WASHINGTON: Israel and Japan are likely to get their first F-35 Joint Strike Fighters on schedule, and the Air Force‘s operational F-35s should be flying by the end of this year without faulty insulation in fuel pipes that could damage the aircraft, the F-35 Joint Program Office says. “Rapid progress is being made in fixing […]
The multinational Unmanned Warrior exercise off the coast of Scotland is doing “really groundbreaking” work on naval drones, said one participating US scientist. There’ve been “a number of world firsts” in networking unmanned vehicles of different types and from different nations into a single unit, Marcus Tepaske, science advisor for the Office of Naval Research, […]
As threats rapidly evolve, digital engineering, manufacturing capacity and robust supply chains are critical to meeting challenges.
WASHINGTON: China continues to claim sovereign control of the South and East China Seas, but the Beijing is taking no actions to enforce its claims, a senior State Department official says. “The point to stress is this: no one is stopping a US Navy warship. The Chinese are not stopping US Navy warships,” Daniel Russel, assistant secretary of State for East […]
The US Navy needs to get better at hunting sea mines. The Royal Navy needs to get better at robots. So the two fleets are joining forces off Scotland in what the Brits are calling “the largest demonstration of its type, ever,” Unmanned Warrior 2016, with “more than 50 unmanned vehicles from over 40 organizations.” […]
The intent behind the State Department’s new international policy for armed drones is admirable in principle but the declaration’s hoped-for real-world effect will fall short for three reasons. First, the combat effects of drones can be achieved through a variety of military means. Second, Remotely Piloted Aircraft (as the Air Force calls them) are tools whose use is guided by policy […]
WASHINGTON: War time is a bad time to run out of gas. If there was a crisis with Russia today, and a German unit needed to refuel from a US Army pump, they couldn’t do it. Why? The goddamn nozzle doesn’t fit. It’s just one of the host of seemingly minor shortfalls, from pontoon bridges to […]
Do more with less: streamline workflows, reduce duplication, invest upfront to save long-term.
AUSA: There are almost a quarter-million Humvees (and counting) around the world, from the US to Ukraine to the Philippines, and AM General built them all. The Indiana-based company is constantly finding new ways to upgrade the 1980s-vintage design, but this is the most radical I’ve seen: a cargo Humvee whose flatbed holds a howitzer, the kind of weapon […]
WASHINGTON: It looks like a tank, drives on tracks like a tank, fires 120 mm shells at several times the speed of sound like a tank — but don’t call it a tank. The General Dynamics “Griffin” is a kind of concept car on steroids, a demonstration of existing technologies that could be quickly fit […]
Small is beautiful, even at the largest defense show of the year. Polaris Defense makes off-road vehicles — light and rugged enough to drop from airplanes — in service with US Special Operations Command and various allied nations. The “Big Army” is considering the Polaris DAGOR, among other competitors, to carry airborne troops and other […]
After years of prototype testing, canceled programs, and rewritten requirements, contractor BAE Systems has unveiled the first production model of its 34-ton, eight-wheel-drive Amphibious Combat Vehicle at the Modern Day Marine show. BAE and SAIC are competing to replace the Marine Corps’ aging, ungainly, and thinly armored Amphibious Assault Vehicles. The AAVs are huge tracked machines […]
Breaking Defense Europe will launch May 4 with Tim Martin and Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo as co-editors.
Preparing for war can sometimes help prevent one, and those preparations are probably helpful if one does start. Perhaps it’s time to show North Korea what its forces would be in for, and to show our allies in the South that we are with them, seriously. The best course may be through field exercises conducted jointly by […]
Those whose lives are bound to the fate of the annual defense policy bill can rest easy for a while, but then must gird their loins for a tough patch right before Christmas, if Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, is right. Smith, a savvy and rational lawmaker, offered no […]
NATIONAL HARBOR: A fix has been identified for the 15 F-35As currently banned from flying and tests on the engineering will begin next week, said Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan. The head of the Joint Program Office told the Air Force Association conference here that the F-35s should have their fuel tank insulation problems fixed by the […]
NATIONAL HARBOR: Russia could hinder US reinforcements headed to Europe in the event of a major war, warned the recently retired Supreme Allied Commander, Gen. Philip Breedlove. It’s well known Russian radars, missiles, and strike planes — “Anti-Access/Area Denial” systems — threaten ships and aircraft across wide swathes of the Black Sea, Eastern Europe, and […]