Coast Guard Acts On Icebreakers; Releases Requirements
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[UPDATED with Adm. Papp comments] SURFACE NAVY ASSOCIATION: In an important step to filling the increasing gap between American’s Arctic strategy and our capabilities, the Coast Guard has released its “notional program schedule [and] notional Polar Icebreaker requirements” for two new heavy icebreakers today. “This will be available to industry at noon today and I’m sure… Keep reading →
Northrop Garners Huge Win With New Bomber; LRSB $564M Per Plane
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UPDATED with details from Pentagon press conference; corrected EMD contract value PENTAGON: Affirming its status as the nation’s builder of stealthy bombers, Northrop Grumman today won what will probably be the biggest defense contract of the decade, the $80 billion, $564 million-per-plane Long-Range Strike Bomber program, which will enter service circa 2025. “The LRSB will allow the… Keep reading →
Billions In F-35 Upgrades Debated; Canada Election Fallout
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CAPITOL HILL: While Congress and the media focus on immediate issues with the F-35’s ejection seat, the program has begun working on a long-range modernization plan to upgrade the Joint Strike Fighter’s combat power. This modernization package, with the so-called Block 4 software upgrade at its core, is essential to the aircraft reaching its “full warfighting capability,” Maj. Gen.… Keep reading →
RAND Finds Little Hope Fixed Price Deals Control Costs
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The Program Executive Officer for the KC-46, Brig. Gen. Duke Richardson, made a rare public appearance today at the Air Force Association to discuss his program, which has been hammered by schedule programs and cost growth. Fortunately, none of this costs the taxpayer a dime because it’s a fixed price contract. But the problems have cost Boeing at… Keep reading →
Navy Wants To Work With Air Force On New Nukes: VADM Benedict
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CAPITOL HILL: As the Air Force train pulls out of the station, the Navy’s running alongside asking to be pulled aboard. Both services will need to replace aging nuclear missiles sometime ca. 2030. They could save money by coordinating their modernization programs — but the Air Force is on a tighter schedule and the window… Keep reading →
Kendall To Overhaul ‘Chaos’ Of Pentagon’s $155 Billion Services Market
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WASHINGTON: A plan to overhaul how the Pentagon buys services — a $155 billion annual business, bigger than weapons acquisitions — is now on the desk of the Defense Department’s top buyer. “It went to Frank Kendall this week,” Kenneth Brennan, deputy director of services acquisition for undersecretary Kendall, said. “He is the final signature” required to… Keep reading →
Charge Of The Light Brigade: Army Seeks Air-Droppable Vehicles For Infantry
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You are reading the first of three in-depth stories on the future of US land forces and their new combat vehicles. In this first piece, Sydney details what the Army wants in its new air-droppable vehicles for the oft-outgunned light forces who are first to the fight. The next two stories will explore the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV),… Keep reading →
Sen. McCain To Kendall: 10 Years Of ‘Absolutely Outrageous Overruns & Failures’
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WASHINGTON: Sen. John McCain wants the four services chiefs to have more power to buy weapons efficiently and cheaply. Frank Kendall and his colleagues who oversee Pentagon acquisition, technology and logistics (ATL) have made it pretty clear they don’t think that’s a good idea. So I asked the chairman of the Senate Armed Services committee… Keep reading →
Army Tests New Missile Defense Brain, IBCS; Navy, MDA Intrigued
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The Army’s missile defense force is getting a new brain. That’s the real meaning of a successful test yesterday of something called the Integrated Air & Missile Defense Battle Command System, or IBCS for (mercifully) short. IBCS doesn’t blow stuff up. A Patriot missile destroyed the target in last week’s test at White Sands Missile Range. IBCS doesn’t detect the… Keep reading →
The Feasible Four: Odierno Wants Army To Launch New Combat Vehicles
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WASHINGTON: “In the next two years,” Army chief of staff Ray Odierno said today, the service could move out on four new combat vehicles and reboot its aging inventory for a new era of war. They range from a parachute-droppable light truck for Airborne soldiers to a scout car, a light tank, and a new… Keep reading →