The fiscal year 2014 defense authorization bill awaiting final passage in Congress would require the Defense Department to develop a strategy for multi-year procurement of commercial satellite communications (COMSATCOM) services to lower the cost of bandwidth, according to a statement from House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Republicans.
Due to the growth in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), DoD has been buying COMSATCOM bandwidth at the last minute in one-year intervals, a process known as “spot buying,” and a costly way of acquiring services. COMSATCOM operators have been clamoring for the Pentagon to develop a long-term strategy to maximize investment.
The bill, based largely on the House’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that passed in June and the Senate’s authorization bill that passed out of committee in November, authorizes $552.1 billion in spending for national defense and an additional $80.7 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), or wartime efforts. Congress hopes to get a final bill to President Barack Obama by the end of the month. The Senate and House expect to vote on final passage soon.
The bill restores Air Force flying hour programs, facilities sustainment and the stabilization of fuel rates. The NDAA also reforms DoD’s business process with commercial satellite companies ensuring that strategic competitors do not gain inadvertent access to vital systems or information, according to the statement.
The bill also ensures the Air Force maintains the capability to deploy multiple nuclear warheads on intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), which is significant because in the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), the Obama Administration indicated that, under the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), all of the U.S. Minuteman III missiles would carry only one warhead in an attempt to “stabilize” the arsenal, according to a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. The bill also authorizes the Air Force keep its ICBMs, or the land-based leg of the nuclear triad.
The bill prohibits the president from approving the installation of Russian satellite ground stations in the United States that pose a threat to U.S. national security. Defense hawks want to prevent Russia from putting precision, navigation and timing (PNT) ground terminals in the United States. It also requires the defense secretary to determine if the Air-Sea Battle Office duplicates efforts more efficiently carried out by the Joint Staff. The bill also includes the Procurement Technical Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, which authorizes funding for industrial base initiatives.
The bill text requires DoD to study responsive, low-cost launch efforts in response to a dramatic increase in demand and dependence on space capabilities. The study, due a year after the enactment of the bill, also requires the Pentagon to provide a consolidated plan for development within DoD of an operationally responsive, low-cost launch capability.