Colin Clark
Indo-Pacific Bureau Chief
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. [email protected]Stories by Colin Clark
UPDATED Washington: A new problem — described in a Pentagon email as “not a serious issue” — has been found with the wings of the Air Force and Marine versions of the F-35. The problem is with the wing’s forward root rib and was discovered in standard durability tests. The ribs — which provide the…
By Colin Clark
Washington: While the Army may worry that its Ground Combat Vehicles may cost too much and get killed, you won’t hear any such concerns from one of Capitol Hill’s top defense lawmakers, Sen. Car Levin. In an interview clearly intended to signal to his colleagues what’s what before they return here next week, Levin said…
By Colin Clark
Washington: They spend most of their time analyzing maps for buried bombs in Afghanistan and Iraq or looking at what turned out to Osama bin Laden’s last residence, but intelligence analysts sometimes help out on the home front as well. As Hurricane Irene sends the East Coast scrambling to find shelter, clear out its drains…
By Colin Clark
Washington: Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, where the F-35 is assembled, wrote presumptive Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter today, expressing “disappointment” with Carter’s “apparent lack of commitment to the success” of the largest “defense acquisition program in our nation’s history.” Cornyn is clearly part of a greatly stepped up lobbying effort by Lockheed Martin to…
By Colin Clark
Washington: The old saying, ‘if it doesn’t make dollars, it doesn’t make sense’ has become more or less the mantra among attendees at this year’s Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International trade show. Affordability and cost savings have been the buzz words among the companies at this year’s show, for everyone from the top-tier defense…
By Colin Clark
The nation’s first Secretary of Homeland Security said Congress has “failed” America’s first responders by not acting on legislation that would dedicate wireless communications spectrum to a nationwide, interoperable, public safety network and said it is unlikely anything will pass before the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. “It’s wrong. It’s really wrong for them…
By Colin Clark
Washington: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has moved to gag communications between the Pentagon and Congress on the highly sensitive issue of the congressional Super Committee. In an Aug. 18 memo to all senior officials, Panetta ordered them to “coordinate any contact with the ‘Super Committee’ through his assistant secretary for legislative affairs, Elizabeth King. We…
By Colin Clark
Washington: The top defense and budget leaders in the House of Representatives want the director of the Office of Management and Budget and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to tell them more about the administration’s top-level defense review and clarification about just what will happen if the Super Congress can’t cut $1.2 trillion from the budget.…
By Colin Clark
Washington: The Pentagon email traffic is burning up with whispers that the White House has told the Pentagon to plan for an additional $100 billion in cuts for 2013. The planning guidance was reportedly issued to insure that the Pentagon would be ready should the Super Congress fail to implement $1.2 trillion in cuts and…
By Colin Clark
Washington: The program manager for the Navy’s Fire Scout rotary wing unmanned air system and the admiral responsible for UAVs rejected much of a highly critical review of the drone by the Pentagon’s top operational tester. The director of the Defense Operational Test and Evaluation office said all of the drone’s flights during training took…
By Colin Clark
Washington: A relatively small unmanned aircraft struck a C-130 cargo plane over Afghanistan, injuring no one but raising questions anew about whether drones can fly safely in American airspace. For more news and information on the swiftly-changing defense industry, please sign up for the Breaking Defense newsletter. You can also catch us on Twitter @BreakingDefense.…
By Colin Clark
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…
By Colin Clark
Washington: The military-industrial complex has long been a subject of myth and supposition but it is soon going to become much more substantial. The powerful Aerospace Industries Association is joining with the top defense companies to blunt the push for major defense cuts. My colleague Jim Wolf, of Reuters, broke the story about what several…
By Colin Clark
Patuxent River NAS: With all the cost overruns, schedule delays and political wrangling over the F-35 program, Boeing has been trying to pitch the F-18 Super Hornet to countries that be growing weary of all this turmoil. For more news and information on the swiftly-changing defense industry, please sign up for the Breaking Defense newsletter.…
By Colin Clark
UPDATED Washington: A new problem — described in a Pentagon email as “not a serious issue” — has been found with the wings of the Air Force and Marine versions of the F-35. The problem is with the wing’s forward root rib and was discovered in standard durability tests. The ribs — which provide the…
By Colin ClarkWashington: While the Army may worry that its Ground Combat Vehicles may cost too much and get killed, you won’t hear any such concerns from one of Capitol Hill’s top defense lawmakers, Sen. Car Levin. In an interview clearly intended to signal to his colleagues what’s what before they return here next week, Levin said…
By Colin ClarkWashington: They spend most of their time analyzing maps for buried bombs in Afghanistan and Iraq or looking at what turned out to Osama bin Laden’s last residence, but intelligence analysts sometimes help out on the home front as well. As Hurricane Irene sends the East Coast scrambling to find shelter, clear out its drains…
By Colin ClarkWashington: Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, where the F-35 is assembled, wrote presumptive Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter today, expressing “disappointment” with Carter’s “apparent lack of commitment to the success” of the largest “defense acquisition program in our nation’s history.” Cornyn is clearly part of a greatly stepped up lobbying effort by Lockheed Martin to…
By Colin ClarkWashington: The old saying, ‘if it doesn’t make dollars, it doesn’t make sense’ has become more or less the mantra among attendees at this year’s Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International trade show. Affordability and cost savings have been the buzz words among the companies at this year’s show, for everyone from the top-tier defense…
By Colin ClarkThe nation’s first Secretary of Homeland Security said Congress has “failed” America’s first responders by not acting on legislation that would dedicate wireless communications spectrum to a nationwide, interoperable, public safety network and said it is unlikely anything will pass before the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. “It’s wrong. It’s really wrong for them…
By Colin ClarkWashington: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has moved to gag communications between the Pentagon and Congress on the highly sensitive issue of the congressional Super Committee. In an Aug. 18 memo to all senior officials, Panetta ordered them to “coordinate any contact with the ‘Super Committee’ through his assistant secretary for legislative affairs, Elizabeth King. We…
By Colin ClarkWashington: The top defense and budget leaders in the House of Representatives want the director of the Office of Management and Budget and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to tell them more about the administration’s top-level defense review and clarification about just what will happen if the Super Congress can’t cut $1.2 trillion from the budget.…
By Colin ClarkWashington: The Pentagon email traffic is burning up with whispers that the White House has told the Pentagon to plan for an additional $100 billion in cuts for 2013. The planning guidance was reportedly issued to insure that the Pentagon would be ready should the Super Congress fail to implement $1.2 trillion in cuts and…
By Colin ClarkWashington: The program manager for the Navy’s Fire Scout rotary wing unmanned air system and the admiral responsible for UAVs rejected much of a highly critical review of the drone by the Pentagon’s top operational tester. The director of the Defense Operational Test and Evaluation office said all of the drone’s flights during training took…
By Colin ClarkWashington: A relatively small unmanned aircraft struck a C-130 cargo plane over Afghanistan, injuring no one but raising questions anew about whether drones can fly safely in American airspace. For more news and information on the swiftly-changing defense industry, please sign up for the Breaking Defense newsletter. You can also catch us on Twitter @BreakingDefense.…
By Colin ClarkUPDATED 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…
By Colin ClarkWashington: The military-industrial complex has long been a subject of myth and supposition but it is soon going to become much more substantial. The powerful Aerospace Industries Association is joining with the top defense companies to blunt the push for major defense cuts. My colleague Jim Wolf, of Reuters, broke the story about what several…
By Colin ClarkPatuxent River NAS: With all the cost overruns, schedule delays and political wrangling over the F-35 program, Boeing has been trying to pitch the F-18 Super Hornet to countries that be growing weary of all this turmoil. For more news and information on the swiftly-changing defense industry, please sign up for the Breaking Defense newsletter.…
By Colin Clark
