Protecting the Franchise

摘要

Following an impressive string of suc cesses during the competitive phase of the U.S. government's satellite fleet recapitalization effort, Lockheed Mar tin Space Systems finds itself in the position of unofficial guardian of the so-called pro grams ofrecord. Many of these programs, including the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) for missile warning and the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) secure communications satellites, represent non-negotiable national security capabilities and thus are relatively safe even in an era of declining federal budgets. But even AEHF and SBIRS are not necessarily immune from the across-the-board budget cuts known as the sequester, whose bite out of U.S. Defense Department spending this year is about 8 percent Cuts of that magnitude could force production delays on some programs barring a con-gressionally approved reprogramming of funds.