NAVFAC Pacific Awards $45 Million Hangar Project for Andersen Air Force Base

By Krista K. Catian, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific Public Affairs

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (NNS) -- Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Pacific awarded a $45.4 million firm-fixed-price task order under a multiple award construction contract to Guam MACC Builders A JV for the design and construction of a high bay maintenance hangar at Andersen Air Force Base (AAFB), Guam March 27.

The hangar will be used to support forward operations and maintenance functions for the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) MQ-4C BAMS platform. The MQ-4C work to be performed includes interior and enclosed maintenance space to accomplish scheduled inspections, airframe repairs, pre-and post-flight operations, as well as technical order compliance and aircraft modifications.

"The addition of maintenance and hangar facilities at Andersen Air Force Base for the Navy's MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aircraft System further demonstrates the investment being made by the Dept. of Defense to increase our capability in the Marianas as we rebalance to the Pacific," said Rear Adm. Tilghman Payne, Commander, Joint Region Marianas.

The contract also contains two unexercised options, which if exercised, would increase cumulative task order value to $46.7 million. Work will be performed on AAFB and is expected to be completed by April 2016.

This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with six proposals received for this task order.

USS Curtis Wilbur Participates in Multi-Sail 2014

By Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Alonzo Archer, USS Curtis Wilbur Public Affairs

USS CURTIS, At Sea (NNS) -- Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54) launched a MK46 exercise torpedo (EXTORP) March 22, during a live-fire anti-submarine warfare event as part of Multi-Sail 2014.

Multi-Sail 2014 is an annually held Destroyer Squadron 15 (DESRON 15) exercise in the 7th Fleet Area of Responsibility that focuses on anti-air warfare, surface warfare, and anti-submarine warfare readiness.

The various events throughout the week-long exercise test the forward operating capabilities of participating ships, and focus on the detailed coordination required in a multi-ship, multi-warfare combat environment.

Curtis Wilbur's EXTORP event validated the tactics, techniques, and procedures of her Combat Systems' team, through the successful execution of an urgent attack on a simulated enemy contact.

After being fired remotely from a surface vessel torpedo tube (SVTT), the MK46 EXTORP traveled underwater towards the simulated target while being tracked by sonar technicians on board Curtis Wilbur.

After the EXTORP finished the full run and surfaced, Curtis Wilbur's boat crew recovered the EXTORP via one of her two rigid-hull inflatable boats (RHIB).

Among the boat crew was Seaman Peter Buckley, one of two Search and Rescue swimmers.

"I had a great time today," Buckley said. "Anytime I get the opportunity to get in a RHIB I'm happy, let alone the water. The seas weren't really cooperating and it was difficult finding the EXTORPs center of gravity as we were craning it back aboard the ship, but my chief always says, exercise patience, you've been trained, now execute. That's exactly what we did."

The event concluded with the safe recovery of both the EXTORP and RHIB and was hailed as a success by all participants.

"Torpedo exercises are critical in maintaining our anti-submarine warfare capability," said Cmdr. Hans De For, commanding officer of USS Curtis Wilbur. "With today's performance, this crew has further strengthened my already tremendous confidence in the fact that they can rise to any task presented to them."

Curtis Wilbur, forward deployed to Yokosuka, Japan, is participating in Multi-Sail 2014 supporting security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.

Air Force leaders announce accountability actions, way forward for ICBM force

By Master Sgt. Amaani Lyle, Air Force Public Affairs Agency Operating Location - P / Published March 28, 2014

WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- In a press briefing at the Pentagon March 27, Air Force officials announced the findings from the Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., test compromise investigations, to include accountability actions and a way forward for the ICBM force.

In January, Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James and Air Force Global Strike Command commander Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson announced a cheating incident involving 92 crew members at Malmstrom AFB. Wilson then launched a commander directed investigation and force improvement program to get to the bottom of the situation and to recommend needed improvements. Additionally, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel ordered the service to provide him a comprehensive plan to address the morale and ethics issues within 60 days.

James led with what the CDI initially confirmed, “we do have systemic issues in our missile community,” highlighting that the CDI and FIP have a number of recommendations to address not only the climate within the nuclear community, but also to ensure Airmen recognize importance of the nuclear mission to national security.

She also addressed the topic of most interest -- accountability -- with 79 officers and 10 leaders receiving punishment in some form.

“Nine officers in leadership positions at Malmstrom (AFB) were recommended for removal," James said. "One officer submitted his resignation and will retire. None of these leaders were directly involved in a test compromise, but the commander directed investigation indicated that they failed to provide adequate oversight of their crew force.”

“This indeed was a major failure in integrity,” she said, speaking of the group of missile officers who had some type of involvement in the test compromise.

“Our Air Force core values, which are ‘Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence In All We Do’, -- have to guide us in everything we do -- on and off duty; at home, in the office and on the battlefield,” James said. “Integrity means taking action when you see something in your environment that’s not right -- in your unit, among your peers, (with) your subordinates and your superiors.”

To reemphasize the importance of core values and provide resources to commanders and senior non-commissioned officers, key plan components include a stand-down Wingman Day, evaluation of current curriculum at formal education and training venues and a launch of a core values resource center on the Air Force Portal, James reported.

Wilson said leaders launched a FIP that provides recommendations in four general areas: reforming organizational culture, empowering crew commanders, improving the quality and purpose of training; and reforming testing and evaluation.

“We are using this test compromise as an opportunity to make significant and important improvements across the enterprise,” Wilson said. “The Force Improvement Program’s purpose is to create an aggressive, action-oriented, field-influenced program with the goal of making substantial and lasting changes to the ICBM mission.”

The FIP, Wilson explained, included a diverse 69-person working group comprised of Airmen from operations, maintenance, security forces, mission support and helicopter career fields and even Navy submariners and global strike bomber crews.

The program launched in February on the heels of the CDI, led by Lt. Gen. Mike Holmes, Air Education and Training Command vice commander.

“Based on the CDI, we can say that, across the 20th Air Force, leadership’s focus on perfection led commanders to micromanage their people,” Wilson noted. “They sought to ensure the zero-defect standard was met by personally monitoring and directing daily operations, imposing unrelenting testing and inspections -- with the goal of eliminating all human error.”

To begin to change the culture, we will place greater emphasis on 1) how we train and 2) field evaluations that better assess crew performance in the operational environment, Wilson reported. “This will allow us to deemphasize the significance of scoring 100 percent on classroom tests while ensuring our crew force remains ready to perform the mission.”

James reported in fiscal 2014 the Air Force earmarked $19 million for the FIP including launch control center refurbishment and infrastructure repairs. The 20th Air Force also identified an additional $3 million for quality-of-life requirements.

Similarly, the fiscal 2015 budget request, James reported, includes $455 million to the sustain the Air Force’s Minuteman squadrons, intercontinental ballistic missile helicopter support and critical communications, with another $154 million for readiness, training and launch control improvements.

“As we execute our funding in 2014 we’re going to seek to rearrange as much as possible to fund these important programs -- in other words we’re not going to wait; we’re going to move forward,” she said.

Still, James said the Air Force nuclear deterrence mission is not only critical to national security, but remains strong.

“Overall, I continue to have great confidence in this mission and the way it is being performed,” James said. “For over 50 years our nuclear professionals have faithfully stood watch over America. This issues we have before us is tough (and) while we have made progress in recent years, there is more work to be done.”

Air Force officials take tactical aviation strategy to Capitol Hill

By Master Sgt. Amaani Lyle, Air Force Public Affairs Agency Operating Location - P / Published March 27, 2014

WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Air Force officials said on Capitol Hill during a hearing March 26 that while the Bipartisan Budget Act has provided greater stability for technology and acquisition, “hard choices” must continue to maintain current readiness and prime the force over the next 10-15 years.

Dr. William LaPlante, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, and Lt. Gen. Burton Fields, the deputy chief of staff of the Air Force for operations requirements, testified before the House Armed Services Committee that regardless of current threat assessments, technologies are proliferating in air, space and cyberspace.

“We have a down payment to begin to upturn readiness,” LaPlante said of the Budget Bipartisan Act. “We did use a little bit of it in the Air Force to protect some of our high-priority programs.”

Among the high-priority programs the BBA shielded was the F-35 fighter jet, which LaPlante reported stood to lose 4 to 5 planes when sequester occurred.

But, he added, a return to the sequester numbers will inevitably create the reality of a smaller Air Force.

“Platforms like KC-10 (Extender), Global Hawk Block 40 and new engine technologies for adaptable engines frankly do not survive mathematically in the sequester budget beyond (2016),” LaPlante said.

In the near-term, Defense Department and Air Force officials have allocated $1 billion in the fiscal 2015 budget for next generation jet technology development.

LaPlante noted ongoing research on adaptive engine technology, which began with Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency before moving to the Air Force Research Laboratory, now has a budget enabling its extension beyond 2017.

“With the billion dollars … we’re going to be able to continue that, take it to potentially an engine development model and fund it through the end of 2019,” he explained.

Field reported to the Congressional panel that, if the Air Force must accept sequestration-level budgets between 2016 and 2023, some of the service’s highest-priority programs, namely the F-35, the long-range strike bomber and the KC-46, could once again be at risk.

“Those are the three we’re going to try to protect the most,” Field said.

 But according to Field, other vulnerable programs include the KC-10, RQ-4 Global Hawk, various intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets and virtually every modernization program.

“(This) will lead to the smaller, less capable and less viable force,” he noted, adding the Air Force continues to recover readiness in about a 3-6 month time frame from the 31 squadrons it has stood down.

“We will probably have to attack that readiness problem again and will probably have more squadrons stood down for periods of time that (inhibits) any recovery of readiness for the future,” Field said.

Field also reported Air Force officials opted to retire the A-10 Thunderbolt II in 2015 saving the service about $4.3 billion over the fiscal year defense plan. “The A-10 was the best decision to make even though nobody likes having to make that decision.”

Face of Defense: Marines Bond With Australian Students

By Marine Corps Cpl. Scott Reel

Marine Rotational Force - Darwin

DARWIN, Northern Territory, Australia, March 28, 2014 – Marine Rotational Force – Darwin met with staff members of a local primary school to plan for MRF-D’s continued mentorship program with the students of Gray Primary School, March 28.

MRF-D Marines will lead a similar program in three to five other schools throughout the Northern Territory while they are on break from conducting bilateral training with the Australian Defence Force and partnered nations in the region.

Selected Marines from the rotation will mirror the community relations program from the previous year, expanding upon its success by consistently presenting themselves as role models for the children and community at large.

Sue Beynon, the principal of Gray Primary School, has a garden project planned for the Marine mentors in addition to playing sports with the children and teaching them how to read.

“We found that it was the relationships they built with the students that were really valuable,” Beynon said. “The students always looked forward to the Marines coming, because it was when they had some one-on-one time with a really positive male role-model.”

Attendance, respect and goal-setting are three areas Gray Primary School feels the children could really improve upon -- three areas Marines excel in, Beynon said.

“Often the children would ask questions about how to become a Marine and what they had to do,” she said. “That gave kids incentive to really want to achieve more at school, so for us it was a hugely valuable experience.”

Two children who participated with the Marines in the previous year, now in grade six, were sitting in Beynon’s office when they heard the Marines are now coming back.

“I would really like to see them back,” Hailee Espie-Baker said. “I thought everything was fun, and they were really cool.”

According to Beynon, the Marines had a noticeable effect on the second student in her office, Andrew Simoes, who was regularly sent to her office for misbehavior the previous year. Now Andrew is very respectful, out of her office and in great attendance. He would like to teach the Marines Australian Rules Football this year since they taught him baseball last year.

“We would like to know about them a lot,” Andrew said. “I see them as family members.”

Having a specific group of Marines dedicated to the selected schools as faces the children can count on and recognize is one of the major goals of MRF-D this rotation.

“One of the things we really appreciate here is just the consistency of the guys coming out and the respectful behavior; nothing’s too much trouble for them,” Beynon said. “They really want to impart something in the students and that’s something I really appreciate -- they’re not just here doing a job.”

Although the Marines are on orders to Australia, many of the Marine mentors come from homes similar to the children they are positively influencing, a tangible reminder of their past and how far they’ve come.

“You only have to see the smiles on the Marines’ faces to realize they are enjoying the experience as well,” Beynon said. “And some of the kids have probably told them their story so they know that they have made a difference in that child’s life.”

As of early April, MRF-D will be at full capacity, wasting no time to begin the mission at hand, all alongside the ADF and Darwin community for the extent of the Dry Season.