According to Reuters news service, the Pentagon plans to cancel a planned Boeing-built sensor for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System in a restructuring effort to save the greatly over-budget program. The GAO told lawmakers last week in a written statement covering a range of space program problems that the Pentagon was “considering dropping some of its planned capability because of technology and design-related challenges.” According to Reuters, the plan now would be to compete a “less complex sensor package.”
The six-week government shutdown did not affect the hours flown by Air Force pilots, a service spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine—avoiding what could have been a major blow at a time when flying hours are already lower than they have been in decades.
