[This piece was originally published under the title “CNO Ready To Cut Back On F-35 Joint Strike Fighter,” which was factually incorrect; see our note below.] Chief of Naval Operations Jonathan Greenert’s recent article in Proceedings announces in public what many have already known in private: The U.S. Navy is not wholly committed to the…
By Mackenzie EaglenROC-X – The solution to organic precision strike capabilities
At AUSA Global Force 2024, IAI presented integrated, AI-driven combat systems – both manned and unmanned – that are opening new opportunities on the battlefield.
WASHINGTON: A letter formally committing Japan to buy the first four of 42 F-35s is expected to land in the hands of Lockheed Martin and U.S. government officials today or tomorrow. We heard this from two very well informed sources. While Japan has formally announced its intention to buy — and then warned the U.S.…
By Colin ClarkThis year’s Farnborough Airshow is bookmarked by the Euro crisis, and the fates of the Chinese and American economies. On the defense side, there is the end of a land war era for the U.S. and significant uncertainty about how global events will change how countries seek to arm and defend themselves in the years…
By Robbin LairdPENTAGON: The world’s top buyer of military equipment won’t be there, but the Pentagon is sending a senior acquisition official from the Office of Secretary of Defense to the Farnborough Air Show in July. Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics won’t be there. And the head of the F-35 program, the…
By Colin ClarkBy Rep. Todd Akin Why would the most expensive defense acquisition program in American history not be required to follow the rules? The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the future fighter for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. The program has been repeatedly reorganized due to growing costs and schedule delays. This year the…
By Colin ClarkVIRGINIA BEACH, VA: The Pentagon should brace for another $250 billion or more in cuts even if sequestration does not occur and must revolutionize how and what it buys, warned Hoss Cartwright, former vice-chairman of the Joint Staff, in a speech that savaged sacred cows from the Joint Strike Fighter to cybersecurity to the AirSea…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
Modernizing our supply chain is a national security imperative
Closing supply chain gaps in innovating technology will reposition the industrial base to be a strategic source of value.
Sequestration: it’s a term only Washington could love. Behind the bland euphemism lie dramatic cuts to the U.S. military, shipbuilding and aerospace manufacturing jobs, and in communities across America. Washington politicians insist a half trillion in defense cuts — and the attendant degradation to our national security — is a reasoned belt tightening. In reality,…
By Mackenzie EaglenWe offer a rare discussion of the Japanese effort to develop a next-generation fighter aircraft. Ryo Hinata-Yamaguchi, a Reservist in the Japanese Self Defense Force and doctoral candidate at the Australian Defense Force Academy, and his co-author Eddie Walsh discuss the hard slog Japan faces as it develops, builds and then tries to sell its…
By Eddie WalshHARTFORD, CT: Aircraft engine maker Pratt & Whitney proudly predicts it will double its revenues this decade from $12 billion in 2010 to $24 billion in 2020 — but the company admits it will have to get through some lean years first. On both the commercial and military sides, key Pratt & Whitney programs are…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.WASHINGTON: Anyone who’s attended a hearing on the F-35 since Bob Gates first put the plane in his sights, with costs spinning upwards and schedule bulging outwards, knows that the Pentagon senior leadership is pushing hard to contain costs of the largest conventional acquisition program in U.S. history. That push may have led to a…
By Colin ClarkF-35 performs weapons tests – pit drops. Data "looks good.” John Fahnestock, top weapons engineer said in NAVAIR story. colinclarkaol
By Colin ClarkPENTAGON: Lockheed Martin scrambled today to explain the latest increases in the Joint Strike Fighter’s costs, arguing that the three versions of the aircraft “will be comparable to or lower than that of the seven” older airplanes it will replace. Overall, the F-35 will cost an appreciably impressive $1.5 trillion over the 55 years it…
By Colin ClarkCORRECTED JSF OVERRUN TO $1.5B. WE ADDED A ZERO… CAPITOL HILL: The budget cuts known as sequestration would “break” the KC-46 and Littoral Combat Ship contracts, forcing the Pentagon to renegotiate those deals, the presumptive head of DoD acquisition told the Senate Armed Services Committee today. The statement, by Frank Kendall, currently acting undersecretary of…
By Colin Clark
Raytheon Makes Case For Marine C2 System
In mid-June, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta took a seat in front of the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee and warned of the dangers of large, across-the-board reductions in national military spending. Panetta called such cuts “a disaster” that would severely compromise American security. The Secretary is right. Even in times of severe fiscal challenges, the government…
By Ed Hanlon