Just posted:

Air Force Budget Preview Confirms More Retirements, Recap Cancellations

The Air Force plans to eliminate more than 280 aircraft in its inventory, defer or cancel a number of procurement programs and reduce its manpower by nearly 10,000 airmen over the next five years, the service said today in a document released ahead of the fiscal year 2013 budget request.

In the document, "Air Force Priorities for a New Strategy with Constrained Budgets," Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz and Secretary Michael Donley write that in order for the service to make good on its share of $487 billion in budget reductions over the next decade, the Air Force has had to reevaluate the size of its force and its modernization needs in the short term. Primarily, the service will achieve those reductions by retiring hundreds of aircraft and discontinuing or deferring procurement programs deemed "beyond our reach in the current fiscal environment."

DOCUMENT ALERT:

Air Force 'Priorities For A New Strategy With Constrained Budgets' White Paper

On Feb. 1, 2012, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz released the service's "Priorities for a New Strategy with Constrained Budgets" white paper.

And while we're at it:

Army-Air Force MOU On Intra-Theater Airlift

On Jan. 27, 2012, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz and Adm. James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, inked a one-page memorandum of understanding delegating to theater commanders a measure of discretion over how best to align the control of transportation assets in support of front-line units. Also includes a 2009 concept of employment (CONEMP) agreed to by the Air Force and Army vice chiefs of staff that, among other things, envisioned direct support being provided by any available aircraft, whether C-27J or C-130.

Our coverage:

Top Brass Ink Agreement To Support Army In Wake Of C-27J Termination

Pentagon top brass have formally reaffirmed a 2009 pact outlining a framework for how the Air Force will provide direct support to the Army for the delivery of time-sensitive, mission-critical equipment, a move designed to "mitigate" the Defense Department's decision to eliminate the C-27J Joint Cargo Aircraft fleet as part of a package of budget-reduction measures.

Just posted:

Intelligence Community's Latest Worldwide Threat Assessment

We begin today on the water:

Navy Scraps Early T-AO(X) Production Start, Cuts Three Ships From Five-Year Plan

The Navy's new budget plan will reverse a move announced last year to accelerate the production of a new fleet of oilers, a decision that strips three of four vessels from the service's earlier plan and resets the start date for construction of the new logistics ship to fiscal year 2017, according to sources familiar with the Pentagon's new budget plan.

The three T-AO(X) ships knocked from the five-year shipbuilding plan are part of reductions that will bring the total buy down to 41 ships between 2013 and 2017, cuts made as part of a Pentagon move to cut $487 billion over the next decade.

The T-AO(X) ship program is a key part of the Navy's plan to modernize its combat logistics force. The Navy's FY-11 30-year shipbuilding plan called for the service to streamline this fleet to two ship classes: the T-AO(X), a program to modernize its Henry J. Kaiser-class oilers; and the T-AKE dry cargo and ammunition ships. The oilers provide fuel to Navy ships underway, as well as jet fuel for aircraft on carriers.

More on ships from this week's Inside the Navy:

LCS Mine Package To Undergo Operational Assessment Through February

The Littoral Combat Ship's mine countermeasures mission package will start its operational assessment in about a week, spending most of the month of February testing all the various components of the package in realistic at-sea conditions.

An industry source familiar with the upcoming testing said the mission package, which consists of at least 10 mine-hunting and mine-sweeping technologies, will be tested off the coast of Norfolk, VA, by the group of sailors that will eventually be responsible for operating that equipment.

Initial plans for the operational assessment called for each component to be certified separately, the source said. But Rear Adm. James Murdoch, program executive officer for LCS, decided that since the entire package needed to function seamlessly, it made more sense to test the package as a whole, the source said. "In the end, it's his responsibility to deliver a complete capability to the fleet, so what he's basically going to do is start working the package as a whole instead of trying to work the individual components," the source said.

Navy Budget Prioritizes DDG And LCS Fleets, Amphibious Operations

The Navy will highlight its reliance on DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and Littoral Combat Ships in the first budget since Congress mandated the Pentagon cut $487 billion over a decade, while allowing its cruiser and support ship fleet to shrink, defense officials said last week.

During a Jan. 26 media briefing at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said "the Navy is protecting our highest priority and most flexible ships, such as the Arleigh Burke destroyers and the Littoral Combat Ships. It will retire lower-priority cruisers that have not been upgraded with ballistic missile defense capability or that require significant maintenance, as well as some combat logistics and fleet support ships." Six cruisers without the BMD upgrade and one with BMD capability but in need of major hull repairs will be retired early.

The "Defense Budget Priorities and Choices" white paper, released at the media briefing, shows the LCS program being reduced by two ships across the future years defense plan. Navy spokeswoman Lt. Courtney Hillson said the slowdown in procurement was just for the current FYDP and that the Navy is "committed to a 55-ship LCS class."

One more:

Modified Mobile Landing Platform To Serve As 'Afloat Forward Staging Base'

For its "new afloat forward staging base," the Defense Department will overhaul a Mobile Landing Platform -- a ship long a part of the Navy's modernization blueprint -- to meet a "longstanding" U.S. Central Command need, according to officials familiar with Navy plans.

As an interim solution, however, DOD will extend the service life of the Ponce -- an amphibious transport dock that had been slated for retirement in March -- and modify the vessel to provide commanders in the Middle East a means of projecting forces ashore from the sea, according to Navy officials.

"In order to fulfill a longstanding CENTCOM request for an afloat forward staging base to be located in the CENTCOM [area of responsibility], the amphibious transport dock ship USS PONCE (LPD-15) will delay its scheduled decommissioning to serve as an interim afloat forward staging base until a permanent solution can be determined," said Lt. Cmdr. Mike Kafka, spokesman for Fleet Forces Command.

Two budget-related documents of note:

Air Force Briefing On The FY-13 Budget Request

On Jan. 27, 2012, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz briefed Pentagon reporters on his service's fiscal year 2013 budget request.

Army Briefing On The FY-13 Budget Request

On Jan. 27, 2012, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno briefed the Pentagon press corps on his service's fiscal year 2013 budget request.

Inside the Army takes a look at what the newly announced budget and program changes really mean for the service:

Odierno: Army May Cut More Than Eight Brigade Combat Teams

The Army may reduce its force structure by more than the eight brigade combat teams announced in a Defense Department budget white paper last week, depending on the results of internal debates over the optimal configuration of those formations, according to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno.

His comments suggests the long-standing issue of BCT composition remains unresolved, as some officials were expecting definitive information in time for the budget roll-out. DOD's Jan. 26 white paper said an end-strength reduction from 562,000 to 490,000 by fiscal year 2017 would lead to a cut of "at least" eight BCTs. Odierno, in a press conference the next day, said it would be another few months until specifics are known.

What is already clear is that the Army plans to take two heavy BCTs stationed in Germany out of the force inventory. Odierno said one BCT would leave the country in 2013, the other in 2014. Overall, he said, the end-strength reductions would occur almost "evenly split" from year to year until 2017.

Odierno: Protest Delay Will Cost GCV One Year And $1.7 Billion

A bid protest in the Ground Combat Vehicle program will lead to a one-year delay as well as a $1.7 billion cut over five years, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno said last week.

Armed Aerial Scout To Be Affected By Chopper Modernization Slowdown

The Armed Aerial Scout program will be affected by a Pentagon budget decision to delay Army helicopter modernization, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno said last week.

A Jan. 26 Pentagon white paper laying out future budget priorities stated the Army will delay helicopter modernization by three to five years. While the white paper offers no details, Odierno's comments offer the first indication of what programs would be affected by the shift in timing. . . .

The service still plans a fly-off in April where companies can demonstrate their AAS proposals. With the slowdown announcement, however, it is unclear how likely it is that a new aircraft would emerge that is inexpensive enough. According to an Army official, the service "most likely" would only have enough money for a Kiowa Warrior service life-extension program.

DOD Eyes Commanders' Review To Determine Way Ahead For JLENS

The Defense Department's plan to curtail the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System would effectively keep the program on the back burner until a demonstration to combatant commanders determines what to do with the system, Inside the Army has learned.

And a follow-up on JLENS, from yesterday:

Army Relooks Base Construction Dollars For 'Curtailed' JLENS

The Army is reevaluating plans to build a facility for the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor aerostat system at Ft. Bliss, TX, after the fiscal year 2013 defense budget plan put the program on the back burner due to operational concerns and reverberations from a 2010 accident that destroyed one of the systems.

Our latest:

JSF Program Office: F-35B Probably Won't Need Spoiler For Airflow Problems

The Marine Corps' short-takeoff, vertical-landing variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter likely will require only software adjustments to the aircraft rather than a spoiler to improve the aircraft's handling, according to the program office, dodging what the Pentagon's top testing official said last year would be a "major change" to the aircraft.

J. Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon's director of operational test and evaluation, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last May that there "is a problem with the chaotic airflow in the transonic regime which causes loss of lift on the aircraft," which Gilmore said may necessitate a "major change" in the structure of the aircraft to install a spoiler. However, Joe DellaVedova, JSF joint program executive office spokesman, said last week following the aircraft's removal from a Pentagon-imposed probation that the program likely won't have to install the spoiler after all.

"At this point, we don't anticipate any spoiler in the B variant," DellaVedova said. "STOVL roll-post issues are being addressed with software improvements."

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