Aviation Week & Space Technology - January 15, 2015

‘I spend a good

bit of my time

explaining what

“littoral” is.’

—RAY MABUS

U.S. NAVY FILE PHOTO

Washington Outlook

T

he Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) has sufered its share of pro-

gram delays, cost overruns and program setbacks. Now it is

going through a rite of passage for troubled Pentagon programs

—a name change. LCS, an L-class vessel, which denotes an am-

phibious ship, will now be designated “FF,” for frigate. “I spend a

good bit of my time explaining what ‘littoral’ is,” Navy Secretary

Ray Mabus told the Surface Navy Association National Sympo-

sium. It is a good time, he says, to reestablish Navy tradition for

naming ships properly. “It’s a frigate. We’re going to call it one.”

Along with the change in wording,
some engineering changes may also
be in order for future ships. Engineers
designed LCS with the goal of speeding
at 50 kt., cutting weight to drive speed.
But Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel
has directed the Navy to cut back on
its proposed LCS fleet buy and instead
develop a more lethal and survivable
ship for the small surface combat-
ant (SSC) role. Adding weapons and
defensive shields to the ship
permanently—instead of
switching them on and of
under the module switch-
out operational concept
developed for LCS—means a
heavier and slower ship. The
Navy recently said it plans
to use existing LCS classes
as templates to develop the
SSC. A team led by Lock-
heed Martin currently builds
a steel-bottomed monohull LCS, while
another led by Austal USA builds an all-
aluminum trimaran for the program. c

CHANGING CLIMATE
It is a mark of the dramatic shift on
Capitol Hill that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-
Texas) is the new chairman of the
Senate Commerce space subcommittee
that Albert Gore headed when he was
a Democratic senator from Tennessee.
The former vice president went on to
create the landmark climate-change
documentary An Inconvenient Truth.

But as NASA continues climate study

missions, environmentalists worry Cruz

will use his subcommittee gavel to turn

back the clock on the issue. Cruz is

on record as saying the Senate “must

not sacrifice funding for NASA’s core

mission of space exploration to continue

expanding climate-change funding.”

But as veteran space-policy wonk

Marcia Smith notes, not all committee

chairmen are equal. Sen. John Thune

(R-S.D.) chairs the full Commerce panel,

and he has said that humans contribute

to climate change. Plus, funding for

climate-change research goes through

the more powerful Senate Appropria-

tions Committee, where Sens. Barbara

Mikulski (D-Md.) and Richard Shelby (R-

Ala.) have just switched leadership roles.

“Both are NASA advocates, and Mikul-

ski is particularly supportive of NASA

Earth science programs and NOAA’s

weather satellites,” Smith writes. “Even

though she is in the minority now, she

still is very powerful, and it is difcult to

imagine a Senate appropriations bill that

includes disproportionate cuts to either

of those programs.” c

LICENSED TO FLY

The FAA is teaming with universities

and news organizations to explore the

use of UAVs by news organizations.

That includes an agreement between

the agency and broadcasting giant

Cable News Network (CNN) to test

UAV integration into news operations.

“Unmanned aircraft ofer news organi-

zations significant opportunities,” says

FAA Administrator Michael Huerta.

CNN is already sharing data about

the technology, personnel and safety

issues with the Georgia Tech Research

Institute, which holds more than 24

FAA certificates to operate UAVs. And

the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and

State University is working on a simi-

lar project with a coalition of 10 media

companies, including The New York

Times and The Washington Post. c

ON DECK

In the first week of February, the Senate

Armed Services Committee plans to

hold a nomination hearing for Ashton

Carter to become the next defense

secretary—the same week that the

federal budget request is expected to be

communicated to Congress.

Although committee Chair-

man John McCain (R-Ariz.)

was prepared to hold the hear-

ing immediately, “he gladly

accommodated a request by

Dr. Carter for additional time

to complete his recovery from

a recent medical procedure,”

according to McCain’s spokes-

man Dustin Walker. (Carter

recently had back surgery.)

Carter, a former Harvard professor who

was President Obama’s first Pentagon

acquisition chief and later the Pentagon’s

No. 2 civilian, left ofce in 2013. While

awaiting his confirmation, he is prepar-

ing for the transition back to the Defense

Department. On Jan. 8, Carter met with

current Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel,

their first face-to-face since Carter’s

nomination, according to Pentagon Press

Secretary John Kirby. c

With Frank Morring, Jr. and Michael

Fabey

What’s in a Name?

U.S. Navy declares littoral combat ship

a frigate

COMMENTARY

Edited by Jen DiMascio

Managing Editor-Defense,

Space & Security Jen DiMascio blogs

at: AviationWeek.com/ares

[email protected]

22 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JANUARY 15-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 AviationWeek.com/awst