Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) led an effort last week to ensure Congress includes money to continue the re-engine program for USAF’s E-8C Joint STARS fleet, introducing a sense of the Senate amendment (SA 2621) during floor debate on the 2010 defense spending bill. The program reportedly has been eyed as the service considers how to meet competing budget needs. Chambliss called Joint STARS “one of the most effective [intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance] assets operating today” and included for the record a Sept. 30 acquisition decision memorandum, in which Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter directs USAF to proceed with the program. Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) said he and Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), chairman and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, both support the measure. (From Congressional Record)
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.
