Oshkosh Hits 10,000 JLTVs

Oshkosh Hits 10,000 JLTVs
Oshkosh Hits 10,000 JLTVs

Building 10,000 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles in five years – at less than the original projected price – improves Oshkosh’s odds to win a re-competition for the program next year.

Defiant-X: Sikorsky, Boeing Unveil FLRAA Design

Defiant-X: Sikorsky, Boeing Unveil FLRAA Design
Defiant-X: Sikorsky, Boeing Unveil FLRAA Design

The companies’ proposed Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) to replace the UH-60 is a sleeker, stealthier version of the prototype SB>1 Defiant now in flight tests. Can it beat Bell’s tiltrotor?

Testing Concerns Won’t Delay Tactical Network Upgrades: Army

Testing Concerns Won’t Delay Tactical Network Upgrades: Army
Testing Concerns Won’t Delay Tactical Network Upgrades: Army

The Pentagon’s top tester, DOT&E, had urged the Army to take more time. But Army leaders said today they’ve got plenty of field tests scheduled with real soldiers.

Facing Cuts, Army Chief Touts Pacific Role

Facing Cuts, Army Chief Touts Pacific Role
Facing Cuts, Army Chief Touts Pacific Role

Upcoming Pacific Defender wargames will held showcase Army’s investments in long-range missiles, missile defense, logistics, and information warfare, said Gen. James McConville, the Army Chief of Staff.

Space Force Awards NSTXL Space Consortium Contract

Space Force Awards NSTXL Space Consortium Contract
Space Force Awards NSTXL Space Consortium Contract

The Space & Missile Systems Center has reaffirmed its choice of NSTXL to manage the public-private Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC), rejecting allegations by The Washington Post.

AI Can Save Taxpayers Money: JAIC Chief

AI Can Save Taxpayers Money: JAIC Chief
AI Can Save Taxpayers Money: JAIC Chief

Applying AI to everything from predictive maintenance to financial management can save the military billions, the director of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center told us – if the Pentagon can reform its cumbersome bureaucracy to exploit rapid advances in technology.

CNO: Shipbuilding Mistakes Could Mean ‘We May Not Be Able To Recover In This Century’

CNO: Shipbuilding Mistakes Could Mean ‘We May Not Be Able To Recover In This Century’
CNO: Shipbuilding Mistakes Could Mean ‘We May Not Be Able To Recover In This Century’

“I don’t mean to be dramatic,” said Navy CNO Adm. Mike Gilday, “but I feel like if the Navy loses its head, if we go off course and we take our eyes off those things we need to focus on, I think we may not be able to recover in this century.”

DoD Drone Strategy Focuses On Low-End Threats – Not Nation-States

DoD Drone Strategy Focuses On Low-End Threats – Not Nation-States
DoD Drone Strategy Focuses On Low-End Threats – Not Nation-States

In April, the Yuma, Ariz. test range will host a competition of “low collateral damage” countermeasures designed to stop mini-drones without firing a shot. But can such a restrained approach stop the drone swarms Russia and others are developing?

Uncle Sam Needs AI, ASAP: DoD Artificial Intelligence Chief

Uncle Sam Needs AI, ASAP: DoD Artificial Intelligence Chief
Uncle Sam Needs AI, ASAP: DoD Artificial Intelligence Chief

“To make AI our military’s future, it must become our military’s present,” says Lt. Gen. Michael Groen, director of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, in this exclusive op-ed for Breaking Defense.

Army Tries (Again) To Protect Stryker: Rafael or Rheinmetall?

Army Tries (Again) To Protect Stryker: Rafael or Rheinmetall?
Army Tries (Again) To Protect Stryker: Rafael or Rheinmetall?

Miniaturized missile defenses work well on heavy tanks, but efforts to fit such Active Protection Systems on light vehicles like Stryker have failed – so far. Now the Army will test two lightweight options: Rafael’s Trophy VPS and Rheinmetall’s ADS.

Did The Space Force Just Ruin OTAs For Everyone?

Did The Space Force Just Ruin OTAs For Everyone?
Did The Space Force Just Ruin OTAs For Everyone?

Other Transaction Authority awards have soared 712 percent since 2015, helping jumpstart R&D, including on COVID vaccines. But now the Space Force’s OTAs have been derailed by a court case against contractor NSTXL – and the whole OTA system is under fire.

Iron Dome Heads For Key US Integration Test

Iron Dome Heads For Key US Integration Test
Iron Dome Heads For Key US Integration Test

With the second battery now bound for the US, the Israeli-made missile defense system must prove it works with American command networks. “We have a very detailed plan to do the integration,” Rafael’s Pini Yungman told me.

Don’t Cut The Army In 2021

Don’t Cut The Army In 2021
Don’t Cut The Army In 2021

The post-COVID budget crunch – and the need to grow seapower and airpower for a Pacific contest with China – make it all too tempting to cut the Army. But that would be a grave mistake, warns retired three-star general Tom Spoehr.

2021: Will Army Modernization Survive?

2021: Will Army Modernization Survive?
2021: Will Army Modernization Survive?

With shrinking budgets and a growing need for new technologies, “the Army will need to make a compelling case to Congress to fund new capabilities and truncate legacy programs,” said CSBA’s Tom Mahnken.