Panetta Orders Extra Safety Measures for F-22s: To help ensure the well-being of F-22 pilots in flight, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has instructed the Air Force to institute some additional safety measures, announced Pentagon officials May 15. First, Panetta directed the Air Force to expedite the installation of an automatic backup oxygen system in all F-22s. This means wrapping up this system's testing in November and beginning installations in December, Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. John Kirby told reporters during a briefing. Starting in January, retrofits are scheduled to occur at a rate of 10 aircraft per month, he said. Second, Panetta ordered that, effective immediately, "all F-22 flights will remain within the proximity of potential landing locations to enable quick recovery and landing should the pilot encounter unanticipated physiological conditions during flight," said Panetta's spokesman George Little at the briefing. Other fighter types will now perform the long-duration aerospace control flights in Alaska in place of F-22s, noted Little. However, defense officials believe that the F-22s currently deployed to Southwest Asia "can safely continue that deployment given the geography of the region," he said. Third, Panetta wants the Air Force to brief him monthly on the progress it is making to determine the root cause of why some F-22 pilots have experienced hypoxia-like systems such as disorientation and dizziness in the cockpit. Little said Panetta "supports the measures taken so far by the Air Force" to address this issue, but he wanted the additional steps since "the safety of our pilots remains his first and foremost concern." (Little-Kirby transcript)

Conaton, Kendall, Miller Nominations Move Forward: The Senate Armed Services Committee on May 15 approved the nominations of Erin Conaton to oversee Pentagon personnel and readiness issues, Frank Kendall to be the Defense Department's weapons czar, and James Miller to manage defense policy, reported Reuters (via the Chicago Tribune). The full Senate must still vote on these nominations. Conaton, tapped for the new post in January, has been the Air Force's undersecretary since March 2010. Kendall currently serves as the acting weapons czar, while Miller has been the principal deputy in the Pentagon's policy shop since 2009. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), SASC ranking member, had previously vowed to hold up these nominations until the Defense Department complied with provisions in the Fiscal 2012 Defense Authorization Act, such as delivering a study by outside analysts on the proposed realignment of US military forces from Okinawa to Guam.

European Missile Defense Shield Ready: The first phase of the European Phased Adaptive Approach missile defense system is ready for initial operations, although the official announcement will not come until next week's NATO summit in Chicago, said US officials in a Pentagon news release May 15. "We will announce the interim operational capability of that system, which will begin to protect our European partners from the threat of ballistic missiles," said Adm. James Stavridis, NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe and US European Command boss. EPAA phase one—the first of four phases of increasing sophistication planned by 2020—combines US Aegis ships operating in the Mediterranean that are equipped with anti-missile interceptors and radar, a ground-based radar in Kurecik, Turkey, and NATO's command and control element at Ramstein AB, Germany. "Those three elements come together to provide us with an initial operational capability to provide some level of defense of Europe against a threat emanating from the Middle East," said Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, EUCOM's deputy director for plans, policy, and strategy. (AFPS report by Donna Miles) (See also Those Crazy Ruskies.)

Lawmakers Want Strategic Plan for RPA Training at Home: House Armed Services Committee members want the Pentagon to develop a strategic plan for the training of remotely piloted aircraft operators in the national airspace. "If [RPA] pilots and sensor operators are to maintain proficiency and mission readiness at their home stations, the Department of Defense will need to address the current constraints on training in the national airspace," reads the report accompanying H.R. 4310, the House's version of the Fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill. While forthcoming Federal Aviation Administration safety standards will enable the Pentagon to access the national airspace for routine training by 2016, DOD "needs to have a strategic plan in place to absorb [RPA] into bases, airspace, and training programs in the continental United States, as the inventory grows and some assets return from [Afghanistan]," states the report. The committee directed DOD to provide a report on this plan to the congressional defense and intelligence committees within 180 days of the defense authorization bill becoming law. The committee approved H.R. 4310 on May 10. (HASC report; caution, large-sized file.)