The DEW Line

As we all know, the US Navy did not select the Mariner unmanned aircraft system - offered by Lockheed Martin and General Atomics-Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) - for the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) contract.

Indeed, Lockheed has protested the USN's decision to select the Northrop Grumman RQ-4N Global Hawk. That process is ongoing.

Meanwhile, I was offered an opportunity yesterday to interview Tom Cassidy, president and CEO of GA-ASI, the maker-of-all-things-Predator.

Cassidy, a former navy fighter pilot, could not speak about his partner's protest claim on BAMS, but he did explain why the idea of a marinized Predator B is still very much alive - and perhaps still destined for a USN contract eventually.

Continue reading "Tom Cassidy on life after BAMS for navalized Predator " »

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NASA / NORTHROP AGREEMENT OPENS DOOR TO SCIENCE INVESTIGATIONS

NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center and the Northrop Grumman Corporation have reached an agreement that will enable NASA's Science Mission Directorate to conduct Earth science research with the Northrop Grumman-developed RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system.

Under a Space Act Agreement signed April 30, NASA and Northrop Grumman will bring to flight in 2009 two pre-production Global Hawk aircraft that were recently transferred to NASA. Northrop Grumman will share in their use to conduct its own flight demonstrations for expanded markets, missions and airborne capabilities, including integration of unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace.

The two Global Hawk aircraft, among the first seven built during the original Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency sponsored Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration program, were transferred to NASA Dryden from the U.S. Air Force in September 2007. NASA acquired the two aircraft for research activities supporting its Airborne Science Program."

• 'Boeing KC-767A'
• 'Flirty Thirty'
• 'Mobile home' [...re the Alabama assembly line]
• 'Fortress Europe'
• 'Fruit of the boom'
• 'Just desserts'

"It became very clear to me sitting out there today that every decision I've made in my entire life has been wrong. My life is the complete opposite of everything I want it to be. Every instinct I have, in every aspect of life, be it something to wear, something to eat - it's all been wrong."

The above quote, of course, comes from George Costanza, the great id-philosopher of Seinfeld fame.

My goal today is to associate that classic quote of pop culture with the US defense industry.

To wit, which US defense contractor best epitomizes George's classic case of self-actualization?

Make no mistake: this is not by any means an easy achievement. To pass the "Costanza life test", a defense contractor must screw up almost as if its business strategy depended upon its errors rather than its successes.

After the year Boeing's had, filled with a string of competitive near-misses, the KC-X tanker bid and the 787 delay, some might nominate the Chicago-based aerospace giant.

But I disagree.

Sure, Boeing's had a bad year.

But 12 months of bad luck and bad behaviour does not a Costanza life profile make.

No, it takes years and years of accumulated failure competitively, contractually and strategically to be the Costanza of the defense industry.

Yes, I have a particular company in mind. Can anybody guess?

A few people have caught the significance of my blog last week about the UAE's decision to develop Raytheon's laser-guided rocket.

It's not the first time that the UAE has paid to a US defence contractor develop a weapon system that the US military has turned its back on. A far more significant example is the Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 60, which exists because of a large check signed by the UAE air force.

Airpower added his comment on the deal over the weekend. He wrote:

An interesting development for sure.

The UAE is pushing very strongly to build up its aerospace and defence industry (from scratch). This is the second overly military programme I can think of, following on from all those funky UAVs. So already the UAE shows an astute grasp of what's important – UAS technology and precision weapons – and is moving in a measured and sensible way to get involved.

I suspect the chances that this project will return to the US as a finished product are less likely. I think the UAE will consider this to be its own thing, bought and paid for. I think all that stuff about 'international customers' is window dressing.

If Raytheon has struck a deal for the UAE to develop a product that it can then sell on (to the US), how would the US authorities deal with the issue of the royalties due? The UAE knows how to play that game – keep an eye on the transfer of Block 60 tech to the F-16IN bid... it won't come for free.

Of course, given the sensible and reasoned debate there's been over the KC-X programme I'm sure the idea of buying bombs from Ay-rabs would not be a problem.

More than anything this seems be a decision by Raytheon that APKWS is going nowhere, that Raytheon doesn't have much of a chance anyway and that it might as well go and find a customer with money and enthusiasm somewhere else.

It's official: the advanced precision kill weapon system (APKWS) has become my favorite weapons program.

I'm an aerospace journalist, not an operator. That means I like weapon systems that keep me in business.

And APKWS has it all: contract cancellations, contractor drama, a ridiculous acronym and, now, a plot twist worthy of David Mamet.

Here's a brief history of this wonderfully illustrious attempt to simply add a $5,000 guidance system to a 2.75-inch Hydra rocket worth about $200.

I'll start with the first time that the US Defense Dept. canceled the contract. It was in early 2005. General Dynamics was the APKWS prime contractor and BAE Systems was the sub. There were a couple bad flight tests and the army decided to pull the plug.

Six months later, the program was reborn; this time as APKWS II. There were three bidders. One candidate was BAE, which had simply switched roles with General Dynamics as the prime. Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, sniffing an opportunity to steal a plum contract from a vulnerable rival, also submitted bids.

By mid-2006, the army completed the source selection evaluation and awarded the contract to ... (drum roll) BAE! Recompeting the contract only to award it to the original winner prompted some grumbling in industry circles. Some cynics questioned whether the army could have spared itself some trouble by showing more patience the first time around.

Later that year, however, the whole program was mooted by Congress, which axed the funding. Poof. Just like that, it was gone ... again. (Meanwhile, BAE would continue hoping for the US Marine Corps to rescue the program.)

But yesterday's news was the real shocker: Raytheon announced that the United Arab Emirates will fund the development of a semi-active laser to install on a 2.75-inch Hydra rocket.

This is the same semi-active laser that Raytheon originally developed for APKWS II. (Yes, I checked.)

Now, the UAE will pay for its development, allowing the US Army and US Marine Corps the opportunity to buy it off the shelf.

What could go wrong?

Remember the Hawaii Air National Guard F-15 that crashed about 60 miles off the coast of Oahu on 2 February?

The Associated Press this morning reports on the cause.

An Accident Investigation Board convened by Pacific Air Forces said both rudders on the plane, which are used to control the jet's direction, failed.
That's most likely due to the failure of a device called the Aileron-Rudder Interconnect, which controls whether the plane goes up or down and right or left, Pacific Air Forces said in a news release.
Since investigators were unable to recover the plane, they based their findings on interviews with the pilot and flight data automatically transmitted to Oahu.
The report found no connection between the Oahu crash and that of a Missouri Air National Guard F-15C that broke apart during a training flight in November.

The Honolulu Advertiser also printed a good story.