By Jen DiMascio
Lawmakers said yesterday they are concerned about the effects of a $4 billion cut to the Transformational Satellite program (TSAT) in the Pentagon’s long term budget.
“It’s a move backwards,” said Rep. Terry Everett (R-Ala.), the ranking member of the House Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces, who added that the cut “cripples” the communications satellite program in the near term.
During a House Armed Services Committee (HASC) hearing with senior Air Force officials, Everett asked about the impact of the planned cut over the future years defense plan.
The Army’s Future Combat System (FCS) plans to use TSAT satellites for its communications. Teams led by Boeing [BA] and Lockheed Martin [LMT] are competing for TSAT.
Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said the service was directed to add money for a fourth Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite. “I think the right thing to do was to delay the TSAT to accommodate that. The terminals are easily transferred,” Wynne said.
The issue for the Army, he said, is communications on the move for the “disadvantaged user.” The service will have to concentrate communications at a different level to contact the AEHF, he said.
That response did not satisfy Everett or Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), who chairs the strategic forces panel.
FCS isn’t the only program that was staking its future plans on TSAT. U.S. Strategic Command Commander Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton told a HASC subcommittee yesterday TSAT delays could complicate communications issues for the military, Everett said. The Northrop Grumman [NOC] Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle also depends on it, the lawmaker added.
Tauscher agreed it could cause future gaps in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and said her subcommittee was planning to do more.
The next step for lawmakers will be to get details from the Defense Department on an effort to assess user requirements, which is expected to be briefed to Pentagon leaders in early April. Members will have to weigh the needs of all of the services for the capabilities of TSAT against what the department proposes as the way ahead, according to a committee aide.