Air Force will not be executive agency for drones

After an intense turf battle within the Pentagon, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England on Thursday ruled out the creation of an executive agency for all medium-and high-altitude drones.

Instead, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Staff would take a greater role in overseeing requirements and developments of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) across all military services, according to sources familiar with the issue.

{mosads}England’s decision comes on the heels of an aggressive campaign by the Air Force to become the executive agency for all UAVs flying at 3,500 feet and above.
 
This spring the Air Force took its fight to become the executive agency for all medium- and high-altitude unmanned aircraft to Capitol Hill, prompting the other military services to mount campaigns to defend their territory.

The Air Force has aggressively made the case both at the Pentagon and on the Hill that it is organized, trained and equipped to be the executive agent and that therefore the change represents a cost-effective option.

The Air Force’s proposal promised savings of $1.7 billion, prompting skepticism from the other services, which say the Air Force has had cost overruns on its own drone programs.

Critics of the Air Force’s plan also said that a working arrangement is in place, in the form of the Joint Unmanned Center of Excellence and the Joint Unmanned Material Review Board. England’s decision would leave those previous arrangements in place.

After a previous attempt was rejected in 2005, the Air Force renewed its campaign this spring. In July, the Pentagon’s Joint Oversight Requirements Council endorsed the establishment of an executive agency for medium- and high-altitude unmanned aircraft systems under the Secretary of the Air Force.

The endorsement prompted outcry from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Special Operations Command, whose leaders asked for the matter to be discussed under the auspices of the so-called Deputy Advisory Working Group, so that acquisition representatives could formally review the proposal. That group led by England met on Thursday.