Defense Communities 360 Headlines

The Senate continued its second day of debate on the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill, slogging its way through dozens of amendments with a final vote expected by week’s end. Senate leaders are aiming to finish their work on the measure, S. 3254, as early as Friday. Votes covered a variety of issues, including the custody of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, veterans benefits, wartime contracting, military health care and the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan …

The Air Force will test a new concentrated solar power technology at Edwards AFB, Calif., under a $2.3 million contract awarded to Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) for a 200-kilowatt solar system. Durham, N.C.-based Semprius will provide PWR 2,400 modules using its high concentration photovoltaic technology. The company’s proprietary technology relies on pinhead-sized solar cells and is significantly more efficient than other photovoltaic systems. If the project proves cost effective, the technology likely would be deployed at other installations, reported Hydrogen Fuel News.

A strategic planning exercise intended to determine how defense experts would revise the Pentagon’s current spending priorities if about $500 billion were cut from its budget over 10 years found that most participants would reduce current readiness programs in order to preserve the military’s capabilities over the long term. The participants — which came from DOD, Congress, industry and think tanks — were asked to adapt DOD’s strategy over a 10-year period while implementing cuts of the magnitude required by sequestration, but with the added flexibility of targeting cuts deliberately …

The Obama administration is considering former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel for a top national security post, most likely secretary of state or defense, Foreign Policy magazine’s The Cable reported Wednesday. Obama befriended Hagel, a moderate Republican, when they traveled overseas together as senators. Four years ago the Obama transition team offered him several top posts, but he turned all of them down …

As long as the Office of Management and Budget does not direct agencies to start planning for sequestration, the Pentagon will be hard pressed to turn in a fiscal 2014 budget on time in February if across-the-board spending cuts ultimately are triggered on Jan. 2. To date, DOD still is not planning for the prospect of identifying $52 billion to trim from FY 2013 spending. As a result, budget officials have built the department’s FY 2014 spending proposal based on an FY 2013 baseline without the sequester coming into play …

The Senate on Wednesday began debating a slew of amendments to the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill after overcoming a hold placed on the measure by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Paul had insisted on securing a vote on his amendment guaranteeing a jury trial for Americans detained in terrorism cases, but relented Tuesday when he agreed to settle for a vote on a similar amendment offered by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). The chamber began debating that amendment Wednesday night …

The city of Salina, Kan., and the federal government asked a federal judge this week for an extension to reach a financial settlement over leftover soil and groundwater contamination at the former Schilling Air Force Base. Salina — along with Kansas State University and the local airport authority and school district — filed a lawsuit in 2010 to force the government to expedite cleanup at the base closed in the 1960s, reported KSAL. Contamination includes two plumes containing the industrial solvent TCE. After closing, Schilling was turned over to the city and became the Salina airport.

The economic impact of across-the-board cuts scheduled to go into effect in January is potentially huge for defense communities, according to an ADC analysis of studies and articles published on the topic. The analysis looks at reports from think tanks representing views from across the political spectrum, news articles and remarks from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, including excerpts from his address to the ADC Annual Conference last August in Monterey …

An amendment the Senate may consider when it takes up the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill would limit DOD’s use of the LEED certification system for rating the sustainability of new building construction. The amendment, filed by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), comes in response to complaints from domestic wood producers that the most popular green building ratings system favors foreign products such as bamboo …

Officials from DOD, the Navy and E.ON Climate & Renewables North America reached agreement this week to allow the developer to construct up to 100 wind turbines at a site located about halfway between Naval Air Stations Kingsville and Corpus Christi in South Texas. The agreement, which calls for Chicago-based ECRNA to provide DOD $750,000 in funding for research and testing into solutions to mitigate potential impacts of the wind farm on military radar, is intended to preserve the two installations’ pilot training missions …