The White House and Congress, both controlled by Republicans, are squaring off in a congressional election year as they try to hash out fiscal 2007 defense appropriations - albeit with different agendas. The White House Office of Management and Budget warned lawmakers June 20 that any "final DOD appropriations bill that significantly underfunds the Department of Defense to shift funds to nonsecurity spending" would trigger a veto.
George J. Tenet, Alan Wade and John P. Young have been named to the newly-created senior advisory board. Tenet is a former CIA director. Wade is a former chief information officer and director of security for the CIA. Young is a former senior CIA intelligence analyst, manager and chief information officer.
Tom Darcy has been appointed executive vice president of strategic projects. Mark Sopp has been named executive vice president and chief financial officer.
As part of their new interagency agreement, the U.S. Air Force and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) will be performing a "systematic" review of their respective space launch and operations work forces and may seek reductions in some areas. "If we find ways in the area of operations or launch where we might find the possibility of efficiencies, I would hope in the end that we might achieve some manpower savings," said Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz, vice commander of Air Force Space Command (AFSPC).
Anthony J. Ammendolia has been named executive director for government relations. Don Brownlee is retiring at the end of 2006 as Aerojet vice president of Washington, D.C., operations. John D. Schumacher has been named to replace Brownlee.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has given final approval to the merger of former satellite competitors Intelsat and PanAmSat, and the companies expect the $3.2 billion deal to close by July 3. No other regulatory approvals are required in the U.S. or elsewhere, Intelsat said. The Justice Department closed its antitrust investigation of the proposed merger in May. The merged company will have a combined fleet of 53 communications satellites.
The U.S. Air Force is paying close attention to the proliferation of small satellite technology that it fears could one day be applied to attacking U.S. military spacecraft in orbit, according to the deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM). The service is concerned about "this proliferation of ... small satellites and microsatellites and where that may take us," Lt. Gen. Robert Kehler told members of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee at a hearing in Washington earlier this week.
F-22A Raptor advocates in Congress have suffered a small blow as the congressional Government Accountability Office issued a report June 21 that said, "the DOD has not demonstrated the need or value for making further investments in the F-22A program."
COLOMBIAN HELOS: Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. of Stratford, Conn., has been awarded an $18.9 million contract modification to provide Black Hawk helicopters (UH-60L/S-70A) to the Colombian air force, the Defense Department said June 21. The work will be done in Stratford, Conn., and is expected to be finished by Dec. 31, 2007. The contract was awarded by the Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
NIGHT FLIGHT: PanAmSat's Galaxy 16 communications satellite is maneuvering toward its final orbital position at 99 degrees west longitude following its June 18 launch on a Zenit-3SL operated by Sea Launch Company. Liftoff came at 3:50 a.m. Eastern time from the Odyssey launch platform, positioned near the equator at 154 degrees west longitude.
NASA's head of safety and mission assurance and the agency's chief engineer explained the rationale for their overruled "no-go" shuttle launch recommendations during a teleconference June 21, and said they're generally comfortable with the final decision to launch in part because the option of sending a rescue shuttle makes the loss of the crew unlikely.
The House late June 20 passed its fiscal 2007 defense appropriations bill, but first lawmakers moved to allow the Lockheed Martin Corp.-led F-22A Raptor industry team to sell the advanced tactical fighter to foreign governments. In an amendment sponsored by Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), who represents a Raptor production site in Fort Worth, the House struck language enacted since 1997 and sponsored by top Democratic appropriator Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.) that forbids the sale of the F/A-22 to any foreign government.
As the House moved June 20 toward passing its fiscal 2007 defense appropriations bill, appropriators there have expressed concern over a "gap" between the Navy's public statements for the need for firm cost controls for shipbuilding and the programmatic and contractual actions that would accomplish that objective.
The STS-120 shuttle flight to the International Space Station intends to carry Node 2, which will be the connecting element for the U.S.'s Destiny, Europe's Columbus and Japan's Kibo orbital facilities. Built by the Italian arm of Alcatel Alenia Space, Node 2 is set to be launched in the summer of 2007 and Columbus in the autumn of the same year, assuming the shuttle return to flight in July goes off as expected.
The House Appropriations Committee has voted to cut the U.S. Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) fiscal 2007 budget from the service's request of $936.5 million down to $692.3 million. Lawmakers justified the $244.2 million cut by noting that the launches for two upcoming Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites have been delayed enough to preclude having to buy launch vehicles for them in FY '07.
