DoD Buzz

What would cost $8 billion, has a mission capable rate that is a “troubling” 62 percent and “is proving very expensive to operate?” The answer: 100 upgraded F-22s. John Young, the Pentagon’s acquisition czar, also said the plane “still does not meet most of its KPPs (Key Performance Parameters).”

It’s not often anyone on the House Armed Services Committee invokes the constitution, but today’s hearing on the F-22 featured repeated mentions of the founding document by frustrated lawmakers who knew the Pentagon had outflanked them on the controversial program. “You are acting in defiance of the law and the will of Congress,” Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) hurled at John Young, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.

The main problems afflicting the Marines’ vaunted V-22 Ospreys have been fixed, according to one of the Marines’ most experienced V-22 pilots. During a Monday visit to MCAS New River, Lt. Col. A. J. Bianca, the CO of VMM-261, explained the fixes to the deicer systems and the hydraulic systems.

The end of black-white space integration may be at hand. The man long identified as one of its most devoted followers, Air Force Gen. Robert Kehler, the head of Air Force Space Command and former deputy commander at Strategic Command, told the intelligence community that “this approach is posing insurmountable problems, and those problems are going to get worse as we look to the future.”

UPDATED: Mike Wynne, former secretary of the Air Force, sharply criticized John Young’s decision to approve advanced funding for a small number of F-22s. “This gives efficient acquisition a very bad name, as everyone knows this level of quantity will lead to high prices..”

The Army has asked industry to re-compete for the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter Program that was cancelled last month due to cost overruns and schedule delays. The Army says it is “reassessing” ARH performance requirements.

The fighter gap. Sounds scary, doesn’t it? If things go as they are, the US will not have enough air-to-air attack aircraft to deploy the full complement required for its aircraft carriers. Boeing is making a valiant effort to convince the Pentagon and the public that the Navy’s fighter gap should be closed using F-18 E/Fs.

Morgan Stanley’s defense industry analysts, led by sharp veteran Heidi Wood, have written up their initial thoughts on “Obama and Defense.” They said the “leanings” of players in the Obama administration will be to cut back on defense spending following a “reasonable” time in office, which in their accounting equals around 18 months into his term.

In the last two days I’ve seen several stories citing polls that Rep. John Murtha (D-Penn.), one of the most powerful House members, may lose to the GOP after making some very unwise comments about Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and whether Murtha’s own constituents would vote for the senator. Murtha’s defeat — he is the second-ranking member of the appropriations committee and leads the defense subcommittee — would put Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) next in line to make the big defense spending decisions.

Word from the Pentagon is that this week should see the final version of the 2010 budget sent to the White House.

Known in lovely Pentagon-speak as the POM lock, this will mean the services are barred from screwing around with their numbers any more. At least until the next administration comes in and they start running to the new folks crying, “the wolf is at the door! The wolf is at the door.”