Preening the Hawks: Maintaining Australia’s H-60 Helicopters

Rescue me…

Australia may be an NH90 customer, but they also fly quite a few Sikorsky helicopters. Their 35 S-70A-9 Black Hawks began service in 1986, and have been used domestically and in a number of international deployments. Their lack of full defensive systems has prevented deployment to dangerous conflict zones like Afghanistan, but recent upgrades have partly fixed this problem. The Royal Australian Navy’s fleet of 16 S-70B-2 Seahawk helicopters contain features from the US Navy’s SH-60B and SH-60F Seahawks, and were delivered from 1988-1992. They will be replaced from 2016 onward by new MH-60R Seahawk helicopters.

Those fleets need maintenance, and Australia has signed a number of long-term contracts to that end. This article covers those contracts, from 2009 onward.

DARPA’s THz Electronics Program

THz flow

In 2009, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) began awarding contracts for innovative research proposals under its Terahertz (THz) Electronics Program. Readers will probably be asking the same question that crossed our minds, namely, “when can I expect this, instead of my 2 GHz laptop?”

If Moore’s Law continues, the answer is somewhere between 2025 – 2030. The military thinks “why wait?”, and DARPA has a long history of helping to fund computing breakthroughs – from that minor nuisance we call the Internet to modern work on Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductors, non-thermionic transistors, research into graphene circuits, and more. Now, their Terahertz (THz) Electronics program is looking for technologies to enable revolutionary advances in electronic devices and integrated circuits, allowing them to reach THz frequencies (at least a trillion cycles per second).

Rapid Fire July 31, 2012: No WARN Act

• The US Labor Department issued guidance [PDF] on the application of the WARN Act in advance of sequestration. They are saying defense contractors with contracts at stake should not send WARN Act notices, contrarily to the position held by Lockheed Martin and others. They argue that while “it is currently known that sequestration may occur, it is also known that efforts are being made to avoid sequestration.” It is a bizarre line of reasoning given that executing sequestration next January is currently signed law. Perhaps knowing this, the Dept of Labor also argues that because DoD hasn’t announced which contracts would be affected, potential layoffs are speculative.

• Lockheed Martin has delivered the 8th C-5M Super Galaxy to the USAF.

• It may come in handy for moving blast-resistant MRAP vehicles from Afghanistan to their projected staging & storage areas, in Italy and the Western Pacific. Given North Korea’s known intent to use massive commando infiltration, MRAPs seem like a smart tactical choice in Korea.

Rapid Fire July 30, 2012: Rookie Mistakes?

• Though the primes are staying clear of commenting on the Pentagon’s acquisition workforce, smaller IT firms are complaining about mistakes and lack of visibility that they attribute to the lack of experience of an increasing part of contracting officers. Recent hires will need to ramp up their skills fast as many older employers will retire soon.

• The US Army is mounting its defense to counter claims that it has not-invented-here syndrome in the DCGS-A vs. Palantir kerfuffle: “There are multiple requests for capabilities in theater and many are ghost written by commercial vendors.”

• Besides using sophisticated software to detect buried IEDs, the US Army is also considering training… rats. They would reach where dogs can’t.

• The Royal United Services Institute think tank comments [PDF] on the British MoD’s plans to manage military procurement via a Government Owned, Contractor Operated (GOCO):

The International Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) Program

The US military needs a bigger data firehose. In an era of streaming data from proliferating UAVs and other persistent surveillance platforms, and the need for control of those systems anywhere in the world, bandwidth is almost as important as fuel. Commercial satellite communications (SATCOM) can fill some of the gaps, but it’s expensive, and may not be available when needed. The Wideband Gapfiller SATCOM (now Wideband Global SATCOM) program began as a way to ease these problems in the near term, but went on to become one of the twin pillars of US military communications, alongside the hardened AEHF constellation. Both satellite types expanded their roles after the super-high bandwidth T-SAT program was canceled. instead, the USA is adding WGS and AEHF satellites in space, even as it makes both programs multi-national efforts here on earth.

WGS is a set of 13-kilowatt spacecraft based on Boeing’s model 702 commercial satellite. These satellites will handle a significant portion of the USA’s warfighting bandwidth requirements, supporting tactical C4ISR(command, control, communications, and computers; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance); battle management; and combat support needs. Upon its 2007 launch into geosynchronous orbit, WGS Flight 1 became the U.S. Department of Defense’s highest capacity communication satellite. WGS F4, launched in January 2012, offers further improvements, as do satellites from WGS F8. The constellation is set to grow to 10, including international participation.

This is DID’s FOCUS Article covering the WGS program’s specifications, budgets, travails, international partnerships, and contracts, with links to additional research materials.

Colombia Orders UH-60L Helicopters, Saves Some Money

Latest updates[?]: From now on, new machines will be S-70i / UH-60M models - starting with these 5.

UH-60 Blackhawk

According to Sikorsky, Colombia’s Air Force, Army, and national police forces make that country the 3rd largest fleet operator of its S-70/UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters. Ongoing defense modernization, and a continuing operation against narco-paramilitaries that include the Venezuelan-backed FARC, have kept that fleet busy, and created a consistent need for more helicopters to carry troops in Colombia’s difficult terrain.

Milavia’s OrBat suggests a total of about 85 H-60s in all branches of Colombia’s military. Many of Colombia’s helicopters are UH-60A equivalents, though about 16 have been upgraded to “AH-60 Arpia” attack helicopter status with surveillance turrets, rockets, and forward-firing guns. Since 2005, a steady drumbeat of DSCA notifications and contracts concern UH-60L upgrades, or new helicopters, that will add to Colombia’s fleet. While other customers like the US military, Bahrain, the UAE and even Colombia’s G-3 trade bloc neighbor Mexico are ordering the newest UH-60Ms, Colombia sees an opportunity to save money by sticking with the UH-60L as its top-end standard.

Rapid Fire July 27, 2012: DoD’s Civilian Workforce

• Acting US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness and Force Management Frederick Vollrath testified in front of the House Armed Services Committee on the timeline of announcements leading to the reduction of the Pentagon’s civilian workforce to comply with sequestration. A first deadline is around September 21st, less than 2 months from now. Yet the Pentagon maintains its focus on rolling back sequestration, a matter that is out of its hands and is for Congress to address. This is starting to look like a reckless bet, if DoD is actually not planning for the sequester that is. Video abstract of the hearing at the bottom of this entry.

• This comes just as the GAO states that it “remains concerned that DOD lacks critical information it needs to effectively plan for its workforce requirements.”

DDG Type 45: Britain’s Shrinking Air Defense Fleet

Daring Class

The 5,200t Type 42 Sheffield Class destroyers were designed in the late 1960s to provide fleet area air-defense for Britain’s Royal Navy, after the proposed Type 82 air defense cruisers were canceled by the Labour Government in 1966. Britain built 14 of the Type 42s, but these old ships are reaching the limits of their operational lives and effectiveness.

To replace them, the Royal Navy planned to induct 12 Type 45 Daring Class destroyers. The Daring class would be built to deal with a new age of threats. Saturation attacks with supersonic ship-killing missiles, that fly from the ship’s radar horizon to ship impact in under 45 seconds. The reality of future threats from ballistic missiles, and WMD proliferation. Plus a proliferation of possible threats involving smaller, hard to detect enemies like UAVs. Overall, the Type 45s promise to be one of the world’s most capable air defense ships – but design choices have left the cost-to-value ratio uncertain, and limited the Type 45s in other key roles.

This feature will become a subscription-only DII FOCUS article in due course. Meanwhile, a reduced 6-ship program continues to move forward.

Rapid Fire July 26, 2012 – CBO to DoN: Get Real

Spending above the waterline

The CBO(Congressional Budget Office) analyzed [PDF] the latest long-term shipbuilding plans of the US Navy and thinks that despite lowering the number of ships they intend to procure, the DoN is significantly underestimating how much their plan will cost. CBO’s estimate of $20 billion/year for new-ship construction is about 40% above the historical average funding, with peaks way above average in the 2023-2032 decade (even by the Navy’s own costing). CBO for instance challenges the Navy’s estimate that it will be able to buy the next-gen LCS under much better terms than the current generation, and likewise doesn’t buy that a successor to DDG-51 Flight III ships would deliver more technology for the same price.

Canada’s Mounties Buy Huskies

MXT Husky

In late July, Canada’s RCMP(Royal Canadian Mounted Police, aka. “Mounties”) federal police force took delivery of 18 new Tactical Armoured Vehicles (TAVs), based on Navistar’s MXT-APC. Navistar’s MXTs are about twice as heavy as a Humvee, but would still be considered light by the standards of blast-resistant “MRAP/PPV” vehicles. The Canadian “TAVs” were bought under a $14 million contract, and will be used by Emergency Response Teams (ERTs) across Canada as their primary support vehicle. They’re designed for incidents including hostage takings, armed standoffs, barricaded persons and search and rescue operations, using a blueprint that came from Navistar Defence Canada Inc. in cooperation with RCMP engineers.

Britain is the MXT’s biggest customer, and their “Huskies” are deployed to Afghanistan. The RCMP is Navistar’s 1st MXT vehicle sale to police-type units, and a having such a high-profile international customer makes for a good start in that area. On the flip side of that transaction, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson might want to avoid phrases like “We’re proud to have acquired this impressive tool,” when referring to new cars. After 139 years, we suppose that every organization is entitled to a minor mid-life crisis. RCMP | Navistar.