While the cherry blossoms may have come and gone, Washington posturing is in full bloom. This is made manifest in the administration's veto threat of the FY10 Defense Authorizations Act driven by the Senate Armed Services Committee's recent add of $1.75B for the purpose of buying seven more F-22s in FY10. Currently, a fleet of 187 F-22s is envisioned.
It seems unusual for the administration to engage in this sort of posturing at this point in the authorization cycle for a number of reasons. Importantly, this is the Senate, so the bill would have to be reconciled with the House version, which may be significantly different. Also, these are authorizers, not appropriators. The appropriators are the ones who actually apply monies against programs, so if the administrations is serious -- and they are -- they'll be watching the appropriations committees and subcommittees with as close to omniscient scrutiny as they can muster.
Is that the real reason for the posturing? Because we're talking about authorizers and not appropriaters? If so, this could be a shot across the bow. While everyone cares about having an authorization bill, having an appropriations bill is essential. If it ain't funded, it ain't.
The Air Force is on the horns of a dilemma. The F-22 has an air superiority mission and without air superiority, everything else in the battlespace becomes exceedingly more difficult. However, more F-22s raise the question of how much more money will then be needed for other aspects of the F-22 program -- the flying hours, with operations and maintenance funding, the facilities, with milcon, and the manpower, the aircrews and maintainers -- to fly perhaps a total of 60 or so more aircraft? And if the F-22 buy is ultimately plussed-up and there is zero real growth in the Defense and/or Air Force budgets, who will the programmatic bill payers be?
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Gum In The Keyhole
Dwayne Day is an insightful guy who regularly writes at The Space Review, which is a great, but sadly only once-a-week site. TSR publishes on all sorts of space stuff: historical, policy, mil space, manned, commercial, you name it.
Dwayne's most recent article is Gum in The Keyhole, a reference (in order) to Congressional oversight of the intel community and a family of reconnaissance satellites. Now underway is a major reconnaissance satellite procurement effort which will be overseen by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The NRO is working to regain its credibility following the Future Imagery Architecture (FIA) procurement disaster. Remember, you can't spell fiasco without FIA.
While recent comments from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) on the procurement are somewhat cryptic, it appears she doesn't trust the NRO to acquire an "exquisite" space system, nor does she support the exquisite part of the purchase--the total buy is to also include plenty of commercially procured space imagery. Often only the professional staff has the time and expertise to tee up a committee chair in manner reflective of the comments she's made, so that would be the genesis of the concerns. Also, Sen. Feinstein is also on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, and the NRO is a part of the Defense Department. Although it goes without saying, I'll say it: if it ain't funded, it ain't.
The NRO acquisition problems are indicative of the DoD's procurement system in total: new starts tend to miss the mark on performance, cost, and schedule. "Success-oriented" planning gets destroyed by funding instability via the long-lead DoD budget process which itself is victimized by Congressional marks and withholds by both DoD and the services. The NRO can't afford a procurement fumble as happened with FIA. Former NRO Director Scott Large recently resigned and has been replaced by Bruce Carlson (USAR, Ret).
Dwayne's most recent article is Gum in The Keyhole, a reference (in order) to Congressional oversight of the intel community and a family of reconnaissance satellites. Now underway is a major reconnaissance satellite procurement effort which will be overseen by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The NRO is working to regain its credibility following the Future Imagery Architecture (FIA) procurement disaster. Remember, you can't spell fiasco without FIA.
While recent comments from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) on the procurement are somewhat cryptic, it appears she doesn't trust the NRO to acquire an "exquisite" space system, nor does she support the exquisite part of the purchase--the total buy is to also include plenty of commercially procured space imagery. Often only the professional staff has the time and expertise to tee up a committee chair in manner reflective of the comments she's made, so that would be the genesis of the concerns. Also, Sen. Feinstein is also on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, and the NRO is a part of the Defense Department. Although it goes without saying, I'll say it: if it ain't funded, it ain't.
The NRO acquisition problems are indicative of the DoD's procurement system in total: new starts tend to miss the mark on performance, cost, and schedule. "Success-oriented" planning gets destroyed by funding instability via the long-lead DoD budget process which itself is victimized by Congressional marks and withholds by both DoD and the services. The NRO can't afford a procurement fumble as happened with FIA. Former NRO Director Scott Large recently resigned and has been replaced by Bruce Carlson (USAR, Ret).
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Signal Magazine Article
Read all about Space as a Contested Environment, which has been designated as a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Special Area of Emphasis (SAE). The article appears in Signal Magazine, one of the truly authoritative voices of the defense community. The SAE itself was sponsored by Maxwell Air Force Base’s National Space Studies Center through the Air War College.
Playlist: Songs of Space and Nuclear War
Less than a year ago--that is, when I first wrote this--in a fascinating juxtaposition of old and new, the world observed the 51st anniversary of Sputnik, the event which marked the dawn of the space age. Almost concurrently, the U.S. Air Force announced that reinvigorating its nuclear enterprise is now its highest priority. What did these two events have in common? Well, practically nothing, other than an opportunity to examine the effects both space and nuclear war have had on our culture, specifically the culture of popular music.
While the most prevalent theme in popular music is without question love, there are, of course, a number of other common musical topics. Space and nuclear war are not among them. However, they are interesting topics indeed and certainly warrant a reasonable exploration. So without further delay, journey with me into the Songs of Space and Nuclear War.
Track 1: “Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time),” Elton John, released 1972. Highest Chart position #6, U.S. This melancholy gem, penned by the extraordinary team of Elton John and Bernie Taupin, opens the not-approved-by-Rolling-Stone compilation as the greatest space song of all time. The dreamy, stylized, receding-Doppler effect of Davey Johnstone’s slide guitar, presented as a departing rocket, matched with lyrics like “and all this science I don’t understand; it’s just my job five days a week,” is simply superior. Add the Rocket Man ringtone to your list--it earns five stars (so to speak).
Track 2: “You Dropped A Bomb On Me,” Gap Band, released 1982. Highest chart position #2, Billboard R&B. This is an ostensibly dance-focused somebody-done-somebody-wrong-song, but shows its true colors with clarion lyrics and the familiar whistle of an incoming weapon descending through the atmosphere. In the end, it’s pretty obvious the Gapper’s love lives have been destroyed beyond repair. Perhaps an effective early warning system would have been useful, eh fellas? Three stars.
Track 3: “Satellite of Love,” U2, released 1992. Using the themes of love and betrayal against the backdrop of a televised satellite launch, one-time Velvet Underground front man Lou Reed penned this space sonnet, which was first released in 1972. However, the U2 cover improves the original’s work. U2’s soaring final chorus moves the song from the realm of the ordinary to the superior. Does “Satellite’s gone way up to Mars/Soon it will be filled with parking cars” reveal Bono’s support for planetary missions or is it more analogous to “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot”? Four stars.
Track 4: “Radar Love,” Golden Earring, released 1973. Highest chart position #13, U.S. The Dutch rockers created this much covered and practically ubiquitous hit with its ongoing lyrical theme of wireless messaging. Sonically, the song is made complete with musically superior tempo changes, percussion, and soaring horns. While the title itself implies some sort of forbidden passion at the Clear Air Station, Alaska missile warning site, the title’s slight misnomer is totally forgiven. A true rock classic--five stars.
Track 5: “99 Luftballons,” Nena, released 1983. Highest chart position #2, U.S Billboard Hot 100. Every compilation has to have a throwaway (or two) and this neatly falls into that category. “Blowin’ In The Wind,” it ain’t. This Cold War-era protest effort is most comical in its English language version, which calls to mind the kind of freaky new-wave angst that can only conjured up by a bad trip on Tab cola and cough syrup. Example: “Ride super-high-tech jet fighters/Everyone's a superhero/Everyone's a Captain Kirk.” In an insult to Trekkies everywhere, this effort should have been smothered at birth, or alternatively, given to a fifth-grader for rewrite. Two and a half stars for the less-awful German language version (which gets a pass on the lyrics, whatever they are). One star for the more-awful English language version.
Track 6: “Space Oddity,” David Bowie, released 1969. Highest chart position #5, UK. What is it with these English guys? Their country doesn’t even have a manned space program! Released shortly before the Apollo 11 moon landing, Major Tom’s story offers plenty of insight into the risks associated with manned spaceflight and the challenge of a hearing impaired astronaut (“Can you hear me, Major Tom?”). Perhaps Major Tom should have been a part of the Verizon network. Three stars.
Track 7: “Space Truckin’,” Deep Purple, 1972. Released off their superb Machine Head album and recorded near the smoky Lake Geneva shoreline, Space Truckin’ evokes hybrid images of interplanetary travel and surreal R. Crumb “Keep On Truckin’” black-light posters. Few songs known to mankind can drop the nouns Venus, Mars, Milky Way, Borealis, moon shot, and solar system in less than sixty seconds. In addition to the fascinating space images, Purple vocalist Ian Gillan’s awesome pipes provide a superb example of rock craftsmanship. Five stars.
Track 8: “Lost In The Ozone,” Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, released 1971. This is really a country-fried drinking/love song with a lot of atmospheric and space sounding nomenclature in the title and chorus. Of course, the song’s 1971 release predated GPS, perhaps explaining the band’s misplaced sense of direction, and confirming the need for jam resistant navigation and timing signals. A fusion of western swing, country, blues, and rock, CCAHLPA is most famous for the 1972 quasi-novelty song “Hot Rod Lincoln,” which was released off the same album. Check out the fantastic 1950s space-themed art work on their 1975 studio album Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. Three and a half stars.
Track 9: “Radioactivity,” Kraftwerk, released 1976. Highest chart position #1, France. Kraftwerk is to electronic music as Isaac Newton is to physics. In this stylized e-sonnet, we learn that Madame Curie discovered radioactivity, that radioactivity is in the air, and that radioactivity is there for you and me. Well, that about covers it, doesn’t it? By the time Kraftwerk remixed the song for a 1991 re-release, the song had assumed a distinctive anti-nuclear power and anti-nuclear weapon pose, so perhaps Kraftwerk will someday run their synthesizers on solar or wind power. Three and a half radiogenic nuclides.
Track 10: “Guns In The Sky,” INXS, 1987. Musically, a reasonable piece of work; lyrically, weak, lame, and lazy. With the belief that rock and roll can really change the world, INXS has a plan to kick the darkness until it bleeds daylight. Let’s see: first, they’re going to stop the world. Next, they’ll let off the fools. Finally, they’ll let them go live with their guns in the sky! OK then, thanks for your help, guys--we’re all squared away. While many of us are familiar with the concept of soft power, INXS’s example is merely flaccid. One and a half stars.
Track 11: “New Frontier,” Donald Fagen, released 1983. Highest chart position, #34, Adult Contemporary. Displaying the slick trademark studio sound made famous with Walter Becker as the group Steely Dan, Fagan opines on his dad’s bomb shelter and post-apocalyptic life, including a Dr. Strangelove-ish reference to underground living with a woman with the right dynamics for life in the new frontier. Thankfully, the reds haven’t decided to “push the button down,” but if they do, Fagen has provisions and lots of beer. Four mushroom clouds.
Bonus Track: “Fly Me to The Moon,” Frank Sinatra, 1964. Although the song had been first recorded in 1954 and was then titled as “In Other Words,” the decade-later Sinatra cover is the only version that really comes to mind. While Frank is perhaps really crooning about love, you just can’t get away from all the talk about those heavenly bodies. In 1969, the song was played during the Apollo 11 mission. It has also been featured in a number of movies, and was the sing-over for the ending credits of the 2000 Clint Eastwood movie Space Cowboys. Four stars.
So, exactly what can we learn from these songs and what do they really mean? Well, that depends. Space itself has been inspiring man for thousands of years, and war has invoked trepidation for just as long. In effect, these songs are ideas everyone has written on. Much of the music in the Songs of Space and Nuclear War compilation calls out allegorically complimentary ideas, with inspirational love leading the way. Conversely, the thematic stimulus associated with nuclear war (where responses range from smarmy dismissal to paranoid schizophrenia) should not be waved off--after all, no one wants to catch an “Atomic Tan.”
Mark Stout is a researcher. This work first appeared in Air University’s The Wright Stuff.
While the most prevalent theme in popular music is without question love, there are, of course, a number of other common musical topics. Space and nuclear war are not among them. However, they are interesting topics indeed and certainly warrant a reasonable exploration. So without further delay, journey with me into the Songs of Space and Nuclear War.
Track 1: “Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time),” Elton John, released 1972. Highest Chart position #6, U.S. This melancholy gem, penned by the extraordinary team of Elton John and Bernie Taupin, opens the not-approved-by-Rolling-Stone compilation as the greatest space song of all time. The dreamy, stylized, receding-Doppler effect of Davey Johnstone’s slide guitar, presented as a departing rocket, matched with lyrics like “and all this science I don’t understand; it’s just my job five days a week,” is simply superior. Add the Rocket Man ringtone to your list--it earns five stars (so to speak).
Track 2: “You Dropped A Bomb On Me,” Gap Band, released 1982. Highest chart position #2, Billboard R&B. This is an ostensibly dance-focused somebody-done-somebody-wrong-song, but shows its true colors with clarion lyrics and the familiar whistle of an incoming weapon descending through the atmosphere. In the end, it’s pretty obvious the Gapper’s love lives have been destroyed beyond repair. Perhaps an effective early warning system would have been useful, eh fellas? Three stars.
Track 3: “Satellite of Love,” U2, released 1992. Using the themes of love and betrayal against the backdrop of a televised satellite launch, one-time Velvet Underground front man Lou Reed penned this space sonnet, which was first released in 1972. However, the U2 cover improves the original’s work. U2’s soaring final chorus moves the song from the realm of the ordinary to the superior. Does “Satellite’s gone way up to Mars/Soon it will be filled with parking cars” reveal Bono’s support for planetary missions or is it more analogous to “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot”? Four stars.
Track 4: “Radar Love,” Golden Earring, released 1973. Highest chart position #13, U.S. The Dutch rockers created this much covered and practically ubiquitous hit with its ongoing lyrical theme of wireless messaging. Sonically, the song is made complete with musically superior tempo changes, percussion, and soaring horns. While the title itself implies some sort of forbidden passion at the Clear Air Station, Alaska missile warning site, the title’s slight misnomer is totally forgiven. A true rock classic--five stars.
Track 5: “99 Luftballons,” Nena, released 1983. Highest chart position #2, U.S Billboard Hot 100. Every compilation has to have a throwaway (or two) and this neatly falls into that category. “Blowin’ In The Wind,” it ain’t. This Cold War-era protest effort is most comical in its English language version, which calls to mind the kind of freaky new-wave angst that can only conjured up by a bad trip on Tab cola and cough syrup. Example: “Ride super-high-tech jet fighters/Everyone's a superhero/Everyone's a Captain Kirk.” In an insult to Trekkies everywhere, this effort should have been smothered at birth, or alternatively, given to a fifth-grader for rewrite. Two and a half stars for the less-awful German language version (which gets a pass on the lyrics, whatever they are). One star for the more-awful English language version.
Track 6: “Space Oddity,” David Bowie, released 1969. Highest chart position #5, UK. What is it with these English guys? Their country doesn’t even have a manned space program! Released shortly before the Apollo 11 moon landing, Major Tom’s story offers plenty of insight into the risks associated with manned spaceflight and the challenge of a hearing impaired astronaut (“Can you hear me, Major Tom?”). Perhaps Major Tom should have been a part of the Verizon network. Three stars.
Track 7: “Space Truckin’,” Deep Purple, 1972. Released off their superb Machine Head album and recorded near the smoky Lake Geneva shoreline, Space Truckin’ evokes hybrid images of interplanetary travel and surreal R. Crumb “Keep On Truckin’” black-light posters. Few songs known to mankind can drop the nouns Venus, Mars, Milky Way, Borealis, moon shot, and solar system in less than sixty seconds. In addition to the fascinating space images, Purple vocalist Ian Gillan’s awesome pipes provide a superb example of rock craftsmanship. Five stars.
Track 8: “Lost In The Ozone,” Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, released 1971. This is really a country-fried drinking/love song with a lot of atmospheric and space sounding nomenclature in the title and chorus. Of course, the song’s 1971 release predated GPS, perhaps explaining the band’s misplaced sense of direction, and confirming the need for jam resistant navigation and timing signals. A fusion of western swing, country, blues, and rock, CCAHLPA is most famous for the 1972 quasi-novelty song “Hot Rod Lincoln,” which was released off the same album. Check out the fantastic 1950s space-themed art work on their 1975 studio album Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. Three and a half stars.
Track 9: “Radioactivity,” Kraftwerk, released 1976. Highest chart position #1, France. Kraftwerk is to electronic music as Isaac Newton is to physics. In this stylized e-sonnet, we learn that Madame Curie discovered radioactivity, that radioactivity is in the air, and that radioactivity is there for you and me. Well, that about covers it, doesn’t it? By the time Kraftwerk remixed the song for a 1991 re-release, the song had assumed a distinctive anti-nuclear power and anti-nuclear weapon pose, so perhaps Kraftwerk will someday run their synthesizers on solar or wind power. Three and a half radiogenic nuclides.
Track 10: “Guns In The Sky,” INXS, 1987. Musically, a reasonable piece of work; lyrically, weak, lame, and lazy. With the belief that rock and roll can really change the world, INXS has a plan to kick the darkness until it bleeds daylight. Let’s see: first, they’re going to stop the world. Next, they’ll let off the fools. Finally, they’ll let them go live with their guns in the sky! OK then, thanks for your help, guys--we’re all squared away. While many of us are familiar with the concept of soft power, INXS’s example is merely flaccid. One and a half stars.
Track 11: “New Frontier,” Donald Fagen, released 1983. Highest chart position, #34, Adult Contemporary. Displaying the slick trademark studio sound made famous with Walter Becker as the group Steely Dan, Fagan opines on his dad’s bomb shelter and post-apocalyptic life, including a Dr. Strangelove-ish reference to underground living with a woman with the right dynamics for life in the new frontier. Thankfully, the reds haven’t decided to “push the button down,” but if they do, Fagen has provisions and lots of beer. Four mushroom clouds.
Bonus Track: “Fly Me to The Moon,” Frank Sinatra, 1964. Although the song had been first recorded in 1954 and was then titled as “In Other Words,” the decade-later Sinatra cover is the only version that really comes to mind. While Frank is perhaps really crooning about love, you just can’t get away from all the talk about those heavenly bodies. In 1969, the song was played during the Apollo 11 mission. It has also been featured in a number of movies, and was the sing-over for the ending credits of the 2000 Clint Eastwood movie Space Cowboys. Four stars.
So, exactly what can we learn from these songs and what do they really mean? Well, that depends. Space itself has been inspiring man for thousands of years, and war has invoked trepidation for just as long. In effect, these songs are ideas everyone has written on. Much of the music in the Songs of Space and Nuclear War compilation calls out allegorically complimentary ideas, with inspirational love leading the way. Conversely, the thematic stimulus associated with nuclear war (where responses range from smarmy dismissal to paranoid schizophrenia) should not be waved off--after all, no one wants to catch an “Atomic Tan.”
Mark Stout is a researcher. This work first appeared in Air University’s The Wright Stuff.
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