The Air Force is looking for an industry partner to develop mission planning exercises and tools to support the conventional strike missile demonstration that the service plans to conduct in Fiscal 2012. In a solicitation posted at the Federal Business Opportunities Web site, the Space and Missile Systems Center said it has a budget of roughly $10 million to pursue this mission planning suite between now and then. It intends to host a series of industry days in January to discuss the issue more closely. The CSM concept entails a Minotaur rocket carrying a non-nuclear warhead that is launched from a coastal US base, such as Vandenberg AFB, Calif., in order to take out a high-value target somewhere on the globe quickly, when other options are not readily available. (For more on the CSM demonstration, read Game Changers from the September 2009 issue of Air Force Magazine.)
Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, nominee to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Defense Department needs to upgrade its electronic warfare capability and its EW training ranges; just as his predecessor said at his own confirmation hearing.