Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz hopes the Long Range Strike aircraft will be defined and budgeted in the 2012 budget. Speaking with reporters Tuesday, Schwartz said the program still needs to receive “the approval and buy-in” of Pentagon leadership, but “hopefully in this budget cycle we can arrive at a conclusion.” Still to be decided is the “substance of the effort [and] what is its timing.” Schwartz had previously told the Daily Report that the debate is “raging” in the Pentagon about the airplane, and that a quick conclusion isn’t likely.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
