House Republican leaders have picked Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) to become the next ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC). If approved by the Republican Conference, which consists of all House Republicans, McKeon will succeed Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.), whom President Barack Obama has tapped to be Army Secretary. McHugh resigned from the committee June 4.
Delaying development of the next-generation long-range strike bomber is not a serious blow to U.S. nuclear deterrence efforts — in the short term — a retired U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff and former head of Strategic Air Command says.
ENVISAT EXTENDED: The European Space Agency has agreed to extend operation of the Envisat Earth observation mission until 2013 to provide vital radar, optical and ocean altimetry data until new sensors currently in development reach orbit. Launched in 2002 and equipped with 10 electro-optic sensors, Envisat supplies near-real time atmospheric, land, sea and ice data to support routine monitoring of sea ice, oil slicks, fisheries and other parameters as well as long-term climate research.
PARIS — U.S. Air Force officials have conducted 17 flights of the Advanced Signals Intelligence Payload (ASIP) on the Global Hawk unmanned aerial system, and they expect to deploy the new sigint collector on the high-flying U-2 shortly, according to Richard Gunther, Northrop Grumman’s Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance chief architect.
OVERHEAD CONCERN: Two key U.S. senators are warning Obama administration officials over future high-powered intelligence satellites. Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Kit Bond (R-Mo.) say they are deeply troubled over a new plan for future overhead imaging capabilities that calls for multiple high-end satellites under the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). NRO falls under the Defense Department but also is part of the 16-agency intelligence community (IC) headed by the director of national intelligence (DNI).
Retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Bruce Carlson is said by government and industry sources to be the leading candidate to direct the National Reconnaissance Office. His prospective nomination has not yet been announced. NRO oversees the procurement and development of the nation’s classified satellites
MOSCOW — The first of a new class of Russian aircraft carrier could begin construction as early as the next three-to-four years, according to an unnamed senior Russian navy source quoted by news agency Interfax-AVN. The Russian Navy’s current development plan, which covers through 2050-2060, envisages the creation of five to six aircraft carrier groups, the report said. The first aircraft carrier to be created for the Russian Navy will become part of the Pacific Fleet, the source added.
QDR N/A: Financial analysts at Macquarie Capital don’t expect much from the Defense Department’s upcoming Quadrennial Defense Review. The biggest questions have essentially already been answered, they say, by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the budget recommendations he’s been making since April. “We think that the QDR is likely to build on the defense policy and spending framework that has already been largely established by Secretary Gates,” the analysts say.
CHOPPER COCKPITS: Lockheed Martina announced June 10 it has delivered the 200th Common Cockpit avionics suite to the U.S. Navy’s MH-60R/S multi-mission helicopter programs. The avionics suite has flown more than 250,000 hours aboard the two Seahawk helicopter types since cockpit deliveries began in January 2000. To date, the company has delivered 47 cockpits for the MH-60R, the Navy’s newest anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare helicopter.
TASKED FORCED: Ad hoc task forces inside the U.S. Defense Department’s leadership realm have proven to be effective tools for forcing the military’s bureaucracy to address pressing near-term acquisition needs, the top civilian and military defense officials say. But such task forces should not go on indefinitely. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) task force would disappear, and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said such groups should include sunset deadlines in the future.
HORNET REPORT: Despite initial misgivings, the U.S. Defense Department may give Congress an “interim” estimate on a potential new multiyear acquisition of Boeing F/A-18s sooner rather than later. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Senate appropriators June 9 that while he wanted such a report to be informed by the upcoming Quadrennial Defense Review, he thinks the Pentagon could offer an initial assessment. Both he and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke favorably of the fighter. “That’s a great airplane at a great price,” Mullen said.
The U.S. Amy’s “Modularity Initiative,” the service’s plan to transition itself from a heavy, division-centric force to one whose core revolves around 76 more agile Brigade Combat Teams by 2030, is facing a ballooning budget and isn’t taking into account the number of new troops it will have to raise, a new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report says.
The U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems recently ran a joint information-sharing experiment with the U.K. Defense Ministry assessing how well their communications systems “talk” to one another.
Boeing is studying the levels of radar cross-section (RCS) reduction possible with its F-15SE Silent Eagle in advance of licensing discussions with the U.S. government on possibly exporting the stealthy fighter. “It’s not how low can you go, it’s how low are you allowed to go, and the U.S. government controls that,” says Brad Jones, Boeing program manager for F-15 future fighters. “We can get to different levels depending on the country.”
Congressional voices in favor of foreign sales of the F-22 Raptor and prolonging that production line, as well as several other targeted defense programs, continue to find venues on Capitol Hill.
TANKER RFP: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his Pentagon office will decide by mid-June whether the Pentagon’s acquisition czar or the Air Force will lead the next attempt to buy new aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force. The defense secretary also said that regardless of who leads the effort, he is further leaning toward asking the deputy secretary of defense to watch the competition.
FAVORABLE ENDEAVOUR: The launch of space shuttle Endeavour on STS-127 is expected to go ahead as planned at 7:12 a.m. EDT on Saturday, June 13, a NASA spokeswoman said in a pre-flight briefing June 9. The agency said all systems have been checked, and the payload bay doors have been closed, clearing the way for the countdown to begin at 9 a.m. June 10. NASA expects an 80 percent chance of favorable weather at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., during the launch window.
After completing what Raytheon calls a series of “crucial” tests of a Rockwell Collins datalink bound for its Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) II design, officials are looking ahead to flight tests of the two-way, encrypted system on a UH-1 helicopter. Rockwell Collins encountered problems meeting schedule for the datalink’s application into the Harpoon Block III weapon; this was a key reason by the Navy terminated the Harpoon upgrade earlier this year.
The U.S. Air Force isn’t waiting for congressional approval to proceed with dismantling the multi-billion dollar Transformational Satellite architecture that was proposed for termination by Defense Secretary Robert Gates last month. The service announced June 8 it was terminating for convenience the Transformational Satellite Communications System Mission Operations System (TMOS) contract with Lockheed Martin. TMOS was to be the ground support infrastructure for the new jam-proof satellite communications architecture.
The Japanese Defense Ministry probably will delay its order for fighters under the F-X program until at least the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2011, a move that may lift Lockheed Martin’s chances of winning the competition. The delay minimizes one of the chief advantages of competitors over the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II — their earlier availability. By delaying its order the ministry is also giving the U.S. more time to change its mind regarding its ban on exporting Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptors.
U.S. export control lists need to be constantly updated so less crucial technologies can be removed to make room for newer technologies that pose a security risk if sold internationally, President Barack Obama’s nominee to be the State Department’s arms control negotiator told lawmakers June 9. Noting that the lifecycle of cutting-edge technologies can be “as short as 18 months,” Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that “we have to understand what it is we have to protect.”
