Impending cuts to the defense budget of some $480 billion over the next decade "will stifle the ability of the defense industry to deliver innovation and urgent wartime capabilities," warned the Defense Industrial Base Task Force last week. Worse, reductions beyond that, up to the $1 trillion sequestration level outlined in the 2011 Budget Control Act, "would severely damage the defense industrial base as a commercially viable enterprise, as a reliable and responsive provider of urgent wartime needs, and as a national strategic asset that is indispensable to the defense of the United States," according to
the report that the task force publicly released on Jan. 6. "This report paints an alarming picture for the future of the aerospace and defense industry," said Aerospace Industries Association President
Marion Blakey in
a release. The report is based on a task force survey of several dozen companies. The task force is comprised of companies from AIA, the National Defense Industrial Association, and Professional Services Council.
Air Frame: Year in Review, May 2011: US special forces on May 1, 2011, killed Osama bin Laden, head of the terrorist network responsible for the 9/11 attacks, in a raid on a compound north of Islamabad, Pakistan. Here, the FBI's updated mug shot of OBL after his death. On May 3, 2011, the Air Force stood down the F-22 fleet out of concern over potential equipment malfunctions depriving pilots of sufficient oxygen. Also in May, the Air Force launched GEO-1, the first Space Based Infrared System geosynchronous early warning satellite into orbit and accepted its first production F-35A strike fighter. Also, Army Pfc. Anthony Kaho’ohanohano and Pfc. Henry Svehla posthumously received Medals of Honor for extraordinary acts of heroism in the Korean War. And, 1st Lt. Ryan McGuire became the first amputee to complete Air Force pilot training. FBI photo (Click on image above to reach larger version.)