTCOM Commander U.S. Army General Michael Kurilla and senior staff, discuss the implementation of Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2), and receive briefs on USCENTCOM’s innovation efforts and theater threat assessments.
During her visit, Deputy Secretary Hicks reiterated the Department’s support and appreciation for the progress USCENTCOM has made through experimentation and real-world operations on CJADC2, partner sharing, autonomy and other digital initiatives, and reinforced the need for enterprise-wide capabilities in these areas.
These efforts include the stand-up and expansion of innovation task forces within the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Special Operations Components, and the execution of the command-wide digital exercise series, Digital Falcon Oasis.
At USCENTCOM HQ, the Deputy Secretary visited with USCENTCOM operators and technical staff to receive briefings on digital capability sprints (“Digital Falcon Oasis” exercises) that have built CJADC2 capability over the last 18 months and discuss partner sharing capabilities.
During these discussions, she observed how USCENTCOM has conducted experimentation to build digital CJADC2 capabilities across the command and discussed lessons-learned that can be applied to other component commands. She also discussed the ways USCENTCOM is addressing information-sharing challenges with partners and allies to further advance CJADC2 capabilities in a multi-national environment.
Deputy Secretary Hicks also received updates on USCENTCOM’s Service Component innovation Task Forces that are conducting technology experimentation, validation, and integration in the field, and discussed lessons learned on transitioning capability from experimentation to scale.
She also met with USCENTCOM’s five “Servicemembers of the Year” to thank them for their hard work and dedication to mission during a complex and demanding year of operations throughout the USCENTCOM area of operations.
Finally, the Deputy Secretary met with the USCENTCOM and USSOCOM Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Acceleration Initiative (ADA) Teams to hear about their successes, experiences, and lessons learned in digital modernization. She commended USSOCOM and USCENTCOM for their efforts to “treat data as a strategic assets” and elevate digital modernization as a Commander’s priority, and solicited input from the Department’s digital modernization experts on how to expand on their successes across other component commands and units.
The ADA initiative was announced by Deputy Secretary Hicks in June 2021, aimed at providing data professionals to each combatant command to help understand what data and processes used to make decisions, improving and automating data flows in preparation to enable implementing AI tools to accelerate decision-making. ADA teams collaborate directly with the headquarters subject matter experts and leverage combatant command operations, experiments, and exercises to introduce capabilities that integrate into the staff workflows. (Source: U.S. DoD)
25 Jun 24. DOD Releases Strategy to Achieve IT Integration, Interoperability. The Pentagon today released its strategy to drive interoperability and integration in information technology across the Defense Department.
The new blueprint titled Fulcrum: DOD Information Technology Advancement Strategy emphasizes an approach that ensures future capabilities align with warfighter needs.
DOD Principal Deputy Chief Information Officer Leslie A. Beavers, who introduced the strategy during this year’s Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association’s TechNet Cyber symposium, said the IT vision integrates the National Security Strategy, as well as key DOD strategic management, software management and cybersecurity plans.
In introducing the strategy, Beavers emphasized the role of leaders across the department in achieving success.
Fulcrum provides decision makers throughout the enterprise with “tangible steps to take to turn that strategic vision into an operational reality,” Beavers said, noting the need to prioritize interoperability and security when solving digital problems at all levels of the enterprise.
She added the strategy will guide the department’s approach to building an “interoperable, integrated, digital platform.”
The approach is organized around four lines of effort:
- Providing joint warfighting IT capabilities to expand strategic dominance of U.S. forces and mission partners
- Modernizing information networks to meet mission requirements
- Optimizing IT governance to gain efficiencies in capability delivery and enable cost savings
- Cultivating a premier digital workforce ready to deploy emerging technology to the warfighter
The strategy captures defense leaders’ recognition that success on the battlefield is increasingly dependent upon the department’s ability to harness evolving technology and digital capabilities that enable interoperability among warfighters.
It also emphasizes DOD’s focus on the needs of the warfighter in crafting future solutions.
“At the heart of our approach is a steadfast commitment to user-centricity ensuring that user experiences are intuitive and adaptable,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said in her letter introducing the strategy.
“To achieve this objective, this strategy focuses on ensuring our IT systems are fully integrated, our capabilities are best in class, our infrastructure is resilient and secure, and our IT management processes are efficient and agile enough to move at the speed and scale needed to support and achieve our operational needs at any given moment, Hicks said.
Following today’s release of the strategy, officials expect to release an implementation plan with detailed steps to achieve the envisioned end-state. (Source: U.S. DoD)
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Founded in 1987, Exensor Technology is a world leading supplier of Networked Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) Systems providing tailored sensor solutions to customers all over the world. From our Headquarters in Lund Sweden, our centre of expertise in Network Communications at Communications Research Lab in Kalmar Sweden and our Production site outside of Basingstoke UK, we design, develop and produce latest state of the art rugged UGS solutions at the highest quality to meet the most stringent demands of our customers. Our systems are in operation and used in a wide number of Military as well as Homeland Security applications worldwide. The modular nature of the system ensures any external sensor can be integrated, providing the user with a fully meshed “silent” network capable of self-healing. Exensor Technology will continue to lead the field in UGS technology, provide our customers with excellent customer service and a bespoke package able to meet every need.
A CNIM Group Company
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————