Contributing writer
CAPITOL HILL: The Missile Defense Agency is still basking in the glow of last month’s successful shoot-down of an ICBM target but it will not get complacent in the face of North Korea‘s steady rounds of provocative missile tests, MDA Director Vice Adm. James Syring assured the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces yesterday. […]
If Congress enacts the Trump administration’s 2018 budget request, many in the Army will be ecstatic. Weapons contractors, maybe not so much. The $137.2 billion request ($166.1 billion including overseas contingency operations funds) is up by 5 percent from a year ago. It would be the most money the Army has gotten since 2012. The budget […]
It’s about improving existing platforms with autonomy, and applying AI, edge computing, quantum encryption, and sensor fusion.
President Trump’s just-released 2018 budget proposal meets the goals set by Secretary Jim Mattis when he came into office, the Pentagon insists, even though the budget does not deliver the impressive defense growth the president promised. Instead, it will, the administration says, be enough to patch up a “depleted” military that needs to be brought back to health after […]
CAPITOL HILL: House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry’s third attempt to improve how the Pentagon buys weapons aims to simplify defense procurement and cut down on waste by using commercial buying methods. It directs the Pentagon to use online marketplaces such as Grainger, OfficeMax or Staples to buy items that currently are acquired […]
The Pentagon acquisition system has gotten so bad that it is undermining the nation’s military and literally obstructing modernization efforts, a panel of independent advisers told the House Armed Services Committee today. Representatives of the congressionally-mandated “809 panel” painted an alarming picture of the state of defense procurement. The panel delivered an interim report to the […]
While North Korea threatens to shoot and sink American aircraft carriers and launch nuclear weapons, Pacific Command is running short of precision-guided munitions. And Pacific Command does not have enough surface ships, submarines and antimissile radars to keep up with current and emerging threats, its commander Adm. Harry Harris told the House Armed Services Committee […]
With potential adversaries no longer predictable, training must move beyond just live exercises and flight simulators.