There will be NO money for a new J-Star replacement aircraft ….
The Air Force does NOT want the aircraft….
They are pushing Advanced Battle Management and Surveillance (ABMS) that intergardyes data from drones, AWACS aircraft and other battlefield sensors….
( There was a fight in the Georgia political delegation in Congress)
They want to use drones and other aircraft to handle those missions
The Pentagon did NOT want a separate Space Command….
Trump said yes…
Congress has indicated that there would be only a sub-command…
And?
That command will report to the US Air Force’s Strategic Command….
Congress has decided not to force the U.S. Air Force to pursue Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System recapitalization, and lawmakers are not approving the retirement of three Northrop GrummanE-8Cs in fiscal year 2019.
Senior committee aides told reporters the fiscal 2019 defense policy conference bill authorizes funding to keep the three legacy aircraft the Air Force plans to retire in the fleet. The bill also includes additional resources to accelerate the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS)…
…
Regarding military space, the bill orders the creation of a “sub-unified command focused on warfighting” housed under U.S. Strategic Command; requires the Air Force to develop and submit a plan to Congress on space cadre development; requires the defense secretary to submit a plan on transition requirements to improve warfighting in space; and outlines how space acquisition must become more sequential, a senior committee aide says….
More…
Update…
Pentagon can’t move ahead until Congress repeals a provision in the 2019 defense authorization act….
Pentagon leaders wanted U.S. Space Command, a new joint combatant command for space warfighting, up and running by the end of 2018. Two full months into 2019, Congress has yet to repeal a law that is preventing the command’s creation, according to defense and Trump administration officials.
Here’s the problem. In the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, lawmakers ordered U.S. Space Command to be subordinate to U.S. Strategic Command, the same way U.S. Cyber Command started out under STRATCOM. But the administration wants Space Command to begin its organizational life as an independent unified command.
“The President has sent a legislative proposal…to the Congress to eliminate that requirement and allow for the moving forward with the unified combatant command,” a senior administration official said last week….