Archive for the ‘Procurement’ Category

Murdoc hasn’t posted much about the Littoral Combat Ships lately, so here’s a link to a good post over at CDR Salamander: LCS: A Global Force for Confusion

Money quote:

We all know that LCS is just a speed-fetish’s version of a large corvette. A slightly armed, sub-optimal corvette at that.

Murdoc was a fan when the LCS was a cheap low manpower multipurpose modular ship that could operate well close to shore. That was a long time ago.

And they make a pretty big target considering their relative lack of punch.

Here’s more from a while back on MO: Critical of the LCS

A Decade Late, but We’ll Take Them

Light Air Support turboprops for the Afghans. Keeping fingers crossed that we end up with a couple.

If the USAF won’t buy any, the Army should start pushing for the chance to field a few squadrons. Make noise and either get the rules changed or convince the AF to play ball.

Last F-22 Raptor Rolls Off Assembly Line

The final F-22 Raptor fighter jet rolled off the assembly line during a ceremony at the Lockheed Martin aircraft plant at Dobbins Air Reserve Base. The U.S. military is turning to the less costly F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to complement its operational fleet of 187 Raptors, amid concerns in Washington that the $153 million F-22 is too costly and too high-tech for its own good.

187 is not enough.

AT-6 Is Out of the Light Air Support Contest, Award Imminent

The AT-6B was competing with Embraer’s Super Tucano for a U.S. Air Force contract to supply up to 20 light air support — or counterinsurgency planes — to the fledgling Afghan air force. A couple of months ago we reported that the service was supposed to decide this month on which plane it would supply the Afghans with.

Murdoc’s railed on about this topic over the years. He’d sure like to see some fixed-wing Light Air Support in the USAF or US Army. Maybe single-engine prop planes like the AT-6 or Super Tucano (or A-1 Skyraider, for that matter…). Maybe a twin-engine prop plane. Maybe even a jet along the lines of the A-37.

Not likely, though. Not expensive enough for the US military.

General Dynamics Awarded $243 Million to Produce 115 More Double-V Hull Stryker Vehicles

This is on top of a previous contract for 350 (about one brigade’s worth) of the upgraded Strykers.

There are currently no plans for DVH models of the Mobile Gun System for NBC Recon variants. I wouldn’t be surprised if the MGS simply cannot support the additional weight of uparmoed hull.

The Army sets its sights on its next carbine

Service leaders detailed what they want — and how they plan to get it — in a June 30 request for proposal. It seeks “an assault weapon that will provide accuracy, lethality, minimized visual and aural signature and survivability enhancements to all Army formations. … This weapon will possess the capability, in offensive and defensive operations, to destroy or neutralize the adversary and their capabilities, at any time and in any place.”

The RfP allows competitors to submit only one weapon for consideration. There are no caliber restrictions.

But before all you 6.8 or 6.5 fans get hot and bothered

Although many modern carbines are multicaliber weapons, they will compete with one caliber. And if a weapon’s caliber is not 5.56mm or 7.62mm, the manufacturer must provide 234,000 rounds to cover all tests.

And Murdoc’s guess is that any round other than 5.56 or 7.62 will count as a mark against the gun even if the round outperforms the standards.

Phase I of the competition will focus on technical aspects, the builder’s production capability, and cost.

Two never-used Navy ships head to scrapyard

USNS Bejamin Isherwood and the USNS Henry Eckford, Kaiser class oilers, were never completed:

When the company defaulted on its Navy contract in 1989 the 660-foot ships were sent to Florida for completion, but cost disputes terminated that contract in 1993.

Since then, the vessels have sat 95 and 84 percent complete at the mouth of the James River as part of the mothballed ghost fleet.

From the comments section:

Built in an inept shipyard with heavy Democratic ties in Philly. They were really messed up in construction, with an unsuccessful attempt to fix them in another yard. Since then, the serving Kaiser class oilers have been modified and kept up to standards. These bollard huggers have moldered, without the regular upkeep that makes a ship so expensive to keep in top operating order.

and

I was an electrician at Tampa Shipbuilding and a member of the test and trials crew that would have taken the Isherwood for sea trials.

I can’t comment on what happened in Pennsylvania but in Florida the story was pure incompetence by management and union foot dragging by labor.

From day 1 the project was mismanaged. The parts not installed were crated in huge 8′x8′ wooden crates 5′ tall with no concern for contents. Machine parts were thrown on top of light fixtures…
This act of near sabotage by the Pennsylvania workers who were losing their jobs was not appreciated but was understandable.

Arriving in Florida the crates were opened and inventoried… then the parts were returned to the crates!

Murdoc’s been thinking we need a couple of big prison ships. Maybe these would have worked.

Instead we paid the UK $10 million to take them off our hands and have them scrapped.

(via Instapundit)

Here’s the lead ship of the class in action:

A starboard beam view of the fleet oiler USNS HENRY J. KAISER (T-AO-187) underway alongside the aircraft carrier USS SARATOGA (CV-60) for an underway replenishment. Photographer's Name: PH2 Al Renkel Date Shot: 8/13/1993

Lockheed Martin Delivers First F-35 Production Jet for Training to Eglin AFB

The first Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT – News) production model F-35 Lightning II to be assigned to the 33rd Fighter Wing arrived here today at 1:18 p.m. CDT after its more than 90-minute ferry flight from Fort Worth, Texas. The aircraft, known as AF-9, will be used for activities in concert with training F-35 pilots and maintainers who begin coursework at the base’s new F-35 Integrated Training Center this fall.

AF-9 is a conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) version of the 5th generation stealth fighter. Overall, the jet is the third production-model F-35 delivered to the U.S. Air Force, with the first two assigned to Edwards AFB, Calif.

Here’s a photo of AF-9:

F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter delivered to Eglin AFB

Meanwhile: Price Goes Up $771 Million on Most Expensive Defense Program

On SoldierGeek: Army buys 18,000 new M320 Grenade Launchers

The Army announced today that it has awarded a $38.5M contract to German arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch for the production of 18,000 40mm M320A1 Grenade Launchers. The M320 is the replacement for the venerable M203 grenade launcher, first fielded as an experimental system during the Vietnam War, and novel because it was the only technology spun out of the Special Purpose Individual Weapon (SPIW) flechette-grenade launcher program to go into production.

Read the rest.

Here’s a shot of it mounted on a carbine:

XM320 grenade launcher on M4 carbine

And also see HK USA’s site on the XM320.

Murdoc’s guess is that the fact that the similarity between the designation M320 and the M203 is going to lead to all sorts of typos.