Navy Rethinks 355-Ship Fleet: CNO Richardson

Navy Rethinks 355-Ship Fleet: CNO Richardson
Navy Rethinks 355-Ship Fleet: CNO Richardson

The Navy may back off its much-publicized call for a 355-ship fleet and look at new options like unmanned vessels, the Chief of Naval Operations said.

Air Force Presses Lockheed On F-35 Readiness: Lt. Gen. Bunch

Air Force Presses Lockheed On F-35 Readiness: Lt. Gen. Bunch
Air Force Presses Lockheed On F-35 Readiness: Lt. Gen. Bunch

The Pentagon’s independent tester reports that F-35 readiness is stuck at 60 percent, while the A model’s gun is unacceptably inaccurate.

SB>1 Revs Up In Ground Test: Expert Expects First Flight ‘In Weeks’

SB>1 Revs Up In Ground Test: Expert Expects First Flight ‘In Weeks’
SB>1 Revs Up In Ground Test: Expert Expects First Flight ‘In Weeks’

“Now that they’ve completed the initial ground run, the team can finish its work to clear the aircraft for first flight,” said Mike Hirschberg, executive director of the Vertical Flight Society. “Assuming the Defiant team doesn’t find anything noteworthy from its ground testing, it should be up in the air in the next few weeks.”

Trump Scraps Cold War Nuclear Treaty, US Moving To Build New Missiles

Trump Scraps Cold War Nuclear Treaty, US Moving To Build New Missiles
Trump Scraps Cold War Nuclear Treaty, US Moving To Build New Missiles

“For far too long, Russia has violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with impunity,” a statement from the White House said. Moscow has refused to admit that it has for years been “covertly developing and fielding a prohibited missile system that poses a direct threat to our allies and troops abroad.”

Navy Inks Huge Ford Carrier Deal; Pentagon Flags Problems

Navy Inks Huge Ford Carrier Deal; Pentagon Flags Problems
Navy Inks Huge Ford Carrier Deal; Pentagon Flags Problems

WASHINGTON: The Navy signed a massive, $15.2 billion contract with Huntington Ingalls Industries-Newport News Shipbuilding this evening for two more Ford-class aircraft carriers, hours after a Pentagon report listed a litany of problems with the ambitious program. The contract pays for completion of in 2028 of the USS Enterprise, which began in 2017. It also…

Army Completes Biggest Reorg In 45 Years: Can Futures Command End Weapons Disasters?

Army Completes Biggest Reorg In 45 Years: Can Futures Command End Weapons Disasters?
Army Completes Biggest Reorg In 45 Years: Can Futures Command End Weapons Disasters?

“Ultimately that is what this is all about, why I get up every morning, that’s why AFC exists: to make sure, not today’s soldier, but our kids and our grandkids have the core concepts, the organizational structures, and the capabilities they need to fight and win on a future battlefield,” Gen. Murray said, “or even better yet not to fight at all, because there is nobody in the world in the future that would ever take on the United States in ground combat, because we have done our job so well.”

Common Cyber Standards Will Steamroller Hold-Outs: DoD Officials

Common Cyber Standards Will Steamroller Hold-Outs: DoD Officials
Common Cyber Standards Will Steamroller Hold-Outs: DoD Officials

This year promises to be a year of big changes in how the Defense Department does Cyber — and leaders are warning staffers that it’s not going to be business as usual.

More Missile Defense Ships, New Ground Deployments

More Missile Defense Ships, New Ground Deployments
More Missile Defense Ships, New Ground Deployments

Despite the Navy’s misgivings over having dozens of its ships sailing in boxes hunting for missiles, plans remain in place for more Aegis-capable hulls, as well as new radars, and mobile missile defense batteries.

The Navy Has Had Enough of Missile Defense And Sees Its Chance

The Navy Has Had Enough of Missile Defense And Sees Its Chance
The Navy Has Had Enough of Missile Defense And Sees Its Chance

WASHINGTON: The Navy is looking to get out of the missile defense business, the service’s top admiral said today, and the Pentagon’s new missile defense review might give the service the off-ramp it has been looking for to stop sailing in circles waiting for ground-based missile launches. This wasn’t the first time Adm. John Richardson…

Army Secretary Says Talent Reform Is Top Priority For 2020

Army Secretary Says Talent Reform Is Top Priority For 2020
Army Secretary Says Talent Reform Is Top Priority For 2020

Three major lines of effort will converge circa 2024, when a new breed of troops will man new kinds of combat units equipped with new technologies: talent & training, concepts & units, and money & modernization.

Shutdown Snarls DoD’s 2020 Budget; When Will Congress See It?

Shutdown Snarls DoD’s 2020 Budget; When Will Congress See It?
Shutdown Snarls DoD’s 2020 Budget; When Will Congress See It?

UPDATED: Trump Announces Government Reopens For 3 Weeks WASHINGTON: The Pentagon won’t be able to release its fiscal year 2020 budget on Feb. 4 as previously planned because it has been caught up in the melee caused down by the 35-day government shutdown. The budget release could be delayed at least one month. The missed…

Bell V-280 Flies 322 MPH: Army Secretary Praises Program

Bell V-280 Flies 322 MPH: Army Secretary Praises Program
Bell V-280 Flies 322 MPH: Army Secretary Praises Program

“Our new approach is really to prototype as much as we can to help us identify requirements, so our reach doesn’t exceed our grasp,” Secretary Esper said. “A good example is Future Vertical Lift: The prototyping has been exceptional.”

US Sees Little Chance To Save INF Treaty Days Before Deadline

US Sees Little Chance To Save INF Treaty Days Before Deadline
US Sees Little Chance To Save INF Treaty Days Before Deadline

Just back from a unsuccessful round of discussions with her Russian counterparts in Geneva to discuss the Cold war-era accord, Undersecretary of State Andrea Thompson told reporters today she’s not hopeful of saving the INF Treaty before Feb. 2, when time runs out on the 60 days the Trump administration have given Moscow to acknowledge it had violated the treaty.

Navy Builds Hypersonic Test Ground in California

Navy Builds Hypersonic Test Ground in California
Navy Builds Hypersonic Test Ground in California

  PENTAGON The Navy is refitting its decades-old China Lake weapons testing and research site in the Mojave Desert to begin hosting hypersonic weapons testing from a variety of platforms, including undersea launchers. A notice posted on a government contracting Website Tuesday night offered the first concrete evidence that the Pentagon is moving ahead on…