WASHINGTON — Congress is establishing increased oversight of the Missile Defense Agency’s plans for its homeland missile defense system — designed to protect against possible intercontinental ballistic missile threats from North Korea and Iran — through a handful of provisions in both the House and Senate passed versions of the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. Displeased with the abrupt cancellation of the agency’s major upgrade to interceptors buried in the ground at Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, lawmakers are demanding the agency show its homework going forward on its plan to build an entirely new interceptor […]
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WASHINGTON ― The Senate Armed Services Committee has set an open hearing July 30 for Anthony Tata, President Donald Trump’s embattled pick for the Pentagon’s top policy job ― but that won’t be the first time the committee gathers to hear from the nominee. Tata, a Fox News contributor, staunch ally of the president and a retired Army brigadier general, has had to walk back a series of conspiratorial and controversial tweets after they were first reported by CNN. Among them: calling President Barack Obama “a terrorist leader,” a history of Islamophobic comments and claiming that former CIA Director John Brennan […]
WASHINGTON — The Senate Armed Services Committee is officially calling for the closure of the Pentagon’s Chief Management Officer position, only four years after creating the job in order to help streamline reform efforts inside the department. The SASC’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act says the CMO office must be broken up no later than Sept. 30, 2022. Under the senate language, the majority of authorities would transfer to the Deputy Secretary of Defense’s office. Under the DSD will sit someone designated as the chief performance improvement officer — a technical term, so it may not be that person’s […]
The Senate Armed Services Committee is taking aim at the Navy’s premier aerial jamming platform that is meant to play a big role in future conflicts against technologically sophisticated adversaries. In the committee’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act, Congress is requiring a report be delivered in July 2021 on a strategy for how the Next Generation Jammer will help ensure full spectrum electromagnetic superiority. The committee passed the bill last week and released a summary, but full text of the measure was made public just this week. The Next Generation Jammer is the Navy’s and, by extension, the joint […]
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee is cranking up the heat on Ligado Networks with new legislation that would require the company to cover the costs of any Global Positioning System user — government or commercial — that is hurt by the company’s newly approved use of L-Band spectrum, C4ISRNET has learned. A bill from Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., would escalate the potential cost facing Ligado as it moves to set up a system of networks that government agencies and commercial trade groups alike have said could damage GPS reliability inside the United States. It’s the latest […]
WASHINGTON — The Senate Armed Services Committee’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act recommends increasing funding for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft and purchases additional drones, according to a summary report released Thursday. On the whole, the Senators seem to have focused more on programs from the Air Force and Navy, largely leaving the Army untouched, per the summary. However, full language has yet to be released. The Army requested $178 billion for fiscal 2021, down slightly from its FY20 request of $182 billion. The FLRAA program, which seeks a new long-range assault aircraft by 2030, is receiving $5 million […]
The Senate’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act contains language attempting to slow the rollout of Ligado network’s use of L-Band spectrum, which defense officials say will harm Global Positioning System capabilities. The bill language, revealed in a summary Thursday, “prohibits the use of DOD funds to comply with the FCC Order on Ligado until the Secretary of Defense submits an estimate of the costs associated with the resulting GPS interference.” It also directs the Secretary of Defense to put the National Academies of Science and Engineering on contract for “an independent technical review of the order to provide additional […]
A marathon hearing on Wednesday gave DoD officials a chance to lay out three key arguments against Ligado’s plan for L-Band, but the Senate may not be able to provide any relief. Source link