U.S. troops in Iraq experienced shortages of seven out of nine warfighting items that the Government Accountability Office reviewed, which congressional investigators believe increased risk to military personnel.
PRAGUE - The Czech defense ministry has purchased 24 medium-range AMRAAM AIM-120 missiles from the United States for about $30 million, the ministry said. The agreement was signed April 6 at the U.S. Embassy here. The Raytheon-built missiles will be delivered in 2006. Jaroslav Kopriva, the Czech deputy defense minister, said training is included in the contract.
The U.S. Coast Guard is foregoing the Bell/Agusta AB139 helicopter under its revised Deepwater modernization program and will instead upgrade its existing Sikorsky HH-60 Jayhawks. Sikorsky Aircraft said it has delivered 42 HH-60Js to the Coast Guard for use in search and rescue, offshore law enforcement, drug interdiction, aids to navigation and environmental protection.
MOSCOW - Ukraine plans to continue international cooperation, primarily in the field of launch systems, leaders of the country's space program said April 7 in presenting a summary of Ukraine's space activities for 2004. The joint project with Brazil for conducting Tsiklon-4 commercial operations from Alcantara, Brazil, has been identified as the country's major space project. Other projects include participation in the Russia-led international Radioastron space observatory project as well as joint experiments on the International Space Station.
Senators on April 11 started debating the fiscal 2005 warfighting supplemental bill, with one leading GOP senator already suggesting that the chamber needs to raise its appropriations to better match the House or Bush Administration levels. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee, said the SAC's $80.6 billion markup of the bill is below the House-passed version of $81.4 billion and President Bush's original $81.9 billion request (DAILY, April 8).
Legislation that authorizes $8.4 billion in fiscal 2006 for the U.S. Coast Guard's maritime strategy for homeland security, search and rescue missions and operational assets is to be marked up by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Coast Guard subcommittee on April 13.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - ITT Industries' Space Systems Division is primed for growth in all four of its business areas, according to its president, James Manchisi. And, he said in an interview at the Space Symposium here, there are possibilities for future acquisitions in several areas, although he wasn't specific.
The U.S. Army could decide whether to make its temporary addition of 30,000 troops part of the permanent budget as early as fiscal 2007, Maj. Gen. David Ralston, director of Army force management in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, told reporters April 11. "We are currently assessing it. When we first decided on the temporary addition of troops, we thought there would be much less force posture in OIF [Operation Iraqi Freedom] by now, but the optempo has remained high. It would be fiscal 2007 before we would start to see," he said.
It is unclear if Rolls-Royce will be seriously considered to supply new engines for the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft and whether the project will even go forward, a company official said April 11. "There's been back and forth on that. We thought we had a pretty good engine to offer to them and ... whether we're going to be seriously considered for it or not, I can't tell you right now," said Michael D. Ryan, Rolls-Royce's executive vice president for government business.
The Government Accountability Office said Congress should "rethink" whether the current arms export control system can appropriately protect U.S. interests in a post-Sept. 11 world, according to an April 7 report.
XSS-11: The Air Force Research Laboratory plans to launch the XSS-11 microsatellite on April 11 from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a Minotaur launch vehicle. XSS-11 is an $80 million experimental satellite designed to explore future military space applications including on-orbit servicing, diagnostics, maintenance, and space support. After checkout, XSS-11 will autonomously rendezvous with other U.S.-owned or inoperative satellites nearby and demonstrate safe proximity operations around them.
PROFITS MAY FALL: The restructuring of the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) acquisition strategy from an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) to a Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) could reduce industry profits, sources say. "Moving to a FAR contract will be tougher on quality and good on cost. If you talk to smaller contractors, they may have a tough time hanging on, if they have to come in at a significantly lower price level," a source familiar with the program told The DAILY. Another source says even the profits of lead systems integrator Boeing/SAIC could dip.
COHEN GROUP: The Cohen Group, former U.S. Defense Secretary Bill Cohen's consulting firm, has attracted several more heavyweights, including Ret. U.S. Adm. James Loy, former commandant of the Coast Guard and former deputy secretary of homeland security; Ret. U.S. Gen. Paul Kern, who led Army Materiel Command; and Frank Miller, who was senior director for defense policy and arms control on President Bush's National Security Council staff.
The United States has made significant progress upgrading several radars to warn the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system of long-range ballistic missile attacks, according to Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry "Trey" Obering, director of the Missile Defense Agency.
April 11 - 12 -- Technology Training Corp.'s Third Annual UCAVs, Armed UAVs & Precision Munitions Conference. Excalibur Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nev. For more information call 310-563-1223 or go to www.ttcus.com. April 11 - 14 -- 2005 JSEM, Tampa Convention Center, Tampa, Fla. For more information go to www.ndia.org.
Advanced fiber manufacturer DuPont is working to protect soldiers from asymmetric threats such as improvised explosive devices (IED), chemical and biological risks, and ballistic and blast threats, Alexa Dembek, DuPont global business manager for advanced fiber systems, told The DAILY April 8. Weight reduction has been a major concern for the Army, which is trying to become lighter and more agile with its Future Combat Systems (FCS). Currently, a soldier must carry on his back about 120 pounds of equipment.
Over the past 14 years, budget pressures have reduced the number of tactical aviation (TACAIR) aircraft that some observers estimate the Defense Department can afford by more than 30%, according to Christopher Bolkcom, national defense specialist for the Congressional Research Service.
An ongoing audit of the Defense Department's procurement practices outside normal, more-accountable federal acquisition practices has been suspended to support defense base realignment and closure and other operational priorities, Defense Department Inspector General Joseph E. Schmitz has told lawmakers.
Lockheed Martin has successfully completed a week-long demonstration of a system designed to manage a wide range of military tactical battlefield networks, the company said April 7.
