In case we didn't get the message on Wednesday when Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told us from Maxwell AFB's Air University that the Pentagon "doesn't need billion dollar ships to chase down a bunch of teenage pirates" or "niche, silver bullet solutions" such as the F-22, he took essentially the same "keeping it real" soundings to Carlisle, Pennsylvania on Thursday.  Speaking before the Army War College, Dr. Gates once again drove home his key thesis: that with the nation at war, defense investment must and will focus on here-and-now (so-called 80% fixes) rather than perfect (99%), riskier solutions.  This abiding concern over immediate needs is what led Gates, he says, to his decisions (announced on April 6th) to, among other things, buy AEHF satellites while cancelling the trouble-plagued TSAT, to buy more DDG-51s while terminating the shaky DDG-1000, and to kill the still-fledgling Airborne Laser while increasing funding for the increasingly proven THAAD missile defense system.  Such a low-risk investment strategy is not driven by budget austerity, the Secretary maintains, but rather by the urgency of the warfight now upon us and a more realistic look at the most probable future threats.  Speaking of the warfight and the need for attention to the "now", Dr. Gates expressed again on Thursday his disdain for the failure of the Services to absorb and incorporate the lesons of Iraq and Afghanistan into their current developments (why no IED-resistant "V" hulls in the now-scuttled FCS vehicle fleet, why the delay in getting UAVs to the warfighter, he asks?) and for single-Service development programs to address missions that are intrinsically joint (such as the Air Force's star-crossed Combat Search and Rescue Helicopter).   A marinized (marinated?) reiteration of the Secretary's message is on tap for Friday from the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and then we will hear from the Congress.  Here's guessing that they will take a different view.

It wasn't the cancellation of the CSAR-X helicopter or the DD-1000 destroyer programs.  Nor was it the termination of the Army's FCS ground vehicles or the Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser.  It certainly wasn't the overdue end-of-the-line announcement for the C-17 or F-22 aircraft.  The biggest surprise that came from Secretary Gates last week was that news of his big plans -- developed by dozens of military and civilian officials over the past ten weeks -- had not leaked from the Pentagon.  Indeed, veteran observers of E-Ring developments uniformly tell DSJ that they have never witnessed such tight discipline over the outcome of internal deliberations.  Not only were exceedingly well-wired trade and mainstream reporters left guessing over the critical programmatic decisions, but high-ranking industry officials, including very recently-retired Flag and General Officers, were unable to penetrate the cone of silence that Dr. Gates enforced via strict nondisclosure vows from his staff.  "No one had a clue, and that's probably the way it should be" one Lockheed Martin official told DSJ.  While you can argue with the decisions taken -- and a combative Congress will return next week -- you've gotta be impressed with the INFOSEC.  Let's see if they can maintain it through longer and broader QDR deliberations.

Sources tell DSJ that despite recent UK Ministry of Defense threats to withdrawal its long-standing order for 25 of the troubled A400M cargo aircraft, senior MoD officials and even Prime Minister Gordon Brown have little or no intention of carrying out the threat.  Firstly, with Mr. Brown pressing exceedingly hard on his European colleagues relative to a range of commitments and colloborative engagements at the recent G-20 meeting, DSJ is told that withdrawing British support from the program would be both untimely and unseemly.  Second, such a decision would have an immediate and severe impact on program-related employment within the UK, a development unacceptable in the current economic client.  While the UK will ante up for the still-to-be-flown A400M whenever EADS can see to deliver it, DSJ is told that addressing U.K. RAF lift requirements won't wait, and Whitehall continues to seriously examine options for additional Boeing C-17 acquisitions.

Pushing back on the notion of F-22 Raptor termination was a large part of the reason that got Air Force Secretary Mike Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Mosely cashiered last year by Secretary of Defense Gates.  The new hires have obviously seen the light.  Monday saw Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz salute smartly Dr. Gates' decision to cap F-22 Raptor production at 187 units rather than the 243 (or even 381) aircraft very recently supported by Service leadership.  In an unusual editorial published today in the Washington Post, Mr. Donley and Gen. Schwartz signaled unequivocally to industry and to the Congress that, while the fight waged by industry and Congressional supporters -- and overtly and covertly by the Air Force itself -- to sustain Raptor production was a worthy one, it is now time to move past the F-22 and to focus on F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) production.  While the men devote some ink to discussing the risk associated with the decision and the fleet size itself, the reason, stated flatly, is that in the current environment, funding for tactical air is a "zero-sum" game and what is provided for one system will be taken from another.   While Congress will, as always have the final say on the matter -- and with F-22 contractors hailing from some 44 states -- there will no doubt be a fight -- the Air Force's top civilian and military leaders have now fallen in line with Secretary Gates, and the stakes are clear.