Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen are scheduled to go before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the morning of Feb. 17 to present the details of the Pentagon’s $553 billion budget request for Fiscal 2012. It’s the first budget hearing that any of the Congressional defense oversight panels have announced so far to receive testimony on the Obama Administration’s Fiscal 2012 budget proposal and corresponding five-year spending plan. The White House has said it will submit the budget to lawmakers during the week of Feb. 14 before the hearings begin.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.

