Pentagon acquisition guru Ken Krieg has asked the Defense Science Board to form a task force to examine DOD’s energy strategy—everything from operational and strategic constraints inherent in aerial tanking to the high cost of delivering energy to the battlefield and the potential implications of disruptions to energy flow. The infrastructure required to transport and distribute energy to the battlefield is “extremely costly” and diverts resources from combat capabilities, Krieg cautioned. Among the DSB’s tasks, identify ways to reduce demand, identify the possibilities of DOD producing energy, and assess how a proposed new energy strategy would impact DOD’s global realignment.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall doesn’t see great value in trying to break the Sentinel ICBM program off as a separate budget item the way the Navy has with its ballistic-missile submarine program, saying such a move wouldn’t create any new money for the Air Force to spend on other…