Justify the Jammer, DAWG Said:

The Air Force could initially field eight sets of Core Component Jammer pods by 2015 if the service gets its 2008 unfunded priority money, Col. Bob Schwarze said in an interview with the Daily Report. (See above.) That unfunded priorities list contains $35 million for airborne electronic technical maturation, which includes the technical research and development work for the advanced standoff jamming capability. If USAF gets the requisite funding, the program could begin in 2009 or 2010. The Air Force, Navy, and OSD offices spent nearly eight months analyzing the CCJ, following a less than enthusiastic response from the Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England’s Advisory Working Group last fall. Schwarze said they’ve been spending the time analyzing their Airborne Electronic Attack System of Systems approach, asking such rhetorical questions as: “If I don’t have this, how many B-2s get shot down in my campaign?” The Air Force/Navy/OSD analysis, said Schwarze, contains about 70 percent of the information they need from various studies—not all commissioned studies have concluded yet. He thinks that amount of information showing the CCJ’s value should be sufficient to win the DAWG’s support this time.