DoD Struggles to Keep Planes Flying Indefinitely
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DoD plans, again, to ask congressional budget makers to retire the A-10 a necessity to accomplish the shift to the F-35, reports The Hill. Maj. Gen. James Post, vice commander of Air Combat Command, got so worked up about it he said support to Congress for the A-10 amounted to “treason,” reported DoD Buzz. His comments were called “hyperbole,” by the Air Force, but the Pentagon’s frustration with lawmakers refusal to drop the A-10 is real. National Defense Magazine fleshes out the problem: planes flying longer force maintenance costs to rise in a time of tightening budgets. DoD is struggling to keep aircraft flying indefinitely, according to retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Donald J. Wetekam. “We are in unknown territory.”
What’s a frigate versus the Littoral Combat Ship? Breaking Defense gives the roster of the names of the different Navy ships and a synopsis of how the Navy decided to add a new one. But don’t get too accustomed, because actually the Navy is going to change the name of the LCS to fast frigate, says Navy Sec. Ray Mabus.
Seems as hard to scrap a carrier as build an LCS. The Navy sold the USS Ranger last month for scrap. It’s supposed to leave Puget Sound by March and make it to Brownsville, TX, by late summer. One foundation failed to raise anything near the $35 million needed to convert it into a museum, but now a new group from Long Beach, CA, wants it for a museum there, reports the Kitsap Sun.
A defense contractor described as charming, admitted last week in court he bribed Navy officials and made tens of millions of dollars in return by overcharging for food, fuel and basic services, reports the Washington Post. Five of the officials have pleaded guilty and prosecutors are investigating others.
The Navy plans to deploy 700 additional sonobuoys along the Pacific Coast, going from 20 to 720 sonobuoys and launching a storm of concern for whales. The Navy acknowledges a harmful impact on marine mammals, but counters protests saying much of the impact would be short-term, reports Military.com.
House Speaker John Boehner tied last week’s arrest of a 20-year-old in Ohio accused of planning to shoot congressional officials with the need for re-authorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Passed during the George W. Bush administration, FISA allows US intelligence agencies to conduct warrantless surveillance of Americans. Rep. Boehner said the government would not have known about the plan without the FISA program, reports McClatchy DC..
Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) wants congress to prevent President Obama from releasing more prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, reports The Hill. .
