Today, the President released the FY 2011 defense budget proposal, 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, and the FY 2010 war funding supplemental request.  This certainly sets off a flurry of activity through offices of defense industry, and within the walls of the Pentagon and the halls of Congress.

The defense budget proposes $708 billion for next year, which includes $549 billion in discretionary authority for the Defense Department and $159 billion to support our warfighters engaged in overseas contingency operations, mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Item of interest to the EW community including include funding for 12 EA-18G Growlers; support for establishment of Cyber Command; and funding for procurement of 42 JSF aircraft and the continued development and production of three variants of the aircraft.  However, the budget terminates the EP(X) Navy Intelligence Aircraft and Third Generation IR Surveillance (3GIRS) due to “poor performance.”

Arguably a better test than the annual budget proposal to gauge whether or not the Pentagon is on the right long-term path as it pertains to EW is the QDR.  Initial reports suggest that EW may play a prominent role in the Pentagon’s future defense strategy.  In the Washington Post today, Walter Pincus writes that the QDR supports studies to identify “defensive and offensive advances in the electronic warfare field to protect U.S. weapons systems and disable those of enemies, in space, air or on land. The QDR says that ‘to counter the spread of advanced surveillance, air defense and strike systems, the department has directed increased investment in selected capabilities for electronic attack.’"

Furthermore, the QDR recognizes “the need to expand our electronic warfare capabilities and enhance intelligence and information operations capabilities. These key capabilities, as well as new technologies being explored, support flexible and effective forces for today's fight and contribute to our readiness for operations across the full range of military operations (p. 101).”  This is certainly positive sentiment, but the first budgetary impact of the QDR will not be until FY 2012.  Therefore, we have to work our way through a laborious annual budget process for FY 2011 to make sure that we are in a position next year to take advantage of this momentum.

Finally, the President submitted a supplemental request of $33 billion to support the added costs of the President's new strategy in Afghanistan and strengthen U.S. force levels with approximately 30,000 additional troops.

In the coming days, the AOC will provide additional information on each of the three submissions.  It is also important to note that the House Armed Services Committee will welcome Secretary Gates to testify on Wednesday, February 3, at 10 AM.  The QDR panel then testifies on Thursday, February 4.  In the meantime, I welcome AOC member and supporter comments on positives and negatives of each of these important documents.  You can leave a comment by clicking the "comment" link below.