Government Executive - Authors - Otto Kreisher

Navy secretary announces special review team for contracts

Otto Kreisher — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Addressing the Navy League's annual Sea-Air-Space exposition at the National Harbor convention center, Mabus repeated the warning he gave the audience of service members and defense contractors last year that he "would not hesitate to recommend or to cancel programs that are too expensive, ineffective, or unneeded."

He cited the example of the Marine Corps' long-sought Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle that Defense Secretary Robert Gates canceled early this year with support from Mabus and Gen. James Amos, the Marine Corps commandant.

But while Mabus said he would continue to insist on better cost control and performance in contracts, "we also have to be strict about the integrity of the procurement process. We will not accept any impropriety, kickbacks, bribery, or fraud."

The secretary said he directed the review team "to investigate and recommend improvements in the contracting process to protect against its occurrence in the future." He said the department also has expanded the use of "fact-based suspension and disbarment actions."

Asked about the review team at a brief media availability later, Mabus said his action was triggered more by a recent indictment involving a Navy contract, than by doubts about the service's overall contracting practices.

He appeared to be referring to a criminal complaint filed on February 8 in a federal court in Rhode Island against a Navy systems engineer and the president of Advanced Solutions for Tomorrow. The charges alleged bribery of a public official in connection with an ongoing kickback scheme involving approximately $10 million of naval funds, according to a Navy release.

The Navy also has suspended the Georgia-based company, and on March 11 canceled all active contracts with it.

The suspended contracts included one in which Advanced Solutions provided engineering and technical services for submarine combat and command and control systems to the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, R.I., and in support of unmanned undersea vehicle capability, and the design and development of combat-systems architecture, the Navy said.

Mabus said the agreement late on Friday that should fund the government through the end of fiscal year 2011 after six months of continuing resolutions will allow the Navy to buy the second Virginia class attack submarine, the first of the Mobile Landing Platform ships, and to move ahead with other programs that were threatened by the prolonged reliance on CRs.

The budget compromise also will make life easier for the sailors, Marines, and their families by allowing them to go back to providing a six-month notice of permanent change of station orders, instead of the two-month lead required under the CR, Mabus said.

Mabus ducked a question about speculation that he was a leading candidate to replace Gates, saying: "I have a wonderful job and I will stay in it as long as the president wants me."

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United States has to look to others for help in space

Otto Kreisher — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0500

The United States can't afford all the national security space assets it needs, so the military must work with the commercial sector, other government agencies and other nations, including Russia, three top Pentagon leaders on space policy said on Wednesday.

That cooperation and steps to help preserve the space industrial base, which is facing increasing global competition, are key elements of the recently released National Security Space Strategy, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Lynn said it is the first national strategy for space and was produced to address the fact that space is becoming more congested with active satellites and debris; more contested, posing threats to vital U.S. assets; and more competitive as more than 60 nations have satellites in orbit.

Because of the growing competition, the United States has fallen from a two-thirds share of the global market in space products to 25 percent or 30 percent, Lynn said.

The new strategy aims "not only to protect our space assets, but to protect space itself and protect the industrial base," he added.

Part of the strategy, reflected in the fiscal 2012 Defense budget, is to shift from buying unique space systems one or two at a time to buying similar systems en bloc, beginning with a multi-year purchase of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, Lynn said.

Donley said buying the rockets separately from the satellites they will carry into space is another change aimed at reducing the cost of replacing space assets; those adjustments will provide more stability for the producers and allow for faster reconstitution of lost national security satellites.

Cartwright, who previously led U.S. Strategic Command, said there is a growing need for better "space situational awareness," which means knowing what is in space that could threaten U.S. satellites and allow for quicker detection of "anomalies," such as potential anti-satellite devices.

There are more than 20,000 known pieces of space debris and at least 1,100 active satellites, according to the strategy document.

"We have a good idea of what's out there, as long as you give us days," Cartwright said.

A way to get better situational awareness would be to get more cooperation from other nations that have satellites, the general added.

Even if the cost of new space systems was reduced, he said the United States "still can't afford most of the constellations we have up there."

That means the nation needs to cooperate with all the other users of space assets, including Russia, with whom Cartwright worked during his days at Strategic Command.

"I think there is great opportunity in space for partnering with Russia," he said.

The new strategy was developed with NASA, the National Reconnaissance Office, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Director of National Intelligence.

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Air Force chief tells industry to brace for budget cuts

Otto Kreisher — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0500

The Air Force's top officer told an audience of defense industry representatives on Wednesday that with the emerging budget crunch they must produce the capabilities they contract for and deliver them on time.

But Gen. Norton Schwartz, the Air Force chief of staff, said the services also will have to "scale back" their requirements for future systems.

"It's a simple thing to me -- deliver what you promise and don't promise what you can't deliver," Schwartz told the National Defense Industrial Association forum. He warned that there would be "little tolerance" for deviations from contractual agreements.

Asked about the effects of the expected tightening of defense budgets after nearly 10 years of sizable increases, Schwartz said slipping schedules "will be problematic for us." That is true because when they plan replacements for existing systems, "you make certain assumptions" on what the new systems will provide, he said. "If those assumptions prove faulty, you obviously have to have fallbacks, which typically are not as effective and not as economical."

He cited the Air Force's urgent "fighter recapitalization" program, which depends on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Because the Lockheed Martin program is running years late, "We might have to take some actions to extend the service life of the legacy fleet," he said. "In ideal circumstances, you wouldn't have to do that."

The Air Force is studying ways to prolong the service life of its aging F-16 and F-15s, which could burn up billions of dollars.

Schwartz said he did not want to leave the impression "that every challenge we have is industry's fault alone. It's not. The [Defense] Department has its place in fixing requirements and stabilizing assumptions."

"The bottom line is, we have to reduce the uncertainty for a little while in acquisition outcomes, and that probably will require we be more conservative." Schwartz said that means the Air Force will "have to scale back our ambitions a bit," on future requirements, which will be evident in the "effort to field a long-range strike capability." In seeking the new stealthy, nuclear-capable bomber, "we're not going to be as ambitious as we were perhaps at one time," he said.

"That will make it easier for us to manage, and less challenging for industry to keep its promises."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates stopped the Air Force's new bomber program last year, but restarted it in his Jan. 6 "efficiencies" announcement. But the Air Force will have to cut other expenses to pay for the bomber.

While noting that "being less ambitious would be a better strategy" on starting new programs, Schwartz mentioned a couple areas where the Air Force will seek to add capabilities. Speaking to a forum focusing on special operations, Schwartz said the Air Force Special Operations Command was looking to add some smaller, cheaper aircraft to help it develop and train air forces in developing countries, as it is doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. He mentioned some small, commercially available transports and a "light-strike aircraft."

The later program has a competition between the Brazilian-made Tucano and the modified version of the T-6 primary training plane offered by Lockheed and Hawker-Beechcraft.

Schwartz also said he would add 600 combat air controllers, airmen who work with ground combat units to call in close air support.

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Air Force general: Aging tankers wasting fuel

Otto Kreisher — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0500

The general leading the U.S. Transportation Command said on Monday he needed the Air Force's much-delayed new tanker "yesterday," to make operations more efficient and save millions of gallons of fuel by reducing the load the airborne gas stations have to carry back to base.

In describing the vast daily operations necessary to support U.S. forces around the world, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, Gen. Duncan McNabb said, "We pass more fuel than we carry cargo."

The huge C-17 and C-5 transports that currently haul much of the critical cargo from the United States to overseas bases usually must be refueled in flight at least once. Those refueling flights make up a large share of the 900 sorties McNabb said his command flies daily.

And virtually every combat sortie flown by U.S. and coalition fighters into Afghanistan and Iraq requires one or more airborne refuelings.

"Whenever you hear about a new tanker being my No. 1 priority, that's why," McNabb told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"We're depending on this 50-year-old airplane" to meet that critical need, he said of the aging fleet of KC-135 tankers acquired from 1957 to 1965.

McNabb added that his concern is "not the airplanes we have today, it's 20 years from now," because it is "going to take a long time" to replace them.

"How many years can I wait? Not any. We needed the tanker yesterday," he said.

"We started working on this 10 years ago," McNabb added, although he noted that he does "understand all the process."

The general said the new tanker could save millions of gallons of fuel because it will be able to pass unused fuel to the tanker relieving it on station. The KC-135 cannot take on fuel in flight, so a tanker finishing its mission must carry all unused fuel back to base; the tanker then burns more fuel because it is carrying that additional weight.

"Those aircraft take fuel to the fight and bring it back," returning with an average of 30,000 pounds of fuel, McNabb said.

"If you can leave that fuel in the fight, you only carry it one time," he noted, estimating that doing so would reduce total fuel consumption for the airborne tanker mission by 20 percent to 25 percent.

"When you're talking 5 million pounds of fuel a day, 20 to 25 percent is a lot," the general said.

The Air Force's effort to replace the KC-135s has been marred by mistakes and scandal, with a 2001 attempt to lease 100 new tankers based on the Boeing 767 resulting in criminal convictions of a senior Air Force procurement official, Darleen Druyun, and a Boeing executive.

In 2004, European aerospace giant EADS won the subsequent competition with Boeing for the $35 billion contract to build 179 new tankers with its A330, but the decision was reversed after the Government Accountability Office upheld Boeing's protest.

The two corporations are now locked in another competition for the contract, with final offers due this week. The Air Force is expected to announce the contract award within the next several weeks.

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Demand for unmanned systems meeting new fiscal reality

Otto Kreisher — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0500

The military's demand for unmanned systems-air, ground and maritime-is soaring, but so is the cost of the increasingly sophisticated drones.

Those factors, and the prospect of tightening defense budgets, is leading a long line of officials involved in unmanned programs to urge their industry suppliers to help them reduce the cost to buy and operate them.

The recommendations for lowering the cost of the drones, presented at a three-day conference that ended Thursday, included greater commonality of platforms and control systems, more versatility and modularity and increased automation and autonomy that would help reduce the need for expensive military operators.

The growth of unmanned systems was highlighted by Air Force Col. James Gear, who said the Air Force's use of remotely piloted aircraft-his service's preferred term for unmanned air systems-had soared 1,200 percent since 2004. That enabled an increase in daily reconnaissance missions over Iraq and Afghanistan from seven to 50, in response to orders from Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

The three other services, and the air and maritime division of the Customs and Border Protection agency, also cited growing use of drones.

But the concern over the mounting costs was signaled by Zachary Lemnios, the Defense Department's chief technologist, who told the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International forum that his four imperatives included "driving down" the time, cost, and risk of acquiring the drones.

Many of the uniformed and civilian defense officials at the forum cited the growing cost of the drones and the likelihood of leveling or declining defense budgets among their major concerns.

Scott Fish, the Army's chief scientist, said "because money is tight," they had to stress "cost-benefit trades" when planning new unmanned system. "Maybe some of the things we've been driving toward are not really what we need."

Several of the officers who spoke said the cost of drones hurt combat effectiveness.

Army Lt. Col. James Cutting said there was "an insatiable demand" for intelligence-collecting UAS. But "when you have multi-million-dollar sensors on multi-million-dollar platforms, you can't buy one for everyone."

Officials from all the services complained that virtually every new unmanned systems program had unique internal guidance and processing systems, which require unique control stations. They called on the industry to develop systems with enough commonality that one control station can manage multiple platforms, and modular vehicles with "open architecture" computer programs that would facilitate different sensor and communications payloads and permit inexpensive updates.

Because the increasing numbers and capabilities of the intelligence-gathering UAS are producing more information than human operators can handle, the officials also asked for vehicles that could analyze the data they gather and send only vital information.

And with the high cost of trained service members, they wanted a single operator to be able to control multiple vehicles.

One industry representative complained that the services were asking them to produce higher quality systems at a lower cost and in smaller numbers, which would hurt profits.

But Glenn Rizzi, the senior adviser on UAS for the Army's training command, said if industry made the drones cheaper, "that way you could sell us more."

The services are acting on their own to lower the cost of their unmanned systems, by buying the most popular air and ground drones through joint programs and even sharing them in the combat zone.

And Col. Gear said the Air Force is training designated RPA pilots through a shorter, less expensive program, instead of using pilots trained through the years-long and costly traditional system.

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Navy admiral urges diligence in fight against pirates

Otto Kreisher — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0500

The U.S. Navy admiral responsible for countering the pirates operating from Somalia said Wednesday that the expanding threat should be addressed with the same rigor applied to counterterrorism.

That's particularly true when it comes to tracing the millions of dollars being paid to ransom captured sailors.

Vice Adm. Mark Fox said he had no "explicit intelligence" that the al-Qaida-connected al Shaba terrorists, who control most of Somalia, are benefiting from the ransom money, but noted that, "I'm loath to hope that there's not" a link.

Fox noted that "millions of dollars are being pumped into the potentially lawless society in Somalia," but the pirates who capture the ships receive only thousands of dollars from the ransoms paid by ship owners.

"We have not used the same level of rigor in terms of following the money in the counter-piracy effort as we have in counter-terror," Fox told a Defense Writers Group breakfast.

He said he has urged an extensive intelligence effort to see if there are links between the ransom money and al Shaba.

"If you lump them completely together, that changes your approach."

Fox, the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and Fifth Fleet, said the United States and most of the nations cooperating in fighting piracy have used what he termed "the Western approach" to dealing with the ship hijacking, by primarily focusing on the safety of the crew members.

Because of that, with only a few exceptions, force was not used to recover pirated ships. U.S. Navy SEALs killed three pirates who were holding the captain of the Maersk Alabama hostage in 2009, and last year Marines raided the Magellan Star to capture the pirates and rescue the crew. Last week, South Korean commandos recovered a pirated ship, killing most of the pirates.

Fox said he cannot "take off the table" the use of force to resolve a hostage situation.

The admiral said the pirates' increasing use of larger hijacked vessels as "mother ships" to carry the small boats used to raid ships "is a potential game-changer" in the piracy problem.

The Somali pirates initially used skiffs that could not operate in bad weather or go very far offshore. Most of the early pirate attacks were in the nearby Gulf of Aden, the busy shipping route from the Suez Canal and Red Sea into the Indian Ocean. International naval patrols concentrating on that route have virtually eliminated hijackings in the Gulf, he said.

But by using the larger ships, the pirates now are capturing merchant ships more than 1,000 miles away, Fox said. "They are going where we're not," he said.

Because of that far-reaching activity, the number of seamen held hostage by the pirates has jumped from about 350 to 750 since he took command in the summer.

Although international forces "are constantly reassessing" their operations, Fox said, there is no single military solution to the piracy problem. He noted the recent United Nations report urging an international legal framework to deal with the problem, including where captured pirates can be tried.

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Seapower subcommittee chair pushes for more Defense spending

Otto Kreisher — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0500

The chairman of the House Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee told a Navy audience Wednesday that despite the concerns over the budget deficit, the nation was not spending enough on defense.

They could start cutting in other areas of government spending that he said were not necessary, and maybe not even constitutional, Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., said. He advocated returning to "first principles" and fund those things the federal government was intended to do, including "providing for the common defense."

The idea of cutting the total budget by taking a certain percentage from everything was "stupid," Akin told the Surface Navy Association conference in Arlington, Va.

Akin said he was confident the large contingent of new conservative Republicans in the House would understand their constitutional responsibility was to properly fund the national defense.

While acknowledging the recent notice of China's major improvements in military technology, including possible operational capability of an anti-ship ballistic missile and first flight of an F-22-like stealthy fighter, Akin said a greater threat to the Navy was internal, in the way the government spends taxpayer money.

Part of the problem with the way the government spends is that Congress is "an old institution" and its organization is "all messed up," the congressman said. He singled out the fact that the authorizing committees, such as Armed Services, had no real power over funding, which is controlled by the Appropriations Committee. He called for unifying the authorization and appropriations process, while acknowledging that veteran lawmakers would resist.

Earlier at the SNA conference, the Navy's No. 2 officer said the service's leaders are "going to have to be more aggressive" in reaching out to the lawmakers and aides who will shape their authorization and funding.

Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the vice chief of naval operations, also said it was "incredibly hard" for the services to operate under the continuing resolution approved by the lame-duck Congress in December to fund the government, instead of the normal full-year appropriations. The CR extends the fiscal 2010 funding levels, with some minor adjustments, and covers only ongoing programs.

"The major problem of a continuing resolution is, we're just continuing," the admiral said. "Everything that's a new start, we can't get started," he said.

The "antiquated rules" of a CR impose other restrictions on how the services can spend their funds, making it difficult to manage the money, Greenert added.

He said the Pentagon would send a report to Congress this month explaining the "impact" of continuing with the CR beyond the current March end point. Then Congress will have to decide how to continue for the rest of the fiscal year, he said.

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Marine general sees some good in Gates' reductions

Otto Kreisher — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0500

The Marine Corps' top general Thursday disputed the widely held view that the Marines took the biggest hit in Defense Secretary Robert Gates' latest round of "efficiencies," saying there was "a lot of good" in those actions.

Gen. James Amos, the Marine Corps commandant, said he had recommended the cancellation of the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle because the cost of the revolutionary high-speed amphibious assault vehicle had become "too onerous."

Amos said that the soaring cost of the EFV created a situation in which he would have to spend 80 percent of his procurement budget to buy 535 vehicles. That did not make sense, he told the Surface Navy Association conference in Arlington, Va.

He noted that the Defense secretary emphasized in his announcement last week that cancellation of the projected $15 billion EFV program, after more than a decade of technology problems and cost overruns, "was in no way a refutation of the Marine Corps' amphibious assault mission."

The Marines are committed to developing an effective, survivable, and affordable amphibious assault vehicle "sooner, rather than later," Amos said. He suggested that the rapid acquisition of the Mine Resistant Armor Protected (MRAP) vehicles to counter IEDS in Iraq and Afghanistan could be the model for producing a quick replacement for EFV.

On Gates's decision to put the short-takeoff, vertical-landing (STOVL) version of the F-35 on a two-year probation with a threat of cancellation, Amos said he was confident that the problems can be corrected. He called the STOVL F-35B vital to the Marines' expeditionary mission and to assuring close air support of ground forces while operating from "austere" airfields or "big deck" amphibious ships.

Amos pointed out that corrections already had been found for several of the problems that had slowed testing of the F-35B, including failures of a key structural component. The mid-fuselage bulkhead had been redesigned and has shown no new failures, he said.

He noted that an F-35B had conducted a vertical landing during tests last week at Patuxent Naval Air Station, Md.

The general also defended the Marines' commitment to the amphibious mission, rejecting the "erroneous claim" that forcible entry landings were the only purpose for amphibious forces. He said Navy-Marine amphibious units had performed more than 50 amphibious operations for humanitarian relief, disaster assistance or crisis response since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Amos contended that the Marines are leading the Pentagon effort to reduce energy consumption for deployed forces and were engaged in a major program to reduce the size, weight, and energy use of the expeditionary units. That project would address everything from what individual Marines wear and carry to the Corps' major equipment.

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Northrop sees rising demand for Global Hawks

Otto Kreisher — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Northrop Grumman officials on Wednesday described a year of progress and ambitious plans for their high-flying, long-endurance Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle program, including possible additional foreign sales that would add to the more than 150 aircraft already built or under contract.

The officials said 2010 was the year "Global Hawk truly went global," with first flights of Air Force RQ-4s from two overseas bases, continued Air Force and Navy combat surveillance missions in the U.S. Central Command area, and advances in preparing the high-altitude drones for European allies.

George Guerra, vice president of the Northrop program, said the company also is in discussions with Japan on the possible purchase of four or five Global Hawks.

Meanwhile, Guerra said, the company is working closely with Air Force officials on more than 100 suggestions for addressing the concerns of Pentagon and Air Force acquisition executives over the growing cost of the program. Guerra said the initiatives being studied could reduce both production and sustainment costs to cut the overall price of the massive program, projected at more than $6 billion for just the Air Force effort.

Guerra would not quantify the possible savings pending the discussions with the Air Force.

Launched in the 1980s as a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program, Global Hawk experienced the all-too-common cost and schedule overruns. But the early developmental models were sent into combat, flying reconnaissance missions over Iraq. And the first group of aircraft, called Block 10s, are now flying missions over Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf.

With a fuselage the size of a large business jet's and wings longer than a 747's, the jet-powered aircraft can fly higher than 65,000 feet and stay airborne for more than 30 hours, carrying a variety of sophisticated radars and other sensors and transmitting the information by satellite.

Current Global Hawks have an estimated unit cost of more than $30 million. But the Government Accountability Office said the aircraft cost $130 million when the expense of development, testing, and ground support stations is included.

Guerra said the Air Force Global Hawks and a Block 10 aircraft bought by the Navy as a demonstrator for its Broad Area Maritime Surveillance program have amassed more than 37,000 hours of combat missions.

And, he noted, Air Force RQ-4s deployed to Guam and to Sigonella Naval Air Station in Sicily had their first flights this year, preparing for operational missions. The Navy also will use those bases for its maritime surveillance missions, which will reduce the operating costs for both services.

Northrop has built improved and enlarged Block 20 Global Hawks for the Air Force, is producing two even more sophisticated Air Force models, and has begun assembly of the first BAMS for the Navy.

The firm also is preparing an aircraft for a flight to Germany, where it will be matched with European-made sensors in the EuroHawk program. In addition, Northrop is building the first of at least six Global Hawks for NATO.

Several other allied countries, including Korea and Australia, have expressed interest in the Global Hawk.

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Army touts off-the-shelf helicopter purchases

Otto Kreisher — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

The Army's program manager for utility helicopters extolled the new UH-72A Lakotas now going into active Army and Army National Guard units, saying the government is benefiting significantly from the adoption of a commercially developed aircraft.

The maker of the Lakota, EADS North America, is hoping that benefit will give it an advantage in an expected Army program to produce a new armed scout helicopter to replace the aged OH-58 Kiowa Warriors.

Col. Neil Thurgood told reporters at the annual Association of the U.S. Army meeting Tuesday that EADS has delivered 133 of the planned 345 Lakotas on time and within budget since the first delivery in 2007. The aircraft has proven itself in the variety of missions for which it is designed, including medical evacuation, security, and logistics.

The fact that the Lakota is derived from a commercially proven helicopter whose systems are certified by the Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Communications Commission has made it easier to put it into service with the guard units, he said. The Lakota's communications systems, which are state-of-the-art digital, are compatible with civilian police and emergency service departments, a valuable asset in the guard's support for civil authorities missions, the colonel said.

The Army also saved a lot of money because the Lakota's development was paid for by EADS and benefits from the established equipment supplier base, Thurgood said.

In addition, Thurgood said the Lakota has helped the Army relieve a shortage in its vital UH-60 Blackhawk force by replacing Blackhawks used in the United States, which can be sent to fill out units deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. John Burke, EADS North America's light utility helicopter vice president, said the company has been developing possible modifications to the Lakota that could make it a candidate for the light armed scout program the Army is considering.

Col. Robert Grigsby, program manager for the armed scout program, said the Army is going through a deliberate analysis of alternatives on how to fill that mission. But he noted the current armed scout, the OH-58, is approaching 40 years old and only 261 of the original 331 are left due to combat and accidents.

The Army is budgeting millions of dollars to upgrade and extend the life of the Kiowas, he said.

Gribsby said the Army expects to sign a contract with Bell Helicopter shortly for the first six new OH-58s Congress has funded as war replacements. He hopes to get Congress to restore six of the 12 the Army wanted in 2012.

Click here for a glimpse of National Journal's new website.

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GI bill, sagging economy boost military recruiting

Otto Kreisher — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

After another highly successful year of meeting their personnel requirements and attracting exceptionally high quality young men and women, the military's top recruiting officials acknowledged Tuesday that the high unemployment rate was a factor, but praised the post-9/11 GI bill educational benefit as an important draw.

Clifford Stanley, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, and officials from the four armed services announced that they had met their fiscal 2010 goals of recruiting a total of 165,291 new active-duty service members, with 99 percent having high school diplomas or the equivalent, and 117,347 National Guard and reserve recruits with 96 percent.

But looking ahead, Stanley said, "Recruiting remains a challenge." And the Army's recruiting commander, Maj. Gen. Don Campbell, explained that seven in 10 young Americans in the eligible age group are not qualified for military service because of health, education or personal conduct reasons.

Stanley and the service recruiting officials said there was no precise way to predict what impact a certain drop in unemployment would have on their efforts, but agreed the economy is one of the factors influencing young people to enlist.

All of them, however, said the availability of the GI Bill college education payments, and particularly the new opportunity to transfer that benefit to family members was a great incentive to enlist.

Stanley expressed some concern over the tentative sharp reductions in funding for recruiting and reenlistment bonuses in the fiscal 2011 Defense Appropriations bills still working their way through Congress.

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Military space programs at risk, experts say

Otto Kreisher — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0400

U.S. national security space capabilities, so critical to deployed combat forces and national missile defense, and the supporting industrial base are at a dangerous "tipping point" and need focused leadership and long-term stability in programs and budgets to avoid a crisis, a panel of administration officials and defense space experts warned Tuesday.

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry (Trey) Obering, the former director of the Missile Defense Agency, warned that the soaring cost and prolonged development time for new satellites had left the nation with no backup systems to replace any that could be affected by hostile action.

With the anti-satellite capabilities demonstrated by China and others, the space assets so important to U.S. missile defense are "extremely vulnerable," Obering said.

Obering, who was the immediate predecessor to current MDA Director Patrick O'Reilly, and two Pentagon officials advocated reducing the initial capabilities of satellites to get systems in use faster and at lower cost, then build on those capabilities for later models. "Take smaller bites . . . reduce the risk," Obering said.

Steven Miller, a Pentagon cost analyst, said, "We don't have anything in the barn. Assured access [to space] depends on having those systems and the ability to get them into space."

James Miller, the principal undersecretary of defense for policy, said he saw "major challenges and opportunities" in the long-term national security space program. The administration is working on a new space policy, export control changes and a 15-year space budget as steps to improve defense space capabilities, he said.

Noting that the U.S. share of the international space market fell from 73 percent in 1995 to 23 percent in 2005, he said, "We do need to rebuild U.S. leadership in space."

The officials spoke at a Capitol Hill forum held in conjunction with the release of an Aerospace Industry Association report that warned of the fragile condition of the national security space capabilities and industrial base.

The association's report said the space industrial base was at "a tipping point beyond which irreparable harm to our nation's defense and economy could occur." The report advocated leadership and program stability, modernization of the space infrastructure, changes in the export controls that limit U.S. international sales, efforts to sustain and replace a declining space work force and "robust" space research and development programs.

Aerospace Industry Association president Marion Blakey praised the efficiency initiatives and procurement improvements introduced by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the sweeping revision of export controls ordered by President Obama.

Those efforts were supported by the other speakers at the forum, all of whom stressed the importance of space assets to U.S. defenses.

Because the nation is so dependent on space for surveillance, precision navigation and strike, long-range communications and missile warning, James Miller, the undersecretary, said, "it's clear the U.S. has the most to lose" from attacks on space assets. He said the administration was committed to developing the capabilities to deter, defend and, if necessary, defeat threats to U.S. space assets.

While acknowledging the need to invest more on space, he said, "We have to be smart. We're not going to buy our way out of this problem."

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Pentagon official seeks support for contracting initiatives

Otto Kreisher — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0400

The Pentagon's top acquisition executive told an Air Force audience Wednesday that implementing the set of sweeping acquisition reforms was essential because without them, the nation could not give the troops the capabilities they need as defense budgets get tighter.

And to the Air Force officers and industry representatives in the audience, Ashton Carter said those who hope the department will be unable to achieve the proposed reforms, "you have to consider the alternatives."

Carter listed as potential consequences: broken or canceled programs, "uncertainty and turbulence in the budget, market uncertainty, difficulty for industry, erosion in the confidence of the taxpayer that they are getting value for their dollars ... and foregone military capabilities."

But on the positive side, Carter said part of the acquisition improvement effort was to "incentivize productivity and innovation in industry" and that "profit is a perfectly appropriate topic" for the defense acquisition executives.

The day after he and Defense Secretary Robert Gates outlined the 23 changes to the contracting process at a Pentagon news briefing, Carter, the undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, told the Air Force Association conference at the National Harbor convention center that the challenge would be implementation.

The acquisition reforms had received a generally favorable review earlier in the day from Aerospace Industry Association President Marion Blakey, who told the AFA audience that many of the initiatives matched the industry's recommendations.

And as Carter was speaking, the two leaders of the House Armed Services Committee's acquisition reform panel issued a statement endorsing the new effort.

"We applaud Secretary Gates and Dr. Carter for tackling acquisition reform and for embracing many of the reforms identified in our panel's report and in the House-passed IMPROVE Acquisition Act to meet this end," said Reps. Robert Andrews, D-N.J., and Mike Conaway, R-Texas. They said the Pentagon initiatives made it even more important that the Senate pass the House-approved bill.

Carter told the AFA audience that an improved acquisition was necessary because the defense budget was expected to rise only slightly in real terms in future years.

With an end to the double-digit annual increases of the last nine years, he said, the Pentagon leaders concluded "we can't support the troops with the capabilities they need unless we learn to deliver better value for the defense dollars and thereby achieve the programs we need with the dollars that the taxpayers can afford to give us."

Carter expressed confidence they could achieve their objectives to save $100 billion over five years from "low value-added activities" so the funds could be shifted to the needs of the warfighters.

He said he was confident of success because they are "reasonable objectives, come at end of a decade of very rapid growth" and have the support of the president, the secretary and Congress.

Carter praised the Air Force secretary, chief of staff and acquisition executive for leading the way on procurement reform, citing their improvements in maintaining the nation's nuclear weapons system and the effort to build a long-range strike capability at an affordable price.

Addressing a program of high interest for the Air Force, Carter said he could not tell them when officials would announce a winner of the competition to build a new refueling tanker.

"It's not a secret; it's unknown. It will be done when it's done. We're working very hard to get it right," he said, reflecting a decade of mistakes and scandal surrounding the program.

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Industry chief welcomes Defense acquisition reforms

Otto Kreisher — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0400

The head of the Aerospace Industry Association on Wednesday enthusiastically welcomed the package of acquisition reform initiatives announced Tuesday by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and offered suggestions for additional changes to improve efficiency and save billions of dollars.

While noting industry concern with some of the proposed changes, AIA President Marion Blakey said the 23 directives to the defense acquisition work force were a real step forward and will align closely with many of the recommendations the industry gave the Pentagon.

AIA wants to work with Gates and Ashton Carter, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, to refine and implement the acquisition reforms, she added.

"We believe that really reducing cost inefficiencies will require a joint DoD-industry partnership," she said.

Addressing the Air Force Association's conference at the National Harbor convention center, Blakey said Congress also must be involved. While praising the acquisition-reform legislation enacted in the last session, she cautioned that Congress does not like to be involved late in the process.

Citing AIA's long-running demands for export-control reform, Blakey said Congress will have to be persuaded that the sweeping changes the Obama administration has proposed can protect national security while helping U.S. firms increase foreign sales.

In embracing the Gates-Carter initiatives and promising industry cooperation, Blakey noted that the effort to reduce unnecessary costs to shift funds to procurement during a declining defense could affect all of the aerospace industry, not just the defense sector.

"The stakes are very high," for the economy as well as national security, she said.

Blakey explained several of the 96 proposals AIA presented to Carter to reduce the cost and the time required to develop and produce high-tech systems.

First was more use of multiyear procurement contracts. Although not all programs are compatible with multiyear contracts, she said this would work for most aircraft programs, including the F-35. She noted that the recent multiyear agreement for Navy F/A-18 and EA-18 aircraft could save $600 million.

Another priority was performance-based logistics, in which industry maintains or supports defense systems on a cost-per-unit basis. Although some defense officials do not like it, Blakey said a PBL contract reduced the cost of a flying hour for the C-17 transport by 28 percent.

The industry also wants a sharp reduction in the requirement for cost data in contracts.

She noted that in the last contract for C-17s, after nearly 200 had been bought, Boeing had to submit 63,000 pages of cost data. After years of production, cost could be determined by analysis, she said.

AIA also supports reduction in "government-unique requirements" and more use of planned block upgrades to systems.

When a questioner at the conference noted the expected closure of several of the large aircraft production plants as programs end, Blakey suggested the Pentagon should be more concerned in preserving the critical industrial base.

When those facilities are gone, she said, "you can't get them back."

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Nuclear program has Air Force both worried and hopeful

Otto Kreisher — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0400

The commander of the U.S. Strategic Command expressed concern on Monday over several aspects of nuclear deterrent capabilities but praised the Nuclear Posture Review and the administration's fiscal 2011 budget that requested a substantial funding increase to upgrade nuclear weapons facilities and modernize and sustain the weapons stockpile.

Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton also gave a strong endorsement of the New START arms control treaty, calling it a "strategy-based approach" to which his command contributed.

Earlier in the day at the Air Force Association's conference at the National Harbor convention center in Maryland, a number of senior Air Force officers in nuclear deterrent commands noted the improvements made in the last two years to re-establish high standards of security and performance and to start improvements in the aged nuclear weapons arsenal.

In addressing the challenges to nuclear deterrence, Chilton warned that the critical capability to warn of a possible nuclear attack is eroding because of the continued failure of the Space Based Infrared missile launch warning system.

He noted that he protested the lack of the SBIRS network of satellites in 2008 and 2009 and was assured both times that launch of the first satellites was imminent. But the program remains trapped in technical problems and threatened by massive cost overruns.

"It is past time to eliminate this critical gap in our strategic missile warning system," he said.

Chilton also protested the badly deteriorated condition of the nuclear weapons production facilities at Oak Ridge, Tenn., which he noted, were built during the Manhattan Project in the 1940s.

But he praised the steps taken by the administration "to reverse the 15-year neglect" of the nuclear infrastructure, including refurbishment and upgrades to the nuclear warheads.

Chilton expressed concern that there was no plan to replace the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, but noted that the Navy has started work on replacing the Ohio-class strategic missile submarines. He suggested it also should begin planning a replacement for the D-5 Trident missiles the subs carry.

He also worried about the future of the solid rocket industrial base that would be needed to produce replacements for the Minuteman and the D-5.

On the positive side, Chilton cited the NPR, which confirmed the need for a strong nuclear deterrent force and continuation of the nuclear Triad of land- and sea-based missiles and bombers, and the New START treaty.

Asked about his previous comments that even if Russia cheated on the treaty's limits it would not be a problem, Chilton said the verification system would prevent a militarily significant violation. And even if the Russians violated the pact, they could not gain enough of an edge to consider a nuclear attack.

Ratification of the treaty in the Senate has been delayed by Republican concern about the arms reduction and verification.

Earlier, officials noted that the Air Force has spent $8.5 billion in rebuilding its nuclear deterrent capabilities and created the new Global Strike Command to establish a single authority over both the missile and bombers.

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EADS says tanker's flight test should help contract bid

Otto Kreisher — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0400

As the long overdue competition for the new Air Force tanker moves through what should be the final stages, the chairman of the North American unit of the European aerospace firm EADS, Ralph Crosby, insisted Tuesday that the real value of its Airbus A330-based refueling aircraft was not being given proper consideration.

Crosby said he was not complaining or setting the stage for a protest in case EADS loses to Boeing, but he said during a morning news briefing that the proven capability of its KC-45, two of which are flying, greatly reduces the risk that the Air Force will not get the capability it needs.

Crosby's statement is the latest in a prolonged campaign of advertisements, news releases and public statements by the two global competitors for what could be a $50 billion contract for the initial phase of the tanker replacement. With hundreds of additional aircraft expected to be purchased in later competitions, the tanker program is one of the biggest defense deals during a time of expected lower defense budgets.

Crosby repeatedly noted that Boeing had yet to deliver any of its 767-based tankers or to demonstrate many of the capabilities required in the contract bids. He announced that one of EADS' KC-45s transferred fuel at 1,200 gallons a minute to another of its tankers, meeting one of the key requirements.

While that transfer was performed with the tanker's boom, EADS also has demonstrated repeatedly that it can refuel fighter aircraft with its wing-mounted hose and drogue, he said, while asserting that Boeing has yet to conduct a drogue transfer.

The way the competition has been framed, with a fixed price incentive bid, puts most of the financial risk on the contractors, Crosby said. But, he asked, "What about the risk to the warfighter of nonperformance" by the winner?

Although the larger-bodied A330 is expected to be more expensive than Boeing's 767, Crosby insisted that the Airbus's larger fuel load actually makes it 15 percent to 44 percent cheaper to deliver fuel at various distances from its base.

Crosby's on-the-record briefing during the Air Force Association's conference at the National Harbor convention center followed a background discussion by a Boeing official.

Neither of the two officials was willing to say they were prepared to offer a lower price than their initial bids. But they said that the evaluation process normally provides for a "final proposal revision" and that they expected that to occur this time.

Both said a revised price could be higher or lower, because the contract decision is based on "evaluated cost," which considers factors other than cost per aircraft.

Neither of the officials could predict when a contract award would be made, noting that the expected date has been variously described as mid-November or later.

The Boeing official said the Air Force, aided by the Pentagon's top acquisition office, had been submitting evaluation notices, which are questions on details of the bids. He would not provide any details of the kind of questions being asked, but said he thought the evaluators were doing a "very thorough, professional job."

The Air Force has been trying to replace its 50-year-old KC-135 tankers for more than a decade. A team of EADS and Northrop Grumman won an earlier competition, but that was canceled when the Government Accountability Office supported a Boeing protest. Northrop Grumman has since dropped out.

While politics is not supposed to be part of the contract evaluation, the competitors have encouraged rival bands of lawmakers, with Boeing's supporters mainly in the states of Washington and Kansas, where most of the tanker work would go, and EADS's backers mainly in Alabama where it promised to build a manufacturing plant to do final assembly of the KC-45.

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Air Force secretary: 'Make hard choices now'

Otto Kreisher — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Acknowledging the prospect of leaner defense budgets and Pentagon pressure for greater efficiency, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley Monday emphasized improvements in the service's procurement process, more realistic requirements for new systems and more streamlined organizations and command structures.

Donley also described a process for developing a new long-range strike capability that would focus more on conventional warfare than on the service's nuclear mission and would avoid "the painful experience of previous Air Force bomber programs" where unrealistic requirements and high cost forced cancellation or curtailment.

Addressing the Air Force Association conference at the National Harbor convention center in Maryland, the secretary also urged industry representatives in the audience to "help yourselves and help us to be more efficient so we can buy more of what you produce."

Saying he wanted to discuss "the world we live in today and how we'll ensure our Air Force remain postured for what tomorrow brings," Donley's speech was more somber than usual.

Topping the list of recent accomplishments he cited were programs that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has pushed, getting additional remotely piloted aircraft and the manned MC-12 intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance planes to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Looking ahead, Donley saw "significant challenges" including new demands for missile defense, cyber warfare, improved situational awareness in space, including replacing satellites, and "modernizing our aging aircraft inventory" by bringing on the F-35, new trainers, bombers and "specially tankers."

Noting that defense spending is under increasing pressure due to the poor economy and high deficits, Donley said his guidance to Air Force leaders stressed restraint, telling them not to get "over-extended" in programs they cannot afford, to concentrate on a few essential modernization efforts and to re-emphasize program stability.

"Make the hard choices now," he said.

He embraced Gates' guidance to improve internal efficiency to "move resources from our supporting tail to war-fighting tooth," noting that the Air Force has made changes that enabled it to reallocate resources "into growth areas" like ISR and RPA or to "reinforce the critical nuclear enterprise."

Donley also vowed to "keep the pressure on improvements in acquisition" by rebuilding the acquisition workforce and being "better negotiators."

He made it clear that the Air Force was deeply committed to the controversial and potentially hugely expensive procurement of a long-range strike capability to replace the ancient B-52s, aging B-1Bs and limited number of B-2 bombers. Although there is consideration of using converted intercontinental ballistic missiles with conventional warheads, Donley proposed a "family of systems" including weapons, ISR, electronic warfare and communications systems that seemed to be built around aircraft.

And, he said, "while recognizing the continued need for the nuclear mission, we are approaching LRS capabilities mainly from conventional perspectives, where they are most likely to be used." The new capability would be produced with known technologies and consist of a fleet large enough to be flexibly operated and sustained, "but not so large that we cannot afford it, and with unit cost as a key factor."

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Commander cites concern over aging F-16s

Otto Kreisher — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0400

The commander responsible for preventing the use of hijacked aircraft to repeat the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, said Thursday he is concerned about the aging of the Air National Guard F-16 fighters that conduct most of the domestic air defense missions.

Navy Adm. James Winnefeld, commander of the U.S. Northern Command, said he is "watching that as closely as I can," and following the Air Force analyses on the condition of the Air Guard's jets to see whether they can "eke some additional life" out of them.

"For now, the F-16s are hanging in there," Winnefeld told a defense writers breakfast.

The Air Guard, which operates most of the "Noble Eagle" air defense alert missions, flies the oldest of the F-16s, with an average age of more than 21 years. The Guard is not expected to get newer aircraft until the F-35 becomes operational and can replace the younger F-16s flown by the regular Air Force.

Winnefeld, a veteran Navy fighter pilot, said he has talked to Gen. Norton Schwartz, the Air Force chief of staff, about the issue. "I'm sure the Air Force will step up to the plate to ensure that we have adequate aircraft," Winnefeld said. "And today, we do."

Winnefeld said he is confident the nation is much better prepared to prevent a similar attack, with more air alert sites and greatly improved cooperation and information sharing among the military, the FAA and other agencies. If the current capabilities had been present in 2001, he said, "we would have stopped at least three" of the four airliners used in the attacks.

Winnefeld said he has started an analysis within NORTHCOM of the potential need for an aircraft that could fly slower and lower to fill a "capabilities gap" in his air defense mission. While insisting that he was not ready to state a "requirement," the admiral said he was looking at an aircraft that could deal with smaller, general aviation aircraft, which fly at lower altitudes and at slower speeds than airliners.

He cited the use of a single-engine private plane to crash into the IRS building in Dallas on Feb. 18.

The Air Force and the Navy have been examining possible purchase of a turboprop aircraft, such as the Brazilian-made Tucano or the attack version of the T-6 trainer being offered by Hawker Beechcraft. Winnefeld said he was monitoring those studies and would like to see a decision within a year.

Another concern Winnefeld expressed was the restrictions on flying unmanned aircraft within U.S. controlled airspace. The FAA tightly limits the use of UAVs in airways used by airliners and other manned aircraft, because the drones are unable to see and avoid other planes.

Winnefeld said there is a growing need for the military to train with its UAVs in the United States to prepare for deployments overseas, but they cannot fly them from their bases to training areas.

The admiral said he also would like to be able to use UAVs for damage assessments during a natural disaster.

The military and the UAV manufacturers are working on systems that would allow the drones to detect and avoid other aircraft.

Winnefeld praised the Customs and Border Protection bureau for its success in getting permission to fly unmanned surveillance aircraft along the U.S.-Mexico border as part of the effort to stop illegal immigrants and drug smugglers.

CBP had planned to start an additional UAV flight from Corpus Christi, Texas, on Wednesday, but it had to delay the operation because of conflict with training at the Naval Air Station.

The admiral said he is working closely with Mexican authorities in their fight against the drug cartels. Although the "threat is serious" to the United States, he said he is more concerned about "corrosive impact" of the drug smuggling and drug use in this country than the violence that could spill over the border.

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NATO chief affirms Afghan transition plan

Otto Kreisher — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0400

NATO's top official Tuesday expressed confidence that U.S.-led military forces will succeed against the Taliban in Afghanistan and agreed with President Obama's view that the coalition could begin a "gradual transition" to Afghan security forces next summer.

But NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen insisted that the pace of transition had to be based on security conditions on the ground, and he repeatedly said transition does not mean alliance forces will leave Afghanistan before the country can protect itself.

"July 2011 will be a transition point. That doesn't mean an exit" of NATO troops, Rasmussen said during a breakfast with reporters.

The former Danish prime minister said a strategy for transition in Afghanistan would be discussed at the NATO summit in November. That summit also would craft a strategic concept to shape the alliance's security strategy for the 21st century to deal with the new threats that include cyber attacks, terrorism and missiles.

To address that last threat, Rasmussen predicted NATO members would approve creation of a ballistic missile defense system that would expand on Obama's "phased adaptive approach" to build a land- and sea-based defense in Europe against Iranian missiles.

Rasmussen's insistence on a conditions-based transition in Afghanistan mirrors the views of U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of American and alliance forces, who has said Obama's promise to begin withdrawing U.S. troops in July 2011 did not mean a rush to the exits.

Rasmussen presented an optimistic appraisal of security conditions in Afghanistan, saying two-thirds of the county is experiencing "very little fighting" and a lot of development. He conceded that there is "tough fighting" in the southern and eastern parts of the country, but said with the nearly completed build-up of U.S. and alliance troops, the Taliban "cannot win."

"NATO will never allow the Taliban to regain control," he said.

The NATO leader noted that while the United States was adding 30,000 troops, NATO members had committed 7,000 more. He expressed concern that Americans "don't see international forces also pulling their weight," even though they supply one-third of the troops and have sustained one-third of the casualties.

Alliance troops also are deeply involved in the effort to build up Afghan security forces to 300,000 by October 2011, he said.

Rasmussen said the November summit would embrace a NATO missile defense system that would build on its current theater defense to shield deployed forces against tactical missiles. He said a system that could protect all of Western Europe could be achieved at an additional cost of 200 million euros.

The new defense system would be based on NATO's command structure and the U.S. anti-missile assets "would be considered an input to the NATO system," he added.

Rasmussen also said NATO would invite Russia to join in the missile defense program, although Moscow repeatedly has rebuffed similar offers from Obama.

Asked about Defense Secretary Robert Gates' drive for efficiencies in U.S. defense programs, Rasmussen said he was committed to seeing similar steps within NATO.

But without commenting on Gates' plan to close the Joint Forces Command -- which has been vigorously opposed by Virginia's congressional delegation -- Rasmussen said he did not believe NATO would move the Allied Command Transformation center, which is part of the Norfolk-based U.S. command.

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Military plans to test new helicopter alert threat system

Otto Kreisher — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0400

In its effort to respond quickly to requests from the combatant commanders in Iraq or Afghanistan, the Pentagon is about to deploy an experimental system intended to help helicopters evade deadly small-arms fire, the military's top science and technology official said Thursday.

The helicopter alert threat system is a spin-off of the Boomerang sniper detection devices already being used on ground combat vehicles in Afghanistan, said Zackary Lemnios, the Defense Department's director of defense research and engineering.

The protective system uses 18 acoustic sensors on the helicopter and a computer-based analyzer to detect rifle or machine-gun fire and to pinpoint the source. Although it cannot ward off the small-arms fire, it can alert the helicopter crew to a threat it might not otherwise detect and guide the pilot away from the source before the shots can damage the aircraft, Zemnios said.

U.S. military helicopters already have sensors and countermeasures that can protect them from anti-aircraft missiles, but nothing that works against small arms, he told a Defense Writers Group breakfast.

Although some of the classified reports revealed by WikiLeaks indicated that the insurgents in Afghanistan might have used shoulder-fired, heat-seeking missiles, similar to the U.S. Stinger, to shoot down an Army CH-47, the biggest threat to helicopters is small arms, Lemnios said. He noted that he sees the threat reports from the combat theater every day.

The helicopter alert system is a response to a Joint Urgent Operational Needs request from the warfighters and was developed in about six months. It is an example of one of the top imperatives he established for his office -- accelerating the development of technology to assist in the current fight, Lemnios said.

When the request was received, an aide suggested trying the Boomerang system and a test was arranged quickly. Based on those trials, the system was installed on four Army H-60 Blackhawks. They will be deployed in October for realistic trials, Lemnios said.

Lemnios, who has worked in defense science and technology in the Pentagon, a defense-funded laboratory and in the private sector, said that in addition to working to support current fighting, he is pushing initiatives to invest in science and technology to address the uncertain future.

Other initiatives will be aimed at supporting acquisition reform efforts and ensuring the nation has the research and engineering workers it will need in the future, he said.

For those efforts, the Pentagon provides $3 billion a year to industry and spends $2 billion on research at defense laboratories or universities.

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Senate panel approves $35B Energy-Water spending bill

Otto Kreisher — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400

The Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee approved a $34.97 billion fiscal 2011 spending bill without opposition Tuesday, deferring amendments, as usual, to the full committee, which is expected to consider the measure Thursday.

The Senate proposal is more than $200 million above the $34.7 billion approved last week by a House Appropriations subcommittee, but still is $376.3 million below President Obama's request.

It is $1.5 billion above the current year's funding, 82 percent of which would go to the National Nuclear Security Administration to sustain the nuclear weapons stockpile and for nuclear nonproliferation programs, Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said.

Dorgan said improvements and life extension of the nuclear arsenal was a key element behind the weapons reductions proposed in the new START arms control treaty awaiting Senate ratification.

He said "this is not an easy bill to put together," because the subcommittee was unable to fund many of their colleagues' requests for water projects or for the billions of dollars in Army Corps of Engineer projects that are ready to go. But, he added, the subcommittee was not willing to accept the nearly $500 million cut in water projects Obama proposed.

The panel restored money to "a majority of the ongoing projects," Dorgan said.

Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Bob Bennett, R-Utah, agreed the panel had done as good a job as possible with the budget allocation it was given and thanked Dorgan for his bipartisan cooperation. Noting that neither of them will be back next year, Bennett said he hoped the new subcommittee leadership "will have the kind of working relations we've had."

The Energy Department would receive $28.3 billion, with $7 billion of that going to DOE's nuclear weapons programs and $2.6 billion to nonproliferation efforts to safeguard nuclear material that could be used to produce weapons.

Defense environmental cleanup programs, which mainly are at the nuclear weapons production facilities, would receive $5.3 billion. Nondefense environmental cleanup would get $244.2 million.

Energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives would receive $2.3 billion in the bill, nuclear energy programs would get $783.2 million and fossil fuels $726 million.

DOE's science office would receive $5 billion, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy would get $200 million for high-risk experiments.

The bill would provide $10 billion in loan guarantees for nuclear energy programs and a similar amount for renewable energy projects.

The Corps of Engineers would be provided $5.3 billion, of which $2.5 billion would support operations and maintenance, $1.8 billion would go to construction, and the Mississippi River and Tributaries accounts would get $335 million.

The Interior Department would be allocated $1.13 billion, most of which would go to the Bureau of Reclamation's water projects, including the California Central Valley Project restoration effort.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said she was disappointed that the bill contained no funding for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, and said she believed that the president had made a mistake in trying to close the Nevada site. Murray said she would offer an amendment in the full committee to address Yucca.

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House panel OKs $191.7B military construction bill

Otto Kreisher — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Working with its usual bipartisan cooperation, the House Military Construction-Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee approved a $191.7 billion fiscal 2011 spending bill Wednesday that includes $63.8 billion in mandatory funding for veterans' benefits, $50.6 billion in advanced fiscal 2012 funding for key VA health care programs and $1.3 billion in "emergency" overseas construction funding in support of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The $57 billion in fiscal 2011 VA discretionary funding essentially matches the administration's request and is $13.6 billion above the current level, the only significant increase in the measure. The advanced funding for fiscal 2012 is continuing an initiative started last year to provide security to critical veterans health care services.

The $18.7 billion for military construction, family house and Base Realignment and Closure activities is down $4.9 billion from current funding, a reflection of the phase out of the 2005 BRAC spending.

The cemetery account was increased by $1.5 million to allow the Army to hire employees and implement its planned automated management system, a response to the Army inspector general's finding of widespread discrepancies in the records of graves in Arlington National Cemetery.

Military Construction-Veterans Affairs Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, and ranking member Rep. Zack Wamp, R-Tenn., expressed their concern about problems in the nation's most important military cemetery but praised the swift and dramatic response by Army Secretary John McHugh, a former Republican House member.

The bill includes language requiring McHugh to report on the progress of implementing the new management system.

The subcommittee accepted six amendments by voice votes, including one by Rep. Bill Young, R-Fla., requiring the report to include whether the cemetery has the necessary resources and to establish benchmarks for implementing the management system.

Another amendment by Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif., would require the Veterans Affairs Department to consider increasing the allowance to families to cover expenses of burying a veteran, which has not been changed since 1973.

An amendment by Wamp would increase funding for the VA inspector general by $6 million, and one by Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla., would give VA an additional $14 million to prevent a cut of 306 employees handling claims for payment under the new GI Bill for education, which the administration had proposed. An amendment by Edwards would add $15 million to VA's healthcare facilities construction.

The three funding amendments would be paid for by taking money from a VA information technology program, which has been cancelled.

Despite the overall bipartisan harmony, Wamp complained in a written statement that the Appropriations Committee has not acted on the requested Overseas Contingency Operations emergency appropriations for Iraq and Afghanistan. And he complained orally that the majority had no plans to hold a full committee mark up of this measure or any of the other appropriations.

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Rolls-Royce defends its F-35 engine

Otto Kreisher — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Faced with a veto threat from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Rolls-Royce officials Wednesday claimed that producing their alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter would save taxpayers billions of dollars and the promise of better performance in the future.

"It is important to the warfighter, the industrial base and the taxpayer that this program continues to exist," said Dennis Jarvi, president of Roll-Royce's U.S. operations.

At a National Press Club briefing, the officials also emphasized how deeply the London-based corporation is embedded in the United States, with 6,500 employees at 18 facilities in a dozen states, $3 billion in U.S. revenue and $1 billion in U.S.-made exports.

Stressing the extent of their U.S. production, which includes the F-136 jet engine they are developing with General Electric Co., is part of the intense political battle over the propulsion systems for the F-35, potentially the largest aircraft contract ever.

The battle within Congress over the alternate engine is geographical, not partisan, with lawmakers' support frequently based on which of the manufacturers and suppliers are located in their districts.

The Pratt & Whitney engine that already powers more than a dozen F-35s in the test program is produced primarily in Connecticut, with major components from Michigan and other states.

Rolls-Royce is developing the F-136 engine at its Indianapolis factory, and GE claims that the engine would create 4,000 new jobs across the country, many of them in or near its Lynn, Mass., engine plant.

Gates insists that the military does not need and cannot afford the alternate Rolls-Royce-GE engine and repeatedly has warned that he will urge President Obama to veto any defense bill that continues to fund it.

The House ignored that threat in May and approved the fiscal 2011 defense authorization that includes $485 million to continue developing the alternate engine.

The Senate Armed Services Committee, despite the support of Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, did not authorize the alternate engine in its version of the fiscal 2011 bill, which is awaiting action by the full Senate.

Neither chamber has acted on the defense appropriations bill.

During Wednesday's briefing, Jarvi cited a Government Accountability Office report that found competition in defense programs normally produces 20 percent savings. With a predicted cost of production and life-time support for the F-35 engines of at least $100 billion, that would mean a potential savings of $20 billion, for an investment of the $3 billion he said it would cost to complete F-135 development.

"We're not looking for a hand-out. All we're looking for is an opportunity to compete," Jarvi said.

Gates has insisted that the alternate engine would cost more. He also has said that the Rolls-GE engine is not meeting performance specifications.

Jarvi disputed that, noting that the engine has passed Defense Department performance certifications 10 times, with the latest approval in June.

Although Gates has complained that the F-136 is years behind Pratt's F-135 jet, Rolls-Royce officials said the late start allowed them to take advantage of a finished air frame design to produce an engine with a greater air intake capacity. That would mean lower internal temperatures and longer engine life, or additional power, they said.

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Panel agrees to withhold $3.9B in aid to Afghanistan

Otto Kreisher — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Responding to allegations that billions of dollars in U.S. financial assistance to Afghanistan is being lost to corruption, the House State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee withheld the $3.9 billion in aid requested for the war-torn country, while approving a $52.8 billion fiscal 2011 spending bill on Wednesday.

The bill, approved by a unanimous voice vote, already cut $4 billion from President Obama's request to fund the State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development and dozens of foreign assistance and cooperation programs.

The Afghan assistance funds are blocked until the panel can hold hearings into the alleged corruption, which are expected early after the Independence Day recess, State-Foreign Operations Subcommittee Chairwoman Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said. Lowey and ranking member Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, also requested the Government Accountability Office to conduct a detailed audit of all U.S. funds provided to Afghanistan for the last three fiscal years.

While stressing the importance of Afghanistan to U.S. national security and her support for assistance to education, economic development, health care and enhancement of women's rights, Lowey said: "We have an obligation to every American to ensure that their hard-earned tax dollars are not squandered through corruption and graft."

Lowey also expressed her admiration for the U.S. troops and civilians engaged in Afghanistan but noted the success of the mission there "is entirely dependent on the capability and commitment of the Afghans to govern effectively."

Granger echoed Lowey's concern about the alleged corruption and said it was essential that the investigations do not affect execution of the military strategy.

The bill would provide $11.7 billion for State, $691 million below the president's request. Most of the cut came from diplomatic and consular programs. But the bill added $114 million to enhance security at embassies and diplomatic missions.

The measure would grant $16.5 billion to the array of international organizations, which included minor cuts in nearly every one.

Administration of foreign assistance, which includes USAID administration account, would receive $1.7 billion, $37 million below the request.

Bilateral economic assistance programs, which includes aid to displace persons and refugees, disaster assistance efforts, global health initiatives and USAID's assistance programs, would receive $23.2 billion, a cut of $1.4 billion from Obama's request.

International security assistance programs, which includes peacekeeping, foreign military education and training and foreign military assistance, would get $8.9 billion, a reduction of just over $1 billion.

Subcommittee Democrats rejected on a 9-5 vote an attempt by Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., to cut the funding level back to the fiscal 2010 total of $48.9 billion.

Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., noted that the Budget Enforcement Act, which the House is expected to act on Thursday, could cut all of the appropriations by 15 percent.

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Panel OKs Commerce, Justice and Science bill, takes no stand on moon missions

Otto Kreisher — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0400

The House Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee unanimously approved a $60.5 billion fiscal 2011 funding bill Tuesday that remains silent on President Obama's controversial decision to kill the program to send U.S. astronauts to the moon and then Mars.

The subcommittee's legislation would provide the $19 billion that Obama requested for NASA but would withhold funding on the manned space program until the issue is addressed in an authorization bill passed by Congress and signed by the president.

Obama canceled the Constellation program that was intended to provide a replacement for the space shuttles, which are due to be retired by the end of the year. The president said the program started by then-President George W. Bush was too expensive and too far behind schedule.

Overall, the panel's funding total nearly matches the Obama administration's request, which was close to $4 billion below current-year funding. But most of the reduction reflects the end of the big addition for the 2010 Census.

The committee rejected on a party-line, 9-5 vote an amendment by House Appropriations Committee ranking member Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., that would have cut the funding by 3.18 percent. Lewis sought to bring spending back to the current level minus the increase for the census.

The Commerce Department would receive $8.89 billion, $69.7 million below the administration's request, with most of the cuts coming from the International Trade Administration, Bureau of Industry and Security, and the Institute of Standards.

But the bill adds money to the Economic Development Administration. Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., said that would cover initiatives to bring back to the United States jobs that have been moved offshore.

The Justice Department would get $30 billion, an increase of $295 million over the request, which went to continue staffing improvements at the Bureau of Prisons, additional programs to stop violence against women and to the Office of Justice Programs.

The bill would provide the requested total of $26.4 billion for science, which included small increases in programs to stimulate science, mathematics and engineering education and small adjustments in the various space exploration programs.

In addressing the funding for NASA, Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., said any major change in the nation's space program should come through an authorization enacted into law. But he noted that any determination of the future of manned space has been "put on hold" while awaiting the administration's response to the Augustine Commission's report on the issue.

Despite bipartisan support for the overall package presented by Mollohan, the subcommittee voted down along party lines a series of amendments by Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas. One would have banned the cooperation on space programs with China that Obama has proposed; others would have prevented the use of any funds for federal agents providing Miranda Rights to suspected terrorists, or to challenge Arizona's tough anti-immigration law.

The panel accepted a Culberson amendment requiring Justice to report on the execution and possible expansion of "Operation Streamline," a George W. Bush-era effort to crack down on illegal border crossings, and one by Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Ala., that would require an in-depth study of the potential environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and require the government to ensure reimbursement for the damages.

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