SysAdmin, Author at Second Line of Defense

France and the pursuit of reforms: a new legal framework for the reserves is born

Posted on November 1, 2009 | by SysAdmin | Leave a Comment

11/01/2009

France continues to adapt to a new strategic environment conditioned by the dual-pressure of her increased commitment in Afghanistan and her reintegration into NATO’s military command, while conducting multiple defense reforms on the homefront.

One of the stumbling blocks in the past years has been the optimum use of the French reserve component for new missions.

As of October 28^th, 2009, a new legal framework officially exists in order to “match the new demands” and “to protect the reserves” as they operate in non defense public organizations, whether national or international.

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***Posted November 1st, 2009

ECATS: Pioneering Outsourcing In French Pilot Training

Posted on October 26, 2009 | by SysAdmin | Leave a Comment

10/26/2009

In June 2009, ECATS celebrated its 50,000 flying hours at Le Bourget and has been pioneering a new approach in outsourcing training services’ support, which is now being duplicated and expanded accross France. This report focuses on such a “success story” by attempting to provide an overlook of the lessons learned ever since the process of privatization was initiated as early as 2004. [Download Full Report in PDF Format]

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***Posted October 26th, 2009

The New Chrysler Approach to Suppliers: The New DOD Acquisition Model?

Posted on October 26, 2009 | by SysAdmin | Leave a Comment

In a recent Wall Street Journal piece on the new Chrysler and its struggle to build new cars, the authors underscored a core challenge facing the new Chrysler management. They have designs for new cars; they have assembly lines in mind for the new cars; they just don’t have the suppliers lined up.
As Neal Boudette and Jeff Bennett noted in “Suppliers Balk at Working on Chrysler’s New Models” (Wall Street Journal, September 25, 2009), “One of the biggest hurdles is persuading suppliers to spend money up front to develop and make parts for the new models, these people said. Some smaller suppliers that are under financial strain themselves are hesitating because they are unsure whether the vehicles will sell in high enough volumes for them to make money, they said. In most cases, these people said, Chrysler is declining to guarantee certain production volumes, a change from what it and other car makers have typically done.”
The journalists go on to add: “ Auto companies usually give suppliers a volume estimate, and allow them to raise parts prices if actual sales fall short of the target. Suppliers also use the information to plan their own expenses for tooling their factories. “Why would we want to tie ourselves to Chrysler when GM and Ford are a known factor,” said an executive with an interior-parts supplier who didn’t want to be identified. “We’re already financially strapped so we have to be more choosey in where we will spend our money.”

DOD will face similar problems if its approach to acquisition reform ignores the essential realities of the global aerospace and defense supply chain. The financial crisis has put significant stress on the supply chain; and key supplier will go to where the predictable money lies. And given the globalization of many of the commodities and supplies required in aerospace and defense this will mean a global competition to providing stable and predictable flows of cash to the suppliers. DOD will have to be careful how it addresses the realities of today’s global supply chain.

On this website we will pay a good deal of attention to the supply chain issues. Richard McCormack in his Manufacturing News has covered on a regular basis the challenges facing the supply chain and recently discussed the challenge of Chinese ownership of a key element of the supply chain. Bill Anderson will provide a regular contribution on the supply chain dynamics and challenges.

For now, we can note that contract approaches such as the littoral combat ship may well ignore the impact of supply chain issues on pricing and supplies. The USN says it wants to downselect a single design for the LCS; and that it will buy a number of ships over four years. If this was generating a multi-year contract with a fixed number of ships over a fixed number of years, the winning prime contractor could then go to the supply chain, guarantee numbers and negotiate prices and availability. But the current proposal is to buy two ships at a time for a proposed four year period.

This seems like the Chrysler management hoping to have good supply chain prices and availability without a realistic commitment to numbers. This is simply not a realistic approach to business, let alone the defense business.

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***Posted October 26th, 2009

NATO HIP Helicopter Task Force Gets Momentum

Posted on October 25, 2009 | by SysAdmin | Leave a Comment

10/25/2009

On October 23rd, 2009 during the NATO Defense Ministers meeting in Bratislava, nine NATO Allies signed a declaration of intent to contribute to the Czech-lead initiative to develop a multi-national transport helicopter programme for NATO (see: HIP helicopter initiative) and facilitate in-theater deployment of these much-needed air assets. The nine countries are: the Czech republic, Albania, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey and the UK.

This initiative complements other programmes aiming at improving helicopter readiness, such as the Franco-British Multinational Helicopter Initiative and the US-lead initiative to field a collaborative helicopter logistics capability for ISAF CH47s, CH53s and AH64s, at a time of increasing usage and consequent wear out: in a recent article, the Christian Science Monitor highlights the fact that “US helicopters are flying in Afghanistan and Iraq three to five times more than they would in peacetime”.

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***Posted October 25th, 2009

SM-3 Missile and Japan

Posted on October 24, 2009 | by SysAdmin | Leave a Comment

10/24/2009

The Administration has announced ambitious plans for the development and deployment of the SM-3 missile in filling in the missile gap, which has been created by the planned withdrawal of the missile defense system to have been deployed in Central Europe.

SM-3 is a development program which includes a major contribution from Japan: http://www.raytheon.com/capabilities/rtnwcm/groups/rms/documents/content/rtn_rms_ps_sm3_datasheet.pdf.

Our sources in Tokyo tell us that the new Japanese government is rethinking in significant ways their relationship with the United States which might well include the SM-3. Indeed, one of the more interesting notions is taking a co-developed missile from the US alliance with Japan and deploying it at the heart of the confrontation with Iran in Europe. Perhaps there are some issues here worth further consideration.

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***Posted October 24th, 2009

Rotorcraft and Military Operations

Posted on October 21, 2009 | by SysAdmin | Leave a Comment

10/21/2009

Rotorcraft are significant contributors to military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. They provide combat support, logistical lift, troop transport, medivac, and integrated C4ISR for the battlefield. The Iraq conditions have provided significant stress on the fleet and the need to provide engineering and maintenance solutions for operating in sand, heat and other stressful conditions.

Although important in Iraq, they are more significant in Afghanistan. The geography and topography of Afghanistan require the use of rotorcraft to shape effective con-ops in a disbursed battlespace and to support the Afghan allies in executing security missions.

We have discussed on the site the significant effort by NATO to provide a more effective approach to the support and maintenance of deployed helos in Afghanistan . These efforts are significant enhancers in availability and readiness for the fleet, but increased numbers will be required both for direct combat support and indirect support for the Afghan security and military forces.

Members of an Afghan international security force hold fast at a rally point,
800 meters south of the targeted compound, Chak District,
Wardak Province, Afghanistan, Oct. 14, 2009.
A CH-47 lands to retrieve members of the of joint force and return to base,
Chak District, Wardak Province, Afghanistan, Oct. 14, 2009.

Credit: 55th Combat Camera and shot 10/14/09

In addition to an increased investment in the rotorcraft fleet, an additional consideration will be shaping a new investment portfolio to ensure greater survivability of the fleet.

In a recent summary briefing of a study on rotorcraft survivability (from the slides approved for public release), the Institute for Defense Analysis provided some insight into the types of investments required. The study was conducted in response to Section 1043 of the 2009 National Defense Authorization Act and focused on losses of manned rotorcraft operating in the OEF/OIF timeframe (October 2001-December 2008).

The study indicated that there were 327 rotorcraft losses with 469 fatalities in this timeframe. Rotorcraft losses were due to the following causes: 20% to combat hostile action; 40% to combat non-hostile (mishaps in combat theater) and 40% to non-combat (mishaps out of theater). Notably, the combat loss rate was 6.6 times less and combat fatality rate was 4.6 times less than in Vietnam.

The study recommended investments in a number of areas to enhance the survivability of the fleet. Among the recommendations are the following:

To further reduce combat losses: Increase rotorcraft investment to improve situational awareness, threat detection and jamming and damage tolerance;
Provide effective guided and unguided threat detection and jamming for small and medium size rotorcraft are key technology requirements;
To address the goal of 0.5 mishaps or less per 100,000 flight hours: increase investment in rotorcraft positional and situational awareness to include weather alerts, provide warning for flight hazards, terrain and obstructions, provide rapid response to hazards once detected, provide for improved component reliability;
Advanced flight control systems with modern control laws are key enabling technologies;
And to reduce personnel injuries and fatalities for combat threat losses and mishaps: improve airframe crashworthiness and crash protection for passengers and improve fire detection and suppression capabilities.

Elements of the “Study on Rotorcraft Survivability” should be covered during the OSD (Office of the Secretary of Defense) hosted Vertical Lift Aviation Industry / Academia Day on 27 Oct at 1300-1700 at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel (https://www.enstg.com/Signup Conference code VER92726).

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***Posted October 21st, 2009

Providing Connectivity on the Go: The Role of Mobile Routers

Posted on October 20, 2009 | by SysAdmin | Leave a Comment

10/20/2009

A key transformation of the US military associated with the experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan has been the use of the Internet and mobile communications to support deployed troops and distributed operations. The deployed force is relying increasingly on mobile video as well as data provided via a secure internet. The router is a key element of this capability, but given austere conditions mobility is essential (see: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Router). Much of the internet data is passed over commercial encrypted sources, indeed around 70% of the communications traffic in Iraq and Afghanistan uses secured commercial satellite systems (see for instance: http://www.ts2.pl/en/News/1/121 ; http://www.viasatellite.com/via/dollarsandsense/31309.html ; http://www.gcn.com/Articles/2009/06/11/Army-upgrades-satellite-communications.aspx ; or http://www.defencetalk.com/us-using-space-supremacy-to-wage-combat-in-iraq-and-afghanistan-6965/).

An example of such capability is the mobile router point seen below. Pictured here is the satellite dish of the Virtual Secure Internet Protocol Router, Non-secure Internet Protocol Router Access Point system installed at Combat Oupost McClain. Nearly everything from tacking intelligence reports, planning operations, and tracking troops outside the wire depend on internet connectivity.

Currently, there are around 80 airman deployed to various locations in Afghanistan to operate the Virtual Secret Internet Protocol Router, Non-Secure Internet Protocol Router, Access Point, which provides much needed internet access for Soldiers.

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***Posted October 20th, 2009

Refuelability: The Missing Element of the Tanker Debate

Posted on October 19, 2009 | by SysAdmin | Leave a Comment

10/19/2009

The acquisition of new tankers for the USAF remains challenging, as it gets underway for the third iteration. Virtually every aspect of the bids has been contested in blogs, newspaper, the GAO and commented on by various pundits. Whether the politics surrounding the bids can be attenuated to ultimately serve the true purpose and actually provide capabilities to the warfighter remains to be seen.

But what is clear is that the current fleet is old at present and yet will remain an important element of force projection and with it comes high maintenance and sustainment cost.

The second piece that parallels this is the rate of acquisition for the new tankers is at present so slow that the first received airplanes will be ‘overage’ by the time the last of the ‘new’ tankers is integrated into the fleet. This will prove unrelenting to the already burdened supply chain.

The aging of a supply chain also adds its own costs, as items, which are produced by live commercial lines, have to be replaced by program specific historical museum pieces. And the modernization of an old fleet, with the known problems of aging airframes is expensive as well.

The present tone of the debate suggests simply that the old will be replaced by the new and as one pundit puts “a new gas station will be in the sky for the fleet.” Such a characterization misses the likely impact of the new platform on sustainability (which will be the subject of a later sldinfo.com piece) or, as discussed here, on the impact of a new capability, refuelability.

Indeed, though EADS and Boeing have tankers flying in allied fleets using comparable airframes to those likely bid, what would be new with the US tanker is its capability of being refueled in flight. This capability, as its importance becomes more recognized, might well allow the US to export off of the US line into the global market, allowing allies and partners to realize the full potential.

There are several key advantages of refuelability.

First, recognizing that the expected longevity of not just the present fleet, but as well the projected fleet, the issue of long term maintenance needs to be addressed as an operational issue as well as a maintenance issue. Major stresses, and at times clear tactical advantage can be realized by taking advantage of the fact that the new tanker aircraft can take off with a limited load of fuel to maximize operations costs. It can then be refueled while on station to then in turn provide full loads to the fleet.

Second, the mix of tanker aircraft can be operationally useful as non-refuelable tankers can offload their fuel to on-station tankers and return to base with a minimal fuel load to maximize their expected life, and minimize landing impacts creating operational savings. As this concept of operations is extended, the new tankers will allow huge extensions of range.

Third, the tanker aircraft could have crew rest areas, as some have today, but consider days not hours of operation and thus be on station for a considerable period of time. This would allow an initial deployment to feed the unmanned and manned vehicles conducting an operation.

Because Fifth generation aircraft might really focus on command and multi-mission support and, in turn, new UAVs will be designed and built with this capability in mind, an ability to provide ongoing fuel support becomes more important than it does now. The value of the next generation of UAVs to be refueled will be significant; and having a core tanker fleet on station for a long period of time can facilitate the ability of the fleet to operate C4ISR missions.

Fourth, refuelability coupled with the increased range of the new tankers will allow the tanking fleet to essentially bridge refueling and thus be allowed to operate much further from the operational zones than currently permitted by the old fleet. An ability to operate further away from operational areas will be of increasing significance as adversaries increase their reach and create contested airspace where our fleet now operates freely.

Fifth, refuelabilility and the capability of being aloft for long periods of time will also allow the imagination of operators to shape new options as well. There has been thought developed which would permit the tanker fleet to become important communications and ISR assets. But as we design high loiter UAV’s to be communication assets, this asset will muscle into that space. The new tankers might then have routers and associated ISR transmitters on them to contribute to the distributed operations central to new concepts of air operations.

In short, refuelability can be an important discriminator and have a profound influence of future concepts of operations. Its significance should be recognized by future planners, perhaps changing the debate from ‘The Politically Charged’ to ‘The Strategically Charged’ tanker debate. Simply keeping the old tankers in place, replacing them one for one, reduces the capability boost, which a new refuelable tanker can bring to the mix.

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***Posted October 19th, 2009