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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
BUDGET
AF Times: GOP budget would reverse defense cuts (1)
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Alaska's senators push for information about F-16 jets' removal (2)
NUCLEAR ENTERPRISE
Inside GNSS: SBIRS Decision Could Undermine Prospects for GPS Dual-Launch (4)
WIN TODAY’S FIGHT
UPI: WH: 68K U.S. troops in Afghanistan in '13 (6)
CARING FOR AIRMEN
AF Times: Hazing not tolerated, enlisted leaders say (8)
MODERNIZATION
US News: Solar Flares Likely Knocked Military Satellites Offline (12)
DoD Buzz: The cyber war after next (18)
ACQUISITION EXCELLENCE
Reuters: GAO Sees Progress On Satellites, Risks Remain (20)
GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT
Press Trust: China test its J-10 fighters near borders with India (23)
OF INTEREST
Marine Times: Army improves help for sexual assault victims (26)
BUDGET
1. GOP budget would reverse defense cuts
(Air Force Times, 22 Mar 12) … Rick Maze
A House committee moved Wednesday to reverse a $14 billion cut in the 2013 defense budget and create an avenue to avoid the $55 billion sequestration cut looming for January.
2. No more money to cover F-35 delays, says USAF
(Flight International, 22 Mar 12) … Dave Majumdar
The US Air Force's top civilian leaders say that orders for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will be cut if costs continue to rise.
3. Alaska's senators push for information about F-16 jets' removal from Eielson Air Force Base
(Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, 22 Mar 12) … Rob Boyce
FAIRBANKS — Alaska’s two U.S. senators continue to press Air Force officials for more details about the planned move of Eielson Air Force Base’s F-16 squadron to Anchorage next year, saying the service is trying to get around a federal law requiring more disclosure to Congress.
CONTINUE TO STRENGTHEN THE NUCLEAR ENTERPRISE
4. SBIRS Decision Could Undermine Prospects for GPS Dual-Launch
Can GPS satellites ever be nuclear-free?
(Inside GNSS, 22 Mar 12) … Dee Ann Divis
The Air Force is poised to forego putting nuclear detonation detection sensors on the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) satellites, a decision that could complicate efforts to maintain the GPS system by hampering plans to launch multiple, lighter GPS satellites on a single rocket.
PARTNER WITH JOINT AND COALITION TEAM TO WIN TODAY’S FIGHT
5. Between two worlds, airmen on ground provide security
(Stars and Stripes, 22 Mar 12) … Heath Druzin
KANDAHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan - Valentine’s Day was for fighters this year for some 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment soldiers of who battled their way through five firefights in a small Kandahar province village, the rat-a-tat of automatic weapons fire permeating the air throughout the afternoon.
6. WH: 68K U.S. troops in Afghanistan in '13
(UPI, 22 Mar 12) … Unattributed
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE -- A White House spokesman said Thursday the United States will have 68,000 troops in Afghanistan next year after surge forces withdraw.
7. Editorial: How to Reduce Fratricide
(Defense News, 22 Mar 12) … Ben Iannotta
The U.S. Air Force now has official buy-in from ground commanders to let intelligence analysts speak with Predator crews during the harrowing moments before a drone strike. It’s welcome news. Analysts at the service’s Distributed Ground System sites have been lobbying for this change since 2009 because of a series of miscommunications, some of which remain secret.
DEVELOP AND CARE FOR AIRMEN AND THEIR FAMILIES
8. Hazing not tolerated, enlisted leaders say
(Air Force Times, 22 Mar 12) … Rick Maze
The services’ senior enlisted advisors told lawmakers that hazing is not tolerated in the military, and vowed to continue pushing professional and personal standards that crack down on each and every incident.
9. AF Cyber Boss Wants High Quality Troops
(Military.com, 22 Mar 12) … Philip Ewing
The Air Force’s top cyber commander warned Thursday that the military may have a tough time finding all the qualified people it needs to stay ahead in the increasingly important world of attacking and defending networks.
10. Department of Defense illegally discharged veterans for having personality disorder, Yale group finds (document)
(Connecticut Post-Chronicle, 22 Mar 12) … Mary E. O’Leary
NEW HAVEN - The Department of Defense has illegally discharged hundreds of veterans in the past decade by not following their own protocols when making a diagnosis of personality disorder, which denies them certain medical benefits and carries a stigma that hurts re-entry to civilian life.
Modernize our Air, Space and Cyberspace Inventories, Orgs and Training
11. Key SBIRS Capability is Delayed
(Space News, 22 Mar 12) … Titus Ledbetter III
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Air Force will not be able to fully utilize a key capability aboard its new generation of missile warning satellites until at least 2016 because the associated ground-system software will not be completed until then, according to a top service official.
12. Solar Flares Likely Knocked Military Satellites Offline
Solar storms earlier this month may have caused military satellites to reboot
(US News & World Report, 22 Mar 12) … Jason Koebler
An M7.9 class flare. A solar flare is an intense burst of radiation coming from the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots. Flares are our solar system’s largest explosive events.
13. Air Force Will Continue to Launch Mysterious X-37B Space Plane
(National Defense, 22 Mar 12) … Stew Magnuson
What payloads are aboard the Air Force’s X-37B space plane, which has been orbiting the Earth for more than a year, remains top secret.
14. Blog: Next-Generation GPS Satellites Designed in Virtual Reality
(Space.com: Space Insider, 22 Mar 12) … Leonard David
LITTLETON, Colo. - A new factory built to crank out the next generation of advanced Global Positioning System satellites will draw upon some Hollywood magic: 3D glasses and virtual reality.
15. Commentary: 6 Ways to Improve UAVs
(Defense News, 22 Mar 12) … Robert Haffa and Anand Datla
The conditions surrounding the crash landing of a U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel in Iran in December remain murky, but no one doubts that the U.S. lost a highly valued ISR asset. U.S. sources have attributed the loss to a data-link failure coupled with another unspecified malfunction, disputing Iran’s claim of hacking into and taking over the drone’s computer-guided navigation system.
16. Honeywell’s newest Vindicator earns USAF certification
(Government Security News, 22 Mar 12) … Unattributed
Honeywell announced on March 22 that the U.S. Air Force has certified the company’s newest generation of Vindicator command, control and display equipment (CCDE) to protect critical assets at its bases across the globe.
17. Notebook: Plans for Reinvigorated U-2 Include Hyperspectral Sensor
(Defense News, 22 Mar 12) … Dave Majumdar
The U.S. Air Force is publicizing details of the upgrades it plans to make to its U-2 spy planes now that the Pentagon plans to continue flying them beyond 2040, instead of replacing them with Global Hawk unmanned aircraft.
18. The cyber war after next
(DoD Buzz, 22 Mar 12) … Philip Ewing
As many mainstream people in government and industry continue struggling to get a basic grasp of cyber-security and cyber-war, the Air Force’s top cyber chief is already trying to think 20 years out.
19. Notebook: Central Command’s ORS-1 Satellite Goes Fully Operational
(Defense News, 22 Mar 12) … Ben Iannotta
The U.S. Air Force says it will continue operating the ORS-1 imaging satellite as long as ground commanders want its imagery, a strategy that could effectively separate the program from an anticipated debate in 2012 over whether to continue funding the broader Operationally Responsive Space program.
RECAPTURE ACQUISITION EXCELLENCE
20. GAO Sees Progress On Satellites, Risks Remain
(Reuters, 22 Mar 12) … Andrea Shalal-Esa
The U.S. military is finally launching new satellites after a decade of cost overruns and schedule delays, but some spacecraft still face rising costs and others lack the ground systems to process all the data they are gathering, a new report found.
21. USAF: Space rocket costs could spike by 40-percent
(DoD Buzz, 22 Mar 12) … John Reed
The Air Force and space launch industry are hoping to design a new rocket booster engine in an effort to curtail massive price hikes in the cost of solid fuel rockets, you know, the giant engines that drive the service’s satellites into space.
GLOBAL AIR, SPACE, and CYBERSPACE ENVIRONMENT
22. Smart bombs no, smart pilots yes, says PAF general
(Inquirer Mindanao, 23 Mar 12) … Julie Alipala
ZAMBOANGA CITY - The Philippine Air Force (PAF) used “smart pilots”—not US satellite-guided “smart bombs”—when it hit an Abu Sayyaf lair in Parang, Sulu province, on February 2 and killed a bandit leader, Gumbahali Jumdail, and other terrorists, a PAF general insisted Thursday.
23. China test its J-10 fighters near borders with India
(Press Trust of India, 23 Mar 12) … Unattributed
Beijing: China has conducted a massive military exercise in the high altitude Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, close to the disputed borders with India, during which it has for the first time tested the multi-role J-10 fighter jets.
24. Safe Passage: Why The Pentagon Wants An International "Code Of Conduct" For Space
(AOL Defense, 22 Mar 12) … Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
"Safe passage": That, in two words, is what Air Force Space Command chief Gen. William Shelton says the U.S. military will gain from an international "code of conduct" on space activities that the State Department is now negotiating – in the face of intense skepticism from some key members of Congress.
25. F-35 delays may cost Australia billions
(UPI, 22 Mar 12) … Unattributed
CANBERRA, Australia -- Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith has decided to delay an order for more JSF F-35 fighters.
ITEMS OF INTEREST
26. Army improves help for sexual assault victims
(Marine Corps Times, 22 Mar 12) … Cid Standifer
Pvt. Jessica Kenyon was in the Army from 2005 to 2006. In that short time, she says she was raped twice and also forcibly groped by three fellow soldiers.
27. AFA probe into cadet use of banned substances widens
(Colorado Springs Gazette, 22 Mar 12) … Jakob Rodgers
About 30 Air Force Academy cadets are suspected of using banned substances, an academy official said Thursday, doubling the size of an investigation announced two months ago.
HEADLINES
CNN at 0530
France asks: Were warnings missed on Toulouse killer?
3 plead guilty in Miss. hate-crime case
Afghan killings suspect to be charged
FOX News at 0530
Santorum Prefers Obama Over Mitt?
US to Hold Data on Citizens With No Ties to Terrorism
Workers at LA Marijuana Shops Ready to Unionize
NPR at 0530
'Hunger Games': Mortal Combat As Appointment TV
Pope Expected To Address Drug Violence In Mexico
How Health Care Ruling Could Shift The GOP Debate
USA Today at 0530
Trayvon Martin rally draws crowds in Florida
Documents show NYPD infiltrated liberal groups
Coroner: Houston died by drowning, cocaine use
Washington Post at 0530
Intelligence officials retain citizens’ data longer
With Zimmerman, U.S. confronts its fraught relationship with race, identity
U.S. soldier to be charged with 17 counts of murder in Afghan massacre
FULL TEXT
BUDGET
B1
GOP budget would reverse defense cuts
(Air Force Times, 22 Mar 12) … Rick Maze
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2012/03/military-GOP-budget-would-reverse-defense-cuts-032212w/
A House committee moved Wednesday to reverse a $14 billion cut in the 2013 defense budget and create an avenue to avoid the $55 billion sequestration cut looming for January.
By a 19-18 vote, the House Budget Committee approved a federal budget plan that would provide $560.2 billion in national security spending for 2013, a level basically equal to current spending rather than cutting the budget to $546 billion as approved last year in the Budget Control Act of 2011.
The plan also proposes a mechanism to undo the across-the-board, automatic budget cuts due to begin in January under the sequestration provisions of the Budget Control Act by coming up with $1.2 trillion in savings over five years that would not require any reductions in spending for defense or veterans programs.
This is a Republican plan, opposed by all 16 Democrats on the committee as well as two Republicans, and is almost certain to change. But it does show a way to avoid dire consequences for the defense budget while tackling deficit spending.
The budget guideline is expected to come to a vote in the House of Representatives next week, and to pass on a mostly party-line vote. Once passed by the House, the spending caps will be used to begin drafting detailed 2013 agency budgets.
There are controversial provisions. Called the Path to Prosperity by Republicans, the plan calls for $200 billion in cuts over 10 years in federal entitlements, especially Medicare, and also would cut non-defense spending, beginning with a $19 billion reduction in 2013. The budget would cut the federal workforce by 10 percent over three years and freeze pay for federal workers through 2015.
There has been much confusion about the budget committee’s defense numbers because the way the committee counts spending does not cleanly match up with how the Defense Department counts military spending.
Traditionally, 95 percent to 96 percent of the total national defense budget goes to the Defense Department. About $8 billion of the $560.2 billion for national security would go toward mandatory spending programs, mostly accrual payments for future personnel benefits, GI Bill benefits for reservists and some stockpile costs. The rest is discretionary spending for traditional defense programs.
RETURN
B2
No more money to cover F-35 delays, says USAF
(Flight International, 22 Mar 12) … Dave Majumdar
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/no-more-money-to-cover-f-35-delays-says-usaf-369838/
The US Air Force's top civilian leaders say that orders for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will be cut if costs continue to rise.
"We have told the contractor and the programme office that there is no more money," USAF secretary Michael Donley told the US Senate Armed Services Committee on 20 March. "To the extent that if there continues to be cost growth or challenges it's going to be paid for by tails."
Donley said that a fiscal year 2013 budget decision to defer production of some aircraft will cost money, but that those numbers are not yet available. Some of the deferred conventional take-off and landing F-35As would be bought later, "or not at all", he added.
Frank Kendall, the US Department of Defense's procurement chief, told the same committee he believes the F-35 programme is "now on a course to stability". The DoD is continuing to work to reduce costs, he said.
Outgoing USAF procurement chief David Van Buren said that Lockheed will be awarded a contract for only 25 aircraft under its sixth low-rate production lot, down from the 31 authorised by Congress in FY2012. But the DoD could award additional contracts for up to six of the remaining lot six aircraft at the same time as lot seven negotiations, he said.
The DoD will decide how many jets will ultimately be bought based on how well Lockheed does on cost reductions, Van Buren added.