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If you had one more dollar where would you spend it?
September 16th, 2009 | AFA Air & Space Conference 2009 | Posted by Michael Hoffman
This was the final question the Four Star Forum panel was asked. Here are their answers:
Lt. Gen. Harry M. Wyatt, direct of Air National Guard
“We need to make sure our people have the skills and the capabilities of our active duty brothers and sisters.”
Lt. Gen. Charles E. Stenner, chief of Air Force Reserve,
Seasoning training: “We used to be 85 percent prior service. We are now 65 percent prior service. … We are requiring a significant amount of seasoning training. … If I had an extra dollar I would put it in there, which is a program that puts them on active duty status for the time it takes to get to “5-level.”
Lt. Gen. Donald C. Wurster, head of Air Force Special Operations Command
“If I had one more dollar it would to be accelerate the recapatilization of our ’130s’ … If there was a capability that I could bring on faster it would be the CV-22. … If there was a hole in our strategic posture its that we do not as a nation have special operations vertical lift agility in our forward base theatres. PaCom, EuCom and AfriCom need the ability to do vertical lift operations rapidly. ”
Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz, head of Global Strike Command
“If we had one more dollar and we need one more dollar, actually we need considerably more than that, I’d start the study process for the life extension of the V-61 gravity bomb.”
Air Chief: Even Without Senior Officials, USAF Can Run Tanker Competition
September 16th, 2009 | AFA AWS 2009 | Posted by John Bennett
The U.S. Air Force can complete its latest KC-X tanker competition at the speedy pace desired by Pentagon brass even with several top posts still vacant, says Gen. Norton Schwartz, Air Force chief of staff.
The Obama administration has not yet nominated individuals for several key Pentagon jobs, including Air Force undersecretary and acquisition executive.
But that situation should not impact the soon-to-launch KC-X competition, Schwartz told reporters.
The chief’s comments came just hours after Defense Secretary Robert Gates told the conference the service had been given back control of the embattled KC-X program.
The defense secretary took over the program in June 2008 after government auditors found flaws with the service’s process used to award a 179-plane, $35 billion KC-X contract to EADS and Northrop Grumman.
That team beat out Boeing. The Chicago-based defense giant is again expected to compete for the contract against the EADS-Northrop team.
Industry sources have whispered during the conference that another protest is almost guaranteed — perhaps even of the draft request for proposals (RfP). That initial solicitation should be issued in the next few weeks, sources say.
Schwartz said the Air Force must “make sure the [competition] is as pristine as possible to prevent even the temptation of a protest.”
The onus, the air chief said, “is on us to do this in a way that minimizes the likelihood that there will be a protest.”
Gates has said for months the service had to prove to him it was up to the test of running the competition.
Schwartz said he feels the defense secretary saw enough n the last few months to think the air service “has the right kind of team, with the right oversight, to move this across the goal line.”
Tags: boeing, EADS, gates, kc-x, Northrop Grumman, schwartz, tanker
Quote of the Conference Award
September 16th, 2009 | AFA AWS 2009 | Posted by John Bennett
“With one more dollar, I would buy the ink that would fill the pen that would write the law that would make it illegal to protest the next tanker competition.” — Gen. Donald Hoffman, Air Force Materiel Command chief
Update on Gates’ KC-X decision
September 16th, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Bruce Rolfsen
The Air Force has regained control of the KC-X tanker program, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday at the Air Force Association’s Air and Space Conference near Washington, D.C.
Last year Gates stripped decision authority from the Air Force after the Government Accountability Office sharply criticized how the Air Force set its requirements for the KC-X compared the competing tankers from Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman/EADS.
The GAO review resulted in the cancellation of the contract award to Northrop/EADS.
Gates’ decision was great news for the service, whose acquisition community is looking for redemption.
“The Air Force is pleased at today’s announcement and the confidence Secretary Gates is placing in the Air Force,” Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley said after Gates’ announcement. “Tanker recapitalization remains the Air Force’s number one acquisition priority.”
A draft request for proposal is close to release and will be presented to interested offerors with ample time for discussions, Donley said. The formal request for proposal release is expected later this year with contract award slated for 2010.
The Air Force’s decision process will be closely watched to ensure it is “done soon and done right,” Gates said.
The secretary also fired a warning shot at firms submitting bids, saying the program can not afford “corporate food fights.”
The KC-X program calls for buying 179 tankers, allowing the service to replace its aging KC-135 tankers.
Tuesday, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz emphasized the high priority he gives KC-X.
“The most important thing we have to deal with is the KC-X acquisition,” Schwartz said.
Gates: Keep Down Next-Gen Bomber Costs, Requirements
September 16th, 2009 | AFA AWS 2009 | Posted by John Bennett
The Pentagon should field a new long-range bomber, but not one so expensive that losing one would be “a national disaster,” said Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Gates wants the next bomber effort to lead to planes that “realistically can be produced and deployed in the numbers originally envisioned.”
The last U.S. bomber program led to the B-2 fleet. But those planes cost $2 billion each, meaning the nation could afford only a fraction of the 132 initially envisioned. And at that price, the loss of a single B-2 is a major event.
“That is why it is so important that with aircraft — as with all of our major weapons systems — schedules are met, costs are controlled and requirements are brought into line with reality,” Gates said.
Gates: No new cyber-eavesdropping agency
September 16th, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Ben Iannotta
With the Obama administration’s cyber policy in limbo, Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed what he called a “personal opinion” that the United States does not have the money or people to set up a separate National Security Agency to secure cyberspace on the U.S. home front.
To protect “civil liberties,” Gates suggested that the administration assign an official to a dual or “double hat” role as the cybersecurity head at the Department of Homeland Security with a parallel position as a deputy at NSA.
Gates also briefly discussed the efforts of the military services to carve cyber roles in the defense of military networks. He said he has directed the services to fill their cybersecurity training billets as a top priority.
Speaker of the Day
September 16th, 2009 | AFA Air & Space Conference 2009 | Posted by Chris Maddaloni
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates arrives to give the opening speech on the final day of AFA 2009.
Tags: AFA, air force, Maddaloni, Michael Donley, Norton Schwartz, Robert Gate, Secretary of Defense
Gates Gives Tanker Back to USAF
September 16th, 2009 | AFA AWS 2009 | Posted by John Bennett
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has given the Air Force control over the KC-X tanker program back to service brass.
“I am pleased to announce that source selection authority is returning to the Air Force,” according to a copy of his speech.
Still, he will tell the conference, “my office will continue to have a robust oversight role.”
Gates wants to avoid the kinds of “letdowns, parochial squabbles, and corporate food fights that have bedeviled this effort in the past.”
The secretary was a competition “done soon and done right.”
Closing Day
September 16th, 2009 | AFA Air & Space Conference 2009 | Posted by Chris Maddaloni
Tags: AFA, air force, Maddaloni
Buzz over Defense Secretary’s speech
September 16th, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Michael Hoffman
Defense Secretary Robert Gates will take the podium at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning. Plenty of speculation exists over what he will say. Multiple Air Force officials told Show Scout they expect Gates to make an announcement on the aerial refueling tanker contract.
A couple officials went as far to say they expect Gates to hand control of the contract back to the Air Force. Gates, of course, yanked control from the Air Force following the protests and scandals that have delayed the procurement of the KC-X tanker to replace the aging Air Force tankers.