Perspectives - August 2008
August 26, 2008 By: Alan CameronTalon NAMATH, Link 16, ZOAD, SBIR, and Other Code Words
This column started out many months ago as a relatively straightforward news story concerning an innovative program for augmenting GPS accuracy. The further I delved, however, the more bizarre it became. Thus I bring you the Continuing Saga of Talon NAMATH, wherein developers of an innovative technology are given short shrift, a large and favored contractor benefits yet again — and U.S. forces in the field are left hanging.
Talon, a U.S. military code word, frequently refers to fast-tracked military development programs within the Air Force Tactical Exploitation of National Capabilities Division (TENCAP), creating new space system designs and operations.
Talon NAMATH is a "critical GPS enhancement that allows our war fighters to better use the Air Force's smaller and newest precision weapon, the GBU-39 small-diameter bomb. Talon NAMATH significantly boosts the bomb's accuracy and reduces collateral damage to non-combatants. But … this program almost did not happen. With all the budget-cutting and bill-paying due to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, this critical project was cut from the funding line and it was only through Dr. Brown's [CEO, NAVSYS] persistence, and warfighter support, which included lots of letter writing and physically walking the halls of Congress, to promote an idea she really believed in, that Talon NAMATH managed to get out of the idea stage and into the field." This reportage filed by our military and government contributing editor, Don Jewell, in his May 2007 newsletter.
Talon NAMATH transfers very accurate or zero age of data (ZOAD) concerning the GPS ephemeris and other User Ranging Error (URE) aiding data over Link 16, a secure military communications channel to the aircraft dropping the bomb, and subsequently to the weapon itself. Link 16 as a communications channel is much stronger, more secure, and considerably more robust than the GPS signal generated by the satellites in orbit. Delivery of ZOAD to the Air Force small-diameter bomb known as the Guided Bomb Unit-39 (GBU-39), predictably, gives it the next-order-of-magnitude accuracy that it has displayed in current operations.
ZOAD is related to the signal-in-space (SIS) URE, a metric that gives insight into how the error in the satellite's (SV) broadcast navigation message contributes to the GPS user's overall position error. Thus, Talon NAMATH relates the GPS payload's navigation message to some predefined truth source, thereby in effect zeroing out the URE and providing the warfighter with the best position data available.
No doubt the USAF is proud of the accomplishments of NAVSYS Corporation, which developed the technique. In a speech lauding recent accomplishments to the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) in February 2007, Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz, then Vice Commander of Headquarters Air Force Space Command, now the USAF Assistant Vice Chief of Staff, said "but now, GPS does more than just pinpoint a location on the globe. It also enables pinpoint accuracy for putting bombs on targets … and we have refined GPS accuracy with new technologies like the Talon NAMATH GPS enhancement program, currently in use in Iraq and Afghanistan. Talon NAMATH ensures the most up-to-date GPS data possible is provided directly to the cockpits of aircraft carrying out attacks against enemy targets. When employed with the Air Force's newest precision weapon, the small diameter bomb, this capability makes strikes more precise, and therefore more effective, while at the same time limiting collateral damage."
Limiting collateral damage is especially important when the enemy routinely puts military targets next door to a mosque or school, because they know the USAF Rules of Engagement (ROE) will not allow pilots to bomb a mosque. However, the Talon NAMATH program along with the Small Diameter Bomb makes it possible to take out that military target and limit collateral damage. The program has been such a success that the Air Force and other services are looking into providing the ZOAD capability via a secure communications link to other platforms and weapons.
General Kevin P. Chilton, then the four-star Commander of Air Force Space Command, and now Commander of United States Strategic Command, commended those who had brought Talon NAMATH into the operational Air Force in such a short time: "The small-diameter bomb, which was a dream just a few years ago, now is actually out in the field used in combat, flying off F-15 Es. To bring that small-yield weapon, you've got to be really precise. It's linked very tightly to our GPS constellation. We've got folks who have figured out a way to make sure when that bomb comes off the [F-15E], it has the best signal possible through a system called Talon NAMATH."
Although senior USAF officials continually praised the development of Talon NAMATH capability by NAVSYS, the company and its CEO Alison Brown (also, I must add here, a member of GPS World's Editorial Advisory Board) have had to fight, and continue to fight today, the acquisition process almost every step of the way — not only to be able to continue to develop the program, but to be able to participate in any way.
In brief, the technique they developed under contract had been taken from their hands and delivered lock, stock, and barrel unto one of the government's largest, most favored — and in some ways most troubled — longtime contractors.
Legal issues are involved. This magazine has not been able to obtain a statement of the problem from anyone except NAYSYS, and we have delayed our story several months hoping for a viewpoint from the government side. We believe that there are always two sides to every story and we sought — in vain — a government or Boeing response. None was forth coming until publication of a letter from General Michael Hamel, then Commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center, on May 15 of this year.
General Hamel has since stepped down as SMC Commander, though he has not yet retired from the USAF. It appears that signing of the letter was one of General Hamel's last acts as SMC Commander since he relinquished his command one day later.
We have reproduced General Hamel's letter here exactly as we received it. Dr. Edsel M. Brown Jr., to whom the letter is addressed, is with the United States Small Business Administration (USSBA) and is no relation to Dr. Alison Brown at NAVSYS.
After reading the letter several times, I contacted Alison Brown at NAVSYS for clarification, and then for some amplifying timelines from her perspective, to put the letter's assertions into context:
- PGE Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract (FA8650-04-M-1632) awarded to NAYSYS (April 2004)
- AAC/YU - Air Armament Center (AAC) Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) Program Office, briefed on PGE as an alternative approach to ASI (June 2004)
- Talon NAMATH (TN) Phase III SBIR contract awarded to NAVSYS by AF TENCAP (November 2005)
- TN Tactical Control Station declared "provisionally operational" and used in theater with Small Diameter Bomb (December 2006)
- Zero Age Message & Data Service (ZMDS) Briefing (February 21, 2007)
Normally at this juncture, NAVSYS Corporation, who originated and developed the Talon NAMATH project through SBIR Phase III, would be awarded a follow-on contract by the sponsoring agency, in this case the GPS Wing at SMC, for further development. These contracts are normally awarded if the program is deemed important, and a necessary technology for the USAF. The Talon NAMATH program has already been declared "provisionally operational" and is a huge success in theater. In fact, the program was accelerated because warfighters needed and wanted the capability immediately.
But this is where the normal process seems to break down. Instead of awarding the follow-on Talon NAMATH contract to NAVSYS, as most everyone expected, the contract went to behemoth Boeing as part of a Zero Age Message & Data Service (ZMDS), on April 10, 2007.
NAVSYS was not included on the Boeing team, and SMC failed to notify the SBA of this departure from normal procedures — as is required by law. There was still a possibility for the process to proceed normally if Boeing had solicited NAVSYS to be part of their ZMDS team, but unfortunately for everyone involved this did not happen.
The timeline continues:
- The SBA Notifies GPS Wing of Intent to Appeal Boeing Award (July 27, 2007)
- The GPS Wing Issues a Stop Work Order for the Boeing ZMDS contract (August 2, 2007)
- The GPS Wing sends an initial response to the SBA's Notice of Intent to Appeal (August 30, 2007)
- SBA Response to GPS Wing (September 20, 2007)
- Gen. Hamel provides GPS Wing Determination to SBA and rescinds Stop Work Order (May 15, 2008)
Essentially, a small company bid on and kept alive, through sustained effort and dedication involving many trips to Washington, D.C. and so on, a program that would provide ZAOD to the USAF Small Diameter Bomb — a program the Air Force desperately wanted and lauded publicly once it was shown to be even more effective than anyone had originally hoped.
The full and open contract when it was awarded should have gone to NAYSYS, or at least a team with NAVSYS included. Barring this, the USAF, in this case SMC, was obligated by federal regulations to notify the SBA that they were not awarding the contract to NAVSYS, and to explain why. SMC failed to comply with this requirement. NAYSYS complained to the SBA. The SBA sent SMC a Stop Work Order, and the Boeing ZMDS program which would replace Talon NAMATH was put on hold. No work was done while the different factions sought a solution.
From August 2007 until May 2008 — 10 months — nothing was accomplished on a program that the USAF and other services desperately need to have in place; a program that saves lives, money, and limits collateral damage.
The Hamel SMC letter, as difficult as it is to decipher, apparently means that SMC has, after the fact, redefined the Boeing ZMDS contract that originally included work on Talon NAMATH. The letter states that SMC believes this change meets the SBA requirement for no notification, since Talon NAMATH is no longer part of the Boeing ZMDS contract, and an SBA notification was/is not necessary. It is all a bit confusing — but no doubt SNAFU, as the saying goes, for those well-versed in government work.
Now what? For NAVSYS, whose engineers are still working on a shoestring to support operational users of Talon NAMATH, the letter just serves to throw the contract award over the fence.
In the meantime, AF Space Command has told the USAF Air Combat Command (ACC) that flies the F-15E and uses the Small Diameter Bomb that it needs to take responsibility for the Talon NAMATH program. NAVSYS is still waiting to hear from ACC what lies ahead for Talon NAMATH.
How was this allowed to happen? Small companies are critically important to the DoD acquisition strategy. Special rules and award percentages apply to small companies, to keep large companies with huge resources, lobbying arms, and legal funds from running roughshod over their smaller — and often more innovative — colleagues. The SBA recently gave the Air Force a "red" scorecard on meeting its small-business contracting goals, and former AF Secretary Wynne had initiated a program to improve this.
Of course, big companies do not always act alone. In this case the government made some questionable decisions, and U.S. forces in the field have suffered the consequences.
Small companies that routinely bid and accomplish work for the DoD are watching carefully and waiting to see how this plays out, because unfortunately the SBA during its investigation discovered that this is not an isolated incident.
Stay tuned.
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