If the House Armed Services Committee has its way, the Transformational Communications Satellite program will continue, with no cut in 2008 funding—depending on which page of the committee’s summary you read. In its summary text the committee cites its strong support for TSAT and commends the Air Force’s initiatives to reduce program risk, saying it recommends $863.6 million for the program. The Air Force table at the back of the summary shows a recommendation of $936.6 million, the same as the President’s budget request. Some lawmakers may get it after all.
Today’s armament maintainers are tasked with performing flightline (O-Level) maintenance with an assortment of legacy test sets that greatly limit the ability to quickly and efficiently verify armament system readiness, diagnose failures, and ultimately return the aircraft to full mission...