WASHINGTON: In 2018, Congress is likely to override the Air Force’s objections and carve out some kind of Space Corps. What kind of Space Corps is the question. Both sides of this debate agree that space will be a battlefield in future war. Instead of leaving US satellites unmolested to support operations on earth, future…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.Military innovation and savings: Go commercial
DoD uses FAR Part 12 acquisitions to save hundreds of millions of dollars in “of a type” systems like civil landing systems with applicability to military aircraft.
- Air Warfare, budget, Congress, Global, Land Warfare, Naval Warfare, Networks / Cyber, Space, Threats
‘Extraordinary’ National Security Space Changes, 7-Year V-22 Multiyear In NDAA
UPDATED: Adds Changes To Air Force Space Command CAPITOL HILL: Principal DoD Space Advisor. Gone. Air Force’s new A-11 space staff. Kaput. Defense Space Council. Dead. And that’s really just the beginning of what the Senate and House Armed Services Committees hath wrought to national security space in the National Defense Authorization Act. The…
By Colin Clark
AUSA: Ellen Lord, the former Textron executive now heading the Pentagon’s acquisition shop, revealed today in her first public appearance since her confirmation that she is making fundamental changes in how the Office of Secretary of Defense starts and manages military weapons programs. This comes on top of internal Army reforms announced here by the…
By Colin Clark
WASHINGTON: Tired of complaining about space programs that are over budget and behind schedule? Build a space version of the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office. Oh, and just go out there and lead. You don’t need a Space Corps to fix what ails the space enterprise, former Air Force Space Commander Bob Kehler told a…
By Colin Clark
WASHINGTON: It probably won’t do much to fend off vigorous efforts by House lawmakers to create a Space Corps, but the Air Force has picked most of the people to staff its new A11 space office in the Air Staff. The pick for assistant deputy chief of staff, Shawn Barnes, for space operations is pretty deft,…
By Colin Clark
WASHINGTON: Space Corps. It sounds cool. You get visions of space marines and pilots saving the universe. In their latest blast against the Air Force, though, Reps. Mike Rogers and Jim Cooper are more, well, down to earth. They argue that the failings of big-ticket programs such as OCX and FAB-T offer ammunition that a Space…
By Colin Clark
What’s new in naval radars and missiles: Defending the Pacific
Defending U.S. naval forces in the Pacific, Red Sea, and elsewhere require a range of systems from close-in weapons to anti-ballistic missiles.
Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein really don’t like it. Congress appears split, with the House Armed Services Committee pushing hard for it and the Senate Armed Services Committee essentially going, really?! And Defense Secretary Jim Mattis came out yesterday against the idea, a specific provision in the House…
By Mackenzie Eaglen
WASHINGTON: Rep. Mike Rogers really wants an independent Space Corps, and he’s willing to take the Air Force head on to get it. “I had no illusions from the beginning that the Air Force was going to embrace these reforms,” the Strategic Forces subcommittee chairman said this morning, “but when I see arguments that are…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
CAPITOL HILL: The nation does not need a new armed service specializing in space, the leaders of the Air Force said today in rejecting a House Armed Services Committee plan. In fact, they said, carving a “Space Corps” out of the Air Force — which handles most space missions today — would only make it…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
CAPITOL HILL: The Missile Defense Agency is still basking in the glow of last month’s successful shoot-down of an ICBM target but it will not get complacent in the face of North Korea‘s steady rounds of provocative missile tests, MDA Director Vice Adm. James Syring assured the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces yesterday.…
By Sandra Erwin
UPDATED: Adds Rep. Rogers’ Speech Calling For New Space Service; Rep. Lamborn Saying No SPACE SYMPOSIUM: What’s in a name? When Gen. John Hyten, head of Strategic Command, announced the new name for the JICSPOC today, it marked a fundamental transformation of the US national security establishment to a much closer integration of the Intelligence…
By Colin Clark
CAPITOL HILL: The Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee thinks President Trump’s 2018 spending plan is dead on arrival and has already gone to the Budget Committee to get a much bigger defense budget. Mac Thornberry also doesn’t want defense increases offset by steep cuts to the Coast Guard or State Department, as Trump proposed. Thornberry…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
WASHINGTON: Hope for the best; prepare for the worst. It’s a standard military prescription for dealing with a sometimes hostile and usually unpredictable world. It’s also what an African-American chum told me this morning was his plan for life under President Trump. This guy is a fellow Chicagoan and Cubs fan, so he knows how to…
By Colin Clark
Over the past two years, America’s near-peer competitors have reorganized and integrated their air, deterrent, missile defense, cyber and space forces to make them more effective. But U.S. competitors aren’t just reorganizing; they are building and fielding capabilities that create new vulnerabilities for the U.S. in space. As Gen. Jay Raymond, head of Air Force…
By Bill Bruner