Give 'em the VIP Treatment

In Defense Industry Daily's [DID] post on the recent Navy modification to a Dyncorp contract for VIP aircraft maintenance, DID notes concerns about the lack of a defensive systems on C-12 and UC-35 aircraft.  The C-12 and UC-35 are used to ferry generals and other VIPs around war zones, yet are vulnerable to enemy missiles. 

DID's inquiry to the Naval Air Systems Command as to whether vulnerabilities are being addressed went unanswered.  In what is unfortunately a common, short-sighted response to whistleblowers that POGO sees across the government, the two Army pilots who have raised these concerns were punished and threatened with court martial.  As Eugene Fidell, attorney for Chief Warrant Officer William Lovitt, one of the whistleblowers, said, "These are planes that fly around generals, they fly around VIPs." "[Lovitt] and the other people involved should not be facing a court-martial; they should be getting decorations for this."