Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
3/27/2015
OGDEN, UTAH – Collaboration between the Air Force ICBM System Program Office and Navy Strategic System Programs (SSP) looks promising, Michael Maglich, SSP Technical Director/Deputy Direct Reporting Program Manager, said last week here at the TRIAD conference. “I think we have a common forcing function, the budget, that we didn’t have last time,” he said. “And that’s why, this time, it looks like it has some legs. It’s not just going to be the fad of the day like it has in the past.” Dr. Jamie Morin, Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, said the Defense Department has plussed up nuclear enterprise funding by $8 billion over the Future Years’ Defense Program.
DoD leadership vowed to invest more in nuclear forces after the results of one internal and one external review last year uncovered morale and equipment flaws in the nuclear enterprise. “What’s different really this time in how the breadth of the alignment that’s taking place, is occurring at the leadership level; it’s occurring at the mid-level leadership level; it’s down at the working level,” Maglich said. “But it’s much, much broader than where we were before. You know, we taught reentry before, and we had some common propulsion, and we probably shared some surveillance data, but now it’s across both our weapon systems.” Military and industry officials have consistently pointed out resemblance and compatibility in smaller program elements like gyros and accelerometers between Air Force and Navy ballistic missiles.
Labor Base
SSP has also benefited from getting spared by the government shutdown, as the unit was not subject to the 20 percent headquarters reduction that hit other Washington area contractors. But Maglich acknowledged SSP has had difficulty keeping younger employees, and said the outfit used to promote people based on technical capability, rather than leadership skills. “It was an organization that was very stovepipe,” he said. SSP is addressing its employee practices. “And so we have a very active program in place, focused on the supervisors, teaching them how we deal with this next generation.”
Funding Issues
SSP Logistics Coordinator Capt. Keith Sykes said he funded partner BAE Systems in March for the first time in years. Defense budgets have been squeezed in recent years, especially since sequestration in 2013 sequestration has rippled forward. “I don’t think I have funded BAE on time for the two years that I’ve been at SSP,” he said. “I mean, they carry risk because I can’t fund them and this year. Luckily enough…I funded BAE, fully funded them in March. Why? Why is that? They’re my industry partner; why do I have to fund them the way I do? That keeps me up.”
