Calling SolarWinds Hack ‘Act Of War’ Just Makes It Worse
The massive hack of federal and private networks isn’t an act of war by any definition, experts agree. It’s a staggering intelligence disaster. So how do we prevent it happening again?
US Defense Budget Not That Much Bigger Than China, Russia: Gen. Milley
"I've seen comparative numbers of US defense budget versus China, US defense budget versus Russia," Gen. Milley said. "What is not often commented on is the cost of labor. We’re the best paid military in the world by a long shot. The cost of Russian soldiers or Chinese soldiers is a tiny fraction."
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Beacon brings industry into a shared ecosystem to accelerate flight autonomy
Six companies have already signed up for a new flight-test program to mature their autonomy software.
Mattis, Dunford Defend Strategy: Afghan Force Smaller But Better
WASHINGTON: Yes, Afghan forces are shrinking even as violence grows, but that smaller force is better trained, better advised, and better at taking the offensive against the Taliban, the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs told the Senate. The ongoing increase in US and other NATO advisors is crucial to this turnaround, […]
HASC Hammers Navy Readiness In Push For $18B Defense Boost
CAPITOL HILL: House Republicans keep hammering on military shortfalls, part of their push for a controversial $18 billion budget boost that the Senate has so far rejected and the White House has threatened to veto. “The message that we’re hearing is across the services we have a significant problem with readiness,” Rep. Randy Forbes told me. […]
It’s ‘War’ Twixt Appropriators & Authorizers Over RD-180s: Sen. Durbin
CAPITOL HILL: The Senate battle over Russian rockets keeps rocking. Senators Dick Durbin and Richard Shelby sent most of this morning’s defense appropriations hearing defending the Pentagon’s plan to keep using the cheap and technologically reliable but politically toxic RD-180 until an American-made replacement is ready, sometime around 2020-2021. Durbin and Shelby denounced the effort […]
The $2.6B Overrun That Never Was: A DC Cautionary Tale
WASHINGTON: This morning, Sen. Dick Durbin set off heart attacks across the Army when he said the service’s $13.8 billion Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle program was a whopping $2.6 billion over budget. AMPV is the last survivor of 14 years of cancelled major programs and deliberately designed to be modest, achievable, and affordable, so the previously […]
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Navigation warfare is about the battle to assure positioning, navigation, and timing
The U.S. Army’s MAPS Gen II program of record for assured PNT provides an authoritative and reliable source of truth for combat vehicles in a highly contested battlespace.
McCain Intros Bill To Stop RD-180 Use; Pentagon Urges Caution
WASHINGTON: Sen. John McCain continued his crusade to stop the Pentagon from using Russia’s highly reliable and cheap RD-180 rocket engines to launch American military satellites during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing today. The Arizona senator and the House Majority Leader, Kevin McCarthy of California, introduced a bill today designed to overturn language in […]
McCain Loses To Appropriators, Threatens Russian RD-180 Ban
WASHINGTON: John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, believes fervently in the importance of the authorizing committees, those bodies charged with making congressional policy and placing restrictions on weapons program spending. Today, McCain lost a battle against the appropriators, that small group of powerful legislative leaders who decide how much money the executive branch […]
Troubled SAC OKs $500M For Syrian Rebels
CAPITOL HILL: After bitter debate, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 21 to 9 to approve the administration’s request for $500 million in training and weapons for “vetted” Syrian rebel fighters. Now the annual defense spending bill and supplemental Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding pass to the Senate floor, largely unchanged from what SAC’s defense subcommittee […]
SAC-D Takes Stand For SpaceX & For Army National Guard – Sort Of
CAPITOL HILL: This morning’s Senate subcommittee mark-up of the annual defense spending bill meant good news and extra money for a host of interests, from upstart rocket-maker SpaceX to the giant Boeing company. On the bitterly contentious issue of the Army National Guard’s endangered Apache helicopter fleet, however, the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee put down a […]
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AI is transforming pilot training and the aircraft they fly
Modeling and simulation get an AI upgrade for more realistic training and improved autonomous platforms.
SAC To Budgeteers: Stop Sequestration, Avoid Another Shutdown
CAPITOL HILL: “That’s a real softball question, so I’ll try to knock it out of the park,” the witness told the senator. There’s a scripted quality to many legislative hearings, but it’s rare to hear the actors break character and admit they’re in a play. The exchange above actually happened, between Rockford, Ill. mayor Larry […]
Lima Tank Plant Lobbying Begins In Senate With Letter To Sen. Durbin
CAPITOL HILL: The congressional push to keep the Lima, Ohio tank plant open — regardless of the Army’s opinion that it will stay open without lawmakers’ help — picked up steam again as the Senate Appropriations Committee prepares to mark up its bill. Abramstanksenateletter Two senators have written the defense appropriations chairman, Sen. Richard Durbin, […]
Air Force Crisis: Sex, Nukes And Leadership
WASHINGTON: The Air Force faces a crisis of leadership, a crisis of confidence, a crisis that must be addressed by whomever is nominated as the next secretary. The service is being battered by news story after news story. Today we learned of the suspension of 17 nuclear launch officers. The Associated Press broke the story. […]