Congress and the Pentagon are butting heads over who has the right to control the fate of the Joint Strike Fighter's alternative engine program. Meanwhile, the U.S.'s closest allies and industrial partners are livid about not being consulted on top-level joint program decisions and the slow progress in resolving technology transfer roadblocks.
NOMINATION: The Senate Commerce Committee has approved the nomination of Vice Adm. Thad Allen to be the next Coast Guard commandant. Allen's nomination, as well as his promotion to admiral, now goes to the Senate floor.
Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) says he has accepted the Navy's proposed early retirement of the USS John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier, but financial constraints aside, the need for more flattops remains. "I appreciate where they are budget-wise," the congressman told The DAILY March 15. "There's been nothing that I've been shown that has suggested to me that we don't need 12 carriers. This is more a budget issue, a monetary issue."
The White House is protesting House appropriators' cuts from the latest fiscal 2006 supplemental spending request for Iraq and Afghanistan military operations and hurricane response, and claimed one particular move would cut Air Force funding for intra-theater airlift of special forces and ongoing "critical" intelligence programs. The House has been deliberating over its $91.8 billion in extra appropriations for the current fiscal year this week, including $72 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan military operations and other foreign aid (DAILY, Feb. 21).
The Navy is awaiting a RAND Corp. study to help it find more submarine design work to keep experienced General Dynamics workers and others employed so they don't lose their skills, Navy and Marine Corps officials told lawmakers March 15. The work includes speeding up the design of future SSBN or post-Virginia SSXN subs. The RAND study is expected in late summer or early fall, Rear Adm. Joseph Walsh, director of the Submarine Warfare Division, told the House Armed Services projection forces subcommittee.
The fiscal 2008 Air Force budget will put greater emphasis on operationally responsive space (ORS) systems, Undersecretary Ron Sega told lawmakers during a hearing on Capitol Hill March 16. "I believe [ORS] should have a greater role in our look forward in space," Sega told members of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee. Responsive space already has been part of early discussions on the FY '08 budget request, Sega said. "I would look on that as having a more prominent role going forward."
China, already identified by the Pentagon as a potential future military rival, is making inroads with Latin American's militaries by supplying training and equipment, the head of U.S. Southern Command told Congress March 16.
Problems pulling control-fin locking pins on its Pegasus launch vehicle March 15 delayed the start of NASA's ST-5 constellation-control mission for at least 48 hours. Orbital Sciences' L-1011 ferry was at 39,000 feet and almost ready to drop the Pegasus for ignition when at least one of the pins that hold the fins in place failed to withdraw during the pre-launch sequence. The aircraft returned to Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., where engineers planned to replace the batteries in the unlocking mechanism and troubleshoot the problem.
PREDATOR WORK: San Diego-based General Atomics-Aeronautical Systems Inc. has been awarded a $30.1 million contract modification to perform organizational maintenance on Predator unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as to work on ground control stations and Predator primary satellite links, the Defense Department said March 15. The work is scheduled to be finished by March 2007. The contract was awarded by the Air Combat Command Contracting Squadron, Langley Air Force Base, Va.
Terrorist operations require funding and the U.S. Central Command has a unit trying to interrupt that revenue stream, according to Thomas O'Connell, assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict. Special Operations Command is playing a role in the multiagency Threat Finance Exploitation Unit. "Ours is not to follow the money per se, but to use [financial intelligence] to support our tactical operations and strategic goals," O'Connell said.
Wind tunnel tests are under way at Ames Research Center and Glenn Research Center to ensure that the removal of foam from certain areas on the space shuttle's external tank will not create potentially dangerous aerodynamic effects.
Stephen M. Bryant has been appointed vice president of combat avionics programs. Ann Fortenberry has been named vice president of trades management, training and development. Edmond E. Hughes Jr. has been appointed vice president of human resources and administration. Gen. Richard B. Myers (USAF Ret.) has been named to the board of directors. Myers is a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
International Space Station Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev was scheduled to undock the Soyuz vehicle that brought him and ISS Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and move it to a new port this week, clearing the way for the next station crew to arrive March 31. Tokarev will shift the Soyuz from the nadir docking port on the Zarya module to the aft docking port on the Zvezda service module in a 35-minute flight that was scheduled to begin at 1 a.m. Eastern time March 20. For safety's sake, McArthur will go along for the ride.
Edwin C. Humphreys III has been named senior vice president and director of the Professional Services Solutions Sector. Dr. Brian Jones and Ron Lee have been promoted to vice president. Jones is Air Forces Group technical and strategy director. Lee is director of the engineering solutions division. Robert D. Shuey III has been appointed senior vice president and director of the Legacy Systems Solutions Sector.
Facing a looming trust fund shortfall, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency is boosting what it charges contractors for Foreign Military Sales cases by nearly a third, and adding a new minimum $15,000 charge for smaller sales. It's the first rate change in seven years. Without it, the agency said March 15, the FMS Trust Fund Administrative account "would effectively become insolvent sometime in" fiscal 2009.
TACAIR INTEGRATION: Top Navy and Marine Corps officers are still committed to integrating their tactical air fleets, although specifics have yet to be laid out and both services are aware of "limits," the chief of naval operations told The DAILY. "We're going to have to set what our priorities are as we move forward," Adm. Mike Mullen said. He hopes to figure out more details this year as the Navy identifies changes to its aircraft programs (DAILY, March 15). The first road map was drawn up three years ago and "the world has changed since 2003," Mullen said.
An online survey commissioned by a major U.S. advertising agency has ranked military and weaponry inventiveness and space exploration second and third, respectively, to medical science in the minds of those polled to judge the country's current standing. But they are far from what pollsters said the nation wants as its inventive priorities.
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, criticized Pentagon leaders March 15 for seemingly devolving unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) efforts, such as turning over the Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) to the Navy while the Coast Guard and other border patrol groups could use UAVs, too.
C-BAND COMPLEMENT: The Canadian Space Agency has awarded McDonald, Dettwiler Associates a contract worth $7 million Canadian dollars ($6.7 million) to carry out conceptual design and definition for a fleet of small satellites to complement the existing Radarsat C-band radar imaging family early in the next decade. The next Radarsat spacecraft, Radarsat-2, is set to be orbited in December from Baikonur.
