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Air Force, Navy Identify Technologies To Preserve Missile Industrial Base
Posted: Aug. 13, 2014
The Air Force and Navy have identified eight technology areas in which to exchange data to preserve the intercontinental ballistic missile and submarine-launched ballistic missile industrial base, according a top Air Force official. The eight areas include the ailing solid rocket motor industry, which has seen a significant drop in demand after the NASA Space Shuttle program concluded in 2011. "While differences in our systems may not allow us to pursue common rocket motors, we are exploring common propellant constituents," Navy spokesman John Daniels said in an Aug. 4 email. "If successful this will help the Navy and Air Force stabilize industrial demand and should generate cost savings by allowing for larger bulk purchases of constituent ingredients."
The two branches have also created technology area working groups to study collaboration opportunities in command and control, reentry, guidance, propulsion, strategic electronics, nuclear weapons surety and testing and surveillance, according to Daniels. In April, Vice Adm. Terry Benedict, the Navy's director of Strategic Systems Programs, told the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee that the two are "embarked on a deep set of cooperation initiatives where we're going to be able to leverage both our buys, if you will, whether they be in raw materials or completed components that I think will certainly provide some inefficiencies, but also help our industrial base."
The Air Force and Navy have been working together since the late 1990s to capitalize on emerging technologies, leverage common components and eliminate redundancy as party of the ICBM Demonstration Validation Program, according to Maj. Eric Badger, an Air Force spokesman. It was not until 2003 that a formal memorandum of understanding was signed to outline roles, relationships and operating practices between the branches. The partnership was further defined in a November 2012 memorandum of agreement, Badger said. -- Scott Maucione
Posted: Aug. 13, 2014
The Air Force and Navy have identified eight technology areas in which to exchange data to preserve the intercontinental ballistic missile and submarine-launched ballistic missile industrial base, according a top Air Force official. The eight areas include the ailing solid rocket motor industry, which has seen a significant drop in demand after the NASA Space Shuttle program concluded in 2011. "While differences in our systems may not allow us to pursue common rocket motors, we are exploring common propellant constituents," Navy spokesman John Daniels said in an Aug. 4 email. "If successful this will help the Navy and Air Force stabilize industrial demand and should generate cost savings by allowing for larger bulk purchases of constituent ingredients."
The two branches have also created technology area working groups to study collaboration opportunities in command and control, reentry, guidance, propulsion, strategic electronics, nuclear weapons surety and testing and surveillance, according to Daniels. In April, Vice Adm. Terry Benedict, the Navy's director of Strategic Systems Programs, told the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee that the two are "embarked on a deep set of cooperation initiatives where we're going to be able to leverage both our buys, if you will, whether they be in raw materials or completed components that I think will certainly provide some inefficiencies, but also help our industrial base."
The Air Force and Navy have been working together since the late 1990s to capitalize on emerging technologies, leverage common components and eliminate redundancy as party of the ICBM Demonstration Validation Program, according to Maj. Eric Badger, an Air Force spokesman. It was not until 2003 that a formal memorandum of understanding was signed to outline roles, relationships and operating practices between the branches. The partnership was further defined in a November 2012 memorandum of agreement, Badger said. -- Scott Maucione