Description
Organization: NAVAIR, PEO (CU), PMA-280
Team Name: TOMAHAWK All-Up-Round Program Team
Related Acquisition Topic(s): Alpha Contracting, Cycle Time Reduction (CTR), Financial Management, Integrated Product Teams (IPT), Performance Based Acquisition, Price Based Acquisition
Description: EMERGENCY INVENTORY REPLENISHMENT:
As a result of Operation Allied Force, Tomahawk inventory was reduced to critical levels with no existing production replenishment capability. The Tomahawk team planned and proposed the remanufacture of older configurations of Tomahawk missiles to the newer more capable Block III configuration as a means to relieve inventory pressure. Congress in the FY99 Emergency Supplemental Bill funded this proposal.
Recognizing the Fleets immediate need, a more efficient, responsive, and timely approach to acquisition was necessary. The Tomahawk team focused on shortening the acquisition lead-time for these re-manufactured missiles by implementing an Alpha Acquisition approach and using Priced-Based Contracting techniques to contract for the effort. The Tomahawk’s prime contractor was placed under letter contract within two weeks of receipt of funds. It took less than 2 months from the time of this undefinitized letter contract award to issuance of the definitized fixed price contract.
The entire process from proposal submission to definitized contract required only 5 months. The initial proposal was $486M. The final, price-based, negotiated contract was $398M. The contract contains significant warranty provisions and incentivizes the contractor to deliver in as little as 14 months versus the nominal 24 months typically required for an effort of this size and complexity.
TOMAHAWK POST PRODUCTION LIFE CYCLE SUPPORT AND COST REDUCTION:
Inventory requirements dictate that the Tomahawk Block III missile is maintained in the fleet until 2020, the Block II missiles until 2010. This is far beyond the life cycle envisioned during Block II/III development and procurement and initial estimates of support costs for this objective exceeded $1.2B due to component obsolescence and depot recertification requirements. The Tomahawk Block III Post Production Support (PPS) Integrated Product Team (IPT) was formed to reduce this cost but maintain the current system readiness objectives and reliability requirements. Component Obsolescence: In one of the most extensive configuration and reliability audits ever completed on the Tomahawk weapon system, the PPS IPT assessed Tomahawk components through the life of the AUR to determine the most costly components considering service life, failure rate, supplier status and obsolescence. Every component was assessed to determine the most cost-effective initiative to reduce life cycle costs for the program. The service lives of many components were undefined by their manufacturer and were subjected to an extensive Service Life Assessment Program (SLAP) integral to the PPS process. Options were identified for all effected components including repair of the existing unit, refurbishment, recertification, and replacement or technology insertion. An example of a significant cost avoidance at the component level is the Mission Control Module (MCM) used in the Tomahawk AUR. The replacement of the MCM with the recently qualified Product Improvement Program (PIP) MCM instead of the existing production unit results in a life cycle cost avoidance of approximately $30M.
RECERTIFICATION INTERVAL:
The current Block III re-certification interval is six years. At the end of this period, the missile must be returned to the depot for overhaul. Approximately 250 missiles per year are re-certified at a nominal cost of $180K per missile. The re-certification interval is determined using engineering reliability models and reliability data from returning depot missiles. Using recent operational reliability data and as part of the PPS effort, a comprehensive analysis was undertaken to determine if the re-certification interval could be extended. Based on this analysis, and the continued reliability assessment that the PPS program will provide, it was determined that the recertification interval could be extended to eight years at significant cost savings. The initiatives above combined result in a major life cycle cost reduction for Tomahawk. This result was only achieved through the effective implementation of the IPT concept. The PPS IPT is composed of members from both the Government and Prime Contractor Program Offices.
WARFIGHTER SUPPORT:
Operation Allied Force, in the spring of 1999, occurred when inventory levels of Tomahawk missiles were at critical levels due to previous combat expenditures of 811 missiles prior to 1999. This situation required the real time management of missile inventories to ensure the fleet load-outs were met during the conflict.
The early heavy use of Tomahawk cruise missiles to destroy infrastructure targets resulted in a need to rapidly move missiles to the theater, arrange re-arming of combatants, coordinate the manpower, equipment, transportation and other resources necessary to the success of this NATO operation. Working with CINCLANTFLT, SURFLANT, SUBLANT, CONSIXTHFLT, COMFAIRMED, CINCUSNAVEUR and the CNO staff, the Tomahawk Logistics IPT successfully: Ensured the necessary numbers of cruise missiles available to support the Battle Groups deploying to the Mediterranean theater, Moved missiles from Naval Weapons Stations Yorktown VA and Seal Beach CA to Naval Station Rota Spain and Naval Air Station Sigonella Italy for a Tomahawk rearming of a surface combatant in Augusta Bay Sicily, Directed the offload of Tomahawk missiles from four ships at NS Rota for trans-shipment to be used by other combatants, Coordinated with CINCLANTFLT for the movement of Vertical Launching System cell adapters and cell covers, Offloaded and shipped expended MK 14 VLS canisters back to CONUS for refurbishment, Coordinated with the missile manufacturer and the British Embassy for the accelerated production, transportation to NAS North Island CA, and shipment to the United Kingdom and subsequently to NAS Sigonella Italy, of torpedo tube launched Tomahawks to be loaded into a Royal Navy attack submarine, and Arranged the cross decking of Tomahawks between two surface combatants at the Fifth Fleet facility in Manama, Bahrain.
The unique aspect of the above effort is that it was managed by an acquisition program office (PMA-280) real time, in direct support of the fleet customer. The Tomahawk AUR program office has "cradle-to-grave" responsibility for Tomahawk, including the logistics management of in-service missiles. The Tomahawk Logistics IPT that performs this task resides in the program office.
TACTICAL TOMAHAWK DEVELOPMENT:
The Tactical Tomahawk Program is an Acquisition Reform Program, which includes significant Total Ownership Cost (TOC) and Cost As an Independent Variable (CAIV) initiatives. This program, which evolved from the Tomahawk Baseline Improvement Program (TBIP), will result in the development of a more capable missile that will cost the Navy roughly half the unit cost of the current Block III missile (approximately $1.4M). Over the Navy's intended procurement of 1353 missiles, this represents an acquisition cost savings of more than $1B. In addition this program will significantly reduce Operations and Support (O&S) costs in the out years as the missile will have a 15-year re-certification interval vs. the current six-year interval and will also have a 30-year service life. This equates to an O&S savings of about $440M over the current system. The Tactical Tomahawk development contract contains a production price commitment that includes a bumper to bumper 15-year warranty which will further reduce Government O&S costs in the out years. This combined with the "wooden round" concept, means that maintenance in the Fleet will be virtually non-existent. The Tactical Tomahawk will have increased capabilities such as in-flight retargeting, loiter, bomb damage indication imagery, and launch platform mission planning which are responsiveness enhancements requested by the Warfighter.
One and half years after contract award, the program is still under Navy development cost estimates and ahead of estimated development time. In addition, the target unit cost remains below $600K. In 1999, Preliminary Design Review was completed and component level Critical Design Reviews commenced. The Tactical Tomahawk program has successfully implemented many acquisition reform initiatives to help achieve significant life cycle costs savings and improved performance over the predecessor system.
