Defense & Military

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 Soon after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced last week  upcoming reforms to the under-resourced U.S. nuclear enterprise, Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), chair of the House Armed Services Committee, called for his Congressional peers to appropriate funding toward the aging nuclear arsenal, and urged President Obama to dump his “Global Zero” […]

Simpson to Remain Chairman of House E&W Approps; Upton Back as House E&C Committee Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 11/21/2014 There will be familiar faces in the next Congress atop the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee and House Energy and Commerce Committee, but a new leader for the House Armed Services Committee. Rep. Mac Thornberry […]

Simpson to Remain Chairman of House E&W Approps Todd Jacobson WC Monitor 11/21/2014 There will be familiar faces in the next Congress atop the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee and House Energy and Commerce Committee, but a new leader for the House Armed Services Committee. Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) this week was formally named […]

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) has formally been named the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, ending months of speculation about the Texas lawmaker taking over for outgoing chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.). Thornberry, whose Texas panhandle district includes the Pantex Plant, has served as the vice chairman of the panel for the last four years […]

Moments after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s Nov. 14 announcement of upcoming reforms to the under-resourced U.S. nuclear enterprise, Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), chair of the House Armed Services Committee, called for his congressional peers to appropriate funding toward the aging nuclear arsenal, and charged President Obama to dump his “Global Zero” philosophy, equating the concept […]

  Hagel: Pentagon to Increase Funding to Rejuvenate Nuclear Enterprise Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 11/14/2014 The Defense Department plans to increase funding for the U.S. nuclear enterprise by an additional 10 percent over the next five years to help reform the nation’s aging nuclear deterrent, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Nov. 14. The funding will […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 11/14/2014 Aligning with Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James’ call earlier this month to “institutionalize” the morale-boosting philosophy behind Global Strike Command’s Force Improvement Program (FIP), the command has formed its first ever specialized team for maintenance of launch control centers (LCCs), and has restructured its rotation model for missile officers. […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 11/7/2014 Responding to proposals by arms control advocates calling for a 10-year delay of the long-range strike bomber, a top Air Force official this week cited the inefficiency of delaying projects and called for officials to move more quickly to modernize nuclear bombers. “At the end of the day, we just […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 11/7/2014 The Air Force must fill two new top-level openings within Global Strike Command after two commanders were relieved of duty this week following separate substantiated allegations of cruelty and sexism at Minot and F.E. Warren Air Force Bases, respectively. Col. Tracey Hayes, commander of F.E. Warren’s 90th Missile Wing, removed […]

The Air Force must fill two new top-level openings within Global Strike Command, after two commanders on Monday were relieved of duty following separate substantiated allegations of cruelty and sexism at Minot and F.E. Warren Air Force Bases, respectively. Col. Tracey Hayes, commander of F.E. Warren’s 90th Missile Wing, removed Col. Carl Jones from his […]

NS&D Monitor 10/31/2014 ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT The Russian Navy this week successfully test-launched a newly developed unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile, according to Associated Press reports. The Yuri Dolguruky SSBN test-fired the Bulava missile under the surface of the Barents Sea, and warheads hit a predetermined target range in the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia. […]

U.S. Strategic Command will upgrade a key element of its Integrated Strategic Planning and Analysis Network (ISPAN), which national leaders and combatant commanders use to plan for nuclear crisis scenarios, according to an Oct. 24 release. Five contracts awarded by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Hanscom (Mass.) AFB to four companies—BAE Systems, […]

NS&D Monitor 10/24/2014 IN THE INDUSTRY Former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Director Parney Albright has been named the President and CEO of Malibu, Calif.-based HRL Laboratories, a research and development laboratory owned by Boeing and General Motors. Albright stepped down as Livermore’s director a year ago, and had served as a senior advisor in the […]

U.S. Strategic Command today will begin its annual field training and battle staff exercise, which primarily emphasizes nuclear command and control and coordinates all of the command’s mission areas in space, cyberspace, missile defense, combating weapons of mass destruction and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, according to a STRATCOM statement. STRATCOM will conduct the operation, dubbed […]

NS&D Monitor 10/17/2014 In DoD Air Force Brig. Gen. John Cherrey has been promoted to take Maj. Gen. Michael A. Keltz’s former position of director of intelligence, operations and nuclear integration at Headquarters Air Education and Training Command at Joint Base San Antonio in Randolph, Texas, according to an Oct. 9 Defense Department press release. […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/10/2014 Air Force Global Strike Command earlier this month started the ICBM Parts Centralized Funding Program, shifting responsibility for missile support system purchases away from the 20th Air Force and aligning it with the overarching command, according to an Oct. 3 release. Previously, heads of the 20th Air Force’s 90th, 341st […]

Todd Jacobson and Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/10/2014 The Obama Administration is taking a hard look at whether it needs to replace the air-launched cruise missile, outgoing Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical & Biological Defense Programs Andrew Weber told reporters earlier this week as he prepared to leave his position after five years. […]

The Obama Administration is taking a hard look at whether it needs to replace the air-launched cruise missile, outgoing Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical & Biological Defense Programs Andrew Weber told reporters earlier this week as he prepared to leave his position after five years. The large price tag to modernize the nation’s […]

Air Force Global Strike Command on Oct. 1 started the ICBM Parts Centralized Funding Program, shifting responsibility for missile system purchases away from the 20th Air Force, while aligning it with the overarching command, according to an Oct. 3 command press release. Previously, heads of the 20th Air Force’s 90th, 341st and 91st missile wings […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/3/2014 The U.S. nuclear enterprise requires a fiscal “plus-up,” but military officials are still wrestling with where the necessary funding will come from, U.S. Strategic Command Vice Commander Lt. Gen. James Kowalski said last week. “We did a fair amount of investment in organizational changes and in focus of our nuclear […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 10/3/2014 Recent actions by Russia to ramp up its nuclear modernization program could serve as a major threat to the United States’ nuclear posture, Hudson Institute fellow William Schneider said this week. Speaking at an Oct. 1 event, Schneider said Moscow’s modernization plans stand in contrast to U.S. modernization efforts, which […]

NS&D Monitor 10/3/2014 IN DoD Two B-52H Stratofortresses operated by 8th Air Force bomber crews were flown in a Sept. 22 simulated combat mission from Barksdale AFB to the Utah Test and Training Range, where one jet launched an unarmed AGM-86B air-launched cruise missile, Air Force Global Strike Command said in a Sept. 26 statement. […]

Strategic Systems Programs has awarded two contract modifications – one each to Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. and Interstate Electronics Corp. – related to external Trident II (D5) missile support systems, according to a Sept. 29 Defense Department announcement. The $60.1-million cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee Northrop contract modification will fund support for the Underwater Launcher System and Advanced […]

The Air Force Nuclear Weapon Center at Hill Air Force Base has awarded a $10.4 million contract to Exelis-Night Vision and Communications Solutions for design updates, manufacturing and delivery of the Data Storage Service Life Extension Program for the Strategic Automated Command and Control System (SACCS), the secure communications network that coordinates operations for U.S. […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 After Russian President Vladimir Putin made remarks earlier this month boasting of Moscow’s nuclear capabilities, a Sept. 22 article published by Russian state-owned RIA Novosti reports that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin announced this week that Russia will renew its strategic nuclear forces by 100 percent, up from the […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 U.S. Strategic Command Vice Commander Lt. Gen. James Kowalski  confirmed late this week that a new “hybrid” mobile-option intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that would allow nuclear forces to respond to potential nuclear attacks with a greater degree of certainty than the 40-year-old Minuteman 3 ICBM is expected to debut in […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Air Force Brig. Gen. Stephen Davis is taking over as the top military official in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program, replacing Brig. Gen. James Dawkins as the agency’s Principal Assistant Deputy Administrator for Military Application, the NNSA said late last week. Davis most recently served as the Assistant […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 9/26/2014 Air Force Global Strike Command this week successfully tested an unarmed Minuteman III missile, which flew from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., to Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands in a span of approximately 30 minutes, according to command spokesperson Carla Pampe. The missile was launched at 7:45 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, and […]

Russia is expected to renew its strategic nuclear forces (SNF) by 100 percent, more than the previously reported 70 percent renewal, according to a report by Russian state-owned RIA NOVISTI that cited Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. “The formation of the technical basis for strategic nuclear forces is going at a faster rate, and, […]

Air Force Brig. Gen. Stephen Davis is taking over as the top military official in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program, replacing Brig. Gen. James Dawkins as the agency’s Principal Assistant Deputy Administrator for Military Application, the NNSA said Friday afternoon. Davis most recently served as the Assistant Deputy Director for Nuclear, Homeland Defense, […]