• According to Bloomberg the FY13 President Budget submission date has been postponed from Feb. 6 to Feb. 13. Meanwhile House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is suggesting to chip at sequestration one year at a time if rolling back the whole 10 years proves too much of a hurdle.

• Sen. Claire McCaskill [D-MO] is pushing for FAA commercial certification of a civilian “BC-17” heavy transport aircraft. DoD Buzz doesn’t seem to understand that there’s a significant global market for outside cargo delivery, and that the C-17’s short takeoff & landing capabilities could be useful to industries like mining, that operate in austere locations with smaller airstrips.

• US Army installations get together to share progress toward “NetZero” energy & waste goals.

• The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI) looks at [PDF] the tax revenue implications of defense acquisition choices and finds that “the tax revenues are significant; they can yield to the Exchequer [DID: i.e. Treasury] over a third of the value of the contract.”

• France just bought [in French] 29 small Cobra Mk2 robots from Eca Robotics in Toulon, for use in finding and detonating land mines.

• US SOCOM’s 75th Ranger Regiment deploys to Afghanistan with GD’s AN/PRC-154 JTRS HMS Rifleman Radio, and Android-based Itronix GD300 wearable computers.

• Even a dying satellite has lessons to teach. GPS-IIA satellite SVN-30 is doing just that for the USAF.

• The US National Weather Services’ Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) is now operational at the NWS Omaha Weather Forecast Office, the 1st of 135 forecast sites to upgrade. It’s a Raytheon system.

• The Australian National Audit Office released its 4th review [PDF] of selected defense acquisition projects. It finds that sticking to the schedule has been more difficult than remaining within budget or delivering promised capability. ”[T]he total time for the 28 Major Projects to achieve their Final Operational Capability date is expected to be almost one third longer than was originally planned.”

• The US State Department seems stalled in an investigation of sales of satellite tech by Thales Alenia Space (TAS) to China that the company says are “ITAR-free” (i.e. without export-restricted American components).

• The US GAO finds that the Navy and Marine Corps’s accounting still show significant discrepancies with Treasury accounts aka Fund Balance with Treasury (FBWT): “As of April 2011, there were more than $22 billion unmatched disbursements and collections affecting more than 10,000 lines of accounting.”

• US Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) Wastebook 2011 [PDF] first words: “Dear Taxpayer, Robot dragons, video games, Christmas trees, snow cone machines, and chocolate. This is not a Christmas wish list. These are just some of the ways the federal government spent your tax dollars this year.” At #3 is a $14M wind turbine project from the Air Force that didn’t quite work. Support, at least nominal, in unexpected places: the Office of Management and Budget. Coburn was one of the 13 Senators to vote against the FY12 defense bill and one of 32 to vote against the omnibus funding law that followed. Among Coburn’s objections: earmarks and bad accounting.

• Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC) is developing the Container Unitized Bulk Equipment system (CUBE) to make fuel and water cheaper to deliver to the front lines, as well as switch to containers that are easier to retrieve and reuse once they’re empty.

• Will Boeing close its plant in Wichita, Kansas, and move KC-46A work elsewhere? Republican Congressman Mike Pompeo urges the company not to.

• The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA)’s board elected David P. Hess, President of Pratt & Whitney, as its new chairman.

• The Australian Department of Defence reviewed [PDF] redaction functionality in Adobe Acrobat Pro and found that it worked as intended.

• US Secretary of State Clinton and Assistant Secretary Andrew Shapiro gave an update on landmine clearance and weapons destruction efforts in the video below, after releasing the 10th edition of To Walk the Earth in Safety:
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• Finmeccanica’s AgustaWestland, following in BAE’s footsteps, will cut up to 375 jobs in the UK. The company’s plant in Yeovil manufactures AW159 Lynx Wildcats for the MoD. However, while AgustaWestland’s license to manufacture Chinooks as ICH-47Fs that led to sales in Italy also covers Britain, it lost to Boeing when the MoD decided to get more helicopters, so the job cuts were predictable. ADS, the UK’s aerospace & defense trade association, warns that there’s potential for significantly more cuts ahead.

• Closer, but no cigar. UAW workers rejected Oshkosh’s latest 5-year contract terms on Saturday. They don’t see eye to eye on temps.

• Stan Soloway, president and CEO of the Professional Services Council, reviewed US federal spending on services during the first half of the previous fiscal year (i.e. Oct 2010 to March 2011) and notes that for the first time in a decade, orders for professional, administrative and management services have been decreasing. According to Soloway the US Army alone accounts for a 3rd of the federal total and saw a 15% decline, at least based on preliminary data.

• US Air Force Research Laboratory Propulsion Directorate came up with cheap vibration dampers to preempt much more expensive engine maintenance.

• Frank Kendall listed his priorities [PDF] as acting USD AT&L: rapid procurement and efficient logistics to support deployed troops, program affordability and acquisition efficiency, and strengthening the industrial base and the acquisition workforce. Sounds like a direct continuation of Ashton Carter’s policies.

• Attorney William Welch notes that at the US GAO they’re not big fans of redundant, frivolous protests. Speaking of the GAO, it states that logistical challenges remain in Afghanistan, including RFID tracking shortcomings, customs clearance slowdowns, and difficulties in collecting information on all incidents of pilferage and damage.

• According to Danger Room a virus has infected UAV ground control stations (GCSs) at Creech Air Force Base, ND, probably while map updates where loaded from removable drives. Some Wired readers countered: “psyops!” but the fact video from Predators was intercepted in the clear with cheap software less than 2 years ago is not reassuring. Once “wiped” from a computer network a virus is not supposed to “keep coming back” when you know what you’re doing.

• Meanwhile The Economist argues that the “future of air power belongs to unmanned systems” and calls for tighter monitoring of their use. The New York Times calls it an arms race.

• The US House of Armed Services Committee (HASC) will have a busy week with no less than 5 hearings: “future of defense” follow-ups, national Guard and reserve component acquisition and modernization, nuclear weapons modernization in Russia and China, and aerial refueling including KC-46A. Members of the recently-formed HASC Defense Business Panel visited Rock Island Arsenal last Friday to discuss how to increase small business participation in defense contracts. Finally, HASC Chair Buck McKeon (R-CA) stuck to his portrayal of reduced increases as “cuts” in the 1st video embedded below.

• Video of amazing cranial reconstruction work done by US Army doctors also embedded below. Warning in case you just had breakfast and don’t like the color red: it’s pretty graphic at times.
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• Early retirement? Defense News says USS George Washington (CVN 73) might be decommissioned in 2016, instead of going through refueling and overhaul. This is based on 2 unnamed Pentagon sources and was not officially confirmed or denied.

• Early homeporting? Floridian Democrat Senator Bill Nelson, Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Congressman Ander Crenshaw asked Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Greenert to consider advancing the move of a nuclear aircraft carrier to Naval Station Mayport from FY19 to FY16. Currently the 5 Atlantic Fleet CVNs are all homeported at Norfolk, VA, which, some say, contributes to an over-reliance of the Hampton Roads region on defense. Related: GAO report (March 2011), CRS backgrounder [PDF, May 2011].

• Newport News Shipbuilding is expanding its shipyard where parts of Virginia Block III SSN 787 are currently being built.

• ITT Corporation’s board of directors approved the spinoffs of its defense and water businesses which will be known respectively as ITT Exelis and Xylem. The separation is to be completed by the end of the month.

• Oshkosh has reached a tentative deal with the UAW Local 578 union which will hold a vote tomorrow. The truck manufacturer also named John Urias, a former Army major general, President of its defense segment.

• Food fight. During a hearing of the Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight she chairs, US Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) complained that some contractors supplying food to military bases and other facilities don’t pass along savings from supplier rebates through to the government.

• US SecDef Leon Panetta listed guidelines to decide when to end the war in Libya: Gadhafi’s forces have to really be out, including in his hometown Sirte, and “opposition forces [should be] able to provide security” in the country. That latter statement sounds rather open-ended.

• The US Office of USD Acquisition, Technology and Logistics published its annual Industrial Capabilities report [PDF] to Congress earlier this week. Among FY11 highlights: the Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) Industrial Base Sustainment Plan (see also this PDF report) and an assessment of rare earth oxide (REO) supplies. The conundrum is that REOs come overwhelmingly from China, but defense accounts for only around 7% of North-American demand. For reference, last year’s Industrial Capabilities report [PDF].

• Yesterday’s US House Armed Committee hearing was on DoD’s financial management workforce. Video below:
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• GAO reports: DoD is having trouble counting [PDF] all of its service contractors; Defense Business Transformation initiative [PDF] has flaws; and ballistic missile defense plan for Europe has unrealistic cost estimates [PDF].

• Is Pentagon chief Robert Gates planning to stay for awhile?

• GE’s joint venture with China’s Avic, to produce advanced open architecture avionics, is raising some eyebrows.

• Oskhosh is adding 650 to 750 jobs to handle increased orders for US military vehicles.

• Czech defense spending expected to increase 4.15% in 2011, as country increases deployments in Afghanistan, according to BMI.

• French defense spending is predicted to increase at a modest rate of below 2% per year, reaching EUR 52.9 billion in 2019, according to BMI.

• UK MOD bottled water plant bottles 48,000 liters of water per day from hard coral strata beneath Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

• Crunch time for General Dynamics and Boeing cases. They argue that the government improperly invoked the state secrets privilege, in order to hide information that would help them prove their side of cases surrounding the A-12 naval stealth fighter’s program cancellation liabilities.

• Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system is a “stupid idea” driven by the French military, according to OHB-System CEO Berry Smutny. Sorry, former CEO.

• Lockheed Martin says the Chinese J-20 unveiling has added urgency to F-35 sales discussions with JSF consortium partner Singapore, plus Japan and South Korea – with all 3 countries in active discussions with US officials.

• EADS CEO offers a rosy outlook on life, including the A400M and Talarion UAV programs. Time will tell, but Airbus is raising commercial aircraft prices as a sign of general confidence, and recent huge A320 orders cannot hurt his disposition.

• Defense firms still irritated by the Pentagon’s proposed 5%/2% withholding rule for contractors whose accounting and pricing systems don’t meet desired standards. The move was proposed in response to significant Pentagon bookkeeping issues.

• British firm Meggitt is paying Danaher $685 million to acquire Pacific Scientific Aerospace, which includes military ball screw and electro-mechanical actuator supplier Thomson Aerospace and Defense.

• Up to $287 million to Lockheed Martin to provide Urban Operations Training Systems for the US Army, Army Reserve, and National Guard.

• Advanced Defense Vehicle Systems says it is pulling out of the US Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle RFP, the service’s effort to replace its Bradley IFVs.

• Up to $177 million to General Dynamics to support US Army logistics in Southwest Asia.

• Telos snags $15.8 million in task orders to modernize the information transport system at 10 Air National Guard sites, under the USAF $9 billion NETCENTS contract.

• Up to $30 million to CSC for cybersecurity services to the USAF’s 33rd Network Warfare Squadron.

• Seattle Times provides a peek inside NORAD.

• SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon space capsule launch successfully (webcast & tweets | PDF briefing | Space.com). This is the first flight under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) project, and the 1st new American human capable spacecraft to travel to orbit and back since the Space Shuttle took flight in 1981.

• US F-15 fighters scramble to intercept Russian Navy Illyshin Il-38 patrol aircraft gathering intel on US-Japan military exercises.

• Asia Sentinel maps out key northern Asian maritime disputes and flashpoints.

• Eight companies, including Boeing and L-3, win contracts worth up to $900 million to support military training simulators for the US services, Kuwait, and Malaysia.

• Kazakhstan to pay $150 million for Russian S-300 surface-to-air missiles as part of regional missile defense system.

• GeoEye agrees to pay $46 million for SPADAC, a McLean, VA-based provider of geospatial predictive analytics to defense, intelligence, and homeland security customers.

• CACI gets $34 million contract to maintain budget systems for the Pentagon’s Comptroller under the $12.3 billion Encore II contract vehicle.

• RQ-4 Global Hawks to replace KC-135 Stratotankers at Grand Forks Air Force Base, after a 50-year KC-135 air refueling mission at the base.

• Wikileaks, and China’s role in North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

• The value of US defense contracts to Massachusetts businesses has almost tripled since 2001, reaching $15.6 billion last year.

• Reality disconnect, Example 1,754,348: Gen. Cartwright says the US military must begin to value scale and numbers, not just capabilities. Meanwhile, the proposed Ground Combat Vehicle to replace the M2/M3 Bradley has an expected price of $9-10 million per GCV, and twice the expected per-mile operating cost of a Bradley. Guess they haven’t started yet.

• XM25 auto-ranging grenade gun deployed to Afghanistan – but using it as intended seems to violate the Rules of Engagement.

• US, Japan back stronger South Korean military stance against North, as US and South Korean military commanders hold talks.

• Getting personal: US military does poor job at protecting soldiers’ personal information, warn West Point professors.

• Puma team delivers first 2 IFVs to Germany.

• Proposed 1.4% pay raise not sitting well with US military personnel.

• Tens of thousands of jobs could be cut at EADS because of Germany’s tight defense budget, according to FT Deutschland.

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) awarded 4 contracts worth up to $1.5 billion to provide financial management services in support of the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) program.

The MDA is expected to spend more $100 billion over the lifetime of the BMD program. The agency has come under criticism from the GAO for its lack of transparency and accountability.

“MDA’s flexible acquisition approach has limited the ability for DOD and congressional decision makers to measure MDA’s progress on cost, schedule, and testing…MDA’s baselines have been inadequate to measure progress and hold MDA accountable. However, GAO also reported that new MDA initiatives to improve baselines could help improve acquisition accountability.”

To help it improve financial accountability, the MDA is turning to 4 contractors:

• Op-ed: Pentagon officials argue for phased adaptive ballistic missile defense to counter threat from rogue states.

• Controversy over F-35 design changes that may make it more vulnerable.

• EADS to continue funding development of Talarion MALE UAV despite reluctance of European partners to place orders. This study may also have had something to do with EADS’ decision.

• Eurosatory 2010 is on in Paris, France. BAE presents its new CV90 Armadillo family of tracked IFVs and RG41 wheeled APC, GD presents its Eagle V patrol vehicle, Renault its VAB Mk.II wheeled APC.

• Meanwhile, France is presenting its Munitions Precision Metrique (MPM) program [in French], which aims to offer a family of tank shells, 155mm artillery, 120mm mortars, GMLRS rockets, and 68mm SNEB rockets that use semi-active laser guidance + INS to get 1m CEP precision, instead of GPS/INS guidance’s 10m (decametrique).

• It’s called job security. US Navy loses 3 REMUS-100 UUVs, calls in the old standby dolphins and sea lions to find them.

• Australia’s new submarine support facility in Henderson, Western Australia, is open for work. They can use that help.

• Too many zeros: The Associated Press added 3 zeros to an $8.4 million Sikorsky Aircraft order for normal maintenance work on the VH-3D Sea King presidential helicopter fleet. Speaking of needing help… $8.4 billion should be intuitively wrong for that.

• Not business as usual: SAIC snags contract worth up to $75 million to provide technical support for the US DoD Business Transformation Agency’s Enterprise Planning & Investment Directorate.

• Japanese spacecraft lands in Australia with asteroid samples. Bruce Willis and crew not on it…

• Do the H2O: Global Defense Technology & Systems wins $45 million contract for mobile systems to package purified water for front-line Marines.

• Salt Lake seed money: Utah launches initiative to lift defense, aerospace industries.