Department of Defense & Industry Daily News
Advertisement
Defense program acquisition news, budget data, market briefings
  • Contact
    Editorial
    Advertising
    Feedback & Support
    Subscriptions & Reports
  • Subscribe
    Paid Subscription
    in-depth program analysis & data sets
    Free Email Newsletter
    quick daily updates
    Google+ Twitter RSS
  • Log in
    Forgot your password?
    Not yet a subscriber? Find out what you have been missing.
Archives by date > 2013 > February

Rapid Fire Feb. 7, 2013: Trickle Down Sequestronomics

Feb 07, 2013 10:00 UTC

  • House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA), SASC Ranking Member Jim Inhofe (R-OK), and other allied Republican members of Congress introduced the Down Payment to Protect National Security Act of 2013 [PDF] as their way of preventing sequestration. The bill “would pay for one year of defense and non-defense sequestration by requiring a reduction in the federal workforce through attrition and a pay freeze for members of Congress.” The Congressional pay freeze is of course only symbolic. More than anything, this proposal shows no grand bargain is going to happen in the less than 4 weeks remaining before the sequester kicks in: it’s now all about finding a patch that will stick for a little while.

  • Meanwhile Continuing Resolution/sequestration planning continues to trickle down through the services. The Air Force memo [PDF] shows $3.4B in FY13 (still tentative) sequestration actions, from potential furloughs to reductions in weapons sustainment and flight hours.

  • And here’s the take from Vice Adm. David Dunaway for US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR):

Continue Reading… »

Rapid Fire Feb. 6, 2013: Selective Memory Epidemic Strikes Washington

Feb 06, 2013 10:00 UTC

Advertisement

  • US Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno released a slidedeck [PDF] detailing the budget shortfall that will affect operations & maintenance for the rest of the fiscal year. Of course cramming a year worth of cuts into half the time is going to look bad. But the Budget Control Act (BCA) – the law that sets the sequester in place – had already been on the books for months when the Administration submitted its FY13 budget request a year ago. That the Office of Management and budget and the Pentagon chose to pretend sequestration would not happen when they built that budget, then stuck to that position for months despite clear lack of action in the Senate, is entirely self-inflicted.

  • President Obama continues to urge Congress to preempt sequestration before its March 1st deadline while Secretary of Defense Panetta and CJCS Martin E. Dempsey complain about the effects of the continuing resolution. This elicits a reminder: the House of Representatives passed its defense Appropriations bill in July last year. It is the Senate rather than the whole Congress which has shown little interest in appropriations bill this fiscal year. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) had made clear at the time that the BCA was all the budget he needed for FY13.

  • Yesterday’s WSJ article by Michèle Flournoy on how to properly cut defense spending seems to be making the rounds. The Administration’s Plan B for the next SecDef in case Senator Hagel continues to meet opposition in the Senate? We have so far restrained ourselves to watching Netflix’s House of Cards just two episodes at a time, but in the meantime there’s always real life.

  • A week ago Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Solutions introduced a voluntary layoff program aiming to reduce its workforce by about 350 people. Dice | WaPo.

Continue Reading… »

Rapid Fire Feb. 5, 2013: UK House of Commons Concerned by International Level Playing Field

Feb 05, 2013 09:30 UTC

  • The UK’ House of Commons’ Defence Committee published a report [PDF] on defence acquisition that raises a long list of concerns. The Ministry of Defence preempted one of them last week by publishing its Equipment Plan, just as the Committee was finalizing its review, albeit that 10-year plan arguably lacks important details. Still, many doubts voiced by the Commons remain valid and timely, among them whether other countries – starting with other EU members – will really reciprocate market openness. This international consideration comes into play as Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S. i.e. the MoD’s acquisition wing) is to be turned into a Government Owned, Contractor Operated (GOCO) entity that could be managed by a non-UK company.

  • The US Air Force Personnel Center released the terms of voluntary departure measures they hope will allow the service to reduce its personnel by 3,340 people by the end of September.

  • The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) and its members are trying to drum up grass roots opposition to sequestration, yet there is a foreboding feeling that the “can’t possibly happen” cuts will actually come to pass.

Continue Reading… »

Rapid Fire Feb. 4, 2013: (Some) Germans Want UCAVs

Feb 04, 2013 10:00 UTC

  • German defense minister Thomas de Maizière confirmed that his country would seek armed UAVs. In response to earlier leaks in the press, some German politicians had voiced strong opposition to the Bundeswehr’s intent to use UCAVs, on legal and ethical grounds. De Maizière insisted that the decision to use weapons would remain under human control.

  • This issue is a topic of heated debate in Germany in part because critics find the federal government lacks transparency in the way it communicates with the public about arms exports, inviting suspicion that the government is not entirely honest in such matters. The yearly report [PDF in German] issued by the Ministry for the Economy and Technology does not detail specific programs and vendors. After a record 2010, armament exports from Germany dropped to less than 1.3 billion euros, the lowest level since 2004.

  • Cassidian CEO Bernhard Gerwert says he intends to grow cyber security and armed UAV sales in Europe, but would like the company to become more competitive outside of its home turf.

Continue Reading… »

Rapid Fire Feb. 1, 2013: State of NATO – Snow White and the Twenty Seven Dwarfs

Feb 01, 2013 09:45 UTC

  • NATO Secretary General Anders Rasmussen published his 2012 report, expressing his confidence in the Afghan security forces. However a chart shows the number of enemy-initiated attacks per month is still higher now than it was in 2009. A couple of Pac Man pie charts also show how US spending continues to dwarf European members of the alliance, most of which are significantly below NATO’s guidance set at 2% of GDP.

  • Here’s where you want to pay attention: in 2003 China’s (estimated) defense spending amounted to 4% of the world total (behind Japan) vs. 24% for NATO Europe+Canada. A decade later China and EURO/CAN account for 10% vs. 16% respectively. Since China has shown no sign of slowing its military spending growth while there’s no indication most European countries will either have the willingness or wherewithal to change their course, it is not too much of a stretch to project China at or above the Euro block within 5 to 10 years. Of course spending is not capability but this shows relative budget priorities and constraints.

Continue Reading… »
« Previous 1 2 3
Advertisement
White Papers & Events
Advertisement
February 2013
SMTWTFS
« Jan Mar »
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
2425262728 
Advertisement

© 2004-2023 Defense Industry Daily, LLC | About Us | Images on this site | Privacy Policy

Contact us: Editorial | Advertising | Feedback & Support | Subscriptions & Reports

Follow us: Twitter | Google+

Stay Up-to-Date on Defense Programs Developments with Free Newsletter

DID's daily email newsletter keeps you abreast of contract developments, pictures, and data, put in the context of their underlying political, business, and technical drivers.