March 29, 2024

‘Brexit’ Could Trigger Sequester-Like Consequences

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If Britain leaves the European Union, its departure could create years of economic uncertainty for global aerospace and defense firms, with effects not unlike the US sequester. Experts say Brexit could cause nations to scale back arms buys, reduce collaboration, and prompt firms to reassess their strategic goals, says a Defense One analysis.

The Obama administration issued new regulations on commercial drone use Tuesday, clearing the way for farmers, businesses, and other corporations to utilize “unmanned aircraft” in their day-to-day operations, the FAA announced.

Part of the massive military policy bill passed by the Senate and now en route to the House reinstates a 50-year restriction on the immediate rehiring of military retirees as Defense Department civilians, The Washington Post reports. The restriction requires at least 180 days from when they leave the service to when — and if — they are rehired, allowing others to compete for the job. Since 9/11, 41,630 military retirees — many of them senior officers — returned to the Defense Department as civilians between September 2001 and August 2014, according to a government study. None of these jobs was advertised to the public.

The same Senate bill would eliminate the preference veterans get once they are in the government and apply for another federal job.  The policy has led to frustration at many agencies that qualified non-veterans are getting shut out of federal jobs in deference to those who served but might not be qualified, according to a Washington Post report.

Seven Democratic lawmakers are pushing to allow the military to close excess bases with a bill introduced in the House on Tuesday. Rep. Adam Smith (WA), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, introduced the bill with Democratic Reps. Sam Farr (CA), Susan Davis (CA), Jim Cooper (TN), Madeleine Bordallo (GU), Jackie Speier (CA), and Beto O’Rourke (TX), The Hill reports. Right now, another BRAC round is prohibited. That ban would remain in place under the 2017 defense policy bills passed by the House and Senate recently. The same is true of the House-passed 2017 defense spending bill and the Senate version of the spending bill awaiting a floor vote.

The US Navy is facing a readiness issue, with its older-model F/A-18 fighter jets tied up in maintenance, leading to reduced flight-training hours. Navy flight hours have decreased to about 853,389 in 2015, from about 1.2 million in 2002, according to the Naval Safety Center. Navy and US Marine Corps leaders bemoan the lack of flight training time — as well as the maintenance backlog, especially for F/A-18s, Aviation Week reports.

DefSec Ash Carter held a closed-door session at the Pentagon on Monday with new hard-line Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on a range of issues including Israel’s acquisition of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, DoD Buzz reports. Israel has so far ordered 33 F-35s and would be the only country in the Mideast to have the advanced fighter.

Formal disciplinary actions against federal contractors in the form of suspensions, debarments, and proposed debarments fell 3.7 percent in fiscal 2015 over the previous year, according to the annual report of the Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee, Government Executive says.

Raytheon has dusted off its high-power microwave demonstrator as a result of renewed interest from the US government in cheaply knocking enemy unmanned aerial systems from the sky with bursts of energy instead of missiles, Defense Daily reports.

Hackers screened for their good intentions found 138 “vulnerabilities” in the Defense Department’s cyber defenses in a “bug bounty” awards program that will end up saving the Pentagon money, DefSec Ash Carter said last week. Defense Tech reports that under the first  “Hack The Pentagon” program, “white hat” hackers were vetted and invited to challenge Pentagon’s defenses to compete for cash awards. Of the 1,400 who entered, about 250 submitted reports on vulnerability and 138 of those “were determined to be legitimate, unique, and eligible for bounty,” Mr. Carter said at a Pentagon news conference.

The B-21 bomber’s classified contract costs must remain hush-hush, Randall Walden, director and program executive officer of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, told a briefing at Mitchell Institute, the Air Force Association think tank.  Walden says he believes disclosure would provide little insight to taxpayers but plenty of info to adversaries seeking an advantage in developing the next generation bomber, Breaking Defense reports.

China dominates a biannual ranking of the world’s 500 fastest supercomputers, called the Top 500. Not only does China have the world’s fastest machine for the seventh consecutive time, it has the largest number of computers among the top 500 — a first for any country other than the US, reports The New York Times. Also for the first time, the world’s fastest supercomputer uses Chinese-made microprocessor chips instead of chips from Silicon Valley’s Intel.

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