The House Armed Services Committee would like to eliminate DOD’s ability to select a contractor to serve as lead system integrators for complex weapons acquisition programs, reports Megan Scully of CongressDaily. Language included in the 2008 defense authorization bill would preclude the military services from awarding new contracts to oversee a major program after Oct. 1, 2011. The provision came in the form of an amendment from Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) during full committee markup of the defense bill last week. The Air Force has been considering using a contractor as program integrator for the Global Positioning System Block III satellites.
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…