The Insider

The Euro Hawk is en route to Manching, Germany, following a weather-related delay to its ferry flight plan.

Northrop Grumman officials said they were forced to move the Euro Hawk flight from its original departure date of July 18 to July 20. The aircraft, a Northrop-built variant of the RQ-4B Global Hawk that carries a European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co.-made signals intelligence (SIGINT) sensor package, departed from Edwards Air Force Base, CA, today at about 2 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, according to a Northrop spokeswoman. It is expected to touch down at Manching Air Base on Thursday, July 21 at approximately 10 a.m. Central European Summer Time.

The flight is part of the demonstrator aircraft's trial run while it undergoes an evaluation by the German government. Following the successful completion of that evaluation, the German government intends to procure a separate contract for the four Euro Hawk SIGNIT systems, which will cover four air vehicles and one complete set of ground stations, the Northrop spokeswoman said. The contract for those four Euro Hawks will be awarded following a system demonstration in Germany, she added.

German acquisition policy requires the purchase of the full-scale Euro Hawk demonstrator system before contracting for production systems, according to a Northrop spokeswoman who provided information on the acquisition in a July 13 email. German military officials spent last week hammering out the details of a Euro Hawk purchase that would net them the four additional aircraft over the next five or six years years, according to an industry source familiar with the program.

In 2007, the German defense ministry signed a contract for the development of the aircraft. That contract, valued at close to $550 million, was for the development, test and support of one Euro Hawk SIGINT mission system. The contract covers aircraft modifications, mission control and launch and recovery ground segments and the development and integration of a national SIGINT sensor suite, as well as flight test and logistics support, according to the spokeswoman.

The Pentagon recently released an updated document on its doctrine for working with non-Defense Department organizations, whether they be U.S. government branches or foreign.

Joint Publication 3-08 "sets forth joint doctrine to govern the activities and performance of the Armed Forces of the United States in joint operations and provides the doctrinal basis for interagency coordination and for US military involvement in multinational operations." Among the updates to the previous document, which came out in 2006:

* Changes the publication title from Interagency, Intergovernmental Organization, and Nongovernmental Organization Coordination During Joint Operations to Interorganizational Coordination During Joint Operations

* Reorganizes the publication from two volumes into a single volume

* Revises the discussion on organizing for successful interagency, intergovernmental organization, and nongovernmental organization coordination

* Updates the discussion on the National Security Council, Homeland Security Council, and National Security Staff

* Updates the discussion for federal interagency coordination during homeland defense and civil support

* Updates descriptions of federal agencies, intergovernmental organizations, and nongovernmental organizations

* Adds a discussion on a whole-of-government approach

* Adds a discussion on strategic communication

* Adds a discussion of the private sector

* Adds coverage on forming a joint interagency task force

* Adds appendices: "Joint Interagency Coordination Group," "Joint Interagency Task Force," "Provincial Reconstruction Team," "The Interagency Management System for Reconstruction and Stabilization," "The Interagency Conflict Assessment Framework," "Example Guidelines for Relations Between the Armed Forces of the United States and Other Organizations," "United States Agency for International Development Civilian-Military Cooperation Policy," and "Joint Force Headquarters-State"

* Modifies the definitions of the terms "disaster assistance response team," "interagency," and "joint interagency coordination group"

* Adds definitions for the terms "development assistance" and "interorganizational coordination"

* Removes the terms "chancery," "civil affairs activities," "complex contingency operations," "developmental assistance," "diplomatic and/or consular facility," "resolution," and "US Defense Representative" from Joint Publication 1-02, Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms.

Air Force Gen. William Fraser III has been nominated to replace Gen. Duncan McNabb as head of U.S. Transportation Command, according to a just-released Pentagon statement.  Fraser is currently serving as chief of Air Combat Command.

According to Fraser's official bio:

As the commander, [Fraser] is responsible for organizing, training, equipping and maintaining combat-ready forces for rapid deployment and employment while ensuring strategic air defense forces are ready to meet the challenges of peacetime air sovereignty and wartime defense. ACC operates more than 1,000 aircraft, 22 wings, 13 bases, and more than 300 operating locations worldwide with 79,000 active-duty and civilian personnel. When mobilized, the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve contribute more than 700 aircraft and 49,000 people to ACC. As the Combat Air Forces lead agent, ACC develops strategy, doctrine, concepts, tactics, and procedures for air and space power employment. The command provides conventional and information warfare forces to all unified commands to ensure air, space and information superiority for warfighters and national decision-makers. ACC can also be called upon to assist national agencies with intelligence, surveillance and crisis response capabilities.

General Fraser entered the Air Force in 1974 as a distinguished graduate of the Texas A&M University ROTC program. His operational assignments include duty as a T-37, B-52, B-1, and B-2 instructor pilot and evaluator. General Fraser has commanded an operations group and two bomb wings. His staff duties include tours on the Air Staff, Joint Staff, and Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff at Offutt AFB, Neb. He has also served as Chief of the Nuclear Requirements Cell at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, Chief of Staff for U.S. Strategic Command, and as the Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

General Fraser has extensive wartime, contingency, and humanitarian relief operational experience. During Operation Enduring Freedom he led an intelligence fusion organization that provided direct support to the warfighter. Prior to assuming his current position, General Fraser served as the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff.

No word yet as to McNabb's next post.

The Pentagon recently looked at 249 renewable energy projects proposed in 35 states and Puerto Rico, and found that "229 have little or no impact on military missions, thus clearing the way for the future production of more than 10 gigawatts of renewable energy generation capacity," according to a Defense Department statement released this afternoon. Further:

These new energy projects will increase the nation's energy security while ensuring that our military services have the test capabilities, training venues, and equipment to help keep America safe.

The DoD will undertake further studies and negotiations with developers, in consultation with the appropriate federal agencies and state and local governments, of the 20 projects that may pose adverse impacts on military readiness and operations.  The department's goal in those negotiations will be to mitigate any potential adverse effects and allow the projects to move forward that are found to have little or no impact on military missions.

The review involved approximately 6,500 wind turbines and 30 solar projects, according to DOD. Click here to view the complete list of the projects.

A recent Congressional Research Service report on conventional bombs that could spread radiation within a population base raises a host of issues on how to deal with such so-called "dirty bombs," including:

• the priority for countering [Radiological dispersal devices] vs. other [chemical,biological, radiological and nuclear weapons];

• the priority given to securing domestic vs. overseas radioactive sources;

• whether to establish a radiation detection system in cities;

• how best to prepare for decontamination following an RDD attack;

• how to dispose of potentially large volumes of waste generated by decontamination;

• whether to modify certain personnel reliability standards;

• whether to modify the pace of a program for implementing certain security enhancements for U.S. radioactive sources; and

• how to improve radiological forensics capability.

CRS doesn't normally release its reports to the public.

The Commerce Department could unveil as early as this week a new definition for generic parts, components, accessories and attachments that are "specially designed" for weapons but are not significant enough to fall under the strict controls of the U.S. Munitions List (USML), and for end items that have a uniquely military use but also a civil and commercial application, Inside U.S. Trade reported late last month.

Kevin Wolf, assistant Commerce secretary for export administration, told the Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee (RPTAC) on June 14 that these items warrant some degree of control on the Commerce Control List (CCL), just not the same degree of control that they now face on the USML. Inside U.S. Trade further reported:

For example, among the end items the proposed definition is meant to cover are machine tools specially designed to make missiles, he said.

This new definition of specially designed will be part of a broader proposed regulation to be issued in July, before the July 18-21 export control update conference. It will lay out the framework for moving items of the USML to the CCL as part of the administration's export control reform initiative.

Many specially designed items on the USML are expected to move to the CCL as part of the administration's export control reform initiative, Wolf said. Remaining on the USML will be items that have apparent military and intelligence system, he said.

Wolf said the ultimate goal is to write out the term "specially designed" altogether from U.S. control lists and come up with better descriptions of items that are controlled. But, since the term is used in various forms within the multilateral export control regimes such as the Wassenaar Arrangement and Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), he acknowledged that working multilaterally to replace that term could take "a very long time."

The USML reflects the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), which uses the term "specifically designed or modified" as one of three elements defining a defense item.

The Export Administration Regulations (EAR), which govern the CCL, use the term "specially designed" in a number of different contexts and no clear indication if its definition in one area applies to the others, according to private-sector sources.

For example, section 772 of the EAR defines "specially designed" in the context of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MCTR) as a piece of equipment designed only for use in a missile that has no other function or use. It is also used to define ancillary cryptography, which is subject to less stringent export controls than other types of encryption.

According to Wolf, the new definition has to be a term that is "common, objective [and] not inconsistent" with the definition of specially designed in the MTCR, which he said is narrowly tailored to that specific control regime and not acceptable to other applications of the term, such as decontrolling generic parts and components that have potential for use in commercial end items.