* Adm. Jonathan Greenert, The US Navy’s Chief of Naval Operations, is freezing civilian hiring – like the Air Force earlier announced – and cancelling a lot of maintenance work that was scheduled between April and September (i.e. the end of the current federal fiscal year). These cuts are meant to be reversible if an appropriations bill comes to pass and sequestration is further pushed back or somehow watered down. San Diego Union-Tribune | Virginian-Pilot.
* The US Senate’s Armed Services Committee will investigate the Expeditionary Combat Support System’s failed software system that the Air Force had ordered from Computer Sciences, but eventually cancelled after spending about $1B.
* Raytheon’s sales for 2012 were down by 1.5% to $24.4B. However, thanks to a 1.09 book-to-bill ratio, their backlog grew by 2.4% to $36.2B, 66% of which is funded. Network Centric Systems is the division which lost most revenue in relative terms, with a 10% Y/Y decrease.
* Lt. Gen. Davis, Military Deputy for the US Air Force acquisition, wants to know why contractor logistics support (CLS) costs are rising faster than government-managed depots.
* Rear Adm. William H. Hilarides will replace Vice Adm. Kevin M. McCoy as the commander of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). Hilarides was PEO Submarines between 2005 and 2010.
* At least half of the whole US Air Force corps of general officers was seemingly promoted yesterday. Well, maybe not quite half of them, as the Air Force sure likes their stars.