NS&D Monitor
10/31/2014
ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT
The Russian Navy this week successfully test-launched a newly developed unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile, according to Associated Press reports. The Yuri Dolguruky SSBN test-fired the Bulava missile under the surface of the Barents Sea, and warheads hit a predetermined target range in the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia. Russia has touted the missile as an important part of the country’s nuclear deterrent, the article states, and Russia has conducted a series of successful launches of its Bulava after dismal performance throughout a decade of testing. The Russian Navy now has three SSBNs to carry the Bulava.
IN THE AIR FORCE
Pending Wyoming legislation could turn a former F.E. Warren AFB Missile Alert Facility into a historic site and tourist attraction, according to an Oct. 27 AP report. The state’s Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources interim committee voted on Oct. 21 to sponsor a bill that would permit the Air Force to donate the facility to the state. The bill also proposes one-time funding of $175,000 for exhibits, landscaping, equipment, parking and other needs, and proposes annual appropriations of $51,000 for operation, maintenance, and salaries of three seasonal employees. The facility was built in 1962, and includes a bunker where missileers lived and worked. The facility was deactivated in 2005, and is now boarded up, the article states.
IN THE NAVY
Naval Sea Systems Command this week awarded an $83.8 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification to Electric Boat to manufacture 17 missile tubes to carry Trident 2’s in the Ohio replacement. Electric Boat will derive 30 percent of contract funds from the U.S. Navy and 70 percent from the U.K. under the foreign military sales program. Work is expected to be completed by July 2017. Foreign military sales and fiscal 2015 research, development, test and evaluation funds totaling $60.1 million were obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of fiscal 2015.
IN THE NGOs
Deputy Secretary of State William Burns has been named the new President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, effective Feb. 4, , the organization announced this week. Burns will replace Jessica Tuchman Mathews, who will have served for 18 years as Carnegie President. Burns, who has served as deputy secretary of state since 2011, holds the title of career ambassador, the highest in the U.S. Foreign Service. Spanning 33 years, his diplomatic career has included serving as under secretary for political affairs from 2008-2011, U.S. ambassador to Russia from 2005-2008, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs from 2001-2005 and ambassador to Jordan from 1998-2001.
