Spotlight Archives
December 2011: Title III in Action: Light-weight Ammunition Will Result in Multiple Benefits
Reducing weight in military operations is critical to achieving increased force mobility, combat power and survivability. Less weight translates into reduced logistical requirements, lower costs and lives saved.
Traditional ammunition cartridges are produced using heavy, metallic-based materials such as steel, copper, aluminum or brass and are a significant portion of all materiel weight that must be moved and stored in a theatre of operations.
The Defense Production Act, Title III Program is executing a project to develop a domestic production capability for light-weight polymer-based ammunition. The objective is to establish a domestic supplier to produce and competitively market light-weight ammunition casings using advanced polymeric materials. Title III is partnering with MAC, LLC in Bay St. Louis, MS, to establish a viable domestic production capability for this new ammunition.
Ammunition using advanced polymeric materials is up to 30% lighter than conventional ammunition and allows soldiers to carry the same amount of ammunition while reducing the overall load. Additionally, lightweight ammunition reduces the payload carried by aircraft, thereby enabling better high-altitude performance, reduced fuel consumption or allowing additional cargo to be carried.
The new ammo meets all specifications for pressure, velocity and accuracy and is a drop-in replacement in terms of training, weapon cycling, lethality, storage and packing.
While polymer-based ammunition casings are suitable for a wide-range of ammunition applications, the initial focus is on .50 caliber rounds with 7.62 mm and 5.56 mm rifle cartridges to follow. Reduction of ammunition weight will significantly reduce the soldier's burden or allow him to carry a larger quantity of ammunition. Reducing weight provides the warfighter with improved battlefield mobility and better survivability. Additionally, the benefits of lighter weight ammunition can have a dramatic impact on aviation operations by reducing fuel consumption during transportation and delivery, or, conversely, allowing for larger quantities of ammunition or other materiel to be delivered without increasing shipment costs.
The ammunition is undergoing testing by the Marine Corps.
October 2011: DPA Title III Project Creates Assured Low Cost MMICs and Energy Efficient Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
The Defense Production Act Title III Program initiated its Silicon Carbide (SiC) Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMICs) Device project with Cree, Inc., with the goal of establishing a domestic supplier of low-cost, high-performance Silicon Carbide MMICs that satisfy military requirements for next generation radar, electronic warfare and communications systems being developed for the Services and the Missile Defense Agency.
The production line for SiC MMICs is shared with production of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). Economies-of-scale can be generated if a large commercial demand for LEDs is created; this state drives down cost for SiC MMICs because the significantly higher SiC wafer volume required for LEDs will lower costs for the wafers needed for the MMIC devices. In 2005, the Navy projected a requirement to fit 12 ships with 15 radar systems. This called for 80,000 elements per ship at a cost of $3000 per element—an estimated cost of over $3B in total radar system costs. The recent quoted price for these radar systems was $151M for all 12 systems.
The Title III MMIC investment benefits LED production, and larger volume of LED production benefits MMIC affordability and availability. Yet there is also a high potential for acquisition, operations and maintenance savings in energy and lighting used by federal facilities. The Title III Program leveraged the investment and proposed demonstration of LED lighting in the Pentagon.
The Pentagon Renovation (PenRen) Project provides a significant and highly symbolic venue to demonstrate the potential of LED technology for energy savings across the Government. The immediate objective of the Title III LED initiative is to use the Pentagon to demonstrate energy efficiency of LED lighting technology, and to capture and document the actual savings for energy, maintenance, HVAC loading and quality of life.
Installation of SiC LED lighting enables compliance with laws and regulations that mandate actions to reduce energy usage and costs in Government facilities, including Executive Order 13423—Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management, the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Energy Independence Security Act of 2007, and the FY 2008 Defense Authorization Act and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Simply by selecting LED lighting rather than conventional fluorescent lighting, the Pentagon will save over 240,000 kWh annually. This does not begin to address the additional savings from reduced maintenance, reduced supply requirements or the problems associated with disposing of fluorescent lighting that contains toxic materials such as mercury.
April 2011: NDAA Brings Changes to Industrial Policy
To encourage industry's innovative response to the needs of our Service members, the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has recommended a number of changes that will impact how the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Office of Industrial Policy is organized and funded.
First, the NDAA establishes the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy to reflect the expanded duties of the Industrial Policy office. The inclusion of "manufacturing" in the title ensures the linkage between "industry" and "manufacturing" is firmly established and effectively coordinated.
Reporting to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, the Office of Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy will expand its current mission to include managing a new Industrial Base Fund used to:
- support the monitoring and assessment of the industrial base
- address critical issues in the industrial base related to urgent operational needs
- support efforts to expand the industrial base
- address supply chain vulnerabilities
Responsibility for the Defense Manufacturing Technology Program (ManTech) is also being moved into our new office. ManTech, whose mission is to develop technologies and processes that ensure the affordable and timely production and sustainment of defense systems, is currently overseen by the Directorate of Research in the office of the Director, Defense Research and Engineering.
To increase the Department's access to innovation and the benefits of competition, the 2011 NDAA also requires the Department to establish a program to expand the industrial base by identifying firms that are non-traditional suppliers. The program will include outreach regarding opportunities to obtain contracts and subcontracts to firms of all sizes in the vicinity of DoD installations. The program will also include an ongoing review of the industrial base, including the identification of markets of importance to the DoD in which firms that are not traditional suppliers can make a significant contribution.
It will be the Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy Office’s mission to inject a new spirit of innovation into the Department to ensure our Service members are the beneficiaries of the best American industry can provide.
March 2011: Efficiency Initiative Effort to Reduce Non-Value-Added Costs Imposed on Industry by Department of Defense Acquisition Practices
The Office of Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy is soliciting inputs to implement Undersecretary Carter's September 14, 2010 Memorandum to Acquisition Professionals on "Better Buying Power." The Department is seeking information on policies and practices that increase industry's non-value added costs. Our goal is to develop a fact-based program to reform cost-inflating practices.
Submissions should give a clear indication of the magnitude of cost, as well as explain how the data were collected and the relevant costs counted or estimated. We have posted a detailed announcement on the Federal Register.
The DSB study referenced in the Federal Register is available here.
December 2010: DoD Cyberstrategy: Leveraging the Industrial Base
In a recent essay in Foreign Affairs magazine Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn discussed the Department of Defense new five-pillar strategy to ensure cyber security for the United States. The pillars include:
- Recognizing cyberspace as a new domain of warfare
- Ensuring defenses are active
- Protecting critical infrastructure
- Engaging in cyber defense with our national security partners as a shared activity
- Leveraging the U.S. technological base to retain our technological edge
The final pillar—leveraging the U.S. technology base—is addressed in the attached briefing, "DoD Cyberstrategy: Leveraging the Industrial Base." The critical message is that our economic security is part of our national security. The risk of compromise to the information technology industrial base supply chain is very real and the DoD's cyber security strategy depends on the U.S. commercial IT sector remaining the world's leader. This requires continuing investments in science, technology and education at all levels.
To learn more about the importance of leveraging the industrial base and how the DoD plans to do it, please view the detailed briefing.
August 2010: Trusted Supplier Accreditation
The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) was approached by a microcircuit manufacturer seeking help completing a required government facility security review. Due to competing priorities, the review had been ongoing for more than a year and without quick resolution threatened to delay the timely delivery of product, which in turn could delay the fielding of an urgently needed capability.
After receiving concurrence from the Defense Microelectronic Activity (DMEA) that an intervention was needed, OSD contacted the Defense Security Service to ask them to expedite the completion of their security review. As a result, the review was successfully concluded and the suppler received their accreditation from DMEA in a little over two weeks from the time the request for help was made.
In March 2010, the Deputy Secretary issued Directive-Type Memorandum (DTM) 09-016 reemphasizing the Department's commitment to using accredited suppliers for acquiring custom designed and/or custom manufactured integrated circuits used in applications that require a high degree of trustworthiness. The Trusted Supplier Program managed by the DMEA over the past few years has resulted in the accreditation of 40 suppliers of design, aggregator/broker, mask and wafer fabrication, packaging and test services.
April 2010: Solar Cell Coverglass Manufacturing
In October of 2009, field organizations solicited assistance from the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) to help maintain the U.S. industrial capability for solar cell coverglass. Solar cell coverglass provides radiation, micrometeorite and notch-filter wavelength protection for solar arrays on spacecraft. OSD/mibp (Industrial Policy) was able to help galvanize the appropriate DoD agencies to ensure this critical space industrial capability was preserved for National Security Space (NSS) programs.
Currently, there is only one U.S.-based manufacturer of solar cell coverglass for NSS missions. Its glass supplier announced that it was closing its glass-melting plant and would not reconstitute the glass-melting capability at a new location. No other glass plant made this product, which heritage NSS programs had used since the 1960s. Six current NSS programs would potentially be affected: SBIRS, GPS3, NPOESS and three other government agency programs. Once glass inventory was exhausted, it was possible that the U.S. coverglass manufacturer would exit the solar cell coverglass business, since it did not have capital (at the time) to cover the cost of a new glass melt. The only other supplier (world-wide) of coverglass was a foreign manufacturer. There were concerns with this company surrounding cost, quality, ability to meet schedule, inadequate capacity, requalification, access to technical information, and non-U.S. space programs getting priority. Without the U.S. source, heritage NSS programs would be forced to use a different glass and change configuration, potentially incurring a requalification cost of $50 million over six years.
Due to MIBP advocacy and influence, field organizations were assisted in obtaining the necessary funding and contractual authority to execute a last-time glass melt for stockpiling. This was a time-critical effort, since the glass supplier had set a December deadline for ordering the last-time glass melt. Over the next few years, IP will monitor the effort to reestablish a U.S. glass melting source to support the U.S. solar cell coverglass industrial capability.