WASHINGTON: The Air Force does not plan to cut its planned purchase of 1,763 F-35As — in fact, it’s not even not considering doing so — but it is pushing hard to bring down the sustainment costs of Lockheed Martin‘s prize program, the Air Force Chief of Staff told reporters this morning. “We are all…
By Colin ClarkAUSA: On the last day of this enormous trade show, the acting Army Secretary made a point of reaching out to the defense industry. Ryan McCarthy promised action on a host of issues important to business, from R&D investments to intellectual property, as well as offering more details on sweeping acquisition reforms internal to the…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY: Like a surgeon planning to separate Siamese twins, Pentagon officials worry how complex the congressional mandated breakup of the acquisition bureaucracy could become. “We understand the challenges (and are) very cognizant” of the risk,” acting deputy assistant secretary for research and engineering Mary Miller told me this morning. “It’s going to be difficult,” Miller…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.WASHINGTON: Faced with a lawsuit by Orbital ATK and congressional concerns that its robotic satellite servicing program may violate the National Space Policy, the Office of Secretary of Defense has launched a review of the DARPA program. The news was included in an afternoon DARPA press release announcing the contract award to Space Services Loral (SSL),…
By Colin Clark