A collection of news and information specifically for the C4ISR community

Vol. 4, No. 18
May 8, 2008

JTRS acquisition team applies ‘gold standard’

Members of the Airborne and Maritime/Fixed Station Joint Tactical Radio System source selection team review some of the voluminous material they analyzed while selecting the contractor team for system development and demonstration.  Pictured (from left) are Ron Martin, John Atwood, Donna McDonald, Col. Joe Wercinski, 1st Lt. Barry Geise, Mary Stairs and Paul Funch.  (Photo by Mark Wyatt)

By Chuck Paone
66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

In an era when seemingly every high-profile, big-dollar defense contract award is followed almost immediately by protests from the losing bidders, one recent decision stands out.

When a joint team led by the Electronic Systems Center awarded the system development and demonstration (SDD) contract for the Airborne and Maritime/Fixed Station Joint Tactical Radio System this spring, the move triggered not a single protest.

“It’s one way we can tell we listened, learned, understood and applied the gold standards to make for a successful source selection,” said Air Force Col. Joe Wercinski of ESC’s 653rd Electronic Systems Wing and the outgoing program manager. “We put together a very thorough, solid, clean acquisition process and team that produced the right result for the warfighter. The evidence of that was pretty clear to everyone who reviewed it.”  (More)

h

Electronic Systems Center Commander Lt. Gen. Ted Bowlds (left) passes the 350th Electronic Systems Wing guidon to Col. Robert Dominguez during an appointment to command ceremony May 2. Prior to this post, Colonel Dominguez served as deputy director of Coalition Warfare at the Office of the Secretary of Defense in Washington, D.C.  (Photo by Mark Wyatt)

By Monica D. Morales
66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

When Col. Robert Dominguez took hold of the 350th Electronic Systems Wing guidon May 2, it brought back a flood of memories of his time here as a captain and the promise of new challenges ahead as the wing’s newest commander.

“It’s a great privilege to take command here at the 350th, where the work of the wing is essential to the capabilities of today’s warfighter and the future Air Force,” he said.

Electronic Systems Center Commander Lt. Gen. Ted Bowlds presided over the appointment to command ceremony held in the 950th Electronic Systems Group auditorium in Building 1614.

Despite being welcomed into his new ESC post, Hanscom is familiar territory to Colonel Dominguez. He worked here as the Eagle Vision program manager in the Imagery Systems Directorate from 1992 to 1994, and as reconnaissance ground systems program manager for the Intelligence Ground Systems Product Group from 1994 to 1996.  (More)

General Kehler to address CSAF Scholarship Dinner
SPACECOM boss rounds out cyber symposium agenda

Gen. C. Robert Kehler

By Chuck Paone
66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

Gen. C. Robert Kehler, commander of Air Force Space Command, will address the Paul Revere Chapter of the Air Force Association’s annual Chief of Staff Scholarship Dinner June 18. The dinner will be held in concert with the second annual Air Force Cyberspace Symposium June 17 to 19 at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel and Trade Center in Marlborough, Mass.

The symposium is being co-sponsored by Electronic Systems Center, Air Force Cyberspace Command (Provisional) and the Paul Revere Chapter.

General Kehler joins a star-studded list of speakers and panelists who will take part in the symposium, including Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne and U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  (More)

Breakfast briefing

Bruce Hevey, director of the 653rd Electronic Systems Wing, addresses an audience of industry and government leaders during Wednesday’s Military Affairs Council Sustaining Members Breakfast at the Doubletree Bedford Glen Hotel in Bedford, Mass. The breakfast also featured a presentation from Dr. Carl Anderson of IBM.  (Photo by Mark Wyatt)

Hanscom’s newest chief

Col. Tom Schluckebier, 66th Air Base Wing commander, and Chief Master Sgt. Ginger Thompson “tack on” new stripes to Hanscom’s newest chief, Chief Master Sgt. Al Thompson, during a promotion ceremony April 30 at the Security Forces Squadron. Chief Thompson will be recognized May 30 during the Chiefs Recognition Ceremony at the Minuteman Club. For details, contact Chief Master Sgt. Mike McCoy at (781) 377-1004.   (Photo by Mark Wyatt)

Representatives of the Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, Civilian Personnel Office meet with Hanscom officials Wednesday to discuss transitioning civilian servicing at Hanscom from the Air Force Personnel Center to Wright-Patterson. They are (left to right) Donna Desimas, Alma E. Greathouse and Joyce Willingham from Wright-Patterson, Mayi Suarez, Robin DiBiasio, Michelle Benson from Wright-Patterson, and Monica Tyler-Jacobson.  (Photo by Rick Berry)

A team from the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Civilian Personnel Office visited Electronic Systems Center’s Directorate of Personnel May 6-7 to work out details of transitioning civilian servicing at Hanscom from the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph, AFB, Texas to Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.

Air Force Personnel Center and Air Force Materiel Command officials are partnering to reduce the number of Air Force civilian personnel actions currently in the system. Four AFMC bases temporarily will assume responsibility for all AFMC civilian fill actions.

The large civilian centers at Hill, Robins, Tinker and Wright-Patterson Air Force bases will assist AFPC by working all AFMC civilian actions until September 2009, when the responsibility will return to AFPC.

Since the four AFMC civilian centers still process civilian actions, they are equipped and staffed to absorb the temporary workload. This initiative will benefit other major commands within the Air Force by freeing up AFPC personnel to support their hiring requirements.  (More)

By Mark Neville
554th Electronic Systems Group

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- The Dayton Area Defense Contractor’s Association hosted its first Dayton Information Technology Wing Conference at the Hope Hotel and Conference Center on April 8-9.

The conference provided an opportunity for the 554th Electronic Systems Wing to showcase its information technology efforts and exchange information with industry on current and future business plans, with a focus on specific and emerging new business opportunities.

More than 350 government and industry representatives attended the event.

Deborah Gross, DADCA president, opened the conference with welcoming remarks for government speakers and industry representatives. She highlighted the conference theme, “Where Information Technology Takes Flight,” by addressing the IT technologies and business solutions pertinent to the challenges of the military mission in air, space and cyberspace power.  (More)

DOD must get better handle on global strike idea, GAO says
-- Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
The U.S. Defense Department has not identified, let alone assessed, all global strike-related capabilities and technologies and has not explained how potential weapons systems will result in a comprehensive, prioritized investment strategy, according to congressional investigators.

ABL leads expectations in Washington as missile defense is reinvigorated
-- Aviation Week & Space Technology
A quarter of a century and more than $100 billion after President Ronald Reagan pushed for a U.S. missile shield, Missile Defense Agency officials and other advocates assert that the U.S. has a rudimentary capability while major technology advancements are imminent.

Global Hawks win contest for intel over oceans
-- Defense News
Northrop Grumman scored another aviation success when it won the hotly contested Broad Area Maritime Surveillance contest to build a long-range drone for the Navy, beating out Boeing and the Lockheed Martin-General Atomics team for the $1.16 billion developmental contract.

Hiring after the Baby-Boom brain drain
-- Washington Post
The Federal Aviation Administration. The Social Security Administration. The National Science Foundation. The Treasury Department. All could lose as much as a quarter of their employees by 2012, mostly because of retirements. They are not alone.

command comments ...

… I talk about balance. It is this balance between what we are doing today and what we are doing tomorrow. And again, one of my principal responsibilities is to build the military for the future in a very uncertain time, very dangerous time, and very unpredictable time. And I think that takes balance as well. It takes all the services. It takes conventional capabilities, it takes counterinsurgency capabilities. It takes an ability to fight irregular warfare, which is what we are doing right now. It also takes capacity to engage early in what we call in phase zero operations in places like Africa, in places like South America, in places like the Pacific, in places like the Indian Ocean to establish relationships ...
 

-- Adm. Michael G. Mullen ,
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff at April 17 Heritage Foundation speech

The Integrator is a weekly product of the 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs Office designed to give ESC decision makers a snapshot of news affecting the C4ISR community.  This e-publication is approved by Kevin Gilmartin, Chief of Public Affairs, (DSN) 478-4110 or commercial (781) 377-4110.  Back issues are available online.  To facilitate service, please select a link for your e-mails:

Subscribe -- Unsubscribe -- Offer Comments.