Michael Marrow covers air warfare for Breaking Defense. He holds a BA in history from the University of Virginia and started out as a freelance reporter covering local news in Fairfax County, Virginia and policing in Charlottesville, Virginia. Michael previously reported on the Air Force and Space Force for Inside Defense, where he tracked major acquisitions, policy changes and modernization efforts.
Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti and Air Force Gen. David Allvin have been confirmed as the respective top officers of the Navy and Air Force. Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney was also promoted to general and confirmed as the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps.
The new Mk21A reentry vehicle will be mounted atop the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile and will carry an updated nuclear warhead known as the W87-1.
“Japan has a strong industrial base, and taking advantage of it for CCA development and production is a win-win-win,” said Mark Gunzinger of the Mitchell Institute.
New data obtained by Breaking Defense shows the so-called “flyaway” costs of the Air Force’s two fighter jets currently in production. But comparing them can make for tricky math.
“The involvement of the military massively augments our velocity on the commercial side because the military’s expectation of an airplane is fundamentally the same as the FAA’s. They want a safe, reliable, repeatedly produced aircraft,” said BETA founder and CEO Kyle Clark.
“These are disappointing results in the quarter and year to date. This performance is below our expectations and we acknowledge that we aren’t as far along in this recovery as we expected to be at this stage,” said Chief Financial Officer Brian West.
The simultaneous delivery to the two competitors comes after an approximately year-long delay for the new engine and paves the way for a flight test next year.
The surprise withdrawal of the aerospace giant could give Boeing a leg up as the Air Force moves toward a contract award for a new fleet of refuelers, analysts told Breaking Defense.
“If the… 58-cal cannon solution can’t deliver on a timeline we want, what are the other options? That can be munitions…new munitions with old cannons and it can be different cannons,” said Army acquisition head Doug Bush.
“This is a broad and in a way campaign-like approach to strengthening our own supply chain and enabling multiple sources, really for even beyond our company for our industry, which I think is important,” Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet said of his firm’s endeavor to field a new solid rocket motor supplier.
Shield AI’s Hivemind pilot is “the Android operating system with the aircraft manufacturer,” the company’s president Brandon Tseng told Breaking Defense. “We want to work with every OEM [original equipment manufacturer], every aircraft.”
“The baseline program, so far, [is] going well. It’s a building block,” Doug Bush, the head of Army acquisition, said. But for the next iteration, “What else can you do with that chassis? Weapons? Sensors?”
Hanwha Defense USA’s strategy is “very much about being a prime contractor that can compete with the other peers that are here. And how do you get there? It’s about partnerships. It’s about organic growth. It’s about M&A type of capability,” CEO John Kelly told Breaking Defense.
Bombardier is a go-to platform provider of choice for special mission aircraft with its in-house engineers that can tailor the solution to the customers’ requirement.
Bombardier is a go-to platform provider of choice for special mission aircraft with its in-house engineers that can tailor the solution to the customers’ requirement.
