First off, some things got settled, at least temporarily. Defense Secretary Gates has decided that the refueling tanker contract will be left to the next administration to award.
EADS loses USD 35 billion US Air Force contract it had won
15 September 2008
The Defence Department notified Congress of the plans to scrap the competition after Defence Secretary Robert Gates determined it was too politically charged and cannot be completed before President George W Bush's administration ends in January. Gates issued a statement acknowledging the Pentagon's mistakes in managing the lengthy competition that was thrown into disarray in June, when a congressional oversight agency upheld a Boeing protest and ruled the Air Force erred in awarding the contract to Northrop- EADS. The next administration will be better suited to handle the contract objectively, Gates said. "Over the past seven years the process has become enormously complex and emotional - in no small part because of mistakes and missteps along the way by the Department of Defense," Gates said.
I'm not sure whether this admission should be considered a "limited hangout." Let's just chalk it up as another John McCain failure since it was he who championed the EADS proposal. Who knows whether it's just a co-incidence that Boeing has a fancy headquarters in Chicago?
Next up is a sub-committee of the House cutting a number of Air Force acquisitions.
Panel cuts Air Force funding for JCA
By Sam LaGrone - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Sep 15, 2008 8:00:12 EDT
A congressional panel wants to take the "joint" out of the Army and Air Force's Joint Cargo Aircraft.
The House Appropriations defense subcommittee stripped $32.1 million of Air Force funding in fiscal 2009 for JCA research and development and aircraft acquisition.
Additionally, the lawmakers expressed strong reservations about whether the Air Force, as planned, should purchase 24 C-27 Spartan cargo planes by 2013 at all.
....
But, hope springs eternal..........
Despite the strong position of the subcommittee, the Air Force's role in the JCA program is far from settled. Three other congressional committees will weigh in, and program decisions will not become final until both the House and the Senate approve funding.
Air Force officials said Sept. 11 that both services were still keen to get their own JCAs.
And some things are obviously not settled:
Gates: Air Force may consolidate nuclear control
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
WASHINGTON (AP) - A Pentagon advisory group recommended Friday that the Air Force, which has been embarrassed by a series of nuclear-related mishaps, should consolidate under a single organization the now-divided responsibilities for its nuclear weapons management.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the group made a strong argument for that action, but he was not sure how it would be implemented.
....
Schlesinger said a central recommendation by his group was that the Air Force convert its existing Air Force Space Command - which now has responsibility for the service's land-based nuclear missiles but not other nuclear weapons - into an organization called Air Force Strategic Command. The new organization would "be held accountable for the efficacy of the nuclear mission."
Which raises the question whether re-organization is likely to do the trick. "Strategic Command" has a sort of "back to the future" ring to it.
James B. Armor, Jr. weighs in on
The Air Force's other blind spot
It's not just the nuclear mission: space is also weakening under Air Force custodianship
by James B. Armor, Jr.
Monday, September 15, 2008
There has been much public discussion of the Air Force's loss of focus on the nuclear mission, both intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and bombers, leading to the forced resignation of the Secretary and Chief of Staff in June. Although the real reason for their departure remains a contentious open debate-too much emphasis on air superiority, prioritizing "the next war rather than the one we're in", advocacy with the Congress outside the Department of Defense chain, Air Force power grabs for executive agency authority over UAVs and cyberspace-the proximate cause was clearly the errors and miscues with the nuclear mission and related materiel. There is, however, general agreement that this was an inevitable result of a long slide in assigned resources and management attention since the end of the Cold War in the early '90s.
Which is definitely worth reading in its entirety and, at least to this lay person, entirely comprehensible.
I did promise to bring to your attention what other Air Forces are up to. Pakistan's, for example, seems to have taken umbrage at being over-flown by U.S. drones.
Pakistan scrambles fighter jets to scare off spy plane
Bruce Loudon, South Asia correspondent | September 15, 2008
PAKISTAN was reported last night to have scrambled its fighter aircraft for the first time to repel a US spy plane in its airspace, further raising temperatures in the standoff over Washington's declared determination to launch attacks against militants inside Pakistani territory.
Pakistani newspaper Dawn, in a report from Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan that is a hotbed of militant activity, said the US spy plane "was seen in the skies above North Waziristan earlier in the day, but it disappeared as soon as the Pakistani fighters appeared.
"The jets, which were (being) seen for the first time after a series of US attacks in the tribal belt, reconnoitred the region for an hour."
While it's being called a spy-plane, when one finally gets shot down, we'll still have to confront whether planned assassination by remote control is a morally defensive strategy.
Anyway, we may soon have more serious concerns closer to home now that Russian bombers are prowling the Caribbean on patrol.
Russian strategic bombers to fly over Caribbean Sea
www.chinaview.cn 2008-09-15 17:32:21 Print
MOSCOW, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Two Russian strategic bombers will patrol over the neutral water of the Caribbean Sea amid increasing tension between Moscow and Washington, Itar-Tass news agency reported on Monday, citing a senior Air Force officer.
The two Tupolev Tu-160 are temporarily staying at the Libertador airbase in Venezuela for a joint military drill.
"The Long-Range Aviation planes will take off from the Libertador airbase and will fly for about six hours," said Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Drik.
On Tuesday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who said earlier that he wanted to fly a Tu-160 strategic bomber, will meet the Russian crews at the Libertador airbase, he said.
You will recall that Vladimir Putin had earlier announced that Russia's strategic bombers would resume patrol of Russia's borders, ostensibly in response to the planned installation of missiles and radar facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic--a project that won't actually be realized for several years, even though an agreement to co-operate was recently signed.
Since the Russian reaction was quite disproportionate to the alleged provocation, I've been inclined to suspect that the actual military installations on U.S. bases on Iraqi soil are a more present concern and, absent an announcement of their expeditious dismantling, might well prompt more aggressive nudging on the part of Russia and/or China, especially since the latter has an oil pipeline from Venezuela to the Pacific that might well "require" protecting by missiles. Two bombers cruising over the Caribbean seems a mild response.
We might, however, recollect that the Cuban Missile Crisis that was engineered for Democratic President John F. Kennedy was even more complex than we were led to believe at the time because it involved the removal of U.S. missiles from Turkey that weren't even supposed to be there. And then I happened to discover the other day that from his first days in office, JFK was interacting with Krushchev in what looked like the beginning of a more cordial relationship, evidenced by the release of Captains McKone and Olmstead, the two survivors of a spy plane that had been shot down by the Russians--developments clearly not pleasing to war-monger minds.
Finally, Iran, too, is testing its air defenses:
Iran starts large-scale Air Force, air defense drills
13:50 | 15/ 09/ 2008
TEHRAN, September 15 (RIA Novosti) - Iran has launched a three-day series of Air Force and missile defense exercises throughout the country, the Air Force commander said on Monday. (Photo tour with RIA Novosti. Iran)
"The drills are being conducted in more than a half of Iran's provinces. Their main goal is to rehearse tactical operations with modern weapons and generally to upgrade the operational effectiveness of the country's armed forces," Brigadier General Ahmad Mighani said.
He said all air-defense units of Iran's Ground Forces would be involved, including during launches of advanced missiles and other precision guided weapons.
But, that seems rather small potatoes in the scheme of things.
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