Paris: In another clear signal that the heat is on Lockheed Martin to substantially bring down the costs of the biggest acquisition program in US history, the Nr. 2 man in the program told reporters here that costs have to keep going down. “Much of that will play out” in the nascent negotiations on the… Keep reading →

The first day of the Paris Air Show is when the shakedown occurs. Everyone figures out what’s where. Much of the biggest news is broken. And everyone — no matter how many years they’ve been to the show — looks up startled when the raw boom and roar of the high-performance military jets zoom overhead… Keep reading →

Latest: Australia chooses Romeo over NH90 http://bit.ly/jC8S20 @Flightglobal

Breaking Defense Editor Colin Clark gets the Paris Air Show bureau set up and ready to rock.

EADS Chief Technologist Jean Botti discusses development of a commercial airliner that could fly at hypersonic speeds, more than four times the speed of sound. Want a daily email update on the Defense industry? Sign up here for the Breaking Defense newsletter or follow us on Twitter.

Boeing, sensing that Lockheed Martin’s formerly unassailable sales pitch for the F-35 has been dramatically weakened by the rash of cost and schedule increases, has come to the Paris Air Show eager to convince foreign governments that their F-15 and F-18 are the right thing to buy instead. Boeing has argued that the F-18 E/F… Keep reading →

Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to lift off from Earth on July 8 and is the final space shuttle mission, ending a very successful program which has brought so much pride to the United States for more than three decades. Similar to when the Apollo program ended in 1975, this final flight is truly a… Keep reading →

Washington: This year’s Paris Air Show, the year’s largest gathering of the defense and aerospace businesses, will focus on unmanned systems such as the now-famous Predator since that is one of the few growth areas for the defense sector. The show itself, which starts Monday, promises to be, simply, huge. Some statistics: more than 2,100… Keep reading →

Leon Panetta, President Obama’s nominee to succeed Defense Secretary Robert Gates, faces significant challenges in using a declining defense budget to support an aging military fleet. Our national debt has put us on an unsustainable path. As the new Secretary of Defense, Mr. Panetta must reconcile the need to reduce defense spending while equipping our… Keep reading →

F-35 AF-1 and AF-2 Ferry Flight to Edwards AFB showing 2 F-35s in flight and aerial refueling Depending on what figures you use, the United States is either going to spend as much as $1 trillion — with a T — on the F-35 program over its life or something closer to $379 billion to… Keep reading →