Navy Eyes Late September For NMCI Transition

By Mike McCarthy

The Navy is confident it can transition to the next generation of the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) by the end of September, about three months earlier than the expected timeframe based on when the service awarded the con-tract to Hewlett-Packard [HP], a program official said Friday.

The Navy’s program manager for the Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN), Capt. Michael Abreu, said even though there was a delay because the companies that lost the contract lodged a protest, program officials have been

able to expedite the process.“We accelerated that by

three months,” Abreu told reporters. He said time was saved because HP was the incumbent on NMCI when it prevailed on the NGEN award and was knowledgeable of the system, and because of thor-ough planning for the transi-tion.

The transition was origi-nally supposed to take place this

month, but the competition was delayed as the Navy continuously reviewed and revised the requirements. An award was not made until June, months later than planned. The contract, worth $3.5 billion if all options are exercised over five years, calls for transitioning within 13 months of the award.

A key aspect of NGEN is the restructuring of the contract arrangement for NMCI. Rather than HP owning and operating the intranet, it will now be owned by the Navy with HP as the operator. The Marine Corps will now own and operate the system with HP’s support.

“Now we have ownership of that intellectual property, and we have control

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Day 2 • Tuesday April 8, 2014

Schedule Of Events7:30 AM - 8:00 PMAttendee Registration OpenRegistration Lobby - Ballroom Level8:00 AM - 11:30 AMSmall Business ForumPotomac Ballroom C/1239:00 AM - 4:45 PMExposition OpenExhibit Hall9:00 AM - 10:30 AMSea-Air-Space Panel: "Innovation and Supporting the Warfighter"Potomac Ballroom AB9:30 AM - 10:30 AMFloor Speaker Session: “Naval Training Systems”NAVAIR, Booth #142310:30 AM - 11:45 AMRoundtable: "The Navy's Next Generation IT: How Do We Get There?"Potomac Ballroom D/45610:30 AM - 11:45 AMRoundtable: "3D Printing and the Sea Services; How It Is Used Now & Potential Future Impacts"Navy League Pavilion, Booth #100210:30 AM - 11:00 AMFloor Speaker Session: “Aircrew Endurance Vest & Double Hearing Protection Program”NAVAIR, Booth #142311:00 AM - 11:30 AMFloor Speaker Session: “Recap and Les-sons Learned - Small UAS Demonstration"USCG, Booth #102811:00 AM - 11:45 AMFloor Speaker Session: “PEO (U&W) Portfolio Update”NAVAIR, Booth #142311:00 AM - 11:45 AMFloor Speaker Session: “Ohio Class Re-placement Program Update”NAVSEA, Booth #2323

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6 Defense Daily April 8, 2014

of that intellectual property and the network infrastructure itself, so we now can make better informed decisions with our partner, and if we’d like to do something different in the future or would like to compete it in the future we now own that infrastructure,” Abreu said.

Bill Toti, HP’s vice president for and account executive for Navy and Marine Corps programs, said the Marines have already covered the cost of buying its share of the NMCI infrastructure, and the Navy is still making payments to gain ownership.

The Department of the Navy plans to re-compete NMCI after the cur-rent five-year NGEN contract expires.

Harris Corp. [HRS] and Computer Sciences Corp. [CSC], who had partnered for NGEN, each filed protests with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) following the June award to HP. CSC later withdrew its protest, and the GAO ruled against Harris in November, a ruling that was postponed because of the October government shutdown that kept the program under a longer stop-work order than would normally accompany a protest.

NGEN is the follow-on to the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) and is intended to provide secure, net-centric data and services to 800,000 Navy and Marine Corps personnel and connects to 400,000 workstations. NMCI is largest intranet in the U.S. government and began in 2000 under a contract with Electronic Data Systems, which HP acquired in 2008. n

DoD's $36 Billion Unfunded Priorities List Heavy on Aircraft Procurement, Boosting

ReadinessBy Megan Eckstein

The Defense Department submitted unfunded priorities lists from the services and combatant commanders that total about $36.3 billion to help mitigate the effects of across-the-board cuts and then spending caps since sequestration went into effect in fiscal year 2013.

The president’s budget request for FY ’15 stuck to the sequester spend-ing caps, though the Obama administration also proposed an Opportunity, Growth and Security Initiative (OGSI) that requests $58 billion for dis-cretionary spending above the sequester caps in both defense and domes-tic spending accounts in exchange for reductions in mandatory spending and closing some tax loopholes. The unfunded priorities list, submitted to Congress on April 1, includes the $26 billion in defense spending included in the OGSI request, along with about $10 billion more.

The Army asked for $10.6 billion, which includes $197 million to buy 180 Guided MLRS rockets; $1.4 billion to procure 23 remanufactured AH-64 Apache helicopters, buy 28 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and add two CH-47F Chinooks to the Army’s multiyear contract with Boeing [BA]; among other modernization and readiness needs.

The Navy asked for just over $10 billion in a request that did not include funding to get started on the refueling and complex overhaul for the aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN-73)–“this unfunded transcends FY

12:00 PM - 1:30 PMSea-Air-Space LuncheonPotomac Ballroom AB1:30 PM - 2:00 PMFloor Speaker Session: “Air and Missile Defense Radar Update”NAVSEA, Booth #23231:45 PM - 2:15 PMFloor Speaker Session: “USCG Research and Development Activities in the Arctic – Arctic Shield 2013”USCG, Booth #10281:45 PM - 2:30 PMFloor Speaker Session: “How AIR-1.0 Supports the Fleet”NAVAIR, Booth #14231:45 PM - 2:15 PMFloor Speaker Session “Bridging the GAP: Affordable Situational Awareness with JRE”Navy League Pavilion, Booth #10022:00 PM - 2:30 PMFloor Speaker Session: “CVN 79 Update”NAVSEA, Booth #23232:30 PM - 3:00 PMFloor Speaker Session: “Electronic Consoli-dated Automated Support System (eCASS)”NAVAIR, Booth #14232:30 PM - 3:15 PMFloor Speaker Session: “Sustainment Through Continued Innovation”Navy League Pavilion, Booth #10023:00 PM - 4:15 PMRoundtable: "Peace & Prosperity in the Maritime Domain"Potomac Ballroom AB3:00 PM - 4:15 PMRoundtable: "Countering Emerging Threats and Challenges in the Western Hemisphere"Potomac Ballroom C/1233:00 PM - 4:15 PMRoundtable: "Rebalancing the Sea Services' Team for the 21st Century Pacific"Potomac Ballroom D/4563:00 PM - 3:30 PMFloor Speaker Session: “Coast Guard Innovation Program – Moving Forward"USCG, Booth #10283:00 PM - 4:00 PMFloor Speaker Session: “Small Business Initiatives at NAVAIR"NAVAIR, Booth #14233:30 PM - 4:00 PMFloor Speaker Session: “Integrated Fires”Navy League Pavilion, Booth #10026:00 PM - 7:45 PMSea-Air-Space Banquet Reception (Black-tie)Exhibit Hall8:00 PM - 10:00 PMSea-Air-Space Banquet (Black-tie)Potomac Ballroom AB

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April 8, 2014 Defense Daily 7

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2015….Thus, the decision to refuel or inactivate CVN-73 is dependent upon the fiscal outlook in FY 2016 and beyond, and whether we will be forced to return to sequestration lev-els,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert wrote in his letter to McKeon accompanying his request.

The Navy asked for funds to purchase 22 additional EA-18G Growlers to “enhance Navy’s ability to support the Joint Tactical Airborne Electronic Attack (AEA) capa-bility. Ongoing analysis by DoD and the [Department of Navy] indicate a larger squadron size is needed to maximize AEA capabilities and reduce risk in a Joint major contin-gency operation. An additional 22 EA-18Gs would allow the carrier air wing electronic attack squadron to increase from five to seven aircraft per squadron,” Greenert wrote. The 22 aircraft would cost $2.14 billion.

The Navy also requested $190 million for two C-40A aircraft, $146 million for one E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, $51 million for three Small Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems and spares, $83 million to move faster with the Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) service life extension program (SLEP), and $30 million for an additional H-1 helicopter. It also adds $15 million in research and development money to add a tanker capability to the V-22 Osprey, as well as $24 million in R&D for the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine replacement, which had been reduced in prior years due to sequestration.

The Marine Corps submitted its own UPL despite its budget falling within the Navy’s budget. Its list totals $2.55 billion–the smallest by far, with more than half of it coming from aviation modernization accounts. The Marines asked for $875.5 million for five F-35C jets and $141.6 million for one F-35B jet to replace the six AV-8B Harriers lost during a September 2012 attack on Camp Bastion in Afghanistan. They also want $30 mil-lion for an AH-1Z helicopter to replace an older AH-1W that was damaged in an in-flight fire; $86.6 million for a new C-40; $75.1 million for a new KC-130J; and $8.9 million in research and development dollars to add a planned air traffic control function to the Marines’ Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar. The service also asks for money to add two new Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Forces, one in U.S. Central Command and one in U.S. Southern Command, after the success of the first SP-MAGTF for U.S. Africa Command that is based out of Spain.

The Air Force asked for $7.99 billion in a list that includes money requested in the president’s OGSI fund to “accelerate recapitalization programs such as F-35A, MQ-9 and C-130J, as well as modifications and upgrades to current aircraft,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh wrote in his letter to McKeon. The service would need $372.3 million for two F-35s, $49.5 million for three foreign military sales of the F-35, $510 million each for five HC-130J and give MC-130J transport planes, and $192 million to buy 12 MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial systems.

The Air Force request also includes four initiatives that have come to his attention since the OGSI fund was written: a $153.8 million boost to the Nuclear Force Improvement Program, which Welsh called the number one priority in the UPL; $563 million in additional military pay funding to support a smooth personnel drawdown; $200 million to begin work on the Combat Rescue Helicopter in FY ’15 as a bridge until the program receives full funding in FY ’16; and an additional $183.3 million for the Space Weapon System Sustainment program to reduce a backlog of work.

The National Guard Bureau asked for $1.55 billion for the Army National Guard and $2.6 billion for the Air National Guard, with the largest acquisition project being $720 million to convert 10 C-130Hs to C-130Js.

Some but not all the combatant commanders chose to submit lists. U.S. Special Operations Command asked for $400 million for military construction and readiness; U.S. Pacific Command asked for $164.4 million for primarily bombs and missiles; U.S. Southern Command requested $257.1 million for C4I upgrades, a mari-time support vessel, restoring intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance funding lost in sequestration, and a

The F-35 was a popular item in the unfunded priorities list submitted to Congress on April 1. The Marines would buy six and the Air Force would buy two if additional money was added to the defense budget, the ser-vice chiefs wrote. Photo: Lockheed Martin.

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8 Defense Daily April 8, 2014

Joint Capability Technology Demonstration for a foliage penetration LIDAR system; and U.S. Strategic Forces Command asked for $49 million to restore funding lost to sequestration, $81.2 million to restore readiness and $51 million for “high payoff initiatives.”

U.S. Northern Command wrote a letter to McKeon to say it had no items to request, which is “primarily a result of DoD’s fiscal guidance that identified Homeland Defense as the Department’s top priority.” The other combatant commanders did not submit responses to McKeon’s request for UPLs.

The military had sent Congress these unfunded priorities lists until Defense Secretary Robert Gates put an end to the practice. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) wrote a letter to the service chiefs and combatant commanders on Feb. 14 to stress the importance of these letters as Congress sought to better understand the military’s needs amid tight budgets. n

2014 QDR Could Be the Last of its Kind, If Some HASC Members Get Their Way

By Megan Eckstein Amid arguments over whether the Defense Department met its legal requirement in answering key questions

in the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), some House Armed Services Committee members wondered aloud during a hearing whether it was even worth requiring a QDR at all.

The QDR is meant to be a 20-year look at the security environment, what force structure the military may need, what technologies to invest in, what industrial base capabilities it will need to protect and more. It is meant to be strategy-driven, not budget-driven, and it is supposed to put forth a plan that would keep the military in

the low- to mid-level of risk. But in an era of sequestration, DoD’s attempts to do that have found criticism on all sides for both proposing a level of spending in the short-term above sequestration and for being resource-constrained.

So during an April 3 hearing on the QDR, when it was HASC Vice Chairman Mac Thornberry’s (R-Texas) turn to question the witnesses, he bluntly said he had been around for all the QDRs and “I’ve become increasingly skeptical that there’s any value in this exercise. If we were to have a provision that repeals the statutory requirement for a QDR, what would your advice be about whether that would be a good or bad thing?”

Adm. James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, responded jokingly that “honestly, it would create a lot less work in the depart-ment." But he added that “this is a valuable process for the department. It’s valuable for the new administration to go through, it’s a good forcing function for us as a department to have to congeal our thinking, our intellectual power into one place, so I would not want to suggest that you just repeal the need for a QDR. It’s a very useful document.”

Winnefeld noted the military saying, “it’s not the plan, it’s the planning,” and said that while he would be happy to work with Congress to improve the QDR process and statutory requirements, he would not want to see the QDR

eliminated altogether.At the end of the hearing, though, HASC Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) suggested Congress may con-

sider whether the QDR as it exists today is worth the time and manpower costs.“I know that there’s nobody that does more planning than the military. I know you have plans for every con-

tingency on contingency,” McKeon said. “This is just my way of thinking, after going through this process and seeing it now for a number of years–we’ve had more discussion about the process…than what we’ve actually talked about as to what you’re recommendations or things were and how it’s different from the budget. So it’s something we’ re going to have to look at going forward, if this is one of the things we do in setting up bureaucracy...instead of putting that time into actually getting something done that we’d probably get more benefit out of.” n

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee

April 8, 2014 Defense Daily 9

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Defense Daily (ISSN 0889-0404) is published each business day electronically by Access Intelligence, LLC • Managing Editor: John Robinson, jrobinson@accessintel.com • Assistant Managing Editor: Ann Roosevelt, aroosevelt@accessintel.com • Business: Calvin Biesecker, calvinb21@aol.com • Congressional Reporter: Megan Eckstein, meckstein@accessintel.com • Navy Reporter: Mike McCarthy, mmcarthy@accessintel.com • Air Force Reporter: Pat Host, phost@accessintel.com • Editor Emeritus: Norman Baker • Director of Marketing: Kristy Keller, kkeller@accessintel.com • Publisher: Thomas A. Sloma-Williams, tawilliams@accessintel.com • SVP: Jennifer Schwartz, jschwartz@accessintel.com • Divisional President: Heather Farley, hfarley@accessintel.com • SVP Information Technology: Rob Paciorek • President & CEO: Don Pazour • To advertise in Defense Daily contact Daniel Chase at dchase@accessintel.com. For site licenses and group subscriptions, contact Erica Lengermann, elengermann@accessintel.com. For new orders, contact clientservices@accessintel.com or +1 (301) 354-2101. To advertise contact Daniel Chase at dchase@accessintel.com or +1-301-354-1673. To subscribe, contact clientservices@accessintel.com or +1 (301) 354-2101.

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Marine Corps Moves On From EFV To Three New

Amphibious-Vehicle EffortsBy Emelie Rutherford

The Marine Corps is busy with its revamped plans for amphibious vehicles, with its major

effort to plan a new Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) taking shape follow the recent completion

of a major study.Col. Keith Moore, Marine Corps program manager for advanced amphibious assault (PM

AAA), is just wrapping up the very final stages of the service’s contractual relationship with General

Dynamics [GD] for the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. The EFV, a tracked amphibious vehicle that

battled technical challenges earlier in its decade-long development lifespan, ultimately was canceled

last year by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates because of its cost. It was intended to be a

swimmable armored vehicle that would quickly carry combat-ready Marines to land from ships far

off shore.Now Moore is guiding three successor amphibious vehicle efforts that are at various stages: the

nascent ACV, which is intended to be a more-affordable alternative to EFV, as well as an upgraded

version of the existing Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV) and a new, likely off-the-shelf wheeled

Marine Personnel Carrier (MPC).It’s the ACV that is taking up the bulk of Moore’s time. Service officials have completed an

analysis of alternatives (AoA) on six types of vehicles that could be the ACV. The AoA document

was approved out of the Marine Corps and awaiting final briefings to congressional and Pentagon

officials as of this writing. After the AoA briefings are done, Moore plans to go before the Defense Acquisition Board

(DAB) later this fall for in-process review of the development path forward. Armed with a draft of

the ACV’s capabilities definition document, Moore is hoping the DAB meeting will clear the way

for releasing the first request for proposals (RFP) for the initial ACV development contracts with

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ATK Aims At Affordable Innovation, CEO SaysBy Ann Roosevelt

Despite the current turmoil swirling around the budget, deficits, poten-

tial sequestration and force reductions, a major theme for aerospace, defense

and commercial products company ATK [ATK] continues to be to provide a

quality product at a competitive price allowing additional performance for

the customer. “We talk about affordable innovation--that’s still a big theme that I’m

pushing through the company that we still continue to offer affordable yet

innovative solutions and products to our customer,” Mark DeYoung, presi-

dent and CEO of ATK, told Defense Daily. As examples, DeYoung pointed to the Advanced

Precision Mortar Initiative (APMI), which won the Army’s

Innovations of the Year recognition in 2012. It’s an afford-

able solution to take dumb mortar capability and turn it into

a smart mortar with a precision capability.

That means a reduced number of rounds in the invento-

ry, a reduced number of shots at the target, and importantly

reduces the likelihood that civilians or infrastructure would

be damaged when it’s used.

“This is an example of an innovation at an affordable cost that has life

cycle cost benefits,” DeYoung said.Another example is the Precision Guidance Kit (PGK) for artillery. This

takes 155 millimeter artillery rounds and adds GPS to guide it to the target.

“It’s one of these affordable solutions where you don’t have to replace your

inventory, you simply make your inventory more capable,” he said.

In another area, from a strategic perspective, ATK wants to be a part-

ner. “We want to work with other companies that have capabilities, we want

to help them market, distribute and sell those capabilities,” DeYoung said.

“We want to look for partners where they have potential capabilities or com-

ponents or the ability to work with us to create a solution. We don’t have to © 2012 by Access Intelligence, LLC. Federal copyright law prohibits unauthorized reproduction by any means and imposes fines of up to $100,000 for violations.

0700-0900Sergeant Major of the arMy ConferenCeRoom 202 A and BSPEAKER

SMA Raymond F. Chandler III Sergeant Major

of the Army0700-1900 aUSa regiStration DeSkConvention Center East and West Registration

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0730-0900 Mg robert g. MoorheaD gUarD/reServe breakfaStRoom 146 A, B and C (Ticket/ID badge

required)HOSTLTG Roger C. Schultz, Jr. United States Army,

Retired Vice Chairman for National Guard and

Reserve Affairs AUSAPresentation of Chapter AwardsSPEAKERGEN David M. RodriguezCommanding GeneralUnited States Army Forces Command

30900-1700 exhibitS oPenHalls A, B, C, D and E0900-1700 inStitUte of LanD Warfare

PUbLiCationS avaiLabLeAUSA Pavilion, Booth 407, Exhibit Hall A

0930-1115 oPening CereMonyBallroom (ID badge required)1200 Draft reSoLUtionS avaiLabLe for

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Lockheed Martin Expects First Foreign Sale of LCS Hull This Year

By Mike McCarthy

Lockheed Martin [LMT] anticipates the first foreign sale of its international version of the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship sometime this year, a company executive said Friday.

Joe North, vice president for littoral ship systems at Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems and Training unit, said the interested country is a Southeast Asian nation but would not provide further details.

The company is also close to a deal with an unnamed Middle Eastern country, but it could take longer because it would have to go through the U.S. government’s Foreign Military Sales program, North said.

The combined purchase would include 14 of the vessels the company markets internationally as the Multi-mission Combat Ship.

The hulls are built by partner Marinette Marine in Marinette Wisconsin. Lockheed Martin is offering the Multi-mission Combat Ship in various lengths--85, 118 and 150 meters. Lockheed Martin’s Freedom variant of the Littoral Combat Ship for the U.S. Navy is the midsize version.

Austal USA builds the Independence variant of the LCS and features a trimaran hull. The Freedom is a monohull. Both ships for the U.S. Navy have modular designs to allow for swappable mission packages for mine countermeasures, and surface and anti-surface warfare.

The Multi-mission Combat Ship is meant to be a fixed set of capabilities based on the demand on the international market, North said.

The first LCS, USS Freedom (LCS-1), was on an eight-month deployment to Singapore last year, a deploy-ment that allowed the Navy and Lockheed Martin to demonstrate the ship’s capabilities to other nations. The sec-ond of the same variant, the USS Fort Worth (LCS-3), is expected to depart for a longer deployment to the region later this year. The LCS class is designed to operate in coastal waters.

North said more than a dozen countries have shown interest in the Multi-mission Combat Ship, and Lockheed Martin has previously predicted it could fetch sales of at least 50 on the international market. n

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FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013 Page 1 56th Year, Volume 257, No. 60

GAO Annual Assessment: DoD Major Acquisition Programs Down In Size And Cost From 2011By Ann Roosevelt

The Department of Defense 2012 portfolio of 86 major defense acquisition programs is estimated to cost a total of $1.6 trillion, reflecting decreases in both size and cost from the 2011 portfolio, a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report said.

This is GAO's annual assessment of DoD weapon system acquisitions, an area that has been on the office’s high-risk list for more than 20 years. The 190 page report GAO-13-294SP was released this month.

DoD commented on the draft report, agreeing the cost reductions in its portfolio over the past year were largely due to programs leaving the portfolio and reductions in procurement quantities. However, DoD said the metrics GAO used did not adequately address program performance or answer the questions of “when, why, and how” changes occurred. GAO said it believes the report addresses these concerns.

DoD invested a total of more than $805 billion in its 2012 portfolio and currently estimates that $664 billion is needed to complete the programs that have cost baselines, the assessment said.

“Notably, a majority of programs in the portfolio gained buying power in the last year as their acquisition unit costs decreased,” the assessment said. “DoD's 10 costliest programs, excluding the Missile Defense Agency's Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS), drive most of the portfolio's cost performance and funding needs. The majority--65 percent--of the funding that DoD estimates it will need to complete its current programs is associated with those 10 programs, and almost all of that funding is for procurement,” it said.

The 10 costliest programs include the Joint Strike Fighter, DDG 51 destroyer, Virginia-class submarine, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and V-22 Osprey. Rounding out the top 10 are the Trident II missile, KC-46 tanker, CVN 78 class, P-8A Poseidon and the Littoral Combat Ship seaframes.

The GAO assessors said they identified a positive trend over the past four years: “newer acquisition programs are demonstrating higher levels of knowledge at key decision points, although many programs are still not fully adhering to a knowledge-based acquisition approach.”

Implementation of key selected acquisition initiatives varies among the programs GAO assessed, and the report said programs continue to accept risks associated with concurrently conducting developmental testing and production.

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MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013 Page 1 56th Year, Volume 258, No. 1

DEFENSE WATCHThe Latest Word On Trends And Developments In Aerospace And Defense

TSA Helping Wounded Warriors. Employing its risk-based screening model, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is expanding its expedited aviation checkpoint screening program to included severely injured members of the United States Armed Forces. Beginning last Wednesday, the agency began offering the screening services to the nation’s Wounded Warriors and traveling companions “in recognition of the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform,” says John Halinski, TSA’s deputy administrator. The screening benefits include eligibility to move through security checkpoints without having to remove shoes, light coats or hats. TSA already offers expedited aviation checkpoint screening benefits to members of the U.S. military through its PreCheck program and is now also allowing Wounded Warriors to enroll in the pre-screening initiative.

…Bipartisan Praise. TSA’s announcement was greeted with praise by Republicans and Democrats in Congress. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) says the policy change recognizes the “tremendous sacrifices for our nation” by the severely wounded warriors while also freeing “up TSA screeners to focus on real threats to our aviation systems.” Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), a member of the committee and sponsor of a bipartisan bill that called for TSA to makes the changes that it implemented last week, says the move “upholds the highest levels of security while affording a trusted group of citizens the dignity and respect they deserve.”

…TSA Justifies AIT Use. Seeking to comply with a federal court order that TSA propose a rule prior to its deployment of whole body imagers at the nation’s airports, the agency last week issued its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for on the use of the Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) for passenger screening. The rule, which would codify the use of the systems to screen individuals at aviation security checkpoints, says the AIT machines provide the best way of detecting non-metallic threats—explosives and weapons—concealed under a person’s clothing without having to touch the passenger. The NPRM notes that the threat to aviation security has evolved to include these non-metallic threats. The proposed rule also says that the machines are safe to use for passengers and TSA screeners and that the only units that will be used will include threat recognition software.

…A Critic. Despite the publication of the proposed rule in the Federal Register, Marc Scribner, a fellow in land-use and transportation studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, says TSA isn’t complying with the court order, which requires a legislative rule. “Unfortunately, the proposed rule more closely resembles a general statement of policy.” Scribner also contends that the NPRM “does not offer any insight into why, where, or how the TSA is justified in using whole-body imaging scanners in airports. And that lack of transparency violates the court’s order because TSA’s rationale cannot be evaluated properly.”

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TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2013 Page 1 56th Year, Volume 258, No. 2

FAA Set To Engage Public On UAS Privacy Policy

Seeking public comment on its proposed privacy policy for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Wednesday will host an online public engagement session to overview the UAS program and take comments from participants.

The FAA in February issued a Request for Proposals for six ranges that will be used to test UAS for integration into domestic airspace (Defense Daily, Feb. 15). The agency plans to award the sites by the end of September.

The FAA said that the privacy requirements that it is proposing are designed for the operation of the UAS test sites and are not intended to “pre-determine the long-term policy and regulatory framework under which commercial UAS would operate.” In tomorrow’s public engagement session, the FAA will listen and record comments on the docket but will not answer any questions.

President Barack Obama last year signed a congressional bill that calls for integrating UAS into the national airspace by 2015. The prospect of surveillance drones flying over neighborhoods and communities by various law enforcement agencies has created concerns for public safety and privacy among various states, localities and lawmakers.

Army Approves Raytheon Patriot Missile Operational Life ExtensionBy Ann Roosevelt

Raytheon [RTN] yesterday said its Patriot missiles, critical components of the Patriot Air and Missile Defense System, have received Army approval for a second recertification, extending the operational life of the worldwide inventory of Patriot missiles another 15 years.

“The current life of the missile is 30 years, and it was already recertified once, at 15 years,” Mike Fletcher, director of Raytheon's Patriot Systems Missile Program, told Defense Daily. “Now, after a three-year extensive study, the Army decided, based on study results, to extend the (missile's) life from 30 to 45 years.”

When a missile is recertified, the fully assembled missile is removed from its canister and disassembled into its major subcomponents, he said. Then limited life components--such as batteries--in those major subcomponents are changed out.

To upgrade the missile to the latest configuration at the same time as doing the second recertification provides the most cost effective solution, he said.

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