There is still much Congressional concern over management of two key space programs—the Transformational Satellite and Space Radar—leading the strategic forces panel of the House Armed Services Committee to recommend cutting the Administration’s 2007 budget request for TSAT by $80 million and Space Radar by $30 million. A statement by panel chairman, Rep. Terry Everett (R-Ala.), indicates that the lawmakers support both programs but questioned whether the 2007 plans “were executable.” Air Force Undersecretary Ronald Sega informed lawmakers earlier of the service’s new direction for TSAT—employing a “fighter block approach”—and is working with combatant commanders to better define the Space Radar.
House lawmakers are encouraging the Air Force and U.S. Special Operations Command to work together as each pursues long-range, long-endurance reconnaissance drones. Both entities are investing in unmanned assets that can slip into highly defended areas, loiter over a particularly valuable target for days at a time, and traverse multiple…