@newsletter

Air Warfare

McCain Misfires on F-35: Rushes Towards the Past

Robbin Laird, a member of the AOL Board of Contributors, is a well known supporter of the F-35. When he read Sen. McCain’s recent criticism of the program Laird immediately began to pen a rebuttal. We present his analysis and commentary. The whirling dervish of the Senate has struck again. Rather than rebuilding US and […]

SASC Chair Pushes New Counterfeiting Laws: China Blamed For Inaction

UPDATED WITH PENTAGON RESPONSE Capitol Hill: Faced with a torrent of counterfeit parts that pose a serious risk to the lives of American servicemen and to the performance of sophisticated weapons, Sen. Carl Levin pledged today to push for new laws and policies to help curb the problem. Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services […]

U.S. Dismantles Biggest U.S. Nukes Ever Built

Washington: They are big. They were bad. But their time is past so the U.S. government has very carefully pulled to pieces the biggest nuclear weapons we ever built. Taking apart the B-53 “is a major accomplishment that has made the world safer and for which everyone involved should be proud,” said Deputy Secretary of […]

Naval Warfare

F-35B Sea Trials Showcase Promising Results

Aboard the USS Wasp: The sleek, angular plane pulls up to the flight line. The jet’s single engine rumbles slowly while waiting for the high-sign to takeoff. Once the member of the deck crew threw his thumbs up, the jet’s center fan — which gives the F-35 the ability to take off from smaller carriers […]

Twenty-Four Hours: Three DoD Programs Dead or Wounded

Washington: If you want proof that budgets are getting tighter and the Pentagon gets the message, just look at the last two days. One system is dead and two are badly wounded, potentially totaling cuts of more than $22 billion. The Army made it sort of official yesterday that the Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance and […]

White House Believes 20,000 Sophisticated Missiles Missing in Libya

Washington: News reports appear to confirm weeks of worries by senior White House and congressional officials that large numbers of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles have gone missing in Libya. ABC News is reporting that a secret White House meeting discussed the disappearance of 20,000 “portable, heat-seeking” missiles. They quote Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the National Security […]

Defense Analyst Faces Steep Climb To Congress

Washington: After a 25-year career in the national security arena, much of it spent in Washington, defense analyst and Oklahoma native Dakota Wood is heading home. Wood, a former Marine Corps officer and now defense analyst at the prestigious Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, has joined the growing pool of GOP candidates vying to […]

presented by

Rumors Fly That OMB Tells Pentagon To Ready $100 Billion More Cuts

Washington: The Pentagon email traffic is burning up with whispers that the White House has told the Pentagon to plan for an additional $100 billion in cuts for 2013. The planning guidance was reportedly issued to insure that the Pentagon would be ready should the Super Congress fail to implement $1.2 trillion in cuts and […]

Reading Between The Lines: DoD’s Cyber Operation Strategy

This piece first appeared in our sister publication, AOL Gov. The Department of Defense Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace has attracted its share of attention and criticism since it was released last month. For instance, critics from outside the Department believe the document is written at such a high level, it offers little of new […]

Naval Warfare

Navy Drops Carrier Group, Down To Nine

UPDATED Washington: A recent Navy decision to deactivate one of its aircraft carrier groups could be a sign of things to come for the service’s carrier fleet. For more news and information on the swiftly-changing defense industry, please sign up for the Breaking Defense newsletter. You can also catch us on Twitter @BreakingDefense. On Monday, […]