Krieg wants the Pentagon’s acquisition corps to “adopt a more agile strategy” that will let the Global Hawk UAV program advance more quickly. He cautions, though, that program officials must make certain that the enhancements to Global Hawk show “demonstrated system performance” before any new UAV is turned over to warfighters. Krieg’s recent decision memo on Global Hawk offers important guidance for DOD’s top acquisition managers, who want to know what is going to happen to the program in the currently tight DOD budget climate. Congress may not have the same enthusiasm; lawmakers shifted some Global Hawk funding in the Fiscal 2006 defense spending bill to other programs.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
