US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Jura The idiot

Jura The idiot

General
now I read Defense spending up, but new program pipeline thin, report finds
Pentagon contracts increased in 2016, but the defense industry is facing a lack of new programs that could stretch for a decade and force changes to how they do business, a new report has concluded.

An analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that overall Department of Defense contract obligations rose by 7 percent in 2016, something that Andrew Hunter, a former Pentagon acquisition official now with CSIS, called a sign that defense spending is “actually growing again.”

The Pentagon has $296 billion in 2016 defense contract obligations, a modest increase from the $278 billion obligated in 2015 — but an increase nonetheless, the first such since 2008 and a positive sign for the defense sector.

The Missile Defense Agency, the Air Force and the Navy all saw significant increases in contract obligations in 2016, thanks largely to big programs for the C-130J transport, KC-46A tanker and Trident II missile, Hunter wrote in the report, titled "Defense Acquisition Trends 2016: The End of the Contracting Drawdown."

Contract spending now makes up about 46 percent of DoD’s costs, Hunter said at a rollout event for the report, a significant decline from where it was 10 years ago, as costs for things like health care have ballooned.

Additionally, contract costs have gone down thanks to internal Pentagon efforts such as the Better Buying Power initiative, and the number of contract breaches that have occurred are down significantly since 2010.

But there is a warning sign on the horizon for industry, due to the small number of new programs in the pipeline.

“There is no end in sight to the trough in the pipeline for weapon systems,” Hunter warned. And while some of that may be made up from the commercial sector, where companies such as SpaceX will fill the gap of new products being used by DoD, "I’m guessing this trough will end up being 10-12 years long, which is unprecedented.”

Unless that changes under the Trump administration — and despite pledges from the White House about a major defense budget increase, the figures put forth in the 2017 supplemental and 2018 budget don’t show major changes from the Obama-era levels — Hunter predicts the defense industry will look to shift even more away from research and development.

“What gain is it to Lockheed [Martin] to have a big Skunk Works, or Phantom Works at Boeing, if there’s nothing to compete for? So I think you’ll see their focus and their workforce shift,” Hunter said. “Defense companies are like utilities, they, make a steady return. It’s never sexy, it’s never splashy, but you can count on it. And I think they become more like utilities in that world.”
Click to expand...
source:
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
 
Jura The idiot

Jura The idiot

General
in another thread 21 minutes ago
Jura said:
...

(but if the US Military gets three thousand Osprey-maintenance-intensive and Osprey-readiness-level and more-than-Osprey-cost aircraft, well, this will be scary)
Click to expand...
and I didn't know about
US Air Force general has eyes on sci-fi tech, fixing pilot shortage
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

A U.S. Air Force general is interested in retrofitting tankers with technology that will alter the radar image of the plane, making it appear to be “either in a different location” or “reduced [in size] or disappears altogether: Now you see me, now you don’t.”

Gen. Carlton Everhart, the head of the Air Mobility Command, has spoken about this to technology companies, defense contractors, military service laboratories and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency,
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
. His request stems from his concern that “the enemy doesn’t have to look for the fighter” but merely needs to find the tankers that are refueling them.

Everhart said industry members wondered if he'd been watching too much science fiction, but he stood firm in his request. “I said: ‘Listen to me — this is what I want — something that would be able to change the waveform.”

In the meantime, the Air Force commander is focused on the threat of a pilot shortage, which threatens to get worse. There is a shortage of 300 pilots within Air Mobility Command; however, this number threatens to increase as an estimated 1,600 more pilots will become eligible to leave the service in 2021.

Everhart will attend a conference at the Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on May 18. The conference will host representatives of 23 civilian airlines, top service officials, and representatives of the National Guard and Air Force Reserve to discuss joint efforts for training and recruiting pilots.

Everhart said he is unable to “outspend the airlines” and therefore must “be complementary” with the competition.
Click to expand...
“I
[
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
]
said: ‘Listen to me — this is what I want — something that would be able to change the waveform.”

and I (Jura) call it the USAF obsession with "stealth" :)
 
TerraN_EmpirE

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Jura said:
in another thread 21 minutes ago
and I didn't know about
US Air Force general has eyes on sci-fi tech, fixing pilot shortage
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


“I
[
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
]
said: ‘Listen to me — this is what I want — something that would be able to change the waveform.”

and I (Jura) call it the USAF obsession with "stealth" :)
Click to expand...
sounds more like Jamming.
There has been talk of trying to stealth a tanker in the past but retrofitting stealth shaping and materials to a KC46 is not realistic.
 
Jura The idiot

Jura The idiot

General
TerraN_EmpirE said:
sounds more like Jamming.
There has been talk of trying to stealth a tanker in the past but retrofitting stealth shaping and materials to a KC46 is not realistic.
Click to expand...
the quote:
A U.S. Air Force general is interested in retrofitting tankers with technology that will alter the radar image of the plane, making it appear to be “either in a different location” or “reduced [in size] or disappears altogether: Now you see me, now you don’t.”
Click to expand...
 
TerraN_EmpirE

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
again jamming using active electronic transmissions to generate false images, or alter the radar signature on demand.
a pure stealth would demand a clean sheet tanker.
 
Jura The idiot

Jura The idiot

General
TerraN_EmpirE said:
Click to expand...
is this:
i6Fsh.jpg

a joke?
I would appreciate if somebody knowledgeable commented on the placement of AShM launchers so close to the waterline
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top