Daily Report

The first Advanced Extremely High Frequency military communications satellite will arrive at its orbital slot in late October, announced Air Force space officials. That’s a slight schedule slip from the early October date that they projected in June. They made...

The future of the Air Force's weather mission is looking a bit murky. After Senate defense appropriators recommended killing the Defense Weather Satellite System, USAF Undersecretary Erin Conaton said Pentagon officials, along with Commerce Department and NASA partners, are exploring exactly what capability is needed. "We are looking at the message that Congress is sending us and also looking at the legitimate requirements," she said during a speech Tuesday in Washington, D.C. She added, "I think you'll see a continued commitment to the weather mission, but how we will go about it given the concerns around this [DWSS] program, we are still working our way through that." DWSS is the weather-monitoring satellite design meant to replace existing Defense Meteorological Satellite Program spacecraft. The Senators zeroed out the Air Force's $445 million request for DWSS development in their mark-up of the Pentagon's Fiscal 2012 budget proposal. Instead, they provided $250 million for continued weather sensor development and requirements definition for a new program that is openly competed. (See also Blinded by Capability Gaps from the Daily Report archives.) (See also the Senate Appropriations Committee's report.)

Retired Maj. Gen. John “Johnny” R. Alison was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery before a gathering of airmen, family, and friends. “We have lost a great American, a dear friend, and a committed and loving family man,” said...

The nation must achieve its national objectives in the current conflicts, while continuing to develop Joint Force 2020, said Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the new Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, in his message to the joint force. It’s important to...

The Air Force needs to be smart about its energy consumption, both on the ground and in the air, said Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz. “As the largest energy user in the federal...

Lt. Gen. David Goldfein, new Air Forces Central commander, laid out his five priorities for the next two years for the airmen and civilians under his command. They are: decisive airpower to support US Central Command’s campaign plans in places...

BF-2, a Marine Corps F-35B test aircraft, touched down upon the landing deck of the USS Wasp (LHD-1), completing the first-ever vertical landing at sea in the history of the strike fighter’s short takeoff and vertical landing variant. Marine Corps...

The Defense Policy Board is adding five new members. They are: Madeleine Albright, former secretary of state; Jamie Gorelick, former deputy attorney general; Jane Harman, former Democratic Congresswoman from California; retired Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, former Joint Chiefs vice...

Officials celebrated the completion of the environmental cleanup of a 62-acre parcel of land on the grounds of the former McClellan AFB, Calif. This was the nation’s first privatized remediation of a Defense Department site targeted under the Environmental Protection...

Boeing announced that it demonstrated high-data-rate transmissions between a Family of Advanced Beyond-Line-of-Sight Terminals system and a test terminal for the Advanced Extremely High Frequency military communications satellite. “With more than half of the system integration tests successfully completed, the...