Daily News

Aug. 16, 2000 -- Jacques Gansler, the Pentagon's top acquisition executive, last Thursday upgraded the Navy's Cooperative Engagement Capability program's acquisition profile, making it more of a joint service program, InsideDefense.com has learned. During a Defense Acquisition Board review, which Gansler chairs, CEC was moved from defense acquisition category 1C to 1D. Under the 1C status, the Navy's acquisition executive had authority over the program. With the new designation, Gansler has authority over all acquisition decisions affecting the program.

Aug. 16, 2000 -- Jacques Gansler, the Pentagon's top acquisition executive, last Thursday upgraded the Navy's Cooperative Engagement Capability program's acquisition profile, making it more of a joint service program, InsideDefense.com has learned. During a Defense Acquisition Board review, which Gansler chairs, CEC was moved from defense acquisition category 1C to 1D. Under the 1C status, the Navy's acquisition executive had authority over the program. With the new designation, Gansler has authority over all acquisition decisions affecting the program.

Aug. 15, 2000 -- The Air Force will likely fall short of the $21 billion in cost reductions it has mapped out for the F-22 Raptor program because many of the cuts are beyond the service's control, the General Accounting Office reported yesterday. Nearly half of the cost cutting plans have not yet been put in place and a good portion of them depend on future congressional or Office of the Secretary of Defense decisions, GAO said.

Aug. 15, 2000 -- Progress with an existing Energy Department program to secure nuclear materials in Russia hinges on renewing a partnership between the United States and Russia that has been weakened over the last few years, three nuclear non-proliferation experts claim in a newly released report.

The report, "Renewing the Partnership: Recommendations for Accelerated Actions To Secure Nuclear Material in the Former Soviet Union," was released today by the Russian American Nuclear Security Advisory Council.

Aug 15, 2000 -- The Navy has begun work on an environmental impact statement for the Marine Corps' Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle, according to an Aug. 15 notice in the Federal Register.

The AAAV is scheduled to be fielded by 2005. The Marine Corps will hold public hearings on the AAAV's effect on the environment in Southern California starting Aug. 29, according to the notice. The First Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, CA, is slated to get the first AAAVs.

Aug. 14, 2000 -- Planned improvements to a West Coast Navy test range will allow it to handle Army and Air Force theater missile defense tests, according to a Navy spokeswoman. The move could be welcome relief for the Army, which has encountered schedule and range limitation problems at its primary missile defense testing site in New Mexico.

Aug. 11, 2000 -- The Marine Corps announced late yesterday it has cleared 28 AV-8B harrier engines for flight less than two months after the service suspended all Harrier flights following a crash during a training mission at Twentynine Palms, CA.

"Analysts have not yet determined why the number three bearing failed during the June 21 flight, in which the pilot ejected safely," the Marine Corps said. "It was the fourth such failure in an F402-RR-408A-powered AV-8B aircraft. Only the June 21 mishap resulted in the loss of an aircraft."