A screwed-up control valve caused the grounding of the F-35 fleet and the program office has cleared the plane for ground operations while it tests the errant valve. Meanwhile, the F-22 fleet remains grounded until early fall when the results of an investigation into possible problems with the plane’s oxygen system are completed. For more… Keep reading →

Washington: The loss of 38 American soldiers, including members of SEAL Team Six, this week is spawning more questions than answers as DoD begins to piece together what happened that night in eastern Afghanistan. For more news and information on the swiftly-changing defense industry, please sign up for the Breaking Defense newsletter. You can also… Keep reading →

I commissioned this story from one of the foremost — if not the foremost — independent authorities on the V-22 because I thought it important to address the basic question: is the V-22 worth the lives and treasure it has cost America? The answer by reporter Richard Whittle — the man who literally wrote the… Keep reading →

Washington: SM-3 proponents can breathe easy. The missile won’t be coming under the Pentagon’s budget ax anytime soon, according to a soon-to-be released DoD report. Members of the Defense Science Board briefed the Hill on the initial findings of that report, which focused on ballistic missile defense operations, particularly in the early launch phase. What… Keep reading →

Washington: A bipartisan band of six senators — five of them members of the Senate Armed Services Committee — are questioning the Pentagon’s politically explosive $1 trillion cost estimate in an Aug. 1 letter to Ash Carter, the presumptive deputy secretary of defense. The was made on the last page of the Pentagon latest Selected… Keep reading →

Washington: When you oversee the U.S. nuclear weapons enterprise, there are a lot of things that can keep you up at night. But figuring out how to sustain the industrial base that supports the U.S. nuclear arsenal, particularly as the Pentagon prepares to shrink that arsenal by thousands of weapons, is what has Strategic Command… Keep reading →

Washington: Boeing, trying to press its case and boost F-18 sales, said today that F-35 partner nations are searching for a plan B for the next-generation fighter, but are waiting until program’s total costs top out before acting. The nine F-35 countries are watching closely to see if costs will continue to grow past the… Keep reading →

Washington: The head of the Pentagon’s Joint Strike Fighter blasted new cost increases in the program today, calling them “an extreme and problematic burden to the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.” Echoing recent comments by the head of Pentagon acquisition, Ash Carter, Vice Adm. David Venlet said in a prepared statement that, “Costs… Keep reading →

So how many aircraft does it take to move the world’s largest military force? Not as many as many as you would think, the Pentagon says. In what has at times seemed like a long-running bad joke, filled with terms like ‘floors’, ‘ceilings’ and ‘sweet spots’, the Pentagon has finally capped its strategic airlift requirement… Keep reading →

Washington: America does not need a stealthy long-range bomber able to penetrate deep into remote, well-defended places, America’s No. 2 military officer said this morning. The country, Marine Gen. James “Hoss” Cartwright said, cannot afford to buy an upgraded nuclear triad of new bombers, new intercontinental ballistic missiles and new nuclear missile submarines. Cartwright, outgoing… Keep reading →