JSTARS Recap stands up as division, moves toward MDA approval

by Justin Oakes
66th Air Base Group Public Affairs

12/16/2014 - HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. -- As the Air Force's No. 4 acquisition priority, the Joint STARS Recapitalization program continues to progress through risk reduction efforts and refine requirements, all the while growing in size and significance.

So much so, the Recap was designated its own division within the Battle Management Directorate at Hanscom AFB recently.

"Leadership is crucial to the success of any program, especially one the size of the JSTARS Recap," said Steven Wert, Battle Management program executive officer.

With the new division beefing up in personnel and resources, the team has its sights set on preparing and managing the next cycle of contracts leading up to the Engineering, Manufacturing and Development phase anticipated to begin in 2017.

At the helm of the new division is Col. David Learned, a 19-year defense acquisition veteran and former resident of Hanscom. As the JSTARS Recap senior materiel leader, there will be no more than two levels of review between Learned and the milestone decision authority.

The JSTARS Recap Division is comprised of three departments: a systems engineering, integration and test branch; a platform branch responsible for aircraft and communications; and a mission systems branch responsible for radar and battle management command and control. All will work together to integrate and field a complete weapons system solution.

"By standing up this division, Mr. Wert gave us the final ingredients for success ... the organizational structure and dedicated resources needed to get the job done," said Learned. "The timing of the stand-up conveys the Air Force's sense of urgency to get started, and its commitment to satisfying the JSTARS mission set at a lower life cycle cost, as maintenance costs are rising and aircraft reliability is decreasing in the aging JSTARS fleet."

Currently, the legacy Joint STARS office has less than 10 people as the program moves into sustainment at Robins AFB, Ga., after the transition from the Electronic Systems Center to the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center in 2012. As of Jan. 1, 2015, there will be no remaining legacy Joint STARS support at Hanscom as the capability and mission shifts focus to the new, modernized weapon system during the next decade.

Since hosting an industry day in April -- where interested companies heard first-hand about the future needs of the JSTARS program -- the Recap team continued the risk reduction phase of the effort by spending $18.5 million in subsystem risk reduction contracts with industry for radar and BMC2 systems.

The next significant step in the modernization occurred in October, when the program office issued a set of draft requirements to potential contractors outlining items such as cost, schedule and performance impacts.

Following the draft requirements release, the Air Force held a technical exchange event with industry to discuss requirements and impacts face-to-face. The exchange, which took place this month, yielded valuable feedback for the Service that will help refine requirements.

The Air Force is paying special attention to any option that offers an open system architecture approach to hardware and software, will increase automation within the BMC2 component and options that ultimately lower the cost of the product over the program's lifecycle.

According to Learned, the Air Force remains optimistic that the program will achieve milestone decision approval sometime in January 2015.

He also indicated that the current strategy includes entering into a weapon system-level technical maturity risk-reduction phase following milestone approval. The TMRR will lead up to a preliminary design and incorporate integrated subsystem demonstrations.

"This phase is important because it drives industry to reduce risk, and at the same time, promotes ingenuity among competing companies," Learned said.

With finalizing system requirements, a milestone decision approval anticipated for January and a technical maturity risk reduction phase on the horizon, the newly minted senior materiel leader and his team have their hands full.

"Not only are we working on a cool mission that empowers the warfighter, but we're setting the tone for other modernization and recapitalization efforts," Learned said. "I am excited to be a part of this incredible team."