Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Air Force Academy cadets that he doesn’t foresee any more major weapons program cancellations happening in the next year or two. “I think we’re in pretty good place right now because of the measures that we’ve taken over the last couple of years, ” he said in response to a cadet’s question following his address last week in Colorado Springs. He added. “But we’ll just have to see how serious the budget situation gets.” Gates said the Pentagon has “done a good job of imposing some discipline internally” to cut or curtail redundant and non-performing acquisition projects. Of the 33 major programmatic changes that he proposed to Congress in 2009, DOD has been able to implement 32 so far, he said. Other than the proposed termination of the Marine Corps Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle in Fiscal 2012, only the F136 engine’s fate remains unresolved, he said. (Gates transcript)
The Air Force is moving forward with a new, algorithm-driven system to help U.S. Northern Command better detect airborne threats. NORTHCOM and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which are tasked with protecting the homeland from attack, depend on a slew of radars and other data systems to monitor U.S.…