It remains to be seen whether the forthcoming Quadrennial Defense Review, anticipated for release on Feb. 1 in conjunction with the President’s Fiscal 2011 budget, will provide a clearer defense strategy, Jim Thomas, vice president of strategic studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said Tuesday at the organization’s annual pre-budget-release briefing in Washington, D.C. While special operations forces have seen great expansion since 9/11, Thomas said the emphasis will now be on enablers such as intelligence and analysis assets and vertical-lift capabilities. Further, he said there likely won’t be a new start for a future bomber capability in 2011, but he thinks a program will emerge later in the decade as the technology matures and research and development funding—including in classified accounts—is steadily maintained, but not drastically increased. (For more from CSBA’s briefing, see What to Expect)
Reduced competition, over-reliance on legacy systems, and declining funding are all contributing to a “critical inflection point” in propulsion for the Pentagon and industry members—and things are headed in the wrong direction, the director of the Air Force’s propulsion directorate warned. Speaking with reporters at the Life Cycle Industry Days…