http://www.dodbuzz.com Online Defense and Acquisition Journal Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:48:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/16/keep-your-rosaries-off-my-deterrence/ http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/16/keep-your-rosaries-off-my-deterrence/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:23:36 +0000 Kingston Reif http://www.dodbuzz.com/?p=13711 Arms control elicits strong emotions and sparks great debates. In that tradition, Kingston Reif and Travis Sharp offer a rebuttal to the recent commentary we ran from the folks at the Heritage Foundation. Here's the take of two dedicated arms control advocates. In their recent commentary on DoD Buzz (“Will START Talks Go MAD,”), the Heritage Foundation’s Baker Spring and Helle Dale recycle a snake oil sales pitch that first emerged at the dawn of the Atomic Age. The illusion is that the awesome destructiveness of nuclear weapons can somehow be neutralized by a panacea—in this case impenetrable missile defenses. ]]> http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/16/keep-your-rosaries-off-my-deterrence/feed/ 5 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/16/petraeus-denies-centcom-levant-grab/ http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/16/petraeus-denies-centcom-levant-grab/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:08:42 +0000 Greg Grant http://www.dodbuzz.com/?p=13719 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/16/petraeus-denies-centcom-levant-grab/feed/ 0 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/12/eads-tanker-rises-again/ http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/12/eads-tanker-rises-again/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:01:18 +0000 Colin Clark http://www.dodbuzz.com/?p=13686 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/12/eads-tanker-rises-again/feed/ 23 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/12/tankers-the-test-for-atl/ http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/12/tankers-the-test-for-atl/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:04:18 +0000 Robbin Laird http://www.dodbuzz.com/?p=13608 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/12/tankers-the-test-for-atl/feed/ 11 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/11/jsf-faces-fire-risk-head-tester/ http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/11/jsf-faces-fire-risk-head-tester/#comments Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:17:43 +0000 Colin Clark http://www.dodbuzz.com/?p=13623 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/11/jsf-faces-fire-risk-head-tester/feed/ 8 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/10/china-drives-airsea-battle/ http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/10/china-drives-airsea-battle/#comments Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:31:01 +0000 Greg Grant http://www.dodbuzz.com/?p=13613 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/10/china-drives-airsea-battle/feed/ 45 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/10/mccain-says-single-tanker-bid-ok/ http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/10/mccain-says-single-tanker-bid-ok/#comments Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:59:37 +0000 Colin Clark http://www.dodbuzz.com/?p=13597 UPDATED: Sarkozy To Press Obama On Tanker Today's headline in The Hill tells the story: "McCain Endorses Pentagon Process On Tanker Bid As Legitimate." My colleague Roxana Tiron asked McCain for his views and the story says he told her that he "was not worried about Boeing, the only competitor left for the contract." Meanwhile, EU officials warned against American protectionism in the wake of Northrop's decision to pull out of the $35 billion deal.]]> http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/10/mccain-says-single-tanker-bid-ok/feed/ 54 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/09/afghan-mrap-ready-rates-high/ http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/09/afghan-mrap-ready-rates-high/#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:31:52 +0000 Colin Clark http://www.dodbuzz.com/?p=13582 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/09/afghan-mrap-ready-rates-high/feed/ 17 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/08/northrop-drops-tanker-bid/ http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/08/northrop-drops-tanker-bid/#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:09:25 +0000 Colin Clark http://www.dodbuzz.com/?p=13540 UPDATED: DepSecDef Lynn Says U.S. 'Disappointed' By NG Decision More than eight years since Boeing first tried to supply new airborne tankers to the Defense Department, the company appears to have finally won the tanker competition. Northrop Grumman announced today that it will not bid on the KC-X tanker and it will not file a protest that might delay the program any further The announcement came from the top. "We reached this conclusion based on the structure of the source selection methodology defined in the RFP, which clearly favors Boeing’s smaller refueling tanker and does not provide adequate value recognition of the added capability of a larger tanker, precluding us from any competitive opportunity," said CEO Wes Bush.]]> http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/08/northrop-drops-tanker-bid/feed/ 52 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/05/us-refrains-from-cluster-bomb-ban/ http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/05/us-refrains-from-cluster-bomb-ban/#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:13:12 +0000 Bryant Jordan http://www.dodbuzz.com/?p=13522 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/05/us-refrains-from-cluster-bomb-ban/feed/ 51 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/04/carter-reassures-sasc-sets-f-35-hearings/ http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/04/carter-reassures-sasc-sets-f-35-hearings/#comments Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:11:37 +0000 Colin Clark http://www.dodbuzz.com/?p=13475 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/04/carter-reassures-sasc-sets-f-35-hearings/feed/ 20 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/04/ta-da-boeing-unveils-its-kc-x/ http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/04/ta-da-boeing-unveils-its-kc-x/#comments Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:59:42 +0000 Colin Clark http://www.dodbuzz.com/?p=13465 including a little movie and a press release. There was no mention of a 777 tanker, just the long-expected 767. One of the more intriguing adds to the new bid was the news that the new tanker will boast "a digital flight deck featuring electronic displays" taken from the 787, Boeing's most advanced civilian plane. It will "show all flight attitude, navigation, engine indication and crew-alerting information on screens 75 percent larger than on a commercial Airbus A330." One can almost hear the Boeing folks crying: Take that EADS!]]> http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/04/ta-da-boeing-unveils-its-kc-x/feed/ 42 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/03/jsf-buy-shrinks-if-costs-grow/ http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/03/jsf-buy-shrinks-if-costs-grow/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:44:00 +0000 Colin Clark http://www.dodbuzz.com/?p=13442 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/03/jsf-buy-shrinks-if-costs-grow/feed/ 31 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/02/few-jsf-changes-after-nunn-mccurdy/ http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/02/few-jsf-changes-after-nunn-mccurdy/#comments Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:37:52 +0000 Colin Clark http://www.dodbuzz.com/?p=13390 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/02/few-jsf-changes-after-nunn-mccurdy/feed/ 11 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/01/carter-orders-jsf-changes/ http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/01/carter-orders-jsf-changes/#comments Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:21:28 +0000 Colin Clark http://www.dodbuzz.com/?p=13361 UPDATED: Congressional AIde Says F-35 Still A "Pig;" Lockheed Defends Program In his most significant action since the Senate confirmed him, Ash Carter has issued an acquisition decision memorandum moving full rate production to November 2015, to withhold $614 million from Lockheed Martin and only pay it "to reward measurable progress..." Carter’s revised plan drew a stinging critique and call for a production freeze from Winslow Wheeler, a former congressional budget expert now with the Center for Defense Information.]]> http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/01/carter-orders-jsf-changes/feed/ 42 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/02/26/will-start-talks-go-mad/ http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/02/26/will-start-talks-go-mad/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:23:27 +0000 Baker Spring http://www.dodbuzz.com/?p=13342 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/02/26/will-start-talks-go-mad/feed/ 49 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/02/24/cracks-appear-in-f136-hill-support/ http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/02/24/cracks-appear-in-f136-hill-support/#comments Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:17:31 +0000 Colin Clark http://www.dodbuzz.com/?p=13278 UPDATED: Pratt Says Tight Budget Pushing Lawmakers to Question F136 The late Rep. Jack Murtha believed strongly in the need for a second Joint Strike Fighter engine and it showed. Appropriators have pushed through $3 billion in funding for the F136 over the years and Murtha was in the front row as chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee. At the first meeting of the HAC-D under the leadership of Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) several members expressed doubt about the need for a second engine.]]> http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/02/24/cracks-appear-in-f136-hill-support/feed/ 7 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/02/23/hasc-calls-gates-on-f136/ http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/02/23/hasc-calls-gates-on-f136/#comments Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:32:56 +0000 Colin Clark http://www.dodbuzz.com/?p=13232 he letter, signed by the committee's chairman and ranking member with their counterparts on the HASC air and land forces subcommittee, starts off with nice words about their "great respect" for Gates' "judgement and the sincerity of your position," it quickly goes on to slam the Pratt & Whitney engine.]]> http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/02/23/hasc-calls-gates-on-f136/feed/ 25 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/02/23/ospreys-swoop-in-for-ambushes/ http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/02/23/ospreys-swoop-in-for-ambushes/#comments Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:26:14 +0000 Colin Clark http://www.dodbuzz.com/?p=13158 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/02/23/ospreys-swoop-in-for-ambushes/feed/ 36 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/02/22/gates-very-hopeful-of-two-tanker-bids/ http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/02/22/gates-very-hopeful-of-two-tanker-bids/#comments Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:27:27 +0000 Colin Clark http://www.dodbuzz.com/?p=13189 http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/02/22/gates-very-hopeful-of-two-tanker-bids/feed/ 9