Colin Clark, the founding editor of Breaking Defense, is now our Indo-Pacific Bureau Chief, based in Sydney, Australia. In addition to his foundational efforts at Breaking Defense, Colin also started DoDBuzz.com, the world’s first all-online defense news website. He’s covered Congress, intelligence and regulatory affairs for Space News; founded and edited the Washington Aerospace Briefing, a newsletter for the space industry; covered national security issues for Congressional Quarterly; and was editor of Defense News. Colin is an avid fisherman, grill genius and wine drinker, all of which are only part of the reason he relishes the opportunity to live in Australia.
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 […]
WASHINGTON: When the Presidential Daily Briefing occurs, a top intelligence official traditionally hands the president a folder with a sheaf of paper inside. The president may read what’s inside or have it presented by the intelligence official. Then comes question time, when the chief executive and commander in chief can ask how reliable a source […]
As threats rapidly evolve, digital engineering, manufacturing capacity and robust supply chains are critical to meeting challenges.
WASHINGTON: Someone had to lose in the battle for survival in the commercial spy satellite business. Yesterday’s announcement that DigitalGlobe and GeoEye would “combine” left it clear that DigitalGlobe had won. After all the new company will be called DigitalGlobe and the CEO and chairman will be from that company, with GeoEye’s CEO playing an […]
LONDON: The newspaper with arguably the best connections in the UK security world reports that a Parliamentary committee calls for cyber attacks on those who attack British interests. Here’s what the Daily Telegraph’s Tuesday morning front page headline says: “Destroy our cyber enemies, say MPs.” Here’s what the story says: Security and intelligence agencies should […]
FARNBOROUGH AIR SHOW: This is it. We are wrapping up our coverage of the 2012 show. The grey and wet skies that blanketed the show for most of the week stand as a metaphor for the defense business. One industry observer, with more than 20 years of air shows under his belt, told me this […]
FARNBOROUGH AIR SHOW: The sun shone — sometimes. Well, once in a while. But regardless of the weather here crowds turned out to watch the planes, especially the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Its sleek composite frame complemented the subtle bend of the wings as the plane took off and banked. The 787’s pilot was praised by […]
The Sixth Domain is not defined by geography. It’s a new kind of conflict in which autonomy and networked systems allow thousand-dollar consumer electronics to destroy multi-million-dollar conventional weapons systems.
FARNBOROUGH AIR SHOW: You can tell the U.S. defense budget is shrinking when one of the more interesting stories during an international air show centers on a plane, the F-16, first delivered in 1979. But BAE Systems’ press conference focused on just that, providing upgrades to the worldwide fleet of some 2,500 airplanes in what […]
FARNBOROUGH AIR SHOW: Raytheon, of all the American defense contractors, has made the biggest commitment to air shows in the last three years in hopes of boosting the company’s foreign market share to 30 percent from the current quarter of company business. Every American defense company, watching the debate over sequestration and the long-term prospects […]
FARNBOROUGH AIR SHOW: Headline: Dutch Parliament votes to kill Joint Strike Fighter. Reality: Dutch parliamentarians cast meaningless vote as they position for elections in six months. That sort of sums up much of what we’ve heard about the F-35 here. There are a few headlines but very little that’s really newsworthy. Of course, you can […]
FARNBOROUGH AIR SHOW: Lockheed Martin, joining Boeing, Raytheon and other prime contractors in pursuing foreign sales in the face of drooping domestic spending, has announced it plans to increase them to 20 percent over the next “several years.” Incoming President Marillyn Hewson told reporters at a dinner hosted in the wonderfully named In and Out, […]
Government can’t stop to update systems, so modernization has to happen without interruptions.
FARNBOROUGH AIR SHOW: One of the topics dear to the hearts of Beltway bandits, defense lobbyists and — let’s be honest — reporters, is always who will run things after the November elections. Few people wise in the ways of Washington I know are willing to predict what will happen when the people vote. But […]
FARNBOROUGH AIR SHOW: Aviation Warrior is a tiny $5 million contract with enormous potential, given the legions of American and allied helicopters around the world. Raytheon unveiled the system this morning here. Essentially, it’s an advanced heads-up display on the pilot’s helmet — with colored maps and symbology to help pilots cope with dangers such […]
FARNBOROUGH AIR SHOW: A new study by the consulting company PwC’s aerospace and defense division concludes that U.S. and European primes must look abroad for the mainstay of their profits. As PwC’s Scott Thompson says in this exclusive interview, industry leaders also beleive controlling costs and improving their own management will be key to surviving […]
WASHINGTON: Just when United Technologies’s Pratt & Whitney subsidiary seemed to have put the troubles with its F135 engine for the Joint Strike fighter behind it, there comes news that the company violated the so-called Tianamen sanctions and illegally sold engine control software to China for use in an attack helicopter. Perhaps worse than the […]