MDA’s Big 2011 Challenge Could Be GBI Testing
After suffering through high-profile quality-control issues with contractors last year, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency appears to be turning the corner on that problem. Now the MDA must deal with unsuccessful testing of its Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system.
Last year, MDA Director Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly complained of poor performance by contractors. But problems with two systems that came to light in 2010—an L-3/Coleman air-launched target and an optical block mechanism on the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) system—are being resolved.
L-3 Communications subsidiary Coleman Aerospace is preparing its short-range air-launched target for return to flight in June. O’Reilly cut off funding for the program early last year after a target fizzled during a December 2009 flight test, prompting an abort. MDA Executive Director David Altwegg said the program was found to have “big-time quality problems.”
Funding became available again in May 2010 as a result of several actions taken by L-3, according to officials at the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), which manages the contract. They included correction of failures in the system that builds the Short-Range Air-Launched Target.
At the time the problems came to light, Coleman was part of the L-3 Services Group; it was shifted to fall within the Sensors and Simulation Group. This better aligns Coleman’s work with that of other precision products, according to Jennifer Barton, an L-3 spokeswoman. Last March, O’Reilly said contractors would need to consider “a change in the culture so that you can produce precision instruments.”
Barton says, “L-3 took immediate action last spring by submitting and executing a detailed corrective action plan with our customer while also assigning a new onsite corporate change agent to aid in the process.” A flight-readiness review is slated for next month.
Ultimately, what L-3 has left to prove to the Pentagon is that it can produce a high-quality target. Delivery is expected by March 1, with a possible flight in June. A follow-up mission for the aborted Thaad test is slated for the fourth quarter. According to MDA’s 2010 flight-test plan, that trial will include one short-range and one medium-range target. MDA spokesman Rick Lehner confirms that a single test for Thaad is slated in fiscal 2011, which concludes at the end of September.
The cost of the errant target in December 2009 was $27 million, including expenses of the review board that was assembled to investigate why the target failed to perform its mission, according to SMC officials. They estimate the cost of the target to fly in June will be $23 million, and $21 million for the forthcoming Thaad test target.
Meanwhile, last year Thaad prime contractor Lockheed Martin was under the gun for problems designing an optical block sensor for its interceptor. The ignition chain for this missile is initiated by light, and this sensor (designed by Moog) prevents accidental launch.
Mike Trotsky, vice president of air and missile defense systems for Lockheed Martin, says he expects to complete negotiations with the government on the next lot buy of Thaad interceptors during the first quarter. Production and fielding had been held up for at least a year pending certification of the Moog part, but Lockheed received the go-ahead last September.
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