USEUCOM TRAINING: U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) is starting to move its training from Western Europe to less congested areas, says Gen. James Jones (USMC), USEUCOM commander and Supreme Allied Commander Europe. Jones testified March 4 before the Senate Armed Services Committee. "We plan to do more, not less, training. And we have access to training areas in Eastern Europe, where there are more wide open spaces, not like in Western Europe," Jones says. "We're looking into parts of Africa also. Doing this will also help us to reach out to new allies.
ARMOR KITS: The Army will need 20,000 to 30,000 armor kits to protect its Humvees and other light vehicles from improvised explosives, rocket-propelled grenades and other threats, according to Gen. Paul Kern, commander of Army Materiel Command (AMC). "The requirement continues to grow as we have transitioned the force from tracked armored vehicles to wheeled vehicles - which may not be armored - today," Kern says. The Army is producing more than 1,000 vehicle armor kits per month, according to Kern.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - To more clearly communicate their plans to civilian leaders, military leaders are adopting a uniform set of terms and diagrams to describe future joint military information networks, according to Lt. Gen. Steven Boutelle, chief information officer at the Office of the Secretary of the Army.
COMMITMENTS: The Army has received multiple commitments from civilian leadership that the $14.6 billion to be saved from fiscal year 2005 through FY '11 by the cancellation of the Comanche will remain within Army aviation, according to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker. "We were able to achieve a commitment out of OSD ... that we would be allowed to keep that money," Schoomaker says. "I was able to go and speak to President Bush in the Oval Office and achieve a similar commitment.
BUYBACK: United Defense Industries said it will buy back up to $100 million in shares of company stock over the next year to protect their value. "We believe that the company's common stock is undervalued in the marketplace and represents a sound investment at its recent trading prices," Thomas W. Rabaut, the president and CEO, said in a statement.
Shortfalls in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and network-centric warfare (NCW) could receive extra attention in the planning process that will guide the drafting of the Pentagon's next budget, senior defense officials said March 5.
The termination of the U.S. Army's RAH-66 Comanche is expected to have little impact on the Army-led Joint Common Missile (JCM) program, even though the helicopter was slated to be equipped with the JCM, according to a service spokesman. The cancellation will have "only a minor impact" on the missile because most of the JCM activities for Comanche would have taken place later in the program, after a decision to produce the missile, said Dan O'Boyle, a spokesman for the JCM project office at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
NATO ROLE: NATO is moving toward increased involvement in the Afghanistan stabilization effort, Jones says. "NATO has proposed five new provincial reconstruction teams in Afghanistan in as short a time period as possible ... that will probably happen," Jones says. "In Afghanistan, we're looking at NATO taking over an even greater role. Meanwhile, there's been no tasking from NATO to prepare military advice on how NATO will operate in Iraq. If NATO wished to act, it could establish a NATO flag quickly."
MDA EXERCISE: The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) plans to conduct a March 16 war game exercise to help operators of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system achieve proficiency with GMD's command, control and battle management and communications (C2BMC) system. The exercise, which will take place at the Joint National Integration Center (JNIC) in Colorado Springs, Colo., will use computer programs that can simulate dozens of scenarios involving ballistic missile attacks. The Defense Department plans to begin fielding GMD by the end of September.
Major helicopter companies, academic institutions and local Pennsylvania companies have entered into an agreement to create a world-class rotorcraft center, Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) said March 5. "I have been working for several years to create a world-class Center for Rotorcraft Innovation to address shortfalls in rotorcraft research and development," Weldon said in a statement.
Rep. Ike Skelton, (D-Mo.) released an unfunded priorities list from the military services totaling more than $12.2 billion, and said it is a key reason why Congress should not cut the Defense Department's budget request. Skelton, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, asked the services to submit lists of requirements not included in the Bush Administration's $401.7 billion fiscal 2005 defense budget request.
NAVY RESEARCH: Navy research programs will be the focus of a House Armed Services Committee hearing scheduled for March 11. The committee's projection forces subcommittee will hear testimony on the Navy's future capabilities from John J. Young, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, Vice Adm. John B. Nathman, deputy chief of naval operations for warfare requirements and programs and Rear Adm. Jay M. Cohen, chief of naval research and director of test, evaluation and technology requirements.
March 8 - 9 -- Aviation Week presents European Transport Leaders Conference. Merrill Lynch Headquarters, London. To register go to http://www.aviationweek.com/conferences. March 10 - 11 -- Aviation Week presents Toulouse Symposium, Toulouse Congress Center, France. To register go to http://www.aviationweek.com/conferences. March 15 - 17 -- 6th International SAP A&D Forum, Washington, D.C. Go to www.sap.com/aero-defense.
A U.S. Navy report on the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) that was sent to Congress March 3 doesn't provide needed details on cost, according to two naval analysts. The LCS program calls for 56 ships, with various mine warfare (MIW), anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and surface warfare (SUW) mission packages. The Navy is seeking congressional approval to spend $352 million next year to build the first ship, called Flight 0, and for general research and development.
HUBBLE PLEA: Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) introduced a House resolution this week urging an independent review of NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe's decision not to extend the life of the Hubble Space Telescope because of concerns about the safety of the space shuttle crew that would perform a servicing mission (DAILY, Jan. 21).
The U.S. Army is developing a requirement for a Humvee-mounted laser system capable of destroying unexploded ordnance (UXO) and landmines from a safe distance, according to Darryl Hancock, laser technician for the Zeus system. Zeus-HLONS (HMMWV Laser Ordnance Neutraliza-tion System) is a solid-state laser system with a range of approximately 200 meters (219 yards). The 1000-watt laser focuses energy on the outer casing of the mine or unexploded munition, heating it until it's destroyed by internal combustion.
NATO EXERCISE: NATO and Russia plan to hold a joint exercise March 8-12 to promote interoperability in theater missile defense. More than 60 people from 10 NATO nations and Russia are expected to participate in the computer-aided exercise, which will focus on the command and control of forces and will take place at the U.S. Joint National Integration Center (JNIC) in Colorado Springs, Colo.
OVERREACTION: Although a commission reviewing the Bush Administration's space exploration initiative has heard complaints that the new focus could starve NASA science projects, panel member Paul Spudis, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University Physics Laboratory, says he's not worried. "I don't see collateral damage," he says. Some other fields are flat or "slightly declined," but "a lot of this is overreaction, in my opinion," Spudis says. The commission held public hearings last week at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Northrop Grumman is awaiting formal approval from the U.S. Army to produce 33 Viper Strike munitions for deployment to Iraq, according to a company official. "The Army's in the process right now of completing the operational needs statement" for the deployment, Northrop Grumman Viper Strike Director John Miller said at a March 4 briefing at the Association of the United States Army's winter symposium here. General Richard Cody, the Army's deputy chief of staff, G-3, is expected to sign the statement "any day now," Miller said.
AEROSPACE PRODUCTS INTERNATIONAL, Memphis Paul J. Fanelli has joined the company as senior vice president and chief operating officer. ANALEX, Alexandria, Va. C. Thomas Faulders III, the chairman and CEO of LCC International Inc., has been elected to the board of directors and will serve on the audit committee. BAE SYSTEMS NORTH AMERICA, Rockville, Md. Paul W. "Whit" Cobb Jr. has been appointed vice president, deputy general counsel. BOEING, Chicago
