Industry ready to compete for JSTARS recapitalization program Major Players on the JSTARS Recapitalization Program.

• Author: Insinna, Valerie

The Air Force has ignited an effort to replace its surveillance and targeting aircraft system with modern airframes outfitted with new radar, sensors and communications equipment.

No requirements are on the books yet for a recapitalized version of the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System -- more commonly known as JSTARS -- but that hasn't stopped industry from jumping into the competitive fray.

The current E-8C aircraft, based on a Boeing 707 airplane and developed by Northrop Grumman, allows the Air Force to. conduct long-endurance surveillance on moving and stationary targets. Its radar can collect information on ground and maritime targets, as well as detecting slow-moving, rotary and fixed-wing aircraft.

The Air Force considers JSTARS a vital part of its fleet, but the E-8C airframes are aging -- contributing to high operations and maintenance costs.

"With the completion of the 2011 JSTARS mission area analysis of alternatives study and the onset of Budget Control Act-directed budget levels, it became clear that the future of the JSTARS weapons system lay in a more cost-effective platform as compared to extending the lifecycle of the current 707 airframes," said Lt. Col. Michael Harm, JSTARS recapitalization branch chief.

The combination of new airframes and sensors "will inherently bring improvements in areas such as radar and onboard data processing speed, fuel efficiency and maximum cruising altitude across the range of expected military operations," he told National Defense in an email.

The Air Force is currently drafting requirements for the program, which will be finalized by early 2015, Harm said. In order to keep the system affordable, it plans on using commercial, off-the-shelf equipment and minimizing new technology development.

The Air Force requested $100 million for the program in fiscal year 2015, with $2.4 billion in spending planned over the next five years.

Although the service will try to push the plan, Congress is unlikely to be enthusiastic about another large, expensive program, said C. Zachary Hofer, Forecast International's defense electronics analyst. Past efforts to develop a JSTARS replacement have been unsuccessful. The service selected Northrop Grumman's E-10 platform as a successor, but the program was terminated in fiscal year 2007 because of a lack of funding.

The Air Force "got very far along in the process with the E-10 ... only to see that canceled. That's not something they're going to want to see again," he said. "Really the task of keeping the current E-8C JSTARS in the air is just unmanageable. They can't afford it, and it will increasingly become dangerous. The costs will just grow exponentially, and the platform will be canceled without there being a successor in place."

The recapitalized JSTARS will be able to work with the entire theater air control system, which includes the legacy system, airborne warning and control system, control and reporting center, and air operations centers, the Air Force solicitation states.

The service is planning on downsizing from an...