Daily Report

May 21, 2012

House Passes Defense Policy Bill

The House last week approved, H.R. 4310, its version of the Fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill, by a vote of 299 to 120. The legislation provides $554 billion for base national defense activities and $88.5 billion for overseas contingency operations...

So Far, So Good

The Air Force and Lockheed Martin last week successfully completed the first stage of raising the second Advanced Extremely High Frequency communications satellite into its operational orbit, announced Air Force Space Command Officials. AEHF-2 has also successfully deployed its solar...

Pave Hawk Pilots Recognized for Heroism

Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz presented two Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor medals each to Col. Christopher Barnett and Maj. John Creel, two HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter pilots, during a Pentagon ceremony. Schwartz honored both airmen for their heroism...

Monitoring Chinese Military Growth

Chinese officials announced in early March a roughly $106 billion defense budget, an 11.2 percent increase in military funding, but China is likely spending significantly more on its military, said Dave Helvey, acting deputy assistant defense secretary for East Asia....

NATO Signs AGS Procurement Contract

NATO nations on May 20 signed the procurement contract for the Alliance Ground Surveillance program with the Northrop Grumman-led industry team that will supply the RQ-4 Global Hawk remotely piloted aircraft and advanced ground-surveillance radar sensors for them, announced the...

Deployed Maintainers Excel

Thanks to the stellar work of maintainers, all four of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing’s aircraft fleets deployed in Southwest Asia maxed out in April in every one of the eight categories that the unit uses to gauge aircraft availability,...

House Provision Would Require Selling Taiwan New F-16s

The House adopted language in the Fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill that would require the White House to sell Taiwan at least 66 new-build F-16s to help modernize its air force. “The President shall carry out the sale of no...

China’s Cyber Espionage

The United States continues to pay “very careful attention” to China’s growing cyberspace capabilities, said Dave Helvey, acting deputy assistant defense secretary for East Asia. “There is the potential for these types of operations to be very disruptive” to the...

Eighth British C-17 Delivered

Boeing last week delivered the Royal Air Force’s eighth C-17 transport during a ceremony at the company’s assembly plant in Long Beach, Calif. “We’re proud to support the Royal Air Force in providing for the mobility needs of their great...