INTERCEPTS
F-35C on its new aircraft carriers
now under construction.
“Today, an analyst sits there and stares at ‘Death TV’ for
hours on end trying to find the single target or see something
move or see something do something that makes it a valid
target. It is just a waste of manpower. It is inefficient.”
Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright
Vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
On the overwhelming amount of intelligence video being collected by the U.S.
military robotic planes and aerial sensors and the difficulty service officials are
having trying to get it processed.
Washington Times, Nov. 9
“It’s a pretty safe situation, but it’s not nearly the posh circumstances they went out there for, I’m sure.”
Lt. Patrick Montgomery
A U.S. Coast Guard spokesman
On the conditions aboard the disabled cruise ship Carnival Splendor, which
received 65,000 pounds of supplies, such as Pop Tarts and Spam, from the U.S.
Navy while it was being towed into port after losing power off the coast of Mexico.
Wall Street Journal, Nov. 10
noting that Congress would have
to authorize the dual block procurement by mid-December.
“This option is good for the tax-
payers because it enables us to buy
more ships for the same money
and allows us to lock in a lower
price for all 20 ships,” Navy
Secretary Ray Mabus said in the
statement. “It’s good for the Navy
because it gets us more ships faster
and increases our flexibility, and
it’s good for industry because it
maintains and even expands jobs
at two shipyards.”
“The Navy’s LCS acquisition
strategy to down select to a single
design resulted in a highly effective
competition and an industry
response that signals a significant
potential savings in the LCS pro-
gram,” Sean Stackley, assistant sec-
retary of the Navy for research,
development and acquisition, said
in the release. “These competitive
bids, coupled with the Navy’s
desire to increase ship procure-
ment rates to support operational
requirements, create an opportuni-
ty to award each bidder a fixed-
price, 10-ship block buy — a total
of 20 ships from fiscal year 2010 to
fiscal year 2015.”
F-35C Enters Tests
At Patuxent River
The Navy’s first F- 35 Lightning II
has arrived at the flight-test facility
at Naval Air Station Patuxent
River, Md., more than a year after
roll-out.
The F-35C, the first carrier-capable version of the Lightning II,
arrived at Patuxent River on Nov. 6
and will be put through a test regimen to check out its airworthiness,
mission systems, flight envelope,
aerial refueling and other characteristics before it is put through an
operational evaluation and recommended for full-rate production.
The F-35C joins several Marine
Corps F-35Bs going through tests
at Patuxent River.
The United Kingdom recently
announced its intent to deploy the
Deficit Panel Chairmen
Propose Defense Cuts
The co-chairmen of a presidential
panel formed to recommend ways
the U.S. government can reduce its
projected budget deficits have proposed a list of possible cuts that
includes the F-35B, the V- 22 and
the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV).
Erskine Bowles, former chief of
staff for President Bill Clinton, and
former Sen. Alan Simpson, co-chairmen of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and
Reform, have identified defense and
domestic programs that could be
reduced or eliminated to achieve a
balanced budget by 2015 and hold
the line on increases in years
beyond. Their recommendations
were posted Nov. 10 on the commission’s website, but have not been
voted on by the entire commission.
The final recommendations are nonbinding on the government.
The proposed defense cuts total
$100.1 billion by 2015. The
Marine Corps’ three most expensive programs would be hit particularly hard. For example, the EFV
— built by General Dynamics —
would be canceled.
Reductions in procurement, particularly of aircraft, would yield $20
billion in savings, the report said.
The panel would terminate the
Corps’ Bell-Boeing V- 22 Osprey
tiltrotor aircraft procurement at 288
aircraft — about two-thirds of the
planned total — and supplement
with Sikorsky H- 60 helicopters.
The Marine Corps’ Lockheed
Martin-built F-35B, the short-takeoff/
vertical-landing version of the Light
ning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)
would be canceled under the proposal. The F-35B has been the most technically challenging version of the JSF
and contributed to the most delays in
the program.
