1994 JAST

19 years ago here was some of the thinking behind JAST.

Much hope:


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SEATTLE, Dec. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The Department of Defense has chosen Boeing Defense & Space Group, Military Airplanes Division for contracts valued together at about $33 million to compete for development of the Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) program, Boeing announced today.

The largest contract, to develop a tri-service weapon system concept definition and conduct design research, is worth nearly $28 million. Boeing's effort on the contract covers the conceptual study and definition of a strike fighter with modular components that would allow an affordable aircraft to be built to satisfy the needs of the U.S. Navy, Marines and Air Force.

"The Boeing concept is affordable because it emphasizes modularity, lightweight structures, and uses a significant number of common elements in each of the three service versions," said Mickey Michellich, Boeing director of Advanced Tactical Aircraft Programs. Commonality is rigorously applied in the areas of aircraft structures, propulsion, systems, and the avionics suites of all aircraft versions. The innovative use of materials, and advanced fabrication and assembly processes, combine to achieve an affordable aircraft. "These advanced design concepts result in significant improvements over today's aircraft in survivability, range, payload and ease of support," Michellich said.

When work under this contract is complete, Boeing will have defined and validated tri-service design concepts for operational aircraft, and established a baseline for building and flight-testing a tri-service demonstrator aircraft in the next JAST program phase. In addition, Boeing will support and work with other associate contractors performing JAST technology maturation activities.

Two smaller JAST contracts, each worth about $2 million, also were awarded to Boeing.

One, called the Avionics Virtual System Engineering and Prototyping (AVSEP) effort, will build a virtual avionics engineering environment. Such a system will allow pilots and engineers to test prototypes of avionics systems in a realistic environment even before they are built, saving time and money in the design process. In addition, the virtual environment will allow various avionics concepts and technologies to be evaluated throughout the life of the JAST program.

The virtual environment will be built using a broad range of analytical methods to develop avionics modeling and simulation tools for broad industry use in reducing JAST life cycle costs, and analyzing aircraft performance characteristics. Hughes Aerospace & Electronics Co., Radar and Communications Systems and Electro-Optical Systems segments; Litton's Amecom division; BTG, Inc.; and TRW, Military Electronics & Avionics division will assist Boeing on the contract.

The third contract awarded to Boeing is to define a tri-service airframe structure. Boeing, working with Dassault Aviation of St. Cloud, France, will investigate the specific weight and life-cycle cost impacts of using a single-strike fighter design concept for the three services. Principal objectives for the work include defining maximum structural commonality while making the aircraft low cost and light weight. Dassault was chosen as a partner for this work due to its experience with the French Navy/Air Force Rafale fighter, and the extensive automated computing tools they have available to optimize the design of aircraft structure.

In addition to these three contracts, Boeing will be a subcontractor to other JAST contractors -- including Hughes for support in developing an integrated fighter forebody, Pratt & Whitney for propulsion work and TRW for integrated diagnostic support.

These subcontracts are valued in total at about $1 million.

The Boeing JAST concept is synergistic with the efforts now under way on the Advanced Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing/Common Affordable Lightweight Fighter (ASTOVL/CALF) program. The STOVL version of the JAST aircraft, for use by the U.S. Marines, uses a direct lift concept. For the U.S. Navy, a catapult launched/arrested landing concept provides the JAST baseline. And the U.S. Air Force version of the concept can have high commonality with both the Navy and Marine concept.

JAST work will be done by Boeing Military Airplanes at facilities in Seattle. About 100 people are assigned to the project. Boeing is under contract for work on the F-22 air superiority fighter, B-2 bomber and various unmanned aerial vehicles. In addition, the company has extensive technology development laboratories where it is carrying out work on numerous military aircraft-related research efforts.

-0- 12/22/94
/CONTACT: Peri Widener or Mike Tull of Boeing Defense & Space Group, 206-655-1198/
(BA)

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And this from McDonnell Douglas. It would be the loss of a JSF program down-select later that caused McDonnell Douglas to be bought out by Boeing. This would be the first industry kill for the Joint Strike Fighter Program.


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ST. LOUIS, May 13 /PRNewswire/ -- McDonnell Douglas has been awarded three study contracts under the Department of Defense Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) program.

McDonnell Douglas Aerospace received a $1.69 million contract to perform a Joint Strike Warfare Concepts Study, a $575,000 contract to perform an Affordable JAST Off-Board Architecture Study, and a $720,000 contract to perform an Affordable Weapon Integration Study.

Jim Sinnett, senior vice president-New Aircraft and Missile Products (NAMP) at McDonnell Douglas Aerospace, said the contracts are at the core of the JAST concept: to look at strike warfare requirements and missions, and to determine the best aircraft and weapon solutions to meet those needs in a systematic and affordable manner.

"Working through the JAST approach, we have the opportunity to step back and look at the U.S. strike warfare requirements and solutions as never before, as we look to defense needs in the post-Cold War era," Sinnett said. "We have the opportunity to fundamentally change the way we develop, design and build defense systems in the 21st Century."

We will be helping to develop an architecture for strike warfare systems. The particular aircraft, subsystems and weapon systems should only come after requirements are articulated by the program, and after this architecture is determined," Sinnett said.

Studying the make-up of this architecture is the objective of Joint Strike Warfare Concepts Study. The study will identify affordable future strike force mix options, and the strike warfare systems (such as fighters, helicopters, cruise missiles and other weapon systems) that make up these options.

Advanced technologies that permit common and modular components and breakthroughs in affordability and performance will be reviewed for development. The resulting strike-system architecture will maintain or improve U.S. combat capability while meeting affordability constraints.

The Affordable Off-Board Architecture Study will also focus on the issue of affordability through innovative approaches to sensor systems. This study will determine the feasibility and cost savings of using off- board sources for mission data, to reduce aircraft avionics system requirements.

Under this study, McDonnell Douglas will perform system modeling and simulation to evaluate alternative information architecture, and perform cost/benefit analyses according to JAST mission requirements.

"Off-board sensor analysis will demand detailed advanced analysis and planning to determine cost benefits and minimize risk," Sinnett said. "But savings over the scope and life cycle of a strike aircraft could be greater by orders of magnitude.

"Focusing resources and talent on innovations in avionics is another way the JAST program can generate the breakthroughs in affordability the aerospace industry must achieve in the 21st Century."

Details of the Affordable Weapons Integration study have not been disclosed.
-0- 5/13/94
/CONTACT: Jim Schlueter of McDonnell Douglas Aerospace, 314-233-6232/ CO: McDonnell Douglas Aerospace ST: Missouri IN: ARO SU: CON

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It just goes to show you that using variations of the word "affordable" multiple times in a press release doesn't make it so.

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And here are the DOD JAST contracts from December 22, 1994.


McDonnell Douglas Aerospace Corp., East, St. Louis, Missouri, is being awarded a $28,193,501 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to perform a study focused on innovative concepts and technologies to reduce the cost for accomplishment of joint strike warfare while maintaining current U.S. combat superiority. This contract is in support of the Joint Advanced Strike Technology Program (JAST). Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be completed by March 1996. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Air Force. This contract was competitively procured under a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) and 150 proposals were received. The Naval Air Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00019-90-C-0061).

Northrop Grumman Corporation, Pico Rivera, California, is being awarded a $24,085,919 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to perform a study focused on innovative concepts and technologies to reduce the cost for accomplishment of joint strike warfare while maintaining current U.S. combat superiority. This contract is in support of the Joint Advanced Strike Technology Program (JAST). Work will be performed in Pico River, California, and is expected to be completed by March 1996. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Air Force. This contract was competitively procured under a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) and 150 proposals were received. The Naval Air Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00019-90-C-0062).

Boeing Company, Defense & Space Group, Seattle, Washington, is being awarded a $27,614,120 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to perform a study focused on innovative concepts and technologies to reduce the cost for accomplishment of joint strike warfare while maintaining current U.S. combat superiority. This contract is in support of the Joint Advanced Strike Technology Program (JAST). Work will be performed in Seattle, Washington, and is expected to be completed by March 1996. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Air Force. This contract was competitively procured under a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) and 150 proposals were received. The Naval Air Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00019-90-C-0060).

Lockheed Fort Worth Company, Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $19,900,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to perform a study focused on innovative concepts and technologies to reduce the cost for accomplishment of joint strike warfare while maintaining current U.S. combat superiority. This contract is in support of the Joint Advanced Strike Technology Program (JAST). Work will be performed in Ft. Worth, Texas (56%), Los Angeles, California (12%), Marietta, Georgia (26%), Nashua, Connecticut (5%), and Sunnyvale, California (1%), and is expected to be completed by March 1996. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Air Force. This contract was competitively procured by a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) and 150 proposals were received. The Naval Air Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00019-90-C-0063).

Pratt and Whitney, Government Engine and Space Propulsion, West Palm Beach, Florida, is being awarded a $5,448,143 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to perform a study focused on innovative concepts and technologies to reduce the cost for accomplishment of joint strike warfare while maintaining current U.S. combat superiority. This contract is in support of the Joint Advanced Strike Technology Program (JAST). Work will be performed in West Palm Beach, Florida, and is expected to be completed by March 1996. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Air Force. This contract was competitively procured by a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) and 150 proposals were received. The Naval Air Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00019-90-C-0065).