Aaron Mehta is editor in chief of Breaking Defense. He previously served as deputy editor and senior Pentagon correspondent for Defense News, as well as a staff writer for the non-profit Center for Public Integrity. Over his career, Mehta has interviewed dozens of defense leaders from around the globe, covering the intersection of policy, industry and technology at the highest national security levels.
Mehta has a particular interest in nuclear issues, foreign weapon sales and NATO issues. Originally from outside Boston, Mass., he now lives in the Washington, D.C. area.
amehta@breakingmedia.com
Wes Kremer, the head of the newly reorganized Raytheon company under RTX, tells Breaking Defense that the company eliminated 60 to 70 percent of situations where there was overlap among business units with its new structure.
“They were very interested in our plane in the past, but to be honest with you, we are not in touch with them anymore,” Bosco da Costa Junior told Breaking Defense during the Paris Airshow. “I don’t have any kind of open conversation with them.”
In a high-profile public spat with little precedence between the airframe and engine giants, Pratt & Whitney executives are formally accusing Lockheed Martin of prioritizing its own bottom line by seeking an adaptive engine solution for the Joint Strike Fighter.
Rising demand for US weapons is “the new normal,” a State official said, but cases involving human rights issues are getting more deliberation following new guidelines from the White House.
Because “the F35 JPO does not have an independent record of the global spares pool, and the values of the lost spare parts are not the fully burdened cost, the $85 million of identified losses by [the subcontractor] may not accurately represent the full quantity and value of lost spare parts,” the GAO found.
Kahl was the third member of Biden’s Pentagon team to be confirmed, and represents the first major figure to leave the department during the administration.
Giving the long-range missile to Ukraine “will help them to hit the command-and-control nodes, the logistics, where you have a sort of coalescence of Russian soldiers,” Rear Admiral Tim Woods told Breaking Defense.
Getting nations to develop interchangeable weapons is “about leadership. And it’s also about having a narrative that for me, in many ways, these are low-hanging fruits that will empower the West to fight better together,” Maj. Gen. Karl Engelbrektson tells Breaking Defense.
“These announcements move from extended deterrence to a new level of nuclear power sharing. South Korea [now] has a serious voice in nuclear planning,” regional expert Patrick Cronin told Breaking Defense.
“We need to provide the resources and I think this committee on both sides of the aisle wants to make sure our nation is safe, and provide the resources to do that,” Sen. Jon Tester said Tuesday.
