Budget Bungle. Congress and the White House continue to debate a plan to raise the nation’s debt ceiling as of press time July 22. The Senate votes that day to kill a House-passed plan that included a balanced-budget amendment. House Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) tells senators the chamber would not work over the weekend on a fallback plan he crafted with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), as previously planned, and instead would wait for the House’s next proposal. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and President Barack Obama have been working on a “major deficit-reduction measure,” Reid notes. While it remains to be seen how the Pentagon budget would fare in a final deal, military advocates balked last week at a proposal from six senators to cut security budgets by $886 billion over 10 years, far more than the $400 billion Obama floated back in April.
Export Exchange. The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) is applauding the Obama administration’s proposed rule to remove some technology exports–with low or no military or intelligence sensitivity–from the U.S. Munitions List and move them to the more-flexible Commerce Control List, which would undergo some retooling under the scheme. AIA President and CEO Marion Blakey says the proposed reforms, printed in the Federal Register July 15, are “common sense” ways to increase exports and support partner nations. The potential rule also would move some end items, parts, and components not specially designed for the military to commercial-type export requirements.
…Industry Input. Blakey notes in an interview that AIA supported adding tighter control to the Commerce Control List because of the potential addition of the low-risk military technologies. “What we are advocating is let’s have appropriate controls,” she tells Defense Daily, adding her trade group will provide detailed comments on the proposed rule to the Federal Register. AIA also argues the government can “further enhance our national and economic-security and foreign-policy interests” by crafting a new program-licensing regime that lowers the number of licenses needed for U.S. defense and security programs. “We believe the administration is willing to move forward in program licensing,” Blakey says, citing “ongoing conversations.”
Energy Required. Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn says the Pentagon’s new Strategy for Operational Energy “is premised on the notion that a new generation of military technologies that use and store energy more efficiently will only emerge if we change how we do business-especially in acquisition.” Going forward, the Pentagon will consider system-energy-performance parameters in the requirements and acquisition process–in addition to weighing traditional performance parameters such as speed, range, and payload. “Integrating fuel-efficiency criteria and the fully-burdened cost of energy during the analysis of alternatives phase of all major defense acquisition programs will not only ensure we give the warfighter the speed, range, and power they require, it will also help us manage the lifecycle costs of our systems, the energy footprint of our deployed forces, and the associated costs–both human and financial–of moving fuel into a theater of war,” he says during a July 19 speech at the Army and Air Force Energy Forum in Arlington, Va.
Better Buying Update. Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter says Obama’s call to cut security budgets by at least $400 billion by 2023 requires government and industry officials to change how they think. Gone are the days of being able to “reach for more money when we encountered managerial or technical problems or a difficult choice,” he says July 18, according to American Forces Press Service. “Cutting capability and adjusting strategy might be necessary, but they are where we should go only after examining all the options,” Carter says at a National Defense Industrial Association conference in Arlington, Va., when he gave an update on the Pentagon’s 10-month-old Better Buying Power initiative. He calls on industry to make its offerings affordable for the Pentagon. “Together, let’s bend so we don’t need to break our programs and activities,” he says.
The High in Risk-based Screening? Airline groups and legislators are generally pleased with the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) forthcoming plans to test intelligence-driven, risk-based screening methods on known-travelers at airport checkpoints and allow these people to transit through and expedited screening lane. However, one long-time aviation security expert who favors risk-based screening tells Defense Daily that TSA must also keep in mind the need to do “enhanced screening” of passengers who are considered high risk. “There is no mention of TSA of simultaneously sorting elevated risk passengers and subjecting them to much more rigorous inspection that has a better chance of finding…IEDs (improvised explosive devices),” the expert says. “Until TSA defines different standards for each risk group, it is very hard to finalize a suite of technologies that will work.
Another Cyber Bill. There’s no shortage of cyber security legislation floating around Congress and last week the House Science Committee basically re-introduced more, the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2011 (H.R. 2096. The legislation is similar to a bill approved overwhelmingly in the House last year that didn’t make it through the Senate. The new bill, which was approved by voice vote in the committee, would require federal agencies to create a strategic plan guiding the overall direction of federal cyber security research and development (R&D), require the National Institute for Standards and Technology to produce a cyber security awareness and education program, require the creation of a university-industry task force to increase collaboration between the public and private sectors on cyber security R&D, and reauthorize cyber security research at the National Science Foundation.
DHS Warns on House Cuts. The science chief at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says that proposed cuts to her directorate contained in the House version of the FY ’12 appropriations bill are “dire,” and will essentially halt research and development there. “If this budget goes through, or anything close to the House mark, we will stop doing R&D and most of our very good people will find other employment,” Tara O’Toole tells a House Homeland Security panel. The House bill cuts the DHS science and technology request by more than 60 percent to $398.2 million. The Senate has yet to consider its version of the bill.
Army GCV Moves Ahead. While the official document is still to come, the Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) apparently got a green light at its official Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) review with the Pentagon’s top acquisition official Thursday, sources said. While some criticize the need for the vehicle, in a statement, the service said it is still committed to delivering a GCV “that provides Soldiers with protected mobility in modern combat environments, the service says. “ The Army’s proposed program builds upon refined requirements and a strategy to achieve an affordable solution to address Soldiers’ protected mobility in a seven year schedule to the first production vehicle.” The service issued its statement after the comprehensiveive DAB which was to assess GCV readiness for the technology development acquisition phase. “The review follows months of close collaboration between the Army and the Office the Undersecretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology & Logistics)in pursuit of an achievable and affordable infantry fighting vehicle,” the service said.
First Time. Looking for closer ties in their military markets, the first ever U.K.-France Industry Day was held in London last week in another move after the two nations signed a Treaty on Defence Co-operation. More than 30 defense companies from the prime to the small contractors heard officials from both countries talk about cooperation and capabilities, including licensing and consolidation of industrial sectors and investments. “Co-operation in acquisition, research and technology, capability planning, procurement and support is a vital component in a transformed defence relationship and a significant means of securing both military capability and necessary budgetary savings in a time of financial austerity,” says Laurent-Collet Billon, chief executive of Direction générale de l’armement (DGA) in the French Ministry of Defence. He leads on equipment programs, preparation of the future capability, industrial strategy and export promotion. U.K. Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology Peter Luff, says: “This is a strategic relationship and, although there will be short term benefits, our real success will come over years not months.”
Sharing. Australia and the United Kingdom will share defense research facilities to enhance cooperation in science and technology and reduce operating costs, says Australia’s Minister for Defence Science & Personnel, Warren Snowdon. Australia’s Defence Science & Technology Organization (DSTO) and the U.K. Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (Dstl) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for reciprocal access to each other’s science facilities and equipment. “Importantly, this increased cooperation has the potential to deliver better science and technology capability to the defence forces in both our countries,” he says.
Hale And Hearty Landing. Northrop Grumman’s Euro Hawk, the first high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE), signals intelligence (SIGINT) unmanned aircraft system (UAS) based on the RQ-4 Global Hawk produced for the German Bundeswehr, successfully landed in Germany July 21. The UAS took off from Edwards AFB, Calif. The Euro Hawk will carry a new SIGINT mission system developed by EADS Deutschland GmbH (Cassidian) and integrated in Manching, Germany. Delivery of the first Euro Hawk demonstrator to the Bundeswehr is scheduled for mid-2012, with another four systems scheduled tentatively between 2015 and 2017.