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28 Sept 2005
USA: Air Force Reviewing Troubled Space Programs
By
Andrea Shalal-Esa
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) – The US Air Force is reviewing its space programs
– many of which are behind schedule and over budget –
with an eye to slowing down projects whose technologies are not
yet mature, the Pentagon's top space official said on Tuesday.
Air
Force Undersecretary Ron Sega, a former astronaut and the Pentagon's
executive agent for space, also urged greater cooperation by the
intelligence and defense communities on satellites, noting their
importance to fighting wars abroad, as well as responding to recent
hurricanes in the Gulf region.
But
massive cost overruns and major schedule delays have plagued nearly
every space program in recent years, prompting Congress to seek
funding cuts.
"While
these challenges are not necessarily new, they have become extremely
serious and they do threaten our space dominance," said Republican
Sen. Wayne Allard of Colorado, who introduced Sega at a Washington
Space Business Roundtable luncheon.
"Unprecedented
cost growth and significant schedule delays have seriously damaged
the credibility of our Air Force program management and caused some
of my colleagues in Congress to push for significant reductions
in the Air Force's space programs."
Allard
is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, whose defense
subcommittee on Monday cut funding for three key space programs
by nearly $500 million for fiscal year 2006.
The
House has already passed a similar level of cuts to two space programs,
which makes it likely that the final defense spending bill will
cut funding for at least some programs.
Sega,
who directed Pentagon research for four years, stopped short of
saying space programs were in crisis but said his previous work
made it clear that the technological maturity of current programs
differed widely.
"We
would be well-served to lower the risk as we build operational systems
and make sure that we have the parts we need and ... make sure the
technology is mature," he said.
Opting
for more mature technology would help speed up the launch of new
systems because it would lower the risk of technological setbacks,
he said.
At
the same time, he said the Air Force needed to continue to put resources
into developmental systems, advanced research projects and science
and technology funding.
Sega
said he would thoroughly examine each satellite program and how
they would fit into an "integrated architecture in space," as well
as overall military intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance
work.
His
remarks came a week after intelligence director John Negroponte
recommended canceling a key part of Boeing's contract for the Future
Imagery Architecture satellite and hiring Lockheed Martin Corp.
to do the work.
Negroponte
also moved to cancel a second satellite imagery program, Misty,
being built by Lockheed, but defense officials said they need the
new satellite for military purposes.
The
Pentagon offered to pump billions of dollars into the classified
project, but details are still being worked out with congressional
committee that oversees intelligence and defense spending, according
to sources familiar with the matter.
Source:
Reuters
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