Procurement: December 25, 2000

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The Pentagon wants to "harmonize" the upcoming requirements for new reconnaissance platforms for the military with those of the intelligence agencies. The two groups have had systems with overlapping capabilities for decades, and if they can find some platforms (or even sub-elements of systems) which both can use, it will be less expensive to acquire them jointly. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency recently got a $37 million pot of money to develop new small-scale recon planes (only a few inches long) and all of the services are scrambling to get a piece of it.--Stephen V Cole