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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A major review of the United States military forces released late Friday by the Department of Defense said the U.S. Navy will homeport a nuclear aircraft carrier in Mayport.

The DoD said the decision will protect the fleet against a potential terror attack, accident or natural disaster, since currently all East Coast aircraft carriers are based at Norfolk Naval Station.

The Quadrennial Defense Review Report will be submitted to Congress on Monday and additional funding will have to be approved, but preliminary work on the Mayport basin was funded late last year and is under way.

Mayport has been without a carrier since the USS John F. Kennedy was decommissioned in 2007. Since then, there's been a push by Jacksonville and Florida lawmakers to bring a state-of-the-art nuclear carrier to Mayport. But the move was opposed at ever step of the way by elected officials in Virginia.

“While I believe the Navy was right on the money when they made the decision to homeport a nuclear aircraft carrier at Mayport last January, I am glad to see that national security, not politics, stands victorious in the latest Pentagon’s review,” said Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Jacksonville.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla, said the decision is big for the north Florida economy.

"This is something Ander and (Rep.) Corrine Brown and I have been fighting for for almost 10 years," said Nelson, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "This will cement Jacksonville's and Mayport's place in our nation's defense."

It's not clear if Mayport would get an older carrier or the newly commissioned USS George H. W. Bush, which is currently homeported in Norfolk, Va.

Sen. George LeMieux, R-Fla., said the announcement marks a historic day for the Jacksonville Naval Station.

"A nuclear carrier homeported here is the right decision for the right reasons," LeMieux said. "In addition to strengthening the fabric of our national security, this will mean thousands of jobs and families for this region."

LeMieux said members of the Navy and local officials were elated by the announcement.

LeMieux said the next step is to look at what will be necessary for Mayport to serve in its new role.

"What President (Barack) Obama includes in his fiscal year 2011 budget due out next week will give us a clearer picture of that schedule," LeMieux said.

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Carrier Bush Returned To Navy After 7-Month Maintenance

(NORFOLK VIRGINIAN-PILOT 30 JAN 10) ... Robert McCabe

The nation's newest aircraft carrier, the George H.W. Bush, has been redelivered to the Navy, Northrop Grumman Corp. announced Friday.

The Newport News shipyard has completed the carrier's "post-shakedown availability," a seven-month period of maintenance and modernization after its initial sea trials last spring.

"Bush is a testament to the teamwork between the Navy and Newport News," said Mike Shawcross, vice president for Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding's aircraft carrier construction programs. "We worked closely with one another during this availability to return the ship with high quality and within budget."

Work performed on the vessel included reconfiguring compartments, upgrades to combat systems and radar equipment, and minor repairs.

The carrier left Newport News for final sea trials Wednesday and was redelivered to the Navy on Thursday evening in Norfolk, where it is homeported.

The George H. W. Bush is the 10th and final Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. Its keel was laid Sept. 6, 2003; it was christened Oct. 7, 2006; commissioned Jan. 10, 2009; and delivered May 11, 2009.

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Navy Copter Unit Gets New Leader Commander

(NORFOLK VIRGINIAN-PILOT 30 JAN 10) ... Kate Wiltrout

NORFOLK --

It doesn't usually get much attention, but one of the Navy's most battle-tested helicopter squadrons will be in the spotlight this weekend.

Adm. Gary Roughead, the chief of naval operations, is scheduled to speak today, weather permitting, at a change-of-command ceremony for Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 84 at Norfolk Naval Station.

Cmdr. Scott Butcher, who has led the 330-person reserve squadron since September 2008, will turn over control to Cmdr. Scott Gootee, the executive officer.

HSC-84, known as the Red Wolves, is a reserve squadron under an active duty wing with a joint operational commander. It has flown more than 11,000 hours in support of special operations missions in Iraq since 2003.

The squadron's primary mission is supporting special warfare units overseas.

Unlike the Army and Air Force, the Navy does not have dedicated special operations aviation units.

The Red Wolves fill that gap by inserting and extracting special operations teams, performing combat search-and-rescue, and flying surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

The unit typically has four HH-60H Seahawk helicopters and about 60 personnel deployed to Iraq at all times, Butcher said.

Maintainers spend four months deployed; pilots and air crew work in three-month rotations. Most personnel are reservists, although some have been mobilized since 2003.

"We just know how to do it now, we've been doing it so long," Butcher said.

The unit has flown more than 4,700 combat sorties and its members have received 1,100 air combat medals, according to Lt. Cmdr. Phil Rosi, a Navy spokesman.

Butcher said he's gotten a lot of questions about how he managed to get Roughead, the Navy's top officer, to speak at the ceremony.

"I wrote him a letter," Butcher said.

There may be larger forces at work, too.

Next week, the Department of Defense is expected to release its quadrennial defense review, a congressionally mandated analysis of defense priorities and strategies.

Draft copies circulating in recent days have made reference to the Navy forming two permanent helicopter squadrons to support special operations troops.

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Indian Navy To Induct MiG-29K Fighter Jets

(ECONOMIC TIMES (INDIA) 31 JAN 10)

NEW DELHI -- The Indian Navy will induct on Feb 19 the first four Russian-made MiG-29K combat jets for deployment on the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.

"The aircraft will be formally inducted Feb 19," a senior Indian Navy official told.

The fighters are operating offshore Goa in the absence of aircraft carrier Gorshkov, which is to be commissioned as INS Vikramaditya. The combat jets had arrived in the country in knocked down condition last year Dec 4.

"The jets have been assembled and the Russian pilots are flying them. It is a standard procedure. Very soon Indian Navy pilots will take over from them," the official added.

The jets were purchased by the Indian Navy as part of a $1.5 billion deal signed with Russia in January 2004 for Admiral Gorshkov. Of this, $740 million was meant for the aircraft and the balance for refitting the carrier. The Russians have now upped the price to between $2.2 billion and $2.9 billion and negotiations are currently under way.

The navy will eventually be getting 12 MiG-29K single-seater aircraft and four MiG-29KUB twin-seat trainer aircraft, some in flyaway condition. The trainer version is similar to the single-seater but with a slightly reduced operational range.

The navy has named its MiG-29K squadron the "Black Panthers".

The jets will undertake shore-based sorties from Goa as the 45,000-tonne Kiev class aircraft carrier is scheduled to be delivered by 2012.

The contract for the jets also stipulates the procurement of hardware for pilot training and aircraft maintenance, including flight simulators and interactive ground and sea-based training systems.

Indian Navy pilots were sent to the US for deck landing training and qualified flying instructors (QFIs) to Russia for conversion flying (converting to different aircraft).

The pilots will do the conversion flying in Goa under the supervision of QFIs. Four to five batches comprising four pilots each had gone to the US for deck landing training.

The navy's MiG-29Ks have arrester gear and stronger landing gear for carrier landings, folding wings and rust-proofing to prevent corrosion from salt water.

The aircraft features a fully digitised glass cockpit, improved engine protection against ingestion of foreign particles like birds, a multi-mode radar and increased range. The contract ensures that the navy gets the entire spectrum of services, including a full mission simulator.

The MiG-29K will provide aerial cover to the carrier's battle group, acquire air superiority and destroy sea-borne and ground-based targets with guided high-precision weapons during the day and at night and in any weather condition.

The aircraft, the first bought by the navy after the Sea Harriers, will also be capable of playing the role of midair refueller.

In a bid to revamp its aviation capability, the Indian Navy will also be inking a contract to buy 29 more MiG-29Ks worth nearly $1.2 billion from Russia. A Russian team arrived here in January to finetune the contract terms. 

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Lockheed Strengthening Fuselage In Navy’s F-35 Model

(BLOOMBERG NEWS 29 JAN 10) ... Tony Capaccio

Lockheed Martin Corp. is fixing a structural weakness in the Navy version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that limits the jet’s ability to launch from aircraft carriers, according to a company spokesman.

Engineers in July discovered a “strength shortfall” in an aluminum structure in the aircraft’s center fuselage that helps absorb stresses during a catapult takeoff, Lockheed spokesman John Kent said today in an e-mailed statement.

“U.S. Navy and program office engineers were apprised immediately and have been directly involved in approving design updates,” Kent said. “A modification is already approved and ready to incorporate early this year prior to any catapult testing planned for 2011.”

The modification doesn’t affect the aircraft’s progress toward first flight and is expected to have “little or no impact” on the plane’s shipboard testing, he said.

“There was never a problem with landing -- only catapult launch,” Kent said.

Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed plans to build the fighters in three variants for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. The current estimated cost is $298 billion.

The carrier version is the last of the three variants to go into operation and is scheduled to be used on carriers operating with Boeing F/A-18E/F fighters by 2015. The first development model is scheduled for its maiden flight by August 30, Kent said.

Ashton Carter, the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer, and Michael Gilmore, director of operational test and evaluation, declined to comment through Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin.

Pentagon Report

The issue wasn’t disclosed in Gilmore’s annual’s report released last week. That report said F-35 testing so far raised concerns that engine blasts from the carrier model and Marine Corps short-takeoff and vertical-landing versions could cause deck damage and injure personnel.

The F-35 is the Pentagon’s largest weapons program. The fiscal 2011 defense budget set for release Feb. 1 requests 42 fighters, up from 30 this year. As many as 20 jets are Navy and Marine Corp versions.

Kent said all design changes to strengthen the center fuselage will be incorporated before parts are made for the first production F-35Cs in the fourth initial production contract now under negotiation for 30 aircraft.

This is only a development-phase issue “and a minor one at that,” Kent said. “This is part of our normal airframe development process, and is not a concern for the Navy.”

Cheryl Limrick, a spokesman for F-35 military program manager Marine Corp. Major General David Heinz, didn’t return an e-mail seeking comment today.

The Navy plans to buy as many as 680 carrier and short-take- off versions of 2,456 planned jets.

Deck Damage

The Pentagon’s Gilmore said in his report that the engine and power-systems’ exhaust on the Navy and Marine versions is powerful enough to pose a threat to carrier personnel. The blasts also may damage shields used to deflect heat on the deck, including on the CVN-21 carrier, the Navy’s most expensive warship.

“Early analyses of findings indicate that integration of the F-35 into the CVN-21 will result in damage to the carrier deck environment and will adversely affect hangar deck operations,” Gilmore wrote.

The Navy model’s exhaust area is larger than the Boeing planes’, making the jet-blast deflectors used during launch “vulnerable to warping and failure,” he wrote.

Exhaust from the Marine Corp version’s integrated power system deflect downward and may be “a hazard to flight deck refueling, munitions, personnel and equipment” located on catwalks, the report said.

Lockheed spokesman Chris Giesel said tests conducted with the JSF Program Office and the Navy “are showing positive results regarding compatibility of the F-35’s exhaust with carrier decks and tarmac surfaces. The study will conclude in spring 2010.”

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Justin Fishel 

 - FOXNews.com

 - February 01, 2010

Gates Fires Head of F-35 Fighter Jet Program

A senior manager is being removed and Lockheed Martin penalized for missing targets on a new generation of fighter jets currently in production, the secretary of defense said Monday.

A senior manager in charge of procuring the next generation of military fighter jets known as F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has been fired and the Department of Defense has been instructed to withhold money that would pay bonuses to the lead contractor, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Monday. 

In a briefing at the Pentagon on the 2011 defense budget, Gates said inefficiencies and budget overruns within the costly fighter program forced him to take action.

Gates said Lockheed Martin, the defense contractor responsible for producing the F-35, is in agreement with his plan to withhold bonuses, calling it a burden "the taxpayer should not have to bear."

In 2009 a Defense Department review concluded the Joint Strike Fighter program had significant cost overruns and its production dates were far over schedule.

Gates did not announce a replacement to head up the Joint Strike Fighter program, but he said the new position will be elevated to that of a three-star officer. 

Gates has a reputation for firing his senior staff, and he was quick to point that out. 

"One cannot absorb the additional costs that -- that we have in this program and the -- and the delays, without people being held accountable. And I think if -- if I've set one tone here at the Department of Defense, it is that, when things go wrong, people will be held accountable."

In 2008 Gates fired Air Force Secretary Michael Wynn and forced out the Air Force Chief of Staff, Michael T. Moseley in wake of the "loose nukes" scandal earlier that year. 

In 2009 he removed Gen. David McKiernan from his position as the commanding general in Afghanistan after it became clear that the Taliban had reversed the momentum of the war. Brig. Gen. David Heinz, now the former Program executive officer for the F-35, has become the secretary's latest casualty.

The new project manager for the Joint Strike Fighter will be announced in a matter of days, and he'll have heavy burden to bear. The Joint Strike Fighter is currently the Pentagon's most expensive weapons project ever, with defense officials putting the price tag for all the jets requested at nearly $300 billion. 

The F-35 fighter is called the "Joint" Strike Fighter because it's designed for use across the Navy, Marine Corp, and the Air Force. The Pentagon also has plans to sell it to allies overseas once production needs within the U.S. military have been met.

The first F-35s are expected to be operation in 2012 if all goes according to plan. The Marines will be the first to get them and the defense community will be watching closely. From the day an F35 rolls off the assembly to the day it's retired, it's total production cost is valued at $69 million

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Navy Seeks Boost To Shipbuilding Fund, No Money For F/A-18E/F Multi-Year

(DEFENSE DAILY 02 FEB 10) ... Geoff Fein

The Navy's $16 billion FY '11 budget request for shipbuilding includes funding for two Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), two Virginia-class submarines and two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

The shipbuilding request marks an increase of $1.1 billion from the FY '10 budget.

The Navy will buy 17 LCS over the FYDP, according to a budget document. The service will buy two in FY '11, three in FY '12 and four every year beginning in FY '13, '14, and '15.

The Navy's plan was to buy 10 ships by FY '14 under the new acquisition strategy introduced last year. Teams led by General Dynamics [GD] and Lockheed Martin [LMT] are vying to build the LCS. Both teams just received the Navy's request for proposals last week. Responses to the RFP are due back on March 29.

While the Navy's new acquisition plan eventually calls for two yards to build a single LCS design, Rear Adm. Joseph Mulloy, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for budget, told reporters during the service's briefing yesterday there has been talk about the impact of rapidly buying out LCS and then facing the issue of block obsolescence.

"[There is a] chance you couldn't change them again. There are a number of competing factors in this," he said. "The bottom line is to have two sources and maintain a steady pull to develop the ships."

The Navy plans to build eight DDG-51s over the FYDP, beginning with two in FY '11. Mulloy noted the plan calls for a build rate of two in FY '11, one in FY '12, two in FY '13, one in FY '14 and two in FY '15.

"We continue to build these ships for a wide variety of missions they bring," Mulloy said. "But primarily for the BMD needs as laid out by the president's initiatives."

In addition to buying LCS, Virginia-class submarines and DDG-51s, the Navy will also buy one LHA-R, one Maritime Landing Platform and one Joint High Speed Vessel.

The Navy will also continue with the service life extension of the LCACs and buy its first Ship to Shore Connector, the eventual replacement for the LCAC, according to budget documents

Boeing [BA] will see the Navy procure 12 of its EA-18Gs in FY '11 and another 24 in FY '24.

The Navy will also buy seven of the company's P-8 Multi-Mission Maritime Aircraft.

However, the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet will see its numbers fluctuate over the FYDP. The service will buy 22 of the tactical fighters in FY '11 but only one in FY '12 before increasing to 25 in FY '13 for a total of 48 aircraft over the FYDP.

There is no money in the budget for a multi-year buy of Super Hornets, Mulloy said.

He added, however, that the Navy is evaluating opportunities given that the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G are built on the same production line. And Mulloy also noted the Navy's acquisition shop is in negotiations on this.

"But there is no money for a multi-year right now," Mulloy noted.

Additionally, the Navy will buy 13 F-35B short takeoff vertical landing variants of Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter in FY '11, and seven of the Navy variant, the F35- C.

DoD is restructuring the JSF program office making it a three-star billet, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said earlier in the day.

"There were more problems than we were aware of," he told reporters.

"We can't absorb the cost we have had in this program and the delay without people being held accountable, Gates added.

The service will buy 100 rotary aircraft in FY '11: 28 of Bell Helicopter Textron's [TXT] AH-1Z/UH-1Ys, 30 MV-22B by a Bell-Boeing team, 24 Lockheed Martin MH60Rs and 18 MH-60S

The Navy will also buy three Fire Scout unmanned vertical takeoff unmanned air vehicles.

All told, the Navy will buy 206 aircraft in FY '11, one less fewer than in FY '10.

The Navy will increase its buy of Raytheon's [RTN] SM-6 from 11 in FY '10 to 59 in FY '11. However, the service will end its buy of SM-2s, only procuring eight of the missiles in FY '11. Buys of the SM-2 Mod IIIB will also decline from 91 in FY '10 to 32 in FY '11.

The Navy will buy fewer torpedoes in FY 11, dropping to 46 of the MK 48 heavyweight torpedoes (from 85 in FY '10) and buying none of the MK 54 lightweight torpedoes, after buying 120 in FY '10. The Navy will resume purchasing the MK 54 LWT in FY '12, according to budget documents.

The Navy will enter a three-year decline in the purchase of the AIM-9X, dropping to 146 in FY '11 and not seeing the number bought increase until FY '14.

On the other side, the Navy will increase its buy of Raytheon's Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) from 79 in FY '10 to 101 in FY '11. The Navy will continue to increase annual purchases of the missile through the FYDP.

Raytheon's Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) C will also see a one-year decline in procurement, dropping from 357 in FY '10 to 333 in FY '11.

BAE Systems' Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) will experience a two-year decline, dropping from 818 in FY '10 to 575 in FY '11 and 281 in FY '12. The Navy will then significantly increase the number of APKWS to 1,000 in FY '13, according to budget documents.

The Navy will steadily increase its buy of ATK's [ATK] Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM), going from 36 in FY '10 to 44 in FY '11. The Navy intends to buy 719 of the missiles over the FYDP.

The Hellfire missile will also see a jump in procurement, from 325 in FY '10 to 600 in FY '11. The Navy intends to buy 4,600 over the FYDP.

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Navy Requests Nine Ships, 206 Aircraft in FY-11; New Command Ship, EFV Delayed

(INSIDE DEFENSE 01 FEB 10) ... Zachary M. Peterson

The Navy plans to buy nine ships and 206 aircraft with its $160.6 billion fiscal year 2011 budget request, released this afternoon. The budget terminates the CG(X) cruiser and EPX spy plane efforts and delays the purchase of a new command ship beyond FY-15, pushing the procurement of the Marine Corps' Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle back by one year to correct developmental issues.

The request includes $15.7 billion in shipbuilding, including the purchase of a Joint High Speed Vessel for the Army. The nine ships the Navy plans to buy in FY-11 are two DDG-51 guided-missile destroyers, two Littoral Combat Ships, two Virginia-class attack submarines, one amphibious assault ship replacement (LHA-R), one Mobile Landing Platform and a Joint High Speed Vessel.

The $18.5 billon aircraft request would purchase 13 short-takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for the Marine Corps, seven carrier-variant JSFs, 22 F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighters, 12 EA-18G Growler electronic attack planes, four E-2D Hawkeyes, seven P-8A maritime patrol aircraft, 28 AH-1Z/UH-1Y helicopters, 30 MV-22 tiltrotors, 24 MH-60R helos, 18 MH-60S helos, three MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopters and 38 T-6A/B training jets.

Marine Corps procurement totals $1.3 billion in the request, down from $1.5 billion requested in FY-10. Other Navy procurement in the request totals $6.5 billion. The request also includes $17.7 billion in research and development funds.

Further, the proposed spending package includes nearly $26 billion for active-duty Navy personnel and approximately $13.3 billion for active-duty Marines.

Today's budget announcement officially disclosed the cancellation of the CG(X) cruiser program, for which the Pentagon cited “affordability concerns.”

“Instead of procuring CG(X), the Navy is considering other options including maturing the air and missile defense radar program and using technologies from other similar kinds of ships such as DDG-1000 and DDG-51 destroyers,” states the service's FY-11 budget highlights book.  

Budget justification documents published by the Office of Management and Budget outlined delays in the Marine Corps' EFV program. “Delaying procurement one year while maintaining [research and development funding] gives the Marine Corps more time to correct the EFV's problems before making large investments in procurement,” the OMB document states.

Similarly, the Navy will wait until after FY-15 to move forward with plans to replace its fleet of amphibious command ships. “The Navy is proposing to delay LCC-R because the service life of the two command ships currently in operation can be extended,” the justification document states.

The budget request includes $18.5 billion in Navy and Marine “overseas contingency operations” funding to support the ongoing war effort in Afghanistan.

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Proposed Defense Budget Paves Way For Carrier Base In Florida

(NEWPORT NEWS DAILY PRESS 01 FEB 10) ... Hugh Lessig

As Florida lawmakers celebrated, Virginia leaders on Monday girded for another attempt keep an aircraft carrier and its thousands of jobs from leaving Hampton Roads.

The Defense Department is moving closer to building a permanent aircraft carrier base in Florida, a move it justifies on strategic grounds but one that endangers thousands of jobs in southeastern Virginia.

The Quadrennial Defense Review, formally released Monday, suggests that the Navy plans to move a carrier out of Virginia to fulfill its plan.

"To mitigate the risk of terrorist attack, accident or natural disaster, the U.S. Navy will home-port an East Coast carrier in Mayport, Fla," states the QDR.

All East Coast carriers are based at Naval Station Norfolk. If a carrier strike group were to leave Hampton Roads, the job loss would be akin to a major factory shutdown.

Virginia lawmakers have vowed to fight the move.

"This is not a done deal," said Sen. Jim Webb, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Webb and others have pointed to the cost of upgrading Mayport, which has accommodated older carriers but not one from the nuclear-powered fleet. Dredging and other improvements could cost up to $1 billion, according to some estimates.

They say the strategic value of dispersing the fleet is overstated and the Navy has more pressing fiscal needs.

Webb said he looks forward to questioning Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during today's meeting of the armed services panel.

"I would be curious to see where the Navy believes that it can take a billion dollars away from shipbuilding, weapons procurement, ship maintenance and repair, and building a fleet in order to construct an alternate port which, on all accounts, doesn't seem to be needed," Webb said.

Sen. Mark R. Warner added, "In a time of concern about federal spending and budget deficits, I will be asking tough questions about this Pentagon plan to divert $700 million to $1 billion — or more — to reassign an aircraft carrier from the Norfolk naval station."

"It would be fiscally irresponsible to spend any money on a redundant East Coast homeport," said Rep. Glenn Nye, D-Norfolk. "The Navy has never demonstrated a risk-based, strategic need to relocate a nuclear aircraft carrier out of Norfolk, and with the national debt skyrocketing, the American people simply cannot afford redundant, unnecessary projects like this."

Rep. Randy Forbes, R- Chesapeake, questioned the spending on Mayport in light of a $1.3 billion shortfall in public shipyard infrastructure and the growing size of China's Navy.

"I intend to demand full transparency into the decision-making behind the proposed use of up to a billion of taxpayer dollars on a move regarded as duplicative and even 'scandalous,'" he said in a statement.

However, the language in the QDR is a clearly setback to Virginia's argument.

"It's definitely more significant than if it was just a budgetary statement, because the QDR is supposed to be the basic strategy document for a number of years," said Bill Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation.

Florida lawmakers have already hailed the carrier move as a done deal and a coming boon to the Jacksonville-area economy.

"The reason for moving one of the nuclear carriers from Norfolk to Mayport is so they're not all lined up in one place like sitting ducks," said Sen. Bill Nelson, R-Fla.

Job loss will hurt

The reaction began Friday when CongressDaily, a political newsletter, posted the final draft of the Quadrennial Defense Review on its Web site.

"This is an historic day for Mayport," said Sen. George LeMieux, R-Fla. last week. "A nuclear carrier home-ported here is the right decision for the right reasons. In addition to strengthening the fabric of our national security, this will mean thousands of jobs and families for this region."

If a carrier strike group were to leave Hampton Roads, it would hit the area much harder than the 2007 shutdown of Ford Motor Co.'s truck factory in Norfolk, which employed 2,400 people.

That's according to the 2009 State of the Region report from Old Dominion University. It said the gross regional product of Hampton Roads drops by 1 percent each month a carrier task force is away from Hampton Roads. That translates into a $900 million loss over one year.

Another opportunity for debate is the 20-person panel announced by the White House last week to analyze the merits of the QDR and report back to Congress in the spring.

What's a QDR?

The Pentagon prepares the Quadrennial Defense Review every four years. The document is intended to be a longer-term forecast of the nation's defense needs.

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F-35 Issues

From AFA –                                                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                                     

Thursday February 04, 2010

More Realistic: Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged Wednesday on Capitol Hill that the F-35 program office was "too optimistic" in its cost and schedule estimates for strike fighter program, leading to a sweeping restructure reflected in the Pentagon's Fiscal 2011 budget proposal and costing the job of the program manager. But even with the extra 13 months being tacked onto the F-35's development, Gates said the projected in-service dates for the first Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy combat-ready units will not change (Fiscal 2012, Fiscal 2013, and Fiscal 2014, respectively) The new program profile is "much more realistic" as it reflects the conservative estimates of the independent Joint Estimate Team that had warned that the program was facing challenges. Gates asserted, even with the changes, "by 2020, the US will have 20 times more fifth generation fighters than the Chinese and about 13 to 15 times more than the Russians."

Nonstealthy Maneuver: Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday laid down the same line in the sand as he did on Monday at the Pentagon and on Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, telling House lawmakers that he would "strongly recommend" that President Obama veto any Fiscal 2011 legislation that sustains the F136 engine for the F-35 strike fighter. Appearing before the House Armed Services Committee, Gates said the focus should be on getting the F135, the other engine type for the F-35, done right. Keeping the F136 engine program alive for the next five fiscal years would end up costing the Defense Department another $2.9 billion that is needed elsewhere on top of the $1.8 billion that the Congress has already pumped into the project in the past several years over the Pentagon's objections, he said. The Pentagon's Fiscal 2011 budget proposal seeks to cancel the F136.

Boiling it Down: In a renewed effort to end the F-35 strike fighter alternate engine program (see Nonstealthy Maneuver, above), Defense Secretary Robert Gates offered a somewhat different argument against the F136 engine. He told House lawmakers Wednesday that spending extra billions to maintain two engines for the F-35 just doesn't make sense since only one of the planned F-35 operators—the Air Force—might potentially reap some gain. He told the House Armed Services Committee that he doesn't think any other F-35 customer at home or abroad really wants to have two engine types for its F-35s since that entails a larger logistics footprint for all, but especially for ship-based F-35s. And so the issue really comes down to whether it is worth it to spend the extra billions just so the Air Force can choose from the two engines. For Gates, the answer is no.

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U.K. Backs BAE Carrier Project

(BLOOMBERG NEWS 03 FEB 10) ... Robert Hutton

Britain remains committed to building two new aircraft carriers even as it considers cuts in military spending, Defense Secretary Bob Ainsworth said.

Ainsworth said a strategic defense review after this year’s election is unlikely to cancel the carrier project, for which BAE Systems Plc is the lead contractor. He spoke as he published a consultation document that asks whether Britain should integrate its forces more closely with other European countries and whether there are too many senior military personnel.

“We’re already cutting the steel” for the carriers, Ainsworth told reporters in London today. “That, to some degree, cuts down our options.”

The Ministry of Defense won’t be able to afford as much as half of the equipment it plans to buy in the next decade, according to a report into procurement last year by Bernard Gray, a former government adviser on defense. With no party guaranteeing defense spending, major projects may fall victim to efforts to cut the country’s budget deficit.

Companies working with BAE on the carriers include Thales SA, Electronic Data Systems LLC, Lockheed Martin Corp., Qinetiq Group Plc, Rolls-Royce Group Plc and VT Group Plc.

The two carriers will cost about 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) more than the planned 3.9 billion pounds because of delays and changes in design, the ministry said in June.

Shares of BAE fell 8.3 pence, or 2.4 percent, to 338.8 pence at 3:25 p.m. in London.

Trident Plans

Ainsworth refused to guarantee other projects, such as the Joint Strike Fighter currently planned to fly off the carriers. He did say there’s “no plan to revisit” the 2006 decision to renew Britain’s Trident nuclear-weapons system.

Air Chief Marshall Jock Stirrup, the chief of the defense staff, confirmed that one option in the review is the abolition of one of the three arms of U.K. forces, the Army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. “It’s plausible,” he said, when asked if the U.K. might only have two services in a decade, without giving more detail. That may mean the integration of the RAF into the Army and Navy.

The ministry later said in an e-mailed statement that Stirrup had been saying the idea of the three services remaining separate was plausible, not the idea of abolishing one.

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