Air Force Seeks 3D Scanner to Reverse-Engineer Parts

Jan. 4, 2021 | By Rachel S. Cohen

The Air Force’s Rapid Sustainment Office is again reaching out to industry for new approaches to three-dimensional scanning so it can replicate aircraft parts that are no longer in production.

On Jan. 4, the RSO published a call for a “cutting-edge, automated 3D scanning system” that can create models to reproduce machine parts. That scanner should be able to gather the data for a blueprint showing complex, even hidden, geometry as well as color and reflectivity.

“The resulting solution should allow trained USAF users to create accurate 3D models capable of being easily utilized, manipulated and/or modified for additive manufacturing purposes utilizing common commercially available [computer-assisted design] software,” the Air Force said in the solicitation.

The scanner should be easy to use, with little human interaction and updatable even when off the grid. It needs to process components that, at a minimum, measure about 1.5 feet in diameter and 3 feet tall, and weigh around 110 pounds.

It would be available at “various innovation centers across the Air Force,” potentially including AFWERX sites and certain maintenance depots, where the company that offers the scanner would also train Airmen to use it. It would come with an online training course and a written user manual.

The RSO wants to move fast: A request for proposals is slated for release on Feb. 4, with ideas due March 5 and a contract on tap for March 31. The service is planning live or online presentations to demonstrate how the scanner would work.

Air Force acquisition head Will Roper told Air Force Magazine in a recent interview that there needs to be an effort to have a “digital representation of every part in the Air Force inventory.” In-depth 3D scans will identify where there’s variation across parts—“especially if they’re different across different airplanes” in the same fleet.

For two older aircraft, for example, “they’re not twins. In fact, they may not even appear to be from the same family. So digitizing the parts so that you understand when you pull it apart what its replacement needs to look like down to the 10,000th of an inch lets us bring in additive manufacturing and industry partners who are not normally parts developers but who could make those parts if we could give them a three-dimensional representation of it, and not the two-dimensional drawings we use today across the Air Force,” he said.

The search is the Air Force’s latest move to adopt 21st-century engineering and manufacturing techniques that can help it upgrade planes and other systems faster and at lower cost. As aircraft age and companies are acquired or go out of business, it becomes harder and more expensive to fix broken components—particularly on small fleets with a niche supply chain.

USAF founded the RSO in July 2018 to spearhead those efforts, and the office recently looked to expand the use of data-driven maintenance to more than a dozen aircraft and the Minuteman III nuclear missiles. The office says it has saved tens of millions of dollars on sustainment costs—one of the military’s largest expenses—so far.

The RSO’s first Advanced Manufacturing Olympics last year featured a reverse-engineering competition where teams had to accurately recreate a box of 10 industrial parts without a plan in hand. Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research took home the gold medal in that event.

The groups that succeeded in the Advanced Manufacturing Olympics event did so because they were able to start with in-depth 3D scans of the parts needed, and then iterate to create a strong enough part to be used on an Air Force plane.

“They don’t work off two-dimensional drawings and a traditional production line methodology, so we have to change in our legacy systems if we want to tap that kind of industrial base that brings huge innovation potential,” Roper said.

In addition to reverse engineering, the RSO has sought rapid repair and sustainment technologies through the same solicitation that is open to commercial companies, typical defense contractors, and research institutions.

“The RSO seeks to work with companies who can deliver innovative sustainment and operational advances that truly make a difference to Air Force end users,” the office said.

DOD Extends F-35 Full-Rate Production Decision Due to Pandemic

Jan. 4, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

The F-35 will get yet another extension to complete development and be declared ready for full-rate production, Pentagon acquisition and sustainment czar Ellen M. Lord has directed.

Blaming technical challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic for the process continuing past the March deadline, Lord is also bringing in an independent technical review entity to help set a new schedule.

According to a Dec. 18 Acquisition Decision Memorandum signed by Lord, the Milestone C decision—which certifies the F-35 as having successfully completed initial operational test and evaluation and clears it for full-rate production—will be extended, though she did not set a new target date.

“Delays in maturing the Joint Simulation Environment—caused by technical challenges and the impact of COVID-19—will prevent the completion of F-35 Block 3F Milestone C,” Lord said in the memo.

It will be up to the F-35 Joint Program Office to set a new schedule for both benchmarks “based on an independent technical review and measured progress at JSE,” she said.

In October 2019, Lord extended the IOT&E completion and full rate decision from December 2019 to January 2020, and then to March 2020. She granted another extension in August to March 2021, saying she had “high confidence” of meeting that date because “we have the entire government/industry team focused on that.”

The obstacle, she said, was integrating the F-35 into the JSE, which is a virtual/synthetic wargaming capability that can assess the relative strengths of adding or subtracting certain kinds of capabilities from the overall U.S. military’s assets. The JSE is used to determine the optimum mix of ships, aircraft, missiles, and other platforms in the joint force.

Although the decision doesn’t have any immediate effect on production of F-35s for U.S. services and foreign partners and customers, the program can’t enter into a multi-year purchase agreement until it has passed both IOT&E and the full-rate decision. Some F-35 partners are already involved in a multi-year “block buy” of F-35s, but the U.S. has not been able to participate.

Pentagon officials have said the F-35 has completed all but a few flight tests and other demonstrations required under IOT&E. The main sticking point is the JSE. Integrating the F-35 with the JSE is software-intensive, and limitations on code writers congregating in secure facilities has slowed the process down.

Prime contractor Lockheed Martin said it has fulfilled its part of the JSE integration.

“The JSE is a U.S. government-led initiative that allows operators to complete tests under conditions that include those that cannot be replicated on open-air ranges,” the company spokesman said in a statement. “Lockheed Martin’s role was to work with [Naval Air System Command] to integrate digital models of the F-35. This work has been accomplished and we continue to assist the U.S. government in their integration efforts.”

Lockheed fell short of its 2020 goal of producing 142 F-35s by about 20 aircraft, citing delays from COVID. Michele A. Evans, the company’s aeronautics executive vice president who died Jan. 1, told Air Force Magazine in September that it would take until 2023 to catch up those missed deliveries because the company didn’t want to disrupt the workforce and suppliers with a quick surge followed by quick slowdown of production.

The Joint Program Office could not immediately explain who will conduct the independent review, or what the new timeline for completing IOT&E and approving full-rate production will be.

SDA Taps SpaceX for Two Launches of New Satellites

Jan. 4, 2021 | By Rachel S. Cohen

SpaceX will carry data-transport and missile-tracking satellites to orbit for the Space Development Agency, the Pentagon said Dec. 31.

SpaceX won a $150.5 million contract for two launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., starting in September 2022. The entire constellation of up to 28 initial satellites, known as “Tranche 0” of the transport and tracking layers, is slated to reach space by March 31, 2023.

The launch contract is another boon for the firm owned by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, which the Space Force recently selected to handle 40 percent of its rocket launches through 2024.

SpaceX was also tapped to build satellites with wide-view, overhead persistent infrared for SDA’s missile-tracking layer, alongside L3Harris. It received nearly $150 million for that effort as well. Lockheed Martin and York Space Systems are designing the data-sharing satellites SpaceX will ferry.

SDA is spearheading the creation of a vast network of satellites in low Earth orbit for military use that, if damaged, can be more easily replaced at a lower cost than the more complex, expensive systems of the past. The transport and tracking layers are two of the earliest efforts underway as part of that plan.

Another factor may throw the launch schedule into question, however. SpaceNews reported Dec. 22 that SDA will reconsider its options for missile-tracking satellite providers after Raytheon and Airbus protested their snubs to the Government Accountability Office. SDA is taking another look at the bids in order to resolve the protests.

The agency is “expeditiously implementing its corrective action plan for the Tracking Tranche 0 solicitation,” spokeswoman Jennifer Elzea told SpaceNews. In the meantime, SpaceX and L3Harris are stopping work on their respective four satellites. Elzea added to the publication that SDA will try to stay on track for a late 2022 launch.

DOD Formalizes Program Giving Companies More Access to Classified Info

Jan. 4, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Pentagon has formally created a group of defense companies that can get broader access to classified initiatives known as special-access programs, hoping that more insight will make contractors more efficient and cost-conscious.

In a Dec. 15 memo to the defense industrial base, Pentagon acquisition boss Ellen M. Lord formalized the SAP Contractor Portfolio Program, which ran as a pilot initiative for several years. The effort will help companies balance the need to understand technology development with the need to protect that information.

“As the world sees a return to great power competition, the Department of Defense must strengthen its engagement with the defense industrial base in order to respond to the national security challenges facing the United States in a more responsive and cost efficient manner,” Lord wrote.

“However, the new phenomenon of rapid technology proliferation has also increased the level of technology protection necessary to maintain the United States’ competitive edge. This increased protection, resulting in many activities being secured in special access programs, challenges the DOD’s ability to share critical information and to collaborate with the DIB to deliver capability to the warfighter,” she said.

The memo did not say how many or which companies are part of the group, but noted corporations must be on contract for at least 15 special-access programs to participate.

Specifically, the program aims to meet four goals:

Provide companies with more transparency into the special access programs they work on, so they can integrate other tools and capabilities “with the goal of increasing technology development and cost efficiency”
Give the industrial base insight into defense networks that include classified programs so companies can better target their research and development to complement DOD’s systems
Give contractors’ security staff the access they need to protect classified information
Give corporate officers access to special-access programs they are involved with so they can “fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities.”

Meeting those objectives will “better posture the DIB to support the department and our nation to meet the challenges of this new era,” Lord wrote.

USAF Begins Basing MQ-9s in Romania

Jan. 4, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

Air Force MQ-9s have a new permanent home in Romania.

U.S. Air Forces in Europe announced Jan. 4 that Reapers and about 90 Airmen are now based at Romanian Air Force Base 71 at Campia Turzii. The surveillance and attack drones are assigned to the 31st Expeditionary Operations Group, Detachment 1, under the 31st Fighter Wing at Aviano Air Base, Italy.

“The forward and ready positioning of our MQ-9s at this key strategic location reassures our allies and partners, while also sending a message to our adversaries that we can quickly respond to any emergent threat,” Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, the United States Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa commander, said in a release.

USAFE did not disclose the number of Reapers that will be assigned to the base, which houses a unit of Romanian Air Force MiG-21 fighter jets and helicopters. The Transylvanian base has long been the site for theater security package deployments of USAF fighters. Contractor-owned and contractor-operated MQ-9s from the 52nd Expeditionary Operations Group, Detachment 2, based at Miroslawiec Air Base, Poland, have repeatedly deployed to the base as well.

Air Force Magazine visited the base as it was preparing to bring in Reapers for the first time in 2019, and construction of new facilities for aircraft launch, recovery, and maintenance was underway. Under previous deployments to Campia Turzii, troops at the base would launch and retrieve the Reapers, while personnel at the Polish base controlled them in flight.

In January 2020, MQ-9s and Airmen deployed to the base to fly as part of exercise Dacian Reaper. During the exercise, Romanian Chief of Defense Lt. Gen. Daniel Petrescu said the deployment is “for the benefit of both our countries. The U.S. presence in Romania complements the allied forward presence in this part of the globe,” according to a release.

From Romania, the MQ-9s have a shorter flight to watch operations in the Balkans and the Black Sea in support of NATO operations. USAFE said the unit will also support agile combat employment concepts—the Air Force’s term for rapid deployment to areas without established military resources—and fly freedom-of-maneuver sorties.

B-1s Can Make it to Finish Line, But Big Repairs Will Be Common Along the Way

Jan. 3, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force expects to have enough resources—money, spare parts, and maintainers—to keep the B-1B bomber flying safely at least until it can be replaced by the B-21, service officials said, now that Congress will let USAF retire 17 of the most problem-prone Lancers in the inventory. But the Air Force is well behind on a structural fatigue test meant to find life-limiting cracks and stress in B-1 airframes, meaning there could be some surprises ahead.

Congress overrode President Donald J. Trump’s veto of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act on Jan. 1, clearing the way for the Air Force to reduce the B-1 fleet from 62 aircraft to 45. The B-21 is expected to be delivered in sufficient numbers by 2031 to permit the rest of the B-1s to retire.

Since September 2019, the Air Force has pushed to reduce the B-1 fleet in order to keep a smaller number of the bombers fully potent and ready for action. In recent years, lack of spare parts and a long list of structural and systematic gripes have driven the fleet’s mission capable numbers to as low as just six aircraft ready for combat.

There will now be enough resources for B-1 repairs and structural modifications to “get us as long as we need for the B-1 to fly,” bomber Program Executive Officer Brig. Gen. John P. Newberry told Air Force Magazine in a December interview.

The B-1 was designed to fly between 8,000-10,000 hours, or about 30 years, depending on the rate of usage, but the fleet is 35 years old. To help predict where physical failures are likely to occur, the Air Force has, since 2012, run a structural fatigue test on a B-1 carcass and wing taken out of the boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. The test apparatus applies forces on the wing and fuselage with a series of bars and pulleys, simulating the effects of multiple flights. The idea is to “age” the test article ahead of the fleet to discover structural problems before they’re encountered in operational aircraft.

The goal, Newberry said, is to achieve 28,000 simulated flight hours on the representative wing, and 27,000 hours on the fuselage; what’s called the “durable life” of the airplane. So far, the service has accumulated 15,875 hours on the wing, but just 7,154 hours on the fuselage. Those hours are actually half of the real numbers, though, because fatigue tests are meant to create a “Certified Structural Life.” The service is only comfortable flying the fleet to half the number of simulated hours applied to the fatigue test article, to leave a generous margin for the unexpected. Consequently, while the wing taken from the boneyard had 3,085 hours already on it, the structural fatigue test could only be credited 1,547 hours at the outset.

“Unfortunately, we’re behind,” Newberry allowed. “The [actual] fleet average is a little over 12,000” hours. The wing test article is ahead of the fleet average, but the fuselage is lagging.

The reason the test is behind has to do with the way structural fatigue tests are run. If a structural failure occurs on the test article, the test must be stopped while the problem is analyzed and a repair is then developed, prototyped, and installed. In this way, a repair is ready to go when actual flying aircraft encounter the problem. The fatigue test then continues with a modification like the one that will be installed on the fleet, so as to be representative of their continued service.

Major problems encountered that required stopping the test included “on the wing … leading and trailing tabs, upper wing splice bolts and drain holes,” Newberry said. On the fuselage, it was “cracks in the longerons, on the dorsal and shoulder longerons.” A repair is now being prototyped on the forward intermediate fuselage. There are also rib cracks, “shearing bolts, and tension clips. So there are various items,” he said.

“We want to get ahead of the fleet,” Newberry said, but he couldn’t predict when that will happen, because it’s impossible to know when the next failure will occur, forcing another halt to the test. Even now, the test is on hold while a fix to a longeron—a main structural piece that carries heavy loads in the structure—is being prototyped.

The B-1 has been used hard, and not in the way intended. Former Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein explained in September 2019 that the B-1 was used in Afghanistan and Iraq as a high-speed close air support platform, loitering for long periods at high altitudes with its swing wings swept forward, until getting a call to dash to support troops needing air support. However, the aircraft was designed as a strategic penetrator, flying low and fast, with wings swept back. Flying with the wings extended for long periods, while carrying heavy loads, put years of heavy extra stress on the swing mechanism and attach points.

“Now we’re having to pay the piper,” Goldfein said.

To stop rapidly grinding down the B-1’s remaining service life, the Air Force has decided to take it out of the close air support mission. Throughout 2020, the Lancer—or “Bone” as crews refer to it—has been limited to bomber task force missions, conducting short-notice, short-duration deployments to Europe, the Pacific, and the Middle East.

Air Force Materiel Command has moved quickly to restore the B-1’s mission capable rates to percentages above 60 percent; still below goal, but far better than the single-digit performance of just a few years ago.

At the B-1 depot maintenance center at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., a separate “speed line” was set up to repair specific problems crushing the B-1’s readiness, such as the ejection system, cracks in the forward intermediate fuselage, and wing problems. Spare parts also received extra funding.

The reasons the B-1 fell into such low availability rates had to do with the abusive operation of the aircraft coupled by a perfect storm of structural problems that overwhelmed maintainers, according to USAF B-1 program manager William Barnes.

“When we were at very low mission capability rates, … we were behind in analyzing some of the data we were seeing in the full scale fatigue test,” Barnes said. As the data were analyzed, it raised concerns about various areas that needed inspections, which can be invasive and time consuming.

“A lot of that work fell on the backs of the maintainers out in the field,” he said. But, there wasn’t enough capacity at the depot, “nor did we have all the supplies we needed to perform that repair work.”

At the same time—around May 2018—a B-1’s ejection system failed during an inflight emergency. While the crew made a harrowing landing, the incident prompted yet another new wave of fleetwide B-1 inspections, Barnes said, further pressuring the maintainer force.

“Since that time, we got the ejection system all fixed, and got that work off the field maintainers. We brought a lot of the repair work into the depot, …and then in 2019 … [we] stood up the dedicated repair line at Tinker …where we bring in aircraft for nothing but structural repairs. To my knowledge, it’s the only dedicated structural repair line in the Air Force,” Barnes said. Doing it that way allowed the Air Force to hire extra workers to do the surge repairs “and let the maintainers get back to their day-to-day job of launching aircraft and meeting mission needs.”

Doing all that “significatly improved the availability of the fleet,” Barnes said. “It’s put the fleet in a very healthy position as we bring aircraft through depot, perform the structural repairs, and get a healthier aircraft back out to the field.” The fact that the aircraft are “healthier” also reduces the load of necessary inspections, allowing maintainers to focus on daily readiness.

But some big repairs remain undone. A longeron replacement in the forward intermediate fuselage that will require substantial disassembly of the airplane will be an intensive process.

“We are going to bring an aircraft into Boeing’s Palmdale, [Calif.], facility in April to perform a prototype of that repair,” Barnes said, “Where we will replace the forward intermediate fuselage, and we will repair the ‘shoulder’ longeron,” and this will be the prototype for a fleet-wide fix. The repair apparatus will be brought to the depot to be performed, “but that’s not going to happen until the ’23-’24 timeframe,” he said. “So, we’re still a few years away from where we have to be.”

Lt. Col. Joseph Lay, Barnes’ uniformed counterpart, said the longeron is “a huge section of the backbone of the aircraft.” Doing the forward fuselage and the longeron at the same time “facilitate each other” because they require access to the same areas.

The prototype will be done on a B-1 already headed into depot, and it will have “an extended stay” in that status, Newberry noted.

“It’ll go to Tinker for a little bit, and then it’ll go to Palmdale with Boeing, …and then go back to depot and finish out its normal depot. It was picked because it was ready for the depot and it was … needing a forward intermediate fuselage replace as well.”

He added, “It is extensive. This is not a minor repair.”

With a fleet of 45 B-1s, the aircraft will flow through the depot at about nine per year, or the whole fleet every five years, Newberry said, meaning there are likely two more depot cycles for every airplane before the B-1’s putative wholesale retirement. Alongside that, Barnes said, there will typically be “two to four” B-1s in the structural repair line, meaning “five to eight” B-1s at Tinker “at any given time.”

“As we continue with the full scale fatigue test article, we learn more about the fleet, we find other, very small or very significant, structural repairs that need to happen across the fleet,” Barnes said. “So there will be some structures [repair] happening on this fleet, … my guess, probably for the remaining life of the aircraft.”

The Air Force does not expect to initiate a Service Life Extension Program on the B-1 fleet, Newberry said.

Editor’s Note: An expanded version of this story will appear in the January-February 2020 edition of Air Force Magazine.

Communicating on the Fly

Jan. 3, 2021 | By Jennifer Hlad

As the Air Force leans in to the Agile Combat Employment concept—in which smaller groups of Airmen can deploy rapidly to locations with varying degrees of austerity—communications and cyber Airmen must find ways to be lighter and leaner as well.

Enter “communication flyaway kits”: light packages that can “fit into a few transit cases” and be “called upon at a moment’s notice to provide DOD networks and voice services to environments ranging from something extremely expeditionary to something more modern and built up,” Lt. Col. Daniel Waid, commander of the 18th Communications Squadron, told Air Force Magazine in a phone interview.

The kits are a “scalable solution that allow you to go down from anywhere between two to upwards of 50 people, … providing them secure, cyber-secure communications,” Waid continued.

It’s not a new concept, but the 18th Wing is modifying it to meet their needs in the Pacific.

Maj. Tyler Studeman, director of ACE for the Kadena Air Base, Japan-based 18th Wing, explained that the “tyranny of distance in the Pacific theater,” coupled with the threats around the world, underscore the need for Agile Combat Employment. Projecting combat capability requires the ability to communicate, he said, “whether it’s to say, ‘Hey, we need help,’ or ‘Hey, we’re established and doing well,’ all the way to, as we go out and fly combat missions, we need to know who else is out there with us, in order to make sure that we’re coordinating our efforts… to get the most optimized airpower that we can possibly generate.”

Senior Master Sgt. Johnathan Butler, the 18th Wing’s superintendent for ACE, noted that any time Airmen go forward, “Priority No. 1” is to set up communications, “reach back to higher headquarters, wherever that may be, and establish a good line of communication so that we can receive orders on how to proceed.” The kits—150 pounds in two Pelican cases—allow Airmen to set up secure communications within 30 minutes, “which is pretty amazing,” Butler said.

Staff Sgt Patrick Tobias, client systems supervisor with the 18th Communications Squadron, said the unit also is experimenting with solar panels and “different ways to connect,” because “you never know what’s going to be on site” as far as infrastructure.

“I’m looking at things just to make our lives easier and then just to provide better support for the customers so that they have everything they need,” Butler said.

There is a “huge opportunity” in the Pacific to exploit newer technologies in order to get capability and support “to that austere edge,” Waid said. “What we’re looking at is … solar panels, everything from that to like self-healing networks to different types of newer satellite services,” as well as how to use the different types of bandwidth provided by those satellites.

The squadron has been practicing these concepts in local and regional training exercises throughout the year, including a December exercise in which Airmen operated from four different locations in and around Okinawa with different types of aircraft.

The eventual goal is to provide “operators the flexibility on where they operate from and how they communicate,” Waid said. “We need to be flexible, not just as Airmen, but as cyber professionals. So whatever the 18th Wing and the operations folks need, we can provide that on the fly.”

Butler said that gets to the heart of ACE “as a whole and a concept”: “to give our civilian leadership more response options [as] tensions rise and fall in the geopolitical climate”

It also makes it harder for adversaries to target them. “If you have one target, it’s pretty easy. If you suddenly have two dozen targets, it’s a lot more difficult … We’re trying to get inside their decision-making circle in that decision process, their OODA loop, so that they reconsider their actions,” he added.

Congress Overturns Trump’s NDAA Veto to Start New Year

Jan. 3, 2021 | By Rachel S. Cohen

Congress has voted to enact a $741 billion defense policy bill over the objections of President Donald J. Trump, who vetoed the long-running annual legislation on Dec. 23.

The Senate overrode Trump’s veto 81-13 on New Year’s Day, following the House’s 322-87 vote on Dec. 28. Their rare bipartisan move greenlighted billions of dollars for troop pay, weapons programs, and military construction, plus hundreds of provisions directing how the military should spend that money and detailing reports due to Congress.

It’s the first time lawmakers have amassed the two-thirds majority needed in each chamber to overturn a Trump veto. Six senators—including Republicans David Perdue and and Kelly Loeffler, who both face runoff elections on Jan. 5 to keep their seats in Georgia—and 21 congressmen did not participate.

An unsuccessful attempt to tie passage of $2,000 pandemic aid checks to Americans also slowed the NDAA’s progress, but did not derail it entirely.

“Not only does this bill give our service members and their families the resources they need, but it also makes our nation more secure—pushing back against China and Russia, strengthening our cyber defenses, and accelerating innovation into the technologies that will keep our children’s children safe,” Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a Jan. 1 release.

The Fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act allows $740.5 billion in spending for the Pentagon and other national security programs through Sept. 30, 2021. Negotiations encountered hurdles due to the coronavirus, which prevented lawmakers from gathering in close quarters to discuss ideas like usual, as well as election-year politicking.

It hit last-minute challenges as Trump demanded Congress include an unrelated provision to end legal protections for social media companies. He also opposed the bill over its language to start the process of renaming military installations that honor Confederate icons, like Fort Bragg, N.C.

Enactment is a late win for the legislation that has now become law for 60 years running, and is touted as one of the most important bills Congress works on each year.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) called its support “a testament to the merits of this year’s bill.” That contrasts with the previous year’s NDAA that garnered unusually partisan votes because of disagreements over issues like nuclear weapons.

Trump’s 11th-hour opposition to the broadly popular bill threw a wrench into what is typically a smooth, if delayed, approval process. The President vetoed the NDAA hours before it would have automatically taken effect at midnight Dec. 24 without further action from the White House. That prompted a holiday scramble to nullify his decision, while also trying to lock in a $1.4 trillion appropriations bill for fiscal 2021 and $900 billion in coronavirus pandemic aid.

Trump signed the spending package into law Dec. 27 as a government shutdown loomed. The authorization and appropriations bills come three months into the fiscal year they enable.

Congress granted most of the Department of the Air Force’s $169 billion wish list. The omnibus appropriations language provides $32.8 billion for Active-duty Airmen, $33.5 billion for Active-duty operations and maintenance, $45.3 billion for procurement, and $36.4 billion for research and development in the base budget. The Space Force’s base budget includes $2.5 billion for O&M, $2.3 billion for procurement, and $10.5 billion for R&D.

The Overseas Contingency Operations budget provides millions more dollars for counterterrorism and other missions outside of the base account as well.

Getting both sets of legislation across the finish line dispels concerns about how lawmakers would move forward with unfinished business after the new Congress began Jan. 3. Work is already underway on the same bills for fiscal 2022, to be tackled by a Democratic White House and a House and Senate that are both narrowly split.

Lockheed Aeronautics VP Michele Evans Dies

Jan. 2, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

Michele A. Evans, Lockheed Martin’s executive vice president for aeronautics, died Jan. 1, the company announced Jan. 2. Evans went on medical leave Nov. 17 due to an unnamed illness, which the company said was a “non-COVID related medical issue.” Gregory M. Ulmer, Lockheed F-35 vice president and program manager, had been adding Evans’ duties to his own since Dec. 1, and will continue in that capacity until a permanent successor is named.

Evans, 54, succeeded Orlando P. Carvalho as VP of aeronautics in 2018, having been his deputy. The Aero business is a $20 billion enterprise with about 25,000 employees, and includes the C-5, C-130, F-16, F-22, F-35, and U-2 product lines, as well as unmanned aerial systems and other intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems. She also oversaw the company’s Skunk Works advanced development company.

On her watch, the company successfully transitioned its F-16 production work from Fort Worth, Texas, to Greenville, S.C.; negotiated lower unit costs with the government for the F-35 fighter and oversaw additional F-35 foreign sales. She also presided over Lockheed’s offer of an F-35 performance-based logistics contract with the government—which so far has not been accepted—and led Aero to winning several hypersonics contracts. Evans also built stronger ties with Airbus to offer that company’s Multi-Role Tanker Transport for U.S Air Force service.

Evans had a 34-year career in the aerospace and defense industry. At Lockheed she was VP and general manager of integrated warfare systems and sensors, as well as VP for C4ISR and undersea systems businesses, and VP for business development in mission systems and training. She had been responsible for Lockheed’s A-10 business, and for avionics on the C-130 and F-35 programs, and the Littoral Combat Ship. The company said she was the executive manager “on multiple domestic and international campaign wins.” She also served as the Chairman of the Board of a Lockheed-Sikorsky joint venture providing logistics support for maritime H-60 helicopters.

Former Lockheed CEO Marillyn A. Hewson, upon Evans’ appointment to the Aero job in 2018, noted Evans’ record of leadership and said her appointment “demonstrates the importance of our talent development and succession planning.”

Evans held a Bachelors of Science in mechanical engineering, cum laude, from Clarkson University, and served on the board of the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum. She was also “actively involved in Lockheed Martin’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, serving as the executive sponsor for the Women’s Impact Network and Leadership Forum,” the company said in a press release.

Evans also served on the board of Cheniere Energy.