[time-nuts] DoD Plan Calls For Taking GPS Away From USAF

[RMelkers]

 Defense News
January 16, 2006 
DoD Plan Calls For Taking GPS Away From USAF 
By Michael Fabey 
To counter what they view as the U.S. Air Force's weak commitment to space
programs, some Pentagon officials are proposing shifting oversight of the
Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite navigation program from the
service to the Department of Defense (DoD) office that handles networks and
information integration.

The proposal is now in draft form, but if approved by top officials it would
place control of the successful GPS program - including a $12 billion plan
to upgrade the navigation network to, among other things, reduce its
susceptibility to jamming - within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of
Defense for Networks and Information Integration.

While the GPS program is widely regarded as a model of efficient acquisition
and operation, the service's track record for other space efforts is fraught
with delays, cost overruns and technological overreach. Maj. Regina
Winchester, an Air Force spokeswoman, said service leaders are unaware of
any effort to wrest control of GPS.

"It's been a very successful program," Winchester said. 
But other Air Force officials say they have seen the draft memo proposing
the shift, but question whether the Networks and Information Integration
office has the authority to pull off the move. These officials said that the
memo suggests giving oversight of both operations and acquisition to the
office - two fields that are nearly always handled by separate entities -
adding that the memo itself was far from becoming policy.

One expert on space programs, however, said that while the memo may prove
unimportant, its message is clear: The Air Force isn't serious about space
acquisitions.

A series of Air Force space programs have come under intense scrutiny for
cost and schedule problems, including the Space Based Infrared System High,
the Space Based Radar, the Future Imagery Architecture and the National
Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System. even the
Transformation Satellite program, aimed at revolutionizing military
communications, is likely to experience deep budget cuts in the wake of the
upcoming Quadrennial Defense Review.

Air Force officials contend their commitment to space is ironclad - the
service is the government's lead agency for military space programs, which
includes some of the most classified programs as well as the GPS
constellation, a centerpiece of global navigation. They add that cost
overruns and schedule delays are less a question of commitment, and more a
complex blend of increasingly sophisticated technologies and challenges
associated with complex modern space architectures.

"OSD [Office of the Secretary of Defense] simply does not trust the Air
Force when it comes to space acquisition, and this memo is just another
proof of that," said the Lexington Institute's Loren Thompson, expressing a
view echoed by some Air Force officials, who said the memo illustrates DoD
concerns about the service's commitment to space. "OSD is worried that the
Air Force will find a way to spend the money on planes," he said.

It also shows how infighting has broken out since the March departure of Air
Force undersecretary Peter Teets, who kept a firm grasp on several top space
programs. Analysts and officials said Teets' departure left a power vacuum
that has allowed various services and agencies to wrestle for programs,
platforms and money.

Space programs, with their odd combination of interests - Air Force, CIA,
National Security Agency and National Reconnaissance Office among them -
have proved particularly problematic.

Thompson and Air Force space officials note that the Defense Department,
which assumed oversight of the service's biggest programs when several top
posts went vacant last year, has returned most of the job to service leaders
since Michael Wynne took the service's top job in November.

But space acquisition milestone authority - the right to approve major
funding steps during program development - remains with DoD.

Thompson also pointed to DoD's decision on the E-10 Multi-Sensor Command and
Control Aircraft. The Air Force was counting on the E-10 to help find moving
targets on the ground and in the air and provide key battle management
command and control. It would be a central element in the Air Force's
Command and Control Constellation, which envisions a fully connected array
of land-, platform- and space-based sensors that use common standards and
communication protocols.

But the Defense Department wanted more capability in space and less aboard
the E-10, Thompson said.