Maintenance delays Peleliu, 15th MEU departure
By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday May 19, 2010 21:00:17 EDT
SAN DIEGO — Navy officials, citing the need to do “emerging maintenance” on the amphibious assault ship Peleliu, have delayed the ship’s planned Thursday departure for deployment to the Western Pacific and Persian Gulf regions.
The postponement, announced Wednesday, came after crews discovered a cracked weld in one of the ship’s main feed pumps as outside contractors were doing maintenance on engineering equipment.
“This was previously scheduled maintenance that grew in scope as the work was being conducted by outside contractors,” said Lt. Cmdr. Chris Servello, a Naval Surface Forces spokesman in Coronado, Calif. “It makes sense to fix that here in San Diego so that the ship departs for deployment warfighting-ready.”
The move pushes Peleliu’s deployment to sometime this weekend, Servello said.
The ship, loaded with more than 1,000 Marines and aircraft of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, was scheduled to depart its berth at San Diego Naval Base on Thursday morning. But “the ship will depart over the weekend,” Third Fleet officials in San Diego said.
Peleliu, with a crew of about 1,000, is serving as the command ship of Amphibious Squadron 3, led by Navy Capt. Dale G. Fuller. The ship is also leading a three-ship amphibious ready group carrying the Camp Pendleton-based 15th MEU.
Transport dock ship Dubuque, carrying several hundred Marines, left its San Diego berth as scheduled Tuesday, and dock landing ship Pearl Harbor is scheduled to depart Thursday morning as planned, Navy officials said.
Peleliu’s delay is the second in less than a week involving San Diego-based ships.
Guided missile destroyer Milius, equipped with the latest Aegis ballistic missile defense system, was supposed to deploy Monday for an independent deployment to the Persian Gulf region. But on May 15, SurFor officials, citing “required predeployment maintenance,” postponed the departure until at least midweek.
Milius left Tuesday, Servello said.
Competition upended in JLTV program
By Kate Brannen - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Mar 31, 2012 10:46:10 EDT
While congressional support is once again strong for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, the competition has been turned on its head by a change to the program’s requirements, schedule and cost.
The three industry teams that won contracts for the technology development phase in 2008 no longer have the same advantage over other competitors now that the Army and Marine Corps are looking for a more affordable replacement for the Humvee, industry analysts said.
“The Army has learned that unless it comes in with a reasonable price tag, Congress won’t support the program,” defense analyst Loren Thompson said. “I don’t think past work matters as much as low price.”
The services are looking for a vehicle that would cost $250,000 per copy versus an earlier estimate of $450,000.
RELATED READING
Humvee maker submits bid for JLTV contract (March 28)
They have also shortened the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the program from 48 months to 27 months.
“The companies from the last phase — that produced those 23 prototypes that the Army rejected — they now have no particular advantage going into this phase,” said Jim Hasik, a defense consultant who writes an industrial analysis blog. “If anything, it’s the folks who tacked toward looking into lighter-weight vehicles that now have the advantage.”
While the playing field has been evened, it has also widened. Six teams confirmed submitting bids March 27 for the EMD phase.
The Army and Marine Corps have said they’ll award up to three contracts toward the end of June, but Thompson said he suspects the services will be able to afford only two.
The bidders are: AM General; a Lockheed Martin-led team that includes BAE Systems; Oshkosh; Navistar; General Tactical Vehicles (a joint venture formed in 2007 between AM General and General Dynamics Land Systems); and a BAE Systems-led team that includes Northrop Grumman.
“The fact that it’s such a crowded field tells you how few new starts there are going to be in the Army vehicle market over the next several years,” said Thompson, who works as a consultant for a handful of the competitors.
Hasik said a win is most needed by AM General.
“In the background, no one quite knows what will happen to the whole military truck market,” Hasik wrote in an email. “It’s crashing, for sure, and this is the last big program for a long time. Any company which was planning on submitting a joint bid had to reconsider what it would get out of the deal. AM General is now particularly vulnerable. It’s effectively a Humvee company, so if it doesn’t win JLTV, it doesn’t have much left.”
AM General, like many of the other JLTV competitors, also had its eye on the Army’s Modernized Expanded Capacity Vehicle program, which was an effort to upgrade the Army’s enormous fleet of Humvees.
In its 2013 budget request, the Army said it would cancel MECV and focus on JLTV.
“AM General is taking no chances, relying on their [General Dynamics] team, because without Humvee, without MECV, it’s not so clear what they’ll do in the absence of a JLTV win,” Thompson said.
THE TEAMS
Of all the bids, Lockheed’s remains the least changed. The company is offering the vehicle it developed during the JLTV technology development phase, with modifications made to fit the new weight and cost requirements.
The core team is intact too. Formed in 2005, it includes the tactical wheeled vehicles team at BAE Systems in Sealy, Texas, as well as Meritor Defense and other subcontractors.
While the makeup of the General Tactical Vehicles team is the same, it is not offering the vehicle it developed during the technology demonstration phase. Instead, it has selected a version of the Eagle, a vehicle already being produced by General Dynamics Land Systems for the German army. For JLTV, the team has added a double-V hull design, which has proved effective against roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The changes to the program “forced us to look at what was available in the General Dynamics family to meet the needs of the JLTV customer,” General Tactical Vehicles Senior Director Don Howe said.
AM General is also offering the Blast-Resistant Vehicle-Off Road, which it says builds on more than a decade of independent research and development investment.
“We’re bringing 50 years of experience, as the most experienced light tactical vehicle developer in the United States,” said Chris Vanslager, AM General’s executive director of business development and defense programs.
BAE Systems is also on two teams. In addition to its participation on the Lockheed team, BAE is leading its own team, which includes Northrop Grumman and Meritor Defense.
BAE teamed with Navistar to win one of three technology demonstration contracts in 2008. Lockheed and General Tactical Vehicles won the other two. However, for the EMD contract, BAE and Navistar are competing independently.
BAE is still offering the vehicle it developed during the technology development phase, but has replaced the Navistar-built engine with one designed and built by Ford. The company is calling its vehicle the Valanx.
Posted : Saturday Mar 31, 2012 10:46:10 EDT
While congressional support is once again strong for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, the competition has been turned on its head by a change to the program’s requirements, schedule and cost.
The three industry teams that won contracts for the technology development phase in 2008 no longer have the same advantage over other competitors now that the Army and Marine Corps are looking for a more affordable replacement for the Humvee, industry analysts said.
“The Army has learned that unless it comes in with a reasonable price tag, Congress won’t support the program,” defense analyst Loren Thompson said. “I don’t think past work matters as much as low price.”
The services are looking for a vehicle that would cost $250,000 per copy versus an earlier estimate of $450,000.
RELATED READING
Humvee maker submits bid for JLTV contract (March 28)
They have also shortened the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the program from 48 months to 27 months.
“The companies from the last phase — that produced those 23 prototypes that the Army rejected — they now have no particular advantage going into this phase,” said Jim Hasik, a defense consultant who writes an industrial analysis blog. “If anything, it’s the folks who tacked toward looking into lighter-weight vehicles that now have the advantage.”
While the playing field has been evened, it has also widened. Six teams confirmed submitting bids March 27 for the EMD phase.
The Army and Marine Corps have said they’ll award up to three contracts toward the end of June, but Thompson said he suspects the services will be able to afford only two.
The bidders are: AM General; a Lockheed Martin-led team that includes BAE Systems; Oshkosh; Navistar; General Tactical Vehicles (a joint venture formed in 2007 between AM General and General Dynamics Land Systems); and a BAE Systems-led team that includes Northrop Grumman.
“The fact that it’s such a crowded field tells you how few new starts there are going to be in the Army vehicle market over the next several years,” said Thompson, who works as a consultant for a handful of the competitors.
Hasik said a win is most needed by AM General.
“In the background, no one quite knows what will happen to the whole military truck market,” Hasik wrote in an email. “It’s crashing, for sure, and this is the last big program for a long time. Any company which was planning on submitting a joint bid had to reconsider what it would get out of the deal. AM General is now particularly vulnerable. It’s effectively a Humvee company, so if it doesn’t win JLTV, it doesn’t have much left.”
AM General, like many of the other JLTV competitors, also had its eye on the Army’s Modernized Expanded Capacity Vehicle program, which was an effort to upgrade the Army’s enormous fleet of Humvees.
In its 2013 budget request, the Army said it would cancel MECV and focus on JLTV.
“AM General is taking no chances, relying on their [General Dynamics] team, because without Humvee, without MECV, it’s not so clear what they’ll do in the absence of a JLTV win,” Thompson said.
THE TEAMS
Of all the bids, Lockheed’s remains the least changed. The company is offering the vehicle it developed during the JLTV technology development phase, with modifications made to fit the new weight and cost requirements.
The core team is intact too. Formed in 2005, it includes the tactical wheeled vehicles team at BAE Systems in Sealy, Texas, as well as Meritor Defense and other subcontractors.
While the makeup of the General Tactical Vehicles team is the same, it is not offering the vehicle it developed during the technology demonstration phase. Instead, it has selected a version of the Eagle, a vehicle already being produced by General Dynamics Land Systems for the German army. For JLTV, the team has added a double-V hull design, which has proved effective against roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The changes to the program “forced us to look at what was available in the General Dynamics family to meet the needs of the JLTV customer,” General Tactical Vehicles Senior Director Don Howe said.
AM General is also offering the Blast-Resistant Vehicle-Off Road, which it says builds on more than a decade of independent research and development investment.
“We’re bringing 50 years of experience, as the most experienced light tactical vehicle developer in the United States,” said Chris Vanslager, AM General’s executive director of business development and defense programs.
BAE Systems is also on two teams. In addition to its participation on the Lockheed team, BAE is leading its own team, which includes Northrop Grumman and Meritor Defense.
BAE teamed with Navistar to win one of three technology demonstration contracts in 2008. Lockheed and General Tactical Vehicles won the other two. However, for the EMD contract, BAE and Navistar are competing independently.
BAE is still offering the vehicle it developed during the technology development phase, but has replaced the Navistar-built engine with one designed and built by Ford. The company is calling its vehicle the Valanx.