Friday, April 26, 2024
Key Issues Optical clocks Prototype funding SPAFORGEN
A senior German defense official has asked Pentagon officials not to make any changes to the Medium Extended Air Defense System, warning that costs could rise and that the development of a second interceptor missile could be jeopardized if funding cuts are implemented.
President Bush asked lawmakers today to provide the Army with $130 billion in fiscal year 2008, according to service officials and budget documents.
The Army is adding another two Patriot battalions to its force structure, as part of an initiative to permanently grow its ranks by 65,000 soldiers, a service official told Inside the Army today.
Ground-based rocket interceptors placed in Eastern Europe would not be geographically positioned nor even technically capable of intercepting Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles, the head of the Missile Defense Agency told reporters today.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates this morning announced plans to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 personnel in a bid to increase combat capability and relieve stress on U.S. ground forces stretched thin by the high pace of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
President Bush tonight is expected to announce plans to increase the permanent size of U.S. ground forces by as many as 90,000 uniformed personnel, the first such significant boost in end-strength since the fall of the Soviet Union, according to defense officials.
The Army will pare down the number of unmanned aerial vehicles under the Future Combat System umbrella, leaving the program with only the development of the smallest and largest aircraft, according to Brig. Gen. Stephen Mundt, the Army Aviation Task Force director.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense will receive before Thanksgiving an electronic version of the Army's 2008 budget estimate submission that will include a spending plan covering fiscal years 2008 to 2013, thereby allowing the service to influence any major budget changes, according to the Army's senior budget official.
President Bush today announced he has accepted the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, with a senior Democrat saying the embattled Iraq war architect is expected to remain in office until his replacement garners Senate approval.
The Government Accountability Office gave the Army the go-ahead yesterday to proceed with the development of its Light Utility Helicopter fleet after it denied protests filed by two companies that competed for the aircraft contract, according to a GAO official.
In keeping with its tradition of naming its helicopters after Native American tribes, the Army plans to dub its new Light Utility Helicopter the Lakota, according to a recent memorandum.
Increased sectarian violence, hurdles developing local police forces and delays in establishing an effective Iraqi government mean it is unlikely the United States will cut the number of troops in Iraq before the summer as previously anticipated, according to Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command.
The Missile Defense Agency aborted a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system test today after the target malfunctioned in midflight, according to the agency.
The Pentagon's national missile defense system successfully shot down a target missile today in a test the Missile Defense Agency says was not designed with an intercept as a core goal.
The Missile Defense Agency's revamped Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system intercepted a target for the first time, the agency announced today.
Missile Defense Agency and industry officials are hailing the second flight test of the revamped Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system, conducted this morning, a success.
The Army awarded BAE Systems a $45.7 million contract today for the system development and demonstration phase of the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II program, according to an announcement from Redstone Arsenal. Industry officials project that the program could be valued at more than $1 billion.
The Army's budget request for fiscal year 2007 increased by $11.8 billion over the prior fiscal year, with much of the additional funding allocated to the service's plan to move from a division-based force to one that is brigade-based.
The Army announced today it is terminating Lockheed Martin's $879 million system design and development contract for the Aerial Common Sensor program.
Pentagon leadership has entered the intratheater air debate between the Army and the Air Force and has directed the two services to develop a plan for writing joint requirements for a fixed-wing aircraft to ferry troops and equipment in theater, according to Army officials.