For Army officials word could not have come at a worse time that yet another highly critical Government Accountability Office (GAO) report is questioning the viability of the Service's centerpiece initiative. According to Inside Defense, a GAO report to be released next week raises new questions about the maturity of key technologies underpinning the Army's snake bit, multi-billion dollar Future Combat Systems (FCS) program.  Specifically, the report is said to state that it is unlikely that the Army can field the system for the $159 billion (yes, billion) that the Service estimates, and it notes that despite already spending a majority (60%) of the planned RDT&E budget, the program still has massive technical hurdles to clear.  With a Fiscal Year 2010 defense budget request on its way to Capitol Hill next month and with Obama Administration officials warning that it won't be a business-as-usual request, the Boeing-led FCS program would appear to be in significant peril.  Already a target for cancellation, deep cuts or (at best) yet another massive restructuring, Pentagon sources tell DSJ that the GAO Report could be the death knell for this long-suffering program.  If/when the program goes down in the months ahead, FCS will have be caught in the Obama Administration's budget crosshairs not only because of its past troubles, and not only because its cancellation will free up billions in a very austere defense budget environment, but primarily because FCS does not come close to scratching the itch of Secretary Gates for "good enough" systems that can be fielded today.  Here’s betting that fireworks are ahead as we see if a program with work in 41 states and 220 Congressional Districts can REALLY be cancelled.

The latest Obama transition rumor is that Arati Prabhakar will be President Obama's nominee to head the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).  Currently a General Partner with U.S. Venture Partners, she served as Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the Clinton Administration from 1993-1997.  According to those who have worked with her in the past at DARPA, where she was a program manager and then director of the Microelectronics Technology Office, Dr. Prabhakar would be likely to shift DARPA toward more basic, enabling technologies as opposed to system concepts.   As she supported R&D in company and university labs in semiconductor manufacturing, imaging, optoelectronics and nanoelectronics she may also look to re-engage DARPA in dual-use program activities.