![As a plug-and-play solution, CMFF is agile by nature and Leonardo DRS is future-proofing the systems for emerging or new capability requirements. (Leonardo DRS photo)](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2024/03/As-a-plug-and-play-solution-CMFF-is-agile-by-nature-and-Leonardo-DRS-is-future-proofing-the-systems-for-emerging-or-new-capability-requirements.-Leonardo-DRS-photo-350x233.jpeg)
![Hondo Geurts Joining Silicon Valley Defense Group](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2021/01/Geurts-e1632924495317-225x150.jpg)
Former Navy acquisition executive Hondo Geurts left government in August after Carlos Del Toro was confirmed as Navy secretary.
By Justin Katz![Hondo Geurts To Exit Pentagon](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2021/08/hondo-scaled-225x150.jpg)
Geurts will exit “later this month,” he announced.
By Justin Katz![Esper’s New Push For Allies; Gilday Unveils ‘Tech Bridge’ To Royal Navy](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2020/10/NATO-225x150.jpg)
The new plan will focus on four areas, “underwater, our carrier programs, our Marines — so working with the US Marine Corps and their drive for distributed warfare — and linking that with what we want to do with our Royal Marines, and the future commando force,” First Sea Lord Adm. Tony Radakin says.
By Paul McLeary![COVID-19: Lord Urges Defense Workers To Stay On The Job; Cites White House](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2013/05/CVN-78-USS-Ford-island-lift-130126-N-ZZ999-0011-hi-res-225x150.jpg)
The critical infrastructure rules come from a presidential policy directive signed by President Barack Obama in 2013, kept in place by the Trump administration. “That helps,” a defense industry source said, “because there’s no partisan stink on it.”
By Paul McLeary![Navy OKs Biggest Ever Deal: $22B for 9 Virginia Subs](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2019/03/Warner-scaled-e1678457624395-225x150.jpg)
The Navy is pushing full-speed ahead, and its acquisition chief said the service is prepared to make other programs pay to keep on track.
By Paul McLeary![Marines Eye Unmanned Systems To Keep F-35s Flying From Remote Bases](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2019/08/F-35B-225x150.jpg)
The Navy and Marine Corps are trying to buy new autonomous and unmanned systems more quickly for expeditionary ops, but as one general warned, “if I can’t sustain it, I’m hosed.”
By Paul McLeary![Navy Walks Thinning Line On Sub Programs](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2014/04/SSN-North-Dakota-130911-N-ZZ999-001_compressed-225x150.jpg)
Virginia class subs are suffering delivery delays of up to seven months, potentially placing the Columbia — slated to be the backbone of the nation’s nuclear triad — at risk.
By Paul McLeary![GAO: Navy “Overly Optimistic” On Columbia Sub Costs](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2018/05/Columbia-225x150.jpg)
The Navy’s most expensive shipbuilding program and the key to the country’s nuclear triad is under increasing pressure to keep to its tight schedule, and hit its budget.
By Paul McLeary![Pacific Commander Wants Subs The Navy Just Doesn’t Have](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2016/11/USS-Boise-Los-Angeles-SSN-0105XMK42324-e1637262703947-225x150.jpg)
The Navy is losing submarines just when commanders say they need more, more, more.
By Paul McLeary![Let’s Get Digital: Hondo Geurts Wants Ships For Less $$](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/CVN-79-Kennedy-in-NNS-40-DCS16-536-163-225x150.jpg)
SAN DIEGO: Newport News Shipbuilding is reaping “huge savings” on the next Ford-class carrier, the Kennedy, through “creative” use of digital models instead of paper plans, the new head of Navy acquisition told reporters today. It’s an approach that can increase efficiency and reduce costs on all big Navy programs, said assistant secretary James “Hondo”…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.![Navy Copes With Budget Chaos, But It’s Ugly: CNO Richardson](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2015/12/Richardson-CNO-John-151020-N-FQ994-030-e1445354292314-225x150.jpg)
HERITAGE FOUNDATION: The Navy’s has been forced to resort to awkward, inefficient, even dysfunctional expedients to cope with Congress’s chronic inability to pass a proper spending bill on time, the Chief of Naval Operations said here this morning. “We do need stable funding, right, but the system has adapted….I wouldn’t say in completely healthy ways,…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.![Navy Says It Can Buy Frigate For Under $800M: Acquisition Reform Testbed](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2017/05/Navantia-F-102_Almirante_Juan_de_Borbon_CSSQT-225x150.jpg)
SURFACE NAVY ASSOCIATION: The Navy’s frigate program is pioneering new procurement processes to get ships faster and cheaper. For the frigate, that means the cost should come in below the current target of $800 million, the program executive officer for small ships said here. (The maximum allowable cost per ship is $950 million). For the…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.![Lord Announces ‘Deep Dive’ F-35 Cost Review; FMS Changes](https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uploads/sites/3/2017/12/Lord-and-Esper-and-Guertz-and-Wilson-SASC-225x150.jpeg)
CAPITOL HILL: The Pentagon, clearly looking ahead to bolster the defense industrial base, is taking steps to ease and speed Foreign Military Sales, and it has a pilot program underway to reduce the time it takes to execute program acquisition. But let’s be clear: this is not an acquisition reform story; it’s an acquisition improvement…
By Colin Clark