The Bush administration's choice to take command in Iraq told a Senate panel Jan. 23 that the deployment of 21,500 additional U.S. troops could help decrease attacks using improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Army Lt. Gen. David Petraeus needs a fourth star to take over as commander of Multi-National Forces-Iraq. His promotion is subject to Senate confirmation.
The Defense Department's total information technology (IT) budget for fiscal 2007 is $30.9 billion, down from $31.9 billion in FY '06, according to John Grimes, assistant secretary of defense for Networks and Information Integration (NII). Forty-seven percent, or $14.3 billion, of the FY '07 total is for communications and computing infrastructure. Warfighting systems account for 28 percent, or $8.8 billion. Business systems account for $4.5 billion, or 15 percent, and information assurance represents $2.3 billion, or 7 percent.
An announcement to expand the Saudi Arabian air force's fighter fleet by 50 percent raises questions as to where the new pilots will come from since the Saudis reportedly have had problems in training enough of them, according to Tom Baranauskas, Forecast International's Middle East analyst. He said doubts remain about such an expansion of the fighter fleet, especially because of the advanced nature of the new aircraft to enter service.
Funding a U.S. Army boost of 65,000 new permanent troops will cost $70 billion alone over the fiscal 2009-2013 budget years, while increasing Iraq combat equipment will boost reset costs and further exacerbate the difficulty of restoring the Army and Marine Corps to their full capability, military leaders and lawmakers said Jan. 23.
SUCCESSFUL FLIGHT: The Joint Strike Fighter Cooperative Avionics Test Bed, a 737-300 aircraft extensively modified by BAE Systems, successfully completed its maiden flight Jan. 23 at Mojave, Calif. The 737 aircraft, also known as the "CAT-Bird," is a flying test bed that replicates the F-35 avionics suite. The CATB will develop and verify the F-35's capability to collect data from multiple sensors and fuse it into a coherent situational awareness display in a dynamic airborne environment.
The Pentagon needs to get better acquisition managers and pay more attention to contract performance, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports. "DOD does not know how well its services acquisition processes are working, which part of its mission can best be met through buying services, and whether it is obtaining the services it needs while protecting DOD's and the taxpayer's interests," the GAO reported Jan. 17 in its report, "DOD Needs to Exert Management and Oversight to Better Control Acquisition of Services."
MERGER ON HOLD: Safran Chairman/CEO Jean-Paul Bechat says talks to merge the company's Snecma liquid and ion propulsion engine businesses with those of EADS Astrium remain frozen because of continuing disagreement over valuation and EADS's problems at Airbus, which have relegated the matter to secondary status. However, Bechat continues to think that the merger, which would rationalize and consolidate the European space engine industry, is a good idea.
While the Pentagon has been working on improving its logistics networks, the Defense Department needs a better way of defining and measuring its efforts, says the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). The DOD must define its logistics strategy and develop and implement outcome-focused performance metrics and cost metrics for supply chain management, the GAO said in its mid-January report, "Progress Made Implementing Supply Chain Management Recommendations, but Full Extent of Improvement Unknown."
U.S. responses to attacks on space-based assets are not restricted by current treaties and could range to military strikes on ground-based operations, although President Bush likely would first call on a wide range of options such as international condemnation or even economic persuasion against adversaries, a U.S. Air Force lawyer said Jan. 22.
LONG DEPLOYMENT: RC-135 signals intelligence and network attack aircraft operating as the 763rd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron have won the dubious distinction of being the first aircraft to have been deployed continuously for 6,000 days. They were first deployed to the Iraq theater on Aug. 9, 1990. Upgraded, re-engined aircraft now carry a crew of 34 and 40 tons of electronics equipment.
The U.S. Army has decided to drop the Armed Robotic Vehicle (ARV) from the Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, bringing the total number of systems in the mammoth modernization effort down to 14. Last week, Brig. Gen. Thomas Cole, deputy program manager for FCS program integration, said the ARV is being cut from production and put back into the science and technology base (DAILY, Jan. 22). Another possible casualty is one of the unattended munitions being developed for FCS, a source told The DAILY.
CBM SUMMIT: The U.S. Army plans to begin convening a semi-annual summit with industry to discuss condition-based maintenance for Army aircraft, according to Maj. Gen. James Pillsbury, commanding general of U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command. During the first summit, held shortly before the holidays, industry was not invited because "we wanted the government to get its act together [first]," Pillsbury explains.
Joseph J. Ensor has been named vice president of surveillance and remote sensing. William J. Schaefer has been appointed sector vice president of business development.
INTELSAT SENIOR NOTES: Intelsat's wholly owned Bermuda affiliate plans to issue some $600 million in senior notes intended, along with cash, to repay a $600 million senior unsecured bridge loan. The note, priced at the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (Libor) plus 350 basis points, will come due in 2015. The move follows plans announced Jan. 3 by Intelsat's Subsidiary Holding Co. to redeem $1 billion in floating rate senior bonds due in 2012. The measures are part of an ongoing effort to restructure and pay down debt amassed in the takeover of PanAmSat last summer.
