defense news. a nonprofit that's helping military kids after school, part of our ongoing military appreciation month series. first a look at the new plan to better integrate the u.s. air force and guard and reserve components. historically they have operated nearly seamlessly but that changed a year ago when the air force unveil add plan to reshape the force and cut billion in this spending, including cutting hundreds of positions. lawmakers rallied to defend their state units and freeze the air force plan for months. in the end the service backed down with 3300 active airmen to be cut with only 500 reservists. they created the total force task force, led by three major generals from each of the components. joining us now are the generals

involved, john poisoner and mark barkman, and brian meanen. welcome to the program. >> thank you. >> many have said that the relations among the three really hit rock bottom after that announcement was made. general, you're an ohio guardsman and were involved at the time. how bad was it? >> i don't think there's a way that you can say it was bad or worse or compare it to anything in the past. this is a part of the process that we do in the united states air force and in the federal government. that is to try to get better, try to make things, the right decisions to be able to do what's right for america. that's part of the reason why the task force was brought together. that's why you have three major generals sitting here before you, so we can sit down and talk about these issues and

work them out. >> what do you think the lessons were from your guys? >> it's historically, history has shown that airmen from three components operate seamlessly. they do that today and they will do it tomorrow. our challenge is to make recommendations about the future so that legacy continues. >> the three of you are working on a report to be submitted to the secretary and chief this summer. >> our charter is to provide strategic options. those should help with decision making on how to balance the capabilities. that really is the fundamental purpose. >> do you think you can share details o. plan or is it too early? >> we can talk about the work we have done to this point.

we are still in a deliberative process. we don't really have a good story to tell you now about the end stages, still thinking about that. it's a very deliberate process, a very transparent process. one of the lessons we learned was to reach out and get a fullnd complete understanding of stake holder interests. we are making deliberate efforts to do that and it will provide us with great input. >> congress in this go around appears the active duty force is paying a higher price than the reserve is paying. there was a move in service that the air force wanted to retire. how do we deal with the political aspect of this to end up at the right places?

it should be done fairly at the end of the day rather than a political thing. >> that's one of the things we are doing as a task force, to bring together as many of those as we can. we have two advocates men, what we call the matric staff, extended staff. there are other members we bring together and we brief on a recurring basis. the director of air national guard, chief air force reserve. we of course worse for lieutenant molar and headquarters staff. we work on a daily basis to try and bring those stake holders in. >> so a large part of this, they said, we decided some of these other companies should be sacrificed because we are

coming off decade of war and put a lot of stress on the reserve component, and everybody worked and had input. is that really the biggest lesson to make the political salesmanship and hand holding to get everyone to go along with it? >> i think the lesson there is the lesson we have seen over time. air power serves men and women from around the world in every service. wasn't of the great things habit the three-component air force is unique aspects to those components. we'll make recommendations about how to best leverage the force of citizen airmen so that we can continue to meet their expectations that are expected of us. >> and you have all spoken about the importance of the pieces. they have evolved for a reason.

nobody started out with a plan to build it this way. did you need to rethink more broadly how the enterprise is assembled? do we need more flexible construct over time that incorporates the other elements but not in the separate guises? >> yeah. the basic foundational components are fundamental and have proven their value over decades. we have not received any guidance. i think we are comfortable in saying that the output will accommodate a three-component air force. >> and some of this would require folks to mismantle things. that's the slightly reformist thinking i have and wonder if there's a better way to skin

that cat. let's look to the fundamental reforms and we have seen a bit of evolution happening. for example, some guard units are trading in more traditional transport and fighter roles they have played to gain more unmanned missions. do we expect more swapping of capabilities among the three as we keep going through these rounds? >> first thing to remember is both the air force and national guard are components of the united states air force. i would say in a perfect world, the country would want the missions in the air force reserve and air national guard to mirror it closely to ones in the active duty air force. there's a lot of synergy we can get out of that arrangement.

>> sure. and that force represents a great value in many ways, skill sets that men and women have on active date, the nation harvests that investment and taillight. together, they serve side by side to leverage those unique skills. >> i think it's the essence of our deliberations. we understand and appreciate the components and attributes and strengths. part of our work is to try and find out what those are and leverage those. >> there is a big review that's ongoing. how is that affecting what you guys are doing? >> we are present for those meetings. we are able to be aware and inform as to what the meetings are and what the considerations are. as that continues to evolve, we are able to be aware and if any

of the developments affect our work, we'll address those as we need to. >> thank you for coming on, gentlemen. coming up, the first aircraft jet was hurled out last week and we were there. it was 0-36 hundred o'clock, and i was trapped. no way out. my usual transport was nowhere to be found. i knew, then and there, that i needed wheels asap. thats alpha, sierra, alpha...pickle.

ahem! sis here's in the military, so i can join navy federal too. he's getting a great rate - so now he can drive himself to laser tag. it's a real sport. no, its not. 4 million members. 4 million stories. navy federal credit union. the navy launched an unmanned combat air system, the x 47b demonstrator from the deck o. uss george h.w. bush, the result of a seven- year $1.5 billion effort to

demonstrate the feasibility of unmanned aircraft. chris, you were there. welcome back. how big of an achievement was it? >> it was a major event for naval aviation. there was not a big crowd on the ship but the crowd was almost a half dozen admirals, seniors from congress, people on hand to witness this. the navy likened it to the first time and airplane took off from a naval ship. >> how different was it? >> what was unique, it's the first time they lunched an unmanned jet from any aircraft

carrier. it was a catapult launch, a jet, and almost exactly like a normal catapult launch on an aircraft carrier. they launch various types of aircraft. this is a small, light aircraft. it's about the size of an f-18 superhornet. they went through almost the same procedures. there's a controller with a power unit and toggle switch. somebody has to move it around the deck. they will toggle the aircraft. this is not simple. carrier decks are crowded places. there's not a lot of room like at an airport. so they will drive it up on the

catapult, attach the bridle to it as per normal. at some point they shift control from the aircraft to the flight control center. the green would mean you have control on the deck. then they switch to the tower and it goes blue. the launch captain does the same with the manned aircraft, salute the aircraft. you always salute the pilot but somebody in the tower acknowledges this by plashing the nav lights. they gave us a sequence of this happening and it went faster. >> let's talk about what the navy is doing here. they were a pioneer with the

battleship and scouting they used drones for throughout history. tell us about the future because it seems to be pretty excited here. >> they are moving forward on a number of fronts, high, low, not so fast. this aircraft, the system here, this is a concept demonstrator to prove that it can be done. this will begin next year. they are also doing a large aircraft called triton, which is the navy's version of the one the air force has been using for some time. it's long range, an unmanned u2 in the sky. the navy developed its own under the broad area and the

official name is triton. that's about to make its first flight, almost any day now. eventually that would be a major development in the navy's worldwide maritime surveillance plan. >> and the fire scout program, two versions of it. >> it's very slow, it's little helicopter. started off as a small helicopter designed as an unmanned aircraft. there's about two dozen of those that have been out there. that's an unmanned aircraft all the way. they have used those in afghanistan. it's not fully operational yet but it's in limited operation.

there's a bigger plane developed from boeing and it's a whole other level. they are doing that now. >> we have about a minute left. for these particularly aircraft, they are doing carrier landing trials this sumner. >> right. >> and i want to ask how much of this has to do with naval aviation and its unmanned future and how much is it about unmanned battles? >> it's about all of that. the navy put on a show this past week, inviting all the networks to come out. everybody ran into of it. it was a good diversion. the navy is trying to revalidate itself as a viable

force, as something worth investing in as a time when you're questioning every investment. and they want the american people to know what they are doing. up next, an amazings volunteer group that helps keep military kids only sports fields after school.

may is military appreciation month and we are focusing each week on charities that make a difference in the military community. our military kids provides spot to military families with children to help pay for afterschool, athletic and tutoring program. it was created in 2004 by linda davidson. linda, welcome to the program. >> thank you for having me. >> what are the services you provide? >> i started this nine years ago to recognize that the children oftentimes fall through the gaps in terms of support services, and felt it was necessary to help thank them in that way. >> what are some of the services you provide and where do you provide them? >> we have a grant program. it's a simple program. we provide up to $500 to cover fees for sports programs, fine

arts and tutoring programs to help children cope with the separation from a military parent. they are available to children of the deployed national guard and reserve, and children of the wounded warriors from all branches of the military. >> one of the program's success stories was gabby douglas. tell us how she's involved. >> her father was deployed air national guard. during that time she had the opportunity to go to the gymnastics camp in texas. she was involved with that and she had this opportunity. her mother heard about our military kids because the $500 fee was more than they could afford at that time. she heard about the program, applied for a grant for gabby.

and she indicated she was very excited when she heard the $500 would be made available for her to cover to fee. obviously gabby got the opportunity to go and was there therefore identified as an olympic possibility. >> that's great. does she continue to be involved with the program? >> she and her mother are very grateful tosh organization.we had an event in april where we recognized some mull tear children and gabby attended our event. >> how many children have you helped? >> over 42,000, provided nearly $17 million in grants. >> that's spectacular. how do they apply? >> go to our website. there's a one-page application they can download and provide

documentation, specifically to show the child is a dependent of the service member and they are either deployed or recovering from injury. they identify the activity the child is interested in. we cater to all their unique activity and we send the check directly to the service provider to cover those fees. >> and you demand on donations. how do people donate? >> we are very grateful to corporations and individuals what time we really need are donations and people interested in donating. check out our website to get the donate button and checks are always welcome. >> thank you for joining us. best of luck. >> thank you. coming up, my notebook.

most people think of the cia using unmanned aircraft, but the navy is poised for an unmanned revolution. last week for the first time it catapulted an unmanned jet from an aircraft carrier, part of

the seven-year $1.5 billion program to prove the unmanned planes could operate from carriers. both test planes will be retired and a new program born to field within six years and unmanned long range strike plane. the naval version of the long range unmanned spy plane the triton will soon make its maiden flight. the unmanned helicopter is in limited service, allowing leaders to better deploy a smaller force. but fielding the plane that can operate globally and giving carriers the long-range strike capability. they must remain a top priority. thank you for joining us for this week in defense news. you can watch this online at

defensenewstv.com. i'll be back next week at the same time. until then, have a great week. i didn't quite know thiwhat to expect.our. i'd seen the images on tv, but until you're in the thick of it... anyway the guys in my unit who'd been here before, told me just ride it out, keep my head down and remember the reason i'm here. and we're paying for it all with my cashrewards card from navy federal. we're earning cash back! bring it. brought it. brung. 4 million members. 4 million stories. navy federal credit union.

. i'm steve usdin. welcome to "biocentury this

week." as europe continues to slog through pleick check times, the front pages are dominated by arguments over austerity. it may be news to some that the european commission is set to boost its budget for research and innovation by nearly 60% over the next 7 years. the ec now is proposing to spend $80 billion from 2014-2020. the horizon 2020 plan would boost biomedical research spending nearly 40% to $8.5 billion euros or $11 billion. that does not come close to matching nx ih. the european investment is not limited to basic science. the goal is to build an innovation ekey system involving academics and government players and industry. it now aims to affect