Boeing Lands Super Hornet Multiyear; EA-18G Version Enters Demo Phase

By RICHARD R. BURGESS
Managing Editor

The new year brightened the future of Boeing and its already shining Super Hornet with the award of a second multiyear procurement contract for the F/A-18E/F strike fighter aircraft and the award of a system development and demonstration contract for the electronic attack version, the EA-18G.

The Naval Air Systems Command multiyear contract — awarded on Dec. 29, 2003 — calls for the production of 210 F/A-18E/Fs at a rate of 42 or more aircraft per year through fiscal years 2005-09, with deliveries scheduled to begin in 2007. Navy spokesmen said in a release that the Navy estimates it will save more than $1.1 billion by issuing the $8.6 billion five-year multiyear contract.

“Multiyear procurements have driven stability and increased cost efficiencies with the program,” said Capt. B.D. Gaddis, the Navy’s program manager for the F/A-18. “The U.S. Navy realized around $750 million in procurement cost savings from the first Super Hornet multiyear contract. In the second multiyear contract, we’ve realized just over $1 billion in savings. … I would call that a pretty good return on investment.”

The first multiyear production contract for the Super Hornet — valued at $8.9 billion — was issued for the production of 222 aircraft, which followed low-rate initial production that began in September 1997. Boeing had delivered 170 Super Hornets to the Navy by the end of 2003. The Navy has documented a requirement for a total of 548 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. The Navy currently operates five Super Hornet fleet squadrons, with three more scheduled for conversion from older aircraft by the end of 2004.

“The F/A-18 Super Hornet platform continues to serve as a model procurement program, consistently producing aircraft ahead of schedule and under budget,” said Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond (R-Mo.). “Pound for pound and dollar for dollar, the Super Hornet is the best tactical aircraft the Navy operates.”

The contract for the five-year system development and design for the EA-18G version beginning in 2004 totals $1 billion. The funds will be used to conduct laboratory work, ground tests, and flight tests, including component-level testing through flight-testing of the full EA-18G system.

The EA-18G, which uses the basic airframe of the two-seat F/A-18F — will feature the Improved Capability III upgrade currently being incorporated in the EA-6B Prowler jamming aircraft. The EA-18G will be able to carry five ALQ-99 jamming pods, as well as AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles and AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles.

Two F/A-18Fs will be converted on the production line as EA-18G development aircraft in 2004, and four more will be built as test aircraft. The Navy plans to procure 90 EA-18Gs for service beginning in 2009.

“This is the latest spiral in the evolutionary development of the F/A-18,” said Rear Adm. James B. Godwin III, program executive officer for tactical aircraft. “The EA-18G will provide a much-needed replacement for the aging Prowler fleet as we continue to meet our electronic attack needs.”

Tactical Tomahawk Cleared For Operational Evaluation

After a series of eight successful flight tests that began in August 2002, the new Block IV version of the Tomahawk land-attack cruise missile — known as Tactical Tomahawk and built by Raytheon Missile Systems — has been cleared for the Navy’s operational evaluation.

The Tactical Tomahawk completed its technical evaluation in July 2003 after going through evaluations of its launch-platform mission planning, reduced mission-planning timelines, in-flight communications allowing real-time retargeting, and its accuracy.

The new missile will be put through another series of flight tests launched from both surface ships and submarines off the coast of California in early 2004. A decision to proceed with full-rate production of the missile is expected in the spring.

In a related development, the Tactical Tomahawk Weapons Control System (TTWCS) — designed by Lockheed Martin — has achieved initial operational capability onboard Navy ships. The TTWCS uses inputs from a ship’s navigation, communication, situational awareness, and launch systems to compute the missile’s flight path. The Launch Platform Mission Planning component of the TTWCS reduces reaction time by speeding up the mission-planning process. The TTWCS will be used to plan missile strikes for the Block III version of the Tomahawk as well as the Tactical Tomahawk.

Austal USA To Build Catamaran For Naval Research

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has commissioned Austal USA to build a lightweight high-speed catamaran that will be used to demonstrate advanced hull-form technology.

Austal will build a 31.2-meter SeaCoaster catamaran for American Marine Holdings under a $4.5 million contract for ONR. The ship will be built at Austal’s facility in Mobile, Ala., where the company is building a 58-meter catamaran for a ferry operator.

The SeaCoaster will be powered by four diesel engines and four surface-piercing propellers to speeds greater than 50 knots. The vessel will draw 3.35 meters. The design features “cavities in each hull into which air is blown with the aim of reducing resistance and thus allowing for higher speeds to be obtained,” Austal officials said in a release.

Austal has provided four other high-speed catamarans to the U.S. military for experimental use: the HSV-1X Joint Venture, now in Army service; the TSV-1X Spearhead, also in Army use; HSV-2 Swift, delivered last summer to the Navy; and the Westpac Express, leased by the Military Sealift Command for use by the Marine Corps.

Raytheon’s ATFLIR Approved For Full-Rate Production

Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems has been awarded a $298.2 million Naval Air Systems Command contract for full-rate production of the ASQ-228 Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) pod for use on the F/A-18 strike fighter.

The contract covers Lots 1 and 2 for a total of 88 pods, support equipment, and engineering support. The Navy plans to procure up to 574 ATFLIR pods and equip each F/A-18 squadron with eight to 10 pods each.

The ATFLIR combines in one pod a third-generation mid-wave infrared targeting and navigation sensor, an electro-optical sensor, a laser spot tracker, and a laser rangefinder and target designator.

The ATFLIR, which completed operational evaluation by the Navy and achieved official initial operational capability in September 2003, was deployed in 2002 with the first operational F/A-18E Super Hornet squadron and was used in combat during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Raytheon’s JSOW-C Heads For Operational Test

The AGM-154C unitary warhead variant of the Raytheon-built Joint Standoff Weapon — JSOW-C — is ready for operational test and evaluation, Raytheon officials said in a release. The JSOW team, which includes members of the Navy, Raytheon, BAE Systems, and Thales Missile Electronics, has completed a readiness review of the JSOW-C for operational evaluation.

The AGM-154C features a Raytheon-developed uncooled long-wave infrared seeker with autonomous target acquisition algorithms and a global positioning system/inertial navigation system that give the missile a long-range standoff capability for precision strike. The weapon also features the Broach penetrating warhead designed by BAE Systems.

During the preceding developmental phase, the AGM-154C completed seven free-flight demonstrations, exercised its autonomous target acquisition capability, and achieved a circular error probability accuracy of 4 feet — “well within the 10-foot requirement,” Raytheon officials said.

Raytheon was awarded a low-rate initial production contract for 42 JSOW-Cs in July 2003. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in September. Ron Shields, JSOW program manager for Raytheon, said that Raytheon anticipates “a full-rate production decision by next summer.”

In a related development, Raytheon has been awarded a $139.7 million contract to build JSOWs for the Navy and Air Force. Under the contract, Raytheon will produce 546 JSOW-As (231 Navy, 315 Air Force) under a fifth production batch, as well as 97 JSOW-Cs for the Navy as a second low-rate production batch. More than 400 JSOWs have been used in combat operations, Raytheon officials said in a release.

“JSOW was a stellar performer in Operation Iraqi Freedom and remains a vitally important capability for the foreseeable future,” said Capt. David Dunaway, the Navy’s program manager for the JSOW. “No other system provides as good a combination of standoff range, lethality, survivability, and user flexibility.”

NOAA Chooses Competitors For Rude Replacement

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) selected two builders to submit proposals for a new coastal mapping ship.

VT Halter Marine of Gulfport, Miss., and Nichols Brothers Boat Builders of Freeland, Wash., will compete to build a small-waterplane-area twin hull (SWATH) design to replace the NOAA vessel R/V Rude, currently based in Norfolk, Va. Each company received a $150,000 design contract and will submit its proposal by May 2004. NOAA officials expect the vessel to be in operation by 2006.

The SWATH catamaran ship — designed to conduct sea-floor mapping in waters off the East and Gulf Coasts, Great Lakes, and Caribbean Sea, primarily to support nautical charting — will be based at the University of New Hampshire’s marine science facility in Portsmouth, N.H., and operated by NOAA Corps officers and civilians. The SWATH vessel “will have enhanced sea-keeping ability and will therefore be a more efficient survey platform,” NOAA officials said in a release. A SWATH vessel is less responsive to wave action than a monohull ship. The reduced motion results in increased reliability of collected data.

Defense Industry Notes

· Contract modifications to build more Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers (DDGs) have been awarded by the Naval Sea Systems Command to Bath Iron Works — a General Dynamics company — and Northrop Grumman Ship Systems. Bath Iron Works will receive $953 million to build DDGs 108 and 109, which are scheduled for delivery in February 2009 and October 2009 respectively. Northrop Grumman was awarded $420 million to build DDG 107, scheduled for delivery in June 2008.

· Lockheed Martin has selected a variant of the Pratt & Whitney PW150A turboprop engine and the Hamilton Sundstrand NP2000 propeller to power its entry in the Multimission Maritime Aircraft competition, a derivative of the P-3 Orion. The 7,000 shaft-horsepower PW150A is noted for its performance in providing a shorter takeoff roll, and better fuel economy and thrust response. The eight-bladed NP2000 propeller is already being introduced on the E-2C Hawkeye and C-2A Greyhound carrier-based aircraft.

· Northrop Grumman Ship Systems has been awarded an $816.6 million Naval Sea Systems Command contract to build the fifth San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship, the New York. The ship will be built at the company’s Avondale Operations yard in New Orleans, with support from the company’s facilities in Tallula, La., and Pascagoula and Gulfport, Miss. Last September, more than 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center — destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, in New York by terrorists — was melted at a Louisiana foundry to provide steel for the New York.

· Rolls Royce has opened its new state-of-the-art test facility for the lift fan system designed by the company for the F-35B, the short takeoff/vertical-landing version of the Joint Strike Fighter. The Lift Fan Test Facility in Indianapolis — built in only 12 months — will perform testing during the development and production phases of the 50-inch two-stage counter-rotating fan, which is driven by a shaft from a Pratt & Whitney F135 or a General Electric/Rolls Royce F136 gas turbine engine.

· Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems has been awarded a $108.6 million Naval Air Systems Command contract modification to procure one E-2C Hawkeye 2000 aircraft and one TE-2C training version, as well as associated equipment and support.

· Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems and Sensors has been awarded a $117 million Naval Sea Systems Command contract for the Acoustic Rapid Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Insertion (A-RCI) program. The A-RCI is an upgrade for the sonar system on the Navy’s submarines that integrates and improves towed-array, hull-array, sphere-array, and other ship sensor processing, the Department of Defense said in a release.

· Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems has reopened the production line in St. Augustine, Fla., for outer wing panels for the EA-6B electronic attack aircraft. The line — which had closed in Bethpage N.Y., in 1987 — reopened in St. Augustine, Fla., to build 54 sets of panels scheduled for delivery beginning in 2005. The facility also is currently producing center wing sections for the EA-6B fleet, which has suffered significant structural fatigue problems with wing sections, leading to many aircraft being grounded until wing sections are replaced.

· Raytheon Missile Systems has been awarded a $274 million Naval Sea Systems Command contract for the fiscal year 2004 production of Standard SM-2 surface-to-air missiles. The company will build 75 Block IIIB versions for the U.S. Navy and 183 Block IIIA and 28 Block IIIB missiles for foreign navies. Raytheon also will deliver 80 kits to convert older SM-2 versions to the Block IIB configuration.

Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems and Sensors has been awarded a $60 million subcontract by Northrop Grumman to design and build Lightweight Wide Aperture Array (LWWAA) acoustic sensor systems for the fifth and sixth Virginia-class attack submarines. The LWWAA system is a set of large-array panels mounted on both sides of the submarine that provide sonar inputs to the boat’s combat system. The LWWAA uses fiber-optic and laser technologies instead of ceramic hydrophones.