Pricetag is Staggering for New Weather Satellites Say Senate Appropriators
In its report on the FY2011 defense appropriations bill (S. 3800, S. Rept. 111-295), the Senate Appropriations Committee calculates the cost of cancelling the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) and restructuring it so that DOD and NOAA once again have separate systems at more than $20 billion, what it calls a “staggering” cost.
The total includes $5 billion already spent on NPOESS, and an estimated $15.4 billion for the replacement NOAA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) and DOD Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS): $9.4 billion for JPSS and $6 billion for DWSS. Funding for DWSS is included in this bill. Funding for JPSS is in the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill (S. 3636, S. Rept. 111-229). The committee also expressed reservations about the cost of the restructured program in its report accompanying that bill.
Calling it “premature” for DOD to set up a program office for DWSS, the committee said there “must be a more cost-effective way for DOD to utilize NOAA’s significant investment.” The committee zeroed DOD’s $325.5 million request for NPOESS and included $50 million for DWSS specifically and only for development of unique sensors DOD needs.
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