Department Of Defense U S

The Pentagon said Thursday that it intends to spend $400 million to develop a giant dirigible that will float 65,000 feet above the Earth for 10 years, providing unblinking and intricate radar surveillance of the vehicles, planes and even people below. "It is absolutely revolutionary," Werner J.A. Dahm, chief scientist for the Air Force, said of the proposed unmanned airship -- describing it as a cross between a satellite and a spy plane. The 450-foot-long craft would give the U.S.

The Pentagon spent more than $100 million in the last six months responding to and repairing damage from cyber attacks and other computer network problems, military leaders said Tuesday. Air Force Gen. Kevin P. Chilton, who heads U.S. Strategic Command, said the military was only beginning to track the costs, which are triggered by daily attacks against networks at the Pentagon and military bases around the country.

Far from the prestigious windowed offices on the outer ring of the Pentagon, a new war room focusing entirely on the conflicts in Afghanistan and Pakistan sits deep inside a cavernous basement. Created by Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pakistan Afghanistan Coordination Cell is intended to bring together the Pentagon's top strategy and intelligence experts. The cell is also a visible symbol of how much the related conflicts have become Mullen's war.

Taking note of the debate over the Iraq war in the presidential race, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Pentagon officials in a town hall meeting Thursday that the military must be prepared to change policy and carry out the wishes of the next president. But at a news conference afterward, Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen cautioned against policies that include a rapid withdrawal from Iraq, saying leaving too quickly would undermine recent security gains.

In a stunning upset that could reshape the nation's aerospace industry, Northrop Grumman Corp. and European partner Airbus were tapped Friday for a $40-billion Pentagon contract to build 179 aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force. Century City-based Northrop upset rival Boeing Co. in a surprising win that analysts said could alter the companies' fortunes and erode the Pentagon's long-standing policy of buying weapons systems made by U.S. companies.

Escalating the fight over the biggest defense contract in years, Boeing Co. said Monday that it intended to challenge the Pentagon's decision to place an aircraft order potentially worth $40 billion with the consortium of Northrop Grumman Corp. and European aircraft maker Airbus. Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company, plans to file a formal protest today challenging what is likely to be the nation's last big new defense contract for at least a decade.

In echoing the Pentagon's latest accusations of Iranian meddling, the Iraqi government has placed itself firmly where it has long said it does not want to be: caught in the middle between Washington and its neighbor to the east. Baghdad says it agrees with the United States that Iran has continued to supply weapons to anti-government militants in southern Iraq, including arms with markings indicating they were produced this year.

The Pentagon has rejected or deferred millions of dollars in military aid requests from Pakistan amid criticism that the Islamabad government has squandered U.S. funding and allowed Al Qaeda to rebuild a haven in its western tribal regions. In February, the Defense Department turned down or delayed more than $81 million requested by Pakistan, according to a report issued Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates says he is working to prepare the Pentagon for the first wartime presidential transition since Vietnam and has asked civilian officials to be prepared to stay on at the request of the next president. Gates, who has served in seven presidential administrations, said transitions had become slower over 25 years, with more and more senior civilian positions remaining vacant for long periods.

Colorado health officials ordered the Defense Department to speed up its destruction of mustard gas at a chemical weapons depot, saying the military had ignored requests to do so. Health department spokeswoman Jeannine Natterman said Wednesday's order affecting the Pueblo Chemical Weapons Depot was mandatory. About 2,600 tons of the gas are stored at the site.