TRAVEL LOGGED: Washington watchdogs, led by the Center for Public Integrity (CPI), have issued a report that says Defense Department personnel routinely accept free flights, accommodations and hospitality from private and foreign interests that do business with the department. “These free trips have become riddled with conflicts of interest and are in need of stronger oversight and stiffer regulations,” CPI says.
TOKYO — Japan’s Kaguya moon probe smashed into the lunar surface as planned at 3:25 am JST June 11, concluding a 21-month mission that began with launch on an H-IIA rocket from Tanagashima Space Center on Sept. 14, 2007. The satellite crashed at 1.6 kilometers per second (3,600 mph) at an angle of 10 degrees on the southeast quadrant of the near side of the moon, near the Gill Crater at 80.4 degrees east longitude and 65.5 degrees south latitude.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) wants to explore putting Airborne Laser (ABL) technology on a smaller aircraft than its current jumbo jet platform, MDA’s director said June 11.
BALLISTIC ANNIVERSARIES: Lockheed Martin celebrated the tenth anniversary of the first successful intercept of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) weapon system and the 25th anniversary of the first hit-to-kill intercept of a ballistic missile outside the Earth’s atmosphere June 10. On June 10 in 1999, a THAAD missile intercepted a ballistic missile target over White Sands Missile Range, N.M. And in 1984, the U.S.
PRESIDENTIAL PARDON: A recent report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) is proof enough for Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) that the White House should’s scrap the Increment 1 VH-71 helicopter. Restructuring the program, which has been officially canceled by the Navy, to procure the additional helicopters for a 19-aircraft fleet (nine have been built) is “the least costly and time-consuming option available,” he said in a statement June 8.
Researchers modeling the wet chemistry on Mars may have found a link between the strange blobs photographed on the legs of Mars Phoenix lander and ravines and gullies imaged from orbit above the Red Planet.
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — In the shadow of continuing North Korean provocations, U.S. and South Korean military leaders are reassessing missile and air defenses on the peninsula and planning which warfighting capabilities to improve next. Critical fixes are needed in close air support, training ranges, digital communications, interoperability and the introduction of precision weapons and advanced sensors, top officials here say.
House Republican leaders have picked Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) to become the next ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC). If approved by the Republican Conference, which consists of all House Republicans, McKeon will succeed Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.), whom President Barack Obama has tapped to be Army Secretary. McHugh resigned from the committee June 4.
Delaying development of the next-generation long-range strike bomber is not a serious blow to U.S. nuclear deterrence efforts — in the short term — a retired U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff and former head of Strategic Air Command says.
ENVISAT EXTENDED: The European Space Agency has agreed to extend operation of the Envisat Earth observation mission until 2013 to provide vital radar, optical and ocean altimetry data until new sensors currently in development reach orbit. Launched in 2002 and equipped with 10 electro-optic sensors, Envisat supplies near-real time atmospheric, land, sea and ice data to support routine monitoring of sea ice, oil slicks, fisheries and other parameters as well as long-term climate research.
PARIS — U.S. Air Force officials have conducted 17 flights of the Advanced Signals Intelligence Payload (ASIP) on the Global Hawk unmanned aerial system, and they expect to deploy the new sigint collector on the high-flying U-2 shortly, according to Richard Gunther, Northrop Grumman’s Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance chief architect.
OVERHEAD CONCERN: Two key U.S. senators are warning Obama administration officials over future high-powered intelligence satellites. Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Kit Bond (R-Mo.) say they are deeply troubled over a new plan for future overhead imaging capabilities that calls for multiple high-end satellites under the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). NRO falls under the Defense Department but also is part of the 16-agency intelligence community (IC) headed by the director of national intelligence (DNI).
Retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Bruce Carlson is said by government and industry sources to be the leading candidate to direct the National Reconnaissance Office. His prospective nomination has not yet been announced. NRO oversees the procurement and development of the nation’s classified satellites
MOSCOW — The first of a new class of Russian aircraft carrier could begin construction as early as the next three-to-four years, according to an unnamed senior Russian navy source quoted by news agency Interfax-AVN. The Russian Navy’s current development plan, which covers through 2050-2060, envisages the creation of five to six aircraft carrier groups, the report said. The first aircraft carrier to be created for the Russian Navy will become part of the Pacific Fleet, the source added.
QDR N/A: Financial analysts at Macquarie Capital don’t expect much from the Defense Department’s upcoming Quadrennial Defense Review. The biggest questions have essentially already been answered, they say, by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the budget recommendations he’s been making since April. “We think that the QDR is likely to build on the defense policy and spending framework that has already been largely established by Secretary Gates,” the analysts say.
CHOPPER COCKPITS: Lockheed Martina announced June 10 it has delivered the 200th Common Cockpit avionics suite to the U.S. Navy’s MH-60R/S multi-mission helicopter programs. The avionics suite has flown more than 250,000 hours aboard the two Seahawk helicopter types since cockpit deliveries began in January 2000. To date, the company has delivered 47 cockpits for the MH-60R, the Navy’s newest anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare helicopter.
TASKED FORCED: Ad hoc task forces inside the U.S. Defense Department’s leadership realm have proven to be effective tools for forcing the military’s bureaucracy to address pressing near-term acquisition needs, the top civilian and military defense officials say. But such task forces should not go on indefinitely. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) task force would disappear, and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said such groups should include sunset deadlines in the future.
HORNET REPORT: Despite initial misgivings, the U.S. Defense Department may give Congress an “interim” estimate on a potential new multiyear acquisition of Boeing F/A-18s sooner rather than later. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Senate appropriators June 9 that while he wanted such a report to be informed by the upcoming Quadrennial Defense Review, he thinks the Pentagon could offer an initial assessment. Both he and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke favorably of the fighter. “That’s a great airplane at a great price,” Mullen said.
The U.S. Amy’s “Modularity Initiative,” the service’s plan to transition itself from a heavy, division-centric force to one whose core revolves around 76 more agile Brigade Combat Teams by 2030, is facing a ballooning budget and isn’t taking into account the number of new troops it will have to raise, a new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report says.
The U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems recently ran a joint information-sharing experiment with the U.K. Defense Ministry assessing how well their communications systems “talk” to one another.
Boeing is studying the levels of radar cross-section (RCS) reduction possible with its F-15SE Silent Eagle in advance of licensing discussions with the U.S. government on possibly exporting the stealthy fighter. “It’s not how low can you go, it’s how low are you allowed to go, and the U.S. government controls that,” says Brad Jones, Boeing program manager for F-15 future fighters. “We can get to different levels depending on the country.”
Congressional voices in favor of foreign sales of the F-22 Raptor and prolonging that production line, as well as several other targeted defense programs, continue to find venues on Capitol Hill.
