Air Force chief: Test weapons on testy U.S. mobs
POSTED: 7:56 p.m. EDT, September 12, 2006
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before being used on the battlefield, the Air Force secretary said Tuesday.
The object is basically public relations. Domestic use would make it easier to avoid questions from others about possible safety considerations, said Secretary Michael Wynne.
"If we're not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation," said Wynne. "(Because) if I hit somebody with a nonlethal weapon and they claim that it injured them in a way that was not intended, I think that I would be vilified in the world press."
The Air Force has paid for research into nonlethal weapons, but he said the service is unlikely to spend more money on development until injury problems are reviewed by medical experts and resolved.
Nonlethal weapons generally can weaken people if they are hit with the beam. Some of the weapons can emit short, intense energy pulses that also can be effective in disabling some electronic devices.
On another subject, Wynne said he expects to choose a new contractor for the next generation aerial refueling tankers by next summer. He said a draft request for bids will be put out next month, and there are two qualified bidders: the Boeing Co. and a team of Northrop Grumman Corp. and European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., the majority owner of European jet maker Airbus SAS.
The contract is expected to be worth at least $20 billion (€15.75 billion).
Chicago, Illinois-based Boeing lost the tanker deal in 2004 amid revelations that it had hired a top Air Force acquisitions official who had given the company preferential treatment.
Wynne also said the Air Force, which is already chopping 40,000 active duty, civilian and reserves jobs, is now struggling to find new ways to slash about $1.8 billion (€1.4 billion) from its budget to cover costs from the latest round of base closings.
He said he can't cut more people, and it would not be wise to take funding from military programs that are needed to protect the country. But he said he also incurs resistance when he tries to save money on operations and maintenance by retiring aging aircraft.
"We're finding out that those are, unfortunately, prized possessions of some congressional districts," said Wynne, adding that the Air Force will have to "take some appetite suppressant pills." He said he has asked employees to look for efficiencies in their offices.
The base closings initially were expected to create savings by reducing Air Force infrastructure by 24 percent.
― Grey, Ian (IanBrooklyn), Saturday, 16 September 2006 01:15 (nineteen years ago)
Other things on the day:
Secretary Wynne said it is the role of main process owners to ensure that base level work is included in the more macro level work being conducted at Headquarters Air Force level.
"Now we are talking about organizing the strategic part of the Air Force," he said. "And some of you are working in processes where you can clearly see what your line folks have been working on. Our job is really to bring these into alignment."
AFSO 21 is designed to fully embed continuous process improvement into the Air Force way of doing business. By using civilian industry methods such as Lean techniques, Six Sigma and theory of constraints methods, Air Force leaders believe they can save billions of dollars and allow the service to more efficiently deliver air, space and cyberspace power.
Forget death rays, he'll just bore people to death.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 16 September 2006 02:30 (nineteen years ago)
Interestingly, actual funding for microwave weapons makes it appear the military isn't particularly interested in them anymore.
If you look at the small business contracts awarded by the arms of the military for development of these things, the dollars appear to have become harder and harder to come by. Contracts that were awared in the mid-90s appear to have produced nothing. Contracts awarded as recently as three years ago look fruitless at this point, too.
Some of it's crazy stuff -- which I may stick on the blog -- but my gut impression is that the military would rather spend its money elsewhere than on microwavers these days.
― Urnst Kouch (Urnst Kouch), Monday, 18 September 2006 22:14 (nineteen years ago)