Monday, 5 March 2012
U.S. Air Force
Morning Report
DO NOT FORWARD WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM PRODUCT OWNER
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
BUDGET
AF Times: Budget cuts stall plan to replace UH-1 helos (1)
WR Patriot: Air Force leader reinforces call for BRACs in 2013, 2015 (4)
NUCLEAR ENTERPRISE
GSN: Alaska Could Receive Another Eight Ballistic Missile Interceptors (5)
WIN TODAY’S FIGHT
Newser: US Inquiry Pins Koran Burning on 5 Soldiers (6)
CARING FOR AIRMEN
Fed Times: In NSPS' wake: confusion and lawsuits (8)
MODERNIZATION
AF Times: Sources: General approves F-35 flight ops (10)
Aviation Week: USAF Reducing Possible JSF Basing Locations (14)
Associated Press: Residents oppose plan to bring F-35 to Boise (16)
ACQUISITION EXCELLENCE
Wired: Air Force Set to Shoot Down Its Own Giant Spy Blimp (20)
GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT
Defense News: Iran’s Missiles Complicate Hormuz Picture (21)
OF INTEREST
Tribune Wash Bureau: Dover mortuary supervisor resigns over mishandled 9/11 remains (25)
BUDGET
1. Budget cuts stall plan to replace UH-1 helos
(Air Force Times, 4 Mar 12) … Marcus Weisgerber
ORLANDO, Fla. - The Air Force does not plan to change the requirements for a now-postponed effort
to replace its UH-1 helicopters, according to a top general.
2. Air Force Shelves $3B Worth of Brand New Drones
(ABC News Radio, 2 Mar 12) … Unattributed
WASHINGTON -- Far from spying on terrorists, more than a dozen high-tech surveillance drones,
which together cost the U.S. government more than $3 billion, could soon be sitting in a storage
facility gathering dust after top Air Force officials admitted this week the birds still are not as good as
the half-century-old spy planes they were designed to replace.
3. U.S. Air Force Deferring Upgrade Work on AEHF System
(Space News, 2 Mar 12) … Titus Ledbetter III
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WASHINGTON - The U.S. Air Force is deferring planned upgrades to its most highly secure
constellation of communications satellites in order to fund other Defense Department programs,
documents accompanying the service’s 2013 budget request show.
4. Air Force leader reinforces call for BRACs in 2013, 2015
(Warner Robins Patriot, 2 Mar 12) … Gene Rector
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz did not back off in his call this week for Base
Realignment and Closure rounds in 2013 and 2015.
CONTINUE TO STRENGTHEN THE NUCLEAR ENTERPRISE
5. Alaska Could Receive Another Eight Ballistic Missile Interceptors
(Global Security Newswire, 3 Mar 12) … Unattributed
A U.S. Defense Department agency has informed lawmakers it could deploy eight more groundbased ballistic missile interceptors at an Alaska installation before 2016, a move that would raise up
to 38 the quantity of active weapons at the base and another site in California, InsideDefense.com
reported on Wednesday.
PARTNER WITH JOINT AND COALITION TEAM TO WIN TODAY’S FIGHT
6. US Inquiry Pins Koran Burning on 5 Soldiers
Still seen as accidental, though clerics want a trial, strict punishment
(Newser, 2 Mar 12) … Kevin Spak
The US has completed its promised investigation into the Koran-burning incident at Bagram Air Force
Base that plunged Afghanistan into turmoil last week, naming five soldiers as responsible for the
debacle, the Washington Post reports. The US says the culprits will be disciplined, but insists the
incident was an unfortunate accident. In the investigators' telling, the Korans were confiscated
because of extremist messages scrawled within, then kept in an office for safekeeping. But somehow
from there they were mistaken for trash, and taken to a landfill.
7. Weapons at heart of U.S.-Israel talks
(Politico, 4 Mar 12) … Richard Sisk
The Oval Office showdown on Iran between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu Monday will be dominated by what former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld liked to
call the “known unknowns.”
DEVELOP AND CARE FOR AIRMEN AND THEIR FAMILIES
8. In NSPS' wake: confusion and lawsuits
(Federal Times, 4 Mar 12) … Stephen Losey
Thomas Patterson was excited to be hired as a Defense Department clinical social worker in 2008
after serving as a GS-12 employee at the Veterans Affairs Department. He was placed under the
National Security Personnel System, which was intended to reward high-performing employees with
bonuses and raises beyond what they could earn under the General Schedule. But when the ill-fated
NSPS was killed and Patterson was moved back to the GS system last September, he received an
unwelcome surprise: He had been downgraded to a GS-11.
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9. Blog: TRICARE Out, New Defense Health Agency In
(Nextgov, 2 Mar 12) … Bob Brewin
The Defense Department sent a report to Congress today detailing how the Pentagon plans to
integrate health care operations. The plan falls short of 2006 recommendations by the Defense
Business Board to eliminate Army, Navy and Air Force medical commands and establish a unified
medical command.
MODERNIZE OUR AIR, SPACE AND CYBERSPACE INVENTORIES, ORGS AND TRAINING
10. Sources: General approves F-35 flight ops
(Air Force Times, 3 Mar 12) … Dave Majumdar
The head of Air Education and Training Command has approved test pilots at Eglin Air Force Base,
Fla., to begin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter flight operations next week, sources said Friday.
11. Pentagon suffers Internet access outage
(Reuters, 3 Mar 12) … Unattributed
An unspecified number of US Defence Department personnel in the Washington D.C. area and in the
Midwest were cut off from the public Internet for nearly three hours on Thursday because of technical
problems, a department spokeswoman said Friday.
12. BAE Systems to Supply B-2 Threat-Warning System Upgrade
(Aviation Internation News, 2 Mar 12) … Bill Carey
With a recent contract award from Northrop Grumman to provide electronic support measures (ESM)
on the B-2 Spirit bomber, BAE Systems will be providing electronic warfare on all three U.S. Air Force
low-observable platforms, including the F-22 and F-35 fighters, according to the company. The new
ESM system will replace the original Lockheed Martin AN/APR-50 defensive management system on
the 20 B-2s. The ESM system works in conjunction with the radar warning receiver to detect and alert
aircrew to electronic threats.
13. Air Force Experimental Drone Uses Computing Power to Smooth High Flights
(Wired: Danger Room, 2 Mar 12) … Jason Paur
Flutter kills. When a vibration, usually in an aircraft’s wing or tail, matches the natural frequency of
that structure, the results of that “flutter” can be catastrophic. If the vibration isn’t dampened over
time, it can grow, causing the structure to flex uncontrollably and potentially fail.
14. USAF Reducing Possible JSF Basing Locations
(Aviation Week, 2 Mar 12) … Amy Butler
The U.S. Air Force has begun reducing the number of bases at which it plans to eventually house the
new F-35 in an attempt to reduce the estimated life-cycle cost of the single-engine, stealthy fighter.
15. USAF C-130, F-16 Upgrades Get Near Term Focus
(Aviation Week, 2 Mar 12) … Amy Butler
With a pared-down fiscal 2013 budget request on Capitol Hill and delays in the massive Joint Strike
Fighter program, the U.S. Air Force is having to abandon a decade’s worth of modernization plans for
its workhorse airlifter and fighter fleets.
16. Residents oppose plan to bring F-35 to Boise
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(Associated Press, 4 Mar 12) … Unattributed
A group of residents in southwest Idaho is hoping to ground a possible plan to bring F-35 fighter jets
to Boise’s Gowen Field. Residents say they fear deafening jet engines flying over homes, causing
health problems and lowering property values.
RECAPTURE ACQUISITION EXCELLENCE
17. No one has paid price for F-35 program mismanagement
(Federal Times, 4 Mar 12) … Lawrence Korb
In any profession when there is malpractice, the person or persons who commit the offense are held
accountable. They lose their jobs or their licenses, or resign from sheer embarrassment.
18. Brazil lashes out after military contract canceled
(Los Angeles Times, 2 Mar 12) …
REPORTING FROM SAO PAULO -- Brazil has warned the U.S. government that the abrupt
cancellation of a contract to buy Brazilian warplanes for the U.S. Air Force could damage military
relations between the two countries.
19. AMC starts iPad buy with order for 63
(Air Force Times, 2 Mar 12) … Unattributed
Air Mobility Command has ordered 63 iPad 2 tablet computers — the first lot in what could be as
many as 18,000 for flight crews who plan to trade in bulky instruction manuals for one sleek handheld device.
20. Air Force Set to Shoot Down Its Own Giant Spy Blimp
(Wired: Danger Room, 2 Mar 12) … Noah Shachtman
After spending more than $140 million, the Air Force is poised to pull the plug on its ambitious project
to send a king-sized, all-seeing spy blimp to Afghanistan. Which is a bit of a strange move: Not only is
the scheduled first flight of the 370-foot-long “Blue Devil Block 2” airship less than six weeks away,
but just yesterday, a top Air Force official bragged to Congress about the blimp’s predecessor, the
“Blue Devil Block 1″ program. In other words, the Air Force is set to ground its mega-blimp spy ship
before it even gets off the ground — literally.
GLOBAL AIR, SPACE, and CYBERSPACE ENVIRONMENT
21. Iran’s Missiles Complicate Hormuz Picture
(Defense News, 4 Mar 12) … Uzi Rubin
The Iranian threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for the transportation of a sizable segment
of our planet’s oil supply, has sent tremors though world capitals. As the West was quick to make
clear, such a closure would be a casus belli — a cause for war.
22. UK May Be Looking To Return To STOVL F-35B Aircraft
(Defense Update, 4 Mar 12) … Richard Dudley
Media sources are reporting that the United Kingdom might possibly be revisiting its previous decision
to abandon the use of carrier-based STOVL aircraft. The United Kingdom’s opposition Labour Party
reportedly delivered a letter to the Ministry of Defence questioning the governing Conservative Party’s
ongoing defense review that supposedly may result in a reinstatement of budgetary request authority
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to procure the F-35B STOVL variant of the Joint Strike Fighter as part of the FY2012/13 budget
request.
23. UPDATE 2-Support cited for F-35 fighter after joint meeting
(Reuters, 2 Mar 12) … Andrea Shalal-Esa
WASHINGTON - The United States and eight other countries helping to develop the new F-35 Joint
Strike Fighter underscored their full and continued support for the program, according to two sources
who attended a gathering hosted by Canada.
ITEMS OF INTEREST
24. Ex-Lackland instructor faces sex charges trial
(Air Force Times, 4 Mar 12) … Kristin Davis
A former military training instructor accused of sexually assaulting female basic trainees at Lackland
Air Force Base, Texas, will be arraigned next week, said 502nd Air Base Wing spokesman Brent
Boller.
25. Dover mortuary supervisor resigns over mishandled 9/11 remains
(Tribune Washington Bureau, 3 Mar 12) … David S. Cloud
WASHINGTON - A former supervisor at the military’s Dover mortuary has resigned in the widening
scandal over mishandling of remains of America’s war dead and Sept. 11 victims, according to two
U.S. government officials.
26. Court Martial Recommended for 1 Air Force Academy Cadet
(AP, 2 Mar 12) … Unattributed
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - An Air Force Academy commander is recommending a court martial
for one cadet charged with sexual misconduct and has dismissed charges against another.
27. Live Pigs Will Be Injured for Medic Training
(Care2, 3 Mar 12) … Jake Richardson
Ten members of the 306 rescue squadron, an Air Force Reserve unit, will practice their medic skills
on anesthetized live pigs this weekend at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona.
HEADLINES
CNN at 0530
Secret Army volunteer's widow blames VA for spouse's death
Fed up, New Orleans looks to shake Murder City title
Lindsay Lohan returns with 'SNL,' Liz Taylor film
FOX News at 0530
Holder to Address 'Targeted Killings'
Seventh advertiser pulls out of Limbaugh's show
Report: Convicted killer received unemployment checks while in jail
NPR at 0530
Obama: U.S. Won't Hesitate To Use Force On Iran
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Pet Therapy: How Animals And Humans Heal Each Other
Decoding The Allure Of The Almanac
USA Today at 0530
Virginia Tech parents seek answers in trial 5 years later
The USA's 150 scenic byways could soon lose federal funding
Use of IEDs by regime opposition in Syria rises sharply
Washington Post at 0530
Girl Scouts’ 100th birthday: Charting a century of change in American girlhood
Chesapeake Bay oyster appears to be in recovery mode
Why STEM is not enough (and we still need the humanities)
FULL TEXT
BUDGET
B1
Budget cuts stall plan to replace UH-1 helos
(Air Force Times, 4 Mar 12) … Marcus Weisgerber
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2012/03/air-force-budget-cuts-stall-plan-replace-helo-030412/
ORLANDO, Fla. - The Air Force does not plan to change the requirements for a now-postponed effort
to replace its UH-1 helicopters, according to a top general.
With the future of the Common Vertical Lift Support Platform program uncertain because of budget
cuts, the Air Force is looking to make cockpit and safety upgrades to its aging Iroquois, said Lt. Gen.
James Kowalski, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command.
“I’m not going to sit on my hands, though, and let the UH-1 continue to operate the way it’s
operating,” Kowalski said during a Feb. 24 briefing with reporters at an Air Force Associationsponsored conference.
“So, we’ve gone back and we’ve taken a look at upgrading cockpits, making it night-visioncompatible, making some safety and other improvements to it,” he said.
The CVLSP program is not funded in the fiscal 2013 budget proposal.
In recent months, the Air Force has received three operational loss replacement UH-1s from the
Marine Corps.
“The intent is we run these through the depot, bring them up to a standard with the rest of our UH1Ns and then rotate them out,” Kowalski said. “What we are going to do is we’re watching them as
they go through depot to see what kind of shape they’re in.”
Future UH-1 transfers from the Marine Corps to the Air Force are possible, but a decision will not be
made until the first three aircraft go through depot maintenance, Kowalski said.
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As the Global Strike Command boss, Kowalski oversees the Air Force UH-1s that patrol
intercontinental-ballistic-missile fields in the northern U.S. The aircraft, which have been in service
since the 1970s, do not meet requirements for transporting security forces.
“The UH-1 does not meet [Defense Department] requirements for range, speed and payload, so it
really can’t carry the full complement of tactical response forces we would like,” he said. “So
depending on the situation, we’d vary the response. We are making it better. We’ve got a helicopter
that works, [but] it just doesn’t quite meet the requirements we would like it to meet.”
In recent months, the Air Force has kept helicopters on alert status to respond to emergencies on the
expansive missile fields. But those fields are so large that the Huey cannot fly from one side to the
other without stopping to refuel, service officials have said.
“It’s not a matter of whether or not we need to replace the UH-1. We do,” Kowalski said. “It’s just a
matter of, can we take risk for a couple of more years? Probably.”
Beyond conducting the security mission, Air Force UH-1s shuttle VIPs around Washington, D.C., and
would be used to evacuate government officials from the region during a disaster.
Even though the CVLSP program has been put on hold, Kowalski said the requirement to replace UH1s still exists.
“I have no expectations of the requirements changing … because the requirements are really driven
by the Department of Defense,” he said. “Those requirements were driven to a Department of
Defense instruction on providing this kind of security. Also the requirements are spelled out for the
National Capital Region continuity of ops, continuity of government mission.”
Last year the Air Force was preparing to buy Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawks to replace the U-H1s.
However, Air Force acquisition executive David Van Buren opted to compete the program in an
attempt to get a better deal.
The Air Force meanwhile could end up swapping new UH-60Ms for existing Army UH-60L models to
more rapidly replace rescue helicopters lost over a decade of combat, according to Gen. Michael
Hostage, commander of Air Combat Command.
“We’re going to get some more 60s and we’ve worked out a deal with the Army to take some of their
Ls for some Ms that we put on contract,” Hostage said during a Feb. 24 speech at the same
conference. “So we’ll get those in our hands sooner than we would have waited for the new airplanes
and at least be able to extend our current capability.
“Right now we’re not able to commit to a new helicopter in the near future,” he said.
RETURN
B2
Air Force Shelves $3B Worth of Brand New Drones
(ABC News Radio, 2 Mar 12) … Unattributed
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http://www.masoncountydailynews.com/news/national-news/25306-air-force-shelves-3b-worth-of-brand-new-drones
WASHINGTON -- Far from spying on terrorists, more than a dozen high-tech surveillance drones,
which together cost the U.S. government more than $3 billion, could soon be sitting in a storage
facility gathering dust after top Air Force officials admitted this week the birds still are not as good as
the half-century-old spy planes they were designed to replace.
Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz appeared with Air Force Secretary Michael Donley before a Senate
committee Tuesday where the two defended the service's decision to stop acquisition of the Global
Hawk Block 30 drones and to shelve the 18 Block 30 unmanned drones the Air Force already has,
claiming it will save the Pentagon $2.5 billion. In joint written testimony, Schwartz and Donley said the
Block 30s cost too much and would require expensive upgrades to match the current version of the
Cold War era U-2 spy plane's technical capabilities.
"This was a choice [where] we had an asset that can do the mission as it's currently specified and
could do it overall at much less cost," Schwartz told lawmakers during the hearing. "Sustaining the U2 was a better bet."
The Block 30 Global Hawks, developed by defense contracting giant Northrop Grumman, are
designed for capturing images and detecting electronic signals over extremely long distances. Other
variations of the Global Hawk, including the Block 20 that specializes in communications technology
and the Block 40 that sports a long-range radar system for advanced target detection, will continue to
be used by the Air Force, Schwartz said. Each bird, regardless of type, is estimated to cost around
$176 million.
The entire program has suffered from a series of costly delays and the program price tag has risen so
steadily -- from an estimated $5.3 billion in 2001 to $13.6 billion in 2010 -- that as of March last year,
the Department of Defense had been required to notify Congress three times about the ballooning
cost.
The Block 30s in particular were the subject of a scathing internal Defense Department report last
May, which claimed that in operational testing in 2010, the drones failed to provide adequate
coverage of a target area more than half of the time they were in the air. The report said then that the
drone was "not operationally suitable." A representative for Northrop Grumman later told ABC News
the company was aware of the issues brought up in the report and said the company had worked with
the Air Force to solve most of them.
Despite the internal report, an Air Force spokesperson told ABC News in June 2011 that some Block
30s had already been used in real-world operations where they "did not immediately perform at [their]
full capacity."
Around the same time as that admission, Pentagon acquisitions chief Ashton Carter wrote a letter to
Congress describing the program's faults, but essentially saying the U.S. military was stuck with it.
"The continuation of the program is essential to national security... [and] there are no alternatives to
the program, which will provide acceptable capability to meet the joint military requirement at less
cost," the letter said.
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Schwartz, who read a portion of the letter by lawmakers during the Senate hearing this week, said
that conditions had changed since Carter's letter and budget constraints made the U-2 a better
choice.
The U-2 spy plane is one of the nation's longest-running weapons programs, the first plane having
taken off back in 1955 and made its name by providing crucial intelligence about the Soviet missile
build-up in Cuba for the CIA during the Cold War. The planes have been regularly upgraded since.
Winslow Wheeler, an acquisitions watchdog at the Washington, D.C. thinktank Center for Defense
Information, said the costly Block 30s sitting on the sidelines are a waste of billions that could've been
easily avoided.
"They could've had a side-by-side comparison years ago to see if [the Global Hawk] could compete
with the U-2," Wheeler told ABC News on Friday. "But they went through the typical technological
assumption that this is a step forward, that this will be better and cheaper... [except] it's both more
expensive and not as good."
Representatives for Northrop Grumman declined to comment to ABC News for this report, except to
point to a statement posted on the company's website that notes the company's "disappointment" in
the Air Force's decision to drop the Block 30s.
"Global Hawk is the modern solution to providing surveillance. It provides long duration persistent
surveillance, and collects information using multiple sensors on the platform," the statement says. "In
contrast, the aging U-2 program, first introduced in the 1950s, places pilots in danger, has limited
flight duration, and provides limited sensor capacity. Extending the U-2's service life also represents
additional investment requirements for that program."
Wheeler said that Northrop Grumman is likely to push hard to get the Block 30s back in the military's
arsenal, something Schwartz left plenty of room for in his testimony.
"We will put the platforms into recoverable storage," he said. "We're not talking about breaking the
birds up. We want to be able to have access to them and as circumstances change, perhaps there
will be a time when they come out of storage."
In the meantime, Schwartz said he was confident the military will continue to use the other variations
of the Global Hawk to the best of their ability.
"We're not giving up on the Global Hawk by any means," he said.
RETURN
B3
U.S. Air Force Deferring Upgrade Work on AEHF System
(Space News, 2 Mar 12) … Titus Ledbetter III
http://www.spacenews.com/military/120302-af-deferring-upgrade-aehf.html
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WASHINGTON - The U.S. Air Force is deferring planned upgrades to its most highly secure
constellation of communications satellites in order to fund other Defense Department programs,
documents accompanying the service’s 2013 budget request show.
According to the documents, next year’s proposed research and development budget for the
Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite program is $180 million less than the Air Force
anticipated it would need at this time last year. Service officials intend to reallocate that funding to
“higher Department priorities,” the documents say.
AEHF is not the only Air Force space program whose proposed 2013 budget is significantly lower
than previously anticipated as the Pentagon faces a new era of fiscal restraint. Other examples are
planned upgrades to the service’s primary space traffic management center and a budget account
dedicated to devising and testing new approaches to satellite development and deployment.
When the Pentagon submits its budget request to Congress each February for the upcoming fiscal
year, it typically includes five-year funding profiles for all of its programs. The AEHF funding profile
included in the Air Force’s 2012 request showed a $948 million figure for 2013, with $392 million of
that total dedicated to research and development. In its 2013 budget blueprint submitted Feb. 13, the
service requested $786 million for AEHF, with $229 million allocated to research and development.
Like most U.S. military space programs, AEHF is funded with a combination of procurement and
research and development money. As these programs move from development to production, the
procurement portion of the budget increases while the research and development portion declines.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Sunnyvale, Calif., is under contract to build five geostationaryorbiting AEHF platforms, the first of which launched in August 2010. The Air Force expects to order
the fifth and sixth satellites this year under a block-buy approach designed to save money in part by
allowing the manufacturer to order components in bulk.
Previously the Air Force and Lockheed Martin had expected to use those savings to develop AEHF
capability upgrades that could be incorporated on the seventh and eighth satellites, according to
budget documents and industry officials. It now appears that if those savings do materialize they will
be rolled into other activities.
The AEHF research and development account is split into two parts, with the upgrade effort, or Space
Modernization Initiative, falling under the subdivision called Evolved AEHF Milsatcom. The Air Force
is requesting $53.6 million for Evolved AEHF Milsatcom next year, some $180 million less than the
service previously anticipated it would need.
According to the documents, the service added $16.5 million to the research and development
account for other activities, primarily encryption technology work.
Steve Tatum, a Lockheed Martin spokesman, referred detailed AEHF budget questions to the Air
Force. “The budget submission is the first step in a clear, established process that must take place
before any budgetary decisions become final,” he said via email.
Christina Greer, a spokeswoman for the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles,
the service’s space-hardware procurement arm, did not respond by press time to a request for
comment.
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Meanwhile, Air Force officials want to reallocate $45 million in 2013 funding that previously was
intended for the Joint Space Operations Center (JSPOC) Mission System upgrade program to other
Air Force and Defense Department priorities, budget documents show. The JSPOC is the Pentagon’s
nerve center for space activities, responsible for space surveillance, orbital collision avoidance and
launch support. The Air Force is requesting $55 million next year for the JSPOC Mission System
upgrade, an overhaul of aging computers and other infrastructure that is expected to dramatically
improve the center’s performance and responsiveness. The service anticipated it would need $100
million in 2013 for the upgrade effort when it submitted its 2012 request.
The 2012 request also said the Air Force would seek $76 million in 2013 for Operationally
Responsive Space, a collection of programs and activities intended to pave the way for capabilities
that can be fielded quickly in response to emerge military needs. The actual 2013 request eliminates
that account entirely due to the transfer of those activities “to other space programs and reallocation
of funding to higher Department priorities,” budget documents say.
RETURN
B4
Air Force leader reinforces call for BRACs in 2013, 2015
(Warner Robins Patriot, 2 Mar 12) … Gene Rector
http://warnerrobinspatriot.com/bookmark/17719135-Air-Force-leader-reinforces-call-for-BRACs-in-2013-2015
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz did not back off in his call this week for Base
Realignment and Closure rounds in 2013 and 2015.
The request for additional BRACs was originally contained in the Defense Department’s budget
submission to Congress for fiscal year 2013 and underscored in presentations by Defense Secretary
Leon Panetta and others.
Speaking to the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday, Schwartz said, “We believe
substantial cost savings from eliminating excess infrastructure can be realized only through formal
BRAC deliberations and efforts to close installations fully not through mission realignments and
consolidations.”
In a press conference also this week, Schwartz said closing bases is necessary to shed excess
infrastructure.
“This time,” Schwartz is quoted in an Air Force Association account, “base closure, as opposed to
base realignment, is needed.”
RETURN
CONTINUE TO STRENGTHEN THE NUCLEAR ENTERPRISE
N1
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Alaska Could Receive Another Eight Ballistic Missile Interceptors
(Global Security Newswire, 3 Mar 12) … Unattributed
http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/alaska-base-could-receive-eight-more-missile-interceptors-interceptors/
A U.S. Defense Department agency has informed lawmakers it could deploy eight more groundbased ballistic missile interceptors at an Alaska installation before 2016, a move that would raise up
to 38 the quantity of active weapons at the base and another site in California, InsideDefense.com
reported on Wednesday (see GSN, Feb. 14).
The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency now intends to deploy 26 Ground-based Midcourse Defense
interceptors at Fort Greely in Alaska and four of the weapons at Vandenberg Air Force Base in
California, according to agency spokesman Rick Lehner (see GSN, Oct. 19, 2011).
"We will have silos in Missile Field No. 2 at Fort Greely that will be able to accept the additional
interceptors if directed to do so," the official said this week. "The number of operational interceptors is
determined by the combatant command and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, not MDA."
Existing launch facilities can hold up to 34 interceptors in Alaska and four in California, he said.
The agency has finished an assessment of its GMD interceptor procurement aim and has added
funding for five more of the weapons to its fiscal 2013 funding proposal, Lehner said.
The Pentagon office's GMD funding request totals $903 million for the budget year that begins on
Oct. 1; one year ago, it projected it would seek in excess of $100 million more for the program in the
upcoming fiscal cycle (Thomas Duffy, InsideDefense.com, Feb. 29).
RETURN
PARTNER WITH JOINT AND COALITION TEAM TO WIN TODAY’S FIGHT
P1
US Inquiry Pins Koran Burning on 5 Soldiers
Still seen as accidental, though clerics want a trial, strict punishment
(Newser, 2 Mar 12) … Kevin Spak
http://www.newser.com/story/140957/us-inquiry-pins-koran-burning-on-5-soldiers.html
The US has completed its promised investigation into the Koran-burning incident at Bagram Air Force
Base that plunged Afghanistan into turmoil last week, naming five soldiers as responsible for the
debacle, the Washington Post reports. The US says the culprits will be disciplined, but insists the
incident was an unfortunate accident. In the investigators' telling, the Korans were confiscated
because of extremist messages scrawled within, then kept in an office for safekeeping. But somehow
from there they were mistaken for trash, and taken to a landfill.
The investigation is unlikely to appease Afghan clerics and leaders. "For the soldiers, it will be
serious—they could lose rank. But you’re not going to see the kind of public trial that some here seem
to want," said one senior official. Indeed, Hamid Karzai himself recently called for a trial. "This evil
action cannot be forgiven by apologizing," he said. Clerics have also taken the opportunity to press
for the US to hand over control of the Bagram prison to Afghanistan.
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RETURN
P2
Weapons at heart of U.S.-Israel talks
(Politico, 4 Mar 12) … Richard Sisk
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/73604.html
The Oval Office showdown on Iran between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu Monday will be dominated by what former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld liked to
call the “known unknowns.”
High on that list: Does either Israel or the United States have weapons capable of neutralizing
Iranian’s fortified sites for its nuclear programs, several of them burrowed into mountain redoubts?
The U.S. thinks it does – and that the Israelis don’t. The Israelis fear that the U.S. might be right.
It all comes down to the MOP, the 30,000-pound massive ordnance penetrator bomb that the U.S.
developed for use against Iraq in the 1990s. While a single MOP may not be able to wipe out a
fortified underground Iranian facility, the U.S. has the capacity to unleash wave after wave of MOPs –
possibly enough to render a site useless even if it’s not totally destroyed.
It’s a capability that Israel can’t match.
The scuttlebutt, rehashed in the Israeli media, is that Defense Minister Ehud Barak realized the
shortcomings in the Israeli arsenal for an Iran strike and asked then-President George W. Bush for
some MOPs in 2008 – but that Bush turned him down.
Gen. Norton Schwartz, the Air Force chief of staff, gushed about the MOP last week.
“We have an operational capability, and you wouldn’t want to be there when we used it,” Schwartz
told defense reporters. “Not to say that we can’t continue to make improvements and we are,”
Schwartz said, according to Agence France Presse.
The Air Force has tucked away $81 million in the defense budget to make the MOPs more powerful.
“The bottom line is we have a capability but we’re not sitting on our hands. We’ll continue to improve
it over time,” Schwartz said.
But Schwartz ticked off his own list of unknowns on the use of air power against Iran’s drive for
nuclear weapons. “What is the objective? Is it to eliminate, is to delay, is to complicate? I mean, what
is the national security objective? That is sort of the imminent argument on all of this,” Schwartz said.
The MOPs dwarf Israel’s “Deep Throat” bombs, the nickname for the GBU-28 (Guided Bomb Unit-28)
bunker busters that would be Israel’s best weapon against Iran’s sites.
RETURN
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DEVELOP AND CARE FOR AIRMEN AND THEIR FAMILIES
D1
In NSPS' wake: confusion and lawsuits
(Federal Times, 4 Mar 12) … Stephen Losey
http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20120304/DEPARTMENTS01/203040307/1041/BENEFITS
Thomas Patterson was excited to be hired as a Defense Department clinical social worker in 2008
after serving as a GS-12 employee at the Veterans Affairs Department. He was placed under the
National Security Personnel System, which was intended to reward high-performing employees with
bonuses and raises beyond what they could earn under the General Schedule. But when the ill-fated
NSPS was killed and Patterson was moved back to the GS system last September, he received an
unwelcome surprise: He had been downgraded to a GS-11.
"I don't think there was any intent to deceive me, but the way it worked out was kind of a bait and
switch," Patterson said in an interview.
Patterson is one of at least 21 former NSPS employees who were improperly downgraded when they
were shifted back to their old pay system. Of those cases, the Merit Systems Protection Board has
already ruled in favor of 11 employees, and ordered Defense to return them to their old grades and
reimburse them for any lost pay.
On Jan. 24, MSPB issued a precedent-setting ruling that found Navy employee Glenda Arrington was
improperly downgraded to GS-13 when she was shifted out of NSPS. The board ordered her to be
returned to GS-14 and be compensated for any lost pay. Over the next two weeks, MSPB ruled in
favor of 10 more Defense employees who were similarly downgraded.
Being placed in a lower grade is "kind of a long-term demotion," said San Francisco attorney William
Wiley, who specializes in federal employment and discrimination law. "They have a legitimate gripe."
The problem is especially acute since NSPS was meant to reward Defense's best and brightest
employees.
The roots of the problem lie in the 2009 law Congress passed to cancel NSPS. The Pentagon had
two years to move roughly 226,000 employees back to their original pay systems and shutter the
highly unpopular NSPS. But the transitions happened in phases, which meant some components had
to act in a matter of months.
Some human resources offices were overwhelmed. In a December 2010 news release, the Air Force
Space Command said some employees had been placed in the wrong GS grades, partly because the
Air Force had to move so quickly.
"The rapid transition resulted in errors that may have been prevented had more time been given to
accurately transition employees," Air Force human resources specialist Siobhan Berry said in the
release.
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Lawmakers also ordered Defense not to reduce employees' salaries when transferring them back to
their original pay systems. But the law did not forbid Defense from lowering an employee's grade.
The Pentagon did not respond to Federal Times' inquiries by press time.
Downgraded
Patterson, who counsels individuals and married couples who are struggling with depression, anxiety
and post-traumatic stress disorder, said he was a GS-12 at the Little Rock Veterans Affairs Medical
Center in Arkansas in 2008 when a major at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri offered him a job.
Patterson's new boss explained that he would be classified as a YA-2 under NSPS, which was
equivalent to his old GS-12 position.
"Had I made a case that said, ‘Show this job is a GS-12,' I would have been laughed out of town,"
Patterson said. "GS was a dead system, as far as we were concerned."
When Patterson heard Congress was terminating NSPS in 2011, he was confident he would be
returned to a GS-12. But last September, during the final days of NSPS, he got the bad news that he
had been classified as a GS-11, Step 9. Patterson said DoD viewed him as a new hire — not a GS12 transfer from VA — and graded the position as a GS-11.
Because Patterson's pay wasn't cut, his downgrading didn't technically violate the 2009 law that
ended NSPS. Congress said no employee should suffer a loss of pay when being shifted out of
NSPS.
But Patterson felt the spirit of that law was violated, since his opportunity for future raises is now
limited because he can hope to get only one more step increase before reaching the top of the GS-11
pay scale. Patterson said he does not think Whiteman or the Air Force downgraded him on purpose.
He said his boss is trying to help him straighten out the problem and has pledged to rewrite his
position description to reflect that he should be a GS-12.
Other former NSPS employees who were downgraded — such as the Air Force's Wayland Patterson,
who is no relation to Thomas Patterson — landed above their new grade's pay caps and were placed
on retained pay status. That means they are ineligible for any step increases and can receive only
half of the pay scale increases approved by Congress until their grade catches up to their salaries.
Wayland Patterson, who works as a contract augmentation program manager at Florida's Tyndall Air
Force Base, said he was a GS-13 for five years before being shifted to NSPS. In September 2010, he
was bumped down to GS-12 and put on retained pay status.
In a sign of how chaotic the NSPS transfer was, Wayland Patterson said that he was given
supervisory duties and put in charge of managing GS-13s who were above his paygrade.
"Prior to the release of the results of the conversion, the deputy director of the agency at the time
went around saying, ‘This is so broken — I have a 12 supervising 13s,'" Wayland Patterson said. "I
had no idea he was talking about me. It's broken, and they realize it's broken."
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Wayland Patterson's story has a happy ending. Last November, the Air Force told him it was
reclassifying him as a GS-13, Step 10. He didn't lose any money while he was on retained pay status
because Congress passed no pay raises in 2011 and 2012. But he had filed an MSPB complaint
shortly after being downgraded and is still pursuing the complaint because he wants his promotion
backdated and his demotion stricken from his record. He's not sure when MSPB will rule on his case.
"I know the judge has a lot of similar cases," Patterson said. "During a telephonic prehearing, they
had five other judges on the line because they had similar cases."
File a complaint, attorney advises
It's unknown how many Defense employees have been downgraded, and an MSPB spokesman said
he wasn't sure how many people have filed cases alleging they were improperly downgraded.
Wiley said former NSPS employees who feel they were improperly placed in a grade lower than
where they started should file an MSPB claim as soon as possible.
MSPB usually requires adverse action appeals to be filed within 30 days, but is being lenient in the
case of former NSPS employees. Arrington, for example, filed her appeal 50 days after being
downgraded. But MSPB ruled in her precedent-setting case that the Navy did not tell her of her
appeal rights at the time, as was required by law, and as a result waived the deadline.
Wiley said many employees who think they were wronged probably don't even know they have the
option of going to MSPB. But they need to be able to show that once they learned about their appeal
rights, they acted fast.
The board typically looks at when a complaining employee was notified about his appeal rights, Wiley
said. "Republican boards can be stricter, but now it's a Democratic board, and I expect they will be
more generous. But it's up to them to decide."
Pat Niehaus, president of the Federal Managers Association, said she mostly heard complaints from
people who were promoted or took on additional duties under NSPS, but were returned to their
original grades after NSPS was shut down. Those employees, Niehaus said, felt they should have
been placed in a higher grade than the ones in which they originally started.
But those employees may have a tougher time making their case. MSPB last month dismissed the
cases of two employees who felt they should have been bumped up a grade. In those cases, the
board ruled the Arrington decision did not apply because their grades were not lowered. The board
also said it did not have jurisdiction to consider the proper classification of a position.
RETURN
D2
Blog: TRICARE Out, New Defense Health Agency In
(Nextgov, 2 Mar 12) … Bob Brewin
http://whatsbrewin.nextgov.com/2012/03/tricare_out_new_defense_health_agency_in.php
Page 16 of 37
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The Defense Department sent a report to Congress today detailing how the Pentagon plans to
integrate health care operations. The plan falls short of 2006 recommendations by the Defense
Business Board to eliminate Army, Navy and Air Force medical commands and establish a unified
medical command.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said in today's report that the Pentagon plans to do away
with the TRICARE Management Activity -- which, among other things, oversees the military health
insurance plan -- and fold its functions into a new Defense Health Agency. That agency will assume
responsibility for common clinical and business processes across the Military Health System, such as
medical education for physicians, nurses, medics, pharmacists, medical logistics and health
information technology.
The new Defense Health Agency will be run by a three-star general or admiral -- the same rank as
the three services' surgeons general and a two-grade bump from the one-star rank of the current
TRICARE director, Army Brig. Gen. Bryan Gamble.
The report is silent on whether or not the new Defense Health Agency will have a chief information
officer -- a key post, since it will have oversight of an IT budget I peg at well over a billion dollars a
year.
RETURN
MODERNIZE OUR AIR, SPACE AND CYBERSPACE INVENTORIES, ORGS AND TRAINING
M1
Sources: General approves F-35 flight ops
(Air Force Times, 3 Mar 12) … Dave Majumdar
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2012/03/military-f-35-joint-strike-fighter-general-approves-flight-operations-030312d/
The head of Air Education and Training Command has approved test pilots at Eglin Air Force Base,
Fla., to begin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter flight operations next week, sources said Friday.
Eglin’s two qualified test pilots, Air Force Lt. Col. Eric Smith and Marine Maj. Joseph Bachmann, will
take to the air on Tuesday, weather permitting.
The decision was made by Air Force Gen. Edward Rice, commander of Air Education and Training
Command.
The seasoned aviators will fly a series of local area flights in order to gauge the readiness of 33rd
Fighter Wing’s new F-35As and assess the robustness of the unit’s maintenance procedures.
Once the aircraft and maintenance procedures prove they are up to the task of running a full training
syllabus, AETC will authorize the wing to start spinning-up new instructor pilots and students.
Smith and Bachmann will serve as instructors for the rest of the wing’s aviators. The Air Force, Navy
and Marine Corps have assembled some of their most talented pilots to form the initial cadre at 33rd
Fighter Wing.
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RETURN
M2
Pentagon suffers Internet access outage
(Reuters, 3 Mar 12) … Unattributed
http://www.brecorder.com/general-news/172/1161227/
An unspecified number of US Defence Department personnel in the Washington D.C. area and in the
Midwest were cut off from the public Internet for nearly three hours on Thursday because of technical
problems, a department spokeswoman said Friday.
The outage was not caused by any malicious activity, said the spokeswoman, Air Force Lieutenant
Colonel April Cunningham.
She said the networks are back up and operating at normal capacity.
Defence Department users were cut off "due to technical issues at three of the (Department of
Defence) gateways interfacing to commercial Internet access points," Cunningham said in an email.
The department's Defence Information Security Agency worked with commercial vendors and
"mission partners" to reroute critical DoD traffic and to mitigate the issue until technical issues were
resolved, she said.
The number of people affected by the outage was not known, "but is estimated in the thousands,
given the number of people who work in the Pentagon," Cunningham told Reuters.
RETURN
M3
BAE Systems to Supply B-2 Threat-Warning System Upgrade
(Aviation Internation News, 2 Mar 12) … Bill Carey
http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/ain-defense-perspective/2012-03-02/bae-systems-supply-b-2-threat-warning-system-upgrade
With a recent contract award from Northrop Grumman to provide electronic support measures (ESM)
on the B-2 Spirit bomber, BAE Systems will be providing electronic warfare on all three U.S. Air Force
low-observable platforms, including the F-22 and F-35 fighters, according to the company. The new
ESM system will replace the original Lockheed Martin AN/APR-50 defensive management system on
the 20 B-2s. The ESM system works in conjunction with the radar warning receiver to detect and alert
aircrew to electronic threats.
Although it says it was selected “in a competitive bid process over the incumbent and industry’s top
electronic warfare providers,” BAE (and Northrop Grumman) declined to comment on the contract
award further or reveal which other companies had competed to supply the ESM system, details of
which are classified. Northrop Grumman itself is a leading electronic warfare system supplier, as are
Raytheon and ITT Exelis. Lockheed Martin said it was not selected for the next-generation system but
is on contract to support the existing program.
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“The B-2 is a long-range aircraft that must have stealth, mission planning and exceptional situational
awareness to reach its targets through highly developed, increasingly sophisticated enemy defenses,”
said Brian Walters, v-p and general manager of BAE’s Electronic Combat Solutions business. “Our
ESM system will provide aircrews with real-time threat warning and situational awareness of threat
emitters and will allow crews to alter their planned flight path through contested airspace to complete
their mission safely.”
Even as it begins development of the next-generation long-range strike bomber, the Air Force has
extended the service lives of the B-52H and B-2. In its 2010 quadrennial nuclear posture review, the
Department of Defense said it planned to invest more than $1 billion over five years on B-2 upgrades
to support survivability and improve mission effectiveness.
The ESM contract is the latest award announced for the ongoing B-2 modernization effort. Northrop
Grumman said in November that it had won a $109 million contract from the Air Force to redesign the
aft fuselage of the bomber, which shields the composite airframe from engine exhaust.
Last May, the company announced a $372 million contract to begin designing the active electronically
scanned array (AESA) antenna system under the second increment of the B-2 extremely highfrequency satellite communications program. The second increment installs a new communications
terminal and the AESA antenna. A third increment will integrate the B-2 with the Global Information
Grid.
RETURN
M4
Air Force Experimental Drone Uses Computing Power to Smooth High Flights
(Wired: Danger Room, 2 Mar 12) … Jason Paur
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/03/air-force-experimental-drone-uses-computing-power-to-smooth-high-flights/
Flutter kills. When a vibration, usually in an aircraft’s wing or tail, matches the natural frequency of
that structure, the results of that “flutter” can be catastrophic. If the vibration isn’t dampened over
time, it can grow, causing the structure to flex uncontrollably and potentially fail.
The potential for flutter problems gets worse as engineers try to design planes to fly higher and longer
with even more slender wings than are seen on some of the latest unmanned aircraft. So no wonder
the Air Force, NASA and Lockheed Martin are teaming up for new ways to fight flutter with a new
experimental drone. Meet the X-56A.
Flutter issues have led to the destruction of many airplanes, especially in the early days before it was
fully understood. (Check out this NASA video where the horizontal part of a normally rigid aluminum
tail flexes and bends as if it were made of rubber during flutter testing performed by Apollo 13
astronaut Fred Haise.) But even some of the most modern aircraft are not immune. A Lockheed F117 stealth fighter crashed in 1997 after a loose elevation started the vibration that grew into flutter,
leading to total wing failure. Even the newest Boeing 747-8 had a flutter issue after computer models
showed the potential for the phenomenon during certain fuel-loading scenarios.
So the Pentagon is turning to the same place it always does when it needs to push the limits of new
aircraft design: the Mojave desert. The X-56A is the latest ‘X’ plane unveiled by the United States Air
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Force and NASA. It follows the innovative path blazed by all the research-focused aircraft at Edwards
Air Force Base that came before, but without a pilot.
The X-56A, developed with Lockheed Martin’s famed Skunk Works, is a modular drone designed to
test an unusual method of alleviating flutter in lightweight aircraft. Rather than relying upon structural
strength to keep the wing in one piece, it uses computing power.
While any kind of aircraft can be affected (or even bridges), the long and slender, high aspect ratio
wings on airplanes such as the Predator and Global Hawk are particularly susceptible to flutter. The
efficient wing design allows the airplanes to fly for long periods of time at high altitude, but engineers
are limited by the fine balance between weight and strength. An even more slender wing might be
better, and could potentially allow longer and higher flights. But as of now such wings aren’t possible
because more strength (and weight) is usually what is used to combat the potential for flutter.
NASA and the Air Force hope to develop designs for future high-altitude aircraft that minimize the risk
of flutter while maintaining the absolutely minimal weight of the slender, efficient wings needed to stay
aloft for hours or even days at a time. And they want to do this by relying on a computer to control the
flutter by moving the control surfaces to counter the vibrations before they increase to a destructive
amplitude.
With a wingspan of just 28 feet, the X-56A is a small-scale version of current high altitude unmanned
aircraft. Engineers operating the flying test bed will attempt to intentionally induce flutter in the wings
and to see if the fly-by-wire flight control computer can eliminate any problems that arise. The ability
of a flight computer to control small changes as an airplane flies through turbulent skies is not new —
it’s even used in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. But the Air Force and NASA want to take the test to the
“edge of the envelope” and perhaps beyond.
The X-56A research project includes four separate sets of wings. One is relatively stiff to create a
baseline for the tests, according to Aviation Week.
The remaining three sets are flexible wings that make it easier to induce flutter and test the fly-by-wire
computer’s ability to reduce or eliminate the potentially destructive phenomenon. The airplane is
equipped with a parachute in case the wing is destroyed in flight.
When flutter does occur in the X-56A’s slender wings, the on-board flight computer will manipulate
the flight control surfaces on the wings in an attempt to reduce it. Although some fly-by-wire aircraft
have been able to reduce the oscillations, the typical solution is to simply increase the strength (and
weight) of the structure.
If successful, new designs could lead to ultra lightweight structures and extremely efficient wings for
future high altitude drones expanding the capabilities of the eyes in the sky.
The research could also make its way into the civilian world. Because strength, weight and efficiency
are interlinked, many futuristic designs promoted by NASA and others rarely go beyond the design
concept stage because there is no way to safely use lightweight structures that lack the strength to
handle potentially destructive things like flutter.
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Of course, relying on a computer to augment the structure of a wing might not be on some people’s
list of ideas you want to try on a jet airliner. But the same could be said of fly-by-wire control systems
in general just a few decades ago. Today people regularly fly on airplanes that rely 100 percent on a
computer to keep them flying. Perhaps relying on the 1s and 0s to also keep the airplane in one piece
isn’t that far of a stretch.
Flight testing of the X-56A is expected to begin at Edwards Air Force Base this summer.
RETURN
M5
USAF Reducing Possible JSF Basing Locations
(Aviation Week, 2 Mar 12) … Amy Butler
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=aerospacedaily&id=news/asd/2012/03/02/04.xml&headline=USAF%20Reducing%2
0Possible%20JSF%20Basing%20Locations
The U.S. Air Force has begun reducing the number of bases at which it plans to eventually house the
new F-35 in an attempt to reduce the estimated life-cycle cost of the single-engine, stealthy fighter.
Last year, the Pentagon disclosed an estimate of more than $1 trillion to operate the fighter for the
next 50 years, raising significant concern from customers, including the U.S. Navy and Air Force.
Since then, the services have been working to refine their plans to operate the jet in hopes of curbing
operations and sustainment (O&S) cost.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz says the original cost estimate contained more than 40
operating locations for the F-35A, and “We are pressing down on that. We are in the low 30s now.”
Schwartz adds that the initial cost estimate is “of limited value” because it projected so far out into the
future – 50 years. Typical cost estimates of this type span fewer years, he notes.
Fewer operating locations could dovetail with the service’s request to conduct new rounds of base
closures with a hope of reducing as much as 20% of excess infrastructure being operated by the Air
Force.
Meanwhile, Schwartz notes that the service is reviewing its O&S costs with a eye toward cutting costs
across its sustainment activities. Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) — when a company is called
upon to manage maintenance of a weapon system — is being looked at because it is often very
costly. “The model for the F-35 is now largely CLS,” Schwartz says. “That may change.”
Meanwhile, Schwartz says the first F-35A flight at Eglin AFB, Fla., is slated for next week. This is a
milestone for the program as nine F-35s have been at the base on the ground awaiting clearance to
fly. That clearance was issued by the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Center on Feb. 28. Officials
there said there were limitations to the flight profile but cited operational security as a reason for not
articulating what they are.
Schwartz says initial flights of the F-35A and B will be conducted by one U.S. Air Force test pilot and
one U.S. Marine Corps test pilot. Initially, they will conduct local area operations flights and gradually
add to the flight profiles to reach portions of the syllabus that can be taught to pilot trainers.
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This will continue until Air Education and Training Center Commander Gen. Edward Rice, Jr., is
confident the wing at Eglin can conduct enough routine sorties to support early training requirements.
His approval will be required to begin formal training.
RETURN
M6
USAF C-130, F-16 Upgrades Get Near Term Focus
(Aviation Week, 2 Mar 12) … Amy Butler
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/awst/2012/02/27/AW_02_27_2012_p31428692.xml&headline=USAF%20C-130,%20F-16%20Upgrades%20Get%20Near%20Term%20Focus
With a pared-down fiscal 2013 budget request on Capitol Hill and delays in the massive Joint Strike
Fighter program, the U.S. Air Force is having to abandon a decade’s worth of modernization plans for
its workhorse airlifter and fighter fleets.
Instead of buying hundreds of new F-35s early this decade and retiring F-16s and A-10s, the service
is trying to avoid a possible gap. And, rather than embracing an ambitious, decade-long $6.4 billion
upgrade for its C-130 fleet, the service is taking an appetite suppressant.
For its fighter fleet, the impending lump of spending on Lockheed Martin F-35s will continue to slip.
Though this delays an inevitable, sizable bill in the short term, it means the Air Force must invest
more cash in its existing fighters, which service leaders hoped to avert. Generals have said for years
that their goal is to focus the tactical combat aircraft budget only on the Lockheed Martin fifthgeneration F-22 and F-35, avoiding short-term investment in the legacy fleet. But delays in the F-35
flight-test program have consistently slipped the initial operational capability date (last year it was
thought to be beyond 2018), forcing the Air Force to spend up to $2.8 billion for a service-life
extension program (SLEP) for its Lockheed Martin F-16s in order to keep the fleet relevant amid
uncertainty about the in-service date for the F-35.
Likewise, the service is abandoning a long-held plan to upgrade its various Lockheed Martin C-130s
into a single configuration with new glass cockpits and avionics needed to comply with the updated
air traffic management regulations. Instead, the Air Force will now pursue a simplified, less expensive
kit to add only the needed communications and equipment to comply with global air traffic
management requirements.
In total, the Air Force is retiring many old aircraft (including C-130s, F-16s and A-10s) and trying to
ensure that those remaining in the fleet are as pristine and operationally relevant as possible.
The major defense contractors—Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman—are all bracing
for fewer and fewer major purchases by the Air Force. In some cases, they are reeling from recent
terminations or cutbacks. If Congress approves the Air Force’s fiscal 2013 budget proposal, Northrop
Grumman’s Global Hawk Block 30s will be shelved, as will L-3 Communications/Alenia’s C-27Js.
The F-16 and C-130 upgrade efforts are expected to yield a much lower return than would a program
as big as the service’s projected buys of bombers or trainers, but they are a near-term opportunity.
The F-16 SLEP will include up to 350 of the newest F-16s—Block 40 and newer—and is larger in
scope than a structural SLEP considered two years ago by the service. This new program, estimated
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to cost $2.8 billion, will include an active, electronically scanned array radar for the single-engine
fighter, says Maj. Luther Cross, F-16 program element monitor at Air Combat Command. Raytheon
and Northrop Grumman have each developed radar options.
Also included will be a new center display unit for the cockpit as well as an upgraded defensive
countermeasures suite and connectivity to the Integrated Broadcast Service constellation, which will
provide intelligence data to pilots, Cross says.
The Air Force hopes to begin low-rate initial production on SLEP kits as early as fiscal 2016, with
installations beginning the next year. Cross says the last aircraft is slated to receive the upgrade in
2022.
The program is expected to allow the F-16s to operate beyond 2025, by which time officials hope
large numbers of F-35s will have begun service. But these F-16s will still be used for the suppression
and destruction of enemy air defenses roles as the stealthy F-35 begins operations.
“We’ve committed to do service-life extension on about 350 of our multirole F-16s, some structures in
the early-block airplanes, and then more extensive structure and avionics improvements on the more
modern airplanes,” said USAF Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz. “The issue with respect to the F35 is that obviously the planes are not delivering as quickly as we originally anticipated, thus the
requirement to posture the legacy force to make sure that we retain the capabilities we need until the
F-35 delivers in numbers.”
The Air Force decreased its planned buy of F-35As to 19 from 24 aircraft for fiscal 2013. This is one
more than the 18 approved in the fiscal 2012 budget.
The SLEP will also include a long-planned structural upgrade. Currently, the structural life of the F-16
is limited to 8,000 hr. of flight. Modeling and simulation data available today suggest the service could
extend its life to 10,000-12,000 hr., Cross says. In parallel with starting this new effort, Lockheed
Martin is on contract to test the durability of the aircraft, a process that goes into 2014. The jig for the
tests is being assembled now at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth facility, and Cross says testing will
begin on a Block 50 aircraft in November.
Vice Adm. David Venlet, the F-35 program executive officer, says he expects to fully understand what
problems would need to be fixed on the Lockheed Martin F-35 around 2015, based on the projected
maturity of trials at that point. By then, the F-16 SLEP kit development should be underway.
Meanwhile, the Air Force is also “right around the corner” from adding new software to the F-16 that
would allow it to deploy for self-protection the service’s newest air-to-air-missile, the Raytheon AIM120D, as well as the new 250-lb. Boeing Small-Diameter Bomb, optimized for striking small ground
targets.
While the tactical combat aircraft fleet is requiring an unplanned infusion of money to stay current in
the near term, the Air Force is proposing to substantially cut back spending for its tactical airlifter
workhorse, the C-130. In doing so, it is abandoning the plan in place since the 1990s—once called
the C-130-X—to substantially modernize as many as 13 variants of the airlifter into a common
configuration that would fly alongside the new C-130Js entering service. Some suggest the effort,
which became the C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP), should have been terminated long
ago as a gold-plated extravagance pursued by the U.S. Air Force while other C-130 operators
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worldwide modernized their fleets much more cheaply. Service officials had maintained, however,
that the goal of crafting a unified “X-model” C-130 would have saved money in the long run on
maintenance, supply and training costs.
Schwartz has emphasized in recent weeks that, to save costs, the service intends to keep as few
variants of different models in the fleet where possible. But applying this to the large and diverse C130 fleet became a bridge too far. “Over time, the J model will trade out [and] we will ultimately
achieve a common configuration, but . . . it is simply unaffordable” to continue with the C-130 AMP,
Schwartz tells Aviation Week.
He says that just by pursuing a more simple Communication Navigation Surveillance/Air Traffic
Management (CNS/ATM) upgrade, the Air Force can keep 184 older C-130s flying in the most
efficient air routes at less than 25% of the cost of the AMP effort. Air Force officials estimate they will
save at least $2.3 billion by terminating the AMP, which included 221 aircraft at a cost of $6.4 billion.
This goal “is doable, . . . it is absolutely doable,” says Jim Grant, Lockheed Martin vice president of
business development.
Some CNS/ATM kits will be needed by 2015 to comply with the earliest air traffic requirements; in
some countries, they will not be needed until 2017. European civil air authorities typically have the
most demanding CNS/ATM requirements in order for aircraft to operate in the congested air space
there.
The demise of the C-130 AMP closes a long and somewhat inauspicious chapter in the Air Force’s
procurement history. Former Boeing Vice President Darleen Druyun admitted that she unfairly
steered the contract to Boeing; prior to her employment there she was a senior Air Force
procurement official. As a result of the admission, the Air Force agreed to allow Boeing to continue
developing the AMP kit, but produce only the first 24 kits. The intent was to eventually compete
production of the units among the losing bidders of the original source selection—all of which had
protested Boeing’s win after Druyun’s admission.
Cost overruns ensued during the course of the development, prompting a significant restructuring in
2005, which trimmed the buy from as many as 500 to 222 kits (now 221 due to an aircraft loss) and
canceling plans to add the modification to special-operations aircraft.
Meanwhile, however, other countries have pursued much simpler C-130 ATM upgrades devised by
companies including Esterline CMC Electronics, Marshall Aerospace and Elbit Systems. Original C130 AMP competitors Lockheed Martin, L-3 Communications and BAE Systems are also likely to
consider bidding for a forthcoming CNS/ATM program.
RETURN
M7
Residents oppose plan to bring F-35 to Boise
(Associated Press, 4 Mar 12) … Unattributed
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2012/03/ap-residents-oppose-plan-to-bring-f35-to-boise-030412/
BOISE, Idaho — A group of residents in southwest Idaho is hoping to ground a possible plan to bring
F-35 fighter jets to Boise’s Gowen Field.
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Residents say they fear deafening jet engines flying over homes, causing health problems and
lowering property values.
“People have no concept of what it will be like to live here,” Monty Mericle, an engineer and the
group’s leader, told the Idaho Statesman.
The Air Force is also looking at training sites at Tucson International Airport and Luke Air Force Base
in Arizona, and another in New Mexico. The F-35 is intended to eventually replace the aging F-16.
A study by the Air Force found as many as 10,000 people near the Boise Airport would hear loud and
frequent jet noise if the maximum 74 F-35s were placed at Gowen Field.
The Air Force has said its preferred location is Arizona, but it’s required by federal regulations to
complete an environmental impact process. The Air Force said it would take at least $167 million in
airfield construction to use the airport in Boise.
Air Force officials said all public comments will be considered. Comments are due by March 14.
“It remains highly unlikely that the F-35 will come to Gowen Field at any time in the foreseeable
future,” Boise city officials said. “The city of Boise will study the draft EIS and use it to inform our
position on the F-35.”
Supporters of bringing the F-35s to Boise say it would create about 2,500 jobs, which Lt. Gov. Brad
Little said at a public hearing last week are critical. A final decision where the F-35 is housed is
anticipated in the fall.
“There is a little more work that can be done to address the noise concerns,” Little said.
The Boise base now houses A-10 Warthogs.
Part of the problem, Mericle said, is that residential areas have moved in around the airport over the
decades that was built in the 1940s at was then far south of Boise.
RETURN
RECAPTURE ACQUISITION EXCELLENCE
A1
No one has paid price for F-35 program mismanagement
(Federal Times, 4 Mar 12) … Lawrence Korb
http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20120304/ADOP06/203040304/1040/ADOP06
In any profession when there is malpractice, the person or persons who commit the offense are held
accountable. They lose their jobs or their licenses, or resign from sheer embarrassment.
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But this is apparently not the case in the military-industrial complex when it comes to the F-35 Joint
Strike Fighter, the most expensive program in the history of the Pentagon, whose unit costs have
risen from $69 million to $159 million and whose initial operational capability has been set back at
least five years.
It is no wonder that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services
Committee, correctly called the F-35 program a scandal and tragedy.
On Feb. 6, the Pentagon's top weapons buyer, Frank Kendall, finally admitted the real reason that the
process of developing and producing the F-35 was so disastrous was "acquisition malpractice."
To be sure, the problems facing the F-35 have become apparent since Lockheed Martin was
awarded the contract to build the plane in 2001.
But who will be held accountable?
McCain correctly demanded that Lockheed be held accountable for technical problems and cost
spikes. But Kendall did not mention the role of people in the Defense Department, including himself,
in the scandal, tragedy and malpractice.
In the summer of 2009, then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates proudly announced that the most
serious problems facing the F-35 were over, that most of the high-risk elements associated with the
program were largely behind us, and that the plane was ready to move into full production.
And who advised Gates that these problems had been overcome? Ashton Carter, then the top
weapons buyer, and Kendall, then his top deputy.
Gates' reason for making the malpractice decision was transparent. In early 2009, he had affirmed his
predecessor Donald Rumsfeld's decision to stop production of the F-22 at 187 planes and was
seeking to send the message that the F-35 would not suffer the same fate.
What happened to Gates and his top aides who committed this malpractice? Gates stepped down
two years later, after serving about 4½ years as Defense secretary. Upon leaving, he was heralded
as one of the most capable Defense secretaries in history and is now writing a book about his
accomplishments.
And both Carter and Kendall have been promoted. Carter has been given the Pentagon's No. 2 job,
as deputy Defense secretary, and Kendall has been nominated to take Carter's job as undersecretary
of Defense for acquisition.
The F-35 continues to have problems. In 2010, Gates had to stop production of the F-35B, the
vertical-takeoff-and-landing version, putting it on a two-year probation.
Lockheed's most recent contract for building 32 F-35 jets overran its target cost of $3.46 billion by
$245 million, or 7 percent.
As a result of the continuing problems with the F-35, Leon Panetta, Gates' replacement as Defense
secretary, along with Carter and Kendall, have made a "management decision" to slow production of
the F-35 over the next two years.
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Nonetheless, Lockheed will receive $9.2 billion in the fiscal 2013 budget to build 29 planes, more than
$300 million per aircraft. If anything, this will increase the cost, drive up profits for Lockheed, and
keep Carter and Kendall managing this program and all the other weapons programs.
So much for paying the price for malpractice.
Lawrence Korb is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. He served as assistant
secretary of Defense in the Reagan administration.
RETURN
A2
Brazil lashes out after military contract canceled
(Los Angeles Times, 2 Mar 12) …
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/03/brazil-lashes-out-warplanes.html
REPORTING FROM SAO PAULO -- Brazil has warned the U.S. government that the abrupt
cancellation of a contract to buy Brazilian warplanes for the U.S. Air Force could damage military
relations between the two countries.
Before it was revoked without explanation this week, the deal to purchase 20 Embraer Super Tucano
light fighters -- Super Toucan in English -- was seen as a sign that relations with Latin America’s
largest country were improving. President Dilma Rousseff plans to visit Washington next month.
“The Brazilian government learned with surprise of the suspension of the bid process to purchase A29 Super Tucano aircraft by the United States Air Force, in particular due to its manner and timing,”
the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement. “This development is not considered conducive to
strengthening relations between the two countries on defense affairs.”
This would have been the first Air Force purchase of aircraft from Brazil, an Embraer representative
said Friday.
The official explanation for the decision was a problem in the documentation for the $355-million
contract, but the Air Force has not yet said what the specific problems were.
The unexpected cancellation was an “embarrassment,” U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton
Schwartz told reporters Wednesday. “There’s no way to put a happy face on this.”
RETURN
A3
AMC starts iPad buy with order for 63
(Air Force Times, 2 Mar 12) … Unattributed
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2012/03/airforce-amc-ipad-purchase-030212w/
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Air Mobility Command has ordered 63 iPad 2 tablet computers — the first lot in what could be as
many as 18,000 for flight crews who plan to trade in bulky instruction manuals for one sleek handheld device.
The purchase follows two years of study by the Scott Air Force Base, Ill.-based command and a
monthlong solicitation that generated two dozen bids, Capt. Kathleen Ferrero said. The Air Force will
pay Phoenix-based Executive Technology Inc. $520 for each iPad 2.
The company was selected based on the “lowest-cost bid that was technically acceptable,” Ferrero
wrote in an email.
Air Mobility Command will use the first batch of Apple computers for field testing, Ferrero said. It
could spend as much as $9.36 million to outfit all crew members within a year.
Civilian pilots have already begun shifting to the so-called electronic flight bags, leaving thousands of
pages of weighty instructions, charts, checklists and regulations on the ground.
RETURN
A4
Air Force Set to Shoot Down Its Own Giant Spy Blimp
(Wired: Danger Room, 2 Mar 12) … Noah Shachtman
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/03/giant-spy-blimp/
After spending more than $140 million, the Air Force is poised to pull the plug on its ambitious project
to send a king-sized, all-seeing spy blimp to Afghanistan. Which is a bit of a strange move: Not only is
the scheduled first flight of the 370-foot-long “Blue Devil Block 2” airship less than six weeks away,
but just yesterday, a top Air Force official bragged to Congress about the blimp’s predecessor, the
“Blue Devil Block 1″ program. In other words, the Air Force is set to ground its mega-blimp spy ship
before it even gets off the ground — literally.
Not long ago, Blue Devil and its kind were being pushed as the future of aerial surveillance. Instead of
a drone’s single sensor, Blue Devil would employ an array of cameras and eavesdropping gear to
keep tabs on entire villages for days at a time. And with so much space aboard the airship, racks and
racks of processors could process the data generated by those sensors in the sky, easing the burden
on intelligence analysts currently overloaded by drones’ video feeds.
Now, that lighter-than-air future could be in jeopardy, thanks to a series of schedule delays, technical
complications and, above all, inflated costs. But it’s not just Blue Devil that’s in trouble. The Navy just
deflated its MZ-3A blimp. The Army’s Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle airship, which was
supposed to be in Afghanistan by now, has run into significant development roadblocks as well.
Blimps’ status as the Next Big Thing in high-flying spycraft is in jeopardy.
Yet there have been some encouraging signs for the overall Blue Devil effort. Block 1 of the program
— a similar suite of coordinated sensors, mounted on modified executive planes — had became a
proven method for shortening insurgent bomb-makers’ lives in Afghanistan. “Warfighter feedback on
the situational awareness provided by Blue Devil Block 1 has been overwhelmingly positive,” Steven
Walker, the Air Force’s deputy assistant secretary for science and technology, told a Congressional
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panel (.docx) on Wednesday. “Since December 2010, Blue Devil ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and
reconnaissance] has been instrumental in identifying a number of high value individuals and
improvised explosive device emplacements.”
But the next phase of Blue Devil was ambitious, and with that ambition came complications.
Schedules slipped, as the airship’s tail fins came in overweight and subcontractor Rockwell Collins
realized that the avionics of an airship were more complex than they had originally thought. The
Argus network of spy cameras, which could oversee 64 square kilometers at once, couldn’t be
integrated in with the rest of the sensor; the blimp-builders had to settle for an Angel Fire camera
pack, which could only look at a mere four square kilometers at a time. Then a giant laser, meant to
beam all that surveillance data to the ground, had to be put aside. It couldn’t be custom-built fast
enough.
Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration insisted on certifying the blimp — a process no drone
airplane had undergone — since the blimp was optionally-manned, and since it was going to have to
fly over the United States, at least in tests. Trying to handle it all was Mav 6, a smallish start-up with
major connections — its CEO is the former chief of Air Force intelligence — but no experience in
handling a project with so many moving parts. “They were in over their heads,” says a senior
Pentagon official. A scheduled October 15, 2011 first flight was pushed back and back again, and is
now slated for April 15.
But the real body-blow for the program came when the Air Force’s special intelligence program office,
known as “Big Safari,” issued its estimate of how much it was going to cost to fly the blimp in
Afghanistan. Mav 6 CEO and retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula, who until in 2010 served as the head of
Air Force intel, insisted all along that Blue Devil would be dirt-cheap to operate and maintain.
Because of all its on-board processing and its lengthy stints in the air, it would cost a fraction of what
it would cost to keep an equivalent number of spy drones in the sky, maybe $45 million. But Big
Safari had questions about how durable this experimental aircraft would really be, and how vulnerable
it might be to insurgent attack during refueling or repair. Their estimated operating costs: $188 million.
Big Safari, which only recently became comfortable with outfitting drones instead of manned planes,
was always skeptical of the Blue Devil blimp. The whole project was basically rammed down the Air
Force’s collective throat in 2010 by a task force that reported directly to the Secretary of Defense.
And as soon as Big Safari got the project, it “promptly proposed wholesale changes to the program —
an entirely different platform, continued use of legacy [c]ameras, and different SIGINT [signals
intelligence] sensors,” a Senate Armed Services Committee report noted last year. The cost estimate
only reinforced that skepticism.
The Air Force insists it hasn’t yet made a formal decision about the fate of the massive blimp. But the
service’s budget for next year contains no money to develop or operate the blimp — a telling sign.
What’s more, Air Force spokesperson Jennifer Cassidy acknowledged in an email that “as a result of
budget and technical challenges, the Air Force authorized a 90-day temporary work stop on the
sensor payload integration” — the blimp’s network of cameras and listening devices — until the
service “determine(s) the most prudent course of action.” Till then, the Air Force’s plump, floating
future remains tethered to the ground.
RETURN
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GLOBAL AIR, SPACE, and CYBERSPACE ENVIRONMENT
G1
Iran’s Missiles Complicate Hormuz Picture
(Defense News, 4 Mar 12) … Uzi Rubin
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120304/DEFFEAT05/303040005/Iran-8217-s-Missiles-Complicate-HormuzPicture?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cs
The Iranian threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for the transportation of a sizable segment
of our planet’s oil supply, has sent tremors though world capitals. As the West was quick to make
clear, such a closure would be a casus belli — a cause for war.
The specter of hostilities between Iran and the West is now ratcheted up another notch. Iran’s shrilly
propagandized “war games” in the Persian Gulf with the firing of “long-range” missiles served to stoke
the war frenzy. The military balance between Iran and the U.S. forces in the region has
correspondingly taken the center stage of the world’s attention, with special emphasis on Iran’s
burgeoning missile arsenals.
The so-called long-range missiles fired by the Iranians during the latest war games prompted some of
their supporters in the gulf region to claim that Iran now has the clout to challenge the U.S. Navy and
Air Force in the Persian Gulf, in particular with Pearl Harbor-like scenarios of surprise. The ability of
Iranian ballistic-missile attacks to knock out major U.S. bases in the gulf states is touted by Iran’s
local friends.
How realistic are such scenarios and what could the U.S. do to frustrate them? Upon examination of
the evidence, it turns out that the “long-range missiles” fired in the latest war games were nothing but
the already well-known, sea-skimming anti-ship missiles of foreign origins brandished by Iran on
previous occasions.
If there was any surprise here, it was the lack of surprise. Such missiles might or might not be
effective in naval battles, but Pearl Harbor doomsday machines they are not. Nevertheless, the
Iranians now possess new tactical ballistic missiles that could and should be a source of concern to
the U.S. and its allies in the gulf.
While the world’s attention is riveted to the 2,000-kilometer-range Sahab 3 and Sejjil missiles that
threaten Israel and Europe, Iran’s increasingly capable tactical missiles have been left in the shadow.
Those are not the venerable but inaccurate Scud B copies purchased from North Korea. What Iran’s
nascent missile industry has achieved is to graft accuracy packages on their heavy 600mm Zilzal
unguided rockets, converting them into true ballistic missiles.
Miss distances shrank from several kilometers to a few hundred meters. This is not yet pinpoint
accuracy, but it is good enough to hit large military and civilian installations. What had been crude
terror weapons morphed into cheap, mass-produced, tactical strikemissiles.
It is precisely such missiles, with tactical ranges of 200 to 300 kilometers, that should be the issue of
concern. Key U.S. installations, such as Central Command headquarters in Camp As Sayliyah, the
U.S. Air Force base in Al Udeid in Qatar and the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet base in Manama, Bahrain, are
all within their ranges.
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While not accurate enough to hit individual ships, Iran’s new tactical missiles, if fired in large
numbers, could damage enough base installations to slow down the U.S. response to Iran’s military
challenge. Moreover, any casualties among U.S. troops and personnel caused by those missiles
might sway U.S. public opinion against the continued use of force to keep the strait open.
While this is far from a Pearl Harbor-like situation, it would complicate the U.S. peacekeeping mission
in the region.
Thanks to foresight and perseverance, the U.S. and its alliespossess the tools to blunt Iran’s tactical
missiles. The U.S. Army’s Patriot system showed its mettle in 2003, when it successfully engaged
and destroyed Saddam Hussein’s tactical ballistic missiles in the first two days of Operation Iraqi
Freedom.
Its latest versions are even more capable, and their growing numbers in the U.S. arsenal are
outpacing Iran’s production lines. If it comes to an exchange of blows between the U.S. and Iran,
there is a little doubt that their quick deployment would throw up an effective shield to blunt Iranian
missiles targeted at U.S. bases.
What remains to be done is to provide U.S. and Western ships with self defense against plunging
anti-ship ballistic missiles such as the Iranian “Khalije Fars” (Persian Gulf), another mutation of the
unguided Zilzal, unveiled last year. This missile is purported to be able to hit ships on the move.
Whether it can actually do so is far from certain, but the concept of ballistic missiles that can hit
moving ships is not unfeasible, hence eventually doable even by Iran.
The current generation of U.S. sea-based missile defense systems is optimized against the longer
range threats like the Shahab 3 missile. What is needed is to equip Western warships with point
defense anti-missile weapons. One such system, the naval French/Italian SAMP/T has recently
succeeded in downing simulated tactical missiles over the Bay of Biscay.
With U.S. and allied bases in the gulf protected by a land-based missile defense shield, and with U.S.
and allied ships equipped with self-defense anti-missile systems, the Iranian bluster could be met and
matched, and the freedom of the seas maintained.
RETURN
G2
UK May Be Looking To Return To STOVL F-35B Aircraft
(Defense Update, 4 Mar 12) … Richard Dudley
http://defense-update.com/20120304_uk-may-be-looking-to-return-to-stovl-f-35b-aircraft.html
Media sources are reporting that the United Kingdom might possibly be revisiting its previous decision
to abandon the use of carrier-based STOVL aircraft. The United Kingdom’s opposition Labour Party
reportedly delivered a letter to the Ministry of Defence questioning the governing Conservative Party’s
ongoing defense review that supposedly may result in a reinstatement of budgetary request authority
to procure the F-35B STOVL variant of the Joint Strike Fighter as part of the FY2012/13 budget
request.
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In the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), the Ministry of Defence announced its
decision to abandon the F-35B STOVL in favor of the conventional carrier-launched F-35C variant for
deployment as early as 2020. The SDSR stated that the F-35C variant was better suited to meet the
needs of the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy and would prove to be a better economic fit than the F35B STOVL variant. At the time the SDSR was being finalized, the F-35B was at serious risk of being
cancelled. That threat has since been eliminated.
Speculation has been rife for many weeks regarding the possibility of high-level discussions being
conducted between the US Department of Defense and the United Kingdom concerning the F-35
variant to be acquired for carrier operations.
Labour Party concerns appear to revolve around the rising costs and difficulties recently associated
with the F-35 program and additional costs necessitated by a redesign of the new Queen Elizabethclass carriers. The governing Conservative Party has admitted publicly that all aspects of the
FY2012/13 budget submission are under review and a decision would be delivered to Parliament this
spring.
The UK’s Future Force 2020 military reorganization blueprint includes a decision to reestablish a
carrier-strike force as part of the Royal Navy’s modernization project. A reversal of the government’s
decision not to deploy the F-35B STOVL variant would have a significant impact on the construction
of the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. A government study reviewing plans to redesign the
new carrier force is examining the costs related to changing the designs to accommodate
conventional-takeoff aircraft instead of STOVL-capable aircraft with a detailed report expected to be
published later this year.
The first Queen Elizabeth-class carrier, now under construction, would require removal of the STOVL
ramp if the F-35C does in fact become the aircraft variant of choice. The cost of this work is estimated
to be at least $1.9 billion, an amount that could eventually be a critical factor in deciding the variant to
be purchased. This first carrier, when delivered in 2016, may actually be mothballed or be sold. The
second carrier is expected to be delivered sometime in 2018 and would not be placed into operation
until 2020 with a projected aviation element consisting of only six aircraft.
The 2010 SDSR outlined the need to fit at least one of the new carriers with arresting gear and
catapults to accommodate the F-35C variant should the F-35B STOVL variant be abandoned. The
redesigned carrier is planned to be equipped with Atomics’ electromagnetic launch system, a concept
that would further enhance the Royal Navy’s ability to more completely meet interoperability
requirements when conducting joint operations with the United States and France.
It does appear likely that a return to the F-35B may be more of a response to the burgeoning costs of
the redesign, maintenance, and operation of the aircraft carrier itself. The UK’s final decision on which
variant to buy may be predicated on a reevaluation of fiscal reality and the cost of redesigning the
Queen-Elizabeth-class carrier.
RETURN
G3
UPDATE 2-Support cited for F-35 fighter after joint meeting
(Reuters, 2 Mar 12) … Andrea Shalal-Esa
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/03/lockheed-fighter-idUSL2E8E2CLL20120303
WASHINGTON - The United States and eight other countries helping to develop the new F-35 Joint
Strike Fighter underscored their full and continued support for the program, according to two sources
who attended a gathering hosted by Canada.
Despite U.S. plans to put off orders for 179 planes over the next five years and a steady drip of news
about technical problems and developmental issues, a statement issued by Canada on Friday cited
"good progress" on the program.
Julian Fantino, Canada's associate minister of National Defence, hosted a dinner on Thursday and
all-day meeting at his country's embassy in Washington, D.C., on Friday to improve communication
among political officials from all nine partner countries. They agreed to make it an annual event.
"While good progress continues to be made, we will always be vigilant with our stewardship of
taxpayers' hard earned dollars," he said in a statement, adding that Canada would stick to stick to its
budget for replacing its aging F-18 fighters.
He said the program had already resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars of contracts for Canadian
firms.
The two sources said all nine countries underscored their full and continued support for what one
described as the "backbone of allied defense in the free world".
Lockheed Martin Corp is developing three variants of the radar-evading, supersonic fighter jet for the
United States and eight countries -- Canada, Britain, Australia, Turkey, Denmark, Norway, Italy and
the Netherlands.
Senior U.S. officials sought to reassure the partner countries that Washington remains committed to
the multinational program, and that it values their participation.
The slowdown in U.S. orders and budget pressures at home have prompted some of the partners to
rethink their own orders. Italy last month cut its planned buy of 131 planes by 30 percent, and others
may follow suit.
Privately, some foreign and even U.S. officials have expressed concern that the Pentagon's actions
and tough comments from some officials are eroding support for the program despite significant
strides in testing.
Japan, one of the first foreign customers outside the partnership, this week said it may cancel orders
for 42 F-35 fighters if the price goes up or deliveries are delayed.
"Our support of this program is clear," said Pentagon spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Melinda
Morgan.
Navy Vice Admiral David Venlet, the official who manages the Pentagon's costliest weapons
program, and acting acquisition chief Frank Kendall gave updates about development milestones and
testing of the new warplane, as did officials from Lockheed.
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PENTAGON SAYS PARTNERSHIP IS INTEGRAL
"The international partnership is integral to F-35 development and we maintain strong lines of
communication with the partner countries' leadership about Joint Strike Fighter development and
testing," said Joe DellaVedova, spokesman for the F-35 program office.
Fantino organized the meeting to facilitate greater collaboration among political officials from the nine
countries funding the plane's development -- the first time so many countries have worked together to
design and build a new plane.
In the past, the Pentagon has provided updates to senior leaders from the partner countries only on a
bilateral basis. But military officials from the nine countries already meet twice a year for review
sessions. The next military-level meeting will take place March 14-15 in Australia, where the partner
countries will formally update their procurement plans.
"The multinational Joint Strike Fighter Program represents a new model for international cooperation,"
the Canadian statement said, adding that the partners agreed that "multilateral updates add purpose
over bilateral discussions and updates."
Fantino, a member of Canada's Conservative-led government, is under pressure from the New
Democratic Party opposition to hold an open and transparent competition for the new warplanes
before committing to buy 65 of the new F-35 fighter jets.
"The Conservatives shouldn't be giving a blank cheque to Lockheed Martin before they know the real
costs of the F-35s," Matthew Kellway, a legislator with the NDP, said in a statement.
Separately, Robert Scher, deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia, told
reporters the issue of possible F-35 sales did not come up at all during annual U.S.-India defense
policy talks held in New Delhi last month.
Scher said Washington didn't need to "go on a marketing campaign," noting that "India knows full well
their own needs and their own requirements and will ask us for any and every thing that they're
interested in."
Scher said India was looking at a range of U.S. military hardware across all of the military services,
but declined to discuss any specifics. He described the defense and security realm as "one of the
areas of greatest progress and promise" in the overall U.S. relationship with India.
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ITEMS OF INTEREST
I1
Ex-Lackland instructor faces sex charges trial
(Air Force Times, 4 Mar 12) … Kristin Davis
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2012/03/air-force-ex-lackland-instructor-faces-sex-charge-trial-030412w/
Page 34 of 37
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A former military training instructor accused of sexually assaulting female basic trainees at Lackland
Air Force Base, Texas, will be arraigned next week, said 502nd Air Base Wing spokesman Brent
Boller.
Staff Sgt. Luis Walker, who will be arraigned March 12, faces charges of rape, aggravated sexual
contact, adultery and obstruction, as well as six specifications of aggravated sexual assault and 18
specifications of violating the lawful order and lawful general regulation regarding unprofessional
relationships with trainees.
The charges stem from accusations made by 10 former trainees that date back to October 2010.
Walker, formerly of the 326th Training Squadron, began work as a training instructor in the summer of
2010. He was reassigned to the 737th Training Group headquarters after he was charged in
November.
Those charges were preferred for court-martial Dec. 19 following the women’s testimony during an
Article 32 hearing.
The Air Force, citing Walker’s “personal privacy,” refused to release the investigation report from the
public hearing, according to a Feb. 21 letter from Col. Robert Bridgford, vice commander at the 502nd
Air Base Wing at Fort Sam Houston.
“[A]ny interest in maintaining public confidence in the military justice system and public confidence in
the judiciary are outweighed by the privacy interests at stake,” Bridgford wrote in denying all portions
of the 291-page document. “SSgt Walker has not been convicted of any crime; disclosure of the
Article 32 Report could substantially prejudice his privacy and due process rights.”
The Air Force could release the investigation report if Walker is convicted of any of the charges,
according to the letter.
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I2
Dover mortuary supervisor resigns over mishandled 9/11 remains
(Tribune Washington Bureau, 3 Mar 12) … David S. Cloud
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/national/general/view/20120303dover_mortuary_supervisor_resigns_over_mishandled_911_remains/srvc=home&p
osition=recent
WASHINGTON - A former supervisor at the military’s Dover mortuary has resigned in the widening
scandal over mishandling of remains of America’s war dead and Sept. 11 victims, according to two
U.S. government officials.
Quinton R. Keel, a civilian working for the Air Force, was in charge of the Dover mortuary when body
parts of two soldiers killed in Afghanistan were lost, and the arm of a dead Marine was sawed off
without his family’s permission.
Keel was reassigned last year to a non-supervisory job at the Delaware facility after Air Force officials
said he and two other supervisors committed "gross mismanagement." A separate Pentagon
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investigation released this week found that human remains from the Sept. 11, 2001, attack were
incinerated and dumped in a landfill.
Keel could not be reached for comment Friday. His departure was first reported by The Washington
Post.
"Mr. Keel has left the federal service," Air Force spokeswoman Vicki Stein said, declining further
comment.
The Office of Special Counsel, a federal agency that investigates whistleblower complaints, said in a
statement that Keel and other supervisors had retaliated against three employees who had
complained about practices at the mortuary, including an effort to fire one of the employees. It also
accused Keel of misleading investigators.
"It is not surprising that he has resigned," the agency said in a statement.
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta asked the Air Force to review whether Keel and two mortuary
officials had been disciplined adequately. The Air Force is planning to release its findings later this
month.
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I3
Court Martial Recommended for 1 Air Force Academy Cadet
(AP, 2 Mar 12) … Unattributed
http://denver.cbslocal.com/2012/03/02/court-martial-recommended-for-1-air-force-academy-cadet/
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - An Air Force Academy commander is recommending a court martial
for one cadet charged with sexual misconduct and has dismissed charges against another.
The academy said Friday the commandant of cadets recommended that Stephan H. Claxton face a
court martial on charges of attempted abusive sexual contact, wrongful sexual contact, assault and
underage drinking.
The decision on whether to convene a court martial will be made by the academy’s superintendent,
Lt. Gen. Michael Gould.
The commandant of cadets dropped all charges against Kyle A. Cressy. He faced two charges
accusing him of sexual contact with a female cadet who was substantially incapacitated.
A hearing is still under way to determine whether a third cadet should face a court martial on sexual
misconduct charges.
The three cases are not related.
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I4
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Live Pigs Will Be Injured for Medic Training
(Care2, 3 Mar 12) … Jake Richardson
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/live-pigs-will-be-injured-for-medic-training.html
Ten members of the 306 rescue squadron, an Air Force Reserve unit, will practice their medic skills
on anesthetized live pigs this weekend at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona.
According to reports, the intention is to injure the pigs so they have wounds similar to the ones
combat troops experience in battle. These simulations using live animals are not necessary, say
some physicians: “Twenty, 30 years ago I took the training and we used animals and maybe at that
time it was as close as we could get, but nowadays there’s no excuse for still using them because the
alternatives are so realistic and basically much better,” Dr. William Morris. (Source: CBS News)
The Humane Society says live animals used in medic training are shot, burned, stabbed, or have a
limb amputated or a bone broken. Ninety-five percent of medical schools don’t use live animals for
training, and there are alternatives to the practice, says the Physicians Committee for Socially
Responsible Medicine.
Very realistic combat simulations not involving live animals have been used by the military for years.
New simulators are also in development. One of the training devices currently in use is the Human
Worn Partial Task Surgical Simulator. This suit has breakable bones and interchangeable organs. It
also has skin and veins that can be cut, sliced, sutured and removed.
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