Daily Report

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) want to make sure President Obama keeps his commitment that the United States will spend some $80 billion through 2020 updating the nation's nuclear warheads and modernizing the nuclear weapons complex. Turner has introduced legislation (H.R. 1750) aimed at doing just that and Kyl intends to introduce similar legislation in the Senate sometime this week, reported Global Security Newswire. "We're going to ensure that the administration complies with the commitments that it made," said Kyl, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, during a media roundtable Monday. "Better to have it in writing, understood by both parties exactly what's required, so that we don't have confusion in the future." The Obama Administration made this pledge—including more than $100 billion to modernize the nation's nuclear delivery systems—to help win bipartisan support in the Senate for ratifying the New START agreement with Russia. Among its provisions, Turner's bill would prohibit the United States from unilaterally reducing its nuclear arsenal beyond the levels agreed to in New START, unless the Senate agrees. (H.R. 1750 full text; caution, large file.)

As the House Armed Services Committee prepares to convene to mark up the Fiscal 2012 defense authorization bill Wednesday, Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) reminded members that they have a responsibility to "scrutinize" every detail of the Defense Department's budget and to identify inefficiencies that can be addressed. "The Department of Defense cannot continue to conduct business as usual and expect better results. Proposing to cut defense spending by nearly $500 billion in the coming decade without first conducting the necessary due diligence to determine what our nation's basic defense requirements will be is an invitation to other countries to challenge America's supremacy," states McKeon in a release. Among the provisions in McKeon's bill mark, released prior to the mark-up hearing, the chairman would require competition throughout the lifecycle of weapon systems for components and subcomponents and strengthen the roles and missions review that the Pentagon is required to produce every four years. (Chairman's mark-up; caution, large file.)

The Air Force activated the 537th Airlift Squadron at JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. The active duty unit will partner with the Alaska Air National Guard’s 144th AS to operate the Air Guard-owned C-130 transports there under an active association. Members of...

Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment officials at Lackland AFB, Tex., are planning a new $21.8 million facility at the base that will serve as the primary in-processing and information center for all USAF recruits entering basic military...

A WC-135 Constant Phoenix aircraft from the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron at Offutt AFB, Neb., and some 40 Offutt airmen returned home after about six weeks of supporting US relief efforts in response to Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami in March....

Lockheed Martin donated $10 million to the Air Force Museum Foundation to support construction of a 200,000-square-foot expansion project at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. “[T]his contribution is the largest pledge we have...

Air Force Special Operations Command officials added a 47-year-old, retired MC-130E Combat Talon to the air park at Hurlburt Field, Fla. Unofficially known as “Wild Thing,” this aircraft (serial number 64-0567) has a rich past, having transported captured Panamanian dictator...

Volunteers and 28th Maintenance Squadron maintainers at Ellsworth AFB, S.D., refurbished one of the remaining AGM-28 Hound Dog cruise missiles for display at the South Dakota Air and Space Museum in Box Elder. The dilapidated former nuclear cruise missile was...