Daily Report

LightSquared's proposals for a wireless broadband network "would cause harmful interference to many [Global Positioning System] receivers," and "there appear to be no practical solutions or mitigations" to allow the company's network to operate without that significant disruption, according to the National Space-based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Executive Committee co-chairs. This was "the unanimous conclusion" of the Excom's agencies after "substantial federal resources" were expended to analyze the company's original plan and subsequent modifications, wrote Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Deputy Transportation Secretary John Porcari in their Jan. 13 letter to Lawrence Strickling, assistant commerce secretary for communications and information. Further, Federal Aviation Administration analysis concluded that LightSquared's proposals "are not compatible with several GPS-dependent aircraft safety-of-flight systems," wrote the co-chairs. These findings build upon the warnings of senior Air Force space officials about the LightSquared network's projected interference. Despite this specific case, Carter and Porcari said "the Excom agencies continue to strongly support" the President's desire to make spectrum available for broadband use. They said they propose "to draft new GPS spectrum-interference standards that will help inform future proposals for non-space, commercial uses in the bands adjacent to the GPS signals." (Committee website)

The Air Force announced last week that it will eliminate another 4,500 civilian positions, marking the end of its Fiscal 2012 civilian workforce restructure. The reduction follows the realignment, first announced in November, that cut 9,000 positions, but added 5,900...

The Obama Administration remains committed to securing Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty ratification, said Ellen Tauscher, the State Department’s top arms control official. However, the Administration isn’t pushing for Senate approval of the treaty right now, given factors like the presidential...

The Russians have the unfounded concern that future, more capable iterations of the Standard Missile-3 anti-missile interceptor would “undercut their strategic deterrent,” said Ellen Tauscher, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security. The SM-3 is a component of...

Air Frame: Year in Review, October 2011: SrA. Lauren Everett, second from right, greets children in Afghanistan's Laghman province. On Oct. 7, 2011, the nation marked the 10-year anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. Also in October, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey succeeded Navy Adm. Mike Mullen as Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman and the UN Security Council approved a resolution ending NATO's military activities in Libya. On Oct. 14, 2011, the Air Force, National Reconnaissance Office, and NASA released a strategy encouraging new commercial rocket suppliers to enter the market for national security space launches. Also in the month, an F-15C from Nellis AFB, Nev., crashed north of Las Vegas. The pilot was not injured. And, press reports indicated that the United States began operating MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft over Somalia. Air Force photo by SSgt. Ryan Crane

Facing inclement weather, a lone, ski-equipped LC-130 departed the snowpack at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, evacuating seven critically injured sailors to Christchurch, New Zealand. After surviving a catastrophic fire at sea aboard a Korean vessel in the Ross Sea, off Antarctica,...

An F-15E operating from Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, became the first Air Force F-15 of any type to reach 10,000 flying hours, according to airmen at Bagram. The Strike Eagle, No. 89-0487, achieved the milestone on Jan. 13. A crew from...

Officials at the Ogden Air Logistics Center last week unveiled the new F-22 heavy maintenance facility at Hill AFB, Utah. The 96,000-square-foot building accommodates seven F-22s at any one time, in addition to a specialized shop dedicated to the Raptor’s...

A new study released by the Defense Department's Office of Installations and Environment found that the Pentagon could produce 7,000 megawatts of solar energy at four military bases in the California desert, including Edwards Air Force Base. That's the equivalent output of seven nuclear power plants and could go a long way in helping the US military become less reliant on the commercial grid, according to a DOD release. ICF International of Fairfax, Va., conducted the year-long study, which looked at seven California military bases and two in Nevada: Creech Air Force Base and Nellis Air Force Base. The researchers found that most of the surface area at these nine locations was incompatible with solar development, but established that roughly 25,000 acres were suitable and another 100,000 acres were potentially suitable. The majority of the viable land is at Edwards. ICF found little or no economically viable acreage at three California bases and at Creech and Nellis. (Solar study executive summary; caution, large-sized file.)

The recent discovery of a young aviation enthusiast’s notebook from World War II seemingly has debunked the leading theory explaining the mysterious disappearance of beloved band leader Glenn Miller. Never to be seen again, Miller, then a major leading the...