HIGHLIGHTS
By Kirsten Ashbaugh
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DOD Certifies 6 Programs Under Nunn-McCurdy Law Breaches
“Nunn-McCurdy legislation requires DOD officials to constantly estimate the cost of programs and compare it to the estimate of the cost when the program started.
“When a program grows more than 50 percent beyond the original estimate, the legislation requires the DOD acquisition executive to certify to Congress “that the program is essential to national security, that there are no alternatives to the program which will provide acceptable capability,” a senior defense official speaking on background said….” Read more.
Afghanistan Army on “Glide Path” to Meeting Quality and Growth Goals
“Just six months after activating the NATO Training Mission- Afghanistan, one of the command’s deputy commanders said that changes to the training program have produced marked improvements in the quality of troops entering the Afghan National Army….” Read more.
Northrop Grumman to Showcase Unmanned Aircraft Capabilities at ILA Berlin Air Show 2010
“Northrop Grumman Corporation will again be a major participant in the ILA Berlin Air Show where it will highlight its key intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities with the Euro Hawk and NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) platforms, which are international derivatives of the RQ-4 High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS)….” Read more.
Pentagon Told to Save Billions for Use in War
“The goal is to force all of the Defense Department agencies and organizations, and all of the armed services, to save enough money in their management, personnel policies and logistics to guarantee 3 percent real growth each year, beyond inflation, in the accounts that pay for combat operations….” Read more.
DOD’s Guns Versus Butter Debate
“The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment’s Todd Harrison has a new paper out warning that DOD is fast approaching a difficult choice: either fund the people or the weapons they operate, it will soon reach the point where it can’t do both… .His latest paper lays out what he calls DOD’s internal “guns versus butter” debate. The butter includes pay and benefit increases that have what economists call “stickiness”: they are almost impossible to rollback. The increase in pay and benefits that congress allots DOD each year will crowd out investment in research and new weapons….” Read more.
The 9th International Institute for Strategic Studies Asia Security Summit, The Shangri-La Dialogue, Opens in Singapore: June 4-6
“Because the states of the Asia-Pacific, an extraordinarily large and diverse region encompassing the majority of the world’s population, face an extremely wide range of defence and security challenges, and their responses to intentionally formulated a wide-ranging agenda for the Shangri-La Dialogue each year….” Read more.
Gates Urges Positive U.S. Military Relations
“Economic and political cooperation between the United States and China has flourished despite differences over U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, and the same should be true of the military relationship between the two countries, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said….” Read more.
Tests Begin on the JLTV
“The Army and Marine Corps have begun testing competing industry designs for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, a new lightweight replacement for the venerable Humvee that will offer better protection against IEDs and better off-road mobility….” Read more.
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*** Posted on June 9th, 2010