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.
WASHINGTON: The House Armed Services Committee is certainly no friend to today’s Russia as ruled by Vladimir Putin, but even they now support the Pentagon’s plans to use 18 Russian-made RD-180 rocket engines. The HASC approved by voice vote an amendment by Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado to the National Defense Authorization Act that would […]
WASHINGTON: Ash Carter made many reporters’ day this morning when he pithily put the case for the Pentagon to continue buying Russian RD-180 rocket engines until the United States has two tested and reliable launch providers capable of replacing the highly reliable and relatively cheap Atlas V built and operated by the United Launch Alliance. “We […]
Knowing when to build on commercial systems and when to develop something new can be the difference between parity and information dominance.
CORRECTS: State of Sen. Angus King To Maine. CAPITOL HILL: Sen. John McCain does not want the Pentagon to put together a so-called bulk buy of F-35s, decrying the program’s repeated failures over the last 15 years. McCain, citing his status as taxpayer watchdog, said during today’s Senate Armed Service Committee’s hearing on the F-35 that […]
WASHINGTON: Mac Thornberry, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, wants to boost funding for readiness and modernization and he’s using a budgeting gimmick in the defense policy bill to do it that is prompting much head shaking. (A similar gimmick led to a short-lived presidential veto last year). Colin’s bet is that, should the Senate […]
CAPITOL HILL: The Quadrennial Defense Review is dead. Long live a unified combatant command known as Cyber Command. Ok, it doesn’t quite ring like Long Live The Queen, but you get the idea. House Armed Service Committee staffers briefed reporters on some of the more important bits of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. Top […]
WASHINGTON: It’s a bit hard to believe, but the House Armed Services Air and Land Forces subcommittee wants the Pentagon to consider the possibility of restarting the F-22 production line. “In light of growing threats to U.S. air superiority as a result of adversaries closing the technology gap and increasing demand from allies and partners […]
Reducing cognitive overload on warfighters while improving “time to trust” for autonomous systems is a matter of design.
UPDATED from Hill staff briefing WASHINGTON: In a move that may spark sustained conflict between the worlds of black and white space, the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee wants to transfer the building of weather of satellites to the National Reconnaissance Office after years of bumbling and indecision by the Air Force, NASA and NOAA. […]
CORRECTED program cost WASHINGTON: Not so fast, Air Force, a dozen legislators said as the service moved towards a $1.4 billion sole-source replacement of its aging UH-1N helicopters. The Hueys — direct descendants of the famed Vietnam-era bird — carry security teams to far-flung missile silos in an emergency, but their poor performance in counterterrorism drills has the […]
COLORADO SPRINGS: The Aerospace Corp. the people who brought you the concept for GPS, are launching GPS 2.0. It all began when two Aerospace Corps scientists J.R. Woodford Woodward and H. Nakamura penned a little-known briefing In 1966, “Navigation Satellite Study,” that paved the way. Tomorrow, the Aerospace Corp. will issue a new study it hopes will pave […]
COLORADO SPRINGS: Well, until a few hours ago most reporters and their Air Force sources thought Gen. John Hyten was a virtual lock for nomination as Air Force Chief Staff. Now, my best source on this stuff says the current vice chief, Gen. David Goldfein, is the likely successor to Gen. Mark Welsh. If selected […]
The network transport architecture for NGC2 could be a hybrid approach that combines high assurance communications with 5G, WiFi, and multi-orbit satellites.
COLORADO SPRINGS: The work being done at the high-profile Joint Interagency Combined Space Operations Center (JICSPOC) includes live experiments with satellites, in addition to the wargaming that all assumed has been taking place, Deputy Defense Bob Work says. “There are satellites up there, as you know, that don’t have a lot of useful life left,” Work replied when I asked what he […]
BUCKLEY AFB: Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work told reporters today that ISIL is under tremendous pressure from the United States — “from every single direction, the north, the east, the west and the south” — and the terrorist group has lost every engagement with allied forces over the last six months. That apparently includes in cyberspace. […]
COLORADO SPRINGS: Declaring the words in the headline, a junior congressman from Oklahoma who has stepped into a void of space leadership in the House, Rep. James Bridenstine, boldly told a jaded audience of senior space officials, diplomats, enthusiasts and the aerospace industry today that America “must forever be the preeminent spacefaring nation.” Bridenstine unveiled his American […]
Ash Carter’s bold step of opening the Pentagon’s unclassified websites to hacker attacks –HackerOne — deserves coverage. We held off on reporting about the Pentagon’s new effort to encourage hackers to help the US military until we got an assessment from someone whose judgment we trust, with experience in the darkest corners of the cyber world. […]