DoD Defends Troubled F-35 Rollout
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Frank Kendall, Pentagon acquisition executive, defended the troubled F-35 Joint Strike Fighter rollout said at a ceremony for the first two F-35 training aircraft delivered to Australia, reports The Dallas Business Journal. Mr. Kendall referred to the complexities involved with deploying millions of lines of code, an integrated design that brings together stealth, advanced sensors, radars, and infrared sensors, electronic warfare capability, and integration of weapons systems. He said, “You’re talking about something that no one has ever done before, which will put us all a decade or more ahead of anybody else out there.”
The IT community is changing its cyber security focus from outside invaders to internal vulnerability, according to FEDERALTIMES. After years of guarding against external advanced persistent threat (APT) cyber attacks, cyber warriors are now ramping up defenses against internal APT incursions. Internal threats include angry or disloyal employees, or successful breaches that take over a computer and launch an assault from the inside.
Lt. General Michael Flynn, outgoing head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, believes that the US is no safer after 13 years of war, reports The Christian Science Monitor. He said, “We have a whole gang of new actors out there that are far more extreme than Al Qaeda.”
The F-35 is just one of a number of programs where the DoD purchased badly designed and wildly overpriced equipment, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. A recent GAO report concluded that the average major Pentagon acquisition comes in at 40 percent over budget. The DoD paid Bell Helicopters 18 times the expected cost for gears and the USS Gerald Ford, more than $2 billion over budget, languishes in dry dock.
Northrop Grumman’s MQ-4C Triton UAV development costs increased by at least 25 percent, or $720 million, according to Navy estimates and congressional investigators, reports Bloomberg. Development costs are up at least $3.9 billion while the production and deployment schedules slipped by more than two years. The Senate Appropriations Committee is “troubled by software development delays” for the 70-aircraft, $15.3 billion program.
Retailer “USA Discounters” offers easy credit to service members in military newspaper and magazine ads, on the radio and TV, but when those loans go bad the company uses Virginia courts to file suits by the thousands against military members based anywhere in the world, according to ProPublica. Since 2006, the company has filed more than 13,470 suits and almost always wins, records show.
Navy patrol squadron transitions from the P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft to the new P-8A Poseidon will resume next month when Patrol Squadron Eight begins its conversion, reports SEAPOWER Magazine. The Navy paused for several months, as planned, after the transition of the first three squadrons, so that P-8A aircraft deliveries could catch up with the demand.
The 2014 Navy Times Sailor of the Year is Chief Cryptologic Technician (Collection) Jeremy Crandall, who is described by superiors and subordinates as a humble leader driven by a desire to see sailors develop and succeed, reports the Military Times.
