Europeon view of KC-45

This article in the Deutsche Welle provides a good round up of the current on goings of the KC-45 recompete. It reiterates that despite rumors on not participating in this round Boeing went ahead and had their meeting with OSD and the Air Force to discuss the RFP. Obviously there is a great deal of interest in Germany, and Europe as a whole, for EADS to win the contract. It would be the largest to date for a primarily European based company.

Air Force to award GPS III satellite contract

The GPS III satellite had a successful DAB recently which allowed Mr. Young, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (OSD(AT&L) to allow the contract award. See an article here. As part of this authorization, though, he directed that the requirements be frozen as to what was presented at the DAB. The contract could be worth $1.8 B, and will go to either Boeing or Lockheed Martin. The award could come early next week.

Nice idea that may prove hard to carry out

According to this story DoD is going to try out an idea where acquisition programs are given a stable funding profile for several years. The idea is to see if the program will deliver quicker and cheaper if this is true. I assume by this they mean that the Services and OSD will be prevented from taking their money each year for higher priorities. This can be done in the outyears during the budget buildup. It can also be done in the execution year by reprogramming the money away. RDT&E programs can easily have problems executing their money due to program delays or engineering issues. This makes them prime targets to give up money for higher priorities every year. Read more

JSF costs levelling

On Monday the Pentagon released the annual Selected Acquisition Reports (SAR) this is a formalized report that goes to Congress that details the performance of Acquisition Category (ACAT) ID and IC programs. Congress and OSD can also add programs to the list that don’t meet the ACAT I categories. See the press release here. In a related move the USAF and Lockheed Martin released an audit of the JSF program that shows that cost growth is leveling off. See that story here. Read more