300 US Advisors Heading To Iraq; Obama Pledges To Eye ‘Mission Creep’
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WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama today outlined a careful commitment of US forces to Iraq, pledging to watch any “mission creep” as he sends an initial 300 special operations advisors to gauge the strengths, weaknesses and cohesiveness of Iraq’s security forces as they battle the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The U.S., Obama… Keep reading →
Adversaries Outpace US In Cyber War; Acquisition Still Too Slow
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COLORADO SPRINGS: The United States invented the Internet, but we may not rule it any more. “We are certainly behind right now. We are chasing our adversary, for sure,” one of the Air Force’s top cyber warriors, Col. Dean Hullings, told an audience of about 350 here at the National Space Symposium‘s one-day cyber event. Hullings,… Keep reading →
Build Fast, Effective Acquisition: Avoid The System We’ve Got
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This is the second of three op-eds by acquisition guru Bill Greenwalt. Since the devil is often in the details of improving how America buys its weapons, Bill delves deep into those details in this piece, arguing that the acquisition system is really so bad we just need to figure out how to get around… Keep reading →
SpaceX Turns Up Heat On ULA; Sen. Feinstein Writes SecDef
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WASHINGTON: Ever since the Air Force restructured its launch contracts for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program with the United Launch Alliance and SpaceX, the underdog, Elon Musk, has cried foul and is pressing his case on Capitol Hill and in the media. The stakes got higher this morning during a sparsely attended hearing of… Keep reading →
Aussie Shots Of Possible Flight 370 Wreckage Taken By DigitalGlobe
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WASHINGTON: Australia used both black and white and multispectral satellite imagery from DigitalGlobe satellites shot on March 16 to search for the purported wreckage of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. A source familiar with the issues said DigitalGlobe supplied several types of imagery other than the black and white satellite photos. The Australians used multispectral but… Keep reading →
Santa’s In The Air! NORAD’s Tracking Him
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PENTAGON: OK, I’m lying. I’m at home typing this because it’s Christmas Eve here in Washington, but my heart is at the Pentagon… One of the enduring holiday treats for military folks is NORAD’s Santa tracking website. When I checked this evening Old Saint Nick was somewhere over far northwestern Chad and was estimated to… Keep reading →
‘Nothing Is Beyond Our Reach,’ NRO Boasts As FIA Radar (?), 12 Nanosats Roar To Orbit
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The makers and operators of America’s spy satellites have lofted at least 13 assets on their way to orbit with the early morning launch today of NROL-39, atop the always impressive Atlas V rocket. http://youtu.be/yEF7Si2UkMs The main payload may be a highly advanced space radar, according to several educated guesses (which is about the… Keep reading →
Space, Intel Hit As Aerospace Corp. Announces 2,000 Workers Lose Work
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The latest victim of the federal government shutdown is a crucial player in the space and intelligence world, the Aerospace Corporation, which has had to cut back the work of 60 percent of its 3,500 employees. “The Aerospace Corporation started implementing a partial work shutdown on Oct. 3, after the Air Force’s Space and Missile… Keep reading →
Faster Better Cheaper: Lessons Defense Could Learn From NASA
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As the Department of Defense continues to wrestle with the high costs and often slow pace of military technology and acquisition programs, it would do well to take a closer look at that other bastion of high-tech government programs: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA’s low-cost missions from yesteryear just might hold the secret… Keep reading →
Another CR, More Sequestration Misery Coming: Top Budget Expert
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WASHINGTON: It’s going to be a long, hot and depressing summer and nothing will really improve over the next six to nine months in terms of sequestration. That’s the bad news. The good news is of the, “well, it could have been a lot worse” type. A budget train wreck isn’t likely, said a former… Keep reading →