Wait for it — the costs of Lockheed Martin’s Presidential Helicopter Replacement program, known as the VH-92, have come down 2.4 percent, about $123 million to $5.06 billion, and it appears on schedule. But — you knew there’d be a but.
By Colin ClarkSATCOM and resilient space network for command and control webinar
In this live Breaking Defense webinar, we bring together DoD and think tank leadership to discuss the latest developments in both strategic and tactical SATCOM.
The Marines are plenty happy about getting more money in 2018 and 2019, but are nervously eyeing the potential return of sequestration in 2020. And it’s influencing how the Corps is spending that money today.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
“All too often when we bring things up inside the Beltway, it immediately devolves to material and programs and technology,” said Scales. “What we hope comes out of this is not just new machines but new ways of thinking about warfare at the tactical level.”
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
“I’d say six to seven years to essentially work out the Concept of Operations (and) develop the capabilities,” Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves told the Senate.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
“‘Battle’ is very tactical,” said another participant approvingly. “We’ve got to have a cultural shift.” We need to recognize we’re in conflict right now with great power adversaries, even if we’re not shooting at each other.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
The catch, of course, is that the Army’s tried to field all these things before — and failed. Why would things go any better this time around? Brig. Gen. Christopher Donahue has an answer for that.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
It was a Marine reservist, transport officer Maj. Chris Thobaben, who had the idea to repurpose the scout drones for logistics after seeing too many comrades killed or wounded on supply runs in Iraq.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.![T2BETA_PROGRAM_REVIEWED1[1]](https://breakingdefense.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/08/T2BETA_PROGRAM_REVIEWED11-350x219.jpg)
Space Development Agency’s global mesh network in space is moving forward, with speed
By focusing on delivering minimum viable products, the Space Development Agency is enabling a larger set of suppliers to rapidly field data transport and missile tracking systems.
“To get a quantum increase in the quality of close combat forces, we can do it in the next two years, (and) the cost compared to the rest of the DoD budget is very small,” said retired Maj. Gen. Robert Scales, who chairs the advisory board for Secretary Mattis’s Close Combat Lethality Task Force.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
“We’ve started getting together for breakfast every week or two,” said Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, “just the three of us. It’s absolutely terrifying the staffs.”
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
“My eyes are watering with what our young people can do right now,” the Assistant Commandant said.
“They’re really smart and they’ve got a lot of really good ideas,” Commandant Neller said. “We would be well served to turn them loose.”
What’s the one technology the Marine Corps Commandant wants more than any other for his riflemen? It wasn’t an amphibious vehicle, more JLTVs, a new rifle or friggin’ lasers. It is “a smart way to recharge batteries,” Gen. Robert Neller told reporters.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
- Air Warfare, budget, Global, Land Warfare, Naval Warfare, Networks & Digital Warfare, Space, Threats
Military Force Structure: Trade-Offs, Trade-Offs, Trade-Offs
Mark Cancian, a member of the Breaking Defense Board of Contributors, knows budgets. He used to help build the defense budget at the Office of Management and Budget, the largely unheralded center of federal fiscal power. So when he picks apart the budget deal Congress recently approved (or any other one) you should pay attention. He’s doing…
By Mark Cancian
PENTAGON: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, a former Marine Corps rifle platoon leader, wants better technology and training to keep frontline foot troops alive. He sent a Feb. 8 memo (below) to the Joint Chiefs, service chiefs, combatant commanders, and other top officials to create a Close Combat Lethality Task Force, applying the kind of top-level…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
CAPITOL HILL: If the Commandant of the Marine Corps had one more dollar to spend — and he probably will with the recent budget deal — he’d use it to upgrade Navy ships’ electronics to take full advantage of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, he said this morning. The Marines’ new F-35Bs have the sensors to…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
