US clears $1.6B in missile sales for UK, Lithuania, Finland

US clears $1.6B in missile sales for UK, Lithuania, Finland
US clears $1.6B in missile sales for UK, Lithuania, Finland

The largest package announced today involves the UK buying 3,000 AGM-179A Joint Air-to-Ground missiles for an estimated $957.4 million.

Army, Lockheed ink potential $4.5B deal for JAGM, Hellfire missiles

Army, Lockheed ink potential $4.5B deal for JAGM, Hellfire missiles
Army, Lockheed ink potential $4.5B deal for JAGM, Hellfire missiles

The first installment is worth some $439 million, with an option for more over coming years.

Navy Buys Lots More Fighters; Ships Up Slightly But 355 Not In Sight

Navy Buys Lots More Fighters; Ships Up Slightly But 355 Not In Sight
Navy Buys Lots More Fighters; Ships Up Slightly But 355 Not In Sight

PENTAGON: The U.S. Navy’s budget is growing by over $12 billion in 2019, and more ships are on their way – but not enough to get to the hoped-for 355-ship fleet any time before the 2050s. In unveiling its $194.1 billion budget for the 2019 fiscal year on Monday, Navy officials highlighted the increase in…

Bell’s V-280 Tiltrotor Is Part F-35

Bell’s V-280 Tiltrotor Is Part F-35
Bell’s V-280 Tiltrotor Is Part F-35

AUSA: Bell Helicopter’s exhibit at this week’s Association of the United States Army convention includes a full-scale mockup of the V-280 Valor, the new tiltrotor the company is building. From the outside, it sure looks like a close cousin of the V-22 Osprey. Under the skin, the V-280 seems a lot more like a prop-driven F-35. The…

JAGM Whacks Truck In First Drone Test

JAGM Whacks Truck In First Drone Test
JAGM Whacks Truck In First Drone Test

WASHINGTON: The US military successfully targeted and destroyed a moving truck from a drone using the missile designed to replace the venerable Hellfire. The Joint Air To Ground Missile (JAGM) was fired May 25 at a truck traveling at 20 mph from a Grey Eagle drone at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. The truck was hit and destroyed. Col. James…

Shyu On GCV, Upgrades, Sequestration; US ‘Overmatch’ At Stake

Shyu On GCV, Upgrades, Sequestration; US ‘Overmatch’ At Stake
Shyu On GCV, Upgrades, Sequestration; US ‘Overmatch’ At Stake

AUSA: The Honorable Shyu, as everyone in the military calls the head of Army acquisition, is often bright, humorous and insightful. Today, she got passionate in public, clearly frustrated at the painful limits that the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration have forced her to adopt. American military power has traditionally rested on technological overmatch. We…

Eye On Fewer Drone Civilian Deaths, MBDA Challenges Lockheed, Raytheon With Brimstone Missile

Eye On Fewer Drone Civilian Deaths, MBDA Challenges Lockheed, Raytheon With Brimstone Missile
Eye On Fewer Drone Civilian Deaths, MBDA Challenges Lockheed, Raytheon With Brimstone Missile

AUSA: As concern increases that too many innocents are killed in drone strikes, a European missile company is telling Congress it has a highly accurate missile called the Brimstone 2 that can do the job with fewer casualties and minimal collateral damage. “What we have found as a company is that this missile does not…

Navy Wins Big As Senate Approps Adds $4.2B To Keep Nine Ships, Add Destroyer, Fund Attack Sub

CAPITOL HILL: Those nine warships the Navy planned to retire in the face of the budget crunch? Fuggedaboutit. They’re back in, if the Senate Appropriations Committee has anything to say about it. The Army wants to keep working on tanks? Cool. We got their back. Helicopters flew the guys who killed Osama bin Laden and…

Rare New Program Start, JAGM, Rises From Acquisition Cemetery

WASHINGTON: One of the few entirely new major Pentagon weapon systems appears to be rising from the dead, with the $5 billion Joint Air To Ground Missile living on roughly $300 million of money already appropriated and securing supportive language in the House Armed Services Committee’s first draft of the defense policy bill. “The rumors…

Lockheed, Raytheon Boast JAGM Missile Test Successes

UPDATED Washington: The Raytheon-Boeing team building took another significant step ahead of Lockheed Martin in the $5 billion Joint Air To Ground Missile competition, successfully testing its rocket motor for helicopter flight. Raytheon officials said the fifth and sixth rocket engines were subjected to temperatures as low as -65 Fahrenheit and successfully fired after being…