A National Intelligence Estimate is the highest expression of long-term institutional worry that the US government possesses and the Director of National Intelligence has ordered one on America’s manufacturing capabilities.

New York – The Pentagon’s top weapons buyer, Ash Carter, told a room full of Wall Street investors and defense industry leaders that he and his boss are likely to offer regulatory smiles to mergers involving among smaller defense companies, and, especially mid-tier service providers. This is, Carter made clear, not an event akin to the famous Last Supper, where Defense Secretary Les Aspin told the defense industry it was going to merge and that many of the 15 industry chieftains in the room that night in 1993 would not have a company to lead in the near future.

The Army is battling to find ways to reshape its modular brigades and redefine how it fights future wars. The battle is being played out during this year’s Unified Quest wargame. While none of this is likely to have immediate effect, Unified Quest is aimed at reshaping doctrine — how the Army fights — and it will likely lead to changes in the brigade structure.

Reports are swirling around that the People’s Liberation Army Navy has successfully tested Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles. If so, this achievement would represent an important advance in China’s strategic capabilities. Norman Polmar, the respected naval and intelligence author. mentioned this at a presentation Wednesday night.

The final decision on the future of what we call Son of FCS is in and the Army has decided to scrap Unattended Ground Sensors and the Class 1 UAS, fondly known as the flying beer keg. Ash Carter, undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics signed a Feb. 3 acquisition decision memorandum making this official.

A solid group of 37 Republican senators, led by Sen. Jon Kyl, tell Secretary of State Hillary Clinton they must be told whether the Obama administration plans to negotiate and sign on to a Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities. The Feb. 2 letter says the senators are “deeply concerned” the administration may pursue an agreement they fear poses “a multitude of potential highly damaging implications for sensitive military and intelligence programs… as well as a tremendous amount of commercial activity.”

Alas, poor Vodaphone. In one of the more interesting cyber war wrinkles, it looks as if hanging-on-by-his-fingernails Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s government ordered the London-based company to send out text messages telling people about protests in support of his rule. That and Egypt’s decision to shut down Internet access are part of a growing trend of targeted Internet shutdowns by worried governments.

While Boeing went public with the news that they had met with the Air Force to discuss their KC-X bid and would revise their offering, EADS NA has stayed mum and only went public when we gave them a call. They also met on Monday with the Air Force. “We received final proposal revisions, which are due to the customer on Friday, Feb. 11 at 8 a.m at Wright Patterson,” said Guy Hicks, head spokesman. Hicks refused to say whether his company would revise its bid.

UPDATED: “A Big Capitulation;” Watch Election Contributions

When President Obama threatened in his State of the Union speech to veto any bill containing earmarks, several people I spoke with later snickered. How is this relatively inexperienced former senator going to put the kibosh on one of the Hill’s most treasured rights. Then our world tipped slightly yesterday with word that Sen. Daniel Inouye, one of the most respected and powerful members of Congress and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced what he called an “earmark moratorium.”

Ray Mabus, the Navy Secretary who has been whispered of as an unlikely but possible candidate to fill departing Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s shoes, is moving into the lead among some savvy Pentagon handicappers. Mabus appears to have built up steam from his service as the administration’s lead in rebuilding the Gulf states after the BP oil rig exploded.

The White House, Congress NASA, NOAA, Defense Department and prime contractor Northrup Grumman failed time and again in their management and oversight of the multi-billion dollar weather satellite program known as NPOESS. The failures led to billions of dollars in cost overruns, schedule delays and scarred the space acquisition community for years.

The World Trade Organization confirmed its interim ruling last September, finding that Boeing received roughly$5 billion in illegal subsidies for some of its civilian aircraft. Airbus, who designed and built the plane that EADS NA hopes to modify for the coming KC-X airborne tanker program. Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, a vigorous Boeing supporter, said […]

Former Air Force Secretary Mike Wynne wants the Air Force to get rid of large surveillance and reconnasisance aircraft such as AWACS and JSTARS, which are vulnerable to attack because of their huge radar cross-sections, and take the money saved and shove it into the Joint Strike Fighter program.

Only a truly authoritarian regime could generate such wonderful irony as China did when an official broadcaster apparently showed footage from the Top Gun movie and portrayed it as film from a recent military exercise. That comes after the PRC’s president Hu Jintao had to tell Defense Secretary Robert Gates in mid-January that he did not know that the the supposedly stealthy J-20 was to have been unveiled during Gates’ visit.

The GOP split between Tea Party members and defense stalwarts is something we’ve covered inch by inch since the November elections. So far, no senior Republicans who are members of either the House or Senate armed service committees had spoken out in favor of cutting the defense budget. Now the dam has broken with Sen. Jeff Sessions, veteran member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, speaking out.

Senior Air Force leaders are growing increasingly concerned that Joint Strike Fighter maintenance and operating costs will rise far above previous estimates. A source familiar with the issue said that the Air Force believes a study performed by the Navy one year ago looks increasingly accurate, based on preliminary data the service has compiled.

UPDATED: EADS NA Statement Welcomes Investigation

Seven senators from both parties called on the Pentagon’s Inspector General today, urging him initiate and investigation into what harm might have been done when Air Force officials mistakenly handed Boeing and EADS NA each other’s data about the KC-X tanker competition.

One of the more ingenious arguments against Defense Secretary Robert Gates program cuts and efficiencies was raised during today’s House Armed Services Committee hearing. It went something like that old philosophical question: If a tree falls in a forest but there is no one there to hear it, is there a noise?”

While President Obama appeared to signal in his State of the Union speech that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has made the right moves in cutting Pentagon spending, he also sent a strong signal to lawmakers, threatening to veto any bill containing earmarks. The push for defense cuts that might come from Tea Party supporters and some Democrats would appear to have lost some steam.